Paladin Oaths

[MisterRed]

So im intending to play a morally good Seldarine Drow paladin. And since Paladin isnt a class I actually tested in EA, I have questions for those that did. I am stuck between Oath of Devotion and Oath of Vengeance.

Does oath of devotion allow you to lie in order to save lives, for example, the ruin dudes, if you lie to get them to clear out, does that count as becoming an oathbreaker?

Does Oath of Vengeance get really picky with your actions? For example, is it gonna demand you hurt a child for pickpocketing you, or are you allowed to forgive them without breaking your oath. And on top of that, they are sworn to always pursue the greater evil and show it no mercy, so would the game get petty over doing sidequests, with stuff like "WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING BANDITS WHEN YOU COULD BE FIGHTING MINDFLAYERS! OATH BROKEN!" or would I be safe with that

[His Divine Shadow]

I am also interested in learning more about the oaths

[(DS) Relic]

I became Oath broken killing the goblins....wasnt happy.

[2LambBuna]

no one can answer on vengeance as it wasnt in EA. i found oath of the ancients more fun than devotion which is a bit "vanilla paladin" you get more manoeuvrability and crowd control with ancients, its pretty good fun to play.

[fenixverloren]

I don't think you are allowed to lie as much with an Oath of Devotion type of character, they fit the bill of the Lawful Good Paladin trope. Moment you do a sneak attack in like that blighted village with an Oath of Devotion Paladin it'll cause your Oath to be Broken (if you are the one who initiates the fight) since you are technically all about honor.

Oath of Vengeance think the opposite of Vengeance I'd say, I don't think you'd break your oath if you go on like a murder spree with the Oath of Vengeance, you are technically the darker Paladin, heck one future companion we'll get if we go the evil path is pretty much an Oath of Vengeance Paladin.

[MisterRed]

Originally posted by (DS) Relic:

I became Oath broken killing the goblins....wasnt happy.

Which oath was that? I can't imagine the game doing that for Oath of Devotion, since killing the goblins saves refugees and a druidic grove. Thats like, classic good guy stuff

[TekkenJam]

The choices will tell you if things break oath or not. What isnt told is if you pre-emptively attack before talking certain good or evil aligned enemies what will happen. Which make oaths overly complicated for me imo. I think paladins are a good second play through class instead of a first because of this. But thats just my opinion.

[MisterRed]

Originally posted by TekkenJam:

The choices will tell you if things break oath or not. What isnt told is if you pre-emptively attack before talking certain good or evil aligned enemies what will happen. Which make oaths overly complicated for me imo. I think paladins are a good second play through class instead of a first because of this. But thats just my opinion.

So it'll at least tell me what choices are a huge no no? Thats really good at least. I was worried I'd need to save before every last conversation just to make sure my paladin doesnt go oopsie

[Cat]

Originally posted by MisterRed:

Originally posted by (DS) Relic:

I became Oath broken killing the goblins....wasnt happy.

Which oath was that? I can't imagine the game doing that for Oath of Devotion, since killing the goblins saves refugees and a druidic grove. Thats like, classic good guy stuff

You attacked a creature without warning and thus are being dishonurable, doesn't matter if it's a goblin or a bandit, you state your intent or you break your oath. Superiour oath of the ancient can slaughter things just fine long as you're nice to animals.

[MisterRed]

Originally posted by Sunricer:

Originally posted by MisterRed:

Which oath was that? I can't imagine the game doing that for Oath of Devotion, since killing the goblins saves refugees and a druidic grove. Thats like, classic good guy stuff

You attacked a creature without warning and thus are being dishonurable, doesn't matter if it's a goblin or a bandit, you state your intent or you break your oath. Superiour oath of the ancient can slaughter things just fine long as you're nice to animals.

Ah, so basically it means Devotion paladins arent allowed to ambush foes, and have to wait for the enemy to pick a fight to fight back. Definitely a point in the favor of Vengeance or Ancient, since Astarion and Shadowheart will literally hate you if you walk face first into every fight and refuse to lie or set traps

[Cat]

It's complicated, but in the case of the goblins it's the fact you can talk to them and attacking them unprovoked is considered dishonourable. Ancients have no such clause in their oath making them the easier oath to uphold, but beware of attacking animals without reason. A wolf attacking you is fine, but if you go murdering all it's cubs for no reason then you are probably an oathbreaker.

[MisterRed]

Originally posted by Sunricer:

It's complicated, but in the case of the goblins it's the fact you can talk to them and attacking them unprovoked is considered dishonourable. Ancients have no such clause in their oath making them the easier oath to uphold, but beware of attacking animals without reason. A wolf attacking you is fine, but if you go murdering all it's cubs for no reason then you are probably an oathbreaker.

That makes sense. And is also good. I feel bad being the one to say, kill an owlbear, when you can just... Do not that. But the goblins are obviously gonna be enemies, so the restrictions of the oath of Devotion sound super annoying, even if it is the most purely "Morally good", probably not going with them

[fenixverloren]

Oath of Devotion is still a very strong Oath but yeah you have to be extra careful with it and you obviously can't have an evil playthrough with an Oath of Devotion.

[RF_Krieger]

Originally posted by TekkenJam:

The choices will tell you if things break oath or not. What isnt told is if you pre-emptively attack before talking certain good or evil aligned enemies what will happen. Which make oaths overly complicated for me imo. I think paladins are a good second play through class instead of a first because of this. But thats just my opinion.

That wasn't my experience. I lied to the Tieflings in order to get Lae'Zel down from the cage under the pretense that I'd help them kill her. I, of course, wasn't going to ever help kill a party member, and thus the oath was broken.

[jasta85]

Yea, paladin is kind of the ultimate roleplaying class as you actually suffer consequences if you go off your chosen path. So you sometimes have to choose between sticking to your oath and the "optimal" outcome. I imagine a majority of players are going to end up as oathbreakers.

[fenixverloren]

Originally posted by Cylonick:

That wasn't my experience. I lied to the Tieflings in order to get Lae'Zel down from the cage under the pretense that I'd help them kill her. I, of course, wasn't going to ever help kill a party member, and thus the oath was broken.

Yeah that's because those Tieflings are considered innocent, even if you were to be attacked by them for being a Drow you still end up breaking your Oath if you kill them.