Runic Oath

The Runic Oath Paladin has is not bound by a creed or loyal to a deity. Unlike other Paladins, the Rune Knights don't draw their powers from a connection to divinity. The Runic Oath is a contract between the Rune Knight and arcane forces of all kinds, granting them superior spellcasting powers as well as the ability to redirect and absorb magical energies.

Even though the Rune Knight's abilities are not divine in nature, all the concepts and labels of Paladin abilities still apply. The Rune Knight still uses a holy symbol and their powers still follow the rules for Channel Divinity.

Rune Weapon

The Rune Knight can designate a martial weapon in their hands as their Rune Weapon using an action, and it will remain their Rune Weapon for as long as they wish. The Rune Weapon can be used as a holy symbol for spellcasting purposes and it counts as a magic weapon. If the Rune Weapon as already a magic weapon with an attack bonus, that bonus is added as a spellcasting bonus, too. Some Rune Knight abilities can only be exercised through their Rune Weapon. The Rune Knight may only have 1 Rune Weapon at any time.

Channel Divinity

Runic Ward - Using an action, the Rune Knight can raise a Runic Ward for 1 minute to interdict enemy spells. During this time, the Rune Knight can use their reaction to cast a Counterspell in response to any non-cantrip spell. If the Counterspell succeeds, the Rune Knight can either negate or absorb the spell. To negate the spell, the Rune Knight must expend a spell slot with a level equal or greater than the countered spell. By doing so, the Runic Ward effect continues. Otherwise, the spell is absorbed and the Rune Weapon retains a spell slot with a level equal to the countered spell that must be used as a divine smite on its next strike. The Runic Ward effect ends once a spell is countered and absorbed.

Drain Blade - Using a bonus action, the Rune Weapon can be empowered for 1 minute to drain a victim's spellcasting power. The next time the Rune Weapon hits a target with spell slots, the lowest level available spell slot is consumed from the target and immediately expended as a divine smite. The Rune Knight can renew the Drain Blade effect by expending a spell slot with a level equal or greater than the slot drained by the Rune Weapon. If the Rune Knight does not (or can not) match the spell slot drained by the Rune Weapon, the Drain Blade effect ends.

Arcane Magnetism

Starting at 7th Level, the Rune Knight can use their reaction to become the target of a non-cantrip attack spell cast by a creature they can see. If the spell is an area of effect, the area is instead focused in a 5' cube centered on the Rune Knight - only affecting them. If the Rune Knight expends a spell slot equal to the level of the spell, they can weaken the spell with one of the following effects.

• The Rune Knight has advantage on the saving throw.
• The caster attacks with disadvantage.
• The effect dice (damage, for instance) are inspected by the player and any number of them must be rerolled once.

Arcane Smite

Starting at 15th Level, whenever the Rune Knight uses their divine smite ability, the additional damage can be fire, cold, or lightning damage. Additionally, if a 2nd level or higher spell slot is expended on the smite, the Rune Knight recovers a level 1 spell slot.

Runic Sentinel

Starting at 20th Level, every spell slot expended by the Rune Knight counts as twice its level for any Paladin features (such as Divine Smite) or Rune Knight features (such as Runic Ward or Drain Blade). This bonus does not apply to spellcasting.

If the Rune Knight has no spell slots available then they can use Runic Ward or Drain blade without expending their Channel Divinity ability.