Violence is never the answer, but sometimes it is, and in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s hard to avoid some major combat scenarios, no matter how proficient you are in Persuasion. But violence doesn’t always have to mean ending someone’s life.
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For those unaware, like I was until my partner told me, you have an option of using Non-Lethal Attacks in Baldur’s Gate 3, which means you can go about your adventure and hypothetically not kill a single individual or creature. There are rules to Non-Lethal Attacks, though, and ramifications for leaving someone unconscious in the wilderness, so here’s an in-depth explainer.
How do I turn on Non-Lethal Attacks in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Non-Lethal Attacks is a toggleable passive feature that can be turned on and off at will. To access it during the game, click on the Passives filter underneath your character’s action bar; it will not appear on the action bar unless you click the Passives filter.
With Non-Lethal Attacks turned on, the entire party’s unarmed and melee attacks will deal non-lethal damage. As the wording implies, this effect does not apply to ranged attacks or magic damage. The effect also does not work on undead creatures or constructs (like magical turrets and statues).
How do Non-Lethal Attacks work in Baldur’s Gate 3?
When a creature is dropped below zero points of health via Non-Lethal Attacks, they do not die but rather get Knocked Out. A creature that is Knocked Out cannot attack, move, take actions or bonus actions, or use reactions. This temporary effect will wear off after a Long Rest; if you return to where a creature was Knocked Out after a Long Rest, it will be awake and back to full health.
Related: Long resting in Baldur’s Gate 3 will reduce bugs, but it comes at a heavy cost
You can still deal magic and ranged damage to creatures, but the “killing blow” has to be melee or unarmed to be non-lethal.
As you can imagine, the creature that you Knocked Out will not be happy about that, and you’ll notice that their Attitude dropped after you laid them out. To have any actual conversation with them after, you will have to appease them with a gift. This will open the bartering menu, and you will have to gift them items or money to get out of the red on the Approval scale.
Why use Non-Lethal Attacks?
There are not a ton of useful applications of Non-Lethal Attacks. Using them would allow you to loot necessary items without killing the creature that has them, but I’ve rarely come across instances where there’s a need to leave the creature in question alive—unless they’re an innocent or a civilian.
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