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Aquatic Paladins

The fight against corruption and evil doesn’t stop at the shoreline. Paladins who follow gods of the ocean, such as Poseidon, or who are born among marine races, often follow the Oath of the Waves. As with other marine classes, aquatic paladins focus on training with piercing weapons such as spears, tridents, and short swords, as well as crossbows. Their armor is rarely made of metals, unless they are enchanted. Instead, their armors are composed of unique species of leathery seaweed, scales, chitinous plates, and shields made of turtle shells. Those few aquatic paladins that rely on mounts choose large predators such as sharks and killer whales, or rarer beasts such as giant sea horses and hippocampi.

Oath of the Waves

Tenets of Devotion

Bounty. Food and water are the cornerstones of life and the ocean is generous. I will not overlook starvation or thirst without compassion for those who suffer.

Freedom. Of all evils, slavery of mind and body shall be fought above all others.

One World. Waters are the foundation of life. Through travel and experience, I will learn all I can about the cultures of the world. Only through knowledge and understanding can good root out evil.

The Unnatural Shall Not Fester. Aberrations and undead must be destroyed beyond all resurrection lest their evil infect the world.

 

Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

3rd:   speak with animals, thunderwave
5th:   alter self, darkvision
9th:   create food and water, water breathing
13th:  control water, freedom of movement
17th:  conjure elemental, scrying

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.

Censure the Deep. As an action, you present your holy symbol and speak a prayer censuring aberrations and undead, using your Channel Divinity. Each aberration or undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage.

A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.

Charged Weapon. As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with either electricity or bitter cold using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, you add twice your Charisma modifier to the damage rolls with that weapon (with a minimum bonus of +2), and the weapon’s damage type becomes either cold or lightning in addition to the bludgeoning, piercing or slashing of the charged weapon. If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration.

You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends.

Echolocation

At 7th level, you can use a bonus action to grant yourself blindsight to a range of 15 feet until the beginning of your next turn. If you are underwater, this range increases to 60 feet. As this ability is based on hearing, you may not use it if you are deafened. If you already possess blindsight based on echolocation, the range increases by the distance listed above.

Stunning Strike

At 15th level, you can use your action to emit a concentrated blast of sound. Creatures within 5 feet of you must make a Constitution save or take 3d8 thunder damage and be stunned until the beginning of your next turn. A successful save results in half damage and prevents the stunning. The range increases to 10 feet while underwater. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier before taking a long rest.

If you wish, you may target a single creature within 10 feet with this ability. If you do, the creature gains disadvantage on the saving throw. The range increases to 20 feet while underwater.

Form of the Leviathan

At 20th level, you can assume the form of an ancient force from the deep, taking on an appearance you choose. For example, your skin might turn blue-green or become scaled, you may grow multiple tentacles or your legs may become fused like a whale or shark.

Using your action, you undergo a transformation. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits.

  • Your Strength and Constitution both become 20 if they aren’t already 20 or higher.
  • You gain advantage on Strength and Constitution checks and you gain 2d10 temporary hit points.
  • You gain the ability to breath both water and air, if you don’t already possess it, and gain a swim speed of 40 feet if your swim speed isn’t already greater than 40 feet.
  • You may use your Stunning Strike ability as a bonus action.
  • Your echolocation becomes a standard sense.

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

Developer Notes: After playtest feedback, the Form of Leviathan cap power has been adjusted from its original appearance at www.gameschangelives.com to:

  • Remove the Large size modification
  • Reduce the Temp HP to 2d10
  • Reduce swim speed to 40 feet.

Playtesting

We’re always looking for playtesters for our races, classes, archetypes and other designs here at Tribality. Wizards had the benefit of 175,000 playtesters over 2 years to get their ideas to the table; clearly we don’t have that luxury. Each of our builds are as balanced as we can design with a small playtest group and decades (over a century, maybe, I haven’t done the math) of gaming XP, and we are always excited to hear when players get these ideas on the table and provide us with constructive ways to make them better.