Paladin Sacred Oath: Oath of the Scale

[Submortimer]

The Oath of the Scale
The Oath of the Scale has been a part of the world since younger races discovered the great, magical beasts known as dragons; always, there have been those willing to prostrate themselves before these great creatures, devoting their lives to their winged Masters. Often referred to by a personal moniker in-line with their chosen color of dragon (The Black Knight, Knight of the Red, Sir Gawain the Golden), paladins who take the Oath of the Scale have devoted themselves to one of the two sides of the cosmic battle of good and evil: either in ter service of Bahamut and the Metallic Dragons, or Tiamat and the Chromatic Dragons. Though their personalities vary, they always seem to be in line with the type of dragon they hope to embody, and adorn their clothing, armor, and weapons with symbols devoted to dragon-kind.

All Knigts of the dragon seek to embody either Bahamut or Tiamat, but also choose a specific dragon type (metallic or chromatic) at the time they take their oath; this influences many of the abilities of the Paladin as he grows in power.

Tenets
Tenets of the Oath of the Scale do tend to vary based on the dragon the Paladin swears fealty to, but fall in line with these four concepts, Split by siding with the good or the evil dragons:
Shelter/Subjugate the Weak: Dragons are the greatest creatures to ever walk the land, and you have a responsibility to display that power. Use their power to protect/dominate the weak and downtrodden, for such is your duty/right.
Amass your Horde: To a dragon, his treasure horde is his life. Always seek to expand your own holdings and monetary power, and build a pile of gold visible from the heavens.
Inspire Awe/Instill Terror: Dragons are without equal in the world, and should be respected as such. Never miss an opportunity to use your draconic gifts to inspire Awe/Terror in those around you.
Suffer not the Chromatic/Metallic to live: Chromatic/Metallic dragons are a blight upon the land, and a perversion of Lord Io's greatness. Kill them, destroy them, and let not their influence corrupt the land.

Oath Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	Thunderwave, Burning Hands
5th	Scorching Ray, Agnazzar's Scorcher
9th	Protection from energy, Melf's Minute Meteors
13th	Polymorph, Wall of Fire
17th	Cone of Cold, Flame Strike

Channel Divinity
Elemental Weapon
As an action, you can imbue one weapon you are holding with elemental energy using your channel divinity. For one minute, you add your Charisma modifier to damage rolls made with that weapon (minimum +1), and all the damage dealt by that weapon is the elemental damage associated with your selected dragon type. The weapon also emits bright light in a 20-ft. radius and dim light 20 ft. beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical it becomes magical for the duration.
You can end this effect on your turn as a part of any other action. if you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or you fall unconcious, this effect ends.
Turn the Scales
You may force dragons and their ilk run from you in fear. As an action, present your holy symbol, and each dragon or draconic creature (drake, wyvern, kobold, dragonborn, etc.) within 30 ft. of you that can hear you must make a wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is turned for one minute or until it takes damage.

Aura of Fear
Beginning at 7th level, you gain a mote of a true dragon's awful presance. The first time a creature comes within 10 ft. of you, they must make a wisdom save; failure means they are frightened until they can no longer see you or they take damage. At the beginning of each of their turns, they make a new saving throw; if they succeed, the effect ends. Creatures who pass their saving throw, either initially or on a subsequent round, cannot be affected again for 24 hours. You may supress this ability at will, and may select creatures not to be affected by your aura. At 18th level, you Aura of Fear extends to 30 ft.

Additionally, you gain a closer connection to your chosen dragon's element. You may choose for your Divine Smite and Improved Divine Smite to deal elemental damage (of your chosen dragon's type) instead of radiant damage, and any spells you cast that deal elemental (fire, cold, lightning, acid, thunder, or poison) or Radiant damage may instead deal your dragon's type of damage.

Heart of Dragons
Starting at 15th level, your connection to the great dragons is deeper than those of your own blood. You grow a covering of scales matching that of your chosen dragon type, and you gain immunity to the elemental damage type associated with that dragon:

Red/Gold/Brass: Fire
Blue/Bronze: Lightning
Silver/White: Cold
Black/Copper: Acid
Green: Poison

Additionally, you no longer age, cannot die from old age, and you cannot be aged magically.

Draconic Apotheosis
At 20th level, you embody your dragon lord almost completely, taking on a form that more closely matches his/her own. Using your action, you undergo a transformation. For one minute, you gain the following abilities:
- Wings Sprout from your back, giving you a fly speed of 60 ft.
- As an action, you can make a ranged spell attack with a range of 120 ft. This attack uses your spellcasting modifier, and adds your charisma bonus to the damage roll. The target takes 4d10 Damage of the elemental type associated with your dragon. All creatures within 10 feet of the target make dexterity saves or take the same amount of damage, half on a successful save.

[Jeebs]

I'm rarely on the Homebrew boards, but I just wanted to say that this is awesome. The archetype is really fun, thematic, and seems to be balanced. It looks like you paid really close attention to the existing PHB archetypes and balanced your design against them.

If I ever need a Dragon Knight archetype, I'll use this.

The only negative thing I can say is that I don't love the Oath spells. I like that Protection from Energy is non-specific, plus Chromatic Orb also works for all the different elements and colors/metals -- and I like how this and the capstone allow this archetype to occupy the 'Ranged Paladin' niche a bit -- but I might use some shapechanging spells to represent dragons' Polymorphing and allow the character to serve their master in subtle ways (posing as an important diplomat and taking advantage of high CHA to steal a princess' dowry for your hoard).

[Submortimer]

I'm rarely on the Homebrew boards, but I just wanted to say that this is awesome. The archetype is really fun, thematic, and seems to be balanced. It looks like you paid really close attention to the existing PHB archetypes and balanced your design against them.

If I ever need a Dragon Knight archetype, I'll use this.

The only negative thing I can say is that I don't love the Oath spells. I like that Protection from Energy is non-specific, plus Chromatic Orb also works for all the different elements and colors/metals -- and I like how this and the capstone allow this archetype to occupy the 'Ranged Paladin' niche a bit -- but I might use some shapechanging spells to represent dragons' Polymorphing and allow the character to serve their master in subtle ways (posing as an important diplomat and taking advantage of high CHA to steal a princess' dowry for your hoard).

That's not a bad idea. A common theme I will use for any "Elemental" themed classes I make is some ability that allows them to change the damage type of an existing spell over to their chosen damage type: A Black Dragon Knight of the Scale knows scorching ray, melf's minute meteors, Storm Sphere, and Cone of cold, but for him, they all do Acid Damage.

[DracoKnight]

The Oath of the Scale
The Oath of the Scale has been a part of the world since younger races discovered the great, magical beasts known as dragons; always, there have been those willing to prostrate themselves before these great creatures, devoting their lives to their winged Masters. Often referred to by a personal moniker in-line with their chosen color of dragon (The Black Knight, Knight of the Red, Sir Gawain the Golden), paladins who take the Oath of the Scale have devoted themselves to one of the two sides of the cosmic battle of good and evil: either in ter service of Bahamut and the Metallic Dragons, or Tiamat and the Chromatic Dragons. Though their personalities vary, they always seem to be in line with the type of dragon they hope to embody, and adorn their clothing, armor, and weapons with symbols devoted to dragon-kind.

All Knigts of the dragon seek to embody either Bahamut or Tiamat, but also choose a specific dragon type (metallic or chromatic) at the time they take their oath; this influences many of the abilities of the Paladin as he grows in power.

Tenets
Tenets of the Oath of the Scale do tend to vary based on the dragon the Paladin swears fealty to, but fall in line with these four concepts, Split by siding with the good or the evil dragons:
Shelter/Subjugate the Weak: Dragons are the greatest creatures to ever walk the land, and you have a responsibility to display that power. Use their power to protect/dominate the weak and downtrodden, for such is your duty/right.
Amass your Horde: To a dragon, his treasure horde is his life. Always seek to expand your own holdings and monetary power, and build a pile of gold visible from the heavens.
Inspire Awe/Instill Terror: Dragons are without equal in the world, and should be respected as such. Never miss an opportunity to use your draconic gifts to inspire Awe/Terror in those around you.
Suffer not the Chromatic/Metallic to live: Chromatic/Metallic dragons are a blight upon the land, and a perversion of Lord Io's greatness. Kill them, destroy them, and let not their influence corrupt the land.

Oath Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	Chromatic Orb, Shocking Grasp
5th	Scorching Ray, Agnazzar's Scorcher
9th	Protection from energy, Melf's Minute Meteors
13th	Polymorph, Wall of Fire
17th	Cone of Cold, Flame Strike

Channel Divinity
Elemental Weapon
As an action, you can imbue one weapon you are holding with elemental energy using your channel divinity. For one minute, you add your Charisma modifier to damage rolls made with that weapon (minimum +1), and all the damage dealt by that weapon is the elemental damage associated with your selected dragon type. The weapon also emits bright light in a 20-ft. radius and dim light 20 ft. beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical it becomes magical for the duration.
You can end this effect on your turn as a part of any other action. if you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or you fall unconcious, this effect ends.
Turn the Scales
You may force dragons and their ilk run from you in fear. As an action, present your holy symbol, and each dragon or draconic creature (drake, wyvern, kobold, dragonborn, etc.) within 30 ft. of you that can hear you must make a wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is turned for one minute or until it takes damage.

Aura of Fear
Beginning at 7th level, you gain a mote of a true dragon's awful presance. The first time a creature comes within 10 ft. of you, they must make a wisdom save; failure means they are frightened until they can no longer see you or they take damage. At the beginning of each of their turns, they make a new saving throw; if they succeed, the effect ends. Creatures who pass their saving throw, either initially or on a subsequent round, cannot be affected again for 24 hours. You may supress this ability at will, and may select creatures not to be affected by your aura. At 18th level, you Aura of Fear extends to 30 ft.

Additionally, you gain a closer connection to your chosen dragon's element. You may choose for your Divine Smite and Improved Divine Smite to deal elemental damage (of your chosen dragon's type) instead of radiant damage, and any spells you cast that deal elemental damages (fire, cold, lightning, or acid) instead deal your dragon's type of damage.

Heart of Dragons
Starting at 15th level, your connection to the great dragons is deeper than those of your own blood. You grow a covering of scales matching that of your chosen dragon type, and you gain immunity to the elemental damage type associated with that dragon:

Red/Gold/Brass: Fire
Blue/Bronze: Lightning
Silver/White: Cold
Green/Black/Copper: Acid

Additionally, you no longer age, cannot die from old age, and you cannot be aged magically.

Draconic Apotheosis
At 20th level, you embody your dragon lord almost completely, taking on a form that more closely matches his/her own. Using your action, you undergo a transformation. For one minute, you gain the following abilities:
- Wings Sprout from your back, giving you a fly speed of 60 ft.
- As an action, you can make a ranged spell attack with a range of 120 ft. This attack uses your spellcasting modifier, and adds your charisma bonus to the damage roll. The target takes 4d10 Damage of the elemental type associated with your dragon. All creatures within 10 feet of the target make dexterity saves or take the same amount of damage, half on a successful save.

This is great, and for the most part, I really do like it :D The only problem I have with is comes in their 7th level feature...I understand thematically why they deal only the damage type of their dragon, but I don't like how that limits their versatility. Something I might instead do, is give each different draconic damage type a different spell list, for example:

Red/Gold/Brass:
3rd: Burning Hands, Chromatic Orb
5th:Scorching Ray, Flaming Sphere
9th: Fireball, Fly
13th: Wall of Fire, Polymorph
17: Flame Strike, Dominate Person

[Submortimer]

So, here's the reason I don't do that: Fire spells are really the only type that have enough to fill the whole list, and they also have the widest array of shapes and sizes. Helps keep the other types from being limited.

That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing a few new spells lists.

[DracoKnight]

So, here's the reason I don't do that: Fire spells are really the only type that have enough to fill the whole list, and they also have the widest array of shapes and sizes. Helps keep the other types from being limited.

That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing a few new spells lists.

If you want I can write up a spell list for each draconic type... :) I don't know how long it will take me.

[Wartex1]

I have a question about this.

How would being a Dragonborn work with Turn the Scales?

Also, instead of forcing your spells to deal a single elemental type, how about giving a choice and a bonus with that type? That way, a Fire Paladin doesn't get screwed over too much if he visits the Nine Hells.

[DracoKnight]

I have a question about this.

How would being a Dragonborn work with Turn the Scales?

Also, instead of forcing your spells to deal a single elemental type, how about giving a choice and a bonus with that type? That way, a Fire Paladin doesn't get screwed over too much if he visits the Nine Hells.

That is an excellent point :)

[Wartex1]

I assume the aura also uses your spell save DC, correct?

[Submortimer]

I have a question about this.

How would being a Dragonborn work with Turn the Scales?

Also, instead of forcing your spells to deal a single elemental type, how about giving a choice and a bonus with that type? That way, a Fire Paladin doesn't get screwed over too much if he visits the Nine Hells.

You are never affected by your own turning abilities.

That second point is supposed to be an inherent limitation of the class, but I'll look into it.

I assume the aura also uses your spell save DC, correct?

Yes, that's correct.

[Wartex1]

It's a limitation, but it also doesn't provide much of a benefit and only serves as a hindrance. Adding ability score modifier to damage and allow you to deal damage of your type both encourages the player to use a their dragons element and doesn't screw them over should they be in a situation where everyone is immune to their element. If you're worried about that being too powerful, most of a Paladin's damage output doesn't come from his spells, but his melee prowess and divine smites.

[Wartex1]

Also, why not include poison and thunder since they are elements that can be used for Chromatic Orb?

[Submortimer]

It's a limitation, but it also doesn't provide much of a benefit and only serves as a hindrance. Adding ability score modifier to damage and allow you to deal damage of your type both encourages the player to use a their dragons element and doesn't screw them over should they be in a situation where everyone is immune to their element. If you're worried about that being too powerful, most of a Paladin's damage output doesn't come from his spells, but his melee prowess and divine smites.

Yeah, I feel you on that. I made the slight change, and added in Poison (for green dragons)

Also, why not include poison and thunder since they are elements that can be used for Chromatic Orb?

The elemental type is linked to your chosen dragon's breath weapon. I had incorrectly added in Green Dragons as Acid instead of poison, but that's now changed. No dragon (of the given types) deals thunder damage with it's breath weapon.

[Wartex1]

I meant changing thunder to another damage type.

[Submortimer]

Ahh, my mistake, I understand now. Chromatic Orb doesn't really bother me, because you can already select whichever damage type you want...that being said, I need to get rid of Shocking Grasp and replace it with Burning Hands. I may take out Chromatic Orb and replace it with Thunderwave, but I'm not sure yet.