Sacred Oath
Becoming a paladin involves taking vows that commit the paladin to the cause of righteousness, an active path of fighting wickedness. The final oath, taken when he or she reaches 3rd level, is the culmination of all the paladin’s training. Some characters with this class don’t consider themselves true paladins until they have reached 3rd level and made this oath. For others, the actual swearing of the oath is a formality, an official stamp on what has always been true in the paladin’s heart.
Oath of Winter
The Oath of Winter is a concord between a paladin and an ancient being of ice, Father Winter. With this treatise, the paladin swears to stand vanguard against the cold, but neither to unseat Father Winter from his throne of ice. So long as the paladin upholds this concord, he is made one with the winter's ice, and protected from its ravages.
Tenets of Winter
Your concord with Father Winter is based on the following principles:
Winter's Snow Though the winter is long and harsh, it is not altogether evil. Your concord with Father Winter himself is proof of that.
Winter's Wind With the coming of winter frosts are harsh dangers and frigid creatures not found in the summer. It is your duty to protect the innocent from this peril.
Winter's Throne To seek to unseat Father Winter from his throne of ice is to break your vow. No matter the evils of his reign, you must not break your concord.
Oath of Winter Features
| Paladin Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Oath Spells, Channel Divinity |
| 7th | Frigid Aura (10 ft.) |
| 15th | Iceflesh |
| 20th | Father Winter |
Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed in the Oath of the Winter Warden Spells Table. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how oath spells work.
| Paladin Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Armor of Agathys, Ice Knife |
| 5th | Snilloc's Snowball Swarm, Warding Wind |
| 9th | Protection from Energy, Sprit Shroud |
| 13th | Death Ward, Ice Storm |
| 17th | Circle of Power, Cone of Cold |
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options. See the Sacred Oath class feature for how Channel Divinity works.
Ice armour As a bonus action expending your Channel Divinity, you can wreath your armor in a thick layer of protective ice, which must be chipped away before you are harmed. You gain temporary hit points equal to your paladin level + 2 times Charisma modifier. While you have the temporary hit points any creature that hit you with an attack takes cold damage equal to half the amount of thp you had before the attack was made if the attacker is within 5ft. These temp HP last for 10 minutes.
North Wind You can use your action to breathe a hoary wind, expending your Channel Divinity. Each creature within a 30-foot cone must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 1d8 cold damage for each point of your proficiency bonus, and its speed is reduced by half until the beginning of your next turn. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much cold damage. A creature killed by this ability becomes a frozen statue until it thaws.
Frigid Aura
Beginning at 7th level, you and your allies become resistant to the dangers of the harsh winter elements. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to cold damage. As well as feeling comfortable in cold temperatures as low as -30°C.
At 18th Level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Iceflesh
Starting 15th level, your blood freezes in your veins. Those who strike you are hit with your blood in the form of shards of ice. Whenever a creature hits you with a melee attack, that creature takes cold damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) if you’re not incapacited. If a creature takes this damage and you successfully hit them with a melee attack on your next turn, the blood shatters and deals extra weapon damage equal to your proficiency bonus. This can only be triggered once per creature per turn.
Father Winter
Starting at 20th level, you can invite upon yourself the purest cold, becoming an effigy of Father Winter himself. For the next 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:
- You are immune to cold damage
- On your turn, you can draw the heat from the room, extinguishing any nonmagical fires you can see within 30 feet (no action required.)
- Creatures of your choice have disadvantage on perception checks to see creatures, items or locations that are within 30ft of you as a thick misty fog begins to form.
- The ground surrounding you rapidly ices over. The ground within 30ft of you are considered difficult terrain for creatures that you choose.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest