Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Guides

How to use non-lethal attacks in Baldur’s Gate 3

By

If there's one thing you'll never be at a loss for while playing Baldur's Gate 3, it's ways to kill your opponents. From swords, axes, and maces to bows, magic, and poison, your potential arsenal is essentially limitless. While that's great for when you're faced with irredeemable monsters and forces of pure evil, sometimes a fight can break out with people you'd rather not kill. This could be due to a failed skill check starting a fight you didn't intend, to a misunderstanding, or because the people attacking you are connected to a group you want to stay on the good side of. When combat breaks out, you're not resigned to either killing your enemy or reloading a save thanks to a handy ability to non-lethally attack enemies, but how to activate it isn't clear. Here's how to knock out an enemy in Baldur's Gate 3.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

  • A melee weapon or unarmed weapon slot

How to use non-lethal attacks

The only restriction to non-lethal attacks is that they have to be melee. There's just no way to make an arrow or magic missile non-lethal, so prepare to get up-close and personal to knock out your target.

Step 1: Once in combat with one or more enemies you want to knock out, position any character with a melee weapon or who uses their fists within striking range of the target.

Step 2: On any character, go to the Passive submenu at the bottom of your hub.

A description of how to use non-lethal attacks.
Larian Entertainment
Related

Step 3: Toggle Non-lethal to make any attack knock your opponent out rather than deal damage.

Step 4: Note that this doesn't act like a skill, but rather a toggle that affects all your party members. Once on, everyone doing melee strikes will do so non-lethally until you toggle it off again.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
How to gain Inspiration Points in Baldur’s Gate 3
A player conversation in Baldur's Gate 3.

Just like the tabletop game it's based on, Baldur's Gate 3 runs off of dice rolls. Everything in the game, even if it isn't shown to you, generally has a dice roll in the background that determines the outcome, from combat to conversations. When you are prompted to roll for a skill check, you will be shown a D20 with the minimum needed to succeed in that check, as well as any advantages or disadvantages your specific character has depending on the stat that roll is based on. On some rolls, you could have a high skill and add a few points to the die, making it easier to pass, while others will have negative modifiers, making it less likely you will pass. Failing a roll means, well, you don't succeed in whatever you were attempting to do, but Inspiration Points can bail you out of a bad outcome provided you've earned them in Baldur's Gate 3.
What Inspiration Points do
You can think of Inspiration Points as do-over points since you can spend them on any failed skill check to reroll the die and get another shot at passing it. Rerolling with an Inspiration Point does not guarantee your second roll will be successful, so if your odds are really bad, you will be just as likely to fail a second time as the first. These points aren't very common, so don't waste them on checks that are essentially impossible to pass.
How to gain Inspiration Points

Inspiration Points are directly tied to your character's Background, which is different from your class or your race. While creating your character, you will pick a general origin for your character that colors their past and how they will treat and be treated by others. Not only should you pay attention to your own Background, but those of any companion you're traveling with as well, since they can also earn Inspiration Points for you based on their Backgrounds. In both cases, this is done through what is known as Background Goals.

Read more
How to solve the moon puzzle in the Defiled Temple in Baldur’s Gate 3
Astrion holds his chin in Baldur's Gate 3.

There's always a type of puzzle that some people just have trouble with for one reason or another. For many, that is spinning or sliding puzzles like the moon puzzle you will run up against while exploring the Defiled Temple in Baldur's Gate 3 during the "Find the Nightsong" quest. This puzzle comes after a tough battle, but may prove to be a bigger roadblock than the previous fight. You will be in a chamber with four spinning dials that need to be positioned in the correct order so the moon symbols line up. Since spinning one will impact the others, it isn't as easy as just spinning each one into the correct position one at a time. If you're stumped on this moon puzzle, here's how to solve it in Baldur's Gate 3.

Read more
What is the level cap in Baldur’s Gate 3?
A wizard charges a spell to hit a minataur.

One of the most satisfying things about deep CRPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 is creating your character. You can tweak their features, choose their race and class, and develop them to be just how you like. Each level obviously increases your total power and abilities, but also unlocks new skills and options to pick from. Even if you decide not to multi-class and focus just on your main build, you won't be able to create an all-powerful character. There's a limit before you won't be able to gain any more levels, so knowing just how much room you have left could impact your decisions on what to invest in. If you're curious just how many levels you have left to gain in Baldur's Gate 3, here's the final level cap for your character.
What is the level cap in Baldur's Gate 3?

While developer Larian originally planned for the level cap in the full release to be 10, just before launch it announced that the cap had been moved up to 12. Early access players were only able to reach level 5, meaning even those who played the game before launch still have more than double the amount of levels to gain on their new characters. The message that came with the announcement stated: "While we originally planned for Level 10 to be the highest character level in the game, too many rad high-level spells would have been left just out of reach had we done so. Instead, Baldur's Gate 3 players will be able to reach Level 12, unlocking Planar Allies, Otto's Irresistible Dance, and Chain Lightning."

Read more