DnD Paladin 5e class explained

The DnD Paladin 5e class is as durable as it is devout. Paladins excel on the frontlines, where they can smite foes and support friends with ease. Beyond the battlefield, their high Charisma and divine powers give them plenty of utility, too. This guide explains the 2014 rules for the Dungeons and Dragons Paladin and provides expert advice on playing a character of this class.

The rules and advice in this guide are based on the 2014 rules for DnD classes and DnD races. If you’re looking for the most recent rules, our DnD 2024 Paladin class guide can explain what’s changed.

Our DnD Paladin 5e class guide covers:

Starting class features

Hit points

Proficiencies

Our advice: Choose your DnD skills based on the kind of campaign you are playing. Insight, Intimidation, and Persuasion are most useful in social campaigns, while Athletics and Medicine suit games with frequent combat and exploration. Religion and Medicine are the least likely skills to come up in play, but they’re still useful in select situations.

Equipment

As well as equipment granted by your choice of DnD background, you start with:

• (a) a martial weapon and shield or (b) two martial weapons
• (a) five javelins or (b) any simple melee weapon
• (a) a priest’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• Chain mail and a holy symbol

Our advice: Unless you’re planning to roleplay regular holy rituals, the 10 days of rations and 50 feet of rope found in the explorer’s pack are vastly more useful. Paladins tend to have limited options in ranged combat, so we’d pick javelins over an additional weapon you’re unlikely to equip.

Whether or not you want to wield a shield will depend on your preferred DnD character build. A shield boosts your armor class and synergizes with some 5e feats, but you might want to choose a two-handed weapon that deals more damage or works with other powerful feats.

Paladin 5e stats

• Strength – Your most important stat if your build focuses primarily on martial combat. Otherwise, it’s your second most important stat.
• Dexterity – General Dexterity keeps you nimble and buffs your Initiative bonus, but it’s not top of the priority list.
• Constitution – After Strength and Charisma, put as many points in this as possible to buff your overall endurance.
• Intelligence – The one DnD stat you can safely dump.
• Wisdom – Can be safely dumped, though some defense against Wisdom saving throws never hurts.
• Charisma – Your most important stat, used for spellcasting and being the party Face. If you’re focusing more on non-magical combat, you can get away with putting it in second place.

Best Paladin 5e races

• Dragonborn 5e – Gets a Strength and Charisma boost, and their damage resistance and Breath Weapon have a bit of synergy with the Paladin’s stats and play style.
• Triton – Depending on which version of the species you use, you can have totally flexible ability score increases or a +1 to the Paladin’s three most useful stats. Additional spellcasting options also expand your limited magic abilities.
• Half-Elf 5e – Their species abilities aren’t overly useful, but a +2 to Charisma and +1 to two other ability scores help you tackle the Paladin’s MAD stats.
• DnD Aasimar – Flexible stats or +2 Charisma, depending on which rulebooks you use. Extra healing, damage resistances, a free cantrip, the ability to fly, and/or area-of-effect damage options make this an incredible Paladin pick.

Divine Sense 5e

Level: One

Spend an action, and Divine Sense 5e tells you the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet that is not behind total cover. You know the type of any being you sense but not its specific identity. You also detect any consecrated or desecrated space or object within the same range.

Divine Sense can be used a number of times equal to one plus your Charisma modifier before you need to finish a DnD long rest.

Lay on Hands 5e

Level: One

Lay on Hands 5e gives you a pool of healing power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to your Paladin level multiplied by five.

As an action, you can touch a creature and restore hit points up to the maximum amount remaining in your pool. Alternatively, you can spend five hit points from your pool of healing to cure a target of one disease or poison affecting it. Multiple diseases and poisons can be cured with a single use of Lay on Hands, but you spend hit points separately for each. Undead and constructs can’t be affected.

Paladin 5e fighting styles

Level: Two

You gain one of the following Paladin 5e fighting styles of your choice:

Defense

While wearing armor, you have +1 AC.

Our advice: For a class that focuses on defending the front lines, this is simple, strong, and suitable for any build.

Dueling

When wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you get +2 to damage rolls with that weapon.

Our advice: Ideal if you’re planning to wield a shield.

Great Weapon Fighting

When you roll a 1 or a 2 on a damage die for an attack made with a melee weapon wielded in two hands, you can reroll and must use the new result. This only applies to Versatile or Two-Handed weapons.

Our advice: If you want to forgo defense for slightly more consistent damage, this is useful. Works best with the Greatsword.

Protection

When a creature you can see attacks someone other than you within five feet, you can spend a reaction to give the attack disadvantage. Only works if you’re wielding a shield.

Our advice: Requires careful maneuvering and uses a precious resource that could be spent on DnD opportunity attacks. Take Dueling for your shield build instead and impose disadvantage in some alternative way.

Blind Fighting

You gain 10 feet of blindsight that ignores everything except total cover, even if it’s in magical darkness. Invisible creatures can still successfully hide from you, but you otherwise see them.

Our advice: Blindsight is an excellent but situational benefit. It’s not always the optimal choice, but it can be useful if you know you’ll be up against plenty of invisible enemies.

Blessed Warrior

You gain two Cleric 5e cantrips, which count as Paladin spells for you and can be cast with Charisma. You can also swap one for another Cleric cantrip when you level up.

Our advice: Sacred Flame and Toll the Dead are excellent ranged offensive spells, and you could pick up Guidance for some extra utility. Expanding your limited spell list is a strong choice, even if you sacrifice a martial buff.

Interception

When a creature you see successfully attacks a target that isn’t you and is within five feet, you can spend a reaction to reduce the damage by 1d10 plus your proficiency bonus. You must be wielding a shield, a simple weapon, or a martial weapon.

Our advice: Like Protection, this is a situational ability that is less consistently useful than other fighting styles.

Divine Smite 5e

Level: Two, 11

When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend a spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target in addition to the weapon’s damage. The extra damage is 2d8 for a first-level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than first, to a maximum of 5d8. The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend.

When you reach level 11, creatures you hit with a melee weapon take an extra 1d8 damage. If you also use your Divine Smite 5e with an attack, you add this damage to the extra damage of your Divine Smite.

Our advice:This ability is your Paladin’s bread and butter. Make sure to conserve spell slots carefully so you can smite at opportune times without blowing all your resources in one go.

Divine Health 5e

Level: Three

Divine Health 5e means you become immune to disease.

Our advice: This is almost never going to come up in play, but hey, it’s free.

Paladin 5e oaths

Level: Three

Each Paladin 5e oath immediately grants two Channel Divinity options (divine spells that act as the staple abilities of each oath), alongside more subclass features at higher levels, and broader specialties that are pivotal in the role and progression of your Paladin.

Because your character has to take a literal oath to become a Paladin, you’re expected to follow it throughout your campaign. This means, as well as unique mechanics, each different Paladin comes with a recommended list of tenets they should live by.

Below you’ll find a summary of each of the Paladin 5e subclasses. If you’re looking for an in-depth analysis of which options are best and worst, head to our dedicated, ranked guide for more detail.

Oath of Devotion 5e

Found in: Player’s Handbook

Suggested tenets:

• Honesty
• Courage
• Compassion
• Honor
• Duty

The standard Paladin incarnation, the Oath of Devotion 5e subclass is the closest to a knight in shining armor that you’re likely to get within D&D; all gracious chivalry, angelic righteousness, and honorable justice in service of the DnD gods. Alongside that comes a distinct lack of specialty, and a mixed bag of abilities.

The Oath of Devotion spell list is an assortment of powerful, but situational offerings, and a couple of restorative spells, which prove a little redundant next to Paladins’ Lay on Hands ability.

If you are one of the few to progress your Paladin to level 19, Commune, which allows you to contact your deity and ask up to three yes-or-no questions, is an extraordinarily powerful roleplaying and trap-navigating tool. But you’ll need the wherewithal to ask the right questions.

The level three Sacred Weapon Channel Divinity option solidly buffs your attacks, adding your Charisma modifier to attack rolls for one minute, and makes for a nicely scalable boon. This is the subclass to pick if you’re after a ‘typical’ Paladin experience, or new to D&D and chasing a rewarding, but straightforward role.

Oath of the Ancients 5e

Found in: Player’s Handbook

Suggested tenets:

• Mercy
• Kindness
• Defending against evil
• Beauty
• Joy
• Courage

Ambitious and portentous, Paladins of the Oath of the Ancients 5e subclass throw themselves into the cosmic struggle of light versus dark, receiving some splendid Druid 5e-like powers to show for it.

Much of their spell list focuses on restraining enemies, immobilizing them to cut down in your next attack. At level three, Ensnaring Strike lets you trap any struck creatures in a thorny cage, and deals a tasty 1d6 piercing damage, which scales up with higher-level spell slots.

At level 13, you gain the brilliant area-of-effect spell Ice Storm, to wail pounds of frozen water in a 20-foot radius.

Some highly situational abilities aside, this subclass lets you embrace creativity within your damage dealing, lining up a chain of boons and debuffs to decimate enemy creatures under a single blow. With some magical resistance, too, it makes for a forgiving, and rewarding subclass.

Oath of Vengeance 5e

Found in: Player’s Handbook

Suggested tenets:

• Fight the greater evil
• No mercy for the wicked
• Succeed by any means necessary
• Help those hurt by evil

When violent retribution is the order of the day, the Oath of Vengeance 5e subclass stands tall above the rest. Headstrong, and worryingly keen to hand out justice in the form of vicious attacks, it suits simple offensive builds that forgo protective tactics in favor of quick melee kills.

Its class features and spell list focus primarily on persistent damage dealing. Third-level Abjure Enemy imposes disadvantage on enemies, and Vow of Enmity provides advantage to your own attack rolls for a full minute, letting you slice and dice through creatures with ease.

At level five, Misty Step is a neat way to teleport around the battlefield and coordinate group attacks, while at ninth-level the spells Haste 5e and Protection from Enemy are a potent pair of supportive buffs.

Straightforward and effective, this subclass is best played with speed and aggression. Rush into the fray of combat, whack on some buffs, and get bludgeoning.

You can learn more in our full DnD Oath of Vengeance guide.

Oath of Conquest 5e

Found in: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

Suggested tenets:

• Destroy the hope of your enemies
• Rule with an iron fist
• Strength above all

Glory in battle and total domination of the enemy are the hallmarks of the Oath of Conquest 5e subclass, and its array of crowd control abilities lend it nicely to large encounters. Wade boldly through multiple foes, and strike down swarms of smaller enemies as you go.

This oath really shines through its features. Although both its Channel Divinity options are formidable, try combining Conquering Presence, which frightens a creature for one minute, with seventh-level Aura of Conquest, which incapacitates and damages all frightened enemies within a 10-foot radius, for easy kills.

Mix in the Fear spell at ninth level, letting you frighten every creature in a 30-foot radius on a failed Wisdom saving throw, and you’ve got a powerhouse of attrition.

Leveraging collective fear in your enemies is very much the focus of this subclass, but even the Armour of Agathys spell you get at third level, which grants five additional HP, and Spiritual Weapon – which at fifth level creates a floating weapon to freely move and attack enemies – will make you useful outside of swarm encounters.

Oath of Glory 5e

Found in: Mythic Odysseys of Theros / Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

Suggested tenets:

• Actions over words
• Face challenges with courage
• Hone the body
• Discipline the soul

Heroism and bravery, mixed with a sense of camaraderie and passion for bodybuilding, the Oath of Glory 5e subclass is about buffing the physical abilities of you and your party, both offensively and defensively.

Its Channel Divinity options are undoubtedly the standout qualities of this class. Peerless Athlete grants advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics checks for 10 minutes, while Inspiring Smite lets you distribute temporary hit points to your party after a successful hit. And both can be used as Bonus Actions.

But the subclass falters in its spell list. With most of its worthwhile spells requiring Concentration, you’ll be severely limited in how often you can successfully leverage your otherwise powerful collection. It’s particularly irritating for a subclass that doesn’t boast a notably high Con score, so you can’t bank on succeeding Concentration saving throws, letting their spellcasting go to waste.

Oath of Redemption 5e

Found in: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

Suggested tenets:

• Peace
• Innocence
• Patience
• Wisdom

Probably the most unusual of all the Paladin subclasses, those who take the Oath of Redemption 5e are pacifists at heart, begrudgingly pursuing conflict only when all non-violent options have been exhausted. It makes for a fantastic, spell-focused support character, better suited to helping others and dissuading enemies from attacking, than to bonking things on the head.

Its third-level Emissary of Peace Channel Divinity option lets you effectively discourage violence, granting yourself a +5 Persuasion bonus. But even when the fists inevitably come out, you won’t be left on the sidelines. Seventh-level Aura of the Guardian lets you take damage instead of any creature within 10 feet, and can be combined with Protective Spirit at level 15 to heal 1d6 + half your Paladin level mid-combat.

At ninth level, Counterspell 5e can block incoming magic targeting you or your party. The Oath of Redemption subclass is not only a thematically fun choice, but one of persistent utility.

Oath of the Crown 5e

Found in: Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide

Suggested tenets:

• Law
• Loyalty
• Courage
• Responsibility

Exemplary lawful warriors who fight for the preservation of natural, divine order, those who take the Oath of the Crown 5e excel as party defenders and tanks. Soak up enemy attacks directed towards your compatriots for the sake of your less-armored allies.

At level three, Champion Challenge lets Paladins prevent all creatures within a 30-foot radius from moving away from them – particularly useful to keep enemies where you want them, in open areas, as well as preventing them dashing towards your squishier party members. On reaching level seven, Divine Allegiance lets you use your reaction to substitute your own HP for that of any ally within a five-foot radius.

And this oath’s spell list is a trove of treasures. Aura of Vitality will have you healing individual party members for 2d6 HP, including yourself. Act as a meat shield in combat, and revitalize yourself after the blows have stopped. Oath of the Crown is a subclass that can easily act as the linchpin of an entire front line.

Oath of the Watchers 5e

Found in: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

Suggested tenets:

• Vigilance
• Loyalty
• Discipline

Another strongly thematic, but very narrow subclass, those who take the Oath of the Watchers 5e dedicate themselves to warding off extraplanar threats. If the campaign you’re playing is likely to sweep you across the planes, or bring you face-to-face with otherworldly DnD monsters, then this subclass will be of great use. Otherwise, much of its glorious potential will be wasted.

Their third-level Watcher’s Will feature grants advantage on Int, Wis, and Cha saving throws for a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier. It’s nicely scalable, and a particularly useful defense against the mind-bending effects of outerplanar creatures. At level seven, Aura of the Sentinel boosts the initiative of all party members within a ten-foot radius, which comes in particularly handy when you want to run down an enemy’s HP at lightning speed.

Early-level spells, including Detect Magic and Alarm, are solid, if unremarkable, but higher-level abilities give fantastic magic resistance and debuffs. Make sure to invest heavily in Cha to get the most out of this magic-oriented subclass.

Oathbreaker 5e

Found in: Dungeon Master’s Guide

A fallen Paladin who has broken their code, they question their beliefs – but retain a strength of conviction. Darkness has crept into their mind, contorting their faith and estranging them from the divinity they once espoused. This twist on the classic Paladin formula translates into a suite of aberrant abilities that center on high damage, and the undead.

The best Channel Divinity option is Dreadful Aspect, frightening all creatures within a 30-foot radius. The alternative, Control Undead, lets you bring any undead creature under your mental control.

But if you’ll be playing your Paladin for a while, it’s made a little redundant by the spell Animate Dead at ninth level, letting you summon an undead servant. If nothing else, these starter-necromancy spells are fun to play around with.

At level 15, Supernatural Resistance grants permanent protection from bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage dealt by non-magical weapons, seriously boosting your defenses. Later on, higher-level spells like Blight and Contagion can really help you pile on damage. If you’re looking for a melee-focused, damage-competent subclass that fits with darker Paladin roleplay, Oathbreaker 5e is the clear choice.

Oath of the Open Sea 5e

Found in: Critical Role content

Suggested tenets:

• Oppose oppression
• Trust the skies
• Adaptability
• Exploration

Clerics sworn to the Oath of the Open Sea 5e are free-spirited adventurers, and monster hunters who fight back against the dread beasts that stalk the deep. Their spell list is attuned to wind, water, and freedom of movement, and they’re capable of controlling the flow of battle like the gods of the ocean controlling the waves.

The two Channel Divinity options have potent combat control effects. Marine Layer generates a dense fog that you (and creatures within five feet) are able to see through, but which obscures your opponents’ vision. Fury of the Tides allows you to throw back any enemy you strike by 10′, enough to push them off the side of a boat (or a cliff!).

At seventh level, Aura of Liberation makes you and nearby allies immune to being grappled and restrained, as well as freeing you up to move without penalty underwater. The 15th level Stormy Waters is a useful reaction ability that allows you to inflict damage on enemies that enter your reach, and potentially knock them prone – this and Marine Layer are good excuses to fight with a Reach weapon.

Extra Attack

Level: Five

You can attack twice instead of once whenever you take the attack action on your turn.

Aura of Protection 5e

Level: Six, 18

Whenever you or a friendly creature within 10 feet must make a saving throw, Aura of Protection 5e means the creature gains a bonus to the save equal to your Charisma modifier. You must be conscious to grant this bonus. At 18th level, the range of the aura increases to 30 feet.

Our advice: This bonus is always active and costs your Paladin nothing, which is excellent value.

Aura of Courage 5e

Level: 10, 18

Aura of Courage 5e means you and friendly creatures within 10 feet can’t be frightened while you are conscious. At level 18, the range of the aura increases to 30 feet.

Our advice: Slightly more situational than the Aura of Protection, but still a strong free ability.

Cleansing Touch 5e

Level: 14

Cleansing Touch 5e means you can use one action to end one spell on yourself or one willing creature that you touch. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, regaining expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Paladin 5e spells

When picking Paladin 5e spells, bear two things in mind: Concentration and Charisma. Many of your spells will require Concentration, and therefore be of little use if you’re charging to the frontline of a fray to soak up enemy hits unless you have a high constitution score. You can also only maintain one concentration spell at a time.

Similarly, the higher your Charisma modifier, the more juice you’ll get from your spellcasting abilities. Your Cha modifier dictates how many spells you may prepare after each long rest and, in several cases, their effectiveness.

Some of the best Paladin spells are:

• Shield of Faith – a bonus action that buffs your armor class (or a friend’s) is an excellent defensive move.
• Find Steed – Summon a loyal animal to serve as a mount, pack mule, or battle buddy. Excellent utility and it lasts until your steed reaches zero HP.
• Revivify – Instant resurrection powers are essential in those situations where someone actually dies. Just be sure to have the material components on hand.
• Death Ward – Another powerful way to prevent a death in the party. Its eight-hour duration makes it tremendously flexible.
• Destructive Wave – 5d6 plus 5d6 damage is extremely appealing for a class that occasionally struggles to deal area-of-effect damage.

Paladin 5e builds

Now you’re well acquainted with the Paladin and their righteous remit, check out these Paladin 5e builds to get started on your own character. For simplicity’s sake, our recommended builds use Standard Array stats, but you can roll these up with your preferred method (see our DnD character creator guide for more info).

Dragonborn two-hander tank

Your starting stats should look something like this:

• Strength – 16 (14 + 2 from Dragonborn)
• Dexterity – 12
• Constitution – 13
• Intelligence – 8
• Wisdom – 10
• Charisma – 16 (15 + 1 from Dragonborn)

You’ll have five opportunities to increase your ability scores or take feats, and we recommend using them as follows:

• Level four – +2 Charisma
• Level eight – +2 Strength
• Level 12 – +2 Charisma
• Level 16 – +2 Strength
• Level 19 – Resilient feat

Tanking your way through damage is essential to playing a Crown Paladin, but high Strength and Charisma will always trump a beefed-up Constitution score or any flashy feats. These guarantee that you hit hard and can get the most out of your defensive spells and abilities.

Aasimar redeemer

Your suggested starting stats are:

• Strength – 12
• Dexterity – 13
• Constitution – 16 (14 + 2 from Aasimar)
• Intelligence – 8
• Wisdom – 10
• Charisma – 16 (15 +1 from Aasimar)

Your five ability score improvements should be used like so:

• Level four – Tough feat
• Level eight – +2 Charisma
• Level 12 – +2 Charisma
• Level 16 – +2 Strength
• Level 19 – +2 Strength

Paladin defenders built around the Oath of Redemption specialize less in direct restorative abilities, and more in redirecting damage to themselves, or avoiding fighting altogether. A highly effective class, but also a stressful one, as you see your HP will bob up and down dramatically mid-fight.

Goblin Lancer

Here are the starting stats we’d recommend:

• Strength – 16 (15 + 1 from Goblin)
• Dexterity – 12
• Constitution – 13
• Intelligence – 8
• Wisdom – 10
• Charisma – 16 (15 + 2 from Goblin)

For your ability score increases, we recommend:

• Level four – Mounted Combatant feat
• Level eight – +2 Strength
• Level 12 – +2 Charisma
• Level 16 – +2 Strength
• Level 19 – +2 Charisma

The key to this build is playing a Small character, casting Find Steed, and then charging into battle on the back of your animal companion. The Devotion Paladin’s Sacred Weapon feature adds your Charisma modifier to attack rolls, which will buff the damage of your d12 lance. Plus, Goblin 5e can deal extra damage to any creature they hit that’s at least one DnD size larger.

Now you’ve got an idea for your Paladin character, here’s how to fill out your DnD character sheet. We can also recommend some DnD campaigns you might want to play in.

This guide directly presents rules text for the DnD 5e Paladin class, published by Wizards of the Coast under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Source: Wargamer