Identity
The Black Crown is not theatrical evil. It is doctrinal. The Covenant of the Ebon Creed teaches that the galaxy is governed by predation, that mercy is a luxury extracted from the strong, and that the only honest oath is one that names its own appetite. Black Crown paladins are sworn to the discipline of dread — to take what they can hold, to enforce their order in their territory, and to keep the oath without sentiment. They are not all cruel. Many are simply unsentimental in a way that frightens people accustomed to softer creeds. The Rift answers them because the oath is real, and real oaths are what the Rift listens to.
Features
- L3 Oath of the Black Crown
**Oath Channels.** You always have the following channels prepared, and they do not count against the number of channels you can prepare each day: • Paladin level 3: **Etheric Hand** (cantrip), **Veil** (1st) • Paladin level 5: **Counter** (2nd), **Dispel** (2nd) • Paladin level 9: **Mind Lash** (3rd) • Paladin level 13: **Banish** (4th) • Paladin level 17: **Plane Step** (5th) **Channel Divinity: Dread Lord.** As an action, you let the Crown's authority surface in your voice. Each creature of your choice within 30 ft of you that can see or hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw against your channel save DC. On a failure, a creature is **Frightened** of you for 1 minute. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. On a success, a creature is immune to your Dread Lord for 24 hours. **Channel Divinity: Mark of the Crown.** As a bonus action, you designate a creature you can see within 60 ft as **Crown-Marked**. For 1 minute (or until you are incapacitated or use this feature again), the marked target cannot regain HP, and the first time each turn you hit the target with a weapon attack, you deal an additional 1d8 necrotic damage.
- L7 Necrotic Smite
Your **Divine Smite** is reshaped by the oath. When you use Divine Smite, you may choose for the damage to be **necrotic** instead of radiant. Against creatures that have resistance to radiant damage, this is often the preferable choice; against Halcyion or Sun-aligned targets, the necrotic forms strike deeper as a matter of doctrinal contrast. Additionally, when you deal necrotic damage with Divine Smite to a creature with HP equal to or less than 25% of its maximum, the creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your channel save DC or drop to 0 HP. This second effect cannot be used against creatures with HP maximum greater than 100 (boss-tier protection).
- L11 Aura of Hate
You emanate a corona of cold authority. Each ally within 10 ft of you that has dealt damage in the current round adds your Charisma modifier (minimum +1) to the damage of their first melee weapon attack on each of their turns. You and undead/fiend allies within 10 ft of you also add your Charisma modifier to melee weapon damage rolls (per attack, not just first per turn — your kind tear harder near you). At paladin level 18, the aura's range increases to 30 ft.
- L15 Soul Bond
The oath feeds you. Whenever you deal necrotic damage with a weapon attack or with **Divine Smite**, you regain HP equal to one-third of the necrotic damage dealt (rounded down). This healing cannot exceed your Paladin level per turn. Additionally, you have resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on saving throws against being charmed by good-aligned celestials, against radiant damage, and against effects that would compel you to act against your oath.
- L18 Avatar of the Black Crown
Once per long rest, as a bonus action, you assume the **Avatar of the Black Crown** for 1 minute. While transformed: • You shed dim light in a 30-ft radius that is somehow simultaneously cold and oppressive; the area within 30 ft of you is dim light regardless of normal illumination conditions (your Crown enforces dusk). • Each hostile creature within 30 ft of you that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom save against your channel save DC at the start of each of its turns or be **Frightened** of you until the start of its next turn. • Your weapon attacks deal an additional 2d6 necrotic damage on a hit. (Stacks with Crown-Marked.) • When you reduce a creature to 0 HP with a weapon attack or smite, you gain temporary HP equal to half the creature's maximum HP (max equal to your Paladin level × 2). • You have resistance to all damage except radiant and force. • You have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. The form ends early if you fall unconscious, dismiss it as a free action, or are reduced to 0 HP.