The Problem with Paladins in D&D
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- D&D Paladins get the worst rap out of all the DnD classes. Why?
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Check out the Paladin Oath of Love HERE!
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*This is the space reserved for people to complain about how paladins were better when they HAD to be lawful good*
There you go, now we can keep it contained.
time for you to gain some interactions
While I feel a majority of paladins should be lawful, there is room for experimentation.
I'm gonna sit in this space so those people don't have any room to sit down.
I'm also gonna fart.
Wibbity- woobity, I played a oathbreaker and had a good time! 😛
@@MM-lv7iy MY MAN!!! *high fives*
“Do you want to tank? Do you want to fight? Do you want a class that’ll instill fright? Well take up some plate and keep the goblins in sight because you’ll want to make them eat this paladin SMITE!” A wise person
"ELDRICH BLAST" A wise person
"Fireball. Just Fireball. NOTHING BUT FIREBALL!!!" A wise person.
_JoFeline, the Wise_
Welcome to a crap guide to dnd
*bouncy bardy string picking intro*
My favorite paladin idea is an oath of redemption paladin whose motto is basically, "i'm going to drag you kicking and screaming into the light. It's not gonna be fun for either of us."
This but "IT'S gonna be fun for me"
Sounds like something for Warhammer40k
Celestial warlock multiclass and even pc themselves is kicking and screaming, at their patron. Constantine
"You are being rescued, do not resist, this is a threat"
right, i was surprised they didnt get a mention, they kind of ARE love paladins.
Unfortunately more often than not when I try to play a Paladin I get the "ugh a Paladin, really? In a fantasy setting where you can live out any fantasy why would you want to be a good guy? Here try this tiefling Rogue." Unfortunately, my power fantasy is being a good person with the power help people and do good so I'm immediately branded as boring and unoriginal.
Totally valid. Don’t let them yuck your yum!
Paladins are great for being evil as well, you can be an Oathbreaker or Oath of Conquest paladin
Shows more lack of creativity on their part to be honest. 🤷🏿♂️
Super valid. I've never enjoyed playing characters that enjoy hurting people. The best I can do is a character that doesn't go out of their way to hurt people, but looks after themselves first, even if it's sometimes at the expense of others. Like my capacity to do good is much more limited in real life, so my power fantasy is also someone who can do large amounts of good without even sweating it. Good can come in so many flavors too, it doesn't always have to be a law-abiding goodie two-shoes! Sometimes stealing is morally correct, an example that this very video brings up, lol.
I love playing a good, albeit neutral to chaotic alignment, character. It is very satisfying to put good into the world even in a game 😊
Love the idea of a pair of Paladin and Barbarian siblings who chose very different paths of "Emotions give me power"
Their parents were killed, one wants to kill the perp, thus becoming an oath of vengence paladin, the other angry to all hells wants to kill the perp, thus becoming a barbaran.
For Paladins its supposed to the the devotion, not emotion that gives them power.
And this video gets the traditional limits on alignment so wrong. They are restricting, but that is in keeping with what it takes to attain this level devotion.
People often roleplay it poorly because they go too black and white with it. Forgetting that their character is in fact a flawed lifeform, chasing an ideal. They will stumble in their devotion from time to time, they will crack in their stoicism and let down their guard from time to time. Thus making these moments more valued for them and their comrades.
That is the class. Whining about, I want to play a paladin and play how ever I want, flies in the face of what the class actually is.
Stepping outside ourselves and roleplaying an alignment that is foreign to us, is where so much of the magic from D&D can be created.
Rather than gimme what I want, because I want it.
@@Duncan275 I have waited for an excuse to do a paladin dragon who is librarian devoted to his library for so long
@@Duncan275 Forced alignment restrictions are ALWAYS bad. Every deity has holy wariors super devoted to them, but if you're super devoted to say, a chaotic good deity, guess what your alignment is going to be... and that doesn't mean chaotic good deities never have paladins, that makes no sense.
Absolute devotion to an ideal can take many forms, not all of those forms are going to be Lawful Good. Paladins get their powers from zeal and devotion, and are basically a more martial form of a cleric, channeling it into their martial discipline moreso than for spellcasting. They should absolutely be many alignments, based on A) what they are devoted to, and B) how they themselves interprete its meaning. If it's a deity, they are going to embody the nature of that deity.
And no, it isn't restricted to good. Evil deities should have paladins too and not just fallen ones. Every god has champions, and many causes and ideals do too... what makes a paladin is their devotion being taken to such extreme levels it starts to manifest as powers, channeled from that concept and their faith.
Simply put the idea of the holy, absolute warrior blessed by their devotion to what they believe in should be much more universal than just "always lawful good". Clerics make far more sense, needing to be within a step of their deity's alignment. Paladins should be the same if they have a deity, and if it's an ideal it's all about their interpretation of that ideal.
@@Prismwind Because you are devoted to a Chaotic Good deity, doesn't mean u can be chaotic good yourself. Paladins are champions and protectors of the Deity's belief(which itself is lawful in nature). A paladin can believe in a Chaotic good deity, but their function doesn't allow them to be Chaotic themselves. A soldier that disobeys command is fundamentally a shitty soldier, ya he can be a good swordsman but he failed his function as a soldier. In role-playing wise, lawful good doesn't mean everything action you do must be "lawful" or "good", that is a machine not a human(other races) being. A paladin belief in a chaotic good deity may join up with a group of thieves if the local government is shitty. Also, for evil deities... their champion is called Blackguard or Antipaladin, which by itself stands as a class.
I love the idea of a path of vengeance paladin who joins a party and realizes that they actually don't believe the "any means necessary" part. As they start to put the lives of the friends before their goal, they become an oathbreaker.
So Guts, basically
My paladin would definitely put his life on the line before breaking his vengeance oath, but will not allow others to die for his selfish desire of vengeance.
I mean if he has the choice of either defending you or going all in against the bad guy, he would go for the bad guy, and if you die I am sorry. But if he had to chose from saving you of falling out of ledge and letting the bad guy run away he would bregudgely save you. Cause evil must be punish, but I am not evil my self if I let others die under my choice?
Same
My Paladin became an Oathbreaker because my DM and I agreed it would be fun and since he couldn't remember his past he was technically breaking his old oaths by swearing to stop the Chessmaster of a BBEG out of pure spite. We're flavoring Oathbreaker as the Oath of Spite and gave it a single class abilty: twice per long rest he can say "fuck that" to any nat 20s or nat 1s.
They don't have to break their oath. "By any means necessary" is utilitarian thinking, if youre pursuing vengeance to the detriment of people who don't deserve it, then is it really justice? That's sort of the difference between an unhinged bully who just wants to impose their morality on everyone versus a person delivering proper street justice; a champion of the people who strives to protect them and only stacks bodies in extreme circumstances.
In one of my games there was a Vengeance Paladin who was technically Lawful Good, but she was easily distracted and sometimes forgot parts of her oath. It was hilarious! She also had a chatty sentient sword who’s voice could only be heard by people who were Lawful Good, and no one else in the party was, so our characters all thought she was going crazy, having one sided conversations with her sword.
Had a paladin in mine who got goaded into throwing a bomb she wasn't aware was a bomb. She never lived it down.
Fi from the Master Sword
So Deadpool if he gave a damn about the legality of his actions?
Now I'm imagining a character shifting to Lawful Good while the Paladin is mid-conversation with the sword, thinking they finally fucking lost it.
I once played a homebrewed Oath of Devotion paladin, the twist was that he was entirely devoted to himself. He was such an ego maniac, that he developed magic powers purely to show how amazing he was. All of his abilities were flipped around, his aura gave him more power the more allies were around him, his lay on hands was a life draining ability that he could only use to heal himself, etc. He was a lot of fun to rp
This is similar to my character who I made with his Oath I called “The path of Victory” basically it was a character who’s main flaw was his overwhelming need to be victorious to a toxic point, and we decided that I’d be the only person in the party not using XP but instead a achievement system where if I lost in battle or in any situation my character saw as a challenge I would lose power or in case of winning I would gain power. It made for awesome character role play potential and hilarious comedic moments of my character having existential crisis over something as simple as not peeling fruit as well as another party member and literally becoming weaker because of it.
You made Lucius the Eternal, nice!
Lol in a funny way you made a character very similar to an old school paladin.
They were better than everyone else. They didn’t have to sneak because they weren’t cowards and would face things head on.
They were Nobel but that was also part of their conceit.
Sounds awful to play in the same table lol
For some reason this reminded me a lot of Gaston... But that is such a good idea!
Just before i start watching the video, i just wanna say thank you. You have to be one of the BEST content creators out there. You aren't just funny, talented and creative, you also seem to be one of the most generous people in the world. You are not only making this amazing videos to give us new ideas, you are actually WORKING and giving us the content for FREE. You are just so passionate about this channel and this community, and we really, really, REALLY, appreciate everything you do man. Thanks for everything.
There's not enough words to say how true this is, and how much of an inspiration he is to me and I'm sure to many others too.
Goat
Pointy Hat is king
Couldn't have said it better
@@mr.zendar885Should rebrand to Pointy Crown.
I really love BG3's twist on Oathbreakers with how the initial acquistition of the Oathbreaker subclass your character basically has a heartattack
Honestly it makes a lot of sense since you basically betrayed the very thing giving you your powers, so you literally break a part of you/your soul... Heartattacks make sense
I read a great series where breaking a blood oath basically nearly mentally killed some one over a little time, since your literal life was devoted to someone magically. It made for some interesting plot moments when one of the main characters broke theirs in a show of defiance over what their master was doing (they lived dont worry)
So yeah it makes sense
Also, their Paladin character Minthara went against the Paladin stereotype and ended up being the most evil playable companion. Her VA did a great job at having a voice that I could only describe as "venomous".
@@jahcode6132And is also as boring as a Lawful Good Devotion of Paladin. Worst written companion in the entire game. She’s cartoonishly evil
I've always wanted to play a paladin whose oath was their wedding vows... this is perfect! Thank you so much!
What if someone kills their spouse?
@@Mark73 Switch to Oath of Vengeance
Roran Garrowson is the inspiration you need
M'lady
LITERALLY SAME 😂
Pointy hat videos are like a Friday ritual for me at this point
Time to start the PH Temple
fucking same
so you picked your class hold onto your ass cause race a part of a role you can play some sentient clay a he she or they. a beast that gets real snarly a regular dude name Charley if home brew is free a big talking tree welcome to a half guide to dnd
ALL HAIL POINTY
@@johndargis7656 I'm sorry repeat that?
I played a pretty basic paladin once, he was Oath of Vengeance because he had a bit of an anger issue, but he was the typical goody two shoes! The twist? His oath was to the Cult the party was hunting down. He was placed on the team as a spy and spent the whole campaign feeding vital information to this cult. We had some TEAR FILLED sessions when he finally realized that maybe possibly his cult was not so good and told everyone in the party. It was some of the most fun I've ever had.
I know its already a paladin spell, but would really consider adding ceremony to the oath spells for love, being able to hold a wedding at any moment thanks to it being auto preped just seems on flavour
I can see some comedic moments with that one. A party member is grappling with a goblin, the paladin does his ceremony and poof, they are now married to the goblin.
@@ttbrianm Then have some divorce related debuff for added shenanigans
@@M33f3r And has to give the goblin half their gold as part of the divorce. Go goblin!
Horny bards and paladins would hate that 😂
"Ceremony", D&D 3.5
One of the most fun characters I’ve played was a paladin whose oath was “I’ll pay you back, I promise”. He had borrowed money from a devil to pay off his debts to a gang, then he borrowed even more money from a celestial being to pay off the devil. The celestial empowered his promise with paladin magic so that my character could get the money, but if he missed his interest payments then he’d be breaking his oath
So your celestial being was just Visa?
Sir Ponzi, paying off his old debts by owing a new God a new debt in a chain of debts.
Annnnnnd that's how MLM was born... 😂
Sounds like a warlock though
"The Oath of the Ponzi" eh?
I love the Wisteria concept so much, and the artwork even more. An insectoid elf gives me chills. Wish i thought of it.
My oath of devotion paladin got the typical edgy rogue backstory but went the complete opposite direction and basically tried to prove he wasn't a monster by becoming the goodest guy he could think of. He basically runs through life trying to do as much good as possible cause everyone calling him monster/devilspawn felt really bad and he wanted to prove them wrong.
Damn, imagine the captain of the guards in one of those little towns with a tight community, he is known by everyone, knows every corner, every shop and every shopkeeper, spends the time playing with kids in the streets and his love for the city blooms in an oath of love and when generic-evil-tm attacks and everything seems lost he intend to make his last stand but beside him everyday people rise their eyes and crude weapon glowing of the paladin's aura to defend everything they built togheter
I'm crying over this
One of my favorite Magic The Gathering cards "Champion of the Parish", not only has a great ability but his flavor text: "I stand for every cobbler, tanner, and fool in this town - and they stand for me."
BBEG: Hold on, yall said there were no Paladins in this town
Captain: There aren't, only citizens.
BBEG: What does that even-
*SMITE*
This description gave me chills!
I had that npc lol
There was a really cool paladin subclass that I found once. It was called something like Faithless or something like that. The basic gist was, the paladin had lost all hope, and their faith was a dying ember. And, like, the only thing keeping the paladin going was them trying to prevent others from turning faithless and losing hope. It was really cool, and I'm super sad I can't find it again.
So basicly a paladin of hope.
He hopes to save people, he hopes for a better future, he hopes people be better but in the end his faith is in shambles and the only reason they can remain standing is the people that remain faithfull. I like it.
Perhaps an evil cult has inflitarated or replaced the higher ups of a kingdom and they are of the small number that recognizes the faith being skewed and tries to fight against the cult. Could be fun.
Fun fact:
If you multi class a paladin/Barbarian, you can smite while raging
Because smiting isn’t casting a spell
I think oath of vengeance mixes best with Barbarian
I know I'm super late, but I actually have an Oath of Vengance Paladin with a single level dip into Barbarian! She's an angry little girl and- though I have never been able to get her high enough to where her backstory comes into play at the table- her entire character Arc is "when one seeks vengeance, one must dig two graves." She could either fulfill her vengeance by killing the people who killed her father (leaving her hollow and ultimately unfulfilled) or figuring out "Hey, the man my Papa worked for was actually kind of shit and I was a super sheltered child?" And turning her vengeance away that way.
That's terrifying, I need to abuse it someday
That’s actually insane, about a week ago I made a paladin who’s main goal was protecting their brother, who is played by a different party member. You just made a perfect subclass for it!
This is insane, just yesterday I made and played a paladin whose main goal was to save his younger brother who was cursed with lycanthropy by a powerful werewolf (Loup Garou) that he must kill, and we were thinking if one of the party members could actually secretly be that Loup Garou!
I just wanted to comment under this, too, because of just the similarity of recently playing a paladin who wants to protect his brother 😆
Ha, nice!
@@jannfredryckmatias3545 This is insane, just yesterday I made and played a paladin whose main goal was to save his younger brother who was cursed with vampirism by a powerful vampire (Loup Varou) that he must kill, and we were thinking if one of the party members could actually secretly be that Loup Varou
I just wanted to comment under this, too, because of just the similarity of recently playing a paladin who wants to protect his brother 😆
I once made an Oath of the Watchers paladin! She was basically a magical girl in anything but name, 'protecting the realms' with a smile, pink ribbons, and a big heavy greatsword. Her way of thinking was very black-and-white initially, differentiating between 'wrongdoers' and 'the good guys' based on her own biased perception. She was actually quite violent and lawless in her methods.
Initially? Did she have character development?
@@RedeemerofDark Yeah! we had a run-in with a few kenku who were repeating some sentences that heavily implicated them in a murder that had happened. My paladin deemed them the wrong-doers and swung, not knowing how kenku worked. Turns out they were innocent; they had hidden away when the murder happened. They were the witnesses. She only realised their innocence afterwards. Naturally, she's been more doubtful of her don't-ask-just-go approach and her 'justice' since then.
@@nom2157 Very nice and straightforward 👍
That's a neat twist! I played one in a Diablo themed campaign and made him an overzealous demon hunter haha
@@nom2157I don’t understand, she should have broken her oath by being reckless and slaughtering innocents. Isn’t a watcher paladin supposed to protect innocents from space monsters (summarized crudely ofc)
I find the oath of conquest works really well for Goliaths and their urge to break personal records or "conquer" their goals.
On the other hand: think of perhaps how which god a paladin may worship affects how they interpret their oath. For example a paladin of conquest who worships Kord may choose to conquer all who use their might to oppress the weak and to conquer all cowards in their path, rather than conquer straight up everything.
I think Glory would also be well fitted to their culture, because Channel Divinity Peerless Athlete is basically 10 minutes of breaking PBs and Inspiring Smite is like screaming at your allies to push through the pain.
With the idea of "They buff those they love around them" I immediately thought of a situation where the character tells the party about that, and then during a battle one player is getting really beat up and is all like "So you don't love me?!" and the character is like "I guess not?!"
My favorite Paladin subclass is Oath of the Ancients. It’s more than just the nature-themed paladin- It’s tenets aren’t just about protecting others physically, but keeping them happy and healthy as well. Giving people a reason to keep going and enjoying life. Its also encourages the paladin to stay happy and healthy as well. It’s nice.
I love OotA, its like... an Oath to being a hippie. fun to roleplay any way you want to approach it. Wanna be a druid knight? How about some old ass oath-sworn protector? Fairy Knight? Defender of the natural against the forces of other planes? (I'll admit with oath of the watchers there, its a much more direct alternative).
If you play tier 4 in dnd having a Ancients in the party is a must. Undying at level 15 also prevents paladin from aging, at this point the paladin no longer has a lifespan. Finally forcing any creature out of shapeshift on a failed save is truly op in role playing. You can truly wreck DM's plot by forcing a big bad to reveal itself.
@@unknownvalor9755 I do think it is quite good, the only Paladin class I'd personally rate higher than it is Vengeance. Giving the class with the highest single turn damage potential the ability to specify one guy and absolutely erase them from existence is satisfying as hell to watch as a DM, at least for me. I'm just glad when my players remember they can exploit a feature of theirs and use it to greatly help with an encounter, I love it when they actually use their features to outsmart me.
@@deadseven3474 @unknownvalor9755 I don't know. In most my 5e games aura of warding was never used that much. Most spellcasters use debuffs and CCs and when big elemental damage comes into play... it's from abilities like dragon breath whose aura of warding does nothing. Even devotion aura was better because "no" to charm mostly means no mind control. You can force someone to go out of shapeshift if it's shapeshifting not shapechange. For example, it does nothing against changelings. Ancient is one of the subclasses that you need to know that you're going to fight fey, evil druids or mages using magic to do damage not banish, charm, wall of forcing you etc. For example, it can easily shut down enemy warlocks! Undying is mostly just for RP. It's cool. Like... you can be a knight that was standing like a statue in an ancient tomb defending it and then when evil came you woke up. Sadly in the 15th level.
Vengeance on the other hand... like Deadseven said. It's just stronger because in 5e action economy, damage and CCs are the kings not healing and tanking. Hunter mark, misty step and channel divinity of vengeance pala are just too strong in later tiers. You can dish out cosmic level of damage with polearms which this subclass is build for. And when you're mounted is strong. About mounts... Do you know? Paladins WITHOUT subclass is strong enough base that they don't have any weak choice because the weakest choice is still a strong one because paladin. In t4 almost immortal (you can summon it and heal it because of special rules), flying paladin on fooking gryphon is scary enough.
And I still prefer the oath of the watchers. Because I love templars in dragon age and hunting evil mages is fun. Even if the subclass is weak.
@@deadseven3474 My main D&D character is 100% a hippie paladin. He's a paladin of small and forgotten gods, like the kind worshipped in a single out-of-the-way village or discovered as a crumbling idol in an overgrown temple. His oath is to protect the small and downtrodden, and he forswore unnecessary possessions, owning only his robes, his blade, and a pack of supplies. He's multiclassed with hexblade (CHA for attack and damage, and Armor of Shadows so he can use mage armor instead of needing to own expensive plate armor), and last time I played him he swore his Oath of Ancients to the primordial tree/deity that a druidic commune called home, swearing to find a way to cure its blight.
He's an itinerant holy weirdo who refuses to wear shoes and I love him so much
For the longest time I've wanted to play a devotion paladin but for a love deity. Their goal to spread and protect love at all costs. Using a charmed bow and arrow as their main weapon, and a small blade as their secondary one called heartbreak. I have more ideas but when I saw your video I couldn't help feel seen so thank you for all you do. You're doing great and are a regular watch for me! You've got this❤❤❤
Batman's Two-Face is a great take on a Paladin, His Oath would be a total commitment to Fate (Or Chance depending on personal views of the coin flipping). I could see a Chance based Paladin dipping into wild magic, maybe a smite that punishes Constructs or highly armored creatures (it could be called Shattering Smite) or if one insists on alignment rules, lawful creatures.
I'm in love with this idea. Now I want to see more Alignment-bound Paladins with abilities that specifically target their enemies.
This is so good.
Maybe you get an oracle device (like a dice, or a coin) and your DM can force you to do a roll to choose what you're doing.
And you could definitely go for wild magic, but divination also has massive potential (maybe smite and force an enemies next roll to be something predetermined? Or buff an ally's roll. Of course getting overridden by nat 20/1 as that means that fate itself clearly had chosen the outcome, and who are you to intervene)
I actually played a chaotic neutral rogue like this once. He was not a sloppy guy, he was ideologically devoted to chaos and worshipped Tymora, goddess of luck. I played his alignment by flipping a coin with Tymora's visage on one side when I had to make a binary choice with narrative weight. I flipped one irl. It was fun but it killed him in the very last encounter in the campaign.
@@igor_kossov Thats quite a poetic end if you ask me
The first thing that came to mind with the Love Paladin was Hydaelyn from FF14. A paladin with parental love for the people/world, someone who loves meeting new people, new places, new vistas.
Played a vengeance paladin through a campaign ran a few years ago, His story ended with him returning home and ending up as part of the city's Council with a key interest in forming friendships and treaties with local towns, other cities and general populations.
Final epilogue was a orc + goblin camp having a party over a recent loot run after a raid on some caves which held a kobold population that had earned a place in the city through mining and trade with the dwarven population. The last we heard was just him arriving to the camp alone before going to town on the camp for invading some innocent lizards.
And that's still my favourite way to play vengeance paladin. Doesn't have to be a mad search for wrong doers. Sometimes defending your home town is enough for them to reveal themselves
Paladin will always have a soft spot in my heart because it was the only class I could beat the Baldur's Gate series when I was a kid when I couldn't comprehend the rules or mechanics. Personally have never played a ttrpg with people but I just love consuming this info (fantasy book guy) and your type of info, presentation, humor and good will is just everything. Thank you for the content, it is quite wonderful
I'm a grown man and I still can't comprehend Baldur gate 1 and 2's mechanics
@@DarkGreenFire Welcome to THAC0 and D&D 2e. The poor game had nothing to do with it, it was just born with dumb inverted armor class.
Okay, but when you showed the elder form on that Fey Paladin I actually popped off in my chair that design KILLS! Amazing job, great video!
I made a subclass called the Oath of Mischief, with an aura that reduces enemy mental saves and a spell list based around Enchantment and Illusion. When you described Wisteria I thought immediately of the Oath of Mischief.
(My Oath of Mischief paladin exited the campaign when she used the last Wish on a Monkey's Paw to make a red dragon fall in love with her. Because it was a Monkey's Paw she fell in love with him too and they flew off into the sunset together. It removed the dragon from the list of enemy assets, which had been the plan, but...)
Disguised bard
I have an Oath of Devotion paladin but chose to make my devotion to family. She's a sweet middle-aged dwarf mom who decided to go adventuring like the heroes in her pulp novels after all the kids moved out. The party she met up with became part of her family during their harrowing escape from the under dark and that's how they benefit from her aura.
i had an oath of Devotion paladin as well. but my Secret worship to Vecna got figured out with a failed roll on Slight of hand when i was attempting to re-hide my Amulet of a Hand holding an Eye after our party got arrested because our monk decided to pick a fight. when the party first meet my character they didnt even question my Left hand being a prosthetic and having a fake eye. it was an interesting session for sure, instead of trying to break out all they wanted to do was interrogate me for half our session. All was forgiven when my Background False identity got us out of jail. but they didnt know part of why i joined the group was to lead them into a trap. This character replaced the one i played before that died while raiding an abandoned temple where a Cult of Vecna worshipers were gathering. Funny enough they didnt kill one of them. so when i talked to the DM, he let me turn that character into my new character for an interesting storyline.
¿Devotion? All right take a heavy weapon (greatsword or a greataxe), use your channel divinity to add extra modifier to your attacks and combine it with greatweapon master.
The results won't disappoint you.
Vin diesel as a little old lady
Conquest paladin turned orphanage patron defies Gruumsh and his oath of laying waste to the hosts of Maglubiyet in favor of defending the kids. So he's broken his oath now, but... He's most definitely not an Oathbreaker. I've been wondering what his future career might look like for quite some time now. And now I know! Faaantastic job, as always! Can't tell you how much I appreciate your work.
That reminds me of Cecil from FF IV, except, that girl had a mother, who... anyways he turns to Redemption, and the girl, turns out to be the parties Druid...
You can stay conquest. Just change your targets!
"I will bring ruination to anyone who attacks someone before their fated hour of conflict. I will shatter their bones to dust and spread it amongst the crops of the future.
One day a soul I spared will stand against me and in that moment, I'll see the fulfillment of my oath as their strength runs true."
And you basically chase after fights that are of equal or greater strength with the ability to put that aside to beat down those who only look for the weak.
@@riastlin2891 Absolutely! That was my original plan. Add a conflict of faith with the introduction of Ilmater, and explore the nuances between conquest as eradication and conquest as protection. But then again, this Oath Of Love looks sooo clear in concept, and sounds like a super fun device for directly incorporating said change of faith. Maybe *eventually*...
I'm all for making Oathbreakers that defy the traditional edgy, Darth Vader route
Recently I've wanted to play an Oathbreaker Revenant for Curse of Strahd
The idea is this:
The Oathbreaker was once a knight, and swore a sacred oath that he would slay Strahd alongside his comrades.
Only for him to flee the battle in fear.
Upon his inevitable death, the sheer, uncontrolled hatred of his fallen comrades, combined with the innate darkness of Barovia, bound his spirit eternally to the land, not unlike Strahd himself. His paladin abilities come from his innate connection to Barovia itself.
Rather than an edge lord, he's a kind, polite, soft spoken father figure with a healthy amount of existential dread and regret
Your design for her Elder Champion form is freaking amazing!!! That's one of the most beautiful and frightening character designs I've seen in a long damn time.
11:20 Someone once said that the moment a DM goes "Ah, they chose this thing, so I need to make the game harder", then there's a problem with the option. I don't think that Oath of the Ancients is busted, but I don't believe that the reaction to an overpowered character option should be an equal and opposite force.
First class I played, fun flavor but I always felt like they were a one trick pony. At least early levels, once you get your oath and a few levels you feel way more unique.
Edit: I wanna make an oath of vengeance Darth Vader Paladin now...
paladins start to kick off at level 7, once auras start to come into play in their subclasses
I’d argue that early levels of any class are going to feel the same until you get more of your subclass abilities at later levels.
@@pointyhatstudios I gotta say, as someone for whom most f my play experience was in D&D3.5, seeing Darth Vader as a paladin really threw me.
@@Lobsterwithinternet A good amount of classes are pretty unique from the get go, I suppose it’s because it’s a hybrid class but unlike others the first 3 levels of Paladin just feel like a worse fighter.
I once designed a Paladin who made an oath to his horse, because it saved his life when it rode him out of a battle that he could not win.
The horse so became kind of his guiding figure, literally. He would only ride where his horse takes him and my group had to tie up the horse to another horse, so he would follow, and use the horse as bait to make him do what they wanted. Placing the horse in dangerous situations to have the Paladin participate.
When his horse didn't like someone, which could be just the wrong snort towards some random townsfolk, he killed them. And he tried to get romantic with anybody his horse liked. Tried because his charisma was so low, he couldn't even deliver the basic pick-up lines correctly.
He was the most fun guy I ever played.
I'm so happy that you made the Oath of Love. As someone whose favorite deity is Sune, and was heartbroken when we had the Love Domain ripped away from us, it is absolutely amazing to receive this gift. I'm definitely going to include this at my tables. Though, you seem to have only given them 1 spell per level with their oath spells. Might I suggest adding:
Charm Person (which isn't mind control, it just makes creatures view you as friendly) though Heroism can also work, Warding Bond, Beacon of Hope or Protection from Energy, maybe Compulsion to draw the enemy toward you, but Aura of Purity and Aura of Life can also work if Compulsion is too close to mind control, and maybe Greater Restoration, Mass Cure Wounds, Skill Empowerment, Telepathic Bond, or even Hold Monster could be appropriate additions. I get that there's a heavy emphasis on protecting and encouraging one's friends. If social graces are part of the identity as well: Gift of Gab can let you take back insulting comments, and of course Ceremony, Color Spray, Aid, Lesser Restoration, Aura of Vitality, Charm Monster, Circle of Power, and Hallow can also fit this subclass well.
Currently running an Oath of the Ancients paladin. He’s a Ser, knighted and ready to uphold the virtues of a Druidic circle. Having a lot of fun being the grandpa of the group who lets some mischief commence as life is boring without it.
*Sir.
Unless he's in Westeros.
I like that in the text it says they get their magic from their oath, yet they get spell casting before they even take their oath. xD
YES YES YES
I conger this is the most significant event (translation: LETS FRICKING GOOOOO)
Antonio, Thank you. What you're delivering to us every time is a gem of a work. The amazing content, humor and memories you often bring to us are out of this world ("I personally totally forgot about "Angel with a shotgun" Nightcore edition to which I listened a lot when I was younger and many other legendary pieces). Thank you, Antonio ❤️😇
Oath of Glory is my favorite because your oath is just "my name will be known across the land!" How you get there can line up with any alignment
Oath of cloutchasing
The oath of Crom... I will crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and will hear lamentations of their women.
The anime character with a red hair, that appears in various clips is from "The Faraway Paladin" You're welcome.
A paladin that’s devoted to a passion vs one that’s devoted to an oath has some strong _Stormlight Archives_ vibes. Great video as always!
The Knights radiant are pretty much just Paladins. Now we have to think of a memorable name for our paladin. Oh! I know…. (Reads note). Kaladin.
"I swear I will stay true to try and fix my mental health issues"
yea sounds good, if only
@@anonymousname5860 Tsk, you could at least TRY to have some originality. Like Shallan, that's an original name!
Knight Radiants are the perfect example of the variaty of paladins. Kaladin and the WindRunners are the classic oath of devotion, but shallan is a total diferent thing , she is lake oath of the ancient.
Honestly the two things I dislike are as follows: Oathbreaker needs far more nuance since breaking one's oath isn't necessarily a paladin doing a bad thing (they could be breaking it due to the fact that to them performing an action that is part of their oath in a moment breaks their personal moral compass) and where in the multiverse are blackguards? The essential anti-paladin. Knights who fully embrace the powers of the lower realms or perhaps even dark beings from beyond. Warriors that smite not with radiant damage but burn away flesh with necrotic smites. Those who channel divine will to turn back angels and other creatures of the upper planes while bolstering undead or creatures of the lower.
Basically gimme the unapologetically evil antipaladins/blackguards back.
As for "Oathbreakers" I feel that shouldn't be a subclass but definitely a personal story plot where one finds that the oath the originally swore turned out to not be one they can follow anymore. A temporary power loss but one where they could gain new power following a new oath. Or perhaps seduced into a different path by another force that may not be evil but also may not have the best intentions for the world or you.
I also like to think that Paladins kinda work like warlocks in that their power doesn't necessarily come from a divine source but certainly a powerful one. Like imagine a paladin who is oath sworn to a lich or a powerful vampire. Perhaps even a mage.
Seriously the fact that paladins aren't tied to not just alignments anymore but also not tied to gods make them far more interesting than how they used to be story wise. So many options now.
I was hesitant to play a paladin at first because of those pre-conceived notions of them being lawful good. But I decided to give it a go, and it immediately jumped up my list of favorite classes, and by far my favorite martial class. My very first session I spent all of my money in order to buy another character a cupcake for every one of their birthday's that I had missed. Shortly after I accidently got half the party locked up for wanting to get in a bar fight, and we had to make a prison break as a result. That was a very chaotic party, so I soon found myself becoming the "dad" of the group to prevent everyone from getting themselves killed. At one point I jumped off a cliff to catch a polymorphed companion who had been thrown, despite having no means of getting us back to the cliff. I think there was only one combat where I didn't go unconscious from tanking so much, and in one particular battle with a vampire, finished the fight with a max HP of 3 from all the life drains. I went with a 2 handed glaive as my primary weapon, intentionally avoiding a shield and keeping my AC relatively low, to encourage enemies to come for me rather than my squishier companions. And thanks to misty step, if someone tried to avoid me, I could chase them down pretty easily (unless they could fly). I had a blast.
I've been waiting all of Spring Break for this. Thanks Pointy Hat!!
for some reason i watched this video after watching hazbin hotel and remembered charlie and Vaggie in a way they are paladins of love
especially Vaggie because her whole idea was to be the armor and the shield of her lover with her purpose beingexactly that and that conviction made her wings that were literally tore off from her regrow
a way to make this character work use as a race the vigil from pointy hat video about Aasimars then choose this subclass and after that find someone who is a divine soul sorcerer tiefling and bang now you have a fantastic lesbian angelical demonic duo ready to face any foe and rdeem sinners in a hotel
This is my third time trying to write this, so I'll keep it brief:
Having grown up on Sci-Fi (mainly Star Trek/Wars) I understand and love dealing with the complexities of morality and law. I'm fortunate enough to have players who love dealing with those sorts of complexities as well, and more than one session has become a serious, in-game debate between characters of radically different views.
In the case of "vanilla" Paladins, I think a lot of people should take a better read at the Code in older editions, though I personally recommend reading Pathfinder 1e's Paladin Code. It specifies a Paladin can make TEMPORARY alliances with evil characters, if they consider it in service of defeating a far greater evil. Depending on your DM, you can also find a lot of "loopholes" through omission in the code. For example, the party had to enter a temple of Boccob, God of Magic (3.5) but could only get in if they looked the part. The Paladin couldn't lie if they asked him anything, so he merely posed as a bodyguard for the party wizard. Technically, he wasn't doing anything, and though he knew he'd need to seek Atonement later, the fact was they were running out of time to stop a cult they needed information on.
The only time I "revoked" said Paladin's powers was, not because he broke his oath, but because he hesitated when using Divine Smite on a fellow party member who was about to slaughter a defenseless enemy. When he sought atonement that time, a Celestial appeared to him in a vision and explained it: "These powers are to be used decisively, without doubt, fear or hesitation clouding your heart. You are a conduit of our powers, and when you pronounce judgement you speak for us all."
Your story about entering the temple of Boccob is exactly the sort of thing a paladin would do!
That's maybe the biggest NPCs I ever need to play. The dang gods. Sometimes God is hard to comprehend, and you get an interpretation of the will of Heaven from an intermediary. Saintly cults had that role. I like to somehow make it clear what the intention of God is, through small steps. Making a spell fizzles or cutting off the tap a day or making cats hiss are small reminders when you have strayed.
Your videos are amazing bro, i insta click on them as soon as they come online. YOUR EDITING IS SOOO GOOD.
00:31 As soon as this began playing, I started to sing along. Sabaton do have Paladin sounding songs.
Love Sabaton. At least someone else noticed it!
Playing out of the abyss I had an Oath of Redemption pally named Praxis who was explicitly down there to try and convince the duergar and drow to give peace a chance. He also wanted to try and get Lolth to ease up on the drow because he felt like she must just be afraid to lose them and that's why she was so cruel. He had a tendency to sing lullabys for the party
Made a Watcher Paladin the other day that was the daughter of my Twilight Cleric and Dhampir Rune Knight. Became a Watcher Pally after reading about cosmic horrors from the tomes her father kept in secret and being discovered by the Order of the Yellow Seer. She's got a personality that is a combination of Charlie Day and Old Man Henderson. Also she thinks her brother is "Like a total jabroni bro. Now let me tell you about that comet that crashed in to the earth, can we talk about the comet that crashed? I'm dying to talk about that comet that crash landed down on the plains! [Goes into Pepe Silva style rant about a chunk of rock]"
Hey Pointy Hat, just coming to inform you that the Vagabonds Guide to Dalriada kickstarter was a scam. They haven't updated in months, its been almost a year since their initial fulfillment month, and so far all we've gotten was playtest packets. no dice, no books, no setting, nothing.
Can't believe love paladins get to have that "I know this isn't you/you're still in there" anime moment where a love interest snaps a character out of their avatar state or whatever, I love it
A huge thank you for your content. The fact you give the new content for free is incredibly generous. Plus you pair it with quality videos full of charm and humor. You're a cut above.
P.s. the art for Wisteria and the new oath has reached a new level. Truly stunning and easily my favorites of yours now
I've played every edition of D&D since 1979. My single most powerful PC was a 5e Vengeance Paladin who dipped a couple levels of Warlock to pickup Hexblace. That guy was unstoppable! 5e Pallys can be awesome!
They were always awesome. Just most people never knew how to play them till it was watered down for them in 5e.
I have been gaming for thirty years and I am always impressed by the fresh creativity you bring to these videos and alternative rulesets!
Well done!
my favorite D&D character I've ever played was an Oath of Redemption paladin whose "oath breaking" came from falling in love and having a child, which changed her ideals and made her re-evaluate her life choices. I'm honestly considering changing her subclass to "love paladin" if my DM accepts the idea 👀 having her "oath of redemption" fulfilled and changed into an "oath of love" would be so perfect for her!
I love knights in shinning armor. My daughter was a paladin of Yule Tide Cheer - St Nicholas (very kind & generous). Awesome & super funny. I was a drow spy. Our antics were ledgendary folks!!
I’d love to see your take on the aasimar race! i love the idea of recessive divine heritage and vague prophecies in a “so beautiful it’s kinda unsettling and sterile” package, but don’t want to play Gods Most Special Little Soldier who has to save the world and be the main character.
you probably have seen it, but good news for you in the most recient upload!
Oooooh, I'm actually planning to multiclass my Dragon Sorcerer into Glory Paladin levels. A major part of her arc throughout the campaign been her striving to overcome her limitations and walls placed on her life by her mom + former mentors.
Now, she's finding the grounding to steel her own resolve to set upon her own path, regardless of all the expectations placed upon her and find her own way to independence.
18:10 it is not a paladind playing. You know, paladins are not dumb. Paladins just try to reach a good goal and not to act as would be "good and polite" if paladin need to help a corupted king to save world paladin will do so. If paladin need to steal from begars hous and this is ONLY option to save a group of inocent people LAWFUGOOD paldin will do so. Most of the people just don't understand paladins and plays dumb. Paladins no need to be "i don't steal and don't hae fun becaus it is bad" paldins need to be " I steal because i can save people who need me, and i have fun because it not make me weaker in saving people"
My first and favorite character was an Oath of the Ancients paladin who, not by design, went completely insane. He was completely out of his mind, and it really added to the whole "otherness" of that subclass's morality.
And props to you for using all those clips from the Green Knight, awesome film.
My favorite part of paladin is the auras. I really think that they should lean into it more. It's what I think about when I think about paladins. I love the image of someone being so devoted to their beliefs that it affects the weave around them giving boons to their allies and causes harm to their enemies. Area of effects that is always centered on the self. Soo cool
My Chaotic good Oath of Conquest Paladin:
YES NEW VIDEO ON ONE OF MY FAVORITE CLASSES!!!! I love creating characters who believe what they're doing is good but doesn't appear so on the outside. Huge fan.
The ending with wisteria really caught my eye because before I ever saw this video, for the last several years of many many wonderful adventures full of lore, the main kingdom in my setting has been called wisteria and it has a pantheon of witches but is also ruled by a lineage of hero kings. I think I might add her to the lore in some degree if that's OK.
My personal Paladin has a bit of the typical traits of Paladins, with a little bit of flair added. Concept: a simple peasant who lived in a town plagued by bandits. Growing up, he would be constantly frustrated at how little the local lordship seemed to be doing to solve the problem (whether or not the lord is corrupt, or just incompetent isnt important. The DM can have fun with that). He eventually joins the local militia and trains to fight off the brigands himself (first 4 levels as fighter) and eventually finds faith in Tyr. He would eventually swear himself to a temple as an oath of vengence Paladin. He shares typical Paladin traits: dutiful, committed to his oath, etc, but he's also extremely headstrong and aggressive. He wants to protect the innocent, but he also fucking HATES bandits. Full on relgious fury smite-and-cleave lunatic. It's funny, because I'm an atheist, but I adore religious zealot characters. They're often a lot of fun. Think the Ecclesiarchy, the Mechanicus or the Black Templars from 40k. I've even chosen an unconventional (and probably highly suboptimal) build: dual wielding longswords. Just for that 'furious berzerker slashing at everything around him' vibe. He's been a lot of fun so far 🙂
This video was everything I could have asked for and more! Paladins have always been my favorite class because of their insane roleplay potential, versatility, and general ability to hit like a train! It always makes me sad to see people avoid playing because they think Paladin is the “lawful stupid, goody-two-shoes class”.
My friends and I have always tried playing them in a way that helps progress the story and work with the party, even when 3.5e Code of Conduct existed. We actually found a lot of success in following the philosophy that part of a high Wisdom is having substantial common sense! For example, if using an ambush would make a group of enemies more likely to surrender peacefully then it would be worth it to do so! Or, after an ambush, engaging the leader in an honorable duel to make them call their group to surrender works too! Wisdom=common sense also helps in regards to the whole “respecting all authority” thing, because if it is reasonable to suspect said authority is abusing their power, then allowing a party member to do some “investigating” while you distract them with some questions is still technically for good!
But then 4th and 5th edition did away with forcing LG, so we don’t have to worry about that anymore and I’ve been able to make some of my favorite characters because of it! ^w^
See, I prefer Low Wis Paladins, or well Fighter too tbh. Someone with their head too far up into the clouds, who can't bring themselves to turn a blind eye to something wrong no matter how dangerous or powerful or politically/socially untouchable the aggressor is. Impulsive, but they look after their friends as well as those they've sword to defend (which might be just about everyone they come across). Kind, but will lay down a beatdown against those who attempt to hurt those they care about.
Maybe they're a little bit of a "goody-two-shoes" but usually the type of people saying that are the type of people who aren't great people anyways? Especially if they're using the world being a terrible place as a reason to murder, steal beyond their needs, etc. Sure maybe wanting to be a hero is childish, but if someone puts in the work, its not necessarily a bad thing. Or something that can only be played in this one particular way.
It should be mentioned that as of Tasha's, monsters aren't designed to use spells anymore. They're designed to use magical effects primarily, and spells occasionally. This really cuts in on the effectiveness of the Oath of the Ancient's aura.
my first paladin rolled 18 charisma to start with, i was so hype. then proceeded to fail 95% of my intimidation rolls regardless. sometimes the dice just hate you
Your scripts and editing are great, this is solid comedy and good content.
One of my favourite characters I've made was an Oath of the Ancients tiefling paladin. Her whole deal was that she comes from a society of tieflings who had been tasked to protect a portal into the FeyWilds and each generation, the village chose someone to serve as their champion. On the day this character was chosen and took her vows, something happened and the portal closed. The village blamed her for it and she began her quest to discover the source of the corruption and reopen the portal.
She was a big sweetheart who just wanted to help everyone, but was also a 7 foot tall tiefling wielding an ancient sword bigger than most people, and she just couldn't understand why everyone was terrified of her.
My conquest paladin hating everyone so hard he literally generates magic from it. (also scourge aasimar works very well with aura of conquest and crusader's mantle. dealing pretty good damage for just being in your prescence. And blocking them from running away. Combine this with sentinel and a glaive and you look badass. I really like the "non good" paladins. Vengeance is cool, Conquest is my favorite, Oathbreaker is a cool concept but I don't like that it's so nececarily evil. Like, if my slaughtering conquest paladin shows mercy to some farm kid, he becomes... even more evil? Then there's glory, which I also really like, but you can play similarly with barbarian.
The use of Saboton immediately makes this video 15/10 🔥🔥
what song plays when the dog is spinning around the spiky metal ball
@@itscznben8728 the lost battalion
5:43 Quick note, rules-as-written divine smite maxes out at 4th level, the only way to get 6d8 is when you hit a fiend or undead, BUT in 5e divine smite can stack with smite spells.
Where as in older editions it maxed out at 20th level and didn't require thrnuse of dice or spell slots. Ahh good times those were.
I hate the fact that the Oathbreaker subclass automatically presupposes, and is made around, the idea of being evil.
Which then means that paladins that broke their oath, in a good cause, are left on ice and have 3, all really bad, options:
1. They just roll with all oath-specific features disabled (with maybe some exceptions, up to the DM's discretion)
2. Try to regain their oath, despite the fact that they might've broken it for a good reason.
Like for example, oath of vengeance paladin growing up, oath of the crown paladin lying to authorities of a tyrant king to help keep some resistance fighters safe- breaking evil law for a good cause, is still breaking the law. Or oath of conquest paladin realising They were the baddie, and all his paladin friends wearing skull symbols on their helmets, and serving AN ACTUAL FUCKING DEVIL, really should've fired some alarms, years ago. Why would that paladin even want to go back to an oath which tenets have already brought them to do evil?
3. Become evil and start doing all the necromancy, hate, and fear themed shit??? Like that's just stupid, they wanted to stop being evil, so now they become even more evil???
Oathbreaker class shouldn't be the way it is today.
There should be a special dedicated subclass for all the emo edgelords, that has nothing to do with just breaking the oath, it can even give the same abilities as the current Oathbreaker (cause they're cool and very consistent, I just disagree with how you get them) or something like the Oath of Conquest, but even edgier, or maybe a separation of Oath of Conquest and the "Hell Knights" into two different oaths.
While the actual Oathbreaker subclass should be what it's name says it is. A Paladin that broke their oath, becomes an Oathbreaker. Period.
Then, from within them being an Oathbreaker they can try to go back to their old oath, if they wish so and/or because they broke their oath due to an actual 'lapse of judgement', while having the new feature set of an Oathbreaker (which should also be completely different than the current ones) and getting to do something new for a while.
Or just roll with it and become their own person, that doesn't need to adhere to a specified oath and can fully center their actions around their moral compass, Their, still very much zealous, convictions, not the one dictated by their oath that they evidently grew out of.
They can still be good, or they can be evil, but it's up to them to decide what to do with the powers they awakened within themselves over the course of their life.
Rege-Jean Page plays a Lawful Good paladin quite straight in the new D&D movie and I'd argue it's hardly limited his ability to express his character.
Currently rocking an Oath of Redemption Paladin. One power feature is a channel divinity that resets on short rests: Rebuke the Violent. Basically when someone other than me is harmed I can use my reaction to deal the same damage (no matter how much) back at the attacker as radient damage. They can make a save to take half. But this has proven very powerful against large damage enimies.
Oath of Redemption Pallies are my favorite to play as. They really work well with protecting allies and punishing enemies for choosing not to target the tank (aka, you).
This sounds like a good oath for building a good christian paladin. The road to being a peacemaker. It looks like flavoring them with the Bible and Jesus’ be-attitudes is almost what it made for. I want to mess around with devotion to agape love as an idea to. “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
(I Corinthians 13:4-7 NKJV)
The Idea of a tank that wants to help and cares about others selflessly is what I want paladins to be. Not self righteous but loving unconditionally.
Need a story about a paladin of a love goddess and a cleric of a war god getting together tbh.
Though not a d&d idea, I am recently working on a framework for an idea around the ancient "eden" of Arcadia protected during a Golden Age by the goddess Astaera and how it was corrupted by Prometheus. Kind of a faction based, which divinity do you side with kind of idea for maybe an mmorpg?
Evening Glory+Orkus. They both really click when it comes to the idea of undead
@@huivnthecaitiff1098 it’s a reference to Aphrodite and Ares in Greek mythology
make a godess similar to ishtar and you'll do both.
Pladins and Clerics of Freya: Those are the same picture.
I actually tried to go against the stereotypes with a Pathfinder 1e paladin, so back when they were alignment-locked to Lawful Good. Basically I tried to see how far you could go from the classic paladin without breaking the alignment - she was a bit of a smartarse, flirty, relaxed, polyamorous… and a short tiefling girl with no shield, a breastplate and a longsword worshipping a deity of, among other things, prostitutes (namely the ones who wanted to be in that profession and had all the relevant protections, the ones who were forced into it still prayed to that god but it was to get them *out* of the business).
See, the Lawful Good alignment is surprisingly quiet on the subject of relationships beyond the basics - namely that you can’t go misleading people about them. But nothing says that you can’t be a promiscuous individual and still be Lawful Good so long as you take all necessary precautions and make sure everybody involved knows what the deal is. From there I just worked the personality further and further from the paladin norm (which, interestingly, actually took her partway towards the characterisation they gave Seelah, Pathfinder’s Iconic Paladin, when they made her a companion in the Wrath of the Righteous video game adaptation); she distrusts horses, figures the best defence is a good offence, has some latent anger management issues she struggled with when young but learned to handle better with her training, and generally doesn’t take things too seriously unless it’s a life or death situation or one where her oaths to Lymnieris come into play.
She’ll actually be easier to play in some respects in Pathfinder 2e, now that it’s tossed alignment out the window. Although her focus on offence may be a touch trickier as they made the class much more defensive this edition. Which I don’t mind; keeps the class closer to the archetype’s origins than the “walking nuke” it’s become in 5e thanks to their version of Smite.
I play a Paladin of redemption which can be pretty cookie cutter if you look at it just through the eyes of turning evil to good. However if you look at it in a different way. you can see that redemption is a very broad idea. So my character idea is redemption through combat like a Roman Gladiator. This is lawful neutral with the idea of fighting to survive being the only way the world can redeem itself from its laziness. I have been having a lot of fun playing this concept and let me know if you have any other fun ideas for redemption paladins.
Reading your comment just made me think of a Redemption Paladin as a former "Really Bad Guy"
Your darker evil past sometimes sneaks out, and bad habits are hard to break, but you continue trying to eventually change your ways
A potentially better a Paladin slowly being corrupted. Start pretty corrupted and eventually develop better willpower, habits and moral strength
Redemption is also my bag, though I do more of the "guilt and shame are social constructs you don't need, just be you--but if being you means harming innocents, I'mma have to stop you." Fun stuff.
I once made an ancient paladin that was an interpretation of siding with life/the forest itself. It did so mostly because it wanted to keep unnatural things (monstrosities, extraplanar beings, undead etc.) as far away from the forests as possible. It was nice being good without having to play the hero.
I never played DND except for once And didn't really understand it, but I was a paladin. Because my friends needed one I always lean towards Sorcerer or something like that. However, recently have been playing nay obsessing over boulders gate 3. And paladin is the way to go for me. I really enjoyed it.
I rarely comment, but i have to say it. This paladin subclass is, to me, the best things you ever gives us. I wanted to create a homebrew paladin of friendship, but its not needed anymore because you did an excellent job at it. The flavor is really good and the mechanics mach it perfectly. Plus, i think this paladin subclass may be a very good option it you want to play a charisma based paladin without multi classing hex blade and still be very useful. So thank you, i know what subclass i will choose for my next paladin character, who will never be played because i'm a forever DM ^^
I only make characters that are unorthodox, and all your videos appeal to my strange love of unusual characters perfectly. Thank you. I am about to play a character with a Curse at the center of their identity, and I'm excited to see how I work around it, and if I choose to be rid of it at some point, or lean into it!
I enjoy making good characters, not to mention people alwase misanderstand lawfull, just cause im lawfull doesnt mean i alwase follow the law ot means i have a strict code i follow like a DAMNED OATH I SWORE that gives me great power
I love watching these videos, they always come out right as I get to work on Fridays so I can listen along while I get things set up :]
Dude I love your Paladin concept so MUCH! At first I thought it was going to be your typical Oath of the Ancients, but the further I got into it, the more intrigued I became, and the more flavorful this character was. When I got to the end, I was almost thinking, "At Level 20, this character could simply be the BBEG," and that'd STILL make for a very interesting story! Like, goshDAMN!!! Well done my good sir! Bravo!
I've never believed that paladins should be lawful good as gods reflect all aspects and all alignments. That being said the new atheist paladins don't make sense to me. Every single rouge should be a paladin then, "Oath of Give Me Your Stuff" would be the most dominant paladin by the numbers. They just seem like warlocks whose own narcissism gives them their powers now.
I've actually been working on an "Oath of Self Improvement" subclass that I think has a lot of potential. The character's main driving force could range from atoning for a past mistake to kicking a bad habit to just wanting to lose a few pounds or something. Their philosophy basically boils down to believing that making the world a better place starts with becoming your best self.
The idea sounds really cool my friend; however might I suggest that you pick a better, or rather catchy name for it? Self improvement will turn many people off at first glance. Something like... "Oath of Cultivation" or "Oath of Ascendance" might attract the attention of your players or Dm.
This could also work as a monk subclass.
I don't see how that can fit into the Paladin aspect... I mean then every class is one? I don't know of any player or class that doesn't want to "improve" and be the best it can be.
1:25 I was always under the impression that their oath is so powerful that it attracts the support of a god.
Kinda of the reverse. A bunch of good intermediate and lower dieties realised they didn't have the mystical clout to empower powerful champions to fight the high-end mystical bad guys. So they pooled their power and created a set of rules so only the best mortal would be empowered. It's why in earlier editions paladins were built to be really powerful.
@@ericlennon7585aving an Oath that attracts gods are more interesting, i'll stick with that
You missed my favorite oath, Valor. Big damn hero, always, and he will take all his friends along for the ride.
I love paladins, in my play group I've been typecast to Paladin or Wizard because I excel at playing those two classes.
I once made an explicitly Ace paladin of Love for a campaign that sadly didn't get very far, but I love seeing that concept expanded upon! In my case, he was mostly just the Ultimate Wingman, but leaning harder into it also would have been interesting :P
Oath of Conquest is also a interesting, morally grey paladin subclass as well! It's one of my favorites, but maybe I should try Ancients at some point.
"morally grey" while explicitly allowing war crimes.
@@SulliverVittles It's not a war crime if it goes unpunished.
be me: an oath of vengeance dex-pal using a rapier most of the game
also me the moment I hit level 20: "Hey dm, can we go back to the town, I have something I need to get for this last fight with the bbeg"
*grabs the blunderbuss I bought at level 9 for 500 gold
me once it's my turn in the bbeg fight: "I pull out the blunderbuss and assume a the form of an angelic avenger."
the dm's face when he realizes why I brought a speaker that day
😨
my face when I played through a two year long campaign dropping hints to my master plan like they were hand grenades for the sole purpose of trolling my dm (once said "my vengeance is worth every ounce of righteousness I have left and at this point I don't care if the heavens won't take me back" and various other hyper edgy stuff like that to disguise references to an at the time three year old song)
😈
my favorite character i've ever made, was an oath of the ancients paladin, that put a *LOT* of emphasis on the "make people happy" part of the oaths
he was the life of the party, drinks for everyone, songs sung everywhere, and he also flirted with a lot of women.
he was perfect, i could play a strong class that helps the party, versatile since the oath of ancients give access to some cool druidic flavor, had a fun roleplay with a lot of focus on having good times both for himself and those around him, all whilst still keeping the basic paladin concept of always being good