Living Ward

Your abilities are reflected both on and off the field of battle as they mirror each other in your day-to-day life. These abilities are represented by your warding dice, which are each a d6. You have a number of these dice equal to twice your proficiency bonus, and they signify your ability in various skills you have, which are detailed below.

Some of your abilities expend the warding die they use, as specified in the ability’s description, and you can’t use an ability if it requires you to use a die when your dice are all expended. You regain all your expended warding dice when you finish a long rest. In addition, as a bonus action, you can regain one expended warding die, but you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

When you reach certain levels in this class, the size of your warding dice increases at 5th level (d8), 11th level (d10), and 17th level (d12).

The abilities below use your warding dice:
Born Negotiator: When tensions are high, your instincts to find compromise kicks in: if you fail a Charisma check, you can roll one warding die and add the number rolled to the check, potentially turning failure into success. You expend the die only if the roll succeeds.
Astute Bulwark: Your situational awareness of the battlefield allows you to correct gaps in your allies’ defenses. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to expend one warding die to give a friendly creature within 30 feet who can see or hear you temporary hit points equal to the warding die roll plus your Constitution modifier.
Defensive Strike: Finding openings in your opponent’s defenses comes naturally to you. Once per turn, immediately after you hit a target with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one warding die and make an additional weapon attack as a bonus action. If the attack hits, add the warding die to the weapon's damage roll.

Shield Guardian

Starting at 7th level, you can rush to an allies aid at the risk of your own wellbeing. As a bonus action you can make a binding oath to a target friendly creature within 30 feet for 1 minute. When a creature you are oathbound to is within 30 feet of you, and becomes the target of an attack, you can use your reaction to move up to your speed, without provoking opportunity attacks, to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the oath bound creature and take the attack instead. This effect ends if you are incapacitated, drop to 0 hit points, or you target another creature with this feature. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Countering Assault

Starting at 10th level, your familiarity of the battlefield has brought with it new abilities, detailed below.
Bounding Movement: On your turn, as a bonus action, you can move unimpeded. Until the start of your next turn your walking speed increases by 10 feet and moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement. Once you take this bonus action, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest, unless you expend a warding die to take it again.
Guarding Riposte: When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to make opportunity attack against the creature. If a creature misses you with a melee weapon attack while using Oath of the Shield Guardian to take the attack, you can use this feature as part of the same reaction. Once you take this reaction, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest, unless you expend a warding die to take it again.

Protective Phalanx

At 15th level, your skill with a shield allows you to defend those around you more effectively as your presence becomes too prominent to ignore. Other friendly creatures within 5 feet of you gain a +2 bonus to their AC and +4 to their Dexterity saving throws. In addition, when one or more creatures are under the effects of Protective Phalanx and are subject to an effect that allows them to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, a creature can use their reaction to instead take no damage if it succeeds on the saving throw, and only half damage if it fails.

Steel Dragon Stance

At 18th level you have mastered the art of a balanced defense and offense, striking down your opponents through precise deflections and patience. While holding a shield, you can use your bonus action to shift into the stance of the steel dragon. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:

• When you use Oath of the Shield Guardian to take an attack meant for another creature, you have resistance to the damage to that attack.
• You can now select up to two targets for Oath of the Shield Guardian. The bond on the earliest creature ends when you target a third creature.
• In combat you gain a special reaction. You can use this extra reaction only for Oath of the Shield Guardian.

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