Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Paladin Sacred Oaths by a Factor of Three

Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted get back to basics and discuss the paladin class for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. In the video they look across all of the 5E D&D books with paladin content. There are paladin subclasses in the Player’s Handbook, Sword Coast Adventurers Guide and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and Dave and Ted share an overview of the character class plus weigh in on their personal gaming experiences. Outside of official sources there are countless Sacred Oaths created by players all over the world. We’ve created one recently for our April early access Patreon rewards. The Oath of Vanity included with Hairable Ideas as a follow up to 2019’s popular Beardomancy will hit the store next month but you can get it now along with all our other supporters at the $2 level plus get immediate access to years worth of previous rewards. Check it out here. Over at Dungeon Master’s Guild there’s currently 681 products tagged as character options with warlock content too. But there is another source of homebrew content I’m looking at today — D&D Beyond, where people have used the homebrew tools there to create 600 Sacred Oaths for 5E D&D paladins. Let’s get into it and take a closer look at some!

Paladin Sacred Oaths at D&D Beyond

Before getting started it’s important to note you can create homebrew content for private use and share your homebrew content publicly at DDB at no cost — there’s no subscription required to access these services. However if you want to add any of the homebrew paladin Sacred Oaths mentioned below or any other homebrew content you come across to your collection you must subscribe at the Hero Tier or above. There’s a lot you can do at DDB for free. Check out what you can do here.

As a side note, as part of Wizards of the Coast’s Stay at Home/Play at Home initiative to help the quarantined community, Lost Mine of Phandelver is accessible for free until May 5. LMoP makes a terrific adventure experience and it’s great for new players and Dungeon Masters. Check it out here.

The DDB homebrew collection uses several statistics to track entries. Views shows how many eyeballs any particular homebrew creation received, Adds shows the number of times a creation was added to someone’s collection and Rating is an upvote/downvote system. Since there are 600 Sacred Oaths in the collection I’m going to share the top 10 highest rated, most viewed and most added selections. I’m curious to see what’s out there and any crossover between these three lists.

Top 10 highest rating paladin Sacred Oaths

1. Death Knight. Upon taking up the mantle of Death Knight, you gain all the powers and prowess that comes with it, You will learn to become the Death reincarnate.
2. Dragonknight. You are instilled with the heart of a single chromatic dragon, creating an inseparable bond as its essence plucked your soul from the void.
3. Oath of the Dragon Lord. Certain sorcerer’s have bloodline related to the dragon races, while few warlock’s make pacts with dragon to possess their powers. As for paladin’s, there are some who willing serve under to any dragons and make an oath with them.
4. Oath of the Ancient Sea. The Oath of the Ancient Sea is as old as the race of elves and the rituals of the druids.
5. Oath of Brotherhood. The tenets of the Oath of Brotherhood – sometimes called the “Bro Code” by common folk – are as old as civilization.
6. Oath of Storms. The Oath of Storms demands of a Paladin the ability to embody the majestic freedom and terrible fury of the storm.
7. Oath of Revolution. The Oath of Revolution calls to Paladins who see corruption in society and those who govern over it.
8. Oath of the Valkyrie. The Oath of the Valkyrie connects a paladin to an ancient tradition, and burdens them with awesome purpose.
9. Oath of Fellowship. A Paladin who swears the Oath of Fellowship sacrifices their own glory to give divine purpose and power to a group of comrades.
10. Oath of the Radiant Soul. The Oath of the Radiant Soul calls to paladins who seek to triumph over evil’s darkness with holy light.

Top 10 most viewed paladin Sacred Oaths

1. Death Knight
2. Dragonknight
3. Oath of the Dragon Lord
4. Oath of Protection. Protect the Weak and Guide the Lost.
5. Oath of the Ancient Sea
6. Oath of the Tempest. The Oath of the Tempest calls to paladins who, unconventionally, fight for for freedom above all.
7. Oath of the Slayer. The Oath of the Slayer calls to paladins who seek to deliver blood soaked judgement upon all beings from the Nine Hells.
8. Oath of the Death Knight. Death Knights are paladins that use the powers of Life and Death to waylay their opponents and bolster their allies.
9. An Oath of Undying. A pact with death itself to keep you away from it’s grasp.
10. Oathbroken. This is a homebrew subclass for the Paladin that is a bit of a rework of the Oathbreaker class.

Top 10 most added paladin Sacred Oaths

1. Death Knight
2. Dragonknight
3. Oath of the Dragon Lord
4. Oath of the Ancient Sea
5. Oath of Storms
6. Oath of Revolution
7. Oath of Brotherhood
8. Oath of the Deathlord. Oath of the Deathlord are living beings of death, they are what becomes of paladin’s who falls into temptation.
9. Oath of Mischief. The Oath of Mischief is a solemn vow to ensure the world never loses irreverence and humour.
10. Gunslinger of Gilead. The Gunslinger of Gilead is a wise man. He is trained in many ways of martial combat like his holy brethren but specializes in the use of firearms to exact holy retribution upon his foes.

Paladin Sacred Oaths rising to the top

Using a highly scientific method taking into account ratings, views and adds here’s all of these DDB homebrew Sacred Oaths in order from highest scoring to lowest.

1. Death Knight
2. Dragonknight
3. Oath of the Dragon Lord
4. Oath of the Ancient Sea
5. Oath of Storms
6. Oath of Brotherhood
7. Oath of Revolution
8. Oath of Protection
9. Oath of the Tempest
10. Oath of the Slayer

It became quite clear the Death Knight held the most appear in every category. In fact there’s 11 paladin Sacred Oaths called either Death Knight or Oath of the Death Knight. I can’t say I blame them. Lord Soth makes a compelling case. Pledging to an individual entity seems more like a roleplaying thing for a paladin and a mechanical thing for a warlock but to each their own, and paladins devoted to forces of death, dragons and chaos clearly carry water for lots of 5E D&D players.

Paladins are one of the subclasses we haven’t dabbled too much with and to me one of the most intriguing things about them are their tenets. Including this portion of a Sacred Oath is hit or miss with the DDB homebrew stuff. Some have it and some don’t and I’ll tip my hat to those of the former persuasion.

The one I liked the most is the Oath of the Valkyrie. It’s got the feel of a brave frontline warrior and tenets to match but there’s a nice mix of utility features and ways to empower allies who embody the same bravery against challenges.

5E D&D paladin resources

Here’s a few places for more warlock content to add to your 5E D&D games.

• Dungeon Masters Guild character options for paladins
• D&D Party Composition — Playing an All Paladin Party
• Uphold your Sacred Oath Through Paladin Oath Spells
• Flavour Shots: D&D 5e Paladin Shrines That Use Lay On Hands