I admit, I love the idea of Oaths, of a paladin's power coming from their conviction and ideals first and foremost, and how the Oath of the Ancients specifically is about light and community in a way that feels different from the classical paladin. I wanted to reflect that in my design, and leaning into the nature's aspect because of other elements tied to her origins.

Turns out however there's not a lof of examples around of Oath of the Ancients paladins I could get inspiration from, huh. Mostly I've come across the archetype of the "green knight", which to me mostly just looked like a normal knight with a full-plate armor painted green and moss growing on it. That's no good! So I tried figuring it out as I went.

I wanted my paladin to look something like a ranger, but more "noble" and approachable. I focused on warm colors and a mostly round shape language, trying to avoid sharp angles whenever possible. I opted for a piecemeal leather armor (which works well with her DEX build on her character sheet) and I've trying to evoke a heroic figure by drawing inspirations not from knights of western tradition but from classical JRPG brave heroes, the yūsha, like the hero from Dragon Quest 3 or Link from Legend of Zelda. As finishing touches I incorporated celtic knots into her design, as a tie to the nordic-inspired origins of the character.

And well, I hope I can say I managed to reach my goal! I think this works well as a design that rides the line between what you'd expect from a paladin and somebody trained by a ranger. I feel pretty satisfied with it. What do you think? I'd be curious to hear.

For this character my design objectives are to find a middle ground between a Paladin and a Ranger. A bit of a hero, a bit of a huntress. Mechanically speaking she has a DEX build and uses light armor.

I think I'm ruling out 2 and 4 right away. I wanted to try a leather breastplate just to see if it would evoke the feeling in the silhouette of a knight in full plate while retaining a nimble look. However I don't think it's quite conveying the feel i want, and it's muting too much of the green. I think the piecemeal armor designs works better.

Right now I'm hovering between 3 and 5. They both retain a kind of agile and outdoorsy feeling, but I think the figure still looks appropriately heroic, channelling more of a Brave Hero feeling typical of a JRPG than western crusader knight maybe, which suits me just fine. The Antlers-adorned diadem should help tie the look together, too.