Baldur’s Gate 3 involves a lot of turn-based combat that usually ends up with you killing your enemies, but this is not the only way to take them down.
There are instances where an enemy can take enough damage to perform a Saving Roll, which will give them the chance to still be alive by holding on to the last thread of their life.
If you don’t want to kill your enemies (mostly the humanoid ones), there is a way to ensure that they are only knocked out, making them unconscious.
How To Knockout Targets?
When in a fight, if an enemy suffers damage that can kill them, there will be a chance that they will survive with 1 HP and will be downed instead.
Aside from this, you can change some of your attacks to be non-lethal, which will make a character downed instead of killing them instantly when they run out of help.
This is a good way to stop someone from dying to prevent further problems when you advance the story such as if the battle was the result of a mistake or you don’t want to ruin your reputation.
How To Toggle Non-Lethal Attacks?
To toggle your attacks to be non-lethal ones, you can find the option in the Passives section of your Hotbar and may press this to activate its effects.
This will also apply the non-lethal attacks to all your companions if they are using attacks that can result in knocking out enemies.
Take note that non-lethal attacks will only be guaranteed if the attacking character is unarmed or using a melee weapon, so don’t expect the target to be alive after you have incinerated them.
Purpose of Non-Lethal Attacks
Non-lethal attacks are good for keeping things less chaotic and this can prevent certain quests from being altered in ways that you rather not, such as accidentally killing a key character.
Enemies that are knocked out may sometimes cause less of a stir than a character that is murdered when they are discovered by enemies.
Aside from triggering certain game mechanics and preventing permanent issues, it also gives a more righteous feeling for those aiming to be a lawful character.
Verdict
Characters that are knocked out will be rendered almost useless until they are awakened, and you can loot their items if you want.
There is still a chance that knocked-out characters may die, which can be a result of damage from other sources when they are knocked out.
Players who tend to resort to non-lethal attacks to take out their enemies are given the chance for peaceful resolutions rather than violent alternatives.
