diff --git a/src/CompilerOptions.ts b/src/CompilerOptions.ts
index b22ee031a..deee41b70 100644
--- a/src/CompilerOptions.ts
+++ b/src/CompilerOptions.ts
@@ -87,5 +87,9 @@ export function validateOptions(options: CompilerOptions): ts.Diagnostic[] {
         diagnostics.push(diagnosticFactories.unsupportedJsxEmit());
     }
 
+    if (options.paths && !options.baseUrl) {
+        diagnostics.push(diagnosticFactories.pathsWithoutBaseUrl());
+    }
+
     return diagnostics;
 }
diff --git a/src/transpilation/diagnostics.ts b/src/transpilation/diagnostics.ts
index 0aa772cd3..1f37f3260 100644
--- a/src/transpilation/diagnostics.ts
+++ b/src/transpilation/diagnostics.ts
@@ -55,3 +55,7 @@ export const cannotBundleLibrary = createDiagnosticFactory(
 );
 
 export const unsupportedJsxEmit = createDiagnosticFactory(() => 'JSX is only supported with "react" jsx option.');
+
+export const pathsWithoutBaseUrl = createDiagnosticFactory(
+    () => "When configuring 'paths' in tsconfig.json, the option 'baseUrl' must also be provided."
+);
diff --git a/test/transpile/__snapshots__/module-resolution.spec.ts.snap b/test/transpile/__snapshots__/module-resolution.spec.ts.snap
index 5cb03e86b..2e4d888cb 100644
--- a/test/transpile/__snapshots__/module-resolution.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/test/transpile/__snapshots__/module-resolution.spec.ts.snap
@@ -2,16 +2,16 @@
 
 exports[`supports complicated paths configuration 1`] = `
 Array [
-  "/monorepo-complicated/dist/packages/tstl-program/packages/mypackage/src/bar.lua",
-  "/monorepo-complicated/dist/packages/tstl-program/packages/mypackage/src/index.lua",
-  "/monorepo-complicated/dist/packages/tstl-program/packages/myprogram/src/main.lua",
+  "/paths-base-tsconfig/dist/packages/tstl-program/packages/mypackage/src/bar.lua",
+  "/paths-base-tsconfig/dist/packages/tstl-program/packages/mypackage/src/index.lua",
+  "/paths-base-tsconfig/dist/packages/tstl-program/packages/myprogram/src/main.lua",
 ]
 `;
 
 exports[`supports paths configuration 1`] = `
 Array [
-  "/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/dist/mypackage/bar.lua",
-  "/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/dist/mypackage/index.lua",
-  "/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/dist/myprogram/main.lua",
+  "/paths-simple/myprogram/dist/mypackage/bar.lua",
+  "/paths-simple/myprogram/dist/mypackage/index.lua",
+  "/paths-simple/myprogram/dist/myprogram/main.lua",
 ]
 `;
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution.spec.ts b/test/transpile/module-resolution.spec.ts
index d78114ef4..4e8f3d49b 100644
--- a/test/transpile/module-resolution.spec.ts
+++ b/test/transpile/module-resolution.spec.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import * as util from "../util";
 import * as ts from "typescript";
 import { BuildMode } from "../../src";
 import { normalizeSlashes } from "../../src/utils";
+import { pathsWithoutBaseUrl } from "../../src/transpilation/diagnostics";
 
 describe("basic module resolution", () => {
     const projectPath = path.resolve(__dirname, "module-resolution", "project-with-node-modules");
@@ -542,7 +543,7 @@ test("lualib_module with parent directory import (#1307)", () => {
 
 test("supports paths configuration", () => {
     // Package root
-    const baseProjectPath = path.resolve(__dirname, "module-resolution", "monorepo-with-paths");
+    const baseProjectPath = path.resolve(__dirname, "module-resolution", "paths-simple");
     // myprogram package
     const projectPath = path.join(baseProjectPath, "myprogram");
     const projectTsConfig = path.join(projectPath, "tsconfig.json");
@@ -565,7 +566,7 @@ test("supports paths configuration", () => {
 
 test("supports complicated paths configuration", () => {
     // Package root
-    const baseProjectPath = path.resolve(__dirname, "module-resolution", "monorepo-complicated");
+    const baseProjectPath = path.resolve(__dirname, "module-resolution", "paths-base-tsconfig");
     // myprogram package
     const projectPath = path.join(baseProjectPath, "packages", "myprogram");
     const projectTsConfig = path.join(projectPath, "tsconfig.json");
@@ -586,6 +587,10 @@ test("supports complicated paths configuration", () => {
         .expectToEqual({ foo: 314, bar: 271 });
 });
 
+test("paths without baseUrl is error", () => {
+    util.testFunction``.setOptions({ paths: {} }).expectToHaveDiagnostics([pathsWithoutBaseUrl.code]);
+});
+
 function snapshotPaths(files: tstl.TranspiledFile[]) {
     return files.map(f => normalizeSlashes(f.outPath).split("module-resolution")[1]).sort();
 }
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/main.ts b/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/main.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 973b93922..000000000
--- a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/main.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-import { foo } from "mypackage";
-import { bar } from "mypackage/bar";
-
-export { foo, bar };
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/tsconfig.json b/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/tsconfig.json
deleted file mode 100644
index d5f59e8b5..000000000
--- a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/myprogram/tsconfig.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "compilerOptions": {
-        "baseUrl": "..",
-        "outDir": "dist",
-        "paths": {
-            "mypackage": ["mypackage"]
-        }
-    }
-}
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/mypackage/src/bar.ts b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/mypackage/src/bar.ts
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/mypackage/src/bar.ts
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/mypackage/src/bar.ts
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/mypackage/src/index.ts b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/mypackage/src/index.ts
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/mypackage/src/index.ts
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/mypackage/src/index.ts
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/mypackage/tsconfig.json b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/mypackage/tsconfig.json
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/mypackage/tsconfig.json
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/mypackage/tsconfig.json
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/myprogram/src/main.ts b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/myprogram/src/main.ts
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/myprogram/src/main.ts
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/myprogram/src/main.ts
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/myprogram/tsconfig.json b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/myprogram/tsconfig.json
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/packages/myprogram/tsconfig.json
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/packages/myprogram/tsconfig.json
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/tsconfig.base.json b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/tsconfig.base.json
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-complicated/tsconfig.base.json
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-base-tsconfig/tsconfig.base.json
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/mypackage/bar.ts b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/mypackage/bar.ts
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/mypackage/bar.ts
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/mypackage/bar.ts
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/mypackage/index.ts b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/mypackage/index.ts
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/mypackage/index.ts
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/mypackage/index.ts
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/mypackage/tsconfig.json b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/mypackage/tsconfig.json
similarity index 100%
rename from test/transpile/module-resolution/monorepo-with-paths/mypackage/tsconfig.json
rename to test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/mypackage/tsconfig.json
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/myprogram/main.ts b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/myprogram/main.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e7687877a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/myprogram/main.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+import { foo } from "myOtherPackage";
+import { bar } from "myOtherPackage/bar";
+
+export { foo, bar };
diff --git a/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/myprogram/tsconfig.json b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/myprogram/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f01271ac9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/transpile/module-resolution/paths-simple/myprogram/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+    "compilerOptions": {
+        "baseUrl": ".",
+        "outDir": "dist",
+        "paths": {
+            "myOtherPackage": ["../mypackage"],
+            "myOtherPackage/*": ["../mypackage/*"]
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/test/unit/jsx.spec.ts b/test/unit/jsx.spec.ts
index 03b00e95d..a72d0d7f9 100644
--- a/test/unit/jsx.spec.ts
+++ b/test/unit/jsx.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import * as util from "../util";
 import { TestBuilder } from "../util";
 import { JsxEmit } from "typescript";
+import { unsupportedJsxEmit } from "../../src/transpilation/diagnostics";
+import { unsupportedNodeKind } from "../../src/transformation/utils/diagnostics";
 
 // language=TypeScript
 const reactLib = `
@@ -368,6 +370,6 @@ describe("jsx", () => {
             .setOptions({
                 jsx: JsxEmit.Preserve,
             })
-            .expectToHaveDiagnostics();
+            .expectToHaveDiagnostics([unsupportedJsxEmit.code, unsupportedNodeKind.code]);
     });
 });