Oath of Hippocrates

For the followers of the Oath of Hippocrates - also known as the Hippocratic Oath - nothing is as important as perserving life, both humanoid and not. Named after an ancient and revered human healer, paladins who take this oath do not necessarily believe in the Light and the cosmic struggle against Darkness as much as that all life is pure, and to waste it is a sin of the highest order. They often carry large shields, accent their armor with blood-red colours, and their Divine Focus is nearly always shaped in the form of an (anatomically correct) heart.

Tenets of the Oath

The tenets of the Oath of Hippocrates are as old as the man himself, carved into a large slab of smooth stone called Hippocrates' Rock. They are identical wherever you tread, and if you come across a paladin claiming to follow the Oath of Hippocrates whom can't recite them near perfectly from memory, they're more than likely a fraud.

Life is Sacred. I will honor the life given to us by the Gods, and swear never to purposefully cause another harm, whether through direct action or abstinence thereof, unless another's life is at stake.

Knowledge is Power. I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those healers in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

Compassion is Divine. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

Patients are Hallowed. I will remember that I do not treat a bleeding wound, an unconscious body, but a sick or wounded being, whose illness may affect the creature's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the Paladin levels listed.

Oath of Hippocrates Spells

Paladin Level Spells 3rd healing word, sanctuary 5th lesser restoration, prayer of healing 9th beacon of hope, mass healing word 13th aura of purity, death ward 19th hallow, mass cure wounds

Bonus Proficiencies

When you take the Oath of Hippocrates at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with Wisdom (Medicine) checks and the Healer's kit, allowing you to use it with a bonus action instead of an action.

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.

Pacify. As an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer for peace using your channel divinity. Every creature of your choice that can see or hear you within 60 ft. of you must make a Wisdom saving throw; creatures that are immune to being charmed automatically pass. If the creature fails its saving throw, its desire to fight leaves it, and it has to stop fighting for 1 minute, possibly allowing players or non-player characters to convince them to stop fighting altogether.

This effect ends for a creature when it or one of its allies is attacked.

Turn Evil. As an action, you bloody your holy symbol (with your own blood or another's) and present it, speaking a prayer to end the bloodshed using your Channel Divinity. Each fiend or undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage.

A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.

Blessed Touch

The healing gods have picked you as one of their favoured and blessed your touch. Starting at 7th level once per day you can choose to regain half your Lay on Hands pool at the end of a short rest. In addition, this feature now affects anything with flesh, including most undead and flesh golems.

Emergency Healing

Starting at 15th level, when a creature within 60 ft. of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to cast healing word (or, if they are within 5 ft. of you, cure wounds) on them, using a spell level of your choice.

Protective Embrace

On 20th level, you gain the ability to harness the pure, natural energies of life. As an action, you cast a colourful aura in a 30 ft. radius for 1 minute. This aura counts as bright sunlight.

For the duration, moving 1 foot costs 2 feet of movement, your body being oversaturated with natural energy to the point where doing anything else becomes a monstrous effort, and you can't concentrate on a spell whilst channeling this ability. All creatures within the radius have advantage on all saving throws, and as an action on each of your turns, you can cause 1 creature within the radius to regain a number of hit points equal to 7d10 + your spellcasting ability modifier. In addition, any creature within the aura that is reduced to 0 hit points automatically stabilizes.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.