Summary

• Baldur's Gate 3 lets players make decisions at every turn, and doesn't shy away from delivering consequences.
• Certain choices the party can make will come with deadly results, either taking the lives of the whole party or massacring a number of NPCs.
• Some deadly choices are practically unavoidable, coming during primary quests, while others may be the result of innocuous dialogue.

Baldur's Gate 3 includes plenty of options that lead to horrible deaths, or a quick death if the party is lucky. And choosing those options usually leads to returning to a previous save file and trying again in the hopes of surviving. However, the truth about how deadly these choices really are isn't always immediately revealed. In some cases, the consequences aren't shown until it's too late to change them.

For the sake of the chosen decisions outlined below, deadly means the dialogue choice results either in a total party kill, or in the mass killing of NPCs. As such, an option like dropping fireballs on the party without Spell Sculpting and wiping the party as a result doesn't count, because it's a decision made in combat. However, a decision such as killing Sazza the Goblin in Act 1 could've counted, but it doesn't, since the death count is just one.

10 Sassing Vlaakith

Possible In Act 1

As part of the Githyanki Crèche questline in BG3, the party encounters Vlaakith, who is a god-like figure to the Githyanki and their current leader. She asks the party to enter the Astral Prism and kill the being within it, and one response leads to her killing the entire party. Instead of going into the prism or refusing, choosing to insult Vlaakith and say that a being of her power should be able to kill whoever is in the prism herself results in Vlaakith instantly killing the party.

9 Ruining The Vibe At Withers' Party

Found In The Patch 5 Epilogue

Withers shows his power in Baldur's Gate 3 with this deadly decision. While it only results in Tav or an Origin character being affected, their fate could be worse than death this time. The punishment for ruining Withers' party is being banished through an unknown portal by the host, and considering his connection to death, he might even send the offender to a location like the Fugue Plane and doom them to wander there for an eternity.

8 Accept Bhaal's Gift And Betray Him

Available As The Dark Urge

During the Dark Urge questline, there's an option in Act 3 to embrace the urges and accept Bhaal's gift. However, Bhaal's gift comes with the promise that the Dark Urge will take control of the brain and kill the people of Faerûn in his name. So, making it to the end of Act 3 and deciding to destroy the Brain instead comes with the consequence of Bhaal's influence reclaiming the Dark Urge and sending them off on what will presumably be their next killing spree. Considering how prolific other characters say the Dark Urge was in killing before the Nautiloid, this likely results in plenty of deaths in Baldur's Gate.

7 Use Gale's Orb In Act 2

Found In The Mind Flayer Colony

Gale wants to use the orb in his chest when he first sees the Brain in the Mind Flayer Colony in Act 2. That was the mission given to him by Mystra, but actually going through with it results in a lot of death. While the Absolute dies from the orb, so do the party and any other unfortunate soul in or near the Mind Flayer Colony, and likely Moonrise Towers, considering Gale said it's powerful enough to level a city the size of Waterdeep. That's a lot of collateral damage.

6 Killing The Tieflings Or Goblins

Found In Act 1

In Act 1, it's almost inevitable to make a decision that results in a lot of death due to the nature of the main event happening between the Emerald Grove and the Goblin Camp. The morally good choice is to side with the Tieflings and Druids, which leads to killing at least two Goblin leaders, since Minthara can be recruited in BG3 by knocking her out instead of killing her. But killing Dror Ragzlin makes every Goblin in the Shattered Sanctum and the area outside of it immediately hostile toward the party.

On the other hand, siding with the Goblins and raiding the Emerald Grove results in possibly just as many deaths. This option has the party kill not only the Tiefling Refugees, but also the Druids who call the Grove their home. No matter which option is chosen here, it's going to lead to at least a handful of deaths.

5 Choosing Not To Save The Gondians

Found In Act 3

The workers at the Steel Watch Foundry are forced to work under duress because their loved ones are being held hostage. In exchange, the workers say they'll help the party destroy the foundry and disable the Steel Watch once all of their loved ones are safe. However, saving the Gondians isn't required. The party can continue through the foundry, and this results in the hostages all dying along with the workers.

4 Kill Nightsong

Found In Act 2

Here, Shadowheart makes the choice to either commit to her path and become a Dark Justiciar, or abandon her goddess and let the Nightsong live. Choosing to become a Dark Justiciar is deadly in ways that the game doesn't reveal until after the choice is made. When Nightsong is killed, Isobel's barrier falters, and almost everybody taking shelter at the Last Light Inn is affected by Shar's curse, resulting in death and undeath.

3 Give Raphael The Crown

In Exchange For The Orphic Hammer

It turns out making a deal with a devil is a bad decision, and in this case, it gives Raphael a power boost that he takes advantage of in order to sow chaos and death. Not only does he reveal in an epilogue that he's going to take over Avernus, he plans to expand his reign over all nine hells, and then to the mortal planes. While this is likely to lead to widespread enslavement, it certainly brings with it plenty of death as well.

2 Kill The Vampire Spawn

Through Ascension Or With The Staff

Cazador has over seven thousand Vampire Spawn held captive for the sake of his ritual, and completing the ritual means every single one of them dies. This can be done by letting Cazador ascend, letting Astarion take his place and ascend, or having Astarion kill the Vampire Spawn instead of releasing them. So, this results in a total of three deadly decisions, since there are three ways to end up causing over seven thousand deaths.

1 Controlling The Brain

At The End Of Act 3

One of the final decisions is also the deadliest: controlling the Brain instead of destroying it. This leads to an ending where the Brain sends out multiple Nautiloids, turning the people of Baldur's Gate into Mind Flayers, and killing those who aren't turned. Since Mind Flayers are creatures without souls, this essentially acts as a form of death. Additionally, it's unlikely that the Brain will stop with the Sword Coast, and the death and Illithid corruption will probably spread to the rest of Faerûn.

Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't hold back on punishing a party for the decisions they make, and some of those punishments are harsher than others. But for a chaotic or evil playthrough, choosing the deadliest decisions on purpose is basically required. However, there are plenty of runs where playing the hero means avoiding these choices and trying to save as many people as possible in Baldur's Gate 3.