The Oathbreaker subclass for Paladins is an official part of 5e (source: Dungeon Master's Guide). Since BG3 is based on 5e, I'm totally fine with the Oatherbreaker being part of BG3. There's no need to outright "ban" it from the game just because some players don't like it and prefer to handle oathbreaking in another way (with the paladin just losing all powers). Becoming an Oathbreaker is a heavy consequence in itself, and I personally love the concept of Oathbreakers being fallen Paladins who are slowly consumed by some mysterious darkness seeping out of the spiritual wound that breaking the oath has left on their very soul. However, I fully agree that BG3 should handle oathbreaking differently. That's why I'd like to see the following changes:
1. There should be some kind of warning when the player is about to make a decision that would break their character's oath. Make dialogue options that will lead to oathbreaking appear in a different colour, or put in a confirmation prompt such as "You feel your consience twitch and realise that you are about to break your sacred oath. Do you really want to continue on this path?"; if the player clicks "no", the action in question should be canceled. It's totally strange to assume that a Paladin has no idea what actions will break their oath.
2. If an Oathbreaker wishes to redeem themselves, make them do an "act of penance". There is so much content in BG3 that adding another small side quest or short cutscene just for Paladins doesn't seem excessive. If you want to make this a gold sink, let it require some expensive item (a special kind of incense that needs to be burned when the Paladin is swearing a new oath or something like this). But buying yourself back into an oath doesn't make any sense.
Just my two cents.
Edit: Typos.
Last edited by Vela; 22/08/23 09:20 AM.
