Baldur’s Gate 3 just celebrated its third anniversary. If you’re anything like me, that milestone is enough of an excuse to dive back into Larian Studios’ smash hit RPG for another go around the Sword Coast. The challenge is finding a new way to go about it.
Something I’ve always loved about Baldur’s Gate 3 is how flexible its foundations are. Your imagination is the only limit to how you build a character, set up your party, and approach combat, exploration, and story progression – though I’m no stranger to finding clever ways to cheese my way out of sticky situations if plans go awry.
Join the GamesRadar+ RPG Club: Every month we pick a new RPG to play together. In August we are diving back into Baldur’s Gate 3. So gather your party, stock up on supplies, and get ready to share your stories around the RPG Club campfire
With all those lessons learned, I’ve settled on something I’ve never done before: A no-weapons run of Baldur’s Gate 3, to see how the world reacts when you aren’t approaching all that it has to offer with the sharp edge of a sword (or a quiver of smokepowder arrows). Will it be a joyous way to play, or a disaster that inadvertently gets my character and favorite companions killed?
We’re going to figure that out together. Over the next four weeks we’ll be exploring a full playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 as part of the GamesRadar+ RPG Club, and I want you to join me on this journey and share your own experiences. As for my own, it begins where it always does: with character creation and some difficult Act One decisions.
Quest Log
1. Weapons-Free
No melee or ranged weapons. If you can hold it in your hand and hurt someone with it, it’s a no.
2. Lighten Up
Torches may be used, but only to light dark areas or combat shadow curse.
3. Be Kind
Sometimes you need to respec your character – we all make mistakes. But only once per Act.
4. Safety First
Shields can be equipped but only to buff armor class, not as secret melee weapons.
Look, ma, empty hands!
If you’re joining us on this no-weapons run through Baldur’s Gate 3, you have to know that picking a suitable race is paramount. Ignoring any Baldur’s Gate 3 race that offers passive melee perks, or seems otherwise overloaded with weapon and armor proficiencies, the list of options is narrowed considerably.
I ultimately decide upon a Halfling for the Lucky and Brave racial bonuses, a decision which will give me a shot at re-rolling critical fail dice rolls later down the line – not to mention an advantage on certain saving throws.
As for my class and subclass, it’s draconic-bloodline sorcerer all the way. Sorcs are some of the most powerful beings in the Forgotten Realms and have little to no need for melee action. With elemental magic given a boost per-level in my chosen lineage damage-type (in this case, lightning), I can already tell that having all of these spells at my disposal from the off is going to be a huge boon. Then, it was time to hop out of my pod and into the fire.
The first thing I do is unequip protagonist Zeraphina’s melee and ranged weapons. She looks defenseless and squishy without them, poor mite, but I soon run into Lae’zel, who also gets her tools of the trade stripped away. The imps barely make a dent in our ranks (which lacks the presence of Us, the intellect devourer, since Zeraphina lacked the strength or dexterity to extract him from the skull. Oops.)
By the time we free Shadowheart and I do away with her tools as well, I’m feeling confident about this no-weapons run challenge. I’ve managed to defeat Commander Zhalk on the nautiloid before, but since his loot is a powerful greatsword and I have no use for it on this run, I let Zeraphina and Lae’zel distract the cambion while Shadowheart dashes for the crashing ship’s controls.
The lanceboard is set
Landing on the beach, I dust myself off. So far so good: I have full health and a few spell slots intact, and once I link back up with Shadowheart, I set off to gather my buddies.
As I go, I’m already thinking about how I’ll need to respec some of them to suit my challenge. Shadowheart, being a cleric, is still useful to me in her current class. Astarion is next on my checklist – a rogue, soon to become a spell-slinging College of Glamor bard since I’ll have no use for his devastating weapon sneak attacks this time – followed by evocation wizard Gale and a very sulky Lae’zel (whom I actually bother to track down this time).
Lae’zel is a greatsword-wielding fighter, which also has no place in my current challenge. Gale actually doesn’t need an immediate respec, since wizard’s don’t rely on weapons anyway, so he can thank Mystra for my great benevolence in keeping his wizardly ways untouched (for now).
But before I can actually assign new classes to my new friends, I need to find me a bone man – aka, scribe of the dead Withers. He’s the only way I can respec in BG3, and after so many playthroughs, I know exactly where to find him.
Greased lightning
I have Shadowheart, Astarion, and Gale with me for my trip to the Overgrown Ruins, but my strongest allies are grease and candles.
Paired with Gale’s ice knife spell to create small patches of frozen, slippery terrain, the hostile looters are left wide open to a host of other attacks. Shadowheart and Gale are very useful already, proving they don’t need to be re-classified, but I do find myself at a loss with what to do about arcane trickster Astarion when he’s not picking locks or disabling traps.
Here is where I feel the loss of his sneak attacks most. He’s got a backpack full of grease bottles already though, and throwing them at looters makes them fall comically prone every so often. I especially enjoy having him extinguish nearby torches, hide in the shadows, and toss firebolt cantrips (or candles) into puddles of grease beneath foes, dealing critical damage to prone enemies.
The fun really starts when we make our way into Withers’ crypt. I go around to each of the not-suspiciously-laid-out-at-all entombed skeletons to steal their tools off them in the hopes that it makes the incoming fight a little easier. Alas, they immediately spring to life and dole out the Silence spells as soon as I touch the button to open Wither’s chamber.
I prioritize keeping Shadowheart far from the Silence orbs, hitting the skeletons with Sacred Flame in the vain hope that the cantrip actually works and disrupts their concentration. Gale and Zeraphina have some proximity spells they can use, and I send Shadowheart some looted spell scrolls to help dole out some damage from afar. Astarion is still on his grease-hide-firebolt kick, though he is the first to go down, and I ultimately end up using my first precious revivify scroll to bring the vampling back to un-life. It’s a slow, agonizing battle, and by the end, my whole party is hanging on by a few HP apiece.
With Withers on-side and having returned to camp to long rest, I have enough coin to respec two characters at this point. Astarion is perfectly suited to bardhood, I decide after hearing his Vicious Mockery quips at the gates to Emerald Grove, and having another healer would be incredibly useful already. Meanwhile, Lae’zel makes a fabulous monk. Her high strength modifier makes unarmed wallops absolutely lethal, and I already have high hopes for her specific gear build.
But before I think that far ahead, I go right on and recruit Wyll Ravengard to the fold. He’ll have to rebrand as the Eldritch Blast of Frontiers, though, because that rapier gets yoinked out of his noble hands immediately. I toy around with changing up his warlock subclass, much as it pains me to play around with the game’s canon, but I settle on opting for the Pact of the Chain class feature. Who knows, maybe this time I’ll remember to actually use his out-of-combat-only summon?
Next, I need my barbarian. On the way to finding Karlach, I pick up the Ring of Flinging from the vendor in Emerald Groves. It applies 1d4 extra damage to all thrown objects, including improvised weapons (aka, goblins, chairs, you name it), so this item has been a non-negotiable early game pickup for me in every BG3 playthrough to-date. I have grand plans for tavern brawler giant Karlach to make good use of it eventually, since the tavern brawler feat boosts Strength and doubles its modifier when dealing unarmed and throwing attacks too.
I’ve got a long road ahead
My party is really taking shape, with each new battle forcing me to think outside the box when it comes to creative damage dealing. If I’m not hoarding candles, grease bottles, and other throwables, I’m taking the time to reposition companions before battles.
I’m even all-out skipping whole areas I don’t think are worth it given my current restriction – saving Counsellor Florrick in Waukeen’s Rest would be pointless (unless you’re focusing on Wyll’s story), as the reward for doing so is a choice of weapons.
I’m also using the ever-flexible rules of D&D to my advantage in finding smart workarounds for incredibly challenging battles. Did you know that casting mage hand in the Hag’s lair to lower Mayrina’s cage, casting Longstrider on your party, and jumping down to the exit door without triggering the final battle against Auntie Ethel is totally possible? Me neither, but I was able to slip away for a long rest before returning to finish the job with zero problems at all.
Next week, I’ll delve into how playing with no weapons impacts my journey to Moonrise Towers, specifically when it comes to choosing my route carefully to pick up specific gear. Until then, stay safe out there, and don’t forget to stockpile those candles!