The Oath of Betrothal is another early paladin homebrew of mine. If memory serves, it's the fourth homebrew sacred oath I ever made. I created the Oaths of the Lyan, Fantra, and Paramander (now the Oaths of Society, Anarchy, and Detachment respectively), and I unexpectedly discovered that I wanted to make more sacred oaths, beyond the themes of Dragon magazine's "Plethora of Paladins." I'm not sure how I hit upon the idea, but I'm very happy I did. I think the Oath of Betrothal is among my most fun ideas.
I think the Oath of Betrothal speaks for itself. Instead of swearing oneself to a god, ideal, purpose, etc. (for example, the cause of righteousness, or a god of good, or world happiness, or burning vengeance), the Oath of Betrothal is a vow a paladin makes to another person: their beloved. Compared to the cosmically-oriented oaths I had created thus far, the Oath of Betrothal is relatively saccharine. It actually made for a nice break from the heady, high-concept material I had created thus far.
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| My original document for the Oath of Betrothal utilized this artwork by Pehesse. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. |
The Oath of Betrothal is also the first homebrew I created that included a rollable table: in this case, the table of different relationships the rose knight might have with their beloved. This table, along with the mini story at the beginning and subheading of roleplay advice for players and Dungeon Masters, meant the Oath of Betrothal had the most flavor text I had ever written for a single homebrew of any previous creation of mine.
A funny story about the Oath of Betrothal's flavor text: nearly every time I have shared the Oath of Betrothal on Reddit, whether on its own or as part of a bundle other sacred oaths, the Oath of Betrothal has commanded the bulk of commenters' attention. This surprised me, though it might not surprise you: people loved to imagine a tsundere paladin! Though now that I say that, does this mean the Oath of Betrothal is the first anime-inspired homebrew I ever created? It's funny to think of.
Given the homebrews's sweet tone and story, the inspiration for an oath of love for another person is likely to surprise you: the Oath of the Hellsworn, from Walrock Homebrew.
How can that be? Well, Walrock's homebrew provided a key innovation in sacred oath homebrew. Before seeing the Hellsworn, I was accustomed to believe that all sacred oaths required some kind of dogmatic or ideological basis. Now, this was a bit of an assumption on my part, as not even the Player's Handbook hews to that (the Oath of Vengeance is a vow, but not exactly a belief system). However, the Oath of the Hellsworn introduced an oath that wasn't built on ideas or ideals. Instead, the oath was founded on a relationship: the contract between a paladin and a devilish contractor.
Perhaps now you see why I consider the Oath of the Hellsworn to be among the Oath of Betrothal's inspirations. My homebrew approaches the idea of an oath along similar lines of relational promises. The Oath of Betrothal is different simply in being founded on love instead of a fiendish bargain.
Anyhow, I hope that's been of some interest to you. Enjoy the Oath of Betrothal!
Finally, in case you're wondering: when I first saw wlop's "Guard" art, I knew nothing about the meme. True story! I do know about it now, of course. And, well, I couldn't help myself.
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