A friend of mine once gave an awesome discription of what a Good aligned Conquest Paladin would be like had how it's different from a Vengeance Paladin. "A Vengeance Paladin is someone who has sworn to unleash brutal justice upon those who commit Evil, a Conquest Paladin is someone who tries to prevent Evil from occurring in the first place by virtue of being so utterly terrifying that Evil decides it's in their best interest to not commit the crime in the first place."

While on opposite ends of morality & disposition, the Conqueror and Redeemer have more in common then you might think at first glance. Where a typical paladin sees humans, elves, dwarves, & other "civilized" races as *people* to defend and orcs, goblins, and the like as *monsters* to defend them from, neither the Conqueror nor the Redeemer sees any such distinction. Human, Goblin, it doesn't matter, all intelligent, free-willed creatures are *people*, and deserve to be treated the same way. Granted, the treatment offered by the Conqueror and Redeemer are generally on opposite ends of the spectrum, but even then the two don't necessarily have to conflict. While Oath of Conquest paladins do tend towards evil, good Conquerors are certainly possible, and a good Conqueror can complement a Redeemer in a bad-cop/good-cop routine, with the Redeemer offering forgiveness to villains who repent while the Conqueror promises punishment to those who don't, or whose conversions prove less than sincere. When the evil warlord gathers the goblin tribes into an army to threaten civilization, paladins of all oaths fight together to stop them. But once the warlord is vanquished and the army scattered, it is the Conqueror and the Redeemer who understand that the job is only half done. Without changes to the underlying conditions that led to the warlord's rise, in a few years another will take their place and the whole war will need to be fought all over again. The only long term solution is to gather the goblins in from the wilderness, to integrate them into society, and both the Conqueror and the Redeemer work to do so, complementing each other as they do, with the Redeemer offering the carrot and the Conqueror wielding the stick. And if the work is to succeed, they need each other. The redeemer's message of compassion and forgiveness can't be heard if those who benefit from the current order drown them out with the sounds of violence. And there will always be those who refuse to hear the message outright, echoes of generations of animosity on both sides that will not hear reason, and the compassion inherent to the Redeemer's role won't allow them to impose their peace by force. In contrast, the Conqueror speaks in a language the barbarians already understand, the language of strength and violence, forestalling the next warlord's rise by becoming that warlord themselves, and then forcing integration with society whether the goblins or regular people like it or not - bulldozing over generations of fear of each other by ensuring that both sides fear the Conqueror even more. But that fear can only last as long as the Conqueror's personal strength holds out. If it is to outlast the conqueror, they will need the Redeemer's soothing voice to be heard once they've browbeaten those who would otherwise drown it out into silence. The (good-aligned) Conqueror and the Redeemer are two sides of the same coin, though neither might appreciate the association, and I think the inclusion of both in the same book, thus inviting the comparison was an excellent move, if possibly not a deliberate one.

I absolutely love the Oath of Redemption. I already played it while it was still in the playtest version in Unearthed Arcana. I had originally started playing the character as a Swashbuckler Rogue (Also from Unearthed Arcana which is now in Xanathar's - also a brilliant new sub-class). The character got into possession of a dagger that was a tool granted to an Infernal Pact Warlock as a part of his pact. The dagger was just simply a magical dagger that as flavor sent the soul of anything killed to said patron in the Nine Hells. I consulted my DM and asked if I could roleplay like my character was being corrupted by the weapon and he loved it so I proceeded. As the game went on my character became more and more careless when it came to who he killed until he finally became a murderous psycho out for blood. The rest of the party convinced him to give up the unholy dagger on the condition that they find him a weapon that was equally, if not more, powerful (It was a +1 Dagger, the challenge to replace it wasn't that hard really). At that point through a random chance of happenstance, we stumbled into a bounty placed by a celestial to hunt down and slay a fallen angel (i don't remember what he exactly was blamed for but it was something nasty) in exchange for a reward of choice: money, a magical item or blessings. The party agreed to get me a magical item and I was given a dagger that was crafted from a shard of what was once a holy avenger of the god of life. Without the corrupting influence of the dagger in my character's life from that point (because he had given it away as per the deal) he became aware of all the murders he had committed and he sought out penance. Leading to him multiclassing into a Paladin and eventually taking the Oath of Redemption. It was a great character arch. :) Loved it.

I see the Oath of Conquest as a Chracter who personifies LN. Good and evil are irrelivent matters of perspective to this Palidin, only power/strength matters. Good does not win because it is good just as evil does not triumph because of any innate superiority. This is proven by the balance of the Cosmos. In the end, only a person's power matters. The strong rule the weak: this is not lamented by the Palidin of Conquest but taken as a truth of the universe.

The Conquest paladin was special made for my love of the Sinestro Corps

Something of note is that the Oath of Redemption pairs extremely well with a paladin who worships Illmater!! Aura of the Guardian is a mechanic thats perfect for this deity, who insists that "the truly holy take on the suffering of others." I'm making such a paladin for a upcoming campaign, and I'm excited c:

I kinda have a funny idea for an oath of conquest paladin, make it a halfing. Imagine it, this tiny person in plate mail comes running in and terrifying everyone.

I was very intrigued by the added RP options for the Paladin, which I hadn't thought of while building them.

Oath of Redemption is my favorite Paladin Oath and the only character I've played as LG. He was cured of lycanthropy and decided to dedicated his life to do good.

Making an Vengeance Aasimar Paladin of Conquest, should be fun!

I love the idea of the redemption paladin. My character concept for it it a character in their last years of "usefulness" (dragonborn in my case) that for their first 30 or equivalent years were little more than scum, raiding and pillaging with the worst of them. As they got older though something changed and they wanted to change as well, and they stumbled into a curch of whichever god, where the head priest challenged them to take on this oath to literally redeem their souls. It would, in my mind, fix the issue of a pacifist class that still fights, given that the character is prone to fighting and has to actively choose not to.

I kinda made an lawful evil paladin with the oath of conquest who worshipped bane.

Thanks for this video breakdown! It was helpful since I’m planning on trying out a paladin under the oath of redemption. The challenges highlighted are dually noted. I’ll be playing a homebrew of Darkling Elder for this character so I think having a character with a darker past that still appreciates arts and has a complex history will help play into the class. Someone who was offered redemption themselves and has a dark past should be able to understand those in a similar position and empathize without that naivety of someone who hasn’t lived a life like that. That’s my thinking at least, hopefully it works out! We also have an oath of conquest pali so that will be an interesting pairing in a campaign, good cop bad cop maybe? Balance perhaps? We’ll see!

Thanos is totally an oath of conquest paladin

The description of Conquest Paladin brings to mind the Chaplains of Warhammer 40k. They're still doing the Emperors work, they're just extremely stern and inflict terror in their enemies.

Mix nelo angelo's design and fighting style with vergil's ideals of power means eveything And bingo Conquest paladin Tenets of the conquest are in line with what vergil aims for throughout his life Those 2 characters mention are from devil may cry

So, why didn't oath of the crown make the cut?

I am enchanted by the Oath of Redemption paladin, I just haven't fully built one yet. I was initially a little diappointed that the OaRP was the final build of the healing monk from UA, but I've come to appreciate the idea of the class over time. I'm imagining a character like Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge, it could be really interesting and challenging.

I've been craving a pacifist character option for a while simply because several years ago I'd been walking home and ironically thinking about The Book of Exalted Deeds when I was sucker punched several times by a thug who randomly began talking to me. I miraculously kept my cool the entire time.

Oath of Conquest - I enjoy using this Oath against a race that enslaved my PC. As a house rule or with DMs consent, Conquest is against a set race. Look at it as say PTSD or Bloodrage, but otherwise is the normal paladin. It does this so others do not have to.

I've been wanting to make a character who is a necromancer but not a wizard. Somebody who can create a horde of Undead soldiers but also wear plate. The oath of Conquest sounds like a good fit for this character to me. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Okay, I have to know where you got that shirt. I needed it for a session that will come up about a month or two from now. Unless the party pulls a 180. Or just somehow dies early in a stupid blaze of glory.

I feel like conquest and crown are two sides of the same coin and you could really explore that from a roleplaying perspective, kind of a whole how far are you willing to go for your kingdom type thing

Interesting... Especially the pacifist Paladin :oP But what I really wanted was a trickster type paladin. It's a mystery to me, it hasn't been done, when we have it for the cleric. I mean... There got to be more warrior type dudes out in the world that follows trickster gods too :o)

@titanbeargaming think of general Armstrong as a redemption paladin. You don't use a weapon *tavern brawler as a feat* you do your best to talk monsters down. And when your done with monsters you can attack them. Your not a pacifist you just see a more creative solution... the solution that a true hero/man would see. ;)

the oath of conquest makes your paladin a sith, but not evil, not all sith have been evil.

I have an idea for an oath of conquest paladin who is a red dragon born that believes he's a dragon and that the bigger his hoard the more powerful he becomes til he returns to his true form. Obviously he's supposed to be insane but if you have a DM that rolls with it he could be telling the truth.

For the oath of conquest I'd add the feature that once you drop a creature to zero, all of it's allies have to make a wisdom saving throw or become frightened after seeing how you brutalized their companion. I feel like it fits more thematically maybe have conquering presence evolve into this trait around level ten. Let me know what you think in the comments below, please.

I play a Oath of Conquest Minotaur, very fun character striving for strength

Is it a game about combat? Not the games I play in. I think that the Oath of Redemption is great for a roleplaying game. The fact that most of the rules are about combat, doesn't mean most of the game has to be.

I need that shirt

Next character paladin of conquest thats based on Lenny from ‘of mice and men’ he is just a big misunderstand dude that accidentally obliterated someone before and that rumour causes the fear effects. Doesn’t help that he accidentally bash people brains out with a maul

For me the Paladin Oath of Conquest goes really well for a character I've been wanting to try out It is where a Half-Orc who is a Battlemaster Fighter consistently seeks combat for the simple fact that he's motivated to prove he's the greatest fighter and swordsman there is. So one day he's ambushed and mortally wounded by a Oath of Treachery Paladin overpowering him in combat as now betrayed by his blood brother that was said Blackguard Paladin the Half-Orc is enraged by this. But instead of succumbing to his rage and becoming a Berserker Barbarian like many Half-Orc's would he prays to the war God Tempus to give him strength and power to not only make him a stronger warrior but so that he can spread fear into the hearts of his enemies in combat and make his former blood brother and most trusted ally who has allied himself with a powerful Balor demon as his new master and make him regret his betrayal. Tempus agrees and soon enough is branded with the mark of Tempus that signifies his becoming a Oath of Conquest Paladin. With said Half-Orc now being able to further his quest to prove he's the strongest among his kind but, now make those who dare to fight him fear something again. For this time his Conquest for battle will leave a trail of corpses in his wake and using his skills as a Battlemaster in tandem with that as a Oath of Conquest Paladin nothing will stop him from spreading fear into the hearts of those who will dare to fight against him.

Paladin of Conquest: Batman

So I have to say that I think people approach evil player characters wrong An evil character is selfish and self serving but they can still like people as can still do good things. Lex Luther isn’t always doing evil things but he is evil

Yeah the oath of conquest seems to be pushing it when considering what a paladin is. However, I can see it if you view said paladin as a more zealotous, unwavering in his own deity, none but my God shall have following in this land type of paladin. He's basically the Christian Templar Knight.

I read your shirt and I immediately tried to skip to a part in the video where I wouldn't have to see it

PSA: IT IS TOTALLY OK TO PLAY AN EVIL CHARACTER!! The trope of being the good guy gets boring after so long. Let your characters ride the line. See the grey. Explore their dark side. But dont let them murderhobo. If they want to be selfish and assassinate a king to prevent a political issue then let them and show them the consequences just as you would for good characters. This game helps us learn about ourselves.

I think the oath of conquest shows the true nature of the Paladians ! they look nice but they are really brutal when it comes to belief! I mean have a little bit of flexibility dude ! come on !