Shortly after the game’s official launch, Baldur’s Gate 3 received Honour Mode, a difficult version of the game meant for experienced players. It restricts your playthrough to one save file, which is great for when you don’t want to be tempted into save-scumming your way through dice rolls and dialogue choices. It’s not so great for when one of those dialogue choices cuts your run short.
That’s what happened to one player, who literally fucked around and found out. As spotted by GamesRadar, a player posted to the Baldur’s Gate 3 subreddit about how trying to saddle up with a character led to their untimely death. They were 60 hours into a playthrough with only Raphael and The Elder Brain (the final boss) left to take on when they were tempted by Harleep, Raphael’s incubus consort in the House of Hope. That temptation led to their downfall.
Basically, Harleep offers information if your character or a companion has sex with them. (You can also fight them instead and later use Speak with Dead to get the info you need.) At one point, while the characters are getting freaky, you’re presented with two options: giving up just your body to Harleep, or offering your heart and soul as well. As in, your literal soul. Do that, and your character is met with permanent death.
“I am THROWING UP,” the Reddit post reads. “GUESS WHO JUST LEARNED HARLEEP CAN KILL YOU BY FUCKING YOUR BRAINS OUT??? THIS FELLA.”
Poor guy. All they wanted was some strange at the end of the game, and they were instead met with death. As commentors on the post have pointed out, Honour Mode is not the time to experiment with choices if you want to complete it in one piece, as you never know what random-ass choices will lead to death via sex. “Crazy to experiment with a new dialogue in an honor mode run if you’re going for the gold dice,” one commentor wrote. “We all have to learn the ‘never try something new’ in honor mode lesson somehow….” another said. At least the player wasn’t alone; a commentor wrote, “I did the exact same thing 2 weeks ago! Was gutted.”
Failed Honour Mode runs can still be salvaged. Players can turn them into Custom Campaigns and revert to their save-scumming, honorless ways if they want.
Let this serve as a warning for future players trying out an Honour Mode run for the first time. Don’t experiment if you want that Golden Dice reward, and maybe, uh, be careful boinking the sex demon who wants your soul.
