Oath of Redemption 5E Guide | Redemption Paladin 5E

The Xanathar’s Guide to Everything had a little bit of everything for each class. For the Paladin, one of your options is to become the definition of repentance. As you take up the Oath of Redemption, you’ll become more of a lover than a fighter. Your goal is to use violence as a last resort, and only if violence will save other lives. As you are a redeemer, you still know that undead, demons, devils, and other things constructed from evil must remain evil… But you push for a day where Undead may join the side of justice. How could that be helpful for your average adventurer? Let’s find out.

Bring Them Hope: Redemption Oath 5E

The tenants of redemption are extremely tricky. Your goal is to establish peace, keep innocence, be patient with those who try to walk the path of righteousness, and know when to drop the executioner’s axe. Your life will be in a lot of danger with this class, as you’re expected not to kill unless it would mean your own demise.

Thankfully, the strict and difficult tenants tie into a rather impressive Defender subclass. The Redemption Oath is the ultimate “keep your friends alive” paladin oath. Preferring to be nonviolent means you’ll be in situations where you keep taking hits without dishing them back, so this class gives you some ways to reduce damage. In the case where you might be forced into fighting, you have some decent damage reflection, allied damage negation, and some of the best utility a Paladin could want.

Oath Spells

The flavor of the class is all about nonviolent solutions. Behold; 10 nonviolent solutions.

Sanctuary is a fun spell, though not terribly useful. If you get in a fight, you’d want a little more than basic protection, especially since the target will probably throw a punch or cast a spell. Not awful for blocking hits the first turn of combat, but not exactly the best defensive option. In the case where you want to use this on yourself, consider a Grapple or Trip build; neither of those are attack rolls, so neither drop sanctuary. Sleep can be one of the more aggressive options for getting around combat… But you scale so slowly. It’ll never be useful.

Calm Emotions is a fantastic countering spell; You can shut down barbarians or simply isolate enemies motivated by anger. Really cool ability, and you can even use it to prevent problematic encounters by making everyone chill out. Hold Person is a wonderful aggressive option, and always useful; Humanoids are always getting difficult encounters, even at high level, so you can easily paralyze a level 20 humanoid with a level 2 spell.

Counterspell falls into the same category as Sleep; fantastic spell, and may be useful, but the fact that you don’t keep up with other spellcasters means you need to work much harder for the same benefit. You’ll still be happy to Counter Hold Person or other strong low-level options, but… Yeah. Hypnotic Pattern is your replacement for Sleep; great out-of-combat spell that keeps your opponents in one place while you move around them.

Level 4 is… Weird. Otiluke’s is essentially a Banishment spell that targets Dexterity. Since you can’t damage the creature without Disintegrate, you are taking that creature out of the fight for as long as you’d want. An alternate use for this spell is to defend an ally, and then drop concentration once their turn comes along. Really neat versatility! Stoneskin is either god-tier or awful, depending on what encounters you run into. If you’re about to fight things with natural attacks, 100 gp is a small price to pay for near invulnerability.

Hold Monster is Hold Person but better, so… Really strong! Wall of Force is a good way to keep enemies away from your backline, but you have to be very careful about placement. A super good spell list, but with a lot of DCs. You’re also awkwardly weak against Disintegrate… But that probably won’t come into play often. Probably.

Channel Divinity

The two options that the Redemption Paladin get are both fantastic, but in entirely different situations.

Emissary of Peace. You can use your Channel Divinity to augment your presence with divine power. As a bonus action, you grant yourself a +5 bonus to Charisma (Persuasion) checks for the next 10 minutes.

Well, that’s somewhat great! Paladin’s don’t use their bonus actions anywhere else, so you don’t get much better action economy than that. This is an out-of-combat technique, so there’s even less reasons to use a bonus action… So, that’s perfect!

Now, how useful is a +5 bonus to Persuasion? So, your standard Paladin, at this point, might have +2 Charisma and +2 Proficiency. That means you gain more than double your modifier to your Persuasion checks. In the late game, Paladins would love a free, typeless way to gain bonuses to their Persuasion! If you have 20 Charisma, you’d still double your Charisma bonus for Persuasion. That’s a big boost!

In terms of hitting DCs, your worst-case scenario is a 25% increase to your chance to hit DCs. That’s quite impeccable! And 10 minutes is a really long time, dwarfing your standard social encounter. You’ll be very happy to have this in your pocket, especially for social scenarios.

Rebuke the Violent. You can use your Channel Divinity to rebuke those who use violence. Immediately after an attacker within 30 feet of you deals damage with an attack against a creature other than you, you can use your reaction to force the attacker to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the attacker takes radiant damage equal to the damage it just dealt. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage.

This is your combat option. This time, it takes up your Reaction. Not necessarily bad, but if you plan on taking Protection, you’ll have to decide between imposing disadvantage or simply dealing damage.

Obviously, the 30 ft range makes this a little easier to use than the Protection fighting style. If your Wizard gets crit off to the side, you can force that enemy to take at least half the damage that they did to your ally. That’s a solid use of a Channel, as long as you’re in combats where enemies do semi-okay damage, or cast spells. Obviously, this isn’t necessarily as good as straight-up casting a Disintegrate at your enemies… But, if your enemy has Disintegrate, or Finger of Death, then you might just reflect an insane amount of damage back at them.

Keep this reaction in mind whenever your Channel Divinity is up. It’ll be most useful against spells, but reflecting a crit back at a boss could win you the fight.

Aura of the Guardian

Your level 7 Paladin ability is usually an aura. The Redemption Paladin is no different, but… It’s a special aura.

Starting at 7th level, you can shield your allies from harm at the cost of your own health. When a creature within 10 feet of you takes damage, you can use your reaction to magically take that damage, instead of that creature taking it. This feature doesn’t transfer any other effects that might accompany the damage, and this damage can’t be reduced in any way.

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

Remember how I said you might have trouble if you took Protection earlier on? Yeah…

This ability is insanely strong. If someone near you eats a normal hit, then transfering the results of that damage to yourself is better for your healers, your ally, and yourself; the Paladin has a lot of ways to reduce damage on themselves, so you being on lower health matters a little less.

The issue is… If you have Protection, Rebuke the Violent, and Aura of the Guardian, when do you use this? Protection is a really good use of a reaction, since you can shut down attacks. But, if your ally is on low health, it might be better to let them take the hit and then transfer the damage to yourself. That way, you guarantee your ally stays alive, rather than hoping nobody takes damage. And then, if someone gets just absolutely destroyed with a crit… Then maybe reflect that damage. Your ally might take a ridiculous amount of damage, but so will the enemy. So that’s nice.

You probably shouldn’t have Protection with this subclass, though; there’s just too many reactions. Consider Defense so you take less damage in general. Or Dueling, so you can use a sword and shield while dealing good damage.

Protective Spirit

Please don’t be a reaction, please don’t be a reaction, please don’t be a reaction…

Starting at 15th level, a holy presence mends your wounds in combat. You regain hit points equal to 1d6 + half your paladin level if you end your turn in combat with fewer than half of your hit points remaining and you aren’t incapacitated.

Not a reaction, yes!

Also really good.

Constant health regeneration is an extremely potent tool in late-game combats. Your healers will be stretched thin doing more important things in combat, so healing 1d6+10 per round will be very good for them.

Combats actually last a while later on, so you’ll be probably healing a total of 4d6+40 per fight, all for free. That’s not insignificant! It also makes Aura of the Guardian a much better option, considering you benefit from taking as much damage as possible.

Not much else to say here. Eat all the damage you can so you can get this amazing regeneration! Just… Try not to overeat. Knocking yourself out is still not good.

Emissary of Redemption

Most Paladin subclasses have their level 20 ability last 1 minute and take an action. Not the Emissary of Redemption! For your whole day, you have the following benefits;

• You have resistance to all damage dealt by other creatures (their attacks, spells, and other effects).
• Whenever a creature damages you, it takes radiant damage equal to half the amount it dealt to you.
• If you attack a creature, cast a spell on it, or deal damage to it by any means but this feature, neither benefit works against that creature until you finish a long rest.

Wow! Actually wow!

This benefit lasts all day, so you don’t even need to use your action to activate it or anything like that. I’m sure I don’t have to say that having Resistance (all) on a class that takes a lot of damage is far from bad – in fact, Resistance (all) on any class would be far from bad. Do remember that you don’t reduce the damage from Aura of the Guardian, so you’ll still be taking a solid amount of damage.

The reflective damage is absolutely stupid. Even though you have resistance to all damage, you’ll still probably be reflecting 10-25 damage per action, thanks to multiattacks and strong spells. This doesn’t take an action, either! So you could still use your reaction to soak damage, reflect damage, or impose disadvantage… On attacks against your allies. Meanwhile, attacks that hit you will always be reciprocated.

So, at first, you might think that the clause is a problem. Obviously, dealing damage to enemies is an important part of fights, and your spells are really good for taking out threats. Do you know what also is a good way to take out threats? Grapple checks. Trip checks. Since those are “contests” and not attack rolls, you can use these to keep enemies from doing too much while helping your allies deal damage.

In the case that you need to deal damage – such as if a boss has Freedom of Movement – you can simply target one creature at a time. You’ll still have the benefits of this ability against all other creatures, which will reduce your damage taken significantly. If you need to cast a spell, then almost all of your options given by this subclass would negate this effect… And then the enemy couldn’t do anything to you afterwards, given they fail the save.

This feature is insanely good at negating damage from nearly all sources while not necessarily hindering your ability to deal with threats. It’s probably the best level 20 feature from any of the Paladin archetypes, simply from how universal it is.

Best Race for Redemption Oath Paladins

The Redemption Oath may be the best source of DC-based effects given to a Paladin. Add to that the fact that you’re mostly trying to use Persuasion to get out of situations, and that Charisma will also boost your saves… And you might have the first Paladin that would prefer Charisma over Strength/Dexterity. Charisma, then a Damage Attribute, then Constitution – Constitution lets you more easily take damage without going down, which is nice for a subclass that takes the damage of half the party.

Half-Elf

The Player’s Handbook may be home to some of the best races you might find. The Half-Elf is a prime example. It boasts a perfect stat spread – +2 Charisma, 2 +1 floats for Strength/Dexterity and Constitution. If you’re having trouble choosing one, Strength tends to be better for you, thanks to your Heavy Armor proficiency.

Skill Versatility is insanely good for a Paladin, since they normally get 2 skill proficiencies. Two more doubles your skill power, letting you take the 3 Charisma skills as well as Athletics or Acrobatics. Fey Ancestry is cute flavor and sometimes saves the encounter, while Darkvision is always useful, lowering the need to take torches into the fray. Overall, this is by far the best option for this class.

Aasimar (Fallen or Scourge)

Volo’s Guide to Monsters created several rather strong races, and if your GM lets you choose from that tome, the Aasimar might be a more interesting choice than Aasimar. Blessed with a +2 to Charisma, Darkvision, and some ways to heal, you’ll be a rather great option for any Paladin. Celestial Resistance increases your durability in some fights – And gets super good if you battle celestials, fiends, or undead.

Hilariously, the Protector Aasimar is the only type I recommend avoiding. Scourge Aasimars gain a boost to Constitution and gain an area of effect ability, letting you deal damage to multiple creatures… Including yourself. Good for quickly damaging rooms that you need to destroy quickly, though that’ll make your Emissary of Redemption less potent. Fallen gets a boost to Strength and a decent source of Frighten, as well as the bonus damage Scourge gets. Since you aren’t using a spell effect to cause the Frighten, that actually doesn’t shut off Emissary of Redemption. But, both are valid. And neither are necessarily better than Half-Elf.

Redemption Oath Gods

Paladins of the Redemption Oath are unique, in that they are not expected to be a force of violence. They are instead expected to be diplomats, peacekeepers, and even debaters. 

Bahamut (Forgotten Realms)

The crowned jewel of dragonkind, a crest known by all. A shield adorned with the head of the God of Dragons sits atop many law institutions. His immortal gaze prevents the law from abuse by corrupt individuals, and his word leads to the destiny of the individual spoken to. He is the Platinum Dragon, and his word is carried by Torm, the god of law.

Bahamut is the Lawful Good deity of good dragons, wisdom, and enlightened justice. He serves under the lord Torm, the god of law, as one of his most potent arms. He opposes his evil sister Tiamat, the goddess of the chromatic dragons, at every possible step, and often enlists high-level paladins to bring her minions to justice. He is a platinum dragon, potentially the only one of his kind, but is occasionally known for his human form, the Grand Master of Flowers.

Worshipers of Bahamut tend to be on the justice side of law. As he opposes evil with all of his being, his worshipers must be good and have a heart to defeat evil at every turn. They are natural judges, town guards, police, and patrollers. He is also worshiped by several metallic dragons.

Redeemer Paladins of Bahamut embody his pacifist philosophy. As he attempts to talk enemies down from battle, so too should you. His priority is to bring evil to justice, but in a way that prevents violent confrontation and allows for a chance for the target to show their goodness. You should follow his resolve, and allow words to aid you on your journey.

Boldrei (Eberron)

Eberron is a land of dungeons and chaos, with magic come to life and danger around every corner. Sometimes, an adventurer must sit back and have a place to rest their tired legs. When they do, they will often go to the hearth and home of a comfortable village, where a nice fire and bed await them. The fall under the gaze of the Sovereign of Hall and Hearth then, a perfect visage of homeliness.

Boldrei is the Lawful Good goddess of community, home, and family. She represents the goodness of civilization and family life, being a maternal figure to thousands. Her blessing is sought in most weddings and a prayer to her is inscribed on almost all buildings. She is known by all and even those with evil in their hearts envy her ability to create strong foundations to their civilization.

Worshipers of Boldrei tend to be civil servants in their community. They might officiate weddings, help build structures, and act as presidents of clubs in their village. They are guides for the youth and old alike, offering advice on how to proceed in otherwise complex situations. 

Redemption Paladins of Boldrei bring her forgiveness and love of peace to the forefront. While she is not a normally adventurous goddess, you will bring her to the road. That means you will also be bringing her sense of community and welcoming attitude to every community you pass, including your family of adventurers. 

Eldath (Forgotten Realms)

A leaf falls upon a peaceful lake, causing ripples to echo out for a moment. As they calm, the leaf floats for a few moments towards the shore, resting carefully on the edge. A spirit of the lake smiles as her message is sent to the young person on the shore, who stands and walks back to the town he abandoned. The Goddess of Shining Waters has saved another, in her quiet, unassuming way.

Eldath is known as the goddess of peace and calm waters. She performs the duty of protecting groves and watersheds in the wild, acting as a small force keeping nature beautiful. Her methods tend to be simple and non-confrontational, preferring illusions and guidance to violence. Even when threatened, she’d prefer to simply disappear than harm another.

Worshipers of Eldath tend to be nature-loving spirits. Her followers dwell in the forest and ignore city life. When threatened, they use simple, pacifistic methods of avoiding confrontation. It is said that to harm or kill an Eldathan priest is to bring doom upon your land. They often preside over peaceful meetings between warring nations, as a white dove.

Example Feats for Redemption Oath Paladins

While Redemption Paladins should value peaceful means of combat resolution… This is 5E! Combat is very prominent and you should be ready for it. Let’s augment our impressive list of debuffs with some self-defense mechanisms.

Alert

Alert is a feat with a ton of different assets. You can’t be surprised, you don’t get attacked with advantage due to not seeing a target, and you get a flat, +5 to initiative. What we’re wanting is that +5! With the ability to move first in combat, you can cast your impressive swath of debuffs early. A Hold Monster on a high initiative count can turn an otherwise dangerous fight into a laughable one. A Banishment can prevent a Wizard from fireballing the party. Using this feat can legitimately be the difference between life and death! And the other bonuses are just icing on the cake.

Skill Expert

For flavor, this feat is good! A +1 to any ability score is nice, letting you round out your ability score and get to 20. However, it gives a few other benefits. You get a skill and you get Expertise in any skill. For our Redemption Oath Paladin, getting expertise in Persuasion isn’t too bad. With a +5 to Charisma at level 20, this puts your +11 Persuasion to +17, or +22 with your Emissary of Peace ability. Depending on the situation, this massive boost to your Persuasion might actually lead to non-violent resolutions to problems. Depending on your DM, this might actually be very worth it!

Slasher

While it is appropriate to abhor violence with this oath, you’re still in danger at all times. Let’s make it hurt! Slasher lets you take a Longsword and turn it into a valid tanking tool. Slasher gives you +1 Strength or Dexterity, letting you buff your weapon attacks. It also slows enemies down, making it more likely for you to keep up with them. Finally, on crits, you prevent the target from harming your allies! Disadvantage on all attack rolls is actually quite potent. 

If you want a more aggressive version of this feat, Crusher is also very valid. It swaps out your defensive slow and disadvantage effects with more offensive options, like applying advantage on all attacks against the target on a crit.

Tough

Staying alive on the frontlines is usually not much of a problem for a paladin. For a Tough paladin, it’s basically free! Tough lets you get +2 HP per level, totaling to 40 by level 20. Even for endgame opponents, 40 HP is usually one or two attacks. Surviving that much extra damage can be the difference between life or death! It’s usually worth getting this over a +2 to Constitution.

War Caster

War Caster gets three immensely powerful benefits to a Sword and Shield Paladin. Being able to cast while your hands are full is actually really good for you, since it otherwise relies on your DM being a generous soul. In addition, most Paladin spells are concentration-based, meaning that advantage on Concentration will come in handy! Finally, the opportunity attack benefit is… Funny, mostly. But being able to Hold Person someone who ran out of your reach is exceptionally brutal.

Multiclassing for Redemption Paladins

Paladins tend to have two open levels, their last two being relatively low impact. Let’s talk about a few options and why you might want to consider them.

Fighter

Fighter is a classic multiclass choice, for good reason. You get another Fighting Style, meaning you can get something like Defense and Protection, or Defense and Dueling. Second Wind is handy too, though less useful due to Lay on Hands. But, perhaps most importantly, Action Surge is an incredibly impactful ability that lets you dominate a turn. Paladin perhaps makes the best use of it due to the strength of Smite.

Sorcerer

This is your least likely multiclass of the three that we’ve provided, but Sorc has some weird applications to the Paladin. Cantrip allowance is unique, allowing you to cast spells like Green-Flame Blade and nuke a battlefield. It also improves your ranged options! If you choose this class, Divine Soul allows for light healing ability or more buffs, or the new Lunar subclass can allow you to hit multiple creatures at once! Sorcery Points lets you refresh spells or get metamagic, which is… Nice! Potentially not optimal, but it is fun!

Warlock

Warlock is an excellent choice for a growing Paladin! Taking a level in this class for Hexblade means you can safely ignore Strength or Dexterity. It also gives you access to a powerful ranged option in Eldritch Blast, which you can make better at level 2. This is a great option for an early-game multiclass.

Suggested Redemption Paladin Backgrounds

Redemption Paladins tend to be better in slightly more diplomat-oriented positions. But, mechanically, we don’t really need any of the skills that those backgrounds offer. Here are a few mechanically sound options, though feel free to diverge if your build allows for it!

Noble

Noble is a rather fun background for the Redemption Oath. Since you come from a higher class, it might make sense for you to see violence as unnecessary! You get History and Persuasion for free, which means you can select other Paladin skills. A gaming set is useless, but a bonus language comes in handy! Talk to your party about which language works best. Your equipment is also a ton of money, which is nice for your eventual ascension to Plate Armor.

Your feature is… Fine! It depends on the campaign. Hopefully your Persuasion check will be high enough to avoid conflict for flaunting your privilege. 

Sailor

Perhaps less apt but very strong, the Sailor background offers some fantastic proficiencies. Athletics and Perception are useful, and perception isn’t on the Paladin’s list. Perception is the most-used skill in the game, so having proficiency in it is very, very nice! The tool proficiencies are just fine, and the equipment is also very basic.

Your feature is… Also not great, though no background’s features are stellar. Boat travel is a campaign-to-campaign fare. But, if it came up, you’d be the number one person to call!

Soldier

Some kind of ex-soldier coming out of war to start redeeming can be actually a very interesting background. Soldier’s mechanical setup isn’t great, however. Athletics and Intimidation isn’t a bad start. Athletics is a good way for you to move, and Intimidation is a social skill that Paladins can really make good use of. Your tools are weak, but land vehicles can actually be nice for saving money. And your equipment is very simple. Your feature is actually pretty okay. You can be part of a high profile military order and pull rank to get tools and equipment early on. Not bad!

How to Play Redemption Paladins

Out of Combat

• Be the party’s talker. Redemption Paladins are actually pretty great at talking. Using your Channel Divinity: Emissary of Peace, you can roll extremely high-modifier Persuasion checks. A +10 is nothing to sneeze at, and Guidance can make it better! By using this Channel Divinity, you can avoid combats and solve social situations exceptionally quickly.
• Remember your other skills! While the Paladin doesn’t excel at out-of-combat puzzle solving, you have the opportunity to use things like Athletics to solve puzzles through force or jumping. Remember that! It may come in handy.
• Your spell list can solve problems, too! Spells like Calm Emotions, when deployed carefully, can actually help to handle situations. 

In Combat

• Strike, strike, strike! Weapon attacks are your forté, and you will always be fighting on the frontlines thanks to the limitations on Smite. Head up there and tank for your allies! Don’t be afraid to use your Lay on Hands to keep yourself safe.
• Cast spells! While you have limited spell slots, it’s important to recognize when to use your Smite action or when to cast magic. Smite is guaranteed damage, which is great for killing enemies. But, spells can debuff and ruin the day of foes. Try to buff with spells before fights and save some spells for guaranteed damage!
• Utilize Rebuke the Violent. Damage is very high in 5th Edition. Rebuke the Violent can deal a catastrophic amount of damage to specific targets. If someone gets crit, or just hit by a particularly damaging spell, this is an insane reaction!
• Position yourself for Aura of the Guardian. Having a melee ally can be beneficial for this build, so you can use Aura of the Guardian and soak as much damage as possible. If used correctly, this ability makes you the sponge for party healing. It works very well for Protective Spirit.
• Emissary of Peace is powerful, but strange. Try to target a single enemy at a time to maximize your Resistance and reflected damage. By focusing down one target, all other targets suffer the effects of your Emissary. Abuse that!

Redemption Paladin FAQ

How Does Emissary of Redemption Work?

Emissary of Peace is active at all times, unlike many Paladin level 20 features, and only turns off for a single creature if you target a creature with a weapon, spell, or deal damage. Most DMs would agree that dealing damage would include underhanded means, such as poisoning their meal, but things like Grapple or Shove won’t hurt them! So, as long as you take no damaging (or magical) actions towards the creature, you will gain resistance to their attacks and reflect damage back at them.

Is the Redemption Paladin Good?

The Redemption Paladin offers a ton of options that a Paladin doesn’t normally have. It deals similar damage to other Oaths, but has several utility options outside of the standard for them. This is a fantastic choice, but it does require some level of understanding of the Paladin’s spell list.

What Gods Work Best for the Redemption Paladin?

Gods of Justice, Peace, and Diplomacy are all solid options for a Redemption Pally. Any god who prefers peaceful solutions to problems and talking it out should be considered.

Redemption Paladin Example Build

Redemption Pallies are going to want the bulk to survive on the battlefield and the Strength to be a consistent threat during fights. This is a very hard balance to achieve, and your class features aren’t helping. Because of that, we will go with a Half-Elf. Very traditional, but that +1 to Strength and Con and that +2 to Charisma is going to be very, very handy. Since Paladin’s skills aren’t fantastic, we can use our Skill Versatility to yoink two very strong ones: Perception and Deception. We’ll choose Dwarven for our bonus language, but you should talk with your DM to see if another language fits in better.

Our Redemption Pally Half Elf will be a Soldier. The Athletics and Intimidation are both very nice, and will supplement our massive pile of skills well! He’ll be an ex-soldier, off the battlefield and ready to bring redemption to those that seek it.

For the purposes of our example build, our DM is relatively strict and wants us to use the Standard Array of Ability Scores: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, separated as we see fit. They also want us to use the basic starting equipment rules. For our Paladin, that’s perfectly fine.

You can never know for certain what characters are going to come into your party. For our example, we will assume we have the basics: Someone who can heal, an arcane caster, and a damage dealer.

Conclusion – Our Take on the Redemption Oath Paladin

The Oath of Redemption is the most complex one by far, but offers insanely good utility and defensive options. If you’re in a party that’s full of squishy casters that are going to play rocket-tag with the enemy, then this class is really, really good for defending them. Consider picking this up if you don’t plan on playing Paladin for the damage potential, and would rather just keep people alive, friend or foe.