Becoming an Oathbreaker Paladin in Baldur’s Gate 3 is less scary than it sounds. Here’s how to break your Oath of the Ancients in BG3.
How to Break Your Paladin’s Oath of The Ancients in Baldur’s Gate 3
Attack or betray allies and neutral characters to break your Paladin’s Oath in Baldur’s Gate 3. You will know it worked if you see “Oath Broken” text appear above your character’s head, soon followed by a dialogue that shows your Paladin feeling unwell and seeing the Oathbreaker Knight appear in front of them.
Killing Pandirna in Druid Grove, for example, is a quick way to break your Oath of the Ancients, though it can get you in trouble with the Tieflings. You can also let Goblin prisoner Sazza be killed at The Hollow prison or even attack the Tieflings after freeing Lae’Zel by persuasion.
What Exactly is an Oathbreaker Paladin?
Oathbreaker is just a Paladin subclass like any other. The significant difference between Oathbreaker and the other Oaths are its features, backstory, and some Spells, like gaining access to Hellish Rebuke, Inflict Wounds, and Crown of Madness. Your Paladin is now seen as an ambitious individual led by darkness, looking for power.
You keep all your Paladin progress when you become an Oathbreaker, except for Spells and Features specific to your previous Subclass. Here are all Oathbreaker Paladin features:
| Class Level | Feature |
| Level 1 | Spiteful Suffering (Action) |
| Level 3 | Control Undead (Action), Dreadful Aspect (Action), Hellish Rebuke (Oath Spells), Inflict Wounds (Oath Spells) |
| Level 5 | Crown of Madness (oath Spells), Darkness (Oath Spells) |
| Level 7 | Aura of Hate (Feature) |
| Level 9 | Bestow Curse (Oath Spells), Animate Dead (Oath Spells) |
How to Restore Your Oath
You can restore your Paladin’s Oath by returning to the camp and speaking with the Oathbreaker Knight, who will charge you 1,000 gold for the process. If you pay it, you return to your previous Oath, lose all Oathbreaker features, and get back those of your original Oath, like the Oath of the Ancients.
The 1,000 gold fee is relatively high for characters early into Act 1, so make sure you really want to go forward with the breaking of your Oath in the early game; otherwise, you might be stuck as an Oathbreaker for a while. To put it into perspective, with this amount of gold, you could respec your characters 10 times.
Should You Break Your Oath?
You should break your Paladin’s Oath if you want to play an evil version of the class with different features and actions. From a mechanic perspective, Oathbreaker is another subclass you can explore and play with.
I like to see playing an Oath Paladin as a roleplaying challenge. You must pay close attention to your dialogue choices and your relationships with characters and the world since going against them is what increases your odds of breaking your Oath. If seriously committing to your character’s background is what makes an RPG like Baldur’s Gate 3 fun for you, avoid breaking your Oath at all costs.
The Best Oathbreaker Build in BG3
Building out your Oathbreaker at first can be difficult. Luckily, we’ve got a streamlined build for you to try:
- Level 1: Spiteful Suffering.
- Level 3: Control Undead, Dreadful Aspect, Inflict Wounds, Hellish Rebuke.
- Level 5: Darkness, Crown of Madness.
- Level 7: Aura of Hate.
- Level 9: Bestow Curse, Animate Dead.
- Ability Point distribution: STR 16, Dexterity 10, Constitution 14, Intelligence 8, Wisdom 10, Charisma 16.
We’ve got the best guides on Baldur’s Gate 3’s many quests and story-related decisions. Check out our guide on solving the Chamber of Strategy in the Wyrmway for BG3.
