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With Patch 5 ofBaldur’s Gate 3, the developers are aiming to attract their dedicated audience who have already fallen in love with the game to start a new adventure with a fresh coat of paint to make the new run better than the last.
Larian Studioshas a longstanding tradition of catering to the truly hardcore fans of their game by having an insane tier difficulty. On release, thehardest difficulty was Tactician, which was plenty challenging all on its own. Honour Mode takes it one step further.
Updated by Peter Hunt Szpytek on August 12, 2025:This guide has been updated to include a video version (featured above.)
Baldur’s Gate 3
How Does Honour Mode Work?
Honour Mode increases difficulty in two ways.
No More Save Scumming
In Honour Mode, you only get one save file that automatically updates itself as certain checkpoints are reached, or you save the game manually, completelystoppingsave-scumming.
With this mode selected,players can no longer redo a dice rollafter getting a less-than-optimal outcome. If you lose a fight, you really, truly lose. There is no going back and starting from the beginning. You only getone chanceto do everything right. And it’s impossible for everything to go right.
Youwilllose. Youwilldie. Youwillfail perception checksthat never truly matter in the base difficulty because you always have the option to redo the whole thing from the start. Fights, dialogue, and decisions will now have true consequences, not just the inconvenience of sitting through a loading screen to get a second try. Finally, rolling aNatural 1will now have the same impact it does when it happens during a live D&D session. It’s a thing of beauty.
One saving grace isInspiration.Inspiration allows players to reroll a failed dice rollusing Inspiration points. you may still do that in Honour Mode, making it one of the few ways the game allows you to circumvent failure.
Harder Boss Fights
For Honour Mode, Larian hastweaked all boss fightswith a new mechanic calledLegendary Action. Legendary Action—as far as we can tell—will give each of these bosses an additional Action, separate from theirActions and Bonus Actions, during the course of the fight to perform a special move.
It’s unclear what classifies as a boss fight, but it’s safe to assume major ones likeRaphaelandCazadorare on the list. What this means is that players can no longer be confident they know what to expect from a major enemy. TheLegendary Action is the wild cardthat you cannot account for until you face it. Combined with the lack of save scumming, it makes for a hell of a combo.
How To Get The Golden D20
With the increased difficulty of Honour Mode comes the promise of a reward at the end:The Golden die. If youfinish the game with no character deaths on Honour Mode, you’ll be rewarded with a new, golden skin for your dieto replace the default blue. After obtaining it, you canchange the dice skinfrom the bottom left corner of the screen during a dice roll.
Baldur’s Gate 3: All Permanent Bonuses In The Game
Permanent bonuses in Baldur’s Gate 3 are rare and coveted. Here is a complete list of every last one and how to get them!
