Oathbreaker Paladin is a subclass of the Paladin class, hidden in the 5e Dungeon Masters Guide. It is more intended for villain NPCs but can still be played with the player’s DM’s permission. Oathbreaker Paladins have access to core Paladin features such as Divine Smite, Lay on Hands, Divine Sense, and the Paladin spell list. They are dedicated to their vows and break their sacred oaths to pursue dark ambition or serve an evil power.
The Oathbreaker Paladin is a ruthlessly aggressive Paladin 5e subclass with few downsides. They want to be on the frontlines, so the extra CON will help with HP. The high CON score and proficiency with CON saving throws will also be great for their concentration-heavy nature.
As a half-caster, Paladins use a lot of their spell slots on divine smites, but their spell selection is important. After breaking their Oath, they lose access to all spells they learned on the path they chose to follow previously. Instead, they are replaced with new ones that focus on the havoc they’ve chosen to cast.
Oathbreaker Paladins offer players darkly unique options compared to heroic Paladin subclasses like Devotion or Ancients. They prepare the list of paladin spells available for them to cast, choosing from the paladin spell list. After breaking their Oath, they still have the vast majority of their spells/abilities, including all Smite skills (including Divine). Oathbreaker Paladins still have access to core Paladin features such as Divine Smite, Lay on Hands, Divine Sense, and the Paladin spell list.
📹 Oathbreaker Paladin – All Spells And Abilities – Baldur’s Gate 3 Subclass Guide
In this Baldur’s Gate 3 subclass guide I show you all the spells and abilities you will unlock for the Oathbreaker subclass of the …
Do oathbreaker paladins have to be evil?
The rules of the game explicitly state that an oath-breaker paladin must be evil in D&D 5E.
Can oathbreaker Paladins still heal?
Lay on Hands is a powerful healing tool that allows you to heal wounds and restore hit points equal to your paladin level. You can use this power to touch a creature, draw power from the pool, or expend 5 hit points to cure one disease or neutralize one poison. This feature has no effect on undead or constructs.
At level 2, you adopt a specific fighting style as your specialty. You can choose from two options: Blessed Warrior, Blind Fighting, Defense, Dueling, Great Weapon Fighting, Interception, and Protection. Blind Fighting allows you to see anything not behind total cover, even if you’re blinded or in darkness. Defense grants a +1 bonus to AC while wearing armor, Dueling gives a +2 bonus to damage rolls with melee weapons, and Great Weapon Fighting allows you to reroll the die when rolling a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack with a melee weapon with two hands.
Interception reduces damage taken by a creature within 5 feet of you with an attack by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus. Protection imposes disadvantage on the attack roll when a creature attacks a target within 5 feet of you, requiring you to be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon.
In summary, Lay on Hands is a powerful healing tool that allows you to heal wounds, heal targets, and protect against enemies.
Do oathbreaker Paladins have to be evil in BG3?
Baldur’s Gate 3 allows players to become an Oathbreaker Paladin by breaking their original oath. This does not mean becoming an evil character, but rather veering away from the rules to follow a new set of rules. In situations where you must make a decision between what’s right and what your oath tells you to do, you can become an Oathbreaker Paladin. Each subclass requires different actions to become an Oathbreaker, so make sure you’re following the actions under your specific oath.
The Oath of the Ancients is the official in-game description, stating that you fight on the side of light in the cosmic struggle against darkness to preserve life and nature. To break this oath, you must always stay on the righteous side of a situation, no matter what. Some specific ways to break this oath include:
- Choosing to break the Oath of the Ancients: Choose to break the Oath of the Ancients to preserve life and nature.
Do you lose divine smite as oathbreaker?
Despite having violated the terms of your oath, you still possess the majority of your spells and abilities, including all Smite skills (including Divine). It should be noted, however, that the product may contain content that is not appropriate for all age groups. This may include general mature content, as well as potentially nudity or sexual content, as described by the development team.
What spells do you lose as an oathbreaker?
Oathbreakers, a type of Paladin, lose their holy spells and gain access to unholy ones, focusing on inflicting damage, casting offensive magic, and controlling the dead instead of smiting them. They have access to Divine Smite and play a close-to-Warlock style of fighting, weaving in melee attacks with Necrotic magic to damage or debilitate targets. Notable spells include Spiteful Suffering, Control Undead, Hellish Rebuke, Animate Dead, and Aura of Hate, which increase the melee damage of the Paladin and their allies based on the caster’s Charisma modifier.
Do Oathbreaker Paladins still have Lay on Hands?
To become an Oathbreaker, a neutral or evil paladin must replace their Sacred Oath features with Oathbreaker features. At the DM’s discretion, the player may gain modified Lay on Hands and Unholy Smite before reaching 3rd level. Oathbreaker spells are gained at listed paladin levels. Starting at 1st level, the player’s unholy power can knit together undead and fiends instead of healing wounds. A pool of healing power replenishes when taking a long rest, restoring a total number of hit points equal to the paladin level x 5.
Do oathbreaker Paladins lose their powers?
Paladins lose their powers granted by their oath or deity but acquire new ones after betraying it, not just breaking it. Oathbreakers break their sacred oaths to pursue dark ambitions or serve evil powers. All paladins have innate abilities that set them apart from other character classes, granted powers resulting from their strong faith. Examples of how one might become a paladin include “Divine Intervention” and “Divine Intervention”. This intentional decision to break their oath is crucial for their ability to possess the class and powers.
Do Oathbreaker Paladins have a God?
In this edition, a paladin is not required to worship any deities, unless they violate their oath and require the restoration of their powers. A Cleric may choose to worship a deity or deities within a pantheon, according to their own spiritual beliefs and practices. It should be noted that the text may contain inappropriate language or content, such as references to ad blockers or browser cookies.
Do Oathbreaker Paladins get spells?
A cleric can learn two cantrips from the cleric spell list, which are considered paladin spells for the purposes of this discussion. The cleric’s spellcasting ability is Charisma. As one progresses through this class, it is possible to replace one cantrip with another from the cleric spell list.
📹 What is the Oathbreaker? Paladins in Dungeons & Dragons
What is the Oathbreaker? Paladins in Dungeons & Dragons Unfairly called the “Evil” subclass, the oathbreaker paladin is a life of …
I think Oathbreaker is one of the highest damage / hit paladins possible. With a Hexblade dip it’s possible to just stack Charisma which makes Aura of Hate and Aura of Protection vastly more impressive. Adding Great Weapon Master on top of AoH, gives you +20 damage on a hit (with max charisma). And that’s without factoring in Hex, or Hexblade’s Curse, although Bless might prove to be higher DPR by mitigating the -5 to hit from GWM. Overall I think it’s very powerful…. Although it is not my favorite Oath. I find the website divinity options to be lack luster, and I think for a subclass to be truly great, the class resource options should be ones you WANT to use all the time. One sneaky loophole that I’ve noticed with the Aura of Hate. Find Steed, and Find Greater Steed, can be “Celestial, Fey, or Fiend” player’s choice. Taking the fiend option allows the mount to benefit from the bonus damage of Aura of Hate. If you take enough levels of paladin to get 4th level spells in order to find your greater steed, you can now be a “Beastmaster” that doesn’t suck. Not how I would personally go, but it’s an option. Additionally, if you have a Wizard or Arcana Domain Cleric in your party, you can use Nystul’s Magic Aura to cause party members to “identify” as Fiends or Undead, allowing them to gain the benefits of the aura as well. And if your Wizard does this every day for 30 days the effects become permanent, so not bad as a downtime activity potentially. “Abusing” the aura in this way would make your whole party’s damage go through the roof.
Currently im playing an Oathbreaker paladin who happened to abandon his old Oath because his adoptive daughter was killed by the very people who fought with him in the order, she was believed to be the reincarnation of an witch, and thus hunted. His objective is to find the soul of the dead daughter, even if he needs to descend into hell for it.
My oathbreaker I’m about to start playing was forsaken by the gods. He was enslaved for 4 years when he was taken alive during a lost battle, and he lived malnourished and overworked during this time and never had the strength to rise above his captors. However, he was granted the power to break free from his chains by taking an oath of vengeance, and broke free from his chains. He was finally free, and upon stealing a boat from his former captors, and he devoted his time to helping others who were chained and enslaved. However, after freeing dozens of other prisoners he was on his way to his homeland. During his voyage, his boat was destroyed and he sank to the depths drowning after a rope had tied around his legs. In his last moments he had called to the gods to help him, but none of them answered his calls and pleas. His restless angry spirit roamed the oceans for years, causing the same fate that had happened to him upon sailors unfortunate enough to enter his waters. Years after his death, and causing dozens of shipwrecks, a powerful mage had found his restless soul, and offered him a new shot at life, as she had hated the gods as well. She transplanted his soul into a mechanical body (warforged) and got him accustomed to his new body. The light that had burned in his heart had died. Only darkness and despair remained. Using his hatred for the gods, he now wields the power of necromancy, to spite his fallen enemies who believe they will make it to Valhalla. He now seeks clerics and paladins to ensure they realize their gods won’t save them, the same way he was forsaken
my character idea a good person who had his soul sold by their father at birth and is bound to an evil god gaining power but also corrupting them and making them become a corrupt version of themselves possibly being neutral or evil( lawful so torturing the people who deserve it or killing bad people on sight without mercy) but not for them to be insane they never broke their oath but they would use it as an excuse to do bad stuff to bad people but still protect the innocent
Counterpoint; the Oathbreaker isn’t just a paladin that broke their oath, but did so to pursue a dark ambition. For example, being a devotion paladin and simply becoming jaded and retiring from your oath does not make you an Oarhbreaker. It simply makes you lose your paladin power as you ‘gave up’ To be an Oathbreaker, the Devotion Paladin would have to willingly slaughter innocents and be unrepentant. This would mean perverting the very power that has blessed you, corrupting it towards darkness. The point of the Oathbreaker subclass is to be a villain. Same with the Death Domain (as contrast to the Grave Domain).