Oathbound

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

Earn EXP from defeating enemies, choose a class at an Oathstone, and spend your level-up points on a branching skill tree. Start as a Warrior, Ranger or Mage. Swap whenever you return to the stone; each class keeps its own levels, EXP and learned talents.

Choose your oath

Warrior: turn blocks and close combat into opportunities. Build toward knockback on a successful block, critical hits, bleeding strikes, an extra midair jump, melee-kill healing and damage reflection.

Ranger: reward careful shots and movement. Build toward same-target critical combos, bleeding and knockback shots, stamina recovery after a dodge-and-shot, ricochet damage and fall protection.

Mage: build your Eitr reserve, then unlock elemental spells at the ends of your branches. Cast without a staff while keeping your ordinary weapons available. Your first spell is reachable at level 6; the full tree provides 75 Eitr before food bonuses.

Each class has 25 nodes across six branches, including six capstones. The early nodes offer modest bonuses; the capstones add new things to do. Only your active class grants benefits and earns EXP. You can still use any equipment and keep progressing your vanilla skills.

How progression works

• Find the Oathstone just outside the starting sacrificial-stone circle. Use your normal interact button to choose a class and open its tree.
• Different enemies grant different EXP rewards. Higher levels require more EXP. Kill credit goes to the credited killer; EXP is not shared with nearby players.
• Each level after the first grants one point. Level 26 provides all 25 points for a complete class tree.
• Pan by dragging, zoom with the wheel, and hover over a node to see its effect and requirements. Click an available node to learn it.
• Switch classes freely at the Oathstone. Warrior, Ranger and Mage keep separate progress on your character.
• Death removes half of the active class's EXP progress toward its next level, rounded up. You never lose a class level, learned talent or waiting point. Stored classes are unaffected.
• A subtle class, level and XP bar stays below the native health panel. EXP notices are brief, and class level-ups use Valheim's native yellow skill-up burst.

Mage spells and controls

Hold B, click an unlocked spell, release B, then press H to cast toward the crosshair. The Mage HUD and selector show these prompts. Both shortcuts can be changed in the mod's BepInEx configuration. Normal weapon attacks remain available between casts.

• Ember Bolt: a fireball with a small blast. 12 Eitr; 3-second cooldown.
• Frost Volley: three frost shards with native frost slow. 14 Eitr; 4-second cooldown.
• Stormburst: five lightning bolts in a close-range fan. 16 Eitr; 5-second cooldown.
• Cinder Barrage: three small fireballs in succession. 22 Eitr; 8-second cooldown.
• Frost Nova: frost damage, slow and knockback around you. 24 Eitr; 12-second cooldown.
• Chain Lightning: a bolt that can arc to two other nearby enemies. 24 Eitr; 10-second cooldown.

Every spell requires its capstone. The earliest unlock takes five points, at level 6 / 1,000 total EXP. Earn those early levels with your usual weapons. Eitr talents add to food Eitr and regenerate naturally without food. Full progression grants 75 Eitr, up to 15% faster Eitr regeneration and modest spell-damage bonuses. Switching classes does not refill Eitr or reset cooldowns. Interrupted casts spend their Eitr; resetting talents removes spell access. Blood magic is reserved for a future class.

Direct spell kills award class EXP. Native burning can lose attacker attribution on its final tick, so those damage-over-time kills may not award class EXP.

Installation

Tested with Valheim 1.0.12 and BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2350. Windows Steam clients and a Linux Steam dedicated server have been exercised. Xbox/crossplay and controller-only tree navigation are not verified.

Back up your character and world before installing this work-in-progress build. Balance, talents and compatibility may change.

With a mod manager

Install Oathbound into your Valheim profile. The Thunderstore package declares BepInExPack Valheim as a dependency. Launch the game through the same profile.

Manual installation

Close Valheim. Install BepInExPack Valheim first, then merge the standalone package's BepInEx folder into your game folder. The two Oathbound DLLs belong in BepInEx/plugins/WarriorRpg/.

The optional Windows all-in-one ZIP includes the loader. Copy its contents directly beside valheim.exe, merging folders when asked. Use either the all-in-one route or your mod manager's dependency installation.

Multiplayer and dedicated servers

Install Oathbound on the server and every participating client. Use the appropriate BepInEx loader for the server's operating system; the Windows all-in-one loader is for Windows clients only. Stop the server normally before replacing its DLLs, then restart it.

The internal WarriorRpg folder and DLL names are retained for compatibility. Updating an earlier Warrior RPG installation means replacing both existing DLLs, not installing a second copy. Existing Warrior progress migrates to the new class system. Older clients cannot read the multiclass save format, so retain a character backup before downgrading.

Before trying Mage, back up your character. Versions 0.6.x cannot read a progression ledger containing Mage. Downgrading requires that backup. The 0.7.0 client has been tested with a 0.6.1 host, and 0.7.0 Linux dedicated-server startup has been verified.

Work in progress

This is an early playable release, developed for small co-op groups. Automated progression checks, in-game class/combat checks and isolated multiplayer checks have passed; broad mod compatibility, controller UI, long campaigns and balance still need player feedback. Server-side Linux startup has also been verified. This is not an anti-cheat system.

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

Report issues through the mod listing's comments or Oathbound's page. Include your game/mod versions, installed mods and steps to reproduce. Remove personal information and server credentials from any logs you choose to share.

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