Base Class: Paladin
In the eyes of a paladin who takes the oath of the healer, life is more than a gift; it is a divine blessing they must strive to protect. Known as hospitallers or chirugeons, paladins who take this oath are dedicated to the remedial care of those who are ravaged by disease or war, be they pauper or noble, peasant or warrior. Many are dedicated medics in infantry units, while others are emissaries from faraway lands who set up clinics from which they tend to the sick. While battle is still their charge, those who walk the Oath of the Healer take arms with two primary purposes in mind: the good health of their clergymen and countrymen, and the protection of life itself.
Tenants of the Healer
Though still trained in the martial arts and powerful damaging spells as any other paladin, a healer's primary oaths are dedicated to the safety and health of those under their charge.
Heal the Sick and Injured. If a civilian or allied warrior comes to you with an ailment that's in your power to cure, you must do everything in your power to aid them.
Life Over Death. If given a choice between saving a life or taking a life for the greater good, lean towards salvation. Some lives must be taken to prevent further widespread death, but weigh your decisions carefully. You will not be chastised so long as you follow your heart, and not give into fear, temptation, or revenge.
Stop the Spread of Disease and Conflict. Plagues can ravage entire kingdoms, and senseless war can lead to the deaths of undeserving innocents. You must do everything in your power - be it through your strength of arms or the compassion within your heart - to preserve the spark of life.
Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Healer Spells table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.
Oath of the Healer Spells
| Paladin Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | healing word, sanctuary |
| 5th | prayer of healing, warding bond |
| 9th | beacon of hope, mass healing word |
| 13th | guardian of faith, private sanctum |
| 17th | greater restoration, mass cure wounds |
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.
Hospitaller's Pledge. You can use your Channel Divinity to restore the power of your Lay of Hands. As an action, you may restore a number of hit points in your Lay on Hands pool equal to 2 x your character level. This cannot cause your Lay on Hands pool to go above its base daily amount.
Purge Illness. You can use your Channel Divinity to heal the afflictions of those who are suffering. As an action, you may choose a creature within 30 feet and remove the following conditions if they are afflicted by them: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, and stunned, plus any diseases they are afflicted with.
Aura of Healing
Starting at 7th level, your healing power radiates outward. Once per turn, when an allied creature within 10 ft. of you restores hit points from a spell or effect you use as an action or bonus action, you may choose another creature within that area - including yourself - that was not also healed by the same spell or effect. That creature restores half as many hit points as the initial target received.
Alternatively, if you choose yourself as the target for this feature, you may forgo restoring hit points and instead add the amount of hit points you would otherwise restore to your Lay on Hands pool. This cannot cause your Lay on Hands pool to go above its base daily amount.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Protective Ward
Starting at 15th level, your healing magic wards your allies from further harm. When you cast a spell or use an ability that restores hit points to a creature - including yourself - that creature gains a shield of divine energy around them. The next weapon or spell attack made against a shielded creature has disadvantage, at which point the shield around them dissipates. If not used, the shield lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
Avatar of Life
At 20th level, you emanate the essence of life itself. Using your action, you unleash a healing light around you, which confers you the following benefits for 1 minute:
- You restore 10 hit points at the start of your turn.
- You have resistance against all non-magical damage.
- When creatures within the range of your Aura of Healing restore hit points from spells or abilities that use an action, bonus action, or reaction, you may add an extra 1d6 + your charisma modifier to the amount of hit points restored.
- Designated creatures within your Aura of Healing are cured of the blinded, deafened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, and stunned conditions, along with any diseases they are afflicted with. They are immune to these conditions as long as they remain in the aura.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Previous Versions
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Posted Feb 10, 2023This is cool, but I feel like the channel divinities are a little too powerful. Hospitaller's Pledge restores slightly less than half your maximum HP pool for Lay On Hands in one use. Unlike clerics, paladin only get one use per short or long rest, but they still regain their channel divinity every short or long rest, so there's nothing stopping them using it over and over again, which rather defeats the point of Lay On Hands recharging only on a long rest. Obviously the DM can limit its use, but that should never be a factor when balancing stuff like this.
Then there's Purge Illness, which is a strictly better version of lesser restoration. Lesser restoration is a 2nd-level spell in the paladin spell list, which paladin don't normally have access to until 5th level, whereas you're giving a better version at 3rd level. Lesser restoration removes one disease or one condition, whereas the way Purge Illness is written, it removes everything all at once. Also, lesser restoration is touch, while Purge Illness has a range of 30 feet, with no caveat for line of sight (i.e. "a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you"), making it actually insanely powerful, since you wouldn't need to know where a creature is in order to use it.
In addition to the channel divinities, I should point out that your wording of Aura of Healing is a little off. I think for clarity it should be more along the lines of, "When you roll one or more dice to heal a creature within 10 feet of you..." That way, you don't have to waste words specifying that it works for "spells and effects" and whether you use "an action or bonus action", and you can balance it somewhat by having it not work on every healing power. Personally, I'd also change it to something simple, like maximum roll or add Charisma modifier, rather than targetting an extra creature, or you could use the wording from Twinned Spell: "To be eligible, a spell must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the spell’s current level", but that potentially complicates the mechanic a little. I'd also caution against giving the aura the ability to recharge Lay On Hands, partly for the same reason as Hospitaller's Pledge, and partly because doing so kind of negates the need for other healing spells/features.
Other than that, my only other advice would be to tidy up the wording a bit. Don't be afraid to copy the wording from official sources. It makes it way easier to write descriptions that are tight and polished. This is a cool concept and people seem to like it. It'd be nice to see it become the best it can be.
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Posted Jan 28, 2022I love this subclass. As well as paladins work as support classes, you never see them played that way. Awesome oath man!
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Posted Oct 16, 2018Changes in Version 1.01
General
Aura of the Healer
Avatar of Life