How non-lethal attacks work in Baldur’s Gate 3

While non-lethal attacks are an option in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s hard to deny the joy of shredding your enemies with high-level spells or smashing them to bits with a raging Barbarian. There’s nothing quite like finding the perfect strategy to stomp your foes. That said, there are some rare occasions where you might actually want to talk to your enemy after tearing them apart, and that’s why you need to know about non-lethal attacks.

If you start a fight by accident, or you just want to roleplay as someone opposed to murder, non-lethal attacks are the key to getting through combat without blood on your hands. The good news is that the attacks are very easy to engage. The bad news is that going non-lethal will definitely limit your combat options. 

You can find the Baldur’s Gate 3 option for non-lethal attacks option in your action wheel or in the passives section of your action bar. It’s as simple as flipping a switch. Once you have non-lethal toggled, it’ll stay active until you switch it off. The only attacks that the toggle will affect are your basic melee actions, so if you don’t want to kill anyone, make sure to avoid using spells or ranged attacks.

Committed to peace, now what?

While non-lethal attacks mean you might have chosen not to kill anyone, but that doesn’t mean you have to completely leave the collection of spells and ranged attacks in Baldur’s Gate 3 behind. While you’re chipping away at an enemy’s health bar, you’re free to use whatever attacks you want. The only thing that matters is that you drop your enemy to zero HP with a non-lethal attack. You can use Burning Hands to bring someone all the way down to one hit point, and as long as you use a melee attack as a finisher, they’ll walk away unscathed. 

The final non-lethal attack will leave an enemy unconscious on the battlefield. The best part about this is that you can still loot their body. After all, they’re in no position to stop you from stealing all their best gear. The main benefit of non-lethal attacks in Baldur’s Gate 3 is that you can walk away from battle with your morals or your reputation intact.