The New 2024 Paladin: DnD 5e Class Changes

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The Paladin has long been considered one of the more unique DnD 5e classes, combining the martial prowess of Fighters with the divine magical powers of Clerics. Since 2014, however, the DnD 5e Paladin has remained largely unchanged, save for a few minor rules tweaks and the addition of a handful of new subclasses.

With the release of the new 2024 Player’s Handbook, however, Wizards of the Coast is once again bestowing its blessing upon these holy warriors. Many of the changes to the Paladin were first showcased in the One D&D playtest and since resulted in some fairly significant updates, including an overhaul of how combat and spellcasting work, as well as severely nerfing a Paladin’s divine smite ability.

So just what other changes can Paladin players expect for this blessed battlemasters? Below, we channel our DnD divinity to find out.

What’s changed in the new 2024 Paladin for DnD 5e?

Below are all the changes to the 2024 Paladin versus the 2014 Paladin (both of which are still using the DnD 5e rules).

Paladin Feature	Level	Changes to 2024 Paladin Class
Lay on Hands	1	– Now a Bonus Action. – No longer affects diseases, but can be used on Constructs and Undead.
Spellcasting	1	– Paladins have access to spellcasting from level 1 now. – Number of prepared spells is a fixed number listed in the Paladin table.
Weapon Mastery	1	– Choose two weapons you’re proficient with. You gain use of their mastery properties. – May change your chosen weapons each Long Rest.
Fighting Style	1	– Fighting Styles are now feats, and some have seen minor tweaks. – Blessed Warrior from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has been made a default option.
Paladin’s Smite	2	– Always have the Divine Smite spell prepared. – Can be used with Unarmed Strikes. – Now requires a Bonus Action, which you can take immediately after hitting a creature with an attack.
Channel Divinity	3	– Can be used twice before Short or Long rest. – The Paladin’s Divine Sense feature is now a part of Channel Divinity.
Paladin Subclass	3	– Oath of Devotion: Subclass features last longer and have a reduced action cost. Divine Smite also now grants cover to you and your allies. – Oath of Glory: Peerless athlete has a longer duration and your aura ability has a larger radius. – Oath of the Ancients: Aura of Warding now affects specific damage types rather than just spell damage and Undying Sentinel now lets you regain Hit Points. Elder Champion can also be restored using a level 5 spell slot. – Oath of Vengeance: Vow of Enmity no longer requires a Bonus Action, has a larger range, and can be transferred on killing a creature. Avenging Angel can be restored using a level 5 spell slot.
Faithful Steed	5	Always have Find Steed prepared, which you can cast once per Long Rest without using a spell slot.
Abjure Foes	9	– Use Channel Divinity to potentially cause a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier to become Frightened of you. – While Frightened this way, they can only use limited actions.
Aura of Courage	10	If an ally with the Frightened condition enters your aura, the condition no longer has any effect.
Radiant Strikes (previously Improved Divine Smite)	11	Now works with Unarmed Strikes.
Restoring Touch	14	– Spend 5 Hit Points from your Lay on Hands pool to remove selected conditions. – Can remove multiple conditions by spending more points.
Epic Boon	19	Choose one Epic Boon feat, or another feat of your choice.

How will the 2024 Paladin changes impact gameplay?

Level 1: Lay on Hands

The Paladin’s Lay on Hands ability is now a Bonus Action (as opposed to the full Action featured in the 2014 rules). The new version of Lay on Hands can also no longer be used to removes diseases, although it can cure the Poisoned condition and can now be used on Constructs and Undead.

Level 1: Spellcasting

This is one of the biggest changes to the new 2024 Paladin. Spellcasting can be now be used at Level 1 (as opposed to Level 2, which is how it was presented in the 2014 rules). As a result, the Paladin’s spell casting table has been updated to reflect new slots and levels.

Level 1: Weapon Mastery

Like the new 2024 Fighter, Paladins will also be able use the new Weapon Mastery feature, which allows you to tap into distinctive properties of the weapons you’re proficient in possess. These specific properties are as follows:

• Cleave: If you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can make a second attack against a creature within 5 feet that is also within your reach. When you hit with the second attack, you can roll your weapon’s damage, but you don’t add your ability modifier unless it’s negative.
• Graze: If you miss a creature with your weapon, you deal damage equal to the ability modifier you used to make the roll.
• Nick: You can make an additional attack against a target creature if your first attack was made while wielding two Light weapons.
• Push: You can launch a creature you hit (up to a Large size) 10 feet away from you.
• Sap: An enemy you hit has Disadvantage on their next attack roll before the start of your next turn.
• Slow: When you hit a creature and deal damage, you can reduce its Speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
• Topple: When you hit a creature, you can force it to make a Constitution saving throw or fall Prone. The DC for this save is 8 plus the ability modifier used to make the attack plus your Proficiency Bonus.
• Vex: When you hit a creature and deal damage, you gain Advantage on your next attack roll before the end of your next turn.

Level 2: Fighting Style

Fighting Styles are now considered Feats in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. As a Paladin, you can pick one of these feats at Level 2. Alternatively, you can skip taking a Fighting Style and instead choose the “Blessed Warrior” option, which grants you two Cleric cantrips.

Level 2: Paladin’s Smite

This is another element that’s been significantly updated (and downgraded) from the 2014 Player’s Handbook. In the old DnD 5e rules, Divine Smite was simply a feature that Paladins accessed at Level 1, letting you burn a spell slot to deliver extra damage after a successful melee hit. In the new 2024 rules, Divine Smite is now a spell that your Paladin has permanently prepared (a Feature known as “Paladin Smite”).

The new Divine Smite spell works much the same as the old 2014 Paladin Divine Smite ability. The biggest difference is that the spell can be applied to unarmed strikes (essentially letting you “divine punch,” “divine kick” or even “divine head butt” enemies). Additionally, the Divine Smite spell is now cast as a Bonus Action that can be taken immediately after you hit a creature with an attack roll. This change is really a nerf of the original 2014 Divine Smite ability and is designed to prevent players from chaining together multiple Divine Smite hits to deliver a massive amount of damage.

Level 5: Faithful Steed

Starting at level 5, Paladins now always have the Find Steed spell prepared. This feature also grants a single free casting of the spell once per day so you can summon your mount (now known as an Otherwordly Steed”). What’s more, Wizards of the Coast has prepared a static stat block for your Otherworldly Steed (making them more resilient in combat) and your mount can also regain hitpoints whenever you’re magically healed.

Level 9: Abjure Foes

This new 2024 Paladin feature allows you to spend your Channel Divinity to target a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier and force them to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is Frightened by you and at that point is limited to only moving, taking an action or using a Bonus Action on their turn.

Level 14: Restoring Touch

This is another new feature for 2024 and is designed to augment a Paladin’s Lay on Hands abilities. Using Restoring Touch allows you to remove one condition and can even remove multiple conditions if you have enough Hit Points in your pool.

Level 19: Epic Boon

Epic Boons are a new type of feat introduced in the revised 2024 core rules. While Paladins can take any Epic Boon, Wizards of the Coast recommends the “Boon of Truesight” which lets you increase one of your ability scores by 1 (up to a maximum of 30) and gives you Truesight with a radius of 60 feet.

What are the changes to the 2024 Paladin subclasses?

In the new 2024 Player’s Handbook there are four official Paladin subclasses: Oath of the Ancients, Oath of Devotion, Oath of Glory and Oath of Vengeance. Notably, the Oaths of the Ancients, Devotion and Vengeance were included in the 2014 Player’s Handbook, while the Oath of Glory first appeared in the Mythic Odysseys of Theros supplement and was later reprinted in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

There are, however, a few changes that have been made to the original 2014 subclasses.

• Oath of Devotion: The Sacred Weapon and Holy Nimbus features now each last 10 minutes instead of 1 minute. Additionally, Holy Nimbus can also be used again by spending a level 5 spell slot (in the 2014 rules it could only be recovered after a Long Rest). The 2024 version of this subclass also replaces the Purity of Spirit feature with a new featured called “Smite of Protection,” which grants cover to you and your allies within your aura when you cast the Divine Smite spell. Oath of Devotion Paladins also get access to new spells in the form of Shield of Faith and Aid (which replace the Sanctuary and Lesser Restoration spells included in the 2014 version of the subclass).
• Oath of Glory: The Aura of Alacrity feature now uses your Aura of Protection to determine who it affects (in the 2014 version, the feature had just a 5-foot radius around you). The Peerless Athlete feature also now last for 1 hour (previously it had just a 10-minute duration) and Paladins for this updated 2024 subclass can now access a brand new Oath spell called Yolande’s Regal Presence.
• Oath of the Ancients: The Undying Sentinel feature now lets you instantly regain a number of Hit Points equal to 3x your Paladin level (a change over the 2014 version that meant you could come back with 1 Hit Point). The Nature’s Wrath feature also now affects each creature of your choice within 15 feet, and your targets must make a Strength saving throw instead of getting to choose between making a Strength or Dexterity saving throw. Elder Champion also now uses a Bonus Action instead of an action, and can be refreshed with a level 5 spell slot.
• Oath of Vengeance: The Vow of Enmity feature no longer needs to be used as an Action and instead can be applied when you attack. It also has an increased range and can be transferred when the current target of your vow is reduced to 0 Hit Points. Relentless Avenger has also been updated and now reduces a target’s Speed to 0 (in the previous 2014 version it allowed you to move up to half your speed as a bonus action after an attack). Finally, the Avenging Angel ability can now be used again with a Level 5 spell slot (previously it required a Long Rest to regain).

Final Thoughts on the New Paladin

The Paladin has been a staple of DnD 5e for over a decade, and while some of the new 2024 changes will likely go over well with fans (particularly making spellcasting more accessible at first level and introducing Weapon Mastery) the nerfed Divine Smite may leave some disappointed (although Dungeon Masters who’ve had their epic BBEG destroyed by a series of chained Divine Smites may feel differently).

Regardless of your view, these changes to the Paladin class are fairly significant and will definitely have an impact on how they play at the table. It remains to be seen, however, just how well these updates will be received by the larger DnD 5e community.

You can find the complete rules for the new Paladin in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, which is available for pre-order now on D&D Beyond and Amazon.

Below is also a video from the official Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel, with lead DnD designer Jeremy Crawford offering more details on the changes to the Paladin class.

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