The Oath of the Hunter

The Oath of the Hunter is taken by a paladin fighting an endless battle against an insidious evil. Loners, Hunter paladins are dedicated to the pursuit and eradication of evil in specific forms - hunters are often devoted to the extermination of the undead, but hunters may hunt other sources of evil: goblins, giants, and yuan-ti hunters have been recorded.

Hunters are driven, and they are focused on the idea of a 'greater evil'; in order to give an oath to hunt their targets to extermination, the paladin and their deity must agree that the very existence of their targets is an affront to be cleansed.

Tenets of the Hunter

• Find the Root. While there are endless beneficent deeds to do, some of them merely treat symptoms, while some treat underlying problems. When faced with pain and woe, find the root of it, do not tarry in the leaves.
• Never Rest. The enemy is still out there, and we must find them - any time not spent pursuing darkness is time in which the darkness will grow.
• Breathe the Light. Do not let your fear or hatred control you - we hunt for others, never for ourselves. In fear and anger lie temptation, but you are the cleansing light, never the vengeful flame.

Oath Spells

Favored Foe

When you take this oath at 3rd level, choose a type of enemy to hunt: fiends, aberrations, giants, monstrosities, or undead. You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against creatures of the chosen type. Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) and Wisdom (Perception) checks to track or notice your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them.

Channel Divinity

At 3rd level, you additionally gain the following two Channel Divinity options:

• On the Hunt. As a bonus action, you invoke aid against your chosen foe - for one minute or until you become incapacitated, you gain advantage on all attacks against that type of creature, and your Divine Smite deals an extra 1d8 of damage against them.
• Protect the Innocents. As an action, you call for protection and concealment for your charges. All creatures of your choice within 30 feet other than yourself gain +2 AC, temporary hit points equal to your paladin level, and advantage on all saves for one minute. This effect ends on each affected creature if it performs an attack or a spell targeting an enemy.

Aura of Tenacity

Starting at 7th level, you extend a strengthening aura while you are not incapacitated. The aura extends 10 feet from you in every direction, but not through total cover.

Allies within this aura gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus at the start of their turn, and have advantage on death saves.

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

Radiant Fury

Starting at 15th level, you strike critically against your favored foes with a 19 or 20 on the d20. After killing one of your favored foes, you emit dim light to a distance of 5 feet for one minute - during that period, your weapon attacks deal 1d4 extra radiant damage.

Slayer

At 20th level, you become an avatar of the hunt, which gives you these benefits:

• You have resistance to all damage dealt by your favored foes
• Your favored foes must make a Wisdom save upon seeing you, or become frightened until you leave.
• By spending 10 minutes meditating, you can become aware of the rough locations and strengths (CR) of all of your favored foes within 6 miles.