Paladin

A paladin swears to uphold an oath, to stand with the things they hold dear against encroaching dangers. Different paladins focus on various aspects of their duty, but all are bound by the oaths that grant them power to do their sacred work. Although many paladins are devoted to gods, a paladin’s power comes as much from a commitment to their oath itself as it does from a god.
Almost by definition, the life of a paladin is an adventuring life. Unless a lasting injury has taken them away from adventuring for a time, every paladin lives on the front lines of the cosmic struggle between good and evil. Fighters are rare enough among the ranks of the militias and armies of the world, but even fewer people can claim the true calling of a paladin. When they do receive the call, these warriors turn from their former occupations and take up arms to fight evil. Sometimes their oaths lead them into the service of the crown as leaders of elite groups of knights, but even then their loyalty is first to the cause of righteousness, not to crown and country.
Adventuring paladins take their work seriously. A delve into an ancient ruin or dusty crypt can be a quest driven by a higher purpose than the acquisition of treasure. Evil lurks in dungeons and primeval forests, and even the smallest victory against it can tilt the cosmic balance away from oblivion.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per Paladin level
Hit Points at 1^st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier

Proficiencies

Armor: All armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
Skills: Choose two from Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Persuasion, and Religion

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
• (a) five javelins or (b) any simple melee weapon
• (a) a priest’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack Chain mail and a holy symbol

Class Features

Divine Sense

The presence of strong evil registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful good rings like heavenly music in your ears.
As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You know the type (celestial, fiend, or undead) of any being whose presence you sense, but not its identity. Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.

Lay on Hands

Your blessed touch can heal wounds. You have a pool of healing power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to your paladin level × 5.
As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool.
Alternatively, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool of healing to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use of Lay on Hands, expending hit points separately for each one.
This feature has no effect on undead and constructs.

Fighting Style

At 2^nd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

• Defender: While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
• Dueling: When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.
• Great Weapon Fighting: When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
• Interception: When a creature you can see hits a target, other than you, within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a martial weapon to use this reaction.
• Protection: When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.
• Versatile: When you are wielding a versatile weapon and no other weapons, you gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon, and a +1 bonus to AC when wielding it two-handed. Additionally, when you attack with a Versatile weapon, you can use your bonus action to Grapple or Shove the target.

Spellcasting

By 2^nd level, you have learned to draw on divine magic through meditation and prayer to cast spells similar to how a cleric does.

Preparing Spells

You prepare the list of paladin spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the paladin spell list. When you do so, choose a number of paladin spells equal to your Charisma modifier + half your paladin level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
For example, if you are a 5^th-level paladin, you have four 1^st-level and two 2^nd-level spell slots. With a Charisma of 14, your list of prepared spells can include four spells of 1^st or 2^nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1^st-level spell cure wounds, you can cast it using a 1^st-level or a 2^nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells.
You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a short or long rest. Preparing a new list of paladin spells requires time spent in prayer and meditation: at least 1 minute for each spell on your list.

Casting Spells

The Paladin table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your paladin spells. To cast one of your paladin spells of 1^st level or higher, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher.
When you finish a short rest, you can choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level that is equal to or less than the highest level spell you are able to cast. Once you recover spell slots in this way, you must finish a long rest before you are able to do so again.
For example, if you are a 6^th level paladin, you can recover up to two levels worth of spell slots. You can recover either a 2^nd-level spell slot or two 1^st-level spell slots.
You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your paladin spells, since their power derives from the strength of your convictions. You use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a paladin spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier

Spellcasting Focus

You can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus for your paladin spells.

Divine Smite

Starting at 2^nd level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target, in addition to the weapon’s damage.
The extra damage is 2d8 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 6d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend, to a maximum of 7d8.

Divine Health

By 3^rd level, the divine magic flowing through you makes you immune to disease.

Sacred Oath

When you reach 3^rd level, you swear the oath that binds you as a paladin forever. Up to this time you have been in a preparatory stage, committed to the path but not yet sworn to it.
Your choice grants you features at 3^rd level and again at 7^th, 15^th, and 20^th level. Those features include oath spells and the Channel Divinity feature.
Oath of the Ancients
Oath of Conquest
Oath of the Crown
Oath of Devotion
Oath of Redemption
Oath of Vengeance
Oathbreaker

Oath Spells

Each oath has a list of associated spells. You gain access to these spells at the levels specified in the oath description. Once you gain access to an oath spell, you always have it prepared. Oath spells don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
If you gain an oath spell that doesn’t appear on the paladin spell list, the spell is nonetheless a paladin spell for you.

Channel Divinity

Your oath allows you to channel divine energy to fuel magical effects. Each Channel Divinity option provided by your oath explains how to use it.
When you use your Channel Divinity, you choose which option to use. You must then finish a short or long rest to use your Channel Divinity again.
Some Channel Divinity effects require saving throws. When you use such an effect from this class, the DC equals your paladin spell save DC.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4^th level, and again at 8^th, 12^th, 16^th, and 19^th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Alternatively, you can choose to gain a single feat of your choice.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5^th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Aura of Protection

Starting at 6^th level, whenever you or a friendly creature within 10 feet of you must make a saving throw, the creature gains a bonus to the saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum bonus of +1). You must be conscious to grant this bonus.
At 18^th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Aura of Courage

Starting at 10^th level, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you can’t be frightened while you are conscious.
At 18^th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Improved Divine Smite

By 11^th level, you are so suffused with righteous might that all your melee weapon strikes carry divine power with them.
Whenever you hit a creature with a melee weapon, the creature takes an extra 1d8 radiant damage.

Cleansing Touch

Beginning at 14^th level, you can use your action to end one spell on yourself or on one willing creature that you touch.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Paladin Class Table

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	+2	Divine Sense, Lay on Hands	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	+2	Fighting Style, Spellcasting, Divine Smite	2	-	-	-	-
3rd	+2	Divine Health, Sacred Oath	3	-	-	-	-
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement	4	-	-	-	-
5th	+3	Extra Attack	4	2	-	-	-
6th	+3	Aura of Protection	4	2	-	-	-
7th	+3	Sacred Oath Feature	4	3	-	-	-
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	-	-	-
9th	+4	-	4	3	2	-	-
10th	+4	Aura of Courage	4	3	2	-	-
11th	+4	Improved Divine Smite	4	3	3	-	-
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	-	-
13th	+5	-	4	3	3	1	-
14th	+5	Cleansing Touch	4	3	3	1	-
15th	+5	Sacred Oath Feature	4	3	3	2	-
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	2	-
17th	+6	-	4	3	3	3	1
18th	+6	Aura Improvements	4	3	3	3	1
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	3	2
20th	+6	Sacred Oath Feature	4	3	3	3	2