The level 20 feature of Oath of Vengeance paladins allows them to "assume the form of an angelic avenger". Besides growing wings, the feature itself doesn't expand on how a paladin would look in this state. So I was wondering how everyone pictures this transformation? For some reason, I would imagine my paladin would grow white wings, whereas his whole body would be covered in shadows (a bit like the 'vengeance' ability for high level demon hunters in Diablo III), but also with glowing white eyes. I think that would be a pretty frightening sight to behold, as it should be IMO. I just really like the flavor on this ability: fly around for one hour per day scaring the living daylights out of your enemies. :-)
But I would love to hear other visualizations of the avenging angel feature. It's highly improbable my paladin will ever get to that level, but I find it fun to think about every once in a while.
Hi Logain08,
Ever since I started playing 'Magic: the Gathering' I can't picture Angels as anything but their artwork. That's not a bad thing though, since the art is gorgeous! Even though your Paladin is possibly male, I recommend going to the MTG site and the 'Gatherer' feature. Click "Type" for search and put "Angel" in the search box, and take a look if you haven't already. "Avacyn, Angel of Hope" is one of the most breathtaking I've ever seen anywhere.
Gerard_Lee wrote:
You could also look at the angels in the MM.
The pladin might take on many of the visual features of a planetar angel.
Wow, that second painting is amazing!
Well, continuing with your Diablo idea, my first image when reading that ability was Tyrael from D2 and D3.
I know for my Oath of Vengeance Paladin when he gets this ability his wings will look more like Tyrael's: glowing white tendril like wings. His eyes will also glow like white fire and he gets a white aura around him, I wish I could post a picture of this but none exist.
That hazy nimbus of light around him is known scientifically as the aurora boreanaz.
iserith wrote:
iserith wrote:
I expect it would look like the paladin, except more angelic and vengeful. The only visual change is the wings, the aura of menace is more insubstantial.
Wow, a lot of nice pictures. I was thinking the paladin would look like a sorrowsworn, which I assume will eventually be in 5e.
It looks like Ronnie James Dio with flaming wings and a 6 string "Battle axe". It belts out "Holy Diver" while it whips ass. 
Good thread!
Logain08 wrote:
Thank you all for the great (and funny) replies! Some great suggestions here and some wonderful art that is bound to inspire me and hopefully many others. I also hadn't thought about the armor that paladins wear, so maybe Tyreal from the Diablo series is a good starting point. Would be strange if actual wings had to burst through your armor every time a paladin used the feature.
Seeing all these pictures has also reminded me of how awesome and terrifying angels can be. In some respects they seem more scary than fiends and demons, maybe because they are less obvious about it. I don't know if that makes any sense... In any case, thanks for all the replies!
I hope that 5e eventually embraces more of the scary and/or awesome looking angels. Of course, I wouldn't mind if they mined 4e's angels. While it was true that it occassionally felt like there was a warlord angel, an avenger angel, a cleric angel, a ranger angel, etc., it does make sense that the gods would customize their angels.