5E d&d oath of the watchers paladin tasha's cauldron of everything

Observe, Report and Smite with Oath of the Watchers from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

June 1, 2021

A paladin who swears an Oath of the Watchers probably has a healthy dose of paranoia, right? In a fifth edition Dungeons & dragons world it’s not a delusion to suspect extraplanar threats to reality itself seeking chaos, destruction and power on the Material Plane and these paladins from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything shoulder a sacred duty to protect the mortal realm. Let’s get into it.

Storytelling through mechanics of 5E D&D

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything includes two Sacred Oaths for 5E D&D. One of them — Oath of Glory — originally appeared in Mythic Odysseys of Theros, which we’ve explored further elsewhere on the site. Extraplanar scenarios, supernatural phenomena and cosmic forces really appeal to my imagination and a paladin with built in connections to these things sounds awesome.

“These paladins aren’t at all up to what I expected. Worse, they send home your party’s best guests.” — Tasha, in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

As we’ve explored each of the subclass options in the book in closer detail here on the website now that we’re one away from finishing up (you’re next Order of the Scribes!) I’ve noticed they fall into one of two buckets. Several of them like the Fey Wanderer Ranger Archetype, Path of Wild Magic Primal Path and Bard College of Creation make me think 5E D&D is transitioning into a storytelling game, which I don’t fancy very much at all. Thankfully this feeling is mitigated by character options like the Oath of the Watchers, Circle of Stars and others. This Sacred Oath offers solidly designed features supportive of combat, exploration and social interaction with the ever-important quality of connecting with other characters.

Oath of the Watchers goes further too by evoking such strong thematic elements. At the end of the day players can choose character options purely for mechanical reasons and I’m sure there’s multiclass interactions and other ways to exploit this paladin’s features for gainful combat power. But I’d like to think this wonderful Sacred Oath hooks players with powerful storytelling potential side by side with great features that will undoubtedly pay off at the gaming table.

So far I’ve got to call out the Rune Knight as the most interesting subclass from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. I’m a big fan of fighters and if you checked out the post I just linked you’ll see why I really dig the Rune Knight. Either before or after you become astounded by what you find in the post here’s a breakdown of the Oath of the Watchers features along with commentary:

“I must simply wait and observe the events as they occur.” — Uatu the Watcher. “Hold my ale.” — Oath of the Watcher paladin

Oath of the Watchers features

Oath Spells. One of the best ways to uphold a Sacred Oath is through utilizing the oath spells for any given paladin subclass. The selection for an Oath of the Watchers paladin is terrific and very clearly illustrates the sort of vigilance their tenets aim to represent.
Channel Divinity. I love features designed to interact with other party members and allies so the Watcher’s Will option to protect those under this paladin’s watch is a homerun. And woe be to any extraplanar threats attempting to find a foothold in the mortal realm courtesy of Abjure the Extraplanar.
Aura of the Sentinel. Like clerics and their 8th level quasi-static feature at 7th level paladins begin to emit an aura. Everyone is gonna love being within 10 feet of an Oath of the Watchers paladin (30 feet at higher levels) to enjoy the bump to their initiative rolls. These watchers know when the time comes to act!
Vigilant Rebuke. A high level feature like this might be out of range for lots of players but wowie wow wow is this fantastic. A cool reaction feature is wonderful for just about any class. A reaction to deal force damage to a creature whose forced saving throw against an ally is foiled (by Aura of Protection or Watcher’s Will perhaps…) is amazing.
Mortal Bulwark. Paladin capstones are generally quite impressive and when the Oath of the Watchers manifests a spark of divine power in defense of the mortal realms it’s no exception. An adventuring party could have no better companion facing endgame aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey and fiends than an Oath of the Watchers paladin. Also very much worth noting is this feature and the Oath of Glory’s Living Legend capstone can be used again by expending a 5th level spell slot. Three times between long rests is incredible!

I thought Oath of the Watchers was dope when it was Unearthed Arcana and those feelings remain for the official version from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Paladins in 5E D&D are pretty neat. On one hand they appeal to tons of gamers because the features offered by the class are simply amazing. Powerful melee combatants who can heal themselves are a high watermark in any game, tabletop or otherwise. On the other hand the themes and flavor packed into Sacred Oaths through tenets and the like are so rich with adventure and storytelling appeal. Protip: If you’re a Dungeon Master and a player really seems excited to play one of these paladins in your game then make with the extraplanar threats.

*Featured image — A dwarf Oath of the Watchers paladin as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]