Short Story
The Door
A short teaser for a narrative
Read the Story
“...the shattering of wood echoed in the night as the soldiers stormed into the room. a brief cry of confusion before they emerged dragging the man between them with a bloodied forehead. a woman screamed before she was silenced. dazed and confused he was dragged past me and out of the apartments. another traitor had been found. i spun about and followed. tonight's fun had only just begun...”
The Paladin Oath
Seek out the enemy and purge their heresy from the land
no one can escape your grasp for long
The Oath of the Inquisition is swore to hunt down and purge the land of all those who seek to bring about demise of the cause the Paladin belongs to. These Paladins stop at nothing to hunt people down and often have the backing of considerable power or zealous fury behind them. Unlike other Paladins who tend to win their fights with divine fury, these Inquisitors prefer to use the weight of the their law and talk their targets into submission. Whether they be ensuring a nation is free of traitors or fighting for freedom to bring about a revolution.
The Cause Comes First - I believe in the cause and nothing will get in the way of it
The Bigger Picture - I seek to destroy the ideals of my enemy and will halt my hilt to follow my enemies to where it takes root.
Expose the Weakness - My tongue is as sharp as my blade and will use it to glean the wickedness of my enemy
The Sharpest Tongue Kills without Drawing Blood: For the next ten minutes you gain double proficiency in all CHA checks against a target of your choice.
Ways of Making You Talk: Before a long rest you able to contact those within your oath to provide information that can be used against a known target. This task may be imprisoning a family member and providing proof of capture, or evidence of shameful acts and deeds of the target. You are presented with this evidence upon waking from a long rest or at DM’s discretion. This evidence need not be truthful, as long as it appears real enough.
As an inquisitor, you may become proficient in firearms
Smiting one’s foe isn’t always done with steel. You can now make smite attacks with ranged attacks.
An Oath of Inquisition Paladin can choose to inflict pain instead of health. You can use your lay on hands to brand enemies, choosing to damage them instead of healing. This damage is considered necrotic.
This is one of your chief weapons. Once per day you can try to surprise a number of targets, at the start of combat. The amount of targets is equal to your CHA modifier. The targets must make a CHA saving throw, on a failure they are surprised.
When you smite a surprised creature you can add an additional d8 to your damage. Smites are also one of your chief weapons.
You compel a target to stop in their tracks. As a bonus action, choose one creature within 60ft of you. They must make a WIS saving throw against your spell save. On a failure they have 0 speed and are considered paralysed for 1d4 round/s.
For that time your smite dice are doubled. At the end of every round, or when the target takes damage, the target makes another WIS saving throw the break the compulsion.
You strike fear into you enemy. You envelop your target in a shroud of fear, with a radius of 30ft. You cast this at a range of 60ft. For the duration of this ability no creature that did not start their turn within the shroud can enter or leave unless they use the wish spell. You may enter and exit the shroud with ease. Target must make a DC save of equal to your paladin level and CHA modifier.
While in this shroud you have advantage on all attacks and ability checks against the target and all enemies have disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws at you.
This last ten minutes or until you are incapacitated or ended by your grace.
An Inquisitor is one of the most feared Paladins in the land. Noble ideals and thoughts of protection are far from their minds as they move like wraiths in the night endlessly pursuing their targets.
The might of their case is behind them and has lead them to zealousness. Those that stand in their way are quickly swept aside.
Many who come face to face with an Inquisitor know it's already too late. They’ve been marked, tracked and studied long before they arrive to deal out swift and merciless justice.
The Oath of Inquisition is for people who enjoy to play characters who are driven by a singular goal. These Paladins have no qualms with doing whatever it takes to succeed and always believe they are on the side of righteousness.
Never one to run head first into the enemy, the Inquisitor prefers to lay traps and snare their prey for maximum torment. They excel in locking down their target in both social and combat encounters.
Many Inquisitors prefer to travel with like minded individuals who have also joined the cause. The larger the number of people, the easier it is to locate and intimidate their targets.
A true zealot for their cause, the Inquisitors tend to be ones of extremes. Always on edge and considering if their actions are helping the cause. Their righteous zeal has a tendency to keep them calm in even the most tense moments as they never fear they can lose.
Inquisitors see everyone but themselves as a potential enemy. Forming close bonds is rare, but should they find someone as zealous as them they go all in and keep them close. They look down on other members of the cause as lacking commitment if they can’t keep up to the same level as they do.
Inquisitors see themselves as always morally just in their actions. No matter what depths they go to, if it helps the cause and weeds out enemies it is right and even good to do so. Everyone is a potential traitor and enemy and therefore not worthy of the same treatment as they give to themselves.
Downtime is a foreign concept to an Inquisitor. They are never not seeking down and looking for enemies in the shadows. Even if not actively on the hunt they study and investigate every small detail until they can be certain there is no enemy. Recreation for these individuals normally comes in the form of something artistic.
A handy reference guide for playing as The Bounty Hunter in your game.
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