[RPG] Is an ancient-oath paladin anti-fey

dnd-5epaladin

I'm new to D&D so please bear with me…

I am reading the Player's Handbook and one thing seems strange to me in the paladin class, specifically the path of the Oath of the Ancients.

A paladin taking this oath gains the ability to "Turn the Faithless", which turns all fey and fiend creatures in the area unless they save themselves.

Now I understand the fiend creatures, as they are inherently evil and thus are the very thing a paladin fights against, but why fey? As far as I know, fey creatures are not inherently evil, so why would an ancient-oath paladin, who just wants to protect the light of life against the darkness, have a beef with all fey creatures?

Best Answer

There are evil fey. The green hag and sea hag are evil fey, while the night hag is considered a fiend. This is a change from earlier editions of the game, where hags were monstrous humanoids. In the Eberron setting, all hags are considered fiends. These enemies are the primary reason why a paladin would need such an ability.

The paladin may also occasionally come into conflict with non-evil fey, such as the neutral dryad and satyr. A good paladin is unlikely to come into need to use their power against good fey, but technically still has that power. Fey is a very small category of creatures, so the addition of fey to the paladin's ability is not a massive power boost.

There is also a thematic link between fey and fiends, both being traditionally weak to metals such as silver or cold iron. A hero equipped to defeat fiends is also well-equipped to defeat fey.

We must also consider that this paladin oath is ancient, and its ability to turn evil fey with the power of nature may have been much more relevant in the long-forgotten past. We can only assume from the relative scarcity of such creatures today that Oath of the Ancients paladins were successful.

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