Started a Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough (I pirated it because of course), and decided to roll a Paladin, as to roleplay a class struggle oriented fighter against oppression, next thing I know I’m stuck with a whole bunch of silly ass moral codes and liberal bullshit.
In the end the aristocratic ass elf that you can get as a companion is doing all the hard work not to break the RP of my main character and I’m hardly using it for the fun things (assassinating class enemies).
SMH
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Try again as an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, AKA unhinged vigilante Paladin. Pretty much the only player choices which can break their code of conduct are not showing enthusiasm for moving the plot forward. I don’t think you’re obligated to tolerate any oppressors at any point to move the plot forward, and Vengeance has no restrictions about who they’re allowed to pick fights with…
Thanks for the tip ! TBH I had no dea about the Oaths and such, i’m a total newcomer to the DnD rules and such. At that point tho I think I’m too invested in my run and despite scummy actions being done in my party (plausible deniability hehe) things are working okaaayish and pluggable to the RP (as long as the paladin is told to close his eyes for a quick second and no innocent is offed).
Gotta say, it’s a really good game, I’m at the end of act 1 and been staying around for like 9h in those early zones. Love it.
I think you can change your oath by talking to Withers at your camp
Yeah, he lets you redo all of your characters levels and ability scores
I am also playing a paladin! I did folk hero and oath of vengeance. The game is pretty forgiving with how many people you can kill (for the most part - still mad I had to reload after getting oathbroken in the first hour of the game) but I haven’t tried assassinating. I’ve just been doing story dialogues, meeting people I don’t like such as slavers, and then killing them. I guess it’s only the paladin way if you talk to them first before killing them.
I’m ranting but its honestly quite a fun class regardless, and I barely know how it works given im a total newbie to DnD rules. I exaggerated a bit, I’m making i work so far lol. But I will defo re-run as a fallen monk or a warlock but good but cooler than the (endearingly annoying) Blade of the Frontier next run.
Edit: also I know EXACTLY where you might have broken your oath in the first hour (because I did too).
Edit: also I know EXACTLY where you might have broken your oath in the first hour (because I did too).
Yeah… That’s how I learned there’s a non-lethal (read: no consequences) toggle.
This is why I like what Paizo did with Pathfinder 2E
Paladin becomes a part of the Champion class, which are now martial fighters empowered with divine strength by their deity of choice rather than just a goody-goody who gets power that way
You want to be a Champion of the God of Freedom so you can go around freeing slaves and kicking slavers in the face? There you go, your God understands and condones your behavior
No puttering around being like “Oh, but I have to remain lawful and the law says slavery is legal”
Just good ol’ fashioned smashing in a slavers face with an enchanted stein of mead and then setting everyone free
All I want is smiting slavers and oppressive assholes in the face regardless of their race, even if it means smashing a couple humans in too for their anti-goblin bullshit, with a shiny big hammer weilded by an ungenderable working class paragon.
Edit: credit given to credit due: BG3 has a really good character editor that really allows to fucking around with gender quite well Also Edit: props to Paizo with Pathfinder then, that’s the way to do it.
The oath for lawful good Champions specifically states that Good trumps Lawful in every case, so it doesn’t matter if you’re “out of your jurisdiction”. Characters with an oath to destroy certain creature types aren’t obligated to perform kamikaze charges against impossible odds or pointlessly murder a token Good aligned example of that monster, either.
The most restrictive Champion is probably the Neutral Good one, since they have the whole Steven Universe “everyone gets a second chance, no matter how dumb the offer is” thing going on. Their smite is replaced with an automatic counter-attack though, so refusing is a bad idea.
Pathfinder 2E is in general just the absolute best that any iteration or hack of D&D has ever been. Lots of little fiddly bits for flavor options, generally pretty good balance, and fixed early levels.
I still don’t particularly like it and would never run it, but it is a huge improvement over any D&D version.
I’ve been having a good time running a couple of 2E games
It’s especially good considering that I got a bunch of absolute newbies to fall in love with it when they were nervous about it to begin with
The fact that they’re still working on keeping it streamlined and easy to get into with the new reworked rules has been great too
And the fact that they finally eliminated alignment as a hardset thing is only a plus as well
No more having to try and differentiate what Lawful vs. Neutral vs. Chaotic is to people who would just look at me like I grew a second head
In 5e rules-as-written it’s pretty flexible.
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.
The tenets of the Oath of Devotion (closest thing to a traditional paladin)
Honesty. Don’t lie or cheat. Let your word be your promise.
Courage. Never fear to act, though caution is wise.
Compassion. Aid others, protect the weak, and punish those who threaten them. Show mercy to your foes, but temper it with wisdom.
Honor. Treat others with fairness, and let your honorable deeds be an example to them. Do as much good as possible while causing the least amount of harm.
Duty. Be responsible for your actions and their consequences, protect those entrusted to your care, and obey those who have just authority over you.
I’d say freeing slaves falls under Compassion for “protect the weak and punish those who threaten them” and as for slavery being legal I’d respond by pointing out Duty where “obey those who have just authority over you” by saying any system supporting slavery is not just.
Even apart from that, there’s not really any alignment in 5e. It exists as a way to describe your character and a very small number of magic items require specific alignments. Spells like Protection from Evil and Good work against extraplanar beings like celestials and friends rather than things having good or evil alignment like they did in past editions.
All that to say if anyone tried to tell me my paladin broke their oath by freeing a slave and wouldn’t listen to reason I’d probably leave their game. Oathbreaker paladins have no tenets or oath but just read this fucking description and tell me it sounds like someone who freed slaves lol
An Oathbreaker is a paladin who breaks his or her sacred oaths to pursue some dark ambition or serve an evil power. Whatever light burned in the paladin’s heart has been extinguished. Only darkness remains.
This is why Bards are superior
Hey I was doing something similar but I took it a step further and leaned into becoming an Oathbreaker Paladin taking the solutions to injustices into my own hands.
tbh I always interpreted lawful good as liberal good (insisting on always following the law) and only a few crpgs support neutral good or chaotic good
