One Violent Baldur's Gate 3 Trick Can Dodge The Story's Biggest Consequences (2024)

Baldur's Gate 3 is a game that's all about choices and consequences, but with some clever play, it's not always necessary to actually face those repercussions. The roleplaying freedom of Baldur's Gate 3 tends to foster a lot of thinking outside the box, a trait it shares with its Dungeons & Dragons inspiration. Although the constraints of the video game format don't always let this go quite as far as a dungeon master might allow in DnD, they can also allow for some tricks that definitely wouldn't fly in tabletop play.

Consequences in Baldur's Gate 3 tend to hit especially hard when it comes to the game's companion characters, who aren't always willing to put up with everything that the player character might do. Although all of them can make their way to at least somewhat happy endings, it's possible to lose them as party members or accidentally steer them down dark paths by making the wrong decisions. Juggling approval and nudging companions in the right direction isn't all that hard, but for those who find this reasonable approach constricting, there happens to be another way to go about things.

Killing BG3 Companions Can Skip Some Consequences

Astarion's Biggest Conflict Can Be Dodged In Act 3

The trick to avoiding some tricky scenarios with Baldur's Gate 3 party members lies in killing them before dealing with the problems, a merciless approach that has surprisingly few repercussions of its own. Resurrection is easy in Baldur's Gate 3, and as touchy as they can be about other issues, party members don't seem to hold any grudges when the player character kills them and brings them back. It's not exactly moral, but some of the best applications of the trick are better suited for evil parties anyway.

Perhaps no one has showcased as much commitment to this strategy as General-N0nsense, who reveals in a Reddit post how they undertook an especially long gambit with the concept. One of the most basic applications of killing and reviving a party member is commonly put to use in Act 1, where a threatening scene with Astarion can be dodged through the technique. When General-N0nsense did this, however, they left Astarion dead, electing to carry his corpse throughout the journey to Act 3 rather than letting him act as a functioning party member.

Although this might seem like a dead-end plan, General-N0nsense finally brought Astarion back to life after beating the vampire lord Cazador and resolving the key events of Astarion's personal questline. This seems to have dodged some of the trickier elements of the threatening encounter, with Cazador remaining unaware of Astarion's corpse, something he would usually be attuned to. It also has the interesting effect of making it possible for Astarion to complete the ritual of ascension as a level 1 character, which is quite the fast track to power from his perspective.

Astarion Isn't The Only BG3 Character To Break

Wyll, Karlach, & Shadowheart Have Similar Scenarios

A much simpler and more widely useful example of the strategy can be found in Act 1, where the Emerald Grove that houses both a clan of druids and a batch of tiefling refugees provides a major nexus for choices. Recruiting both Wyll and Karlach is generally dependent on good behavior toward the grove, as both of them have sympathies that lie with the refugees. Killing them before raiding the grove doesn't stop their approval from tanking, but it can be possible to salvage things before resurrection.

At one point, this strategy could be pulled off with both Wyll and Karlach, but Reddit user OutlawX18 notes that their own test after the release of patch 5 saw more mixed results. Wyll left as a corpse, an oddly impressive feat, but Karlach only left once resurrected. Managing to raise her approval before bringing her back seems to remain a way to keep her in the party after raiding the grove, at least if Patch 6 didn't further change anything (at any rate, the official patch notes don't mention a fix).

Another useful scenario is described by MCleartist, who got through a tricky Act 2 moment by temporarily killing Shadowheart. In order to please the dark goddess Shar, Shadowheart is typically intent on killing Dame Aylin, a character who can be found during a brief sojourn into the Shadowfell. It's possible to push her away from this path, and doing so can be a big part of her character arc, but it could be hard if a good relationship with Shadowheart or some strong Charisma-based roles aren't in play.

Usually, if Shadowheart is left behind in camp to avoid her involvement in the decision, she'll simply leave the party if they save Dame Aylin. If Shadowheart is left dead and only resurrected after the task has been completed, however, it's apparently possible to keep her around. As usual, it's not the prettiest method, but it can nonetheless do the trick.

Killing Baldur's Gate 3 Companions Has Its Drawbacks

Skipping Big Moments Makes The Story Worse

Killing key characters to keep them out of major decisions and events definitely comes with major drawbacks, as their involvement in these scenes can often be the most meaningful parts. Astarion in particular has some incredible moments with the Cazador material, and missing out on all of that just to avoid some potential complications isn't going to be worth it in the average Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough.

All the same, it's certainly a fascinating way to break the game in some key regards, and these scenarios and others could be worth exploring on more experimental playthroughs. Pushing and prodding at how Baldur's Gate 3 works has led to plenty of intriguing discoveries since launch, and although many of the most disruptive have been patched out of the game, others doubtless remain yet unrevealed. Temporarily killing companions might not be the intended Baldur's Gate 3 experience, but every campaign doesn't have to follow the rules.

Source: General-N0nsense/Reddit, OutlawX18/Reddit, MCleartist/Reddit

Baldur's Gate 3

Franchise

Baldur's Gate

Platform(s)

PC , Stadia , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X

Released

August 3, 2023

Developer(s)

Larian Studios

Genre(s)

RPG

Publisher(s)

Larian Studios

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence

How Long To Beat

30 Hours