Oathbreaker in Baldur's Gate 3 is a special subclass that is unlocked when a paladin violates a moral obligation. If you neglect the vow, the hero will meet with the Oathbreaker Knight, who will offer to make a final decision: to atone for sins and regain lost abilities, or to succumb to darkness, discovering within himself an oathbreaker who wields powerful necrotic spells and is capable of commanding the dead.
In this guide, we'll cover all the features of the Oathbreaker subclass in Baldur's Gate 3: how to break your vow, where to find the Oathbreaker Knight, and how to return to the side of good if you change your mind. Let's look at the strengths and weaknesses compared to the classic paladin.
How to become an Oathbreaker in Baldur's Gate 3
At the beginning of the journey, each paladin must choose an oath - a subclass that provides specific skills that can be used at the expense of replenished Charge the power of the oath. However, at the same time, the hero has certain moral obligations. There are 3 types of oaths:
- Oath of the Ancients: A vow to , protect and ignite light and kindness in others, and to preserve nature.
- Pledge of Allegiance: A vow to protect the weak and infirm.
- Oath of Vengeance: A vow to fight great evil and show no mercy to villains.
The conditions for breaking each oath are different, and there are many situations in the game that can lead a paladin to crime. If you fail to keep your vow, the following will happen:
- The paladin will receive the status "The oath is broken", blocking Oath Power Charge skills.
- An NPC named will come to the camp Knight oathbreaker, who will offer to change the subclass to an oathbreaker, or atone for guilt, and again become a warrior of light.
Next, we will look at the circumstances under which a paladin breaks the listed oaths.
How to break the oath of the ancients
The Oath of the Ancients in Baldur's Gate 3 imposes an obligation to protect nature. In this case, killing innocents is the simplest way to overstep the bounds of what is permitted. Here are a few circumstances in which the vow will definitely be broken:
- Kill an innocent civilian NPC.
- Save Goblin Suzz from captivity in the Emerald Grove.
- Kill bear and his descendants in the Wildwoods.
- Let me bring my husband back from the dead Mairins thanks to the magic of Aunt Ethel.
- In the conflict between the Emerald Grove and Mintare and agree to attack the grove.
- Use the neural interface in the illithid colony at the end of the second act to clear the capsules with people inside.
These are just a few situations in which an oath can be broken.
How to break the oath of allegiance
An Oath Paladin in Baldur's Gate 3 pledges to protect the weak and fight honorably for good. Obviously, in the world of the Forgotten Realms, such an oath is not difficult to break:
- Instead of freeing him, continue torturing Liam in the Broken Sanctum Goblin camps.
- Talk with Mintara in the Broken Sanctum and develop a plan to attack the Emerald Grove.
- Let Arka kill to the goblin Sazza in Emerald Grove.
- Kill a neutral civilian NPC. Almost any non-weapon-wielding character will do.
- Use the neural interface in the illithid colony at the end of the second act to clear the capsules with trapped people.
How to break the oath of vengeance
The Oath of Vengeance in Baldur's Gate 3 requires the paladin to deal justice to his enemies. You can break your vow in the following ways:
- Kill tieflings that captured Laezel and put in a cage at the beginning of the game.
- Kill an innocent.
- Save to the goblin Sazza from the cage in the Emerald Grove.
- In the conflict between the Emerald Grove and the Goblin Camp, openly side with the latter, promising Mintara to attack the grove.
The universal ways to break any paladin's oath are to start a quest to recruit Mintara, or kill an innocent civilian NPC.
Features of the Oathbreaker Paladin Subclass
The Oathbreaker has the following features:
- He loses all skills that require an Oath of Allegiance, Ancient, or Retribution Charge.
- In return, he receives a number of new offensive spells and actions that require Oath Power Charges, as well as the ability to command the undead.
Most of the paladin's spells remain untouched: the oathbreaker will have access to spells such as Lay on of Hands and Blessing.
Oathbreaker Abilities
The Oathbreaker Paladin in Baldurs Gate 3 has a number of skills that require an Oathpower Charge:
- Grudge: The target takes 1-4 necrotic damage each time, and attack rolls against it have advantage.
- Power over the undead: turns dead creatures to your side. The undead will follow the paladin and attack his enemies.
- Ominous Face: Frightens surrounding enemies for 2 turns.
Additionally, the oathbreaker receives several spells of the first and second circles:
- Hellish Retribution: counterattacks the enemy with fire damage of 2-20 units or more.
- Inflict Wounds: Deals 3-30 necrotic damage or more to a nearby target. There is an identical spell Shadowheart.
- Crown of Madness: Inflicts madness on a humanoid, causing it to attack its nearest neighbor.
- Darkness: Creates a dark cloud. Creatures caught in it are blinded and cannot use ranged attacks.
Finally, the Oathbreaker in BG3 receives the special status “Aura of Hate”: heroes and the beasts and undead closest to him receive +2 to melee weapon damage.
Is it worth breaking an oath?
In case of oath of the ancients the character loses the opportunity to use the extremely valuable healing skill “Healing Radiance”, 2 times, once per turn, which restores the HP of all allies in a small radius. If you use a paladin as a healer, then after breaking the oath you will have to revise the team architecture from scratch, in search of the best candidates for this role: with the remaining healing abilities, the paladin will not be able to replenish health effectively on the “Tactics” difficulty. Also, the ancient paladin will lose “Wrath of Nature,” which immobilizes the enemy, and “Exile the Infidels,” which causes fairies and beasts to run away.
In case of oaths of allegiance and retribution the changes are not so radical: the character will lose good attacking and defensive skills that deal beam damage, which will not greatly affect his role in the team.
Is it possible to restore a broken oath?
If you don't like the oathbreaker, you can return to the oath you chose at the beginning of the game. To get rid of the “Oath Broken” status, the Oathbreaker Knight in the camp. This will not happen from the first conversation: only the second or third time will the NPC allow you to return to the side of good. To do this, select the following actions:
- “I want to renew my oath.”
- Pay the fee requested by the Knight.
The cost of restoring an oath for the first time is 1000 gold. With subsequent violations it will grow. Please note that the oath can be restored even after changing the class to an oathbreaker. However, if you break your vow, you cannot use help withered in changing class until the atonement of sin.
We hope the guide helped you understand all the vicissitudes of becoming an oathbreaker paladin in Baldurs Gate 3. comments You can ask questions regarding the material in the article so that the author or players can help. In the corresponding section of our website you can familiarize yourself with other Baldur's Gate 3 guides.
If you let the spawn of Kasador go, then this is a violation of the Oath of the Ancients. This was my first violation in the game, and I did not load, just paid 1000. But it is unclear why on earth the oath-breaking knight takes money for this? It would be much more logical to pay the representatives of his order or the priests of his god (it is strange that the paladin does not need to choose a god, but in the iconostasis I sacrificed Lathander).
well, in general, according to the mechanics of dnd, on which bg3 is based, a paladin is not a cleric, he gives himself an oath, gaining strength from it, that is, "I swear [Insert what the paladin swears to do, mainly what has gray morality]", he always looks from the side of his oath, so it is sometimes difficult to play such for reasons of gray morality
but in general, it's really strange that the Oathbreaker-Knight takes money for restoring the oath, in fact, he should be a guide to someone who will help restore it, and not do it himself
Make a deal with the Hag (for the oath of vengeance, for sure), even if it means saving Mairina
Accidentally committed an oathbreaking, because in the Punishment of the Wicked quest I made Madeline suffer, although I did some of the actions from the guide anyway))))
There are many situations where you can break an oath in the game. It's hard to be good.
Thanks for the guide! I started a new playthrough as a paladin and became curious about breaking my oath. And it’s so good that I looked here, I was going to free Sazza for the sake of an achievement. I’ll have to postpone it until the third wound :)
It's my pleasure!
It must be said that when playing as a paladin, you need to pay attention to decisions, especially on high difficulty. Sometimes a decision or check that may be assessed by the player as “evil” is not such from the point of view of the game writers, and therefore the oath is not broken. Sometimes you can become a villain because of some incorrectly pulled lever or failed check.
It's hard, in short, to be kind in Baldur's Gate 3 :)
The cost of restoring the oath is not fixed, each time it increases, the second time you have to pay 2k.
Didn't know about this. Thanks for the info!
well, you're a real offender
and on the third 10. I accidentally jumped on a halfling... to death...