Baldur's Gate 3 non-lethal attacks are reportedly meaningless or useless as characters still die

Baldur’s Gate 3 players are reporting that non-lethal attacks in the game are practically useless. According to them, when attempting non-lethal takedowns, characters end up dying regardless.

Players have shared their frustrating experiences with non-lethal attacks on social media platforms, hoping to draw attention to the issue.

Does anyone else playing Baldur’s Gate III have the issue where non-lethal attacks just… don’t work? Like, am I missing something, or does the feature just not function? (Source)

I toggled non lethal damage on an npc i accidentally got into combat with so i could still speak to him after and baldur’s gate said “fuck that” so he’s just dead now cool beans (Source)

Baldur’s Gate 3 offers various ways to interact with the world, including non-lethal combat options for players who choose a pacifist approach.

However, reports (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) suggest that these non-lethal options are ineffective. Even when NPCs are knocked down with non-lethal attacks, they often die or disappear.

Baldur’s Gate 3 players have observed that the game appears to be determined to have certain NPCs die, regardless of the player’s actions.

While some players claim that non-lethal attacks are indeed ineffective in Baldur’s Gate 3, others argue that they do work but are not suitable for every situation.

According to these players, non-lethal attacks function well on characters not intended or scripted for combat.

However, they do not work as expected on characters the game anticipates players will fight. In such cases, these characters are treated as if they died, and players never encounter them again.

It works for characters you aren’t generally intended to/scripted to fight. It doesn’t work very well at all for characters who the game “expects” you to fight. They’re treated as if they died, and you’ll never see them again. (Source)

As of now, Larian Studios has not issued an official statement regarding this issue. We will continue monitoring the situation and provide updates if there are any further developments.

Feature image source: Steam

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