Oathbound

A work-in-progress Valheim mod by Lion And Otter. Version 0.21.6.

Support on Discord

Please use Discord for Oathbound support rather than email. Join Lion & Otter Studios, then use:

• #oathbound-bug-reports for bugs and crashes.
• #oathbound-general for installation and gameplay questions.
• #oathbound-feedback for suggestions and balance feedback.

Include your Valheim, Oathbound, BepInEx and Jotunn versions, other installed mods, and steps to reproduce. Remove personal information and server credentials from any logs you share.

Thirteen classes, each with its own talent tree, kill EXP and an active ability you aim and time yourself. Swap classes freely while keeping separate progress. Optional biome sieges add varied warbands, portal objectives and commanders, and every seventh night brings a blood moon.

0.21.6: spell menu, skeleton scaling and summon controls

• Fixed the spell menu rapidly opening and closing while its key is held.
• Warlock skeleton health and damage now grow with Warlock class level, alongside summon talents and native Blood Magic. Existing bound summons refresh as their caster progresses.
• Rebinding now translates keyboard and mouse controls through Valheim's own key mapping, including number-pad keys and the separate number row.
• Raising a skeleton at the summon limit replaces the oldest bound skeleton once the new summon succeeds.
• Warlocks who know a summon gain Unsummon and Teleport Summons to Me in the spell menu. Both commands are free; teleporting preserves each summon's health.
• Anvil Guard now clearly distinguishes its ongoing damage reduction while wielding a battleaxe from its timed stagger immunity.

New since 0.20.1: a defense branch for every class

Every class gains four defensive talents without replacing existing purchases. All thirteen trees now have 79 nodes and a level-80 cap. Finite wards and guard pools scale with maximum health, talent rank and class level.

Mage uses Eitr before health, Warlock reforms a self-ward, Hunter shares damage with its wolf, and Monk earns Flow Guard from fist or claw hits without draining stamina. The other classes earn protection through blocks, movement, dodges, flight, committed swings, stagger or their whelp's altitude.

Brief effects show protection being earned, used and exhausted. Companion links show wolf damage sharing and whelp interception. The summoned whelp no longer displays Moder's boss announcements.

Monk fist damage and Warlock spell potency now follow their class-level scaling. Oathbound's three rebindable controls fit the native two-column controls page. This release retains the earlier loading, Oathstone and ability-key fixes.

Jotunn 2.30.1 is required on the server and every client. Mod managers install it as a declared dependency. Manual standalone users must install Jotunn separately. The Windows all-in-one includes both Jotunn and BepInEx.

Want the classes without raid changes?

Sieges are enabled by default. Turn them off to keep vanilla raids alongside every class and progression feature.

After launching once to generate the config, close Valheim normally. For a dedicated server, save and stop the server normally. Open BepInEx/config/local.warrior.rpg.cfg and change the existing setting under [Sieges] to:

[Sieges]
Enabled = false

Save the file, then restart the game or server and load the world. In multiplayer, edit the server's config, restart the server and reconnect. A client's preference cannot override the host.

This restores vanilla random raids; it does not disable vanilla raids or alter your world's raid-frequency setting. Existing Oathbound sieges end and raiders withdraw as their areas load, without victory loot. Settings apply when a world starts, not during a running raid.

Choose your oath

• Huscarl: sword-and-board fighting with critical hits, bleeding, ripostes and block knockback, plus Warcry: a shout that heavily staggers up to six enemies within 8 metres and weakens their next attack. Costs 30 stamina.
• Shieldbearer: shield-wall defence and counters, plus Stand Fast: eight seconds of 30% less damage and no new staggers for you, and 15% less damage for nearby allies. Requires a shield.
• Valkyrie: aerial strikes, battlefield aid and an extra midair jump, plus Call the Spear: a conjured spear thrown with none equipped and priced in stamina.
• Ranger: placed ranged shots and movement, plus Piercing Shot: a conjured arrow that passes through up to four enemies in a line, with no bow or ammunition.
• Mage: build Eitr through the tree, then unlock six staff-free fire, frost and lightning spells. The three elements now mean different things: fire burns, frost controls and lightning spreads. Each element is bought once and read by both of its spells. The first spell is reachable at level 6; a full tree provides 85 Eitr before food.
• Warlock: grow Eitr and unlock blood wards, permanent skeleton summons, Siphon and Wither. Bound dead have no timed expiry and remain until slain while you stay an active nearby Warlock. Several spells ask for a blood offering, and wards never stack with native barriers. The forked lanes add more and tougher bound dead, stronger and wider wards, and a Siphon with no healing cap, all for the same Eitr and the same offering.
• Rogue: stealth, opening strikes and evasive fighting, plus Vanish: nearby enemies lose track of you, and your first melee hit inside the window counts as a hit on an unalerted enemy. Shields and most two-handed weapons are restricted; bows and pickaxes are allowed.
• Monk: develop unarmed combat, plus Clear Mind: eight seconds of bare-fist attacks that cost no stamina, deal 20% more damage and stagger twice as much. Claws are allowed; other weapons and shields are restricted.
• Hunter: call a permanent wolf companion that grows with your level, plus Set Upon: aim at an enemy, press the companion key, and the wolf crosses the ground and bites it. Set Upon costs no talent point and works from level one. Field Mending heals the wolf for 75% of its maximum health when you crouch and press the same key. If it dies, resummon it after a 120-second cooldown.
• Berserker: discover the class by equipping paired axes and then fight with them alone, plus Whirlwind: a spin that strikes up to five enemies around you for heavy stagger and knockback. Shields are restricted.
• Highlander: discover the class by equipping a two-handed sword. Time heavy swings, mark enemies with Mortal Wound and finish weakened targets with The Headsman's Swing. Executions can spread to other enemies already near death. A single axe and any pickaxe remain available for gathering; shields and other weapon families are refused.
• Breaker: discover the class by equipping a two-handed axe. Build Fracture on your target, stagger it and cash those marks in with Shatter. Sunder slams the ground to damage, stagger and fracture up to six enemies within 8 metres. Pickaxes remain available for mining; shields and other weapons are refused. Breaker replaces Raider.
• Dragonsworn (experimental): carry a dragon tear to discover a young dragon companion. Let the whelp climb, then spend its altitude on Stoop, a dive with a frost cone. Its tree develops rime, frost resistance and rewards for holding altitude. This new class is included for feedback; its in-game companion behaviour and balance still need playtesting.

All thirteen classes now run 79-node trees, each retaining its twelve capstones behind six forks and adding a seventh defense branch, so every oath has the same room to specialise. The level cap is 80, so a full tree is affordable. Only your active class grants benefits and earns EXP. Vanilla skills continue to progress.

Progression and class switching

• Find the Oathstone just outside the starting sacrificial-stone circle. Use your normal interact button to open the class browser and talent tree.
• Different enemies give different EXP rewards. Health sets the main reward, with a small capped bonus for especially hard-hitting enemies. Higher levels need more EXP. Kill credit goes to the credited killer; EXP is not shared with nearby players.
• Each level after the first grants one point, and a 79-node tree is affordable at the level 80 cap.
• Drag to pan the tree, use the wheel to zoom, and hover over square nodes for effects and requirements. The class browser supports searching and scrolling.
• Switch whenever you like at the stone. A high-level Huscarl can become a level 1 Ranger and later return to all their Huscarl progress. Resetting talents refunds purchases without resetting the class level.
• Death removes half of the active class's unfinished level EXP, rounded up. No delevelling, lost talents or lost waiting points. Other classes are unaffected. Vanilla death consequences still apply.
• A subtle class, level and XP bar sits below health. EXP notices are brief; level-ups use the native yellow skill-up burst.

Prefer a button instead of an Oathstone?

In the same config file, change the existing [Classes] setting:

[Classes]
AccessMode = MenuButton

Save and restart the game or server. This replaces the Oathstone with a Classes button below the inventory grid, opening the same panel anywhere. Progress is preserved. The default is AccessMode = Oathstone. The host also controls this setting in multiplayer.

These are standard BepInEx configuration entries. A configuration-manager mod is optional and not included. The server's values for the settings above are sent to every client on connection and replace the client's own copies for as long as they stay connected; they are applied when the world starts, so an admin changing one mid-session takes effect on the next start. The same config file also holds the three Oathbound key bindings.

Controls

Press H to cast your class's active ability. Mage and Warlock hold B to choose among their six spells, then release and press H; a class with a single ability skips the selector. Costs and cooldowns appear in the HUD line, and casting never equips or hides an item.

Rebind Oathbound keys in Settings > Controls > Keyboard & Mouse. The three rows are Oathbound: spell selector (B), Oathbound: class ability (H, shared by the non-companion classes) and Oathbound: call companion (H, shared by Hunter and Dragonsworn). Existing values in BepInEx/config/local.warrior.rpg.cfg are preserved and updated by the native bind dialog.

• Mage capstones unlock Ember Bolt, Frost Volley, Stormburst, Cinder Barrage, Frost Nova and Chain Lightning. Eitr talents add to food Eitr and regenerate naturally. Switching class does not refill Eitr or reset cooldowns.
• Warlock capstones unlock Blood Ward, Raise Guardian, Raise Archer, Siphon, Crimson Pact and Wither. Siphon heals for a share of the damage it actually deals, and Wither weakens an enemy's attacks for eight seconds.
• Blood casting explains itself: a refused cast says what blocked it, an interrupted release says so, and Siphon or Wither still strikes the enemy you aimed at when it moves out of your crosshair during the windup.
• For Hunter, press H to call or recall your wolf, aim at an enemy and press H to send it in, and crouch plus H to mend it. The wolf gains health and bite damage as you level, and its stat talents are percentages, so they stay relevant at every level. It stows on portals, logout or class changes and keeps its saved health; it cannot remain as a fighter for another class.
• For Dragonsworn, use the companion key to call the whelp or aim at an enemy to order Stoop; crouch and press it to warm the whelp.
• Abilities with no gesture of their own (Warcry, Stand Fast, Vanish and Clear Mind) land the moment you press the key. Whirlwind and Piercing Shot keep a native swing or draw.

What each oath may carry

Each oath has its own equipment rules. Restrictions are refusals at the moment you equip, not penalties.

• Hunter can wear metal armour. Huscarl, Shieldbearer, Valkyrie, Hunter, Berserker, Highlander and Breaker can wear any armour. Rogue, Ranger, Mage, Monk, Warlock and Dragonsworn wear hide, cloth and mage sets, and the 1.0 medium family counts as light for them. A piece is classified by the material its own prefab names, so a game update cannot quietly introduce a set the rules have never seen.
• Shieldbearer and Valkyrie leave bows in the rack, crossbows included. Every other weapon, shield, tool and armour is unchanged for them.
• Berserker can gather without breaking its oath. A single axe and any pickaxe are allowed alongside the paired axes, so the class can fell trees and mine ore. Every other weapon family and every shield is still refused, and the paired-axe combat talents still need both axes in hand.
• A Monk gathers bare-handed. Empty hands begin at tool tier 1 and gain another tier every five Monk levels. Harder trees and ore wait for the required tier. Gathering also trains the native fist skill at one quarter of the rate of a landed enemy hit.
• Rogue can carry a bow and a pickaxe. Of the two-handed arms the bow family and the pickaxe come through, for a quiet opening shot and for mining; the staves, the fist weapons and the two-handed melee weapons stay refused, and a bow earns none of the class's melee talents.
• A Monk may carry a claw. It counts as the class's own fist for every talent, while the bare-handed gathering strike still asks for empty hands.
• Highlander can gather like a Berserker. A single axe and any pickaxe are allowed alongside the two-handed sword, while every other weapon family and every shield is refused.
• Breaker fights with a two-handed axe alone. The pickaxe stays for mining, but the single axe Berserker and Highlander gather with, every other weapon family and every shield are refused.

Blood moons

Every seventh night the moon runs red. Enemies notice you from much further away, your noise carries further, and what spawns is likelier to carry stars. Ordinary nights are untouched, sneaking stays exactly as proportionally effective as it was, and a siege storm under a red moon keeps its rain and turns red with it. A bed will not take you for the first ninety seconds of the red night: the host is given time to arrive before the night can be slept through. The server owns the schedule and publishes it when you connect.

[BloodMoon] in the config holds Enabled, Interval, SenseMultiplier and StarMultiplier.

Optional biome sieges

Sieges use vanilla raid timing, chance and world frequency settings. Taking a portal does not itself trigger a raid.

• Two assault stages lead to a named, high-star commander. Defeat the commander to resolve the siege and earn its bounded reward.
• 24 warbands, three per biome, mix different enemies. Successive raids choose a different available band where possible.
• Danger rises with the biome. Meadows encounters cause reduced but real structure damage. Later-biome attacks can deliberately threaten poorly defended portals.
• Raid areas and participating enemies appear on the map/minimap. Messages explain objectives and escalation.
• A stalled commander can bring sparse, warned lightning strikes with storm effects and sound. Engage the attackers and commander instead of relying entirely on inaccessible terrain.
• When everyone leaves the targeted area, the siege pauses there and resumes on return. No unattended destruction.

Defend portal approaches, intercept attackers and deal with the commander. Siege balance is a work in progress; use the opt-out above if you prefer vanilla raids.

Installation and updates

Tested with Valheim 1.0.15, BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350 and Jotunn 2.30.1. Oathbound requires Jotunn, the Valheim modding library, on the server and on every client; without it Oathbound will not load. Back up characters and worlds before upgrading this work-in-progress mod.

Mod manager: install Oathbound into your Valheim profile. The Thunderstore package declares BepInExPack Valheim and Jotunn as dependencies, so both install with it. Launch through that profile.

Manual standalone: close Valheim, install the appropriate BepInEx loader and Jotunn (drop its Jotunn.dll into BepInEx/plugins), then merge the ZIP's BepInEx folder into your game directory. Both mod DLLs belong in BepInEx/plugins/WarriorRpg/. The Windows all-in-one bundle already includes the loader and Jotunn.

Windows all-in-one: close Valheim and extract all ZIP contents directly beside valheim.exe, merging folders and replacing matching files. It includes the Windows loader and Jotunn 2.30.1. Start through Steam. Use either this route or a mod manager's dependency installation.

Use this same 0.21.6 release on the server and every client. Save and stop a server normally before replacing its DLLs, then restart. Linux servers need a Linux-compatible BepInEx loader; the Windows all-in-one is for Windows clients.

Upgrade and saves: 0.21.6 uses progression save format 7. Loading an older format refunds spent talent points once so you can rebuild changed trees, while preserving class EXP and levels; Raider progress becomes Breaker progress. A character already on format 7 is not refunded again. Keep a pre-upgrade backup if you may downgrade: older releases cannot read the new save format. Replace both Oathbound DLLs and remove duplicate installations. Existing config files and customised keys are preserved.

Jotunn checks multiplayer compatibility and names the mod and versions when a mismatch is refused. Different minor releases, such as 0.19.x and 0.20.x, cannot share a lobby; patch-only differences may be accepted. Use 0.21.6 everywhere, so all players receive the defense and controls updates.

If the mod still does not load

• Check the game or mod-manager profile you actually launch contains BepInEx, Jotunn and Oathbound. Launch through the mod manager when using its profile.
• Manual users: check for BepInEx/plugins/Jotunn/Jotunn.dll (or Jotunn.dll directly under plugins), plus both WarriorRpg.dll and Warrior.Core.dll in BepInEx/plugins/WarriorRpg/. Avoid an extra nested game folder when extracting.
• Remove duplicate older Oathbound DLLs from other plugin folders. Update the server and every client, then restart them.
• If the mod loads but class access is missing, the host can use [Classes] AccessMode = MenuButton and restart to open classes from the inventory. Check the host's setting first; client settings cannot override it.
• If it still fails, include the game, Oathbound, BepInEx and Jotunn versions, your other mods, and the relevant errors from BepInEx/LogOutput.log in an issue report. Remove personal information and server credentials before sharing logs.

Work in progress

Developed for small co-op groups. Earlier releases have been exercised in co-op. This release still needs a full multiplayer check, including the new defensive effects. Dragonsworn is experimental and has not completed its in-game companion review. The newly forked lanes have passed scripted checks rather than a full playtest: their numbers are opening values, not a balance verdict, and long-term balance, controller-only menus and broad mod compatibility still need player feedback. Xbox/crossplay is not verified. Native burning final hits can lose attacker attribution and may not award class EXP.

No Valheim game assets or saves are included. Oathbound uses the game's existing models, animations and effects at runtime.

For help, please join our Discord and use #oathbound-bug-reports for problems or #oathbound-general for questions. Discord is our preferred support route.

Oathbound is an unofficial mod by Lion And Otter, not affiliated with or endorsed by Valheim's developers. Valheim is required and sold separately.