Paladin 101: Oath of Vengeance in Dungeons & Dragons

[@Phaaronite]

I’m playing an Oath of Vengeance paladin now! My character was previously a Pact of the Fiend Warlock, up until his patron betrayed him and broke their pact at a pivotal moment in the game. He was killed in the encounter, but was resurrected later. He swore an oath to kill his former patron almost immediately after he awoke, and was heard by a god. I still don’t know which god is helping out, but it’s been really fun playing him as an angry man with nothing to lose.

[@mattheweagle3580]

Ghost rider comes to mind

[@zevbraylon5978]

I know Im asking the wrong place but does anyone know a tool to get back into an Instagram account? I somehow forgot my login password. I appreciate any tricks you can offer me!

[@calebluis2910]

@Zev Braylon Instablaster =)

[@zevbraylon5978]

@Caleb Luis Thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm in the hacking process atm. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@zevbraylon5978]

@Caleb Luis it did the trick and I finally got access to my account again. Im so happy! Thank you so much, you really help me out!

[@xXGeko1Xx]

A Tiefling Oath of Vengeance Paladin who hunts down their bloodline.

[@dicorockhimself]

That's a glorious idea

[@Uthardar]

The daddy issues character

[@PlanetLuthian]

My 6Lvl Great Weapon feat V-Paladin is a Devil's Tongue Tiefling with an Oath Bow and 2 Longswords. With a 3Lvl dìp in Two Weapon Fighting Arcane Archer and 2Lvl Celestial Warlock with Green Flame Blade and Arms if Hadar. Selected Teifling Racial feat at 3rd My patron is Bahamut The Golden Dragon That Vicious Mockery is very comedic and eye rolking

[@angelovantoorn942]

About to go into avernus as a zariel tiefling vengeance paladin going after zariel

[@sadsackkvisling9694]

Ye Anti-Cambion

[@ViaVirtus]

“Justice doesn’t dispense itself.” - Chris Metzen, former Blizzard storyline lead and world-renowned Paladin player

[@DFranco83]

Billy Butcher and the Spice Girls

[@myopicmanatee6432]

The Skull Knight from Beserk is what I think of when I think of an Oath of Vengeance Paladin.

[@memesnahgee5259]

Hey hey hey! So I’m getting into dnd and I’m Really excited. My first character is gonna be an oath of Vengeance Paladin! I bought my first mini today, and another pair of dice! It’s gonna be hard to get out of my shell but I’m really looking forward to the roleplay aspect!

[@markpukey8]

Props to you Todd. James talks about a movie where they "stop crime before it happens" and you can't name the movie, but you get to "It's a Phillip K Dick book". Well done my nerd. Well done.

[@Hyde_Hill]

I did Oath of Vengeance Paladin with one level dip in Divine Soul Sorcerer, because I had already gone strength heavy. The defense of shield and absorb elements combined with cantrips is super useful. Massive damage on your turn, massive defense and mobility on enemies turn. I am basically a holy avenger against Chromatic Dragons being a Metallic Dragonborn sworn to Bahamut.

[@DarthKieduss]

Im level 2 rn but im playing a Vengeance Paladin based on Clone Wars Anakin Skywalker, including a DM created god thay compels him to give into his passion, including lust and anger. He became a privateer (sailor) and fought in a naval war. During leave, a pirate murdererd his father, the Captain in a bar. He took command as Captain and hunted the seas for his fathers killer, Captain Jack Aubrey (from the Russel Crowe movie). But after a treaty was signed and peace was declared, Captain Kieduss had to retire from the sea at 19. He fell in love with the Crown Princess (Lore Bard played by femBFF) and got married and he became a vengeance Paladin of the kingdom in a Jedi order style order of knights (sue me I love star wars). His task is to bring Captain Audrey to justice while protecting his wife, including making sure no one finds out syhss the crown princess.

[@dr.z6601]

I've always played the Rogue or Ranger types, but decided to go for paladin for 5e to switch it up, and this conversation helped me a lot with ways to make my DM's life Much easier. Thank you guys!

[@nathanfreeman681]

The comedic version of Oath of Vengence Paladin is the Dread Pirate Roberts.

[@GamingMad247]

currently playing a Vengeance pally who originally started off as a UA heroism paladin. a defining event had him leave his small town in the pursuit of glory and better understanding of the power he holds (granted to him by Kord). After seeing how dire and grim the big world is and eventually being killed by a pack of demons he knew his original approach to things wasnt going to work, so Kord offered him a choice during his death, to swear an oath of vengeance to really bring the pain and bring back justice by whatever means are necessary. Has been a fun arc

[@galbert117]

Oath of Devotion is a favorite of mine. Great for negotiations and conversations...if they don't fail of course.

[@Haveuseenmyjetpack]

An Oath of Vengence Paladin and , both with Devil Sight, fighting in darkness, while listening to a Bard inspiring them with

[@AdrianGell]

Even if my char never hits capstone, just the *_idea_* of my Leonin getting wings makes me happy when I pull out his sheet.

[@GhostFoxxe]

Because they’d be a Flyin’ Lion?

[@Burori1]

I will say, Dante from the Devil May Cry series is a good example of a Vengeance Paladin, who isn't grim and gritty.

[@StriderZessei]

I, too, watch Tulok the Barbrarian.

[@mattnelson2501]

I play a Scourge Aasimar Vengeance Paladin who comes from a family of demon slayers/monster hunters (think the Belmonts from Castlevania). I love the flavor and abilities of this subclass because it really gives the feel of being a relentless hunter and stalker of evil, hunter's mark (and eventually scrying) lets you hone in on your quarry, misty step, hold person and dimension door plus relentless avenger gives you amazing mobility to chase down targets, and on top of all that you get the regular paladin kit. We recently (level 8 characters) went up against a horde or zombies, ghouls, undead magic users, and a zombie beholder and my character just tore through them like paper. The low level guys could barely put a scratch on me due to the dmg reduction from my heavy armor master feat and the Aasimar's necrotic resistance. Overall I love the class and abilities, it really feels like a character who can just go out into the world, find the evil, and utterly destroy it.

[@Gostrider2470]

ive just started a campaign where im a 11 year old silver dragon wyrmling vengeance paladin in search for the person who murdered her mother, shes very much still a child at heart but when it comes down to it can be absolutely terrifying to anyone who stands in her way.

[@thesmilinggun-knight9646]

All of this really makes me think of the black templars from warhammer

[@sadsackkvisling9694]

Like the basic concept with Psionics, a reattachable Murderous/Vampiric Claw (or flying spectral head with breathweapons), sproutable tentacles or other controllable mutations, sentient cape of living shadow which can act like a grappling/whipping/choking/tripping/blinding/stunning/distracting weapon or a Portable Hole, a teleporting silverbarbed noose as a bonded weapon, maybe an optional ability to read Quaalith.

[@NickAgatha]

I don't think OP characters are necessarily a problem. A DM can come up with scenarios to challenge them and to have other players shine as well. A Vengeance Hexblade like the one I'm playing will decimate the antagonist if it's a one-on-one battle. And that's ok to happen once, it makes the player feel happy that he gets to be a nightmare in the battlefield. But scenarios where he has to handle enemy mobs or has to defend NPCs from enemy mobs, ranged opponents, spellcasters supported by units, environmental hazards. These will give him more than a challenge. And there are scenarios where a battlefield controller like a wizard, or a smart choice by a rogue or a bard might change the encounter. It's not all about damage. DnD is a very versatile game with rules and antagonists that check such problems easily. And in any case, OP characters are usually built to excel at certain things. There are a million other things that they do not excel at, that other players do. That's where they'll shine. You can't fulfill every role by yourself and that's why DnD is a team game.

[@laughingpanda4395]

I'm playing a dragonborn OOV paladin/draconic ancestry sorcerer. Not only am I a wrecking ball in melee but also at range. My character is capable of tanking, DPS, buffs, debuffs, aoe spell dmg and healing. There isnt anything I cant do. Definitely my favorite character ever. Even the rogues at the table are like....damn. you're op af.

[@BergerFett]

I play a Zariel Tiefling Paladin of Vengence and its super fun. The Lawful Evil or Lawful Neutral paladin has been super fun.

[@quewp1]

I’m new to DnD and wanted to be a Redemption Paladin. We did session 0 and 1 and my party was acting like murder hobos and marauders. The character was supposed to ask for tithes from the party for THIER redemption. The character quickly realized they were irredeemable. Instead he’s going to seek vengeance for the god of trade because the world is beyond peace and redemption.

[@Surge-kk6ew]

I’m playing a fallen assimar oath of vengeance that is a clone from another fallen assimar that went rouge and started making his own clan. My character, Skio, broke free of the the control and stated to hunt down his copies as a side story in the journey

[@crownlexicon5225]

I have an oath of vengeance hexblade paladin that I'm currently playing. I looked at it mechanically, yes, but character-wise, he doesn't care what he has to do to take down the greater evil. If he had to sell his soul to some lesser demon to wipe out the demon lord(s) (which mine was fortunate enough not to have to do) he would. I was fortunate enough to find dawnbringer and she is my patron. I took EB as one of my cantrips so that I could have a ranged option if need be, but decided against taking the relevant invocations so that I didnt turn into an EB bot. I guess what I'm trying to say is there are certainly narrative reasons for an oath of vengeance paladin to make a deal into warlock; it doesnt have to be purely mechanical.

[@steventrainor1302]

So I'm getting ready to do Descent into Avernus. My level 1 is a dragonborn paladin. My plan was to go oath of vengeance under Bahamut opposing the schemes of Tiamat etc. I was looking at adding warlock but didn't think the hexblade really tied in thematically so I was thinking celestial or possible genie also might be a stretch. I could see starting with warlock than adding paladin as you could swear the oath of vengeance to anyone or thing really. What do you think. This is my first campaign so I'm probably just over thinking it.

[@crownlexicon5225]

@@steventrainor1302 if you want heavy armor, you'll have to start paladin. And hexblade is super open, so you could always say that "you received a weapon from your god" or something

[@steventrainor1302]

@@crownlexicon5225 sounds good. Thanks. I'll take a look. I know everything I've seen says hexblade but for this particular campaign I thought the celestial was kind of interesting. Good to know they can both work though. I guess I thought hexblade was specifically to the raven queen.

[@steventrainor1302]

@@crownlexicon5225 my other thought was going sorcerer. Seems like you get a ton more spell slots that way for divine smites.

[@crownlexicon5225]

@Steven trainor true, but they only come back on a long rest. Both are viable options. Like I said in the original comment, I played a vengeance/hexblade a while back. Now, I'm playing a Devotion paladin who is probably gonna take divine soul sorcerer levels later. Both are good, solid, powerful options

[@sadsackkvisling9694]

Why not just go for a Revenant, a War Cleric w/a Celestial Patron, a Fighter/Wizard w/Necro spells?

[@samtheactualkenku6205]

Vax was an Assassin Rogue when they converted from Pathfinder to D&D 5e for the stream, then became a Paladin after (REDACTED FOR SPOILERS), and was probably Vengeance, then he became a Druid after (REDACTED BECAUSE OF VERY IMPORTANT SPOILERS) and it was very sad... If you're wondering why I added some redacted bars, it's to avoid major story spoiler moments from campaign 1 for those who haven't seen it or read a TL;DR but the people who've seen C1 know what events I'm referring to at the moments I put redacted Also picture this, a Kenku Vengeance Paladin/Arcane Trickster Rogue with Disguise Self who's wife and friend were murdered and he was left physically disfigured.... You'll get Dark Man...

[@thefracturedbutwhole5475]

Vax never became a Druid.

[@samtheactualkenku6205]

@@thefracturedbutwhole5475 then how did he cast Druidcraft?

[@jannfredryckmatias3545]

@@thefracturedbutwhole5475 He multiclassed his last level I think for Druid-- right before he went with the Duskmaven.

[@logangriffith4950]

i play oath of vengeance like a witch hunter, i chose the feat mage slayer at lvl 4.

[@davidcdun8896]

One question, what Classes (Subclasses) does Batman have? With all the Subclasses that is coming out from UA, what combination is closest to Batman? At his parents' graves, he probably swore an oath to avenge his parents' death. and understood that no one else should suffer the way he has suffered. Seems like Bruce Wayne's main class is Paladin, and other Classes (Subclases) are multiclasses. Trained by the League of Assassins, that would give him Monk (Way of the Shadow) / Rogue (Assassin). He is also friends with a swarm of bats in the Batcave and has tech to call them if he needs their help. Sounds like Ranger (Swarmkeeper) multiclass. Bruce Wayne is most famous for, Detective. Ra's al Ghoul never use his name, always calling him the Detective. The closest Class (Subclass) would be Wizard (Divination) or Rogue (Mastermind). But we already used Rogue (Assassin), so let used Wizard (Divination). All the cool gadgets comes from the Wayne Enterprise, so who runs the business? Lucian Fox (Morgon freeman) and his son Luke Fox. Didn't you get the memo? :-) Lucian is more theory-based, probably Wizard (School of Invention). Yes, I know this Subclass is removed and the Artificer replaces it. But Lucian's knowledge isn't specialized. He used to be the head of R&D department, so he has to have very broad spectrum of knowledge, not just focused on one area of Arificer. Luke is both a MMA fighter / tech genius. With the Wayne Enterprise backing him with resources, the Batwing armor is his own design. This probably makes him Artificer (Armorer). The MMA fighting gives him Fighter with Unarmed Fighting style, (Battle Master Subclass) with Grappler Feat.

[@davidcdun8896]

I learned Batman doesn't have Monk (Shadow) / Rogue (Assassin) from the League of Assassins, only Monk (Shadow). Alfred taught Batman Rogue (Thief) instead. Never forget, Alfred is Tinkerer, Trailer, Soldier, Spy. He taught Batman how to sneak and acting (Body language and voice details).

[@TonzOfFun2000]

I am playing one right now a dragonborn(i know very original). He is a lead investigator and was good friends with the king of where we are and the king was assassinated. My guy swore to hunt down the killer and all who were involved and he has been doin it for 10 years. We have yet to catch the assassin, we came close but he slipped through our fingers.

[@wordofmouthentertainmentpt6523]

Ghost Rider would be an awesome paladin of vengeance. (Spirit of vengeance)

[@sadsackkvisling9694]

Summons a Construct Steed

[@shawnberry760]

Can you make a sneaky paladin?

[@1987jaffa]

" 'karma' is often about wishing something unlawful upon your wrongdoers, though karma does not come by itself. I am the reason people believe in karma" - on of my vengeance paladin's bonds (who is considering going hexblade as part of the 'by any means necessary' tennet)

[@trev.7598]

Restitution lines up with the ending of The Batman movie which is kind of crazy since that's the comparison everyone makes with the Vengeance Paladin.

[@emmdubb]

You can watch this video with no audio and know how Todd feels about this subclass.

[@madkillerz007]

I've made a Changeling Oath of Vengeance Paladin, Genie Warlock with Pact of the Blade multiclass. I sneak around in plain sight to Smite high value targets right where they feel safest. At one time we delivered a present to the bad guy (a greatly ornate, stupidly expensive looking Urn). This Urn carried me and the rest of the gang. Bad guy placed us inside his house. We assassinated him and looted his stuff, our Wizard had placed teleportation circle inside my Urn and we bounced with the equipment. Then i dispelled my Urn and resummoned it. In out, nobody saw it haha

[@ethanbest9110]

I lost my character in a friend's Descent into Avernus campaign after coming in late. Asmodeus had successfully tempted our paladin to take her first steps into the darkness and I was tempted to play an Oath of Redemption paladin dedicated to Asmodeus that was flavored more as someone who tested the loyalty of his servants and if he could successfully "redeem" them from Asmodeus's worship he would report them as traitors. I immediately realized this was way too evil and convoluted and took a nap.

[@blazeanderson2356]

I like these longer more free form conversions

[@thunderdragonish]

I feel like comparing Abjure Enemy to Polymorph is a big stretch. Neither is a “great crowd control tool” to begin with. Both only target one creature, and if you save nothing really happens. Sure AE halves move speed on a successful save, but if the creature is fleeing, they were either not going to get away to begin with (ranged attacks and players matching their speed) or they can fly or teleport and halved speed doesn’t matter. Polymorph is an amazing support spell, and a good control spell *when it works*. Polymorph is better served as a support spell. Your fighter is on death’s door and the big bad goes before your cleric? Here you go fighter, have 157 temporary hit points, a 40 ft speed, huge size, and two attacks that deal 3d10+6 each. That should tide you over.

[@Niceman65706]

Not finished watching this but at the moment you're talking about feats and multiclassing.... Actor Feat is akin to the classic character Scaramouche. My Oath of Vengeance Paladin is level 10 and due to things in his backstory he grew up in a church, so he has the Magic Initiate: Cleric feat. I've found this quite useful. Guidance and Toll the Dead cantrips are always handy, but via the feat he also took Sanctuary, which is great to protect the innocent (or an ally working on a ritual) while he defends them. The feat I took at 8th level goes well with his Protection fighting style is Shield Master.

[@PlanetLuthian]

My 6Lvl Great Weapon feat V-Paladin is a Devil's Tongue Tiefling with an Oath Bow. With a 3Lvl dìp in Two Weapon Fighting Arcane Archer and 2Lvl Celestial Warlock with Green Flame Blade and Arms if Hadar The constant Vicious Mockery is very comedic.

[@su11en41]

A neat example of a vengeance paladin like character is Gabranth from Final Fantasy XII

[@LunaticReason]

Planning on multiclassing as a Paladin. It wasn't planned because he started out as a Battlemaster but with all that has happened to him and his party and all the evil witnessed both mundane and supernatural he started to seek solace in religion. He's vowed to smite all the evil prevalent in the place he is trapped in, hoping to make it better for others.. Anyways any suggestions to maximize this characters potential?

[@davidcdun8896]

I read some cool combinations. How about, instead of a Tiefling, a Fallen Aasimar / Oath of Vengeance Paladin? A Fallen Aasimar already start with Frightening Aura & ghostly bone wings as Racial features. At lvl 20, the Fallen Aasimar reach his/her highest potential and becomes a true Angel with Avenging Angel subclass feature.

[@fistofk5839]

can someone tell me if it is justifiable to play with one of these paladins for the origin of dark urge in baldur gate 3? ideally without spoilers and that i have finished his game i don't care if in the course of my adventure i become an oathbreaker. thank you.

[@HawiiFiveO]

this was a very funny video! thanks

[@robertsilvermyst7325]

I am building a Forge Cleric/Vengeance Paladin Minotaur. Huge physical brute strength, strong Wisdom, and just a dip into Constitution and Charisma, just to get access to Paladin, and because Minotaurs get a natural +1 to their Constitution, and making Int my dump stat. Just with 4 levels total of Vengeance and the rest going into Cleric, I'd have plenty of spell slots I could use for smiting, and for general party buffs like Aid, Healing Word as a quick revive for allies, and Revivify/Raise Dead in case of worst case scenario. As well as having Spiritual Weapon out so I can use my bonus action after making my Vow to get a weapon attack and a force damage attack in. His goal is to take down the demon lord that made his species: Baphomet, regarding the demon lord as the ultimate prey worthy to be hunted by him.

[@leohale6449]

Eldritch Smite + Pearl of Power. This is a way to regain a Warlock slot to use for Eldritch Smite.

[@thefracturedbutwhole5475]

Rod of the pact keeper is better for a warlock, pearl of power gives you back a spell of 3rd level or lower, rod of the pact keeper gives you back a warlock spell (so 5th level at best).

[@yewwowduck]

in 3.5 you can get powers from philosophy, not a new incarnation

[@StriderZessei]

"Tell me Dwight Schrute isn't a Vengeance Paladin!" You ruined it. You ruined it, and I'm leaving.

[@CleverPsuedonym1]

Ugh, imagine taking martial adept and trip attack/lunge attack

[@gohantanaka]

I’m playing an Aasimar Vengeance Paladin in Dragon Heist. I’m a wrecking ball.

[@danielrupp7578]

Have a Vengeance 4 Rogue 1 to mess with my kids with. Heavy crossbow wielding in heavy armor and then let the rapier come out 🤣🤣😂. Carnage. Just carnage especially on a crit.

[@ericcollins1727]

Vengeance oath.... essentially the Punisher without firearms lol

[@willmena96]

How many players with this subclass in Rime of the Frostmaiden? There's a secret that helps a lot IYKWIM

[@johnnyappleseed856]

I had Strongheart the action figure. Anyone else?

[@mcullennz]

The green arrow is kind of an Oath vengeance with a bow

[@jest3576]

"are you having fun?" good question. potential solution use todd's grung leap grappler idea with vengeance hex build and play him like he is one of the tooth fairies from hell boy 2... oh and can grungs use the squat nimbleness feat? i think that is what its called

[@Fraginator]

Squat Nimbleness Prerequisite: Dwarf or a Small race Grung Size - Grungs stand between 2 ½ and 3 ½ feet tall and average about 30 pounds. Your size is Small. Answer: YES!

[@RPGmodsFan]

Arkan (the Dragonborn Oath Breaker Paladin of Tiamat) would not approve. :-P

[@mmelmon]

This is One Piece's Akainu.

[@StevangarCronox]

Vengeance Paladins and Divination Wizards working to shut down and punish crime before it happens... hmm... I think I remember reading about that in a certain controversial 5e Crossover Sourcebook... - *This post has been censored by the Azorius Senate* -

[@jamesbuys8770]

Add a ring of invisibility and a ring of silence and let them go

[@wantedhealer0861]

I made my paladin a tabaxi named Velvet who only speaks in meows to her party just waiting till the next long rest to pull out her flying carpet and set up her items on it while the party is sleeping and her first words to the whole party is going to be “Velvet has wares if you have the coin”

[@MaMastoast]

You know.. I've watched a lot of your videos by now and I've noticed a trend of Todd often taking issues with things being "overpowered" and how DM's need to put a lid on these things. As someone who takes great pleasure in finding cool builds I find it rather frustrating with how much time you put into discouraging interesting mechanical combos. 5e has very poor character customization features as is, and you get very few feats to play around with... So with you actively encouraging DM's to either ban or meta-counter completely rule legal builds you are effectively making the game less fun for a lot of players.

[@KatanaKamisama]

Dexter could have been Oath of Vengeance.

[@perry1914-e3v]

Go a full medival frank castle

[@toniti5185]

WOAH MASSIVE CRIT ROLE SPOILER!!!! Around 54mins!!!! I was enjoying the video upto that point

[@Fraginator]

That spoiler is over 2 years old... Pretty sure there is a statute of limitations on spoilers. Just saying...

[@toniti5185]

@@Fraginator nope, far more recent than that. I'm only a year behind now. Campaign 2 Ep 52 was a year ago and this hasn't happened yet. And a hell of a lot of people have got into Critrole and DnD in general over lockdown. A simple spoiler alert would have been nice.

[@Fraginator]

That was in campaign 1 not campaign 2

[@toniti5185]

@@Fraginator wrong again. How does Ford drop warlock in season 1?.....

[@Fraginator]

I didn't catch that one. My bad. I only heard the Vax multiclass comment...

[@joefixxit]

Frank castle..

[@dukegunnar]

Wow, the guys on this video are really judgemental on play styles. 👎

[@BelfastBiker]

Interesting flavour, but that's it. Overrated, especially compared to Conquest with it's incredible spells, conquering presence, and aura of conquest.

[@Buran01]

Except you almost never reach the levels in which Conquest paladin shines... Vengeance variant is just more usable, and mixes better as multi class if you want to make a Hexblade Warlock hybrid (not needed, but adds flavour).

[@BelfastBiker]

@@Buran01 I disagree. :) Spells: Vengeance has Haste and Hold Monster, but I'll get the former from my multiclass. Conquest has Armor of Agathys, Spiritual Weapon, Bestow Curse and Fear, they're just fantastic. 7th level: The Vengeance ability of move a bit more when you get an opportunity attack, sucks, it's easily the worst of the Pally 7th level abilities. Conquest gets that amazing fear aura, just crazy crowd control. Divinity: Vengeances Advantage on attack rolls with a single creature is good, but there are so many ways to get that. Conquests Presence on all creatures within 30ft for a minute is incredible as it's concentration free, especially paired with the 7th level ability.

[@Buran01]

@@BelfastBiker The problem with both specs is that Divinity Channel can only be used once by long rest. Without a terrified (by you) target Aura of Conquest do nothing. I'm starting to think that for utility and team support Oath of the Ancients is way stronger and once you reach level 8 (as much) as a Paladin the best choice is just to spent all the other levels in a Hexblade multiclass or to make a fighter dip. Above 8 is just about storing smites...

[@BelfastBiker]

@@Buran01 you’re right about above level8. Ancients is OK, but subpar spells and divinity, and the aura only extends to 10ft for almost all games. Yuan-ti version it magic resistance is much better for self.