Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems (Bug) Halsin can’t cast Thunderwave or Healing Word

I’ve just run into this bug where Halsin can’t cast certain spells — namely, Healing Word or Thunderwave. I’ve read about this bug on Reddit, too.
For some people, it’s merely that he can’t upcast those spells. However, for me, when it’s impossible to upcast them, it’s impossible to cast them at level 1, too.

At first I thought this only happened when he was concentrating on another spell — such as Spike Growth. But shortly afterwards, it also happened while he wasn’t concentrating.

I have the Level Curve Mod active, which previously had a bug where Halsin’s higher-level wild shapes weren’t available. However, this bug has been fixed by the mod creator now. Meanwhile, the bug where Halsin can’t upcast certain spells also seems to appear for people who don’t run this mod.

Anyone else here who had this experience?

For me, it occurred repeatedly in Moonrise Towers (both the illithid oubliette and the prison); once I was outside at the docks, Halsin could cast these spells again. (I only had 1st-level spell slots left at the time, so I’m not sure if he could have upcast them again, too, though.)

Have you multi-classed him?

I know I've often had bugs with multi-classing Druid/Cleric whom auto-learn spells with classes like Ranger/Bard/Sorc/Wiz who pick spells to learn whereby selecting a spell from the Druid/Cleric spell list from these other classes and putting them onto the action bar will have the game default to trying to cast the Druid/Cleric versions that I hadn't prepared.

Thanks for your reply!

No, he’s a pure Circle of Moon Druid. I merely respecced him with Withers to adjust his attributes, which were odd like for most companions. I think the only companion with proper stats right out of the gate is Minthara.

It also seems to vary by encounter: In Moonrise, I couldn’t cast Healing Word or Thunderwave at all with Halsin (neither upcast, nor level 1). Later outside Moonrise, I was able to again. Last night against the Shambling Mound, I once again couldn’t cast Healing Word.


EDIT: Should this thread be moved to the bug reports forum to increase visibility? I only discovered it just now.

Halsin’s unreliable healing with Healing Word just caused me to swap his role with Shadowheart again. I turned her into a Tempest Cleric, so I wanted her to be my damage dealer and Halsin to be my healer. Now the “Bless Babe” is casually blessing while healing again (with Whispering Promise, Hellrider’s Pride etc.), while Halsin is doing lightning damage with Gloves of Belligerent Skies etc. As stated, Thunderwave doesn’t work reliably either, but I’m mainly having him cast Call Lightning anyway, or have him switch to Wildshape.

I moved the thread to the Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems-section at your request. However, if you think that this is a proper bug in the game and not an intended restriction caused by equipment, conditions, spells or maybe mods, I'd recommend filing a bug report with the Larian Support team.

Thanks a lot for moving the thread!

Yes, the bug could potentially be caused by a mod — as I am running mods now, and didn’t do so on my first playthrough. However, my first playthrough was also still before Patch 7, and on balanced, not in custom mode. More importantly, I’ve found other people having this same problem, it seems to be much older:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/3/3823048293508752047/

Some people conclude this problem may occur because Healing Word, Thunderwave etc. are “innate” spells for Halsin.

The Unlocked Level Curve (13-20) Mod previously had a bug affecting Halsin’s Wildshape. This bug however has been fixed by now.
And the people in the Steam thread don’t mention any mods, yet are still having this problem anyway.

I’ll check with a Druid Tav while having the Unlocked Level Curve Mod active. If a Druid Tav can’t cast these spells either while the mod is active, the mod is likely to be the cause of the problem.
In turn, I’ll also check Halsin with a non-modded Tactician run — but that will take a while. My most-progressed standard Tactician run is currently in the Underdark, so still a while until I can recruit Halsin.

EDIT: Just checked with my Druid Tav, she can perfectly cast both Thunderwave and Healing Word in combat, can also upcast both, with all the mods of my current main playthrough active.
So the bug seems to be a) with Halsin specifically, rather than with druids in general, and b) doesn't seem to be caused by any of my mods, unless the mods affect Halsin specifically, rather than druids in general.


It’s also interesting that Halsin can cast Healing Word if he receives it from a piece of equipment. However, those spells can’t be upcast. Perhaps that’s the reason why they work.

The thing that blocks my Halsin from casting his own Healing Word and Thunderwave is the fact that, in the upcast window, all the levels are greyed-out, as if he had no spell slots remaining. When the upcast window doesn’t show up, such as when using Healing Word from an item, the upcast window can’t act as a roadblock in this manner.

Okay, a little update on what I’ve discovered:

First of, I was able to heal with Halsin like normal again last night in the Gauntlet of Shar and in the Shadowfell.

A few minutes ago today, while fighting the shadows behind the House of Healing, Healing Word’s upcast levels were greyed out again — as if I had no spell slots remaining, but that isn’t the issue: When I select a spell slot which I no longer have, the game shows me I don’t have this spell slot. In this case, I had level 1 and 2 spell slots remaining, but those levels were still greyed out for Healing Word.


Since Halsin was concentrating on Call Lightning at this point, I cancelled the concentration — and suddenly, I was able to cast and upcast Healing Word again!
So for a moment, I thought this might be a property of Call Lightning (which hardly any of my other characters use) — that it’s not possible to cast certain other spells while you’re concentrating on it.

Coincidentally, though, my Shadowheart this run is a Tempest Cleric — so she has Call Lightning, too.
Thus, I made her use it — and guess what, Shadowheart, in contrast to Halsin is still perfectly capable of casting Healing Word while concentrating on Call Lightning.


Perhaps the difference is, again, that Call Lightning is always prepared for Halsin? It doesn’t show up among his druid spells, but among his common actions.
Then again, as a Tempest Cleric, Shadowheart also has Call Lightning always prepared — but it shows up among her regular, other spells.