Whenever I start a playthrough ofBaldur’s Gate 3, I always dread having my character go down during a combat encounter. Losing a turn and having to make death saving throws while my party keeps fighting is rough, especially if the odds were already against the group. However, in my most recent multiplayer campaign, I’ve found a way to prevent my Tav from going down easily.
There are many differentbuilds inBaldur’s Gate 3designed around creating a tank character, from Barbarians who resist damage to Bladesinger Wizards with high AC to dodge every attack. These are always made from a combination of your character’s class, subclass, and racial features to work as a benchmark. As you play,the items you get from different Acts also contribute to flesh out a buildinto something powerful.
Half-Orc Shadow Sorcerers Have Two Chances To Keep Fighting
Endurance And Strength Combine To Keep Your Vitality
To immediately gain access to a unique build,create a Half-Orc Sorcerer at Level 1when you start a new game ofBaldur’s Gate 3. When you do this, you’ll want totake the Shadow Magic subclass for Sorcerer, which is also chosen right when you start your adventure. This gives you two features tied around keeping your character alive, including the ones shown in the table below:
Relentless Endurance
Half-Orc Racial Feature
If you reach 0 Hit Points, you regain 1 Hit Point instead of becoming Downed.
Strength Of The Grave
Shadow Sorcerer Level 1 Feature
After reaching 0 Hit Points, you regain 1 instead of becoming Downed.
As you can see, both of these features are one and the same, and I’ve discovered thatyou can stack them together to make them synergize. When you are a Half-OrcShadow Sorcerer inBG3, you use only one of these two abilities when you reach 0 Hit Points. When you are knocked down again, the other ability that wasn’t used activates, giving you two chances to stay alive instead of one.
One of the best ways to utilize Strength of the Grave is through multiclassing. Since Half-Orc characters are strong melee fighters due to their Savage Attacks feature with melee Critical Hits, Paladins or Fighters who take one Level in Shadow Sorcerer can lead to great builds.
Since most creatures do not have more than two attacks, especially in Acts 1 and 2,a character built like this can survive multiple hits instead of losing all their Hit Points. Hopefully, this gives that character another chance to finish a battle, revive an ally, or do something helpful to ensure their party’s victory. That being said, there are even more ways to ensure a character’s survival than just these two abilities.
Certain Spells & Weapons Allow You To Avoid Death Even More
Use Holy Weapons And Wards Against Death To Stay Active
Just having the Half-Orc and Shadow Sorcerer features will lead to a few saves in combat, but certain spells inBG3can give you a third instance of endurance.Death Wardis a 4th Level Abjuration spell that most Clerics can learn that protects a creature from death.When used, the spellcaster picks a target, and the next time that target’s Hit Points are reduced to 0, it remains consciouswith 1 Hit Point left.
This stacks with Strength of the Grave and Relentless Endurance, giving that character a third chance to live. While it took me quite some time for another party member to learn Death Ward, it was crucial to winning some of thetoughest battles in Act 3.
Another weapon can take this survivabiltiy build even further - TheBlood of Lathandar. This one-handed Legendary +3 Mace is found in Act 1, in the Githyanki Creche, and takes some effort to get. If you do manage to wield this weapon, it has aspecial ability called Lathander’s Blessing, which can revive whoever is using it when they are reduced to 0 Hit Points.
Strength of the Grave, Relentless Endurance, and Lathandar’s Blessing are all abilities that you may use once before a Long Rest. This makes each ability something you only want to activate all together when you are in an important fight you really want to win.
I found that my character using the Blood of Lathandar can use it as a last resort, once all other features have been used up. When Lathander’s Blessing activates, it doesn’t just put your character to 1 Hit Point, itrestores 2d6 Hit Points, giving you far more vitality. More often than not, I saw this ability act before any other one, granting my allies 1d6 Hit Points as well if they were close to my character when they reached 0.
Tadpole Powers Can Ensure Your Character Never Falls
Mind Flayer Abilities Add Even More Chances
What truly made this build ridiculous, though, was when I started dipping intoIllithid Powersfor my character. When I completed the"Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite"side quest in Act 2’s Myconid Colony, I gained access to a hidden Illithid Power calledSurvival Instinct. This abilityallows a character to infuse a target with psionic force, healing them when they reach 0 Hit Points instead of them falling unconscious.
This allowed any member of my party with thisIllithid Power inBG3unlocked to apply it to my character, letting them stay alive without activating the other endurance abilities. Unlike Strength of the Grave or Relentless Endurance,an Illithid Power is activated almost like a Reactionby whichever player has it, giving my party more freedom when using it.
Survival Instinct recovers on a Short Rest instead of a Long Rest, allowing it to be used multiple times before sleeping at camp. If you have a Bard with Song of Rest in your party, you might be able to recharge this ability even more.
When everything is combined, from spells, weapons, class features, and racial traits, with this Illithid Power,it takes enemies almost half a dozen tries to actually down my character. At later levels, my Armor Class is fairly high too, so enemies still have to breach my defenses to land those would-be killing blows.
These features are still mostly a one-time use before a Long Rest, but during big fights, they can be incredible ways to keep fighting. Even if this build isn’t necessarily Honor Mode worthy inBaldur’s Gate 3, it has been a constant source of fun moments when playing with my friends in our newest campaign.
