Oath of the Watchers 5E Guide | Watchers Paladin 5E

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has cooked up only one Paladin Oath for us to play around with. And it’s very unique! The Oath of the Watchers is an oath to defend the mortal realm against the influence of outsiders. This order is crucial to defend the world against awful creatures that could easily wipe out entire armies of human soldiers. These watchers must pay close attention to the rifts of the realm, and ensure that no threats sneak by. However, if that’s the case, then will this paranoid Paladin be a reasonable addition to a party? Or will their constant eye be a useful tool? Find out, in our Oath of the Watchers 5E guide!

See Our Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Subclasses Guide

Defend Against Outsiders: Oath of the Watchers 5E

The tenets of the watcher revolve around their core beliefs. A Paladin with this oath must be vigilant; demons and archons alike are strong and genius, with many using disguises. Be alert to ensure that they don’t mess with mortals. Never accept gifts from fiends, or other beings that may serve them. Your duty and comrades are to come first. Finally, you must become the paragon of discipline, since these beasts are brutal with their words, spells, and claws.

With the fluff out of the way, the Oath of the Watchers is a defensive, problem-solving Paladin with some strict defense against outsiders. If the campaign is going to fight against aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, or fiends, then you’ll be a crucial tool. Otherwise, you’re a decent anti-caster with some cool tools.

Oath Spells

To begin, the Oath of the Watcher learns the list of spells that they shall learn in the near future.

Alarm is a pretty niche tool, more useful for setting up camps than much else. Detect Magic is a really good ritual, and even has some utility to see invisible creatures if needed. You don’t really need these spells, but they’re okay utility.

Moonbeam is an alright area of effect damage spell, which a Paladin has little of. That being said, the damage is pitiful unless you have ways to keep the enemy in there for longer than a turn. See Invisibility is pretty niche, but a wonderful tool in encounters that have even one invisible monster. Remember; this lasts an hour!

Counterspell is bad for you; you’re not going to Counterspell better than any caster can. Still, in very rough encounters, you might want to use your weaker Counterspell, rather than a caster’s stronger one. So, you’ll be like a little wizard! Nondetection can be useful in niche situations, such as trying to escape from a demon’s eye. But realistically, there’s no real way to know when you’ll need to cast Nondetection.

Aura of Purity is fairly solid against stronger undead and some versions of demons. It can be a worthwhile cast, since it follows you and lasts 10 minutes, but only if you’re convinced you’re going to run into the listed conditions or diseases a lot. Banishment, meanwhile, is one of the best spells for taking threats out of a fight. Use this on a healer or support monster and watch as the boss becomes ten times easier.

However, Hold Monster can be more useful if you need to deal a ton of damage to that specific creature. Hold Monster targets Wisdom saves, which tends to be more common, especially among your primary targets. So, use Banishment if you think their charisma is lower, Hold Monster if their Wisdom is lower. Scrying is probably too situational to be worthwhile, but hey, it’s here if you need to find something.

Overall, a lot of niche spells, but at least they’re good in the situations that they come up in. 

Channel Divinity

The Oath of the Watchers is one of those paladin oaths that gains two options with their Channel Divinity. The first is their unique one, their second is a Turning ability.

Watcher’s Will. You can use your Channel Divinity to invest your presence with the warding power of your faith. As an action, you can choose a number of creatures you can see within 30 feet of you, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one creature). For 1 minute, you and the chosen creatures have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws.

Abjure the Extraplanar is a Turn effect. That means they attempt to move away from you if they fail a Wisdom save. You may only target aberrations, celestial, elementals, fey, or fiends with Abjure the Extraplanar.

Watcher’s Will is a relatively good skill. Mental saving throws are some of the most devastating in the game; Dominate Monster is a Wisdom save, Intellect Fortress is an Intelligence save. These are spells that keep your party from performing actions that they need to perform. Advantage might not save your party member from the effect, but it gives them a significantly higher chance! Pop this against a caster and watch their gameplan fumble massively. In all other encounters… it’s pretty useless. The monster would need to have a supernatural effect that targets mental stats, which is rare.

Abjure the Extraplanar is a fantastic ability… against exactly aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, or fiends. Otherwise, it’s useless. Turn scary outsiders to avoid getting swarmed, but otherwise just use Watcher’s Will.

Aura of the Sentinel

Your Paladin Aura is actually pretty sweet.

You emit an aura of alertness while you aren’t incapacitated. When you and any creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you roll initiative, you all gain a bonus to initiative equal to your proficiency bonus.

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

Theoretically, this gives a massive bonus to any party member near you. +6 to Initiative is really hard to get, and you can just hand it out!

Within 10 feet of you is… tight. This requires you to hug your long-ranged party members and your melee party members if you want to give the bonus, which can force you to have to Dash to get to the frontlines. That’s not necessarily awful, but it can make some encounters rough. And you want to give this to as many party members as you can, since it’s such a huge bonus to outspeeding your enemies.

Level 18’s buff increases the range, which is exactly what you want. Now you can start the fight from a comfortable distance from your allies. 

Vigilant Rebuke

At level 15, you get your Oath-specific ability… And it’s fairly good.

You’ve learned how to chastise anyone who dares wield beguilements against you and your wards. Whenever you or a creature you can see within 30 feet of you succeeds on an Intelligence, a Wisdom, or a Charisma saving throw, you can use your reaction to deal 2d8 + your Charisma modifier force damage to the creature that forced the saving throw.

Not great, not bad. Just good.

Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saves; how common are they? In the late game, you’ve got some enemies that can force you to make saves all over the place. For example, a Dragon can really hit you with auras, but those are Wisdom saves. Wisdom saves trigger this ability, which means you can jolt the dragon for 2d8 + Charisma. Unfortunately, that eats your reaction, so that only will trigger once per turn. That makes this only so useful.

On the bright side, this doesn’t have a save attached to it, so it’s guaranteed… As long as the enemy has abilities that target mental saves. And your party needs to make the saving throw. At least your Channel Divinity combos well with this!

Mortal Bulwark

Your final ability is the Paragon ability of your Paladin. As a bonus action, you get the following boons for a minute.

• You gain truesight with a range of 120 feet.
• You have advantage on attack rolls against aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, and fiends.
• When you hit a creature with an attack roll and deal damage to it, you can also force it to make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature is magically banished to its native plane of existence if it’s currently not there. On a successful save, the creature can’t be banished by this feature for 24 hours.

You must wait for a long rest, or use a 5th level spell slot, to use this ability again. Okay, well, truesight for 120 feet is wonderful. Nothing can escape your gaze, which is good. Your targets will have to do really weird things in order to escape line of sight.

Now… aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, and fiends. How common are those? Well, it absolutely depends on campaigns, but a lot of endgame opponents are going to be from different planes. You’re going to be able to pop this against demon lords, massive abominations, elemental dragons, etc.

Even better, you gain Banishment on every attack, as long as it’s from another plane. That’s amazing! You can force creatures back to their homes, never to be summoned again… well, as long as you kill those who summoned it. This is also great, because if you have a fey ally you have something to threaten them with.

Now… against anything that isn’t from another plane, this is the worst Paladin paragon in the game. The only advantage you have against anything that isn’t extraplanar is truesight. Truesight is good, but that being the only thing you get as your level 20 ability? Meh…

Use this against extraplanar enemies, with rather high CR. At least it’s a niche enough skill to not really need your 5th level spell slots.

Best Race for Watcher Oath Paladins

Watcher Paladins can use Strength or Dexterity realistically; a ranged build might let you more readily buff your party with the Aura. Charisma should be close behind, since your Oath relies on a ton of Charisma-based DCs to work properly.

Tabaxi

These cat people, from Volo’s Guide to Monsters, are perfect if you want to go ranged. +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma is exactly what you’re looking for. Darkvision is great for finding your enemies. Feline Agility lets you quickly reposition. Cat’s Claws gives you climbing speed and a relatively good attack of opportunity, and Cat’s Talents are two skills that a Paladin normally can’t afford.

Dragonborn

A base dragonborn isn’t too happy in most classes, but these paladins love it! +2 Strength and +1 Charisma are what you want. The Breath Weapon isn’t much damage, but it’s a ranged and area of effect option that most Paladins could only dream of. And you get some damage resistance, allowing you to gain resistance to a major element. The Dragonborn might not be flashy, but they’re ready to fight some demons either way!

Watchers Oath Gods

Gods that are likely to provide the Oath of the Watchers are those shared by guards, prison wardens, and other peacekeepers. Since the oath defends against Celestials just as well as it does against Fiends, neutral or evil gods are actually very valid choices.

Deep Duerra (Faerûn)

A hope, deep in the depths of the underground. A duergar under the influence of a mindflayer breaks the hold of their oppressor after five long years. They call to the Queen of the Invisible Art for power, and destroy their mind flayer overlord. With her strength, she has allowed them to fight for the Underdark. She is the reason that the Duergar are feared, and the reason that they will one day rule.

Deep Duerra is the Lawful Evil goddess of psionics, conquest, and expansion. She is known for overcoming the power of the Mind Flayer with her incredible strength and feisty attitude. She is an expectant god, whose need for conquest mixed with her ambitions to concoct a terrifying persona. The joy is in the journey for Dee[ Duerra, and her journey involves the taking-over of many lands.

Worshipers of Deep Duerra are heavily trained combatants in weapon-based and mental combat. They are constantly looking for ways to improve before making plans to take on their perceived foes. Foremost is the Mind Flayer population that runs amok in the underground. Duergar are the most common followers of the Queen of Psionics, though many other races understand her strength.

Oath of the Watchers Paladins of Deep Duerra are typically dwarven and duergar, but are always ready to fight Mind Flayers. They are vigilant of land to control and loyal to their leaders. Excellent fighters of mind flayers and important front-liners for conquest, these Paladins are some of Duerra’s most powerful clergy members.

Heimdall (Norse)

When a guard sees a threat from a far distance, they often blow on a large horn. This horn alerts the rest of the guards, who view the situation and plan to attack. This is a tradition originated by The Bright God and Guardian of Bifrost, whose mighty horn would tell the Norse Pantheon of Ragnarok. His vigilant eye lives on, in every man, woman, and child who look to defend their own homes.

Heimdall is the Lawful Good god who watches Asgard. He is ever-vigilant, keeping watch over the main entrance to the Norse Pantheon’s home. While he is best-known for his watch and horn, he is a very accomplished fighter, incredibly intelligent, and even charming. His gaze is impossible to avoid, and he can even change forms when needed.

Worshipers of Heimdall are usually Midgardian sentries and guards. However, rangers who track their food, fighters who wish to avoid injury in battle, or even paladins who wish to defend their churches fall under his banner. These people will often worship self-discipline, responsibility, and loyalty.

Watchers Paladins of Heimdall fall right under his banner. They align perfectly with Heimdall’s virtues of watchfulness, discipline, and loyalty. They are the forefront of their community, often preventing evil things from entering a home. While some may consider Heimdall to be a neutral god, he has proven time and time again that legitimate authority is good authority – authority for the benefit of the people. So, the Paladin should benefit the people as well.

Helm (Faerûn)

Guards look over a wall, gazing far into the distance. They know the punishment for missing even the smallest Halfling merchant and don’t want to consider failing. One prays to a gauntlet in hand, and by circumstance, sees grass moving in a peculiar way. The alarm is raised, and the Succubus hidden in the grass is forced to flee from a full barrack of guards. Thanks to the power of He of the Unsleeping Eyes, another tragedy is avoided.

Helm is the Lawful Neutral god of guardians and protectors. The God of Guardians is a completely impartial defender, protecting authorities of good and evil gods. His impartiality may seem to win him few allies, but just the opposite is true: All gods, guards, and more wish to use his power for their benefits. None is more trustworthy than Helm, who is even known to have a good sense of humor when it came to children,

Worshipers of Helm tend to be guards, sentinels, and judges. They have a need for his vigilant eye to look upon them, and they look to him for his loyalty, trust, and sense of duty. His worshippers fly all colors and cross many alignments, though are almost always Lawful. If a person has Helm’s gauntlet on their chest, you know that it will be difficult to sway them… Or hide from them.

Watchers Paladins of Helm are in charge of major sections of towns. They are some of the most vigilant paladins in the business, looking for signs of danger and dealing with it quickly. They are also some of the widest-range of alignments: A Helm Paladin could be good, neutral, or evil, and all would be accepted in his religion. The important thing about these paladins is their allegiance to their lords, as nothing is more difficult to break than that oath.

Example Feats for Watchers Oath Paladins

Like many Paladins, the Oath of the Watchers wants your Paladin to reach 20 in their Charisma and find a Belt of Giant Strength of some rarity. So, you have a few late game feats open for some utility options!

Crusher/Slasher

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything unveiled a few interesting support feats for weapon-based characters. Crusher increases Strength or Con and focuses on moving enemies around, while Slasher slows enemies down and makes them worse at dealing damage.

While both of these feats are acceptable, with Crusher being more aggressive, your choice will be more determined by your choice in weapon. If you think you will be keeping a Mace or Warhammer into the endgame, then Crusher is a great offensive option. Slasher works well for the many Longswords or Greatswords that you tend to run into over the course of a campaign. Try to save this one for later on in the campaign, when you have a better idea of what weapon best suits you.

Polearm Master

While the first feat we talk about is a good support option, Polearm Master is one of the best damage-dealing feats in the game. While wielding a Polearm (Glaive, halberd, quarterstaff, or spear), you can use a Bonus Action to swing the butt end, dealing 1d4 damage. This butt end carries a lot of the weapon’s enchantments, making it devastating by itself. But, for a Paladin, this opens up another Smite option! As a Bonus Action, having another chance to Smite is… Really good.

In addition, you get the opportunity to make Opportunity Attacks on an enemy’s approach. This is pretty useful, though you do have a relatively strong Reaction later on. Still, the chance to land yet another type of Opportunity Attack is worth having!

Resilient

This feat isn’t the strongest in the game, but it is efficient and potent. You get a +1 to a stat, and you become proficient in that stat’s saving throw. For Constitution, this is a great Paladin feat. It basically makes Constitution saves impossible to fail. Paladins have about 66% Concentration spells, so making sure you save with them is going to be critical! It’s very worthwhile.

Tough

Tough is one of the most simple feats in the game. You get 2 HP per level. By level 20, that’s a 40 HP boost. That can be one extra hit, or most of a devastating spell! Paladins are good enough at emergency heals, so you staying alive is quite good. If you’re ever thinking about getting Constitution to improve your HP, consider getting Tough instead.

War Caster

War Caster provides three benefits that are exceptional for your Paladin. First, you get advantage on Concentration Checks. Most spells that a Paladin gets are Concentration-based, so getting advantage on them is not a bad thing to have.

Next, you can cast while holding weapons and shields. For a two-handed Paladin, this is never a problem. Sometimes, if your DM is kind, it isn’t a problem for a character who is Sword-and-Boarding. However, now you can guarantee that you never have to worry about having hands free.

Finally, you can cast a spell for an Opportunity Attack. This might not come up often, but sometimes a Banishment or a Hold Monster might be better than a standard Opportunity Attack. Choose wisely, because this can let you cast two spells in one round! That’s impactful.

Multiclassing for Watchers Paladins

Like many Paladins, you have two very good options for multiclassing. And no, Bard is sadly not one of them.

Fighter

The two-level dip in Fighter is a cliche for a reason. Fighting Styles are all superb, improving your damage or your survivability. Then, at level 2, an Action Surge can very easily turn a fight around. This can be 4-5 instances of Smite in the same turn! Brutal. 

Even Second Wind is acceptable! d10 healing might not normally be impressive, but sometimes, a bonus action heal will come in handy.

Warlock

The Hexblade is another classic Paladin Multiclass. By dipping 1 level into Warlock, you get an excellent ranged cantrip and access to Hexblade. This lets you ignore Strength and Dexterity and just focus on pumping Charisma, since you use Charisma for attack and damage. You also gain access to some spells that refresh on short rest, which is okay for a very long day.

A second level in Warlock lets you add your Charisma to those ranged cantrips and another Invocation. Improved Darkvision can be in your fingers!

Suggested Watchers Paladin Backgrounds

The flavor of a Watchers Paladin tends to lean into them being guards and soldiers. However, when selecting a background, try to find some way to get strong skills and features into your character’s backstory.

Criminal (Spy)

For a Dexterity Paladin, the Criminal – or more likely the Spy – is both good flavor-wise and offers fine skills. Deception and Stealth are exceptional for a Dexterity Paladin, giving skills outside of their normal tool kit. Speaking of tools, Thieves’ Tools are a fantastic proficiency! Your Gaming Set proficiency is whatever, as is your equipment.

Your Feature can come very much in handy! Work with your DM to make sure that your Contact is a big part of the campaign. This can be a great source of information, intrigue, and backstory that is very fun to work with.

Investigator

The Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft background Investigator is a naturally strong option. You can get two of Insight, Investigation, or Perception. We recommend Investigation and Perception, but Insight has very real upsides. Disguise Kit proficiency is funny, but what is really good are those Thieves’ Tools!

 Your equipment is fine, and your feature is okay, but you’ve already got the skill proficiencies to compete as a dungeoneer! 

Sailor

Another basic one, the Sailor offers Perception and Athletics, two great skills… Though, only one of them is not on the Paladin list already. That’s okay! Your Tool proficiencies aren’t great, but you have a fun set of starting equipment! Never doubt the power of 50 feet of rope.

Your feature can be strong in a very long-running campaign where travel is king. However, we’re really a fan of this one for the Perception proficiency. A Watcher without this isn’t going to be great at… Watching.

How to Play Watchers Paladins

Out of Combat

• Skills are key. Having the right proficiencies at the right time is a critical part of out-of-combat situations. A good roll on Diplomacy can be the difference between a fight and an alliance. A high Intimidation can coerce a violent crook into obeying the law. And a good Perception check can see anything from a hidden crime or threat to a legitimate trap.
• Don’t be afraid to use spells. Spells are a vital part of problem-solving in 5E. You could spend weeks searching for a lost necklace… Or, you could cast Locate Object. You could travel overland on foot… Or, you could cast Find Steed. The efficient use of spells can make out-of-combat situations a lot easier. Don’t be afraid to prepare some of these more niche spells! You can always convert them into Smites.

In Combat

• You are a melee character. Paladins are somewhat forced into a melee role. Walk at enemies and smack them up! You are naturally durable, so you shouldn’t be afraid of many things. That doesn’t mean you should sprint at bears or a huge number of enemies, though! You’re not invincible.
• Healing should be saved if possible. Healing, like with Lay on Hands, should be reserved for after fighting. You will have to heal sometimes, like if an ally is about to die. But, most actions should be reserved for slamming enemies and taking threats out of the fight. Otherwise, the healing could just be reversed immediately!
• Remember to Channel. Watcher’s Will and Abjure the Extraplanar are strong, situational Channel Divinity options. Try to use them! Frightening an encounter of extraplanar enemies can win the fight by itself.
• Stay near allies early. When rolling Initiative, hug your friends. Adding up to a +6 to initiative is a bonkers ability, and the initiative will stick for the entire encounter. So, stay near allies and then sprint into the fight when it begins. Your entire party will be much more likely to go first!
• Vigilant Rebuke is guaranteed damage. Use it when it applies! If an ally saves against a spell, 2d8 + Charisma damage guaranteed is pretty fantastic. However, if you need your reaction for the threat of an opportunity attack… That might be more important.
• Mortal Bulwark is free once per day. Even for Truesight 120 feet, Mortal Bulwark is a solid Bonus Action. That’s… Legitimately good. Afterwards, it’s a fine anti-extraplanar tool. Nothing strong, but against specific enemies, it will literally win you the fight.

Watchers Paladin FAQ

Is the Oath of the Watchers Good?

The Oath of the Watchers is a very situational Paladin Oath. In campaigns against extraplanar enemies, it’s almost unbeatable. Otherwise, its rather limited tool kit makes it a bit hard to wield effectively against many different types of foes.

What Books is the Oath of the Watchers in? 

The Oath of the Watchers is in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything on page 54, right after the additional class features for the Paladin.

What Alignment Best Suits the Oath of the Watchers?

The perfect Watchers Paladin is most likely Lawful Neutral. They should be loyal to their cause, but their cause should be flexible. Both the good and the bad parts of the law should be upheld and protected.

Watchers Paladin Example Build

The Oath of the Watchers is best applied in campaigns where you are fighting extraplanar enemies. But, it can work as a standard Paladin defense build with particular hate against specific enemies. As such, we will focus on the Paladin’s innate durability and damage potential with Divine Smite.

Our DM wants us to use standard Race Rules and the Standard Array for character building. As a good party member, we’ll want to see what our other players are building to make our Paladin an effective teammate. For this example, we’ll assume that another player wants to be Strength-Based. While it isn’t a huge problem to have two strength-based characters in a campaign, we won’t step on their toes. 

We’ll go for a Dexterity Paladin! Specifically, we’ll make a Tabaxi with the Grinner background from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. Make sure to ask your DM before choosing something as campaign-focused as Grinner; they’ll likely need to adjust the Feature to fit in better with your campaign. Tabaxi have excellent skill proficiencies and the incredible Feline Agility, making our first turn easier to set up.

Our build is going to focus on a Sword and Shield Paladin. Our DM is, luckily, willing to trade our Chain Mail starting gear for a more reasonable Scale Mail, which is less expensive but better for our build. We could take average gold to get items like Thieves’ Tools and a Bow, but that would lock us out of getting our Rapier, Scale Mail, and other expensive things. Better to just take default options and get those items later.

Conclusion – Our Take on the Watcher Oath Paladin

The Watcher Oath is a must-get for any extraplanar campaigns or demonic invasion events. Otherwise, they have some alright anti-caster and a pretty good aura. They are worthy inclusions in any campaign! Take the Watcher Oath if you’re looking for a tanky anti-caster. If you want a deeper dive into the class, check out our Paladin 5E handbook.