Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Hold Person - AC related bug

My level 5 Fighter, by default, has an AC of 21 when buffed with a Ring of Protection, Warding Bond and Shield of Faith. When trying to hit my level 5 Fighter with my level 5 Barbarian, I have 35% chance to hit.

Buffing my level 5 Fighter further with Mirror Image, increases my AC by a total of 9. While this spell isn't identical to how it works in D&D 5e, in Baldur's Gate 3 it means that I now have an AC of 30 which results in my level 5 Barbarian only having 5% chance to hit my level 5 Fighter.

So, I faced off against those level 5 Githyanki Knights (on Tactician), whom managed to get a successful Hold Person on my level 5 Fighter, which sucks, but it happens. But they then proceeded to slaughter this fighter in literally one round.

This shouldn't be possible. How are they able to repeatedly hit a level 5 Fighter with an AC of 30 ? The description of Hold Person only states that they can't move, act or react, and of course that all hits within 3 meters automatically become critical hits, but there's nothing there that states that decreases my AC value.

Either I'm hoping somebody can explain me how this is possible, or it's a bug that needs to be addressed. I mean, sure it's RNG, but the chances of getting hit 4 times in a row when I should have 95% chance to avoid those hits seems highly unlikely to not be a bug.

Because Hold Person does not target your AC, it targets your Wisdom Saving Throw.

Hi there, it seems you need to reread my post, because I'm not talking about the chance to be affected by Hold Person.

I'm talking about being hit by melee attacks that seem to disregard my AC of 30 while under the influence of Hold Person.

Did you check the combat log? It should show the rolls (which are made with advantage because you're paralyzed) and the hit calculations. That should provide some insight into what exactly is going on...

I did not, but even when rolls against an AC of 30 are made with advantage, the chance to hit me 4 times in a row (even with advantage) are so low that it's unlikely and probably didn't influence this.

Also, nowhere in the Hold Person description does it state you can now hit those under influence of Hold Person with advantage.

That depends on how the game handles advantage during combat... does it actually roll twice or just add a flat +5 bonus? If it's the latter it's not really surprising the Githyanki hit you (they are +9 to hit in PnP and I suspect in BG 3 they might be buffed).
Also, what armor type did you wear? It's quite possible that there's a homebrewed mechanic that lowers your DEX bonus to AC when paralyzed. If you're heavy armor that obviously shouldn't matter, but still...

Of course it's also possible that you were affected by a bug.

ChatGPT confirms that based on D&D 5e rules, it would be impossible to hit a target with an AC of 30.

Disregarding the Mirror Image +9 AC buff, even with an AC of 21, the chances of being hit 4 times in a row, while not impossible, are highly improbable.

Also, nowhere do the D&D 5e rules online state that Hold Person confers Advantage to the attacker.

I'm quite positive that Hold Person is bugged and causes AC to either be ignored, or drastically lowered.

Like people said Hold person is WIS save or get paralyzed. While you are parylized attacks against you have advantage. You can check the combat-logs to see what the exact dice rolls are.

Depending on what level the fighters are its easily possible that they have a +8 or even +9 to hit (+3 to hit from prociency, +1 from weapon (which most Githyanki seem to have?) +4 or +5 depending on STR).

Your AC isent 30 however. You say the Fighter made the 3 clones himself, correct? Because mirror image only works on the caster. If you are stunned (hold person) you stop conentrating on your spell. So your AC is back to 21.

Hold Person applies the "Paralyzed" condition, you have to check the condition description.

From D&D Beyond:

A paralyzed creature is incapacitated (see the condition) and can't move or speak.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature.

And hitting a target with AC 30 is quite possible, I assure you.

Any hit on a held mob is an auto hit and auto crit, your AC does nothing.

But you can hold the enemy githyankis instead, and so many other mobs:

Yes, it seems you're right with regards to Hold Person disrupting concentration and as such would nullify my +9 AC. However, the actual culprit of the matter is what Dumbledor refers to.





It seems you're right. It also seems that ChatGPT is a poor choice to get info from.

I repeatedly asked if it could explain the situation to me and it comes with walls of text but said Hold Person doesn't Paralyze.

I then ask if Paralyze confers auto hits and auto hits to which it says that it does.

And since Kendaric confirms that Hold Person is indeed a form of Paralysis, it makes sense that my character was slaughtered in 1 round.

That being said, in all fairness though, the tooltip description in Baldur's Gate 3 does a poor job of explaining this.



I did notice that my level 5 fighter, even though the opposing Githyanki Fighter is level 6, managed to miss me 3 times in a row when under the influence of Mirror Image and misses another attack post Mirror Image when my AC was reduced to 21.

So it's clear, Hold Person is ultra deadly. I'd probably use something as Enhance Ability to get advantage on my Wisdom saving throw vs Hold Person OR, just use Counter-spell with my Wizard.