Because apparently this is a series now, I'm going to continue from my last post and look at the subclasses in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, with a part three coming later to take care of the ones featured in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (which includes the reprinted Oath of Glory from Theros).
So, we'll be looking at Oath of the Crown, Oath of Conquest, and Oath of Redemption.
Oath of the Crown:
This one is interesting in that it's very civic-minded, focused on loyalty to a king or nation. It strikes me as a primarily Lawful Neutral kind of oath.
Your oath spells are Command, Compelled Duel, Warding Bond, Zone of Truth, Aura of Vitality, Spirit Guardians, Banishment, Guardian of Faith, Circle of Power, and Geas (and just to put that out there, if you've always wondered how to pronounce Geas, it sounds like "gesh").
There are a couple powerful ones here. Spirit Guardians is great for a melee class. Circle of Power can be a lifesaver, though of course you won't get it until tier 4.
Your first channel divinity option is Champion Challenge, which is a bonus action and forces any creatures you choose within 30 feet who fail on a wisdom save to be unable to willingly move more than 30 feet from you until you are incapacitated, die, or if you move 30 feet from them. If you have a bunch of weaker, ranged enemies, this can be a nasty ability that allows you to slaughter them, and as a bonus action and with no set duration, I think this is pretty good.
The other option is Turn the Tide, which is also a bonus action and heals creatures that can hear you and who are at half their max HP or lower for 1d6+Charisma (minimum of 1.) This strikes me as suffering from diminishing returns at higher levels, and if an unconscious creature can't hear you, it's a bit underwhelming.
At level 7, you get the ability to use your reaction to soak the damage a friend within 5 feet of you takes, and can't be reduced by resistances or other such things (though I guess if the friend is resistant you'll still take half.) This is a pretty great way to save a fragile character, and with no limit other than using your reaction, it's a pretty good feature. The range is super short, though, so you'll want to cluster up to be able to make use of this.
At 15, you get advantage on saving throws against paralyzation and stuns. Situationally useful, but pretty dull.
Finally, your level 20 ult is Exalted Champion. This takes your action, but unlike other ults, this one lasts an hour, not just a minute. You get resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. Your allies have advantage on death saves while within 30 feet of you. And you and your allies within 30 feet have advantage on Wisdom saves. This is pretty good, and the hour duration means it could potentially be up for multiple fights. A lot of monsters have magical weapons, though you'd be surprised how many don't (like dragons' claws and teeth.)
Overall, I think Crown is decent if a little boring. Let's look at the others.
Oath of Conquest:
Outside of the Oathbreaker, this is the only subclass that seems to skew more toward evil for paladins. Yes, Crown feels like it can be kind of callously neutral and vengeance might skew more chaotic than good, but Conquest is all about oppression and power, which is a cool way of rethinking the paladin. I mean, one of your tenets is Douse the Flame of Hope, so... not like good people.
Your oath spells are Armor of Agathys, Command, Hold Person, Spiritual Weapon, Bestow Curse, Fear, Dominate Beast, Stoneskin, Cloudkill, and Dominate Person. Armor of Agathys suffers a bit from your being a half-caster - it gets much better as it's up-cast. Spiritual Weapon is a great non-concentration spell. I do wonder how much you'll need to rely on Fear for other class features to kick in (which we'll get to.) Again, Hold Person is great because paralyzing an opponent means auto-crits, which get insane for a paladin.
Your first channel divinity option is Conquering Presence. This lets you frighten creatures within 30 feet of you on a failed wisdom save as an action, which lasts for 1 minute, though they get to repeat the save at the end of their turns.
The other is Guided Strike, which lets you, with no action, add a +10 bonus to one of your attack rolls (after you roll but before the DM declares it a hit or a miss.) One near-guaranteed hit is nice, if a bit short-term.
At level 7, you get Aura of Conquest, which has the usual 10 foot range that extends to 30 at level 18. If a creature is frightened of you and in that aura, their speed is reduced to 0 and they take psychic damage equal to half your paladin level at the start of their turns. This is amazing... if you can rely on targets being frightened.
At 15, if you're not incapacitated, any creature that hits you with an attack takes damage equal to your charisma modifier (minimum 1.) While it's not a ton of damage, it can mean a lot going out to any fast-hitting foe or any big crowds (and it's not limited to melee attacks nor weapon attacks.)
Your level 20 ult is Invincible Conqueror. As usual, this lasts 1 minute and takes an action. You get resistance to all damage, as well as third attack, and you score crits on a 19 or 20. I think this seriously rivals and maybe surpasses the Vengeance Paladin. Halving literally any damage you take is amazing, having a third attack is incredible, and getting a 10% critical chance is very good for a class that loves, loves, loves to crit. All of these are incredible bonuses.
Overall, I think Conquest relies a little too much on Fear effects, which is flavorful but also really limited given how many creatures can't be frightened. That said, this is a fantastic "evil paladin" subclass and the Ult really makes me want to try it at level 20.
Oath of Redemption:
Almost the polar opposite of Conquest, Redemption Paladins are almost pacifists, and seem to me the "Neutral Good" paladin option. I think you can really play the badass pacifist trope - always trying to convince your foes to stand down, but then backing it up with a profound capacity for violence when all other options are exhausted.
Your oath spells are Sanctuary, Sleep, Calm Emotions, Hold Person, Counterspell, Hypnotic Pattern, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Stoneskin, Hold Monster, and Wall of Force. Obviously a strong abjuration vibe here, with a broad theme of de-escalation, which fits really well. If your DM is open to non-deadly outcomes in fights, this class is well-equipped for it.
Your first channel divinity option is Emissary of Peace. As a bonus action you give yourself a +5 bonus to Charisma (Persuasion) checks for 10 minutes. Very useful in non-combat situations.
The other is Rebuke the Violent. You can use a reaction when someone hits a creature other than you with an attack within 30 feet. The attacker makes a Wisdom save and takes radiant damage equal to the damage it just dealt on a failure, or half on a success. Very in-flavor, and if some enemy just crit one of your allies, you can severely punish them for it.
At level 7, you get Aura of the Guardian. This works almost exactly like Crown's level 7 feature, except that the range is extended to a full 10-foot aura that extends to 30 feet at level 18. You use your reaction to take the damage an ally would, though explicitly this does not transfer the non-damage effects of the ability that did the damage. And again, the damage can't be reduced. I think this is basically a strictly better version of what Oath of the Crown gets.
At 15, you get Protective Spirit. When you're below half your health, you regain 1d6+ half your paladin level hit points at the end of your turn as long as you aren't incapacitated. Presumably this continues in between fights, meaning that you will always "idle" at half your max health or more, which is pretty amazing.
Finally, your "ult" at 20, Emissary of Redemption, is actually the only passive ability for the paladin subclasses at that level. You have resistance to damage dealt by all other creatures, and when a creature hits you with an attack, it takes radiant damage equal to half the damage you take. However, if you attack a creature, cast a spell on it, or deal damage to it by any means other than this feature, you don't get these benefits again until you take a long rest. This feature really works best if you fully commit to the pacifist role, which is a bit hard to do with the Paladin's more martial tool set. However, if you spend a couple rounds in the big fight casting beneficial spells, this can potentially work wonders. Actually, a grappler build could work here.
Overall, I think Redemption has some strong features, and both Redemption and Conquest carry a whole lot of tone and flavor. I think I'd probably skip Crown. Redemption and Conquest have very, very strong identities that should lend a lot to RP.
Next time, we'll look at the Oath of Glory and the Oath of the Watchers, and perhaps touch on Oathbreakers as well (though I did go through that one pretty recently.)
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