Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Oathbreaker vs Blackguard (oaths vs morality)

Cool, glad that's useful. And in that case, now I'm at my PC again, I'll be a bit more specific.

Heavily caveated, of course, by the fact that this is from early access so may well change on full release, what happens when the game judges you to have broken your oath (which currently is mainly when the paladin strikes a killing weapon strike against a previously neutral NPC or interacts with a red item, though hoping for something more sophisticated come the full game) is that you get an "Oath Broken" condition as follows:



This doesn't affect your subclass at all, only prevents you using those powers which require Channel Oath charges. For my Devotion paladin at level 1, that's only Holy Rebuke (for an Ancients paladin it would only be Healing Radiance). At level 3 he got Sacred Weapon and Turn the Unholy as well, but if you're only going for 1 or 2 levels you wouldn't have those powers to lose. Lay on Hands has a separate charge pool and can still be used even with the Oath Broken condition.

To actually move to the Oathbreaker subclass (and regain your ability to channel your oath, albeit now with the specific Oathbreaker powers rather than those of your original subclass) you need to speak with the Oathbreaker Knight back at camp and agree to reject your oath. Alternatively you can pay him and regain your oath. Or just say you'll think about it and elect to do neither and remain in the twilight zone indefinitely. I do wonder whether in the full release there might be some restrictions on levelling up as a paladin while in that twilight zone, but I don't believe there are any in early access.