Paladin - Base Class

Duncehack Edition

So who are you?

Just some tosser with an over inflated sense of self importance.

Send verbal abuse via Minds.com

What is the Duncehack?

It emerged from a place of frustration. There's quite a number of areas where 5e could be improved but... it's not going to happen for various reasons.

The Duncehack is my attempt to fix these problems I have. Plan is to go through the whole game - all of it - and homebrew it into the game I think is should have been.

Feel free to disagree with me, but ultimately I think there's no harm in putting my thoughts out there, at the very least if even one DM decides to adopt these rules, then my job is done.

No DM Guild? No OGL Release?

I chafe under binding contracts and both of these are exactly that.

The DM Guild gives you more room to mess with established rules, but basically demands that all be under the service of flagship settings.

The SRD on the other hand gives more room for interesting settings but clamps down extremely hard on what established rules you're allowed to use. Their biggest contention is that they don't want someone to sell a sourcebook that removes the need for core books. Translation: they don't want Pathfinder to happen all over again.

More to the point, both assume money will change hands. I don't want money, I just want Wizards to fix their game.

Groundrules

Groundrules for the Duncehack are as follows:

• No Nerfs: the goal is to bring weaker archetypes on the level of the stronger ones.

• Remove Traps: incentives built into classes and archetypes should provide an active payoff, rather than be the suboptimal choice.

• Frontload Agency, Backend Power: Generally speaking, people like having more options to do things, rather than more raw power. As a design rule: things that feel like core class features, or are defining class mechanics, should happen in the first ten levels, sheer numeric increases in power should come after that.

No money changed hands here

This is a passion project. I want to keep it that way.

I also want to avoid legal issues for self-evident reasons.

No UA?

Too much changes between UA and official release.

The fewer corrections I have the do between UA changes, the better.

Obligatory Natural Crit Plug

http://www.naturalcrit.com/

Someone else made a thing that lets me make homebrews without having to post them on pastebin or something. They deserve a lot of credit for that.

Obligatory /tg/ Plug

The feedback I got from various Anons on this helped me build it into something that wasn't bad and stupid.

I love you all in a way only abused spouse can possibly understand.

No Images?

Needed to get it under 8mb so I could upload it literally anywhere.

So what in Paladin needs fixing?

Nothing much really.

Yeah. They're solid.

Most of the tinkering here is pretty much so that Paladin isn't behind what I wound up doing to the other classes.

What if I think this is way too much?

Well... You don't really have to do anything to the base class. The changes that matter are in the Archetypes.

Class Features

As a Paladin, you gain the following class features

Hit Points

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

Proficiencies

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• Armor: light armor, medium armor, heavy armor, shields, greatshields
• Weapons: simple weapons, martial weapons
• Tools: Vehicles (land)

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• 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

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 (the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, for instance). 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 1st level, you gain a fighting style of your choice.

Spellcasting

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

Cantrips

At 1st level, you know two cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list. You learn additional cleric cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the cleric table. These are paladin cantrips for you.

(The cantrips are listed in the spell list at the end of this document)

Cantrip Versatility

Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one cantrip you learned from this Spellcasting feature with another cantrip from the cleric spell list.

Preparing and 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 1st level or higher, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.

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.

You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of paladin spells requires time spent in prayer and meditation: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

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.

Ritual Casting

You can cast a paladin spell as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag. You don't need to have the spell prepared.

Fighting Styles

I've never really seen the point in restricting them by class, I've also got Fighting Style changes here. So enjoy the choices on offer.

As for why it's on first level: I love playing Paladins but their 1st level is ungodly boring. Doesn't help that Divine Sense as a feature is just regularly forgotten because it is on the situational side.

Cantrips

Adding cantrips as a base thing. I had it before the Class Options UA, but I flat out disagree with sacrificing a fighting style for them - not only are fighting styles a lot more of an opportunity cost as written in the PHB (there's no other way to get them than class levels, while cantrips are attainable with a feat), but the Cleric cantrip list isn't exactly the greatest.

Divine Smite

Starting at 2nd level, when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target, in addition to the strike'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.

Unarmed and Improvised weapons may be used with this feature.

Divine Health

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

In addition, you restore your Your Paladin Level + your Charisma Modifier in Lay On Hands points on a short rest.

Sacred Oath

When you reach 3rd 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. Now you choose from the list of available oaths.

Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 15th, and 20th level. Those features include oath spells and the Channel Divinity feature.

Your Choices are: Anicent, Conquest, Crown, Devotion, Redemption, Vengeance. Alternatively there is the Oathbreaker archetype.

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.

Harness Divine Power

You can expend a use of your Channel Divinity to fuel your spells. As a bonus action, you touch your holy symbol, utter a prayer, and regain one expended 1st-level spell slot.

Oathsworn Avatar

You gain the ability to become an avatar of your oath.

Each oath has its own unique manifestation of this feature.

Regardless of your oath however, you regain usage of this feature after a long rest.

Ability Score Improvement

At 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th levels you gain +2 to one ability score, or +1 to two ability scores. You cannot raise an ability score above 20 this way.

Extra Attack

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

Aura of Protection

Starting at 6th 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 14th level, the range of this aura increases to 20 feet. 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Aura of Courage

Starting at 10th level, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you can't be frightened while you are conscious.

At 14th level, the range of this aura increases to 20 feet. 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Improved Divine Smite

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

Smite Changes

Opened to everything. At first, I wanted to keep ranged from being overpowered with added rules restrictions, but to be completely honest, with my martial overhaul, ranged supremacy isn't really a thing.

If you're worried about ranged smites, add this line: "Ranged weapons may be used with this feature, however the choice to expend the spell slot must be made before the attack roll is made."

Maximum of 5d8 meant that it hard capped at 4th level spell slot. Won't change anything really, as your 5th level slot is usually used in things like destructive wave.

RE: Oathbreaker

It wouldn't take much to refluff it into the absolute edgiest of Paladin oaths. For the purposes here, I'll refer to it as the Oathbreaker though.

Oathsworn Avatar (AKA Capstone)

To keep consistent with the design ethos of the Duncehack (i.e. actions early, power later). Don't worry, they scale with level now.

Improved Divine Smite

Opened to ranged, and allows Unarmed attacks.

Cleansing Touch

Beginning at 14th 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.

Unending Purpose

At 18th level, you regain usage of your Oathsworn Avatar feature after a short rest.

Unending Purpose

Simply because Aura range increase wasn't that great an 18th level feature.

Mind the Formatting

I can't work out how to make this look nice.

Added Spells

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• blade ward
• control flames
• create bonfire
• gust
• infestation
• magic stone
• minor illusion
• mold earth
• shocking grasp
• thorn whip
• true strike