The Unbreakable Vow

[Palanan]

Is there a spell or ritual that magically imposes penalties if a specific oath is broken?

There is an Oathbond ability for the Verdant Prince, from MM 4, but that seems to be specific to this one creature, rather than widely available as a spell. Is there anything closer to the actual Unbreakable Vow? I’m open to all official 3.5 and Pathfinder material.

[RedWarlock]

Geas/Quest

[Psyren]

I'd actually recommend Mark of Justice for this (i.e. the spell that was used on Belkar) - unlike Geas, it lasts indefinitely, and doesn't actually compel you (i.e. you can act freely, even breaking your vow if you wish.)

[Helluin]

I'd actually recommend Mark of Justice for this (i.e. the spell that was used on Belkar) - unlike Geas, it lasts indefinitely, and doesn't actually compel you (i.e. you can act freely, even breaking your vow if you wish.)

You can phrase the Geas as “immediately destroy/kill yourself should you ever (fail to)...” - Mark of Justice isn’t nearly as punishing as an unbreakable oath, and neither is Geas, but I think it’s a better approximation.

Edit: Pathfinder Geas is even better because of the permanent duration, but I’m afraid that it’s out of reach in this case.

[weckar]

Geas generally expires though, where Mark of Justice does not. Having an unbreakable vow only work for a couple of weeks seems hardly in the spirit.

[Psyren]

You can phrase the Geas as “immediately destroy/kill yourself should you ever (fail to)...” - Mark of Justice isn’t nearly as punishing as an unbreakable oath, and neither is Geas, but I think it’s a better approximation.

Edit: Pathfinder Geas is even better because of the permanent duration, but I’m afraid that it’s out of reach in this case.

1) Any form of "kill yourself" is explicitly prohibited by Geas.
2) Pathfinder Geas has the exact same duration as 3.5, both of which are less than Mark of Justice.

[Meditation]

Not precisely so, as others have pointed out, but there are class abilities that are actually too good at this.

In 3x, the Berronar Valkyrie Paladin can take Binding Oath as a substitution level to create a contract that grants perfect knowledge of its maintenance and fatigues the oathbreaker upon breaking. The implication is that those involved must enter into the contract freely but this is not explicitly stated; as such, a DM could rule that this has significant coercive potential. The ability has weekly limits.

In Pathfinder, the Inquisitor Oathkeeper archetype offers a very similar effect, allowing the creation of a contract that, if broken, curses the oathbreaker and grants the Oathkeeper a permanent Discern Location on the oathbreaker and specific-Track to hunt them down. The curse is not easily removed. Free will is explicitly mandatory for the effect.

Also in Pathfinder, the Hatharat Agent creates perfect, no-save, speak-only-truth effects. You can choose to not speak, or not respond to a prompt, but you cannot make deliberate lies.

Given that you can get sufficient numbers of any of these characters trained, they could be the basis for an entire civilization — especially in Pathfinder. The Paladin requires a 6th-level character, but the Inquisitior is good to go at level 1. The Bard requires level 8, but then again, you could just have people contract to tell the truth, getting you where you wanted to go with an extra step.

These are the sort of abilities that, if, available to people by choice and training, would transform every world background they touch (much like a good chunk of the high-level spell list), so you may want to homebrew some arbitrary limitations of access here.

[Kaleph]

If the duration is an issue, then familial geas solves it.

[MisterKaws]

You could make a Contingent Spell Holy Word, with a CL just above their level. Any time the vow is broken, they die immediately.

[noob]

You could make a Contingent Spell Holy Word, with a CL just above their level. Any time the vow is broken, they die immediately.

that is false with holy word since you need to hear the word(so just get deaf and you are protected) blasphemy on the other hand does not require the target to hear.


Any nonevil creature within the area of a blasphemy spell suffers the following ill effects.
for blasphemy.

and

Any nongood creature within the area that hears the holy word suffers the following ill effects.
for holy word.

so yes evil have a stronger word spell than good.

likewise word of chaos needs to be heard while dictum works fine on people who can not hear it.

So if you are lawful evil and deaf it is impossible to use any word spell on you but any other alignment leaves you vulnerable to one word spell.
And yes it is a really weird design choice.

[MisterKaws]

that is false with holy word since you need to hear the word(so just get deaf and you are protected) blasphemy on the other hand does not require the target to hear.


for blasphemy.

and

for holy word.

so yes evil have a stronger word spell than good.

likewise word of chaos needs to be heard while dictum works fine on people who can not hear it.

So if you are lawful evil and deaf it is impossible to use any word spell on you.

Huh. Seems like an oversight to me. Though I'm 90% sure a DM could rule that if you put any sort of telepathic message spell along with the Holy Word, you could pass the Holy Word through telepathy instead.

[noob]

Huh. Seems like an oversight to me. Though I'm 90% sure a DM could rule that if you put any sort of telepathic message spell along with the Holy Word, you could pass the Holy Word through telepathy instead.

Ecept that word spells are very powerful and so that letting players and monsters use those on more targets is a dangerous choice because it brings the game closer to rocket tag.

[MisterKaws]

Ecept that word spells are very powerful and so that letting players and monsters use those on more targets is a dangerous choice because it brings the game closer to rocket tag.

I mean, we have pun-pun, so we're already going on quantum propulsion.

[Segev]

While it would conceivably fall up against the "won't agree to work for more than 1 day/CL on something that it can't resolve by its own actions," using planar binding on an appropriate Inevitable (...wait, can they be subjects to that? They're from Mechanus, but they're Constructs...eh, this may not work; if not, pick something else that likes enforcing rules, like a devil of some sort) and bargaining with it to enforce the oath could work. Give it some means of knowing if the oath is ever broken, and its "service" doesn't start until then, at which point its task is to mete out the agreed-upon consequences for oath violation.

[Telonius]

Other than Falling Paladins, there are a number of feats in BoED ("Vow of ...") that give bonuses that go away if the vow is ever broken. There are probably some things in Fiendish Codex 2 about Faustian pacts as well, but I'm AFB.

[liquidformat]

In 3x, the Berronar Valkyrie Paladin can take Binding Oath as a substitution level to create a contract that grants perfect knowledge of its maintenance and fatigues the oathbreaker upon breaking. The implication is that those involved must enter into the contract freely but this is not explicitly stated; as such, a DM could rule that this has significant coercive potential. The ability has weekly limits.


um hate to break it to you but binding oath explicitly calls "At 6th level, a Valkyrie gains the ability to magically link two willing individuals making an oath (or a legal agreement). "

[Particle_Man]

The Book of Exalted Deeds has a whole host of feats called "Vow of . . . " whereby you gain some abilities but lose them if you violate the vow (and also, since they are exalted feats, lose them if you are not comic book (not movie, comic book) Superman-level or movie (not comic book, movie) Captain America-level Good).

The most famous is Vow of Poverty (which is either awful or awesome, depending on how generous your DM is with magic items). You gain a whole host of abilities but if you so much as swing a +1 dagger in combat it all goes away.

Oh, and I think that you could have an inevitable come after you if you break a contract.

Edit: Ninja'd by two short hours! :smallbiggrin:

[Kish]

If you want something to simulate the actual Unbreakable Vow from the Harry Potter books--i.e., you say "I will" to specific actions in specific circumstances and then if you break the vow you die outright with no save--I think you'll need to come up with an independently researched spell. It shouldn't be particularly complicated to write up, and the rules for characters creating spells are entirely official.

[RoboEmperor]

planar binding. instantaneous duration. guy won't die but will be eternally doomed to carry out the vow for all eternity.

[Meditation]

um hate to break it to you but binding oath explicitly calls "At 6th level, a Valkyrie gains the ability to magically link two willing individuals making an oath (or a legal agreement). "

. . . which fails to undermine anything I said, but thanks for contributing.

It should also be pointed out that while all the spells discussed herein do meet the OP's request for spells, they're all fairly high-level. In PF, you just need a level 1 Inquisitor, which represents a relatively tiny expense. (A level 6 Paladin may be a bit much more to ask, especially if their background makes them more limited.) Obviously, that's not a spell, but in a universe where metahuman labor is for sale, a level 1 character's services probably represents a smaller outlay of resources than a high-level spell-slot, though this is, again, background specific.

In addition, flexibility may be desired here. Perhaps you don't want every contract to require a contract-breaker's messy explosion; maybe a civil discussion is sometimes in order. IRL, people break contracts in good faith all the time -- acts of god, catastrophic accidents, and so on can cause a legit contract to become impossible to fulfill. Having your eyes melt because your warehouse burned down may not be useful to your co-signers. If you want to layer-on negative effects, that's available through multiple spellcasts, perhaps having the class abilities lay out the initial contract, then allowing for spells to grant teeth to nastier clauses. Spell duration is addressable in places where spellcasters are a part of the infrastructure and labor force; people can sign up to have their spell-based contracts refreshed regularly. That you can address it doesn't make it efficient, however. The PF route grants discern location -- perhaps that's enough to give casters leverage to punish oathbreakers. In 3x, parties could subject themselves to tracking effects to emulate this.

[liquidformat]

. . . which fails to undermine anything I said, but thanks for contributing.

In dnd willing equals freely but hey whatever.

[Meditation]

In dnd willing equals freely but hey whatever.

No, it doesn't. That's just fluff you made up. It's entirely possible, IRL, to create legally-binding willing contracts where one party is nonetheless coerced due to issues that a given court refuses to consider. 3x does not address such niceties in the Paladin ACF; PF broadly does.

[MisterKaws]

I'm pretty sure that there's a rule somewhere that makes all unconscious targets willing, which does have some rather disturbing connotations, which I'm not getting into details, 'cause reasons.

[Thurbane]

Some spells restrict you to willing targets only. Declaring yourself as a willing target is something that can be done at any time (even if you’re flat-footed or it isn’t your turn). Unconscious creatures are automatically considered willing, but a character who is conscious but immobile or helpless (such as one who is bound, cowering, grappling, paralyzed, pinned, or stunned) is not automatically willing.

I believe RAI was so that allies could pop harmless spells on unconscious party members, but RAW has much broader implications for offensive spells.

[Psyren]

Putting aside whether a paladin can knock somebody out and then bind them against their will, isn't the penalty for breaking this just being tired for a few days? Hardly on par with an Unbreakable Vow.

[Meditation]

Putting aside whether a paladin can knock somebody out and then bind them against their will, isn't the penalty for breaking this just being tired for a few days? Hardly on par with an Unbreakable Vow.

The point isn't, as I addressed, to murdertorture the oathbreaker once the vow is broken. The point is that you have access to Absolute Truth. Objective, undistractable, utterly reliable, and completely consistent arbitration of all things expressible as an agreement between two parties, the literal power of God’s judgement. Sticking a penalty clause on the back-end is trivial in comparison. As mentioned upthread, you can stick any number of spells, including Contingency: Horrid Wilting and such, and Geas itself, onto the penalties. Again, you don’t want the oathbreaker to be more than mildly inconvenienced, if even that. As I mentioned, people can break contracts for innocent, even moral or socially or civically-laudable reasons. What you want is objective proof of oathbreaking, combined with 100% reliable intelligence as to the whereabouts of the oathbreaker, and unfettered access to the same. The class abilities provide 2 out of 3 of those; the last can be managed (if imperfectly, though mostly reliably) with spellcasting and further oaths.

Geas is basically a horrid curse. Planar Binding is just pseudoslavery (pseudo- because the nature of outsiders is a wee bit fuzzy in D&D cosmology, but I admit that at my tables we just call all mind control slavery and call it a day). The class abilities are the only way to get remotely fair contracts, and the PF ones are the only way to get RAW-just contracts. . . which is why the Oathkeeper Inquisitor would inevitably trigger massive revolutions if they showed up in numbers in a typical D&D world. They’re way too good at their jobs. Truth-no-save bards are almost icing.

3x may present a way of preventing people from breaking oaths in the first place. If a trap is created with the spell Suggestion that does nothing but spew “follow the official oath you made officiated and confirmed by a Berronar Valkyrie” could be manufactured, you could mass produce these and have them spam their mind-control everyplace interested parties would tend to go. If their contract specifies that they must choose to fail their Will saves against these effects, that would help maintain contract fidelity. Also, if you make this, you’ve created the basis for a horrific, nightmare, hellworld police-state.

[Troacctid]

The jobber prestige class from Dragon #310 has an ability kinda like this.

Seal the Deal (Sp): At 4th level, the jobber gains the ability to enforce her contracts. After a jobber negotiates an opportunity and terms, and these terms are committed to paper, she usually ends negotiations with a handshake (or shaking the appropriate appendage of her new business partner). The handshake magically binds the partner to the terms of the deal. If the partner ever breaks the deal for any reason—willingly or not—he is affected as if the jobber had cast a bestow curse spell on him. The jobber chooses what will befall the deal breaker when the deal is closed. Revealing the use of this ability is at the jobber's discretion.