D&D: What Happens When a Paladin Breaks their Oath

#shorts

What Happens in Dungeons and Dragons When a Paladin Breaks their Oath? In this video I explore a couple of options that DMs have at their disposal if they want.

XP to level 3 with Davvychappy, potentially a bit a Critical Role with dungeoneering, tabletop community next to tabletop RPG, dungeons and dragons, Fjord, Beau, Jester, Yasha, Caleb, Nott, 5th edition dragons, 3.5e, dungeon dudes, DM GM, dungeon master, game master tips sprinkle a bit of Caduceus, Mollymauk in the Mighty Nein. Matt Mercer.

[SpitfiretheCat]

Consider: An Oath of the Crown Paladin overthrowing the government _because_ of their oath. They serve the crown, not the man wearing it.

[LinguiniSoup]

Thief: Tf you do to break your oath?

Paladin: Brothel.

[flming_rven]

Played a Paladin once. Named him "Turvas, the Disgraced Zealot".

His Backstory was simple. He was an Oath of Devotion paladin who served a church. He was so blinded by his zeal, he never noticed, nor suspected, corruption. It was only on the day of another "Holy Execution" that he realized the truth.

It was his wife.

Imagine being so devoted to a cause, that you willingly become the headsman of a God, only to tear the veil from your wife's decapitated head.

Naturally, he snapped. He killed every member of the church. Every single one, except the reverend. He got away. The paladin swore vengeance, and you can guess what I played as.

He carried a holy symbol that he defaced by carving into it with a knife. Other paladins who knew of his story, had three general reactions.

Pity, disgust, and disappointment. Turvas never got his vengeance. Instead, he settled down in the life of an Innkeeper after many adventures. The inn's name? "The Broken Oath".

[elphabafang]

I had a friend who's paladin broke their oath, eventually we helped them on a journey of self discovery because they realized their oath had confined them and they knew nothing about themselves. And this was a good few months of gameplay we worked on this paladin, eventually they found a new oath in simply delivery small justices. At the end of the campaign they opened an orphanage and swore their oath to protect all who seek shelter within their walls as long as they do not seek to harm others. One of the most amazing things in one of the campaigns.

[augustomoreira]

Oath of throwing it back paladin: oh thank god!

[reckosfeara]

What if they break Oath of Vengence or Oath of Conquest after they realise they aren't making anything better?

That's why I like redemption the best. Yes, you are a peacekeeping and non-violent Paladin but if something is beyond redemption, your oath doesn't break, instead it encourages you to use any means necessary within reason.

[jimstoesz]

When I played a Paladin who broke their oath for a good reason the DM made me take the Oathbreaker subclass features but let me go the Chaotic Good route instead of making me become evil. It was lots of fun!

[no.notfromRDR]

Cool video but my character would never betray the oath of throwing back

[roguespectre]

The Oath of Vengeance knows no mercy for the wicked, and it shall stay that way…

[Linkle-vshf]

I am rn playing a Oath of the Ancients paladin, and tbh the terms are so vauge that me and my DM basically boil it down to "protect life with all ur might, no matter the cost"

Its great that we are fighting feinds this campaign lol

[rowanjohnson]

The DMG says this “A paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most virtuous paladin is fallible. Sometimes the right path proves too demanding, sometimes a situation calls for the lesser of two evils, and sometimes the heat of emotion causes a paladin to transgress his or her oath.

A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric who shares his or her faith or from another paladin of the same order. The paladin might spend an all-night vigil in prayer as a sign of penitence, or undertake a fast or similar act of self-denial. After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh.

If a paladin willfully violates his or her oath and shows no sign of repentance, the consequences can be more serious. At the DM’s discretion, an impenitent paladin might be forced to abandon this class and adopt another, or perhaps to take the Oathbreaker paladin option that appears in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.”

There is no version of the rules wherein a Paladin breaks their Oath and immediately loses their powers. If a Paladin breaks their Oath but still shows loyalty to it and repents their is no mechanical change. If they willingly break it and are unrepentant their class/subclass *changes, * it is not just *removed.*

[daedalus]

HOLY SHIT! I’ve been following and loving your home brew over on reddit for the past 6 months, clicked on this video out of curiosity and only realised this was the guy who’s supplied me with 98% of my cool monster encounters when I saw your pfp! Awesome to see you do other content!

[tadpolescorner]

Thanks for the tip! One of my players playing a paladin in our next campaign so now I have something to use in it

[CLNCJD]

My first character for DnD was a Paladin (Oath of Ancients 5e) I was still getting used to role playing so I wasn’t thinking about what my character would do instead of what are some different options. Me and our Barbarian tortured a bandit together by him breaking the bandit’s fingers and me healing them to fix.

As this was only roughly 10 sessions in my DM gave my character 1 level of exhaustion after a long rest. Throughout that day as my character (and myself) learned their lesson and persevered I gave a rousing speech before the boss fight at the end of the dungeon and prayed for Ilmater to protect us. My DM look away the first level exhaustion.

Honestly it was a really fun experience even for a newer player such as myself at the time.

[Znilmnkey]

Love the music choice, dungeon keeper gives the best ambience

[door]

the way oaths work in my Dnd universe are a fluent relationship with their deity, meaning you have the chance to roleplay your way back into an oath or out of if

[ThePoketroller]

This is how I like to make chaotic good oathbreakers

[RawwkinGrimmie]

"Do they automatically become an evil Oathbreaker?"

Shadow Temple background music: YES, THEY DO!!!

[celinaandersson]

Ah yes. This talk. I've been a part of a server that used dnd 5e rules for rp and combat, and one discussion that kept popping up was "what happens when a palading breaks their oath?"

The answer for that always came in varying degrees, and the people that answered with "they become an oathbreaker (subclass)" was most commonly, but not exclusively, the newer people. Just something interesting I noticed, but I still saw people that have played dnd for years say the same, so it's not a thing only newer people do, not by any means.

If you actually grabbed a DMG and looked at the subclass, you get a statement that makes that logic not make as much sense. With how lore and other things are being taken away - I'm not going to comment on that as that has a lot of heavy options and isn't the point of this comment - I don't know if this is going to be in newer prints, so please be lenient with this.

To put it in very simple terms, with the copy of the DMG I own - can change in later prints or new books - there are a few requirements to become an oathbreaker specifically.

1. Your alignment needs to be evil.
2. You actively, and on purpose, go against your current oath to pursue a some dark ambition or seek an evil power.
3. You need to be at least 3 levels of Paladin.

Despite all of this, you can atone, which is stated in the DMG - that I own, again, later prints or books might change this - where the paladin has to change so that their alignment is no longer evil, and do a deed that earns them the right for redemption, and they can swear a new oath.

(Side note, if they break the oath again, they're then forever locked to oathbreaker. But again, it's up to your DM, and some DM's can change this as they see fit for the world and which oath and so on. And again, this is from the version of DMG I own, and it can change in the future from the moment that I've typed this comment.)

So if your Devotion paladin accidentally says a lie even though they took the Honesty tenet... you're not turning into an oathbreaker.

With how dnd is, especially now and in the future, remember that you can edit the tenets to better suit characters. Perhaps have a talk with your DM during session zero or between sessions what would happen if your paladin broke their oath. Different DM's rule differently, I know some that completely ignore it.

Just remember to communicate.

[promienodrzutowysamuel]

Me and the bois giving our Paladin the oath of throwing it back