Oath of Courage

The Oath of Courage is an oath seldom taken, for it elevates a devoted woman or man above just the station of being a paladin. They become an ideal; a clarion call in the darkness capable of bolstering those who are frightened. To swear this oath is to make yourself an enemy of all who would use terror to manipulate and harm the frightened. Just as you can sense evil and undeath, undeath and evil can sense you. The armor and appearance of these paladins is often simple and utilitarian; whatever gets the job done. What’s different about them is their voice: strong, compassionate, and inspiring.

It is the voice of a leader in the darkest of times.

Tenets of Courage

The Oath of Courage has few tenets, but they serve as constant reminders about a paladin’s purpose. Often, paladins will repeat these tenets to themselves in a crisis to strengthen their resolve.

• Fight the Fear. Fear exists for only one purpose: to be conquered. You must fight the fear in your own heart before you can fight the fear in others.
• Bolster the Timid. Agents of fear-undead and otherworldly horrors-will try to break your compatriots will with terror. Do not let them. Your courageous example will make your allies courageous as well.
• Inspire the Meek. You have taken this oath, but the common person hasn’t. They will be afraid when monsters come to their door. It is your duty to give them the hope, the confidence, and the tools to fight alongside you.
• Fortify Your Surroundings. To survive the long and terrifying night, you must be prepared. Always be on the lookout for ways to make your surroundings more secure, safe, and defensible. You may be able to survive a night raid, but those you look after may not.

Oath Spells

Paladin Level	Spells
3rd	bless, protection from evil and good
5th	branding smite, calm emotions
9th	beacon of hope, create food and water
13th	banishment, death ward
17th	banishing smite, dispel evil and good

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options: Courageous Words. As an action, you can call out to your allies and give them the courage to succeed, or you can call out to one ally in particular and almost guarantee their success with your courage, using your Channel Divinity. You grant an ally that can see or hear you a Courage die, a d6. Once within the next 10 minutes, that ally can roll the d6 and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw that they make. The ally can wait until after they roll the d20 before deciding to use the Courage die. Once the Courage die is rolled, it is lost. An ally can have only one Courage die at a time.

Rousing Speech. As an action, you can use your commanding voice and presence to dissuade enemy creatures from advancing against you or your allies, using your Channel Divinity. Each hostile creature that can see or hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is no longer hostile, stopping any attempt to attack you or your companions for a number of rounds equal to half your level (rounded down). This effect ends if affected creatures are attacked during this time.

Aura of Courage

At 7th level, you emanate an Aura of Courage earlier than other paladins. At 10th level its range is improved to 30 feet, and further improves to 50 feet at 18th level.

Protecting Touch

At 15th level, your Lay on Hands feature is improved dramatically in order to not only heal, but also protect your allies on the battlefield. When you use Lay on Hands on a creature, that creature gains a +2 bonus to AC for 1 hour, provided they continue to fight courageously. Any attempt to move away from, flee from, or hide from an enemy in combat negates this +2 bonus to AC. A creature healed using Lay on Hands cannot receive this bonus to AC more than once within the hour.

Fearless Champion

At 20th level, you may assume the form of a holy avatar of courage. You have the ability to wrest the fear from those around you and inspire them towards greatness. Using your action you undergo a transformation. For 10 minutes, you gain the following benefits:

• Your features become like that of a lion. You gain a Roar attack that, as an action, deals 3d6 thunder damage to all Evil creatures within 30 feet of you that can hear you.
• All allies that can see or hear you are immune to being frightened or charmed.
• All allies within 15 feet of you have advantage on attack rolls against undead and fiends and advantage on saving throws to resist effects and spells undead and fiends.

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