Summary

Few things are quite as devastating as failing an Honour Mode campaign inBaldur’s Gate 3, but that sensation of defeat has the tendency to come around all too often. With a lot of tweaks to difficulty and additional challenges in enemy and boss encounters, Honour Mode doesn’t take any prisoners. If party deaths didn’t pose a unique threat, that would all be well and good, butGame Overs in Honour Mode end the attempt for good, and choosing to continue after a Game Over takes the campaign out of Honour Mode.

That being said,Baldur’s Gate 3offers a lot of strategic opportunities to get a leg up onHonour Mode’s notorious challenges, even if many of them can be tricky to discover. Although some particularly underhanded exploits have been addressed in Honour Mode patches, a lot of unusual tricks don’t rely on fundamentally breaking the game. One great example has to do with acquiring gold for the party, a process that becomes significantly more important as Honour Mode whittles down the party’s resources without showing any remorse.

Gale conjuring an energy ball in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7 Makes Major Changes To Honour Mode So Even Beginners Can Try

Honour Mode is a neat Baldur’s Gate 3 challenge that remains out of the reach of many players, but a new option should soon bridge that gap.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Hirelings Are Perfect For Pickpocketing

Party Members Don’t Need To Get Their Hands Dirty

Hirelings can be a great resourcefor a lot of creative opportunities inBaldur’s Gate 3, and Reddit userthatdude333details an exceptionally useful method ofemploying a hireling to pickpocket NPCs in Honour Mode. Hirelings are recruits that can be paid to tag along with the party for the purposes of assistance in combat, but the battlefield isn’t the only place where they can be useful. It’s possible to build hirelings with the sole purpose of pickpocketing without having to dedicate a main party member to a specialized set of skills, and it takes some heat off the party.

How BG3’s Honour Mode Pickpocketing Strategy Works

It’s Only A Little Complicated

The walkthrough provided by thatdude333 detailshow to recruit the perfect hirelingthief,a process that starts with hiring Brinna Brightsong thanks to the stealth advantage that halflings provide. From there, it’s a matter of respeccing the character around stealth stats, abilities, and spells, maintaining her class as a bard to open up the College of Lore subclass at level three. Throwing the Athlete feat and a variety of beneficial items into the mix can make her close to unstoppable as a pickpocket, and in the rare event that she does fail, slipping away withinvisibilitycan avoid the consequences.

One Baldur’s Gate 3 Mechanic Is The Wrong Thing To Do But Feels So Right

Morality comes at a price in Baldur’s Gate 3. Sometimes, doing the wrong thing is what’s best for the whole party. Just don’t get caught red-handed.

Although this method of surviving Honour Mode might not be the most, well, honorable, anything in service of stopping the Absolute can more or less be justified. Using a hireling isn’t the only method of making pickpocketing easier inBaldur’s Gate 3, but even if the initial setup work in preparing a character can be a bit demanding, it’s simpler to use repeatedly than most convoluted alternatives are. If gold is starting to become scarce in aBaldur’s Gate 3Honour Mode campaign, making the minor upfront investment in a hireling could quickly pay dividends.

An open pickpocketing window as a player attempts to lift keys off of an NPC in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Source:thatdude333/Reddit

Baldur’s Gate 3

Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.

Astarion extends a hand containing a gold-glowing chest in a composite of images from Baldur’s Gate 3.

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