A new official subclass from Dungeons and Dragons is considerably broken, but it’ll be a fun implementation to use when playing adventures. The popular tabletop RPG (TTRPG) is receiving its new player compendium, Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn. There’s a lot of new content in the book, including new feats in D&D: Forgotten Realms. Additionally, there are new backgrounds and adventures.
However, some of the most notable additions present in the book are the new subclasses from D&D’s Forgotten Realms. In total, there are eight different subclasses, including the College of the Moon Bard, the Winter Walker Ranger, and the reworks of the Banneret Fighter and the Bladesinger Wizard. Among these eight new subclasses for D&D 5e’s 2024 rules, there is one that stands out.
New Paladin Subclass In D&D Boasts Elemental Powers From Level 3
Oath Of The Noble Genies Offers Many Gameplay Options
The new Paladin subclass from Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn follows the Oath of the Noble Genies. This subclass sees the Paladin make an Oath with powerful genie masters and, from that oath, draw elemental powers. Starting at level 3, when players pick this subclass, they’ll gain access to a feature called Elemental Smite. When they land an attack and cast a Divine Smite on an enemy, they can follow up with Elemental Smite by burning one of their Channel Divinity uses.
When this happens, they can pick one of four different effects. The first is Dao’s Crush, which imposes the Grappled and Restrained conditions on the target of the Divine Smite. The second is Djinni’s Escape, which grants you a short-range teleport while also activating a temporary Resistance to Piercing, Slashing, and Bludgeoning damage. Furthermore, you also have Immunity to Grappled, Prone, and Restrained until the end of your next turn when using Djinni’s Escape.
The third Elemental Smite option is called Efreeti’s Fury, which allows you to roll an extra 2d4 Fire damage on top of your Divine Smite, as well as extend 2d4 Fire damage to a nearby opponent. Lastly, your Elemental Smite can become Marid’s Surge, which can push nearby enemies back by 15 feet and knock them Prone.
In addition to the Elemental Smite, you unlock thematic Genie Spells, as well as the possibility of being an armorless Paladin, whose AC is 10 plus their DEX and CHA modifiers. This allows you to be an agile paladin rather than, necessarily, a bulky one, and opens up the specialized option of using Finesse weapons. The Oath of the Noble Genies Paladin from the new D&D – Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn also gives your Aura of Protection an additional damage Resistance.
At higher levels, the Paladin has a feature called Elemental Rebuke, which allows them to use their Reaction to halve the damage taken and deal damage to the enemy – and this damage type can be chosen by the player. Lastly, at level 20, Noble Scion allows them to use a Minor Wish as a Reaction, automatically succeeding any D20 test or enabling any ally to succeed, once per round.
Noble Genies Paladin Gives A Buff To Channel Divinity In D&D
The New Paladin Subclass Pushes Toward The Usage Of This Core Ability
There are a lot of things that make the Noble Genies Paladin broken, such as the Noble Scion feature, but the new subclass makes this subclass powerful from the get-go, as it makes Channel Divinity a lot more useful. Even though Channel Divinity is a pillar in Paladin builds, most subclasses don’t really make it all that powerful. In most of my Paladin builds, my Channel Divinity uses often come as an afterthought.
The Elemental Smite unlocked at level 3 makes the new Paladin Oath in D&D a lot more versatile, something that isn’t seen too often within a single subclass. It’s a lot more common to have specialized Paladins, like the Oath of Vengeance one, who focuses mostly on dealing damage, while the Oath of Glory is a lot more support-focused.
The Oath of the Noble Genies is adaptive and can work as an offensive powerhouse, a defensive bastion, or an agile support on the field. The many different options make me excited about having Channel Divinity at the forefront of combat decisions, and knowing when to use it rather than just holding it back for the combat’s boss, like I’ve been doing in most of my adventures in D&D.
Depending on how well you build them, your Oath of the Noble Genies Paladin can be one of the swiftest characters on the field, thanks to the possibility of building them around DEX – as a result, they’ll have a much higher Initiative bonus. Furthermore, if you’ve ever wanted to build a bulky Paladin without any armor, this is the subclass for it, since the warrior’s sturdiness actually derives from how dextrous and charismatic they are.
As is indicated by the subclass’s name, Oath of the Noble Genius Paladins are the physical manifestation of the quirkiness and whimsy of djinnis. They do deviate a bit from the traditional understanding of what a Paladin is, but they offer a whole load of new gameplay possibilities, and incentivize the usage of one of the class’s core features in Dungeons and Dragons more than most other subclasses.
- Original Release Date
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1974
- Publisher
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TSR Inc., Wizards of the Coast
- Designer
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E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson
- Player Count
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2-7 Players