Game Over screens

Endings

Game Over screens

Epilogue

Overview

Before reaching the narrative ending of Baldur's Gate 3, players may encounter a Game Over screen as the result of a certain (usually unwise) conversation options or failed conditions during combat encounters. Reaching a Game Over will not offer scenes or conversations that conclude the overall story of the campaign. Instead a screen appears prompting the player to reload from a prior save.

Narrative endings that fully conclude the story through the final quest, Confront the Elder Brain, can be found in Endings.

When Gale is recruited as a Companion or chosen as an Origin, a large number of unique triggers for Game Over screens become available due to the existence of his Netherese orb.

Some game-over triggers may not fire during co-op gameplay. Keep in mind this information is not always accessible for a single contributor to confirm.

General

• Triggered by the entire Party dying, in or out of combat.
  • Triggered by the entire Party jumping or being pushed into a chasm.
  • Triggered by the entire Party becoming  downed (e.g. through fall damage, explosives, or other environmental hazards).

Prologue

• Triggered by failing to reach the transponder within the 15 allotted turns (without dying in combat).
• Triggered by the player character attempting to leave the room where combat between Commander Zhalk and the Mind Flayer is underway.

Act One

• Ravaged Beach: Triggered by failing a Wisdom saving throw against a dying Mind Flayer or selecting "Submit to the feeling - lean in, as for a kiss...".
• Wilderness Camp
  • Triggered by failing a dialogue check or selecting "Surrender to Lae-zel. You will not become an abomination" when Lae'zel holds a dagger to the player character's throat during a long rest cutscene. (Only if Lae'zel and the player character are the only members of the party).
  • Triggered by allowing Astarion to completely suck the player character's blood during a long rest cutscene. (Only if Astarion and the player character are the only members of the party).
• Whispering Depths: Triggered via cutscene by jumping into the hole leading to the Underdark without having cast  Feather Fall, equipped The Blood of Lathander, or used  Fly to descend. (Only if all members of the party jump).
• In Case of Death...: Triggered by failing to complete this quest to revive Gale within three long rests of its start.
• Overgrown Tunnel: Triggered by equipping the Whispering Mask and failing a Wisdom saving throw to become a slave of Auntie Ethel. (Only if all members of the party equip the masks).
• Find Explosives: Triggered by failing a dialogue check or selecting "I don't care. Go on, blow us up" when Philomeen threatens to explode the Runepowder Barrel. (Only if all members of the party are in the room).
• Crèche Y'llek: Triggered during conversation with Vlaakith, by selecting dialogue options that taunt her to "prove her godhood" to the party, or failing a Detect Thoughts check, if Shadowheart is present.
• Find the Blood of Lathander: Triggered by attempting to take The Blood of Lathander without using Dawnmaster's Crest to deactivate the trap and failing to escape or deactivate it within 4 rounds. (Only if all party members are in the Crèche).

Act Two

• The Wizard of Waterdeep: Triggered by activating  Netherese Orb Blast anytime after it becomes available at the start of Act Two. The only times this ability does not result in an early game over are when:

1. It is triggered during the second combet encounter with Ketheric Thorm. The game can end at this very moment, allowing the party to kill Ketheric Thorm, Enver Gortash, Orin the Red and the Absolute in one fell swoop. This only works during the cutscene; using the ability outside of the cutscene will trigger a Game Over as usual, though this will not trigger the achivement for completing Honour Mode.
2. It is triggered through dialogue at the brain stem before the final battle of Act Three.

• Shadow-Cursed Lands: Triggered by attempting to return to Act One after completing Find the Nightsong and Find Ketheric Thorm's Relic (and ignored warnings not to).
• The Blade of Frontiers: Triggered in the Mind Flayer Colony by choosing to kill Mizora in the pod she's held in. (Only if Wyll Ravengard is played as an Origin).
• The Wizard of Waterdeep: Triggered by allowing Gale to activate the Netherese Orb through dialogue in the Mind Flayer Colony. Displays a unique game-over cutscene and alternate ending.

Act Three

• Help Your Protector: Triggered in combat, if The Emperor dies.
• House of Hope:
  • Triggered during conversation with Haarlep, by selecting conversation options that result in the player character "giving up" both their body and their mind.
  • Triggered if the player character signed a contract with Raphael but does not steal it back after alerting the denizens of the House of Hope and before attempting to return to the Devil's Fee (See House of Hope for more details).
• Iron Throne: Triggered if the party fails to escape the area before the turn counter expires.
• Fulfill the Deal: Triggered in conversation if the party did not previously accept Raphael's deal or steal the Orphic Hammer before causing The Emperor to abandon the party. Refusing Raphael's deal at this moment within the Astral Prism causes an instant game over.
• Confront the Elder Brain: Triggered if the party fails to defeat The Netherbrain before the turn counter expires.

Epilogue

• Mind flayer player characters (either when interacting with their third companion OR interacting with the same companion twice) will have to pass a DC 15 Constitution check to avoid succumbing to their hunger and devouring the companion’s brain. If the save is failed, then Withers whisks the player away, ending the Epilogue prematurely.