Sacred Oath

Oath of the Blackguard

The Oath of the Blackguard is a commitment to maintaining the proper order of the world by any means necessary. Sometimes called antipaladins or black knights, these paladins recognize fear and power as the greatest weapons to create an ideal world. While some would say their influences are tyrannical, they see it as essential. The world is roiling, corrupt, and unstable, and good deeds, beauty, and revenge can only take one so far.

A paladin who swears by this oath knows that only those who experience the pure terror of the darkness can recognize the value of the light. Such a paladin might serve a god of tyranny, such as Hextor or Bane, or join an order of black knights. They often decorate their armor with skulls, black cloth, and symbols of evil beings in order to inspire terror in those that would dare stand against their crusade.

Tenets of the Blackguard

The tenets of the Oath of the Blackguard are focused not on specifically disregarding good acts, but seeing them as non-essential to a proper and ordered world. As a result, this oath suits characters with a lawful evil alignment, but isn't necessarily exclusive to it. Its tenets are as follows:

Fear No Foe. I am the master of fear and I will let no other use it to control or manipulate me.

Authority is Absolute. I will defer to the authority of the rightful rulers of a land unless they prove to be feeble .

Subjugation. My enemies will come to serve my cause or die fighting for their foolish freedoms.

Nothing Will Stand in My Way. I cannot allow anything--not my qualms nor my foes--to come between me and my mission for an ideal world.

No Coward May Lead. The weak and cowardly are unfit for positions of power. I must work to depose them for the betterment of society.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the following paladin levels listed.

Oath of the Blackguard Spells

Paladin Level Spells 3rd command, inflict wounds 5th darkness, ray of enfeeblement 9th fear, animate dead 13th compulsion, stoneskin 17th dominate person, destructive wave

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath, you gain the following two channel divinity options.

Inspire Dread. As an action, you channel the darkest emotions and focus them into a burst of dark menace. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet of the you must make a Wisdom saving throw if it can see you. On a failed save, the target is frightened for 1 minute. If a creature frightened by this effect ends its turn more than 30 feet away from the you, it can attempt another Wisdom saving throw to end the effect on it.

Control Undead. As an action, you target one undead creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target must obey your commands for the next 24 hours, or until the you use this channel divinity option again. An undead whose challenge rating is equal to or greater than your paladin level is immune to this effect.

Unholy Smite

At 3rd level, the damage dealt by your holy smite becomes necrotic damage. The 1d8 damage increase applies to celestial and fey targets instead of fiends and undead.

Additionally, you may use your Lay on Hands feature to restore hit points to undead creatures.

Variant: Blackguard Initiate Because a paladin selects their oath at level 3, this archetype seems to represent a paladin that has gone through with normal training before shifting to the dark side and committing their allegiance to tyranny. You may instead wish to play a paladin that has been trained from the very start to follow the tenets of the Blackguard before swearing their final oath at level 3. With permission from your DM, you can declare your intention to select the Oath of the Blackguard when you create your character. If you do, you gain the Unholy Smite feature at level 1, instead of at level 3. You lose the feature if you select a different oath for any reason.

Aura of Hatred

Starting at 7th level, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you gain a bonus to weapon and spell attack damage rolls equal to your Charisma modifier (with a minimum bonus of +1) while you are conscious. A creature can only benefit from this bonus once each round.

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