What happens if you attack Withers in Balder’s Gate 3?

In Baldur’s Gate 3, Withers is an NPC who will join your crew in the first act. While he isn’t a combatant, he does offer resurrection services. When you first meet him, you are given the option to attack him. What happens if you do?

Nothing.

Withers can’t be hurt, and that’s a canonical thing. You can certainly try to hurt him, but it won’t work. Even if you choose the attack command in dialogue, he’ll just shrug it off. Literally, he doesn’t even care. Not a whole lot is known about Withers background or where his power comes from, but he’s not impressed by your attempts to hurt him.

The fact you can’t damage or even perturb Withers makes more sense from a gameplay perspective than it does narratively. Withers is the only way to access hirelings, and if all else fails and you’re out of resurrection scrolls, it’s the only way to revive a dead character. Without him, certain functions of Baldur’s Gate 3 would grind to a halt. What if someone misclicks and – I know this sounds improbable – doesn’t have a save they can revert to? They’d be up the creek.

But my question is, why would you want to? Withers is a great guy. Is it because he looks dead? That’s mean. Just because someone looks like a zombie doesn’t mean they’re going to eat your brains. He seems like a chill dude. He’s kind of weary of the world, but he still cares on some level. I’d hang out with him. Maybe even play some Baldur’s Gate 3 with him, but I certainly wouldn’t attack him.