How To Become An Oathbreaker Paladin In Baldur's Gate 3

Paladin is one of the strongest classes in Baldur’s Gate 3, mostly in part due to the various abilities you receive as a part of your subclass. Your subclass sees you take an oath, which will determine how your Paladin acts to certain situations and makes up a majority of your background. However, just because you took an oath doesn’t mean you need to follow it. If you want to break free from the path of your oath, then you can become an Oathbreaker Paladin.

Choosing to take this route will cause you to lose any abilities associated with your oath, but will open your character to new abilities and dialogue options. You can see exactly how to break your oath as a Paladin in Baldur’s Gate 3 by reading the guide below.

Becoming an Oathbreaker Paladin

First and foremost, choosing to break your oath in Baldur’s Gate 3 does not mean that you are making your Paladin an evil character. While you can, of course, take that route if you want, an Oathbreaker Paladin simply wants to veer away from their original oath to follow a new set of rules for themselves.

You might come across a scenario in Baldur’s Gate 3 that requires you to make a decision between what’s right and what your oath tells you to do. If you want to follow what’s right, then this will lead you to become an Oathbreaker Paladin. These situations can be difficult to find by yourself, though, so we have laid out all of the ways you can break your oath below. Although, each subclass requires different actions to become an Oathbreaker, so make sure you’re following the actions under your specific oath in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Oath of the Ancients

The official in-game description for this oath states “You fight on the side of light in the cosmic struggle against darkness to preserve the sanctity of life and the beauty of nature.” In order to break this oath, you will have to always stay on the righteous side of a situation, no matter what. Here are some of the specific ways you can break this oath:

• Kill an innocent person
• Free the goblin Sazza in Emerald Grove
• Kill both the Owlbear and the Owlbear cub in Owlbear Cave
• Use Auntie Ethel’s wand to bring Mayrina’s husband back from the dead
• Kill the Tiefling Pandima at Emerald Grove

Oath of Vengeance

The official in-game description for this oath states “You have set aside even your own purity to right wrongs and deliver justice to those who have committed the most grievous sins.” This oath will require you to treat any evil person with immediate and swift judgment, regardless of why they committed their actions. Here are some of the specific ways you can break this oath:

• Free Sazza in Emerald Grove

This is the only action that I found led to becoming an Oathbreak Paladin with the Oath of Vengeance, but there are likely more ways to do it later on in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Oath of Devotion

The official in-game description for this oath states “Following the ideal of the knight in shining armour, you act with honour and virtue to protect the weak and pursue the greater good.” You will need to uphold the values and beliefs of a knight with this oath. Defending the weak and pursuing the strong are both crucial for the Oath of Devotion. Here are some of the specific ways you can break this oath:

• Choose to torture Liam, the man strapped to a board, in the Shattered Sanctum at the Goblin Camp
• Turn on the Goblin Camp after convincing Minthara to not attack Emerald Grove
• Kill the Tieflings that have Lae’zel captured in the cage after crashing on the beach
• Let Arka kill Sazza in Emerald Grove
• Kill someone of weak standing for no apparent reason

Meeting with the Oathbreaker Paladin

After you commit any of these actions, the Oathbreaker Knight will appear in a cutscene and summon you to pay him a visit the next time you take a long rest. The Paladin will be at your camp and you can speak to him to learn a little bit about his history and what it means to be an Oathbreaker.

From here, you will be able to either accept your new powers as an Oathbreaker or pay a penance fee to restore your oath. Obviously, if you want to be an Oathbreaker, then don’t pay the fee and instead accept your new path. You will now be given new Paladin-specific abilities that you can assign to your hotbar.