Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Fix Oaths:

Looking at the various replies here, I think I'm going to put it into terms that are more likely to be possible within the framework of the time Larian have left to work on the game. (These are assumed potential options, I'm sure Larian's bright minds have others in mind as well, but I'm making assumptions in order to facilitate dialogue)

Assumed option 1: Leave the oathbreaking mechanic in the game, and try to fine-tune what triggers oath-breaking with patches, hot-fixes, etc., treating the specific complaints as 'bug reports' with the current system.

Assumed option 2: Remove the oathbreaking mechanic entirely, and replace it with oath-breaker as a subclass option chosen during character creation/leveling up.

If we can't get better feedback from the game to warn us before something would break our oath in the game, I would *personally* prefer option 2. As the mechanic stands, it has completely cured me of ever wanting to play a paladin, because the game doesn't see paladins the same way I do, and often doesn't explain why. It just takes charge of my story and removes my narrative authority as a player at intervals that, frankly, feel completely random and out of my control. I actively hate this, and have ended my paladin playthrough as a result, despite paladins being one of my favorite classes in the tabletop game.

I really hope Larian will be brave enough to try 1, and am perfectly willing to make reasonable allowances for it not being perfect given how hard it will be to reflect all the different tenets. Apart from any other reasons to prefer this over option 2, having to pick oathbreaker at CC would limit options for paladins who may start off intending to keep to the tenets of their oath but then come across a situation where the temptation to break it is too strong.

I don’t think it’s a matter of just fine-tuning and bug-fixing with patches, though. I’m very much hoping that what Larian have given us in EA is just an early proof-of-concept for discussion and they’re already intending to invest significantly more time and effort in oathkeeping/breaking for the full release

Adding my two cents worth to oath breaking mechanics. So far (Oath of the ancients), it's making my tiny little pea brain hurt, at least some of the time.

So, attacking Torturer spike partially makes some kind of sense, since there's an option to get him to just go away. But I didn't get a fall effect with killing the lead goblin at the windmill, and he has a surrender option.
Attackiing the Zariel cultists BEFORE you officially know they're BAAD seems to trigger it, which kinda sorta makes sense.

But, fighting the rooftop goblins in the blighted village, I attacked from hide, and fallen time. WTF? No sneakies allowed for a Paladin? Something similar in the temple entry hall fight, if the Paladin led off the violence.
If not, no problemo.

But, yeah, either in game clues or some kind of fairly detailed actionable oath text that we can know these things a bit better would be nice.

Not only do Goblins think my paladins are friendshaped multiple rounds into combat, I...

get oathbroken for killing them even when attacked first. Either class, doesn't matter. I have no Idea what's going to happen once I attack the goblin leaders.

If I'm lucky, doing damage is fine and I just may not kill.

It's hilarious that you can cheat, deceive and kill the zentharim, though. Apparently, they have less right to existence than goblins out to kill the people you /swore to protect/ 😡

I know it's OOC (well, for one of them), but I'm determined to find the boundairies of oath breaking now.

Currently, it's already so incredibly broken, I have 0% confidence Larian can produce a full game without being able to fix your oath at will. It just completely breaks immersion when something like that happens. It would really help to have more information about our oaths, too.

I agree that there needs to be something better in determining how your oath is broken? There seems to be no rhyme or reason at times. I had it break because I attacked the false knight of Tyr before knowing they were bad guys which makes sense. But then on another play through, I had my oath break when I freed the goblin from the cage in the druid camp.

I agree oath keeping and breaking in the game is dodgy, but I’m also not sure that freeing a goblin violent religious zealot from her cage, so she can tell her allies where to find a grove full of druids and tiefling refugees, is in line with paladin oaths. Certainly not oath of devotion I’d think, though I suppose a case could be made for oath of the ancients, especially as there seem to be insufficient security measures and appropriate safeguards for prisoners in the grove!

Of course, as has been mentioned before, a paladin opening the cage results in a broken oath even if Sazza is dead inside so there’s definitely something wonky here.

Has anyone suggested that other classes should have oath-like features? Not as severe as an oath, but I could see certain patrons or deities for warlocks and clerics wanting/not wanting certain things for their followers to do. Same with Druids and nature stuff. Or maybe monks? Maybe relax the severity of the oath's conditions and give similar conditions to other classes where relevant? I can imagine wizards, sorcerers, bards, fighters, barbarians, rangers, and rogues having no such limitations.

The oath is fine, it is also the essence of the knight classes, but what about the Gods? All the same, it’s impossible without the choice of the gods .. I think that loyalty to the oath is the SECOND! After the Deity.. The mechanics of the oath is excellent, but it will inevitably be clear which is imba and which is garbage .... There are no equally good ones. But it’s impossible without GOD .. why then .. Tyr, Lathander, Ilmater, Helm .... And how many of their knights, oredns were there ??? And according to the plot (Lore) .... You can’t just throw them into the dustbin of history .. replace all interactions, prayers, rituals ....
I hope the class concept will be with Gods... and religion as it should be. Just like I was informed by the developer a year ago that there will be some mechanics in the camps.
But without Gods..... knight classes. IMPOSSIBLE!
(Priest,Paladin,Monk,Ranger)

There’s already been a fair bit of discussion on this point at https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=838451.

I really love the concept of oath breaking being an actual thing that occurs in the game rather than a button click on character creation. Though I certainly hope they made it overly easy to do so that folks could see the "hidden" class in early access. It would be better if there was more in game communication regarding what your oath entails and perhaps when your oath should suggest particular action. Overall, it's an extremely cool feature. The implementation of it is just extremely finicky.


I think the false knight of Tyr is kind of a weird example. I spoke to him, learned he was fake, but then took him at his word that there was a devil to hunt. I go meet the "devil" and realize he was lying about that too. I go back to him and attack without engaging in further conversation and break my oath. Had I just started talking to him and told him I was going to kill him now, my oath is fine because he's evil. Seems weird.

I started another thread elsewhere about how certain (evil) lines of basic dialogue (e.g., no class marked) are unavailable to the paladin. Seems weird. I should be able to make evil bargains as a paladin. That choice should cause me to break my oath, but I should still have that choice, no?

100% agree on all this!