What actually causes Oathbreaker? (Mild early game spoilers)

[ZeroKelvin]

Picked an Oath of the Ancients paladin, and I keep getting some angry Scottish dude shouting "youuuuuuuuuuu have brrrrroooken yerrrrrr oooooaaaath" at me for reasons I can't really understand. It's nothing a quickload can't fix, but I'm getting a little tired of being locked out of one fight or another.

So far, killing an owlbear that attacked me and fighting some goblins in a temple that were pretty obviously murdering and torturing for fun counted as oathbreaking, but starting a war between Druids and Tieflings and shanking a bunch of adventurers in a temple were A-OK by the game's weird logic on this.

I'd like to keep the oath, but not if it's randomly going to say defending myself or killing some chaotic evil little creeps that worship Muggaluggadingbat or something somehow makes me the bad guy.

What triggers the broken oath?

(Side note. I know how the Oathbreaker mechanic works. I want to know what COUNTS as a broken oath before going that route.)

[Amateur Nitpicker]

I just copied paste this from https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-to-become-an-oathbreaker-paladin-in-baldurs-gate-3/1100-6516601/

From what I get Killing "innocent people" or the Sazza goblin. Besides the owlbear could be persuaded or indimidated to not to fight. Essentially you hurt the "Sanctity of Life"

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

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

[Gul Bjorn]

gunna guess breaking an oath?

[Drake]

Oath of the ancients protects animals, burial sites and avoids killing unless provoked first.

So the graverobbers in crypt had it coming. The goblins while evil, have to hit you first.
The owlbear is an animal you should protect not kill, and you should retreat or use non lethal attacks to deal with.
Tieflings vs druids is not your concern so you're not breaking any oath, unless you start the killing yourself.

[Swimfan]

I'd seriously wait for some fixes until I'll do my own Oath Paladin. The Oath is a fickle thing because the entire game (basically every event) needs to be checked for possible oathbreaker moments and paladin was already not consistant in EA. I'm a little annoyed that they couldn't at least fix some false oathbreaker-moments in Act 1 apparently.

[Necropants]

I freed Sazza as an Oath of Vengeance Paladin and did not become an oathbreaker, In fact I have tried every nefarious thing I can think of and the only thing that works, is killing Scratch the dog. (which is one thing I don't really want to do)

So that goblin one is either completely wrong or it's buggy.

[ZeroKelvin]

Originally posted by Gul Bjorn:

gunna guess breaking an oath?

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f9/09/69/f909693e92e7df0c9384801a6b0f1c05.jpg

[ZeroKelvin]

Originally posted by weird32:

I just copied paste this from https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-to-become-an-oathbreaker-paladin-in-baldurs-gate-3/1100-6516601/

From what I get Killing "innocent people" or the Sazza goblin. Besides the owlbear could be persuaded or indimidated to not to fight. Essentially you hurt the "Sanctity of Life"

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

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

This helps. I might make another go of it.

Really don't feel like goblins that ran into a temple, sacked it, killed a bunch of people and have a literal devil nearby are somehow too pure to kill, but...oh well. Looks like my oath's to the developers.