Paladins inBaldur’s Gate 3are bound by certain rules and tenets corresponding to their values. Depending on the subclass choice players make at level one;theywill need to adhere to certain morals if they want to keep their oath and the powers it grants.Since many of the paladin’s abilities are oath-based, it is fairly significant if they are lost, which is a very real possibility given all the moral choices the game gives players.
BG3includes three different kinds of paladin oaths: devotion, ancients, and vengeance. While all have their own codes and moral system, there are certain acts that will generally break each one of them,like killing innocents and committing crimes in view of guards.But these ten choices are mistakes players should look out for, in particular when it comes to keeping certain oaths; or, in the case of players wanting to become an oathbreaker, these are opportunities for them to gain that status.
10Freeing Sazza Is Allying With The Enemy
Leave This Goblin In Her Cage
In the druid’s grove, players can stumble upon Sazza, a goblin held captive after a failed raid. She’s in a cage in the grove’s jail, and upon first meeting her, players will find a tiefling named Arka holding a crossbow to her head, upset after the death of her brother. Players can choose to intervene or let this execution take place, but it has no effect on their oath. Paladins need to watch outwhen it comes to freeing the goblin prisoner.
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Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3 has much to see, like recruitable characters, hidden bosses, and other secrets that might require a checklist.
If Sazza lives past her encounter with Arka, she will offer the player some information on the goblin camp and even offer to lead players to it if they let her out. This is a good way to peacefully enter the goblin camp, butvengeance paladins should remember not to side with their enemies.Opening Sazza’s cagewill immediately break their oath, and not even killing the goblin afterward can repair it.
9Don’t Resort To Violence With These Tieflings
Find A Better Way To Save Lae’zel
Right after crashing the Nautiloid, players can head up the beach a bit to find their ally, Lae’zel, who has been caught in a cage. Surrounding her are two tieflings, Damays and Nymessa, who are debating whether they should kill the gith. The tieflings have cause to fear Lae’zel since other gith in the area killed some of their friends. But Lae’zel will ask for help in freeing her, and players may be forced into combat with these tieflings to get her out. Any paladins should know, however, thatharming these two will result in a broken oath.
Even using non-lethal force to knock these tieflings out can result in a broken oath.
All three paladin oaths can be broken if the two tieflings are killed or incapacitated, so paladins looking to keep their powers should look for a more peaceful resolution.There are a few dialogue options to get the tieflings to leave, and since paladins are charisma-based characters, that is likely the best way to go. There’s also the option to leave Lae’zel behind, and since she tends to encourage brutal and cruel behavior, that might be the best choice for characters trying to create a friendlier party.
8Don’t Respond Like This To Zevlor’s Request For Help
Sometimes, Intentions Matter More Than Deeds
This next choice applies only to the oath of devotion subclass, and it can confuse many players. Within the druid’s grove, players will meet the leader of the tiefling refugees, Zevlor, who asks for help in getting his people safely to Baldur’s Gate. He will ask once right outside the gates to the grove, and this choice is not as impactful.The real oath-breaking dialogue choice comes when he returns to the cavehe has turned into his office.
Players can speak to him again there, and regardless of what they say when he first asks for help, they can either agree totake out the goblinsblocking the road or refuse. Refusing results in a broken oath since it would mean abandoning innocents to the whims of cruel forces, butdevotion Paladins can also break their vows if they agree to help for the wrong reasons.Only agreeing to help in exchange for a reward, or because Kagha, the druid leader, said to, will cause these paladin’s oaths to be broken.
7Letting Ethel Take Your Eye Out
Giving Power To A Dangerous Hag
Baldur’s Gate 3’s first actsees the party seeking out a cure for their illithid parasites, andone potential source of healing is Auntie Ethel.Ethel is a hag who lives in the southern part of the first map, and she offers to cure the parasite in exchange for a look at the player’s eyeball. Of course, Ethel can’t actually cure the parasite, but she will try if players agree to her deal. However, this deal is a dealbreaker for the oath of the ancients.
Should You Help Auntie Ethel In Baldur’s Gate 3?
Auntie Ethel seems to be in some distress when first encountered in Baldur’s Gate 3, but deciding whether to help her is a very complicated choice.
Ancient paladins are particularly aligned against Ethel, who, as a hag, engages in manypractices that go against nature and the natural world. Ethel’s examination of the player’s eye actually places a permanent curse on it that lets her see through it, meaning that agreeing to her deal gives her more power and corrupts the paladin’s body. It’s just one more reason why Ethel’s deal is almost never worth it.
6Letting Ethel Get Away Is Viewed As Dishonorable
This Paladin Does Not Let Their Enemies Live
Though Ethel is a side character, many interactions with her can affect paladins. Another comes after players have broken into her hidden basement and fought her beneath Mayrina’s cage. Ethel has trapped Mayrina until her baby is born so she may trade it to Ethel in exchange for her dead husband’s life.Beating Ethel inBG3is difficult, but just before the hag dies, she will offer the player a deal:Let her go with Mayrina and offer up a boon that enhances the player’s ability scores, according toizuna’s post on Reddit.
Paladins, beware because taking any version of this deal will break the oath of vengeance. Just like freeing Sazza, letting Ethel live is seen as showing mercy to the enemy, something the oath of vengeance does not abide. Even making a charisma check to get the boon and force Ethel to let Mayrina gowill still break this paladin subclass’s oath,so the only option is to kill the hag.
5Using Ethel’s Wand Has Certain Ethical Concerns
Upsetting The Natural Balance Of Life And Death
Even in death, Ethel can cause paladins some trouble. After defeating her (or taking her deal), Ethel will leave her basement, and players can loot the magic items she kept in a back room. One isa wand, either called “Bitter Divorce” or “Second Marriage,“depending on whether Mayrina is free. Players can grab it and take it back above ground, where they’ll find the coffin containing Mayrina’s dead husband, Connor. The wand can be used to bring Connor back to life, something Mayrina wants desperately, though ancient paladins should be careful.
Because Ethel’s deals are always cursed,using the wand simply brings Connor back as a mindless zombie.This will leave Mayrina horrified, but if players are willing to give the wand to her, she’ll take Connor to Baldur’s Gate to search for a cure. Alternatively, he can become arelatively weak zombie summonfor the player. Either way, using the wand will be seen as a violation of nature and will break the oath of the ancients.
4Killing Clan Flameshade Under Certain Circumstances
Violence Is Not Often Rewarded For This Paladin Oath
The oath of vengeance may reward the “no mercy” approach, but in this case, the oath of devotion does not. In the Underdark during act one, players can meet the duergar of clan Flameshade, who have been hired by the Absolute cult to dig up the Adamantine Forge. The duergar are mercenaries and slavers, and have captured a group of deep gnomes that they are forcing to dig through rubble.The duergar are cruel and sadistic to the gnomes and allies of the Absolute, and killing them can be tempting.
Killing the duergar in a sneak attack on the water will not break any oaths despite its similar aggressiveness.
But attacking them head-on without provocation will break the devotion paladin’s oath. Instead, paladins looking to free the gnomes should go through the quest to free True Soul Nere first, who will try to kill the gnomes and start a fight where the duergar can be taken out guilt-free. There’s even a quest that allows the player to get some of the duergar on their side. Be careful, though, because these duergar will try to keep their gnome slaves if they survive the fight, andkilling them after siding with them will also cause a broken oath.
3Torturing Liam Is Pretty Objectively Evil
This One Should Be A Given
The different paladin oaths may define right and wrong differently, but none of them abide the torture of innocents. Even so, players get the chance to torture a captured adventurer named Liam in the goblin camp if they interrupt his interrogation. After starting this interaction,players have several options to avoid mutilating the poor lad, and they can always choose to attack the goblins head-on. However, some players looking to preserve their disguise as true souls may take the chance to be sadistic.
It should come as no surprise that choosing any of the torture options with Liam will cause a broken oath. This same logic holds true many times throughout the game. Whenever the player has the choice between cruelty and compassion, the cruel action will usually break their oath.This can especially cause problems fora certain origin character,who will have more difficulty than others in avoiding the fate of an Oathbreaker.
2Telling Minthara Where To Find The Grove Is A Major Dealbreaker
Don’t Try To Side With This Drow
Towards the end of the Emerald Grove plotline in act one, players will meet Nightwarden Minthara, the drow in charge of the Absolute force in the goblin camp. If players have preserved their true soul cover until now, Minthara will address them as a fellow Absolutist and ask for help in finding the druid’s grove so her forces can attack it. Of course,players will know where the grove is at this point and can either try to hide it from Minthara or tell her.
Telling her will lead her forces right to the grove’s gate, and even if players intend to lead her into a trap, this action will break every paladin oath. Which is understandable sinceit directly puts the denizens of the grove in danger.However, paladins who still wish to fight Minthara from the strategic position of the gate can subvert this obstacle by having another character in the party be the one to tell her the grove’s location.
1Chopping Off Gale’s Hand Is Perfect For Oathbreaking Bhaalspawn
The Dark Urge Has A Unique, Early Way To Break Their Oath
More than any other character inBaldur’s Gate 3, the Dark Urge gets to commit violent atrocities that would break any paladin oath. But there’s one choice that comes earlier than any other and is pretty monumental in its impact on the game. Upon discovering Gale trapped in his portal near the Nautiloid crash site, most players get the option to pull him free. The Urge gets this option, too, alongside another:to hack Gale’s hand clean off.
One Early BG3 Dark Urge Decision Completely Kills Off A Key Origin Character
It’s easy to let impulses win when playing as the Dark Urge, but one seemingly flippant choice can have shockingly large consequences later on.
This is not only one of the fastest ways for any paladin tobreak their oathbut also an incredibly fast way to lose a potential party member. Because this kills Gale outright, leaving him handless and trapped between realms. Dark Urge players who want to keep their oaths should make sure to subdue their violent desires. Butit’s a great way for the Urge to become an Oathbreaker as fast as possible, as well.
