Oath of the Crusader (5e Subclass)

Oath of the Crusader

Design Note: This paladin oath is meant to emulate the Crusader class from the Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords, which relied heavily on that sourcebook's system of stances and maneuvers. Thus, this paladin oath does not have oath spells or Channel Divinity options, both of them having been replaced with the Combat Superiority trait.

Devoted knight, divine agent, instrument of vengeance, peerless fighting machine — the crusader is a warrior dedicated to good, evil, law, chaos, or some other cause. She seeks out and destroys the enemies of her chosen faith. Strengthened by prayer or absolute devotion to a principle, armored by unshakable faith, and driven by her convictions, a good crusader is a mighty weapon against injustice and malice. An evil crusader, on the other hand, is a cruel and fearsome warrior of darkness.

Combat Superiority

You have martial training that allows you to perform special combat maneuvers. You gain the following benefits:

• You learn three maneuvers of your choice from among those available to the Battle Master archetype of the fighter class. If a maneuver you use requires your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver's effects, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice).

You learn one additional maneuver of your choice at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level. Each time you learn a maneuver, you can replace a maneuver you know with a different one.

• You gain four superiority dice, which are d6's. (this die is added to any superiority dice you have from another source). These dice are used to fuel your maneuvers. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest.
  

You gain another superiority die at 7th level, and again at 15th level.

Improved Combat Superiority

At 7th level, your superiority dice become d8's. At 15th level, they become d10's. At 20th level, they become d12's.

Aura of Mettle

Starting at 7th level, by drawing on your boundless energy and dedication to your cause, you and your allies can shrug off effects that would hinder even the toughest warrior. When you or an ally within 10 feet of you is subjected to an effect that allows a Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw to only take half damage, you and those allies instead take no damage on a successful save, and only half damage on a failed save.

Starting at 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Diehard

Starting at 15th level, when you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can't use this feature again until you finish a short or long rest.

Martial Master

At 20th level, when you roll initiative, the number of superiority dice you have becomes two if it isn't already higher.

---

Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Character Options → Subclasses