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Paladin Handbook: DnD 5th Edition Class Guide –
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DnD 5e Paladin Subclass Breakdown – RPGBOT

DnD 5e Paladin Subclass Breakdown

– RPGBOT
T.E. "RPGBOT" Kamstra April 20, 2021

Introduction
The Paladin’s subclass doesn’t do a lot to change
the mechanics of the class, but it does a lot to
define your theme. Your oaths, your spells, and
your Channel Divinity options all have a significant
effect on how your character presents themselves
to the world.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Disclaimer
Paladin Subclasses – Sacred Oaths
Oath of Conquest (XGtE)
Oath of Devotion (PHB)
Oath of Glory (MOoT / TCoE)
Oath of Redemption (XGtE)
Oath of the Ancients (PHB)
Oath of the Crown (SCAG)
Oath of the Watchers (TCoE)
Oath of Vengeance (PHB)
Oathbreaker (DMG)
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Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has
become common among Pathfinder build
handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy
to read at a glance.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options which

are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
Orange: OK options, or useful options that
only apply in rare circumstances. Useful
sometimes.
Green: Good options. Useful often.
Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the
function of your character. Useful very
frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including

content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official
content because we can’t assume that your game
will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also
won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s
not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be
available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current

State of the Character Optimization Meta as of
when the article was last updated. Keep in mind
that the state of the meta periodically changes as
new source materials are released, and the article
will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Paladin Subclasses – Sacred

Oaths

Oath of Conquest (XGtE)

Aside from the spell list, Oath of Conquest is
excellent. It’s a fantastic mix of crowd control and
offensive options, it provides meaningful
improvements to the Paladin’s damage output, and
it gives the Paladin several useful abilities for
handling groups of foes which other paladins often
struggle with. If anyone else in your party likes to
cause fear (spells like Cause Fear and Fear are
great), Oath of Conquest can be incredibly
effective.

Oath of Conquest’s biggest difficulty is that is relies

very heavily on Charisma. The spell list includes
many spells which allow saving throws, as does
Channel Divinity: Conquering Presence. Weirdly,
nothing else about the subclass relies on weapon
attacks until you get Invincible Conquerer at 20th
level. As a result, Oath of Conquest is an excellent
choice for Blessed Warrior builds.

Oath of Conquest Paladin Handbook

3. Oath Spells: The spells are good, but they’re

mostly offensive spells that require saving
throws. Unless you invest most of your Ability
Score Increases in your Charisma (which you
could do with a Blessed Warrior build), you
won’t have the spell DC to make them reliable.
And if you’re going to invest most of your
resources in offensive spellcasting to use save-
or-suck spells, why not play a Cleric or a
Sorcerer?
3. 3rd-Level: A warlock-exclusive is
interesting. With a 1-hour duration, Armor
of Agathys is a great buff to start before
you go into a fight. Command is
interesting, but you probably won’t have
the DC to make it work reliably.
5. 5th-Level: Spiritual Weapon is a great
way for you to handle multiple foes, and
since it’s cast as a bonus action it won’t cut
into your attacks. It will still depend on your
relatively poor spellcasting ability modifier,
and since you don’t get full spellcasting
progression you won’t be able to upcast it
to keep the damage relevant. Hold Person
is great, but it will be unreliable since you
won’t have a spell DC high enough to
compete with full casters.
9. 9th-Level: Good offensive options, but
you’re still handicapped by a relatively poor
spell DC. Still, Fear is helpful for
capitalizing on Aura of Conquest.
13. 13th-Level: Stoneskin is an excellent
buff for a front-line character like a Paladin,
but the material component is very costly,
so you don’t want to use it all the time.
17. 17th-Level: Good offensive options, but
you’re still handicapped by a relatively poor
spell DC.
3. Channel Divinity: Both options are excellent,
and they’re usable and effective in almost any
encounter.
Conquering Presence: Basically the
Fear spell, but in a circular AOE rather
than a cone. This is an excellent debuff in
an encounter with numerous enemies, but
since the DC is Charisma-based it won’t
keep up with spellcasters unless you’re
built around Blessed Warrior. Expect to use
this in encounters with numerous weak
foes, but otherwise the save DC won’t be
reliable enough to justify the cost.
Guided Strike: Great for when you
absolutely need to hit. If you use Great
Weapon Master for extra damage, this can
be a nice way to salvage a missed attack.
However, Channel Divinity still only works
once per short rest for the Paladin, so save
this for when you really need it.

This notably isn’t limited to weapon

attacks, so if you have a spell attack from
source, you could use Guided Strike with
it.
7. Aura of Conquest: Combined with Channel
Divinity: Conquering Presence and the ability to
cast Fear you have multiple ways to make
enemies frightened (provided that your save
DC is passable). If the enemy in question
doesn’t have reach or ranged weapons, you
can stand safely 10 feet away and hit them with
reach weapons or just wait for them to die from
the aura damage. Their speed is reduced to 0,
so there’s very little that they can do about it.
You can also Shove enemies prone, effectively
performing the Grapple+Shove combo while
using fear instead of grappling.
15. Scornful Rebuke: Combine this with
Compelled Duel, and consider foregoing a
shield. You have plenty of healing capacity.
20. Invincible Conqueror: Even with a 1-minute
duration, this is fantastic. If you’re in a serious
fight, turn this on and start killing stuff.

Oath of Devotion (PHB)

The “Vanilla” option, Oath of Devotion doesn’t really
have a specific focus beyond “be a Paladin”. If
you’re not sure what to pick, or if you’re new and
trying to get a handle on the game, this is a fine
option with a decent mix of abilities.

Oath of Devotion’s biggest challenge is that many

of its features only work when facing fiends and
undead. While these are great enemies for a good-
aligned paladin, they’re a subset of the enemies
that you’ll face. Oath of Devotion has enough other
features that you’ll still be effective, but you won’t
get to enjoy your subclass’s full capacity until fiends
and undead show up.

Oath of Devotion Paladin Handbook

···
3. Oath Spells: A few gems, but much of the list
is either situational or unnecessary.
3. 3rd-Level: Sanctuary has a Bonus
Action casting time, allowing you to quickly
cast it on an ally who is in danger. Your
save DC will be low compared to a full
spellcaster, but combined with the target’s
AC the additional layer of protection will
frequently negate attacks. Protection from
Evil and Good is a fantastic defensive buff
at any level, and unlike Sanctuary the
target can still attack while under its
effects.
5. 5th-Level: Both options are situational,
and Lesser Restoration is partially
redundant with Lay on Hands.
9. 9th-Level: I would almost almost never
use Beacon of Hope in combat (especially
since you have Lay on Hands, which
Beacon of Hope doesn’t affect) unless you
need the Advantage portion of the spell.
Paladins don’t have enough spell slots to
spend them on Dispel Magic unless your
party is truly desperate.
13. 13th-Level: Freedom of Movement is
situational but very powerful. Guardian of
Faith is surprisingly good area control for a
partial caster, but it’s a spell that you cast
for the 8-hour duration, not for the pitiful
amount of damage..
17. 17th-Level: Commune is a very powerful
divination if you’re clever enough to ask
useful questions. Flame Strike gives
Paladins a much-needed option for
handling crowds of weak enemies,
especially those which aren’t affected by
Turn Whatever. However, at this level
Flame Strike’s damage will be
underwhelming and unless you’re built
around Blessed Warrior your spell save DC
will probably be too low to make Flame
Strike Reliable.
3. Channel Divinity:
Sacred Weapon: A decent buff to your
attacks. This works particularly well with
the Great Weapon Master feat since it will
offset most or all of the attack penalty. One
minute should be enough to get through a
typical fight, but remember that since
Channel Divinity recharges on a Short
Rest you’ll only be able to use this three
times per day at most (assuming that your
party is respecting the Adventuring Days
rules).

If you’re built around Blessed Warrior, this

is a great way to make weapons viable for
a brief period. A paladin with 20 Strength
and 16 Charisma will have the same attack
bonus as a paladin with 16 Strength and
20 Charisma, so you’re not losing much
except for your damage bonus from
Strength.

···

Turn the Unholy: A great way to handle

crowds of foes, but it only affects two
creature types so it’s situational by design.
7. Aura of Devotion: Situational by design, but
Charm effects are common and frequently
dangerous.
15. Purity of Spirit: Protection from Evil and
Good is an excellent defensive buff, providing
thorough defenses against 6 creature types.
Having it permanently running without needing
to concentrate is spectacular.
20. Holy Nimbus: 10 damage isn’t a lot at this
level, but the area is big enough that you can
clear whole rooms of enemies on your own with
enough time. The defensive buffs are also
helpful, though they’re situational due to the
limits on affected creature types.

Oath of Glory (MOoT / TCoE)

···

A great concept with some challenges. The spell list

is too reliant on Concentration, and while the
Channel Divinity options are great, their effects
won’t last long and you’ll need to look for other
options. The rest of the subclass’s features are
either excellent or very situational, so you’ll use
some of the subclass’s features constantly while
almost never using others.

The single best piece of advice I can give is to start

with a Variant Human with the Resilient
(Constitution) feat. Adding Constitution saving
throw proficiency will make the spell list
considerably more effective. The fact that the
subclass’s spell list depends so heavily on
Concentration is really frustrating for class which
doesn’t get proficiency with Constitution saves and
which already depends on Concentration for so
many of its interesting spells (smite spells, buffs,
etc.).

Oath of Glory Paladin Handbook

3. Oath Spells: Many of the spells on the list

are fantastic, even allowing the Glory Paladin
to shoulder the burden of Concentrating on
some potent buffs, freeing up the party’s
casters for area control or other spells. Keep in
mind though, that, while Aura of Protection
helps, the Paladin isn’t proficient in Constitution
saving throws. If you plan to shoulder this
burden regularly in combat, consider the
Resilient feat or the War Caster feat to improve
your success rate with Concentration saves.
3. 3rd-Level: Guiding Bolt is hard because
paladins generally can’t invest enough in
Charisma to be good at spell attacks. You
likely won’t cast it often, but it is still a
decent ranged attack spell if you’re out of
melee range. Heroism is a great defensive
option. At the early levels where the fear
immunity is helpful, your Charisma will be
too low for good temp HP, and the high
levels where the temp HP isn’t relevant,
you’re immune to fear.
5. 5th-Level: Enhance Ability is just an all-
around great spell, useful both in and out
of combat, though your most likely use
case in combat is for Strength, and you
can use Peerless Athlete for that, so save
Enhance Ability for outside of combat
when you need things like Advantage on
Charisma checks in social situations.
Magic Weapon is great if you don’t have a
permanent magic weapon, but it requires
Concentration so generally you’ll want to
cast something else unless you absolutely
need this.
9. 9th-Level: Two fantastic buffs, but both
require Concentration. That said, self-
casting haste and freely sharing it with a
Find (Greater) Steed as per the steed spell
allows a mount to both Dash and
Disengage on every round, which
quadruples its total movement and ignores
opportunity attacks while still giving the
Glory Paladin an extra attack. Protection
From Energy is a staple defensive buff at
every level.
13. 13th-Level: We’re unlikely to have the
Charisma to make Compulsion reliable,
and the effect is not that useful. Compelling
targets to run away in a direction and using
our Concentration just makes fights take
longer than they need to. Freedom of
Movement is great, but only situationally
useful. Fortunately, it doesn’t require
Concentration, and you can share it with
your steed.
17. 17th-Level: A divination which everyone
else has been casting for 8 levels. Flame
Strike is helpful for handling crowds, but
the damage is unremarkable at this level
and your save DC is likely poor compared
to a full spellcaster.
3. Channel Divinity:
Peerless Athlete: Strength (Athletics)
includes checks to Grapple and to Shove,
both of which are staple tactical options for
front-line melee classes like the Paladin.
The fact that you can activate this as a
Bonus Action makes it easy to use this
without cutting into your attacks, and the
10-minute duration can last through
several encounters if you move quickly.
Using the classic Grapple+Shove combo is
an easy way to provide Advantage for
yourself your other melee allies, and so
Peerless Athlete can be a great way to
make that combo easier.
Inspiring Smite: A decent number of
temporary hit points, and while usually
you’ll horde them for yourself, the ability to
share them with allies offers a fantastic
tactical option. Keep in mind that you need
to use Divine Smite before you can
activate this, so be sure to keep a spell slot
ready so that you can smite something and
trigger Inspiring Smite.
7. Aura of Alacrity: 10 ft. of extra speed is nice
for the paladin and their mount even if it’s
unreliable for allies in the middle of combat.
Other players will likely be able to move further
with good positioning than by working to stay
within the aura’s tiny radius, but because the
aura takes effect at the beginning of an ally’s
turn it’s our job to get the aura in position to
push our team that extra 10 feet across the
finish line.
15. Glorious Defense: This is a fantastic
defensive ability, combining the AC bonus of
the spell Shield with a free counterattack. Be
sure to grab a ranged weapon or a weapon
with Reach to enjoy the effect to its fullest.
18. Aura of Alacrity (improvement): The effect
doesn’t improve, but the radius does. The tiny
radius is the biggest problem with positioning
the aura, but 10 feet gives us plenty of wiggle
room to try to get more than one ally into the
aura before we end our turn.
20. Living Legend: The effects are all
spectacular and broadly useful. Don’t be
tempted to use this for Charisma checks in
social situations; you can cast Enhance Ability
for that.

Oath of Redemption (XGtE)

Unlike other Paladins, the Oath of Redemption
Paladin emphasizes nonviolent options. Expect to
invest more in your Charisma than in your
Strength/Constitution, and to rely more on spells
and special abilities than on hitting stuff. It’s a
weird, durable save-or-suck caster in a lot of ways.

The Oath of Redemption’s Oath Spells all allow

saving throws, so you’ll need high Charisma to
back them up, and taking Fighting Style (Blessed
Warrior) is basically required. Be sure to invest in
options that will keep you alive while you try to end
combat nonlethally. Constitution, the Tough feat, the
spell Heroism, heavy armor, a shield, and protective
magic items if they’re available. Just keep in mind
that no matter how high your AC is, Aura of the
Guardian doesn’t care and you’re going to take
some damage for your allies, so be sure to keep
your hit point maximum high.

Despite the theme, it’s entirely possible to play

Oath of Redemption like any other rip-and-tear
paladin, and they’re surprisingly well-suited to it.
Most of the spell list won’t be useful, but Channel
Divinity: Rebuke the Violent, Aura of the Guardian,
and Protective Spirit are all great for any Defender.
Get in front of your allies and redeem some people
with a sword in hand.

Oath of Redemption Paladin Handbook

3. Oath Spells: A lot of excellent spells. They all

fit the theme, and nearly all of the options are
great additions to your spellcasting options.
However, many rely on saving throws so your
Charisma needs to be high enough to make
them reliable.
3. 3rd-Level: Both great ways to
discourage violence, but the hit point cap
on Sleep makes it borderline useless for a
half-caster.
5. 5th-Level: Calm Emotions is great area
control and doesn’t care about spell level.
Hold Person is fine, but you’re left without
options to address most creature types,
and even against humanoids you’ll have
trouble upcasting it to affect multiple
targets.
9. 9th-Level: If you can get Counterspell,
you should get Counterspell. It’s one of the
most powerful spells in the game.
However, you have very few spell slots to
spend it upon, and you only go up to 5th-
level spell slots so you can’t rely on
upcasting it to forcibly counter spells
without an ability check.
13. 13th-Level: Resilient Sphere is
wonderful offensively or defensively, and
Stoneskin will help you to withstand
attacks while you figure out how to end a
fight, but the material cost may be
prohibitive.
17. 17th-Level: More great ways to end a
fight nonlethally, but Hold Monster on a
single creature may not feel satisfying at
this level compared to what full casters can
do.
3. Channel Divinity: Both options are excellent,
and very easy to bring into play.
Emissary of Peace: Excellent for a face,
and one of very few Channel Divinity
options which is meaningfully useful
outside of combat.
Rebuke the Violent: Great for creatures
with large single attacks or after an ally
suffers a big critical hit.
7. Aura of the Guardian: Don’t try to combine
this with the Protection fighting style. Both
consume your Reaction, so you won’t be able
to use them together. You don’t want to use this
constantly, but when your allies start running
short on hit points it’s a good idea. Be sure to
invest in your Constitution and consider the
Tough feat so that you have enough hit points
to absorb damage for your allies.
15. Protective Spirit: This makes Aura of the
Guardian much safer to use.
20. Emissary of Redemption: Expect to spend a
lot of time grappling and tripping enemies while
you try to talk them out of fighting you. You
can’t even use Rebuke the Violent without
negating this feature for that creature for the
day.

Note that the damage which you deal to other

creatures is half of what you take after applying
resistances, so if a creature deals 4 damage,
you take 2 and they take 1. That’s not going to
kill anything in a hurry, but it might be abough
to scare them off. If you have enough hit points,
you could risk walking around unarmored and
let people beat you until they get tired of taking
radiant damage. Protective Spirit is healing you
for 16+10 every turn when you’re below half
hp, so you can afford to do this somewhat
safely depending on your enemies’ damage
output.

Oath of the Ancients (PHB)

The Ranger of Paladins, Oath of the Ancients
shares a lot of style and options with Rangers and
Druids. It includes magical options for crowd control
and area control which most paladins can’t match,
as well as access to Misty Step so that you can
move about unhindered.

Oath of Ancients is a reasonably easy subclass to

play, and isn’t so devoted to smiting fiends as Oath
of Devotion, so it may be a better go-to option for
new players than many other paladin subclasses.
You won’t need to learn anything more complex
than the core paladin class features, and Oath of
Ancients offers some useful tactical options that
you can opt into when you feel ready to handle
them.

Oath of the Ancients Paladin Handbook

···
3. Oath Spells: About half of the options on the
list are bad, but you generally get one viable
option from each pair of spells.
3. 3rd-Level: Speak With Animals is only
situationally useful and becomes less
useful as you gain levels, but Ensnaring
Strike is a great option for a bunch of
reasons. If you need to switch targets or go
help an ally, spend your bonus action and
an attack to ensnare the target, then let
them bleed out a bit while you’re off
dealing with more pressing issues. Note
that after the initial save it’s a Strength
Check (not a Save), so even creatures
proficient in Strength Saves will have
trouble escaping. Even better, the damage
scales linearly with spell level so it remains
an excellent go-to use for a spell slot for
your whole career.
5. 5th-Level: Moonbeam is difficult to use
unless you can restrain a creature inside
its effect long enough to justify the spell
slot (Grapple them, for instance), and even
then it’s better left to full spellcasters. Misty
Step is a fantastic option and solves a lot
of mobility issues, including pits, chasms,
difficult terrain, walls of fire and other nasty
materials, enemies, etc. Misty Step to the
BBEG and wave your sword in their face.
9. 9th-Level: Plant Growth is weirdly
effective area control, and Protection From
Energy is a fantastic and very important
defensive option.
13. 13th-Level: Ice Storm is a frustrating
combination of not enough damage and
too little area control. Stone Skin is an
extremely good buff, but the 100gp
component cost can add up quickly so you
don’t want to cast it constantly.

17. 17th-Level: Commune With Nature is a