Oath of Sacred Restraint

I acknowledge the longing. I choose the promise.

Lore Overview

Restraint is the hand that can open. These guardians acknowledge longing, anger, and temptation without giving them command. They teach that mastery is a chosen practice, never proof of purity, and that release does not invalidate an oath. Their discipline matters because it shelters another person’s freedom.

You are a defender and controller whose composure creates room for others to act. EROS Saves become moments of active guardianship; rising Arousal strengthens deliberate protection, while Libido allows you to ease pressure at a cost. Vindication releases discipline outward as shelter rather than punishing the guardian for reaching a limit.

Oath of Sacred Restraint Features

Deliberate Guard

3rd-Level Oath of Sacred Restraint Feature

When a willing creature within 10 feet takes damage, you may use your reaction to reduce that damage by 1d6 + your oath modifier, to a minimum of 0. Use this PB times per long rest.

Veiled Play. when you succeed on an EROS Save caused by a hostile creature or an environmental hazard, you may immediately use Deliberate Guard without a reaction or expenditure of a use: designate a willing creature within 10 feet; reduce the next damage it takes before the start of your next turn by the same amount. This special use can occur once per round, and multiple pending reductions from it do not stack. Saves you request from allies, or create with your own effects, cannot trigger it.

Channel Divinity: Measured Breath

3rd-Level Oath of Sacred Restraint Feature

As a bonus action, enter a measured stance for 1 minute, ending early if you are incapacitated. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and cannot be moved against your will while standing on a surface unless you choose to move.

Veiled Play. you also have advantage on EROS Saves. Once during the stance, after you issue a Sacred Warrant and resolve its Arousal gain and any Vindication, you may reduce your Arousal by 1. This cannot interrupt or undo a Climax.

Channel Divinity: The Kindly Boundary

3rd-Level Oath of Sacred Restraint Feature

As a Magic action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet. It makes a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, its speed is halved and it cannot take reactions for 1 minute. It repeats the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. This imposes no obedience, affection, or change in attitude.

Veiled Play. while the effect lasts, a willing creature within 10 feet of you has advantage on EROS Saves caused by that target.

Sanctuary Warrant: Hold the Threshold

3rd-Level Oath of Sacred Restraint Feature

When you use Deliberate Guard as a reaction to reduce damage, you may issue this Warrant through your unexpended Seal of Sanctuary as part of that reaction. The protected creature may move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks, using no action.

Veiled Play. if you have 3–5 Arousal when you issue the Warrant, increase its damage reduction by your PB. After resolving the Warrant, gain its normal 1 Arousal. You cannot issue it through the special no-reaction use triggered by an EROS success.

A Boundary Freely Kept

7th-Level Oath of Sacred Restraint Feature

The range of Deliberate Guard and its EROS-triggered designation increases to 15 feet.

Unveiled Play. when you succeed on an EROS Save caused by a hostile creature or an environmental hazard, you may spend 1 Libido to reduce your Arousal by 1 after the save resolves. You can do so once per round. You may combine this expenditure with Deliberate Guard’s EROS trigger; it does not restore a feature use or remove existing Exhaustion.

Release Without Abandonment

15th-Level Oath of Sacred Restraint Feature

Your Deliberate Guard damage reduction becomes 2d6 + your oath modifier. Once per long rest, when you fail a saving throw against being charmed, you may reroll it and must use the new result.

Veiled Play. this reroll can instead be used on an EROS Save, sharing the same single use. Also, once per short or long rest immediately after you experience Vindication, choose up to PB willing creatures within 15 feet. Each gains temporary hit points equal to your oath modifier + your PB. This needs no action but cannot occur while you are incapacitated; all normal Climax consequences remain.

Keeper of the Unbarred Gate

20th-Level Oath of Sacred Restraint Feature

As a bonus action once per long rest, manifest an aura of deliberate calm for 1 minute, ending early if you are incapacitated. The aura extends 30 feet, and your Deliberate Guard can protect any willing creature within it. You may use its normal reaction without expending a use during this time. Willing creatures in the aura have advantage on saving throws against being charmed.

Veiled Play. they also have advantage on EROS Saves. Once during the manifestation, when a willing creature in the aura would gain Arousal from an effect, you may use your reaction to reduce that gain by 1, to a minimum of 0. This does not reduce existing Arousal or reverse Climax; using it competes with your protective reaction.

Tenets of Sacred Restraint

Name desire without shame. Hold only what is yours to hold. Set boundaries that protect choice. Permit rest and release. Never demand that a companion copy your discipline, and never mistake another person’s refusal for a challenge to overcome.

Rules for This Sacred Oath

Choose this Oathsworn subclass at 3rd level; its features advance at 7th, 15th, and 20th level. PB means proficiency bonus; oath modifier means your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). Any saving throw called for by this subclass uses your Oathsworn spell save DC. Channel Divinity options spend your existing class uses, with the class’s normal recovery; they do not create a separate pool.

Veiled, Quickstart, and Advanced Play

Use the baseline effects in any game. With Desire tracking off, ignore all Arousal, Libido, EROS, and Vindication clauses, including Arousal gained from subclass Warrants. Quickstart adds the EROS and Arousal clauses but omits all optional Libido expenditures. Advanced Play adds those expenditures. The attached canonical Mechanics of Desire governs these additions: an EROS Save uses the creature’s choice of Constitution or Wisdom; 6 Arousal immediately triggers Climax, resetting Arousal to 0, restoring 1d6 hit points, adding one level of Exhaustion, and costing 1 Libido. Vindication is the Oathsworn’s name for their own Climax, not a second event. No feature below delays that event or changes those consequences unless it explicitly says so.

Authority, Agency, and Limits

A subclass Warrant is learned in addition to the class’s normal Warrants known, but requires the named Sacred Seal; it neither grants that Seal nor increases the number of Seals you possess. Choose the relevant Seal through your normal class choices to use it. Issuing it expends that Seal and adds 1 Arousal after resolution when Desire tracking is enabled. The class’s applicable Seal improvements still apply. Other subclass features are not Warrants and do not expend Seals or add the Burden of Authority. Temporary hit points never stack. A willing creature can decline a benefit or end a bond without an action; willingness never establishes romantic or sexual consent. At 0 Libido, optional Advanced benefits are unavailable until a long rest, but baseline and Quickstart features continue functioning.

Ritual and Social Identity

During a 10-minute boundary vigil, participants may each name a limit, keep it private, or simply sit in silence. If you spend a Channel Divinity use on Measured Breath as the vigil ends, one willing participant you touch also gains its advantage on saves against being charmed and, with Desire enabled, EROS Saves for the stance’s duration. The participant gains no other stance benefits. The rite restores no resources. Outside combat, this oath supports guarded negotiations and protection from manipulation without judging someone’s desires.

At the Table

At 4 Arousal, you use Deliberate Guard and Hold the Threshold to protect a companion. Your reduction is 1d6 + your oath modifier + PB; the companion can step away, then your Arousal rises to 5. You retain the stage’s normal EROS disadvantage. A subsequent EROS success against hostile temptation can shelter a companion, while an optional Libido expenditure eases your pressure. If you reach 6 first, Vindication resolves normally; restraint is not immunity.