"My sword was snapped in half, my armor rent to shreds, and my Oath was naught but a chain-noose around my neck. Either my Oath would break, or I would. I made my choice, I still stand, and my foe now lies broken at my feet."
@@JoshuaMarkham-m3m I love you for that thank you may you live long and may you always have a great idea of what you want to do when you forget to go do something.....
"Darkness will obey your summons. The dead will march to your rhythm. Even now, these shadows gather around you. They sense cracks in your armor. They yearn to be used, to be inflicted." - The Oathbreaker Knight
The paladin stood amidst the desolation, his breath echoing through the hollow remnants of the city. His once-gleaming armor, now tarnished and scarred, bore witness to his relentless pursuit of a victory that had come at an unimaginable cost. The blade he clutched, still glowing with an eerie, unnatural red, was a stark reminder of the power he had sought and the oath he had shattered. The moon hung like a sliver of a sickle in the sky, casting a cold, indifferent light on the ruins below. He had sacrificed everything-friends, comrades, his very soul-for the promise of euphoria, through domination, and power. Yet, as he gazed upon the lifeless landscape, the weight of his actions crushed him. The silence was suffocating, filled with the ghosts of the fallen and the echoes of dreams turned to ash. Victory, in its most hollow form, had left him standing alone in a world he had conquered but could no longer recognize or belong to. The promises made to him felt like cruel illusions, fading into the void of his regrets. The paladin knelt, planting his sword into the ground. The power he had gained now felt like a curse, a mockery of the ideals he once held dear. He whispered to the winds, a final oath-one not of glory, but of remorse and penance. "I have broken my oath, and in doing so, I have broken the world. May my name be forgotten, my deeds erased by time, for in victory, I have found my deepest defeat." And with that, he closed his eyes, surrendering to the embrace of the new dawn, hoping for a redemption that lay beyond the horizon, in a world where his choices no longer haunted the remnants of his soul.
Is it ok if I use this in a dnd campaign? This is amazing writing and I want to use it at the end of a session, kind of like when a video game ends with a black screen with dialogue. I think this is perfect for that.
"Do you regret it? Breaking you're oath?" ". . .Regret is for those that feel as though they would have done things differently . . .I have no such feeling."
"You've broken your oath, paladin. You've watched your kingdom fall, You've laid your family to rest, You've led this place to ruin. A betrayer has no place in heaven, A sinner, no place on earth. And yet you insist on fighting, Asking for a final dance, to redeem yourself. To pay the toll of blood, To sacrifice your own soul, To take your sworn enemy, Down to the depths with you. Well then, So be it."
All of the comments here are about paladins breaking their oaths because they realize their beliefs are actually evil. But the idea of a paladin breaking his oath because of incompetence or lapse in judgement and becoming an outcast seeking redemption afterwards is way cooler imo. Cool poem.
all who have lived have sinned. In that way all sinners belong on earth until their time comes. Then they ascend or descend based on the way they oriented their lives and whether they glorified their creator or not.
"Why did you break your Oath?" "Why do you ask?" "Curiosity, genuinely." "...You ever believe in something so fiercely that it blinds you to all shortcomings, including your own?" "I... cant say that I have." "Well, then you are far wiser than I. I believed in my order, loved my brothers and sisters, believed that we were doing something good. That we were Just. But one day, we struck at a township. It was defenseless, no more than a small village of farmers and merchants. "It was gods will" my fellow oath bearers would say. But as I stood amidst the burning buildings, salted fields, my companions blade pointed at a child crying over her fallen parents... I couldn't help but see that there was no justice at all to be found in our actions." "So yes, I broke my Oath to my order. I raised my blade against my fellow knights." "...Do you regret it?" "...Yes. I regret not doing it sooner."
A player I have for dnd 5e made an Aasimar paladin, and he is a twin brother to a tiefling. They were both born and raised to be what my swtting calls "White Wardens" that protected the people in their town. The Aasimar was treated with true love and revered by his peers while his brother was typically cast aside and outshined for simply being "devil spawn" to them. There came a night after an angel had saved his brothers life, marking him as chosen by the gods. The tiefling met a devil and was promised everything he wanted and more, the only thing he needed to hear was that someone would see him for what he was worth. The only love he had ever felt was that of his brother, whom he hates just as much as he loves. To this day the only person who has any shred of faith in him is his brother. "I would be careful, The Grey Warden flies overhead and mercilessly kills any unfortunate enough to be caught in his gaze. The most spiteful, foul creature in the world. Does it not know love?" ~A simple guard
I also have an Asimar vengeance paladin who awakened his powers after his people were slaughtered by the cult of the dragon. His ultimate goal is to slay Tiamat by any means necessary. But after defeating her he relinquishes his oath of vengeance and becomes an oath of redemption, eventually using these powers to redeem Zarial. (All if my character doesn't die).
"You've broken your Oath, Paladin." "What you call an oath forced me to give up my humanity, for the sake of following the code it preached. I had to either abandon it or abandon my reason, passion and everything that makes me a man. So yes. I chose to be myself instead of an unthinking slave to a code that would destroy me." "Is that all you have to say in your defense?" "Only that I pity you. Your faith in the oath, to hold so fast to it. To stay blind and loyal. Not a day goes by I wish I could go back. But then I remember why I broke it in the first place. I pity you, for I know you keep yourself this way." "You know what I am here to do." "Then do what you must...if you can."
The Prince now on his knees crying atop the ruins of his castle. “You Swore! To our kingdom, our country, our faith! Why!? Why have you done this!? How could you turn your blade on us!?” The prince cried out to his former paladin. The Paladin turned his head back and spoke, “Our kingdom? Our country? Our faith? What kingdom orders the slaughter of innocents? What country has the right to let its inhabitants rot in sorrow? What faith stabs its patrons in the back when in need of help?” The Paladin turns around completely placing his sword into the ground. “You led me to believe that my lover could be restored to health had I followed your kingdoms orders…” The Paladin now speaking in a harsher tone, “Your country did nothing to stop the spread of the plague upon its lower class citizens!” The Paladin looks down at the ground for a moment before raising his head and voice, “YOUR FAITH PROMISED TO SAVE HER! INSTEAD YOU FED HER FALSE SCRIPTURE, AND KILLED HER ONCE REALIZING SHE HAD THE PLAGUE!” The Prince looked toward the ground. tears beginning to flow freely as he wept. The prince finally spoke, “I’m sorry… we couldn’t save her… we couldn’t save anyone… we tried to combat and hold off the plague as much as we could. But it was far too deadly, and spread too easily. There was nothing we could do.” The Paladin took a step back, lowering his tone and voice. “Prince, if you truly believed your kingdom did everything, then you are a fool. Your nobles, the ones in masterhood of their districts and towns. They did not so much as lift a finger. They sat in their manors and waited for the plague to end, saving their doctors and wealth only for themselves. Everyone is dead because you could not see the greed within your courts and councils. You failed. As have I. I turned my backs to you, slaughtered your counts and duchesse. Killed even those that were innocent. Worst of all, I believed in your lies to save my wife. Only for her to meet the same fate as all the others. I take my leave now, Prince. Your kingdom is no more. Should we meet our ends, I pray that we only be judged fairly.”
"I have not broken my oath, but you, my liege, have. You vowed to give me power so long as I did your bidding, and I did just that, yet the one time my armor cracks and my sword shatters, I am torn asunder? No, my lord, you are the traitor. I did as you asked, my enemy lay empty at my feet, yet you stand above and claim my trust false. It is not me who needs to apologize, but you. You, who would sit on a throne while wars wage, and people die. You, who claims to be all holy, yet turns a blind eye to those who need me. You who sits above and claims themself true to their word, yet would betray their most powerful ally in a moment of doubt. You shall be judged. Maybe not by man, maybe not by god, but by your own moral compass and the people you have wronged. You will be judged, and you will face divine persecution."
"Hey, can i ask you a... personal question?" "Speak..." "What are you?" "I... was like you, a paladin, but a human no less." "So, what happened? you don't seem so... human" "...Have you ever had to choose between yourself or the most valuable thing for you?" "I Believe not, but you chose yourself over your oath then?" "No... I chose old... partners, they are now gone, i like to believe i did what was right, but as time passes it doesn't seem like my choice had the impact i wished it had." "But I still do not understand... can you be more clear?" "I Fought things that you could never imagine existed, older than time itself, creatures from when nothing was and should never be, before existence even was a thing, but fire is fought with fire, and to win against that i had to wield it. you can imagine the cost..." "So at least you won right?" "Not exactly..." "How so?" "Time will tell you..." "What do you mean by that?" "... Kid, there will come a time where you will have to choose, like i did, so find another way, i do not wish this curse to fall upon you" "Curse?" "... I've said enough..."
Every day I wake up happy I'm given the strength to be alive, everyone struggles different I didn't even know I'd been revived every time it happened I just understood I was back where I belong, drug free for years now 🙏
God will answer your prayers, you just gotta keep praying my friend. There will be a time when God does and that will be the perfect time, you just gotta have patience like God goes himself. And remember, through God, all things are possible. "I can do all things through him (God) who strengthens me" - Phillipians, Chapter 4 Verse 13
God is the chain breaker, promise keeper, light in the darkness. He always answers, brother. Just never in the way you would expect him to. To maximize virtue, we must suffer. For how can one be courageous if he never feels fear, how can one feel empathy if there was no pain? Know this, that no matter how many times you may fall, he will always be there to guide along the path.
"Everyone is an oathbreaker at some point. You swear to oaths to kin, king, and country and at one point they will conflict and you will have to choose. Does that mean I am not guilty of what I did. Of course not. When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty, and my oath would have had me become a tyrant. All I am saying is do not sentence me to death by stoning when you have done the same."
A lone figure stood amongst the ruins, his armour blacker than the darkest night, grew darker with each foe slain. His sword, seemed to draw in all the Karma in the world as it swung. leaving a grave wound on every foe hit. Legend claims of a hero who would return and save us, who would purge the world of its sin. Little did we know it would be us, that was slaugtered. His oath was to protect the innocent and just, but there was no justice left. he had freed the world of an unjust regime before, and he was more than willing to do so again...
Sorcerer: "Hey man, I always wanted to ask but how does one becomes a redemption paladin?" Paladin: "It happens when one is burden with some much sin you must seek salivation, otherwise you drowned by your past..." Sorcerer: " You couldn't have been so bad...you told us you were a slave before you became a paladin, what could you have done that warrant that respond?" Paladin: " I was a slave yes, but that was only one part of it. I was a gladiator in the slave pits, I was *bred* to die like an animal for the amusement of others. I wanted to live so badly I kept beating the odds of survival, but with every victory meant only delaying my death. Kill or be killed, that is the way my life was for 10 years until one match that was fated to be my end. High end mercenary wanted to have some *fun* in the gladiatorial pits, I was set up to lose and die for his enjoyment... when I was on the ground bleeding looking up in the smiling face of my killer I almost embraced my sad life to be over, but then HE spoke. The God of Dominion appeared next to my would be ender of my life, time seamlessly stop." God Of Dominion: "So this is it then? The Joke of The Pits~ meets his end because he is took weak to stand! Where was all that strength and will to live to seen tomorrow as gone?!? Well SPEAK!" Paladin: "I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired that I have to kill so many people some my fellow slaves just to live for a spot of rotten hay and moldy bread to eat!" GOD: "Then you must fight! You wish to change your sad life , THEN CHANGED IT!" Paladin: "HOW?!" GOD: "By stop holding back! Embrace what you were meant to be! A man who will do anything to live, destroy, conquer, DOMINATE! Be all I hoped you would be! *The God disappears as time resume* Paladin: "So I did what I had too, grab some sand threw it in his face and grab a rock and mashed his face until his spine sticking out from his neck was all that was left." *The Paladin rolls up his right sleeve seeing sacred flesh text on the upper arm reads as follows* Douse the Flame of Hope. It is not enough to merely defeat an enemy in battle. Your victory must be so overwhelming that your enemies’ will to fight is shattered forever. A blade can end a life. Fear can end an empire. Rule with an Iron Fist. Once you have conquered, tolerate no dissent. Your word is law. Those who obey it shall be favored. Those who defy it shall be punished as an example to all who might follow. Strength Above All. You shall rule until a stronger one arises. Then you must grow mightier and meet the challenge, or fall to your own ruin. Sorcerer: My Gods...you were a paladin of conquest. Paladin: *nods* After the match every slave master wanted me as there *elite* Gladiator. I was handed down by many you wanted me to win fights for them, you would think being someone of importance to them now would be treated better, but in fact it was worse. *A wicked smile across the Paladin's face* They feared me, saw the new found strength that they couldn't understand and before they knew it, I was the last face they saw before they died." Sorcerer: "The Slave Rebellion, you never told us you were the one who started it." Paladin: "I was the spearhead of the rebellion, used my new divine powers to strike the slave masters down with their own whips, I did what the God of Dominion saw in me, A man who is willing to do anything to live. It didn't stop though, before I realize what I was doing, I become the Master and was taking all of the children of the slave masters and throwing them in cages, treating them like they are animals. I was filled with so much hate I just flipped the roles of the city instead.... I just wanted to live, but I had another dream I wished to be free, truly free from my past. So after the rebellion I ran away into the dessert, got lost for awhile, had some time to reflect what I have done. Oppression cannot resolve oppression I needed to change, but just like before my live was at a crossroads the God appeared again. God of Dominion: The Hero of the Slaves~ running away like a coward! This isn't how I designed you! Paladin: "You didn't make me, I made myself!" GOD: " Oh really so the divine powers that you have did not let you change your fate? You are nothing without your powers *Paladin* you really going to throw it all away?" Paladin: "YES I wished to be free from YOU! I will let my own strength be my new way, I will never be chain my anyone ever again! Be a strong person for those who need it most, help the people who stray away from the path, be a good person to influence others to give more then they take!" GOD: *scruffs* "You are a disappoint aren't you. Fine lead your own path, no more powers from me, but the marks on your flesh are forever you will never escape the sins. *Gone once more* Paladin: "So I was truly free from that moment, so I did what I promise to myself and help those who need help for many years until one day I met you sorry lot. *Sad smile* So be glad that you found me because otherwise you guys might I have died with lack of nourishment with your cooking skills." Sorcerer: "Hey my cooking isn't that bad!" *Both Stare into the flames of the campfire* Sorcerer: "You are so much stronger then I, facing down a God I don't know how well I could have handle it. I heard that breaking a paladin's oath is soul crushing are you sure you are alright?" Paladin: "It was a long time ago, and besides breaking one's oath doesn't always mean to be a bad thing, change is a good thing even if it can hurt sometimes. If you can learn anything that I have said, you cannot change what life gives you at the beginning but you can choose how the story continues."
I stare in breathless agony, the blood slowly dripping from my hands. Staring into the lifeless eyes before me. A child. She was only a child. The Litch King had found her and made her his thrall! To be used as a weapon then discarded after the job was done! I had found her abandoned at an old shed. I took her in, fed her, clothed her, told her stories by the fire at night like she was my own child. He had approached her while I was getting supplies in town. I should have done something different, told her to come with me or to stay with the elderly couple down the road! But she only smiled and waved as I departed. "Have fun shopping Miss Paladin! Don't forget to bring me the teddy you promised!" A small token of affection, a reward really. She had been through so much in such a small amount of time. The famine, her parents deaths, and the dangers of my adventures. I had promised her last evening. (Only hours before.) That I would gift it to her if she promised to stay hidden if I was in danger or someone unknown approached our camp while I was away. She swore a tiny oath of her own to hide, sealed with a pinky promise. An innocent way to imitate the hero who saved her. The stuffed bear in question now lay covered in mud on the road before me. A thin trail of blood now soaking into its cotton. I should have noticed! That the way she acted was different from usual! She was crying silent tears, shaking with fear while standing in the middle of road back to camp. I saw her pain and rushed to comfort her. My heart ached as I held her close, running my fingers through her hair. A meager comfort I always offered when she cried at night. I noticed nothing unusual until she whispered to me. "Miss paladin, I don't want to die." She looked at me with those chocolate brown eyes, misery locked firmly in their pools. "What do you mean Sweetheart? Are you hurt? Did something bad happen?" She broke down to a sob at my motherly concern. "He found me! I hid in the hollow stump like you told me to, but he still found me!" Her tiny body shaking while she choked out those words. I pulled back to face her, panic rising in my chest. "Who Sweetie, who found you?" "The bone man! The scary skeleton who made the ground icky and sick!" She gasped for air between words, struggling to form them from her lips. My heart plummeted to the bottom of my ribcage. "What did he do to you? Did he touch you, did he say any strange words?" My eyes darted around her tiny frame, looking for signs of tampering on her skin. "The bone man said some funny words, Miss Paladin. Then he poked my tummy with his finger, laughed, and said I would die today! He went poof after that, so I came looking for you." I scrambled to lift her shirt, praying that it would not be what I thought I would. A sickly green seal in the form of a skull gazed back at me. The mirth in its empty sockets sent a cold sweat down my neck. The seal of a Litches thrall. Almost nothing could disperse its hold, save for the most powerful of divine spells. I quickly recited the prayer of anti-curse, desperate to take her from his grasp. I had almost finished the last verse when a hideous cackle broke the silence. The air grew acrid. Foul tentacles of smoke swirled the ground before us, lapping at our feet. "Do you like my gift o Paladin of Righteousness? I put so much deliberation into it. So I just had to see your reaction myself!" His teeth clack like dry branches snaping from a dead tree, his words burrowed into my skull. "Damn you, you Retch! You loathsome creature made of rot and contamination! Why have you done this!" "It is simple, Paladin. You got in way of my pursuit of immortality." He paused to look at the girl and changed his mind. He revealed his true motive with a broken wail. "I wanted the one loved by the gods themselves, to feel the bitterest taste of loss!" His vacant sockets held years of pent up malice for the Divine. All of it centered onto me, their chosen. I reached for my sword and gathered power into its hilt. A flash of holy light slashed from my blade, charging toward the source of my anger. The Litch stepped to the side, then disappeared into the inky smoke. I turned to face the girl, dread pumped though my veins. I was to late, the seal had encompassed her whole body. The girl I loved was no more, only a husk remained in her place. She lunged at me with the force of an undead. My reflexes moved my body as my mind screamed for it to stop. The tip of my sword planted itself deep into her chest. Time halted as I stared in disbelief, the edges of my vision faded. Something inside of me broke. I hear a howl of agony, but its so far away. The girls body grows cold as I hold her in my arms. The Litch had long since left us, believing that he had won. And in a way, I suppose he has. I have nothing left. No joy, no sorrow, no pain, no oath. Only a fractured vessel remains of who I once was. The gods have abandoned me in my failure to save her. A final silent promise passes my lips as I put her in the earth. "I will end the one who killed you, the Litch who made this nightmarish reality. I will do this, so you may have peace wherever you are. Then when all is over, I will fall on my own blade for my mistake." The echoes of silence are all that answer me. I walk into the misty fog, ready to find my foe.
@@Neverbird_ Oh my gosh! Thanks so much bird! It means a lot to me. I'm practicing writing to get better. And hopefully one day I'll publish a book. Seriously, this comment made my day. 🥹💕
@@GinaRanChaosdiver That's exactly what I wanted gina. 😊 It felt odd just ending on a dull note of "and then the litch slayed her with a final blow." or "and she screamed into the void in hopelessness." I wanted to give some ambiguity to the end. One oath broken and another made, so to speak.
The only time a true Paladin would break an oath is to save more lives than he would by keeping it. To the Paladin, this would be the ultimate sacrifice: The sacrifice of faith and loyalty.
@@TheVeryLastLardeen To be fair, that's not to say that he didn't choose to become a blackguard by taking in a greater evil within himself and exiled himself so it could harm others no longer. Think of confining an archdevil within his subconscious and binding it to his soul, balancing light and dark but losing himself never to return to what and who he was.
i did a DND campaign once where it was two fighting teams of players. my team of 4, and an enemy team of 8. i was an undead half-orc oath breaking paladin on my way to resurrect an evil god, my team was a minitour warrior, drow warlock and some rogue (forget their race). the second team would always be following behind, cleaning up after our massacres and hell was it messy. but unlike the second team, we spent all that time building our toons for PVP. the time came to summon the evil god, forget the name, and we ended up doing a 3v4 and a 1v4, myself taking 4 while i was alone in the summoning chamber. NOBODY survived my paladins wrath that day, nobody expected such a hardcore PVP focused paladin and i killed them in the most gruesome ways. my team won too! in the end, god was summoned, the world plunged into disaster. so much fun. try oath breaker paladin in 5e.
FUCK YES!!! That sounds so GD fun. Playing evil PCs is so fun (but maybe I should just DM 😂) Would you mind sharing some of how you built your character for PVP? also did you enjoy rping your character?
@@damien678 it was like 6 years ago so I don't remember the build too well, but I was mostly CC, keeping players on their ass, stunned all while buffing and healing myself. I was also a mounted combatant, and my mount had a few knock downs and gave me advantages. It was also real fast and let me dart to almost anyone. I remember it being easy as baiting the melee players around a corner out of the sight of the ranged classes and darting past them to kill the support. I'd then take my time with the last two melee toons. It was not a quick fight, but if you stack enough buffs, ACs, resistances, stuns, heals, you can kill almost anyone. But the most important thing is using the map. Los the support and ranged toons and minimize the amount someone can do in a turn. Running away in short, it was overpowered, especially paired with weapons that have a range of two tiles like a glaive. And yes, the RP was amazing. I actually started off as a lawful good paladin, a half orc born from a terrible orc raid and the rape of his human mother. Raised in a church, he learnt the ways of a paladin to hunt his father's tribe. Roll a few sessions, rage mixed with the warlocks corrupted words slowly turned me into an undead oathbreaker... And an undead resistant to both blunt and slash is OP. He turned his back on his old god, burning his old home to the ground, destroying anything on his path to 'fix' the world by summoning his new god. I also remember oathbreakers getting 3 skeletal warrior servants but I only used em for small things like carrying my crap and sending mail. 10/10 would play again.
"I made my choice, it was either break my oath or be a victim of it. Before you pass judgement I ask you now, you who stand before me, you who would sentence me for my choices, if your choice was to to be a monster or a victim... Would you have chosen differently than I?"
"Fulgrim rested his hands on the command lectern as the enormity of his last thought settled on him. He could attack the Warmaster’s expedition and destroy it utterly from here. His own warships were closing to the optimal firing distance, and he could unleash a devastating fusillade that would cripple the ability of the 63rd Expedition to respond in any meaningful way. If Eldrad Ulthran had spoken the truth, then he could end the coming rebellion before it began. ‘Plot firing solutions to the vessels before us,’ he ordered. Within moments, the guns of the 28th Expedition were trained on the Warmaster’s ships, and Fulgrim licked his lips as he realised that he wanted to open fire. ‘My lord’, said a voice beside him. He turned to see Lord Commander Eidolon holding out his sheathed sword, the silver hilt gleaming in the low light of the bridge. Fulgrim felt the dark, smothering weight of its presence settle upon him and said, ‘Eidolon?' 'You asked for your sword’, said the Lord Commander. Fulgrim could not remember issuing the order, but nodded and resignedly reached out to take the proffered weapon. He looped it around his waist as though it was the most natural thing in the world, and as he snapped the golden eagle buckle closed, the desire to order the attack faded like morning mist."
I was listening to this, reading through some of the comments and especially loved the D&D ones. It made me remember of one of my own.. He was a Paladin, a fine one. A mere human who wielded a Halberd and thanks to my crew's wizard managed to learn some Fire Magic. Though unlike the others I've seen, he didn't start the session as an Oathbreaker. No.. he was originally a Paladin held by his oath. The first session I ever did with him the people I was with loved him. A selfless Paladin who put others ahead of himself, using his armor's might to protect while his Halberd did the talking. They loved him so much infact, that I used him a second time, then a third. In the second session he appeared older, more mature, his armor showing signs of wear and tear. When we started it was similar to the first. Desmos being selfless and protecting his team to the best of his abilities. But then in one encounter the DM did something I could have never expected. We were settled in a tavern enjoying a mission completed with little injuries, but then the town we were in was attacked. Attacked by Paladins, those who wore the same armor as Desmos. Those who believed the same Oath. Those, who were a part of the same order. No one expected that. For Paladins, especially ones related to the selfless Desmos, to attack a defenseless village. The rest of my team fought back but.. Desmos did not. Desmos couldn't bring himself to fight at all until the end when the wizard was in great danger. The DM made me pick between Desmos' team, and Desmos' Oath. Ultimately.. we won the battle thanks to Desmos' help. The rest of the story followed their adventure with Desmos entirely distraught and lost. Lost at the fact that he broke the very oath he held himself to for years. The Third Session brought Desmos back, his armor changed to a darkened black rather than the Holy White n' Gold he used to have. His Halberd too changed. Becoming bigger, sharper, more violent and with a heavier hammer on the end. This was the session Desmos was officially considered an "Oathbreaker." It was crazy to watch him go through an arc of essentially betrayal from his Paladins. Ones who held themselves to the same oath he did. To acceptance and forgiveness of his situation. Using it as deep consideration of one thing. Desmos was finally free.
There's a paladin NPC that's one of the connections between the party. Prynn has been at the party's side since the end of Act 1, and he's the mentor and closest friend of two of the player's characters. He was the presiding minister over two of the PCs getting married. The PCs recently discovered why this sweet man always wears a wedding band, but with no partner. This is the music I will play when Prynn finally has that breakdown that's been coming since he promised to be her knight in shining armor forever while she bled to death in his arms. Prynn will not take it out on the party - oh contraire - Prynn, the nicest guy they know, is going to beseech the party to help him get his vengeance. To bring it all full circle and kill the man that murdered the love of his life.... But the murderer didn't do it by his own volition. He was being influenced. His mind was being poisoned... He's a different man now... Prynn will never see that. Prynn has changed his oath. It's perfect, no notes.
"To my Oath, I have befallen you. I had held my heart and yours together in one, only to shatter them in twine. I had swore my life to this journey and to recieve your everlasting blessings. To which I have broken not my, but thou's faith. I fear in these moments that I lay here, you could still accept me with some embrace no matter the amounts of pain I hath inflicted in what I sought for in your name. Twas I foolish to think that my love for you was enough to show my faith in you the same? I hold every moment of which you are my Goddess and my Love the same. But tis now that I can see, my actions are harboured in fear. Tis now I see, I have betrayed not only myself but you as well. To my Oath, To my God, To my Love... I take these final steps to ask of you to forgive me. Or set me to rest with pain in what was once filled with love." *In the moments he lays on the ground. He looks above. Above the embers, above the buildings, above the mountains, and above the stars. His faith no longer of value, and his heart no longer full. His eyes glisten beneath the cold steel covering his face. He reaches out with a open hand, asking for one final moment of acceptance. To ask for peace. To ask for his love. For in his final moments we do not know. Her voice can be heard echoing a melody in memory of him, but is this for his Serenity or his Sorrow?* To this I ask my own love, but I fear she too will not answer. And for this night, I wish for all to accept their wrongs and rights, their lies and unspoken truths, their thoughts and their actions. Know, you may be harmed, and you may have harmed. Do not let everything be a cycle of pain, do not feed your wrongs with your own mind. Find the truth, find your forgiveness, find where your heart lies and heal it. Whether you can mend it on your own or not. Take all of your own time and seek forgiveness in yourself and those you love. I wish you all luck, with this night falling to an end. I forgive you all this once, for I do not know if I'll see you all again. I only hope, I can recieve forgiveness as well. Sing with me, for our Serenity and Sorrow.
"You broke your Oath, Paladin." "Good." "What? What do you mean?" "I mean I'm glad that i broke it. Happy- ecstatic, even." "But why? You once said that your Oath gave you purpose." "Once upon a time, maybe... But what purpose was that? To serve some... Malevolent god? For a purpose that i never believed in? For a objective that I never wanted to come to fruition? No. My purpose is not to serve. My purpose is what ever I damn well say it is..." "What will you do now?" "I don't know. and that... that is beautiful. Maybe I'll buy a cabin in the middle of some forest in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I'll hunt down the deity I once served. Either way, it will be of my volition. No one will take my freedom again. Not now. Not ever. For the ground beneath me, the planet i stand on, will break before my will ever does."
"Even in the deepest shadows, the light never truly fades. It's not lost, only waiting for you to seek it again. Redemption isn’t about erasing the past, but forging a new path forward, guided by the light you once swore to uphold."
"unto the sword I was born, and unto the sword I pledged my life, but unto the sword I shall not die, for my blade is my pillar, and I, it's foundation"
Paladin: "My oath betrayed me, and I lost more then i have gained... unchained, I will seek my own light in the darkness I surround myself in... for the oath i took, bathed in it's righteousness, I was blinded by the false justice and lies..."
I may have broken my oath but you will never break my will nor my sword. For I am the breaker of oath and skulls. Come and witness what must be done to save this godforsaken world.
"I am sorry comrades. Sorry I could not save you. Sorry I have forsaken all we stood for. But I have saved myself, and I will do what I must to ensure such a tragedy as this never happens again."
"I gaze upon the Ethereal Horizon, my face shown, my mask shattered, my oath, forlorn. Ostracized from the Sentinel Order, I am alone. My last few breathes are not of scorn, not of lament though, but of acceptance. For my trail burns brighter than any oath I've enounced. My legacy is bestowed unto them. (his safeguarded) I ask naught for praise, or gifts. I supplicate for forgiveness, to my Ethereal Lord, for my past sins, my sacrilege for I was but a foolish man." - A Sentinel Warden's last thoughts before his fall
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. You are going to be held to account for the things you’ve done in the end do you know that?"
"You can break many things, your friendships, your promises, but the oath you broke. You didn't just break a promise, you broke everyone's trust who took the oath with you. I hope your glad about it, because now there will be nothing left for you to break."
Psalm 23, KJV 1) The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. 2) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me besides still waters, he restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, for His name sake. 3) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for thou art with me. Thy rod & thy staff, they comfort me. 4) Thou preparest a table for me before the presence of my enemies. 5) Thou annointest my head with oil; my cup overfloweth. 6) Surely goodness & mercy shall follow me all the days of my life & I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.
I've broken my oath, in so many ways ive done everything wrong, ive hurt everyone around me, lost my home because of it, hurt my father, broke my mother, but it gets worse, i destroyed every being that i call myself. ive ruined every bit of me that i would claim is my "personality" ive broken every wall ive built up and replaced them with pure hate of myself, "i have no enemies" however i do have one, tis myself, has been all along, the enemy within the True enemy all along, was staring at me in the mirror, the one who destroyed my happiness and broke my oath, i thought my oath would be destroyed by someone elses actions, someone who i could call an opponent, die fighting against, but instead it was me who burned down my home, it was me who held the torch all along. people say happiness eventually comes but its been nothing but dark days for me, after my grandma died i used it as an excuse, then the loses kept piling up, i thought it would get better i HAD that false hope. but the cold crept in dragging me out from the hole i hid in, soon the ways for me to cope became obsolete, it was just me and the cold, me and the loneliness. people say they are lonely all the time but no, they have never felt the truest form of loneliness, one where you dont have a personality to hide behind one where you dont even have yourself to talk to, so yes, yes i broke my oath and while i wish to say it got better the only thing i can say is i have learned, i learned the world even when the world has turned its back on me
"Yes... yes, I did. My lord." "I thought you had honor, Gustav." "Forgive me my lord, but it is a thing for dead men." "I shall have no snakes in this household. Sir Gustavo of Córdoba, we have needs for your services any longer, I hereby revoke your title as a Paladin. Guards seize his sword." "Come then. You'll be taking it off my corpse, Abrantes."
“The world hated me. Because they didn’t know what I sacrificed. I was given only the choice to, live the villain or die a failure. And only one meant their survival.”
“So many vows. They make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Obey your father. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. What if your father despises the king? What if the King massacres the innocent?” - Jaime Lannister, Oathbreaker, ASOIAF “My oaths betray each other till there’s nothing left to keep.”
Sorcerer: "What happened to you? You were the White Rider, the Holy Crusader, the Radiant One's Chosen..." Paladin: "I was..." Sorcerer: "What happened?!" Paladin: "I saw...the truth of it. I served a goddess who stood for so much. Time and time again I fought for what was right, for what She stood for. But when I asked for Her blessing, for even a trickle of help...Silence. In truth, She cares for naught but herself, and I refused to be a part of Her lies any longer." Sorcerer: "What of the other Knights, the other Paladins?" Paladin: "What of them? I do not know, and I do not care. For I am free from their chains." Sorcerer: "Do you ever second guess that choice. To leave the order I mean." Paladin: "No. I may have broken my Oath...But I am still a fighter, and I will fight for what's right. But no longer will my accomplishments be under her name. ...Under her lie." Sorcerer: "Hmph. Well, we'd better get some sleep, the fire's dying out." Paladin: "Good night, old friend."
Liking not for the somber tone, but for the ironic fact that such a somber sound stirs so many feelings in me. It makes me want to write stories about these Oathbreakers. This is what Music actually is. It does not need Words, the message will play to those who listen.
I feel not for what I've done, Nor do I fear for what's begun. I've stayed my blade and kept the peace, And all I got was friends, deceased. God gave me wrath to do as needed, And ensured that I was not impeded. So this final prayer I offer not, Forgiveness I have never sought, A warning sits inside these words, So pray that they are never heard. If corruption spreads across these lands, Take my shield and sword in hands, And fight till God himself demands, A sacrifice too deep, too grand. Your wrath will fuel the next who stands.
My paladen touched a cused alter while in a dungeon, his soul was twisted, changed. What was once a kind, generous knight, turned to a killer, who only cared for himself.
in my Dnd Campaign my Paladin broke his oath in his backstory, not because he wanted to change his ways, saw right from wrong, or intended to do better, but because he failed. He failed to fight and win, failed both his order and his Kin, and as such both disappeared from his life, extinguished like a flame, only the ashes left for him to wonder, "why did I fail". Now my Oath-breaker travels in search of purpose, redemption or perhaps just death, to find hope and light in a tunnel that has none in sight, and perhaps never will, only the fighting spirit remains. Pray for my paladin, for his life is Torment and his struggle never ending.
"As the silence oath was broken, the crowd stood silent, as the one who swore to never talk uttered words of high significance. They would remain mute, forever after."
"I took an Oath, One I thought was for the greater good. One I thought was to save, to set free, and to fight for good. Now I carry this burden upon me, that not even those above in Heaven can halt their demise, for the very gods I took an oath, the very ones I shall bring down, bit by bit."
Never would I have imagined to meet a monster so kind it inspired love. Never would I have taken action against man, were it not for the pleas of one scared monster.
_"We have sacrificed so much for the salvation of our home... but we knew there was nothing left to save, our home was long since lost. Yet we chose to persevere, to cling to hope with bloodied hands crawling from the mires of ash and bone of our own creation. But how many battles have we fought together? How many legends have we dragged through the mud? How many of our kin have fallen from our orders? All till only us remained, and still we fought so that the sun may rise on us again and that our brothers may find rest."_ _"But after everything... is this what you would ask of me? To break my oath? To betray what remains?"_ _"I cannot turn back on them. I cannot abandon them. I cannot bare to face those before us should I do so."_ _"My brother. My fellow blade. I'm sorry. But I cannot break my oath, not even for you. It's... it's all I have left now."_ _"En garde."_
"I was never the best Paladin. I'm mature enough to admit it. I hold my oaths to the best of my ability and repent when i break them. You? You were the best of us, a beacon of what a Paladin should aspire to be like. You fulfilled your oath to the letter, you smited all who would either stand in your way or chose mayhem. I wanted to be like you... I believed I could be a Paladin of equal stature. But when the mob decided that you were should be burnt at the stake, I saw this world for what it truly was. Not a fragile world that needed to be cherished, not a world to be smothered in protection, no! Not. A world. Worth. Saving. They burnt you to ash despite everything you did for them and in return they murdered you. No... I believed I could stand side by side with you. But now? I know I'll never be seen as a great Paladin like you. Why? Because I'm shackeld. Shackled by my oath. Shackled from doing to them what they so rightfully deserve... genocide. But no more... from now on... my chains. Are. Broken. And there will be nothing that can stop me from burning this world to the ground."
"Yes. I did break it. We have faced countless monsters. Faced hordes of beings that spoke in tongues incomprehensible to man. I watched friends die. Some quietly. Some torn to pieces. Some eaten. Throughout all of these traumas... I realized i had faith in my god, but my god had no faith in me. I cannot follow such teachings if it only results in being a victim, and never a victor. I... I cant believe every single prayer I made... went unheard and unanswered. I was never blessed, I was simply a fool. These were not morals, merely chains that bound my hands when I should have acted. My loyalty is to no god. No king. Only those I love, can touch, and feel."
‘‘Twas a choice made on this evening; die and remain aligned; or go against oneself and live I breathe though I do not weep I dream though I do not sleep I hurt but I do not feel; So is discomfort real? Each time I re Heal occurrence
sometimes you must break an oath to know a grander truth, much like drowning you only see the blur of fading vision and are lead to not see the surface, the truth you were pulled away from by the weight of your current situation.
I haven't finished Baldur's Gate 3. I got too busy making lots of different characters. Still, one of my favorite parts about breaking my Paladin's Oath was getting to speak with the Oathbreaker Knight and hearing his story.
"Perhaps, I was not a practitioner of my Oath, but a slave to it. Those very ideals I once pledged myself to so fervently, they now seem so hollow after I've parted."
Do you regret breaking that oath? "Yes" So if you could, you'd go back and reverse that mistake? "No" Then you'll suffer for eternity "Yes" Was it worth it? "Yes"
The men and women looked upon my blood armor. It now shone in the sunlight of blood instead of polished metal. I hugged the child close to my chest, feeling her intense shivering even through all the metal. I may have saved her from him, but the memory of this will live on forever. I had other things on my mind, however. I looked around at everyone, my once brave brothers and sisters in arms, each one looked away when our gazes met. Though none made a sound, their eyes screamed of horror and shock. I could feel the room spinning around as though forcing me to face each and every person that mattered to me. Ten my stomach sank as I finally met his gaze. The man I held dearest since we were children. I sat there in my suffocating silence as he stared me down, his face a mixture of both rage and heartbreak as he finally broke the silence. "You cut down he who is most holy... Now there is no one left to protect us..?" "I-He was going to kill her.. I had no other choice.." He turned away, unable to look me in the eyes any longer. "I.. I had no.." I choked out before the rest caught in my throat. With his back still turned, he heaved a sigh with a heavy heart. "Take her. Justice will be served at dawn."
“I held true to my oath, guarding my charge against all. Even as the world crumbled and the kingdom, the crown I served perished, I failed my oath and it failed me. I am strong enough to endure, I was strong enough to prevent. Yet to my oath I remained shackled.
I don't sleep so well these days. Mostly I look back on all of the good I have done, and the bad. Such immoral mathematics takes time. Back when I first recited my vow, everyone who I trained with made reasonable choices. Vengeance, Conquest, and Crown. These were war times. I thought vengeance was the right path after losing my father on the field, however when it came time to recite my words, I could not.. I could not abandon my heart. The Devotion I had to my family, to those I learned alongside, laughed alongside, and cried alongside was what always had guided me. My foundation was love. That's all gone now. My kinsmen are long dead, and the common folk are horrified of me, but they are safe. I have abandoned my love so that others may live and love on their own. And so it truly is my honor to be your enemy, and to destroy your enemies. Do not applaud me, do not mind me, and do not get in my way. Do these things and find love, then all will be right in the world.
"You realize... too late, much too late how flimsy works are. Pretty Oaths and flowery Pacts... " "So you cast it away to be stronger? Greater? You threw away sacred Oaths and tenets for power?" "I threw it away for survival. I threw it away because to hold to something as intangible as words, made me blind to the sheer reality around me."
a chilled air permeated the night. a cold sweat ran down my forehead merging with a trickle of blood into my mouth. the taste of iron was unsettling, yet comforting somehow. in front of me lay my companion. armor caved in where my sword connected. the rended holes where i pierced, poured blood. the oath has been broken. the nightmare can end but where one ends, another begins... i had to do it. i was blinded by rage
I'd love to see a story where a group of paladins from a "just" god all break their oath when that same god pushes their order to do something horrific (such as attacking a village, like one comment mentioned), not just one of them raising their sword at the others. Don't get me wrong, that's a super sick trope and I love it, but I think this has potential. Imagine their powers, instead of becoming full death-themed oathbreaker abilities, their oath rather changes from, say, Devotion, to Redemption. Their goal being to either open the eyes of their fellow paladins that still serve their old god, or maybe they are trying to redeem their god, to turn him/her back to the good god they thought they were serving. Edit: Ohh, what if paladins within this group all changed to different oaths? Some of them bear the Oath of Redemption, as I said, others may bear the Oath Of Vengeance as they tear through the most disillusioned of their original order. Some never regained any power, crushed by the realization. Most of these now ordinary citizens aren't technically part of the new order, but are protected by it all the same.
Diablo has something like this with the Crusaders who left the order of Paladins and took up new oaths seeking to cleanse the paladin order of corruption.
"Why should i regret my Choice? That would mean I feel shame for my broken Oath but it was the right Choice to do so... so, no. No regret, no shame. Only broken Chains..."
"My sword was snapped in half, my armor rent to shreds, and my Oath was naught but a chain-noose around my neck. Either my Oath would break, or I would. I made my choice, I still stand, and my foe now lies broken at my feet."
"But at what cost?"
@@Asian_Jesus. The cost is mine to bear. I accept it, willingly
@@Asian_Jesus. Everything
Mmmmmm feet 😋
Heresy, execution ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I welcome everyone to a place where everyone is suddenly a poet and story teller.
I mean that's D&D lol
Inspiration that comes from a good image, good music, and a theme.
Real
it's that bardic inspiration man
That's the thing though, I've always been a story teller.
“took an oath to fight for peace…
So did you…
ALL of you…” - the warden
ah i see what you did there
@@JoshuaMarkham-m3m I love you for that thank you may you live long and may you always have a great idea of what you want to do when you forget to go do something.....
"Darkness will obey your summons. The dead will march to your rhythm. Even now, these shadows gather around you. They sense cracks in your armor. They yearn to be used, to be inflicted."
- The Oathbreaker Knight
Is that from BG3 by any chance? I have never played a Paladin, so I don't know.
@@ВладиславБулаев-л3э yes!
@@ВладиславБулаев-л3э It is indeed from bg3
I’m writing a book current and would like to use this as inspiration for a mantra. I will change words but the idea is infatuating
@@ВладиславБулаев-л3э This is indeed from bg3
The paladin stood amidst the desolation, his breath echoing through the hollow remnants of the city. His once-gleaming armor, now tarnished and scarred, bore witness to his relentless pursuit of a victory that had come at an unimaginable cost. The blade he clutched, still glowing with an eerie, unnatural red, was a stark reminder of the power he had sought and the oath he had shattered. The moon hung like a sliver of a sickle in the sky, casting a cold, indifferent light on the ruins below.
He had sacrificed everything-friends, comrades, his very soul-for the promise of euphoria, through domination, and power. Yet, as he gazed upon the lifeless landscape, the weight of his actions crushed him. The silence was suffocating, filled with the ghosts of the fallen and the echoes of dreams turned to ash. Victory, in its most hollow form, had left him standing alone in a world he had conquered but could no longer recognize or belong to. The promises made to him felt like cruel illusions, fading into the void of his regrets.
The paladin knelt, planting his sword into the ground. The power he had gained now felt like a curse, a mockery of the ideals he once held dear. He whispered to the winds, a final oath-one not of glory, but of remorse and penance. "I have broken my oath, and in doing so, I have broken the world. May my name be forgotten, my deeds erased by time, for in victory, I have found my deepest defeat." And with that, he closed his eyes, surrendering to the embrace of the new dawn, hoping for a redemption that lay beyond the horizon, in a world where his choices no longer haunted the remnants of his soul.
The end of a beautiful and tragic story yet to be written
Bro, this goes so hard!!!
You just made my day.
This reminds me of my ocs backstory so much and I just 🙏 bless you
Is it ok if I use this in a dnd campaign? This is amazing writing and I want to use it at the end of a session, kind of like when a video game ends with a black screen with dialogue. I think this is perfect for that.
He's not a Paladin but a lot of the story beats in this remind me of Horus Lupercal from Warhammer.
"Do you regret it? Breaking you're oath?"
". . .Regret is for those that feel as though they would have done things differently . . .I have no such feeling."
Do you regret it? Using the contraction "you're" instead of the possessive, "your?"
@@Suiki1lol, can’t just let the guy have fun can we?
@@Suiki1grammar police over here
@@Suiki1 alert, alert, grammar nazi detected, alert, alert, grammar nazi detected
@@phillipviands702 at least one that has humor
"You've broken your oath, paladin.
You've watched your kingdom fall,
You've laid your family to rest,
You've led this place to ruin.
A betrayer has no place in heaven,
A sinner, no place on earth.
And yet you insist on fighting,
Asking for a final dance, to redeem yourself.
To pay the toll of blood,
To sacrifice your own soul,
To take your sworn enemy,
Down to the depths with you.
Well then,
So be it."
All of the comments here are about paladins breaking their oaths because they realize their beliefs are actually evil. But the idea of a paladin breaking his oath because of incompetence or lapse in judgement and becoming an outcast seeking redemption afterwards is way cooler imo. Cool poem.
all who have lived have sinned. In that way all sinners belong on earth until their time comes. Then they ascend or descend based on the way they oriented their lives and whether they glorified their creator or not.
@@snakebae6259 oh hey, thanks :D
@@Allister_1 interesting, i never thought about that
"Why did you break your Oath?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Curiosity, genuinely."
"...You ever believe in something so fiercely that it blinds you to all shortcomings, including your own?"
"I... cant say that I have."
"Well, then you are far wiser than I. I believed in my order, loved my brothers and sisters, believed that we were doing something good. That we were Just. But one day, we struck at a township. It was defenseless, no more than a small village of farmers and merchants. "It was gods will" my fellow oath bearers would say. But as I stood amidst the burning buildings, salted fields, my companions blade pointed at a child crying over her fallen parents... I couldn't help but see that there was no justice at all to be found in our actions."
"So yes, I broke my Oath to my order. I raised my blade against my fellow knights."
"...Do you regret it?"
"...Yes. I regret not doing it sooner."
Meanwhile, my spirit guides are tormenting me for me breaking an oath to not play games on certain days of the week.
Truly the times we live in.
Rorschach's line is perfect for this,
"suddenly you discover humanity? convenient"
🔥🔥🔥
You've got some serious writing chops my friend
Glory to you, Oathbreaker
A player I have for dnd 5e made an Aasimar paladin, and he is a twin brother to a tiefling. They were both born and raised to be what my swtting calls "White Wardens" that protected the people in their town. The Aasimar was treated with true love and revered by his peers while his brother was typically cast aside and outshined for simply being "devil spawn" to them. There came a night after an angel had saved his brothers life, marking him as chosen by the gods. The tiefling met a devil and was promised everything he wanted and more, the only thing he needed to hear was that someone would see him for what he was worth.
The only love he had ever felt was that of his brother, whom he hates just as much as he loves.
To this day the only person who has any shred of faith in him is his brother.
"I would be careful, The Grey Warden flies overhead and mercilessly kills any unfortunate enough to be caught in his gaze. The most spiteful, foul creature in the world. Does it not know love?" ~A simple guard
I also have an Asimar vengeance paladin who awakened his powers after his people were slaughtered by the cult of the dragon. His ultimate goal is to slay Tiamat by any means necessary. But after defeating her he relinquishes his oath of vengeance and becomes an oath of redemption, eventually using these powers to redeem Zarial. (All if my character doesn't die).
@GamerNaz6172 W character I wish the best
"You've broken your Oath, Paladin."
"What you call an oath forced me to give up my humanity, for the sake of following the code it preached. I had to either abandon it or abandon my reason, passion and everything that makes me a man. So yes. I chose to be myself instead of an unthinking slave to a code that would destroy me."
"Is that all you have to say in your defense?"
"Only that I pity you. Your faith in the oath, to hold so fast to it. To stay blind and loyal. Not a day goes by I wish I could go back. But then I remember why I broke it in the first place. I pity you, for I know you keep yourself this way."
"You know what I am here to do."
"Then do what you must...if you can."
I read the oathbreaker parts in anthony hopkin's voice. Man that was awesome
Sir, this is a Wendys.
gah damn that paladin's waist is SNATCHED
sorry to inform you, but by posting this comment you have broken your oath, paladin
yeah armor in that time liked to emphasize cinched waists
@@DatCrazyOokamii Even guys. Especially guys. Fashion changes.
@@TealWolf26 yeah I meant to include that specifically.
bc it's made by AI
Just broke my oath in BG3 and this shows up minutes later? wtf
They’re listening
SAME
What’s BG3?
@@HolySaint237 the best DND game if you ask me, you should check it out
@@HolySaint237Baldur's Gate 3, outstanding game sorta based in the Dnd 5e system
The Prince now on his knees crying atop the ruins of his castle. “You Swore! To our kingdom, our country, our faith! Why!? Why have you done this!? How could you turn your blade on us!?” The prince cried out to his former paladin. The Paladin turned his head back and spoke, “Our kingdom? Our country? Our faith? What kingdom orders the slaughter of innocents? What country has the right to let its inhabitants rot in sorrow? What faith stabs its patrons in the back when in need of help?” The Paladin turns around completely placing his sword into the ground. “You led me to believe that my lover could be restored to health had I followed your kingdoms orders…” The Paladin now speaking in a harsher tone, “Your country did nothing to stop the spread of the plague upon its lower class citizens!” The Paladin looks down at the ground for a moment before raising his head and voice, “YOUR FAITH PROMISED TO SAVE HER! INSTEAD YOU FED HER FALSE SCRIPTURE, AND KILLED HER ONCE REALIZING SHE HAD THE PLAGUE!” The Prince looked toward the ground. tears beginning to flow freely as he wept. The prince finally spoke, “I’m sorry… we couldn’t save her… we couldn’t save anyone… we tried to combat and hold off the plague as much as we could. But it was far too deadly, and spread too easily. There was nothing we could do.” The Paladin took a step back, lowering his tone and voice. “Prince, if you truly believed your kingdom did everything, then you are a fool. Your nobles, the ones in masterhood of their districts and towns. They did not so much as lift a finger. They sat in their manors and waited for the plague to end, saving their doctors and wealth only for themselves. Everyone is dead because you could not see the greed within your courts and councils. You failed. As have I. I turned my backs to you, slaughtered your counts and duchesse. Killed even those that were innocent. Worst of all, I believed in your lies to save my wife. Only for her to meet the same fate as all the others. I take my leave now, Prince. Your kingdom is no more. Should we meet our ends, I pray that we only be judged fairly.”
"I have not broken my oath, but you, my liege, have. You vowed to give me power so long as I did your bidding, and I did just that, yet the one time my armor cracks and my sword shatters, I am torn asunder? No, my lord, you are the traitor. I did as you asked, my enemy lay empty at my feet, yet you stand above and claim my trust false. It is not me who needs to apologize, but you. You, who would sit on a throne while wars wage, and people die. You, who claims to be all holy, yet turns a blind eye to those who need me. You who sits above and claims themself true to their word, yet would betray their most powerful ally in a moment of doubt. You shall be judged. Maybe not by man, maybe not by god, but by your own moral compass and the people you have wronged. You will be judged, and you will face divine persecution."
"Hey, can i ask you a... personal question?"
"Speak..."
"What are you?"
"I... was like you, a paladin, but a human no less."
"So, what happened? you don't seem so... human"
"...Have you ever had to choose between yourself or the most valuable thing for you?"
"I Believe not, but you chose yourself over your oath then?"
"No... I chose old... partners, they are now gone, i like to believe i did what was right, but as time passes it doesn't seem like my choice had the impact i wished it had."
"But I still do not understand... can you be more clear?"
"I Fought things that you could never imagine existed, older than time itself, creatures from when nothing was and should never be, before existence even was a thing, but fire is fought with fire, and to win against that i had to wield it. you can imagine the cost..."
"So at least you won right?"
"Not exactly..."
"How so?"
"Time will tell you..."
"What do you mean by that?"
"... Kid, there will come a time where you will have to choose, like i did, so find another way, i do not wish this curse to fall upon you"
"Curse?"
"... I've said enough..."
"The oath is unbroken. I still stand, It is only a new test my god wishes me to endure."
Time and time again I’ve asked my god to grant me the strength I need. But they aren’t answering prayers anymore, and I’ve still got a war to win.
Every day I wake up happy I'm given the strength to be alive, everyone struggles different I didn't even know I'd been revived every time it happened I just understood I was back where I belong, drug free for years now 🙏
God will answer your prayers, you just gotta keep praying my friend. There will be a time when God does and that will be the perfect time, you just gotta have patience like God goes himself. And remember, through God, all things are possible. "I can do all things through him (God) who strengthens me" - Phillipians, Chapter 4 Verse 13
God is the chain breaker, promise keeper, light in the darkness.
He always answers, brother. Just never in the way you would expect him to. To maximize virtue, we must suffer. For how can one be courageous if he never feels fear, how can one feel empathy if there was no pain? Know this, that no matter how many times you may fall, he will always be there to guide along the path.
"y-you broke your oath!"
"Child, no oath is stronger than will. And will is what makes an oath."
"Everyone is an oathbreaker at some point. You swear to oaths to kin, king, and country and at one point they will conflict and you will have to choose. Does that mean I am not guilty of what I did. Of course not. When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty, and my oath would have had me become a tyrant. All I am saying is do not sentence me to death by stoning when you have done the same."
This indeed ☝️
A lone figure stood amongst the ruins, his armour blacker than the darkest night, grew darker with each foe slain. His sword, seemed to draw in all the Karma in the world as it swung. leaving a grave wound on every foe hit.
Legend claims of a hero who would return and save us, who would purge the world of its sin. Little did we know it would be us, that was slaugtered. His oath was to protect the innocent and just, but there was no justice left. he had freed the world of an unjust regime before, and he was more than willing to do so again...
Sorcerer: "Hey man, I always wanted to ask but how does one becomes a redemption paladin?"
Paladin: "It happens when one is burden with some much sin you must seek salivation, otherwise you drowned by your past..."
Sorcerer: " You couldn't have been so bad...you told us you were a slave before you became a paladin, what could you have done that warrant that respond?"
Paladin: " I was a slave yes, but that was only one part of it. I was a gladiator in the slave pits, I was *bred* to die like an animal for the amusement of others. I wanted to live so badly I kept beating the odds of survival, but with every victory meant only delaying my death. Kill or be killed, that is the way my life was for 10 years until one match that was fated to be my end. High end mercenary wanted to have some *fun* in the gladiatorial pits, I was set up to lose and die for his enjoyment... when I was on the ground bleeding looking up in the smiling face of my killer I almost embraced my sad life to be over, but then HE spoke. The God of Dominion appeared next to my would be ender of my life, time seamlessly stop."
God Of Dominion: "So this is it then? The Joke of The Pits~ meets his end because he is took weak to stand! Where was all that strength and will to live to seen tomorrow as gone?!? Well SPEAK!"
Paladin: "I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired that I have to kill so many people some my fellow slaves just to live for a spot of rotten hay and moldy bread to eat!"
GOD: "Then you must fight! You wish to change your sad life , THEN CHANGED IT!"
Paladin: "HOW?!"
GOD: "By stop holding back! Embrace what you were meant to be! A man who will do anything to live, destroy, conquer, DOMINATE! Be all I hoped you would be! *The God disappears as time resume*
Paladin: "So I did what I had too, grab some sand threw it in his face and grab a rock and mashed his face until his spine sticking out from his neck was all that was left."
*The Paladin rolls up his right sleeve seeing sacred flesh text on the upper arm reads as follows*
Douse the Flame of Hope. It is not enough to merely defeat an enemy in battle. Your victory must be so overwhelming that your enemies’ will to fight is shattered forever. A blade can end a life. Fear can end an empire.
Rule with an Iron Fist. Once you have conquered, tolerate no dissent. Your word is law. Those who obey it shall be favored. Those who defy it shall be punished as an example to all who might follow.
Strength Above All. You shall rule until a stronger one arises. Then you must grow mightier and meet the challenge, or fall to your own ruin.
Sorcerer: My Gods...you were a paladin of conquest.
Paladin: *nods* After the match every slave master wanted me as there *elite* Gladiator. I was handed down by many you wanted me to win fights for them, you would think being someone of importance to them now would be treated better, but in fact it was worse. *A wicked smile across the Paladin's face* They feared me, saw the new found strength that they couldn't understand and before they knew it, I was the last face they saw before they died."
Sorcerer: "The Slave Rebellion, you never told us you were the one who started it."
Paladin: "I was the spearhead of the rebellion, used my new divine powers to strike the slave masters down with their own whips, I did what the God of Dominion saw in me, A man who is willing to do anything to live. It didn't stop though, before I realize what I was doing, I become the Master and was taking all of the children of the slave masters and throwing them in cages, treating them like they are animals. I was filled with so much hate I just flipped the roles of the city instead.... I just wanted to live, but I had another dream I wished to be free, truly free from my past. So after the rebellion I ran away into the dessert, got lost for awhile, had some time to reflect what I have done. Oppression cannot resolve oppression I needed to change, but just like before my live was at a crossroads the God appeared again.
God of Dominion: The Hero of the Slaves~ running away like a coward! This isn't how I designed you!
Paladin: "You didn't make me, I made myself!"
GOD: " Oh really so the divine powers that you have did not let you change your fate? You are nothing without your powers *Paladin* you really going to throw it all away?"
Paladin: "YES I wished to be free from YOU! I will let my own strength be my new way, I will never be chain my anyone ever again! Be a strong person for those who need it most, help the people who stray away from the path, be a good person to influence others to give more then they take!"
GOD: *scruffs* "You are a disappoint aren't you. Fine lead your own path, no more powers from me, but the marks on your flesh are forever you will never escape the sins. *Gone once more*
Paladin: "So I was truly free from that moment, so I did what I promise to myself and help those who need help for many years until one day I met you sorry lot. *Sad smile* So be glad that you found me because otherwise you guys might I have died with lack of nourishment with your cooking skills."
Sorcerer: "Hey my cooking isn't that bad!"
*Both Stare into the flames of the campfire*
Sorcerer: "You are so much stronger then I, facing down a God I don't know how well I could have handle it. I heard that breaking a paladin's oath is soul crushing are you sure you are alright?"
Paladin: "It was a long time ago, and besides breaking one's oath doesn't always mean to be a bad thing, change is a good thing even if it can hurt sometimes. If you can learn anything that I have said, you cannot change what life gives you at the beginning but you can choose how the story continues."
I stare in breathless agony, the blood slowly dripping from my hands. Staring into the lifeless eyes before me. A child. She was only a child. The Litch King had found her and made her his thrall! To be used as a weapon then discarded after the job was done! I had found her abandoned at an old shed. I took her in, fed her, clothed her, told her stories by the fire at night like she was my own child. He had approached her while I was getting supplies in town. I should have done something different, told her to come with me or to stay with the elderly couple down the road! But she only smiled and waved as I departed. "Have fun shopping Miss Paladin! Don't forget to bring me the teddy you promised!" A small token of affection, a reward really. She had been through so much in such a small amount of time. The famine, her parents deaths, and the dangers of my adventures. I had promised her last evening. (Only hours before.) That I would gift it to her if she promised to stay hidden if I was in danger or someone unknown approached our camp while I was away. She swore a tiny oath of her own to hide, sealed with a pinky promise. An innocent way to imitate the hero who saved her.
The stuffed bear in question now lay covered in mud on the road before me. A thin trail of blood now soaking into its cotton. I should have noticed! That the way she acted was different from usual! She was crying silent tears, shaking with fear while standing in the middle of road back to camp. I saw her pain and rushed to comfort her. My heart ached as I held her close, running my fingers through her hair. A meager comfort I always offered when she cried at night. I noticed nothing unusual until she whispered to me. "Miss paladin, I don't want to die." She looked at me with those chocolate brown eyes, misery locked firmly in their pools. "What do you mean Sweetheart? Are you hurt? Did something bad happen?" She broke down to a sob at my motherly concern. "He found me! I hid in the hollow stump like you told me to, but he still found me!" Her tiny body shaking while she choked out those words.
I pulled back to face her, panic rising in my chest. "Who Sweetie, who found you?" "The bone man! The scary skeleton who made the ground icky and sick!" She gasped for air between words, struggling to form them from her lips. My heart plummeted to the bottom of my ribcage. "What did he do to you? Did he touch you, did he say any strange words?" My eyes darted around her tiny frame, looking for signs of tampering on her skin.
"The bone man said some funny words, Miss Paladin. Then he poked my tummy with his finger, laughed, and said I would die today! He went poof after that, so I came looking for you." I scrambled to lift her shirt, praying that it would not be what I thought I would. A sickly green seal in the form of a skull gazed back at me. The mirth in its empty sockets sent a cold sweat down my neck. The seal of a Litches thrall. Almost nothing could disperse its hold, save for the most powerful of divine spells. I quickly recited the prayer of anti-curse, desperate to take her from his grasp. I had almost finished the last verse when a hideous cackle broke the silence. The air grew acrid. Foul tentacles of smoke swirled the ground before us, lapping at our feet. "Do you like my gift o Paladin of Righteousness? I put so much deliberation into it. So I just had to see your reaction myself!" His teeth clack like dry branches snaping from a dead tree, his words burrowed into my skull. "Damn you, you Retch! You loathsome creature made of rot and contamination! Why have you done this!" "It is simple, Paladin. You got in way of my pursuit of immortality." He paused to look at the girl and changed his mind. He revealed his true motive with a broken wail. "I wanted the one loved by the gods themselves, to feel the bitterest taste of loss!" His vacant sockets held years of pent up malice for the Divine. All of it centered onto me, their chosen.
I reached for my sword and gathered power into its hilt. A flash of holy light slashed from my blade, charging toward the source of my anger. The Litch stepped to the side, then disappeared into the inky smoke. I turned to face the girl, dread pumped though my veins. I was to late, the seal had encompassed her whole body. The girl I loved was no more, only a husk remained in her place. She lunged at me with the force of an undead. My reflexes moved my body as my mind screamed for it to stop. The tip of my sword planted itself deep into her chest. Time halted as I stared in disbelief, the edges of my vision faded. Something inside of me broke. I hear a howl of agony, but its so far away. The girls body grows cold as I hold her in my arms. The Litch had long since left us, believing that he had won. And in a way, I suppose he has. I have nothing left. No joy, no sorrow, no pain, no oath. Only a fractured vessel remains of who I once was. The gods have abandoned me in my failure to save her.
A final silent promise passes my lips as I put her in the earth. "I will end the one who killed you, the Litch who made this nightmarish reality. I will do this, so you may have peace wherever you are. Then when all is over, I will fall on my own blade for my mistake." The echoes of silence are all that answer me. I walk into the misty fog, ready to find my foe.
This is peak story writing, I read all of that and I do not regret it. It was seriously really well written you're really creative.
@@Neverbird_ Oh my gosh! Thanks so much bird! It means a lot to me. I'm practicing writing to get better. And hopefully one day I'll publish a book. Seriously, this comment made my day. 🥹💕
i love it, but that's not an oathbreaker anymore. the gods may have abandoned her, but she took up a new oath. she's an Oath of Vengeance now.
@@GinaRanChaosdiver That's exactly what I wanted gina. 😊 It felt odd just ending on a dull note of "and then the litch slayed her with a final blow." or "and she screamed into the void in hopelessness." I wanted to give some ambiguity to the end. One oath broken and another made, so to speak.
This needs to be a book.
They left me no other choice than to break the oath
Hard 🔥🔥
Now time to move on. The mistakes won't undo themselves, the world won't unbroke without strong hand.
The only time a true Paladin would break an oath is to save more lives than he would by keeping it.
To the Paladin, this would be the ultimate sacrifice: The sacrifice of faith and loyalty.
@@jakobrose8278 this is if you follow the goody-two-shoes paladin stereotype..*coughs in oath of vengeance and oath of conquest*
@@TheVeryLastLardeen
To be fair, that's not to say that he didn't choose to become a blackguard by taking in a greater evil within himself and exiled himself so it could harm others no longer.
Think of confining an archdevil within his subconscious and binding it to his soul, balancing light and dark but losing himself never to return to what and who he was.
This music is so subtle, yet so heartbreaking.
It is perfect, pure, unspoken emotion.
"This is the only subclass I haven't played yet my lord." "uuhh what!?"
i did a DND campaign once where it was two fighting teams of players. my team of 4, and an enemy team of 8.
i was an undead half-orc oath breaking paladin on my way to resurrect an evil god, my team was a minitour warrior, drow warlock and some rogue (forget their race).
the second team would always be following behind, cleaning up after our massacres and hell was it messy.
but unlike the second team, we spent all that time building our toons for PVP.
the time came to summon the evil god, forget the name, and we ended up doing a 3v4 and a 1v4, myself taking 4 while i was alone in the summoning chamber.
NOBODY survived my paladins wrath that day, nobody expected such a hardcore PVP focused paladin and i killed them in the most gruesome ways. my team won too!
in the end, god was summoned, the world plunged into disaster.
so much fun. try oath breaker paladin in 5e.
You were the whole boss fight.
FUCK YES!!! That sounds so GD fun. Playing evil PCs is so fun (but maybe I should just DM 😂)
Would you mind sharing some of how you built your character for PVP? also did you enjoy rping your character?
@@damien678 it was like 6 years ago so I don't remember the build too well, but I was mostly CC, keeping players on their ass, stunned all while buffing and healing myself.
I was also a mounted combatant, and my mount had a few knock downs and gave me advantages. It was also real fast and let me dart to almost anyone. I remember it being easy as baiting the melee players around a corner out of the sight of the ranged classes and darting past them to kill the support. I'd then take my time with the last two melee toons.
It was not a quick fight, but if you stack enough buffs, ACs, resistances, stuns, heals, you can kill almost anyone.
But the most important thing is using the map. Los the support and ranged toons and minimize the amount someone can do in a turn. Running away in short, it was overpowered, especially paired with weapons that have a range of two tiles like a glaive.
And yes, the RP was amazing. I actually started off as a lawful good paladin, a half orc born from a terrible orc raid and the rape of his human mother. Raised in a church, he learnt the ways of a paladin to hunt his father's tribe.
Roll a few sessions, rage mixed with the warlocks corrupted words slowly turned me into an undead oathbreaker... And an undead resistant to both blunt and slash is OP.
He turned his back on his old god, burning his old home to the ground, destroying anything on his path to 'fix' the world by summoning his new god. I also remember oathbreakers getting 3 skeletal warrior servants but I only used em for small things like carrying my crap and sending mail.
10/10 would play again.
"I made my choice, it was either break my oath or be a victim of it. Before you pass judgement I ask you now, you who stand before me, you who would sentence me for my choices, if your choice was to to be a monster or a victim... Would you have chosen differently than I?"
The order says I have broken my oath. But they are just on the other side of it now.
"To uphold the oath, I had to break it..."
"Fulgrim rested his hands on the command lectern as the enormity of his last thought settled on him. He could attack the Warmaster’s expedition and destroy it utterly from here. His own warships were closing to the optimal firing distance, and he could unleash a devastating fusillade that would cripple the ability of the 63rd Expedition to respond in any meaningful way.
If Eldrad Ulthran had spoken the truth, then he could end the coming rebellion before it began.
‘Plot firing solutions to the vessels before us,’ he ordered. Within moments, the guns of the 28th Expedition were trained on the Warmaster’s ships, and Fulgrim licked his lips as he realised that he wanted to open fire.
‘My lord’, said a voice beside him. He turned to see Lord Commander Eidolon holding out his sheathed sword, the silver hilt gleaming in the low light of the bridge. Fulgrim felt the dark, smothering weight of its presence settle upon him and said, ‘Eidolon?'
'You asked for your sword’, said the Lord Commander. Fulgrim could not remember issuing the order, but nodded and resignedly reached out to take the proffered weapon. He looped it around his waist as though it was the most natural thing in the world, and as he snapped the golden eagle buckle closed, the desire to order the attack faded like morning mist."
Frostmourne hungers.
this is the background music arthas heard all those years he spent sitting on the frozen throne
"Fear not, though. You are in good company as I am a fallen angel. May we forever live without regret."
I was listening to this, reading through some of the comments and especially loved the D&D ones. It made me remember of one of my own..
He was a Paladin, a fine one. A mere human who wielded a Halberd and thanks to my crew's wizard managed to learn some Fire Magic. Though unlike the others I've seen, he didn't start the session as an Oathbreaker. No.. he was originally a Paladin held by his oath. The first session I ever did with him the people I was with loved him. A selfless Paladin who put others ahead of himself, using his armor's might to protect while his Halberd did the talking. They loved him so much infact, that I used him a second time, then a third.
In the second session he appeared older, more mature, his armor showing signs of wear and tear. When we started it was similar to the first. Desmos being selfless and protecting his team to the best of his abilities. But then in one encounter the DM did something I could have never expected. We were settled in a tavern enjoying a mission completed with little injuries, but then the town we were in was attacked.
Attacked by Paladins, those who wore the same armor as Desmos. Those who believed the same Oath. Those, who were a part of the same order. No one expected that. For Paladins, especially ones related to the selfless Desmos, to attack a defenseless village. The rest of my team fought back but.. Desmos did not. Desmos couldn't bring himself to fight at all until the end when the wizard was in great danger. The DM made me pick between Desmos' team, and Desmos' Oath. Ultimately.. we won the battle thanks to Desmos' help. The rest of the story followed their adventure with Desmos entirely distraught and lost. Lost at the fact that he broke the very oath he held himself to for years.
The Third Session brought Desmos back, his armor changed to a darkened black rather than the Holy White n' Gold he used to have. His Halberd too changed. Becoming bigger, sharper, more violent and with a heavier hammer on the end. This was the session Desmos was officially considered an "Oathbreaker." It was crazy to watch him go through an arc of essentially betrayal from his Paladins. Ones who held themselves to the same oath he did. To acceptance and forgiveness of his situation. Using it as deep consideration of one thing.
Desmos was finally free.
I love the growth and story i'm picturing... beautiful.
"Think of it this way, squire. Putting down a heavy weight won't stop your muscles from feeling sore tomorrow."
There's a paladin NPC that's one of the connections between the party. Prynn has been at the party's side since the end of Act 1, and he's the mentor and closest friend of two of the player's characters. He was the presiding minister over two of the PCs getting married.
The PCs recently discovered why this sweet man always wears a wedding band, but with no partner. This is the music I will play when Prynn finally has that breakdown that's been coming since he promised to be her knight in shining armor forever while she bled to death in his arms. Prynn will not take it out on the party - oh contraire - Prynn, the nicest guy they know, is going to beseech the party to help him get his vengeance. To bring it all full circle and kill the man that murdered the love of his life.... But the murderer didn't do it by his own volition. He was being influenced. His mind was being poisoned... He's a different man now... Prynn will never see that. Prynn has changed his oath.
It's perfect, no notes.
"To my Oath, I have befallen you. I had held my heart and yours together in one, only to shatter them in twine. I had swore my life to this journey and to recieve your everlasting blessings. To which I have broken not my, but thou's faith. I fear in these moments that I lay here, you could still accept me with some embrace no matter the amounts of pain I hath inflicted in what I sought for in your name. Twas I foolish to think that my love for you was enough to show my faith in you the same? I hold every moment of which you are my Goddess and my Love the same. But tis now that I can see, my actions are harboured in fear. Tis now I see, I have betrayed not only myself but you as well. To my Oath, To my God, To my Love... I take these final steps to ask of you to forgive me. Or set me to rest with pain in what was once filled with love."
*In the moments he lays on the ground. He looks above. Above the embers, above the buildings, above the mountains, and above the stars. His faith no longer of value, and his heart no longer full. His eyes glisten beneath the cold steel covering his face. He reaches out with a open hand, asking for one final moment of acceptance. To ask for peace. To ask for his love. For in his final moments we do not know. Her voice can be heard echoing a melody in memory of him, but is this for his Serenity or his Sorrow?*
To this I ask my own love, but I fear she too will not answer. And for this night, I wish for all to accept their wrongs and rights, their lies and unspoken truths, their thoughts and their actions. Know, you may be harmed, and you may have harmed. Do not let everything be a cycle of pain, do not feed your wrongs with your own mind. Find the truth, find your forgiveness, find where your heart lies and heal it. Whether you can mend it on your own or not. Take all of your own time and seek forgiveness in yourself and those you love. I wish you all luck, with this night falling to an end. I forgive you all this once, for I do not know if I'll see you all again. I only hope, I can recieve forgiveness as well. Sing with me, for our Serenity and Sorrow.
beautiful
often times the oath breaks them
"You broke your Oath, Paladin."
"Good."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm glad that i broke it. Happy- ecstatic, even."
"But why? You once said that your Oath gave you purpose."
"Once upon a time, maybe... But what purpose was that? To serve some... Malevolent god? For a purpose that i never believed in? For a objective that I never wanted to come to fruition? No. My purpose is not to serve. My purpose is what ever I damn well say it is..."
"What will you do now?"
"I don't know. and that... that is beautiful. Maybe I'll buy a cabin in the middle of some forest in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I'll hunt down the deity I once served. Either way, it will be of my volition. No one will take my freedom again. Not now. Not ever. For the ground beneath me, the planet i stand on, will break before my will ever does."
the heralds have broken the oathpact
It was the only way. May Taln have mercy when he returns.
"Even in the deepest shadows, the light never truly fades. It's not lost, only waiting for you to seek it again. Redemption isn’t about erasing the past, but forging a new path forward, guided by the light you once swore to uphold."
RIGHT BEFORE I READ THE DESCRIPTION I THOUGHT, "Hmm this would be really good ambience as I play Baldur's Gate 3."
“Please have mercy on me!”
“Mercy?!”
"It's what God tells us to do!"
“You forgot God a long time ago...”
"unto the sword I was born, and unto the sword I pledged my life, but unto the sword I shall not die, for my blade is my pillar, and I, it's foundation"
Paladin: "My oath betrayed me, and I lost more then i have gained... unchained, I will seek my own light in the darkness I surround myself in... for the oath i took, bathed in it's righteousness, I was blinded by the false justice and lies..."
sometimes you have to break the oath that binds your hands in order to truly do good in the world
Faithless and broken, what must ye strife for yet? What future doth thou believe you may grasp?
Haunting. Good stuff man
I may have broken my oath but you will never break my will nor my sword. For I am the breaker of oath and skulls. Come and witness what must be done to save this godforsaken world.
"I am sorry comrades. Sorry I could not save you. Sorry I have forsaken all we stood for. But I have saved myself, and I will do what I must to ensure such a tragedy as this never happens again."
“I have no Honor.”
"Honor? it died in the trenches, along with those men"
"You have no honor..."
"AND YOU ARE A SLAVE TO IT!"
"I gaze upon the Ethereal Horizon, my face shown, my mask shattered, my oath, forlorn. Ostracized from the Sentinel Order, I am alone. My last few breathes are not of scorn, not of lament though, but of acceptance. For my trail burns brighter than any oath I've enounced. My legacy is bestowed unto them. (his safeguarded) I ask naught for praise, or gifts. I supplicate for forgiveness, to my Ethereal Lord, for my past sins, my sacrilege for I was but a foolish man." - A Sentinel Warden's last thoughts before his fall
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. You are going to be held to account for the things you’ve done in the end do you know that?"
Finally, lofi dark ambient - beats to relax/break oaths to
"You can break many things, your friendships, your promises, but the oath you broke. You didn't just break a promise, you broke everyone's trust who took the oath with you. I hope your glad about it, because now there will be nothing left for you to break."
Psalm 23, KJV
1) The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
2) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me besides still waters, he restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, for His name sake.
3) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for thou art with me. Thy rod & thy staff, they comfort me.
4) Thou preparest a table for me before the presence of my enemies.
5) Thou annointest my head with oil; my cup overfloweth.
6) Surely goodness & mercy shall follow me all the days of my life & I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.
I've broken my oath, in so many ways ive done everything wrong, ive hurt everyone around me, lost my home because of it, hurt my father, broke my mother, but it gets worse, i destroyed every being that i call myself. ive ruined every bit of me that i would claim is my "personality" ive broken every wall ive built up and replaced them with pure hate of myself, "i have no enemies" however i do have one, tis myself, has been all along, the enemy within the True enemy all along, was staring at me in the mirror, the one who destroyed my happiness and broke my oath, i thought my oath would be destroyed by someone elses actions, someone who i could call an opponent, die fighting against, but instead it was me who burned down my home, it was me who held the torch all along. people say happiness eventually comes but its been nothing but dark days for me, after my grandma died i used it as an excuse, then the loses kept piling up, i thought it would get better i HAD that false hope. but the cold crept in dragging me out from the hole i hid in, soon the ways for me to cope became obsolete, it was just me and the cold, me and the loneliness. people say they are lonely all the time but no, they have never felt the truest form of loneliness, one where you dont have a personality to hide behind one where you dont even have yourself to talk to, so yes, yes i broke my oath and while i wish to say it got better the only thing i can say is i have learned, i learned the world even when the world has turned its back on me
"Yes... yes, I did. My lord."
"I thought you had honor, Gustav."
"Forgive me my lord, but it is a thing for dead men."
"I shall have no snakes in this household. Sir Gustavo of Córdoba, we have needs for your services any longer, I hereby revoke your title as a Paladin. Guards seize his sword."
"Come then. You'll be taking it off my corpse, Abrantes."
“The world hated me. Because they didn’t know what I sacrificed. I was given only the choice to, live the villain or die a failure. And only one meant their survival.”
"O death, become my blade once more"
Witless Tarnished... Why covet Destined Death? To kill what?
@@cydude5856 Forgive me Marika... The Golden Order... Cannot be restored.
Thank you brother 🧘
Bring the dark fantasy back!
“So many vows. They make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Obey your father. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. What if your father despises the king? What if the King massacres the innocent?”
- Jaime Lannister, Oathbreaker, ASOIAF
“My oaths betray each other till there’s nothing left to keep.”
Sorcerer: "What happened to you? You were the White Rider, the Holy Crusader, the Radiant One's Chosen..."
Paladin: "I was..."
Sorcerer: "What happened?!"
Paladin: "I saw...the truth of it. I served a goddess who stood for so much. Time and time again I fought for what was right, for what She stood for. But when I asked for Her blessing, for even a trickle of help...Silence. In truth, She cares for naught but herself, and I refused to be a part of Her lies any longer."
Sorcerer: "What of the other Knights, the other Paladins?"
Paladin: "What of them? I do not know, and I do not care. For I am free from their chains."
Sorcerer: "Do you ever second guess that choice. To leave the order I mean."
Paladin: "No. I may have broken my Oath...But I am still a fighter, and I will fight for what's right. But no longer will my accomplishments be under her name. ...Under her lie."
Sorcerer: "Hmph. Well, we'd better get some sleep, the fire's dying out."
Paladin: "Good night, old friend."
Ideals can be such fragile things when confronted with reality.
At the close of day, I will be waiting for you.
Liking not for the somber tone, but for the ironic fact that such a somber sound stirs so many feelings in me. It makes me want to write stories about these Oathbreakers.
This is what Music actually is. It does not need Words, the message will play to those who listen.
I feel not for what I've done,
Nor do I fear for what's begun.
I've stayed my blade and kept the peace,
And all I got was friends, deceased.
God gave me wrath to do as needed,
And ensured that I was not impeded.
So this final prayer I offer not,
Forgiveness I have never sought,
A warning sits inside these words,
So pray that they are never heard.
If corruption spreads across these lands,
Take my shield and sword in hands,
And fight till God himself demands,
A sacrifice too deep, too grand.
Your wrath will fuel the next who stands.
"At the close of day, i'll be waiting for you."
My paladen touched a cused alter while in a dungeon, his soul was twisted, changed. What was once a kind, generous knight, turned to a killer, who only cared for himself.
Sounds like a bad game but you do you
This is nice, I can hear my thoughts very clearly and it’s also very relaxing
oathbreaker paladins have objectively the most potential for lore in dnd i love them
in my Dnd Campaign my Paladin broke his oath in his backstory, not because he wanted to change his ways, saw right from wrong, or intended to do better, but because he failed.
He failed to fight and win, failed both his order and his Kin, and as such both disappeared from his life, extinguished like a flame, only the ashes left for him to wonder, "why did I fail".
Now my Oath-breaker travels in search of purpose, redemption or perhaps just death, to find hope and light in a tunnel that has none in sight, and perhaps never will, only the fighting spirit remains.
Pray for my paladin, for his life is Torment and his struggle never ending.
Helps we concentrate when working thanks spiritual brother 👏🏻
"As the silence oath was broken, the crowd stood silent, as the one who swore to never talk uttered words of high significance. They would remain mute, forever after."
"I took an Oath, One I thought was for the greater good. One I thought was to save, to set free, and to fight for good. Now I carry this burden upon me, that not even those above in Heaven can halt their demise, for the very gods I took an oath, the very ones I shall bring down, bit by bit."
Never would I have imagined to meet a monster so kind it inspired love. Never would I have taken action against man, were it not for the pleas of one scared monster.
"So I have... All of this for freedom soaked in blood" 😕
_"We have sacrificed so much for the salvation of our home... but we knew there was nothing left to save, our home was long since lost. Yet we chose to persevere, to cling to hope with bloodied hands crawling from the mires of ash and bone of our own creation. But how many battles have we fought together? How many legends have we dragged through the mud? How many of our kin have fallen from our orders? All till only us remained, and still we fought so that the sun may rise on us again and that our brothers may find rest."_
_"But after everything... is this what you would ask of me? To break my oath? To betray what remains?"_
_"I cannot turn back on them. I cannot abandon them. I cannot bare to face those before us should I do so."_
_"My brother. My fellow blade. I'm sorry. But I cannot break my oath, not even for you. It's... it's all I have left now."_
_"En garde."_
"I was never the best Paladin. I'm mature enough to admit it. I hold my oaths to the best of my ability and repent when i break them. You? You were the best of us, a beacon of what a Paladin should aspire to be like. You fulfilled your oath to the letter, you smited all who would either stand in your way or chose mayhem. I wanted to be like you... I believed I could be a Paladin of equal stature. But when the mob decided that you were should be burnt at the stake, I saw this world for what it truly was. Not a fragile world that needed to be cherished, not a world to be smothered in protection, no! Not. A world. Worth. Saving. They burnt you to ash despite everything you did for them and in return they murdered you. No... I believed I could stand side by side with you. But now? I know I'll never be seen as a great Paladin like you. Why? Because I'm shackeld. Shackled by my oath. Shackled from doing to them what they so rightfully deserve... genocide. But no more... from now on... my chains. Are. Broken. And there will be nothing that can stop me from burning this world to the ground."
"Yes. I did break it. We have faced countless monsters. Faced hordes of beings that spoke in tongues incomprehensible to man. I watched friends die. Some quietly. Some torn to pieces. Some eaten. Throughout all of these traumas... I realized i had faith in my god, but my god had no faith in me. I cannot follow such teachings if it only results in being a victim, and never a victor. I... I cant believe every single prayer I made... went unheard and unanswered. I was never blessed, I was simply a fool. These were not morals, merely chains that bound my hands when I should have acted. My loyalty is to no god. No king. Only those I love, can touch, and feel."
‘‘Twas a choice made on this evening; die and remain aligned; or go against oneself and live
I breathe though I do not weep
I dream though I do not sleep
I hurt but I do not feel;
So is discomfort real?
Each time I re Heal
occurrence
sometimes you must break an oath to know a grander truth, much like drowning you only see the blur of fading vision and are lead to not see the surface, the truth you were pulled away from by the weight of your current situation.
“I have broken the chains that bind”
“Yet I yearn for their weight”
An oath binds your spirit, and yet without it, your body lingers still.
Oh good, you're already praying
I haven't finished Baldur's Gate 3. I got too busy making lots of different characters. Still, one of my favorite parts about breaking my Paladin's Oath was getting to speak with the Oathbreaker Knight and hearing his story.
"Your fault lies not in burying your furies, but in thinking they would accept such a fate."
"speak the words Kaladin"
Let the old oaths be spoken anew.
Life before death
Strength before weakness
Journey before destination
The knights radiant will stand again
Looking for this!
"Perhaps, I was not a practitioner of my Oath, but a slave to it. Those very ideals I once pledged myself to so fervently, they now seem so hollow after I've parted."
Do you regret breaking that oath?
"Yes"
So if you could, you'd go back and reverse that mistake?
"No"
Then you'll suffer for eternity
"Yes"
Was it worth it?
"Yes"
The men and women looked upon my blood armor. It now shone in the sunlight of blood instead of polished metal. I hugged the child close to my chest, feeling her intense shivering even through all the metal. I may have saved her from him, but the memory of this will live on forever. I had other things on my mind, however. I looked around at everyone, my once brave brothers and sisters in arms, each one looked away when our gazes met. Though none made a sound, their eyes screamed of horror and shock. I could feel the room spinning around as though forcing me to face each and every person that mattered to me. Ten my stomach sank as I finally met his gaze.
The man I held dearest since we were children. I sat there in my suffocating silence as he stared me down, his face a mixture of both rage and heartbreak as he finally broke the silence. "You cut down he who is most holy... Now there is no one left to protect us..?"
"I-He was going to kill her.. I had no other choice.."
He turned away, unable to look me in the eyes any longer.
"I.. I had no.." I choked out before the rest caught in my throat.
With his back still turned, he heaved a sigh with a heavy heart. "Take her. Justice will be served at dawn."
“I held true to my oath, guarding my charge against all. Even as the world crumbled and the kingdom, the crown I served perished, I failed my oath and it failed me. I am strong enough to endure, I was strong enough to prevent. Yet to my oath I remained shackled.
Oathbreaker....
I don't sleep so well these days. Mostly I look back on all of the good I have done, and the bad. Such immoral mathematics takes time. Back when I first recited my vow, everyone who I trained with made reasonable choices. Vengeance, Conquest, and Crown. These were war times. I thought vengeance was the right path after losing my father on the field, however when it came time to recite my words, I could not.. I could not abandon my heart. The Devotion I had to my family, to those I learned alongside, laughed alongside, and cried alongside was what always had guided me. My foundation was love.
That's all gone now. My kinsmen are long dead, and the common folk are horrified of me, but they are safe. I have abandoned my love so that others may live and love on their own.
And so it truly is my honor to be your enemy, and to destroy your enemies. Do not applaud me, do not mind me, and do not get in my way. Do these things and find love, then all will be right in the world.
"You realize... too late, much too late how flimsy works are. Pretty Oaths and flowery Pacts... "
"So you cast it away to be stronger? Greater? You threw away sacred Oaths and tenets for power?"
"I threw it away for survival. I threw it away because to hold to something as intangible as words, made me blind to the sheer reality around me."
a chilled air permeated the night. a cold sweat ran down my forehead merging with a trickle of blood into my mouth. the taste of iron was unsettling, yet comforting somehow.
in front of me lay my companion. armor caved in where my sword connected. the rended holes where i pierced, poured blood.
the oath has been broken. the nightmare can end
but where one ends, another begins...
i had to do it. i was blinded by rage
I'd love to see a story where a group of paladins from a "just" god all break their oath when that same god pushes their order to do something horrific (such as attacking a village, like one comment mentioned), not just one of them raising their sword at the others. Don't get me wrong, that's a super sick trope and I love it, but I think this has potential.
Imagine their powers, instead of becoming full death-themed oathbreaker abilities, their oath rather changes from, say, Devotion, to Redemption. Their goal being to either open the eyes of their fellow paladins that still serve their old god, or maybe they are trying to redeem their god, to turn him/her back to the good god they thought they were serving.
Edit: Ohh, what if paladins within this group all changed to different oaths? Some of them bear the Oath of Redemption, as I said, others may bear the Oath Of Vengeance as they tear through the most disillusioned of their original order. Some never regained any power, crushed by the realization. Most of these now ordinary citizens aren't technically part of the new order, but are protected by it all the same.
Diablo has something like this with the Crusaders who left the order of Paladins and took up new oaths seeking to cleanse the paladin order of corruption.
Oh shut up, it's my oath.
"Why should i regret my Choice? That would mean I feel shame for my broken Oath but it was the right Choice to do so... so, no. No regret, no shame. Only broken Chains..."
I had no other choice……. I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE!!!!!!!!