Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems Friendly NPC steals my turn in battle?

I’m in Honour Mode during the Moonrise Towers battle, and Jaheira just got herself killed by stealing my turn (and thus, giving the entire enemy army an extra turn). This happened because of a game behaviour I didn’t expect to happen:



I snuck through the entrance with my party right up to the border of the enemy sight cone, hoping to get some surprise attacks in. Gale (Abjuration Wizard) was at the front, so he was pulled into the conversation with Z’rell, and into battle afterwards. Since he has the Alert feat, he was first in the turn order, with Jaheira right behind him.

I only realised my other party members hadn’t been pulled into combat once an entire round of enemies had completed their turn. Thus, when Gale’s turn came back around, I switched to my Tav to pull my other characters into battle. At that moment, though, I saw Jaheira just continue her turn (as said above, she was in the turn order AFTER Gale), and the turn order continued from there, skipping Gale’s turn even though I hadn’t passed it yet.

Of course, Jaheira, lacking any basic survival instincts, was right in the middle of the enemies, in Panther form, but that didn’t give her enough HP to survive.
And in contrast to Wyll, who can be revivified if he dies in the Emerald Grove fight, Jaheira is gone for good (and, as a result, I won’t be able to recruit Minsc, either).


Since combat usually freezes when it’s one of your own characters’ turn, I must admit I do feel kind of cheated. Usually, I start combat encounters with Shovel, and even if only Shovel is in combat and enemies get a turn right after that, once it’s Shovel’s turn again, I always had all the time I needed to guide my party into combat.

I had no way of knowing Jaheira would just continue the turn order when I clicked away from Gale to my Tav, without actually passing Gale’s turn.


When the dialogue with Z’rell ended, I expected everyone to be pulled into combat as usual. The fact that didn’t happen was on me, since this can happen when group sneaking. We were all standing within a red sight cone at that point, so I thought all of us had been spotted, and were therefore in combat. Guess the sight cone the other three party members were standing in was that of the Harpers.

So maybe sneaking up to the front gate was a dumb idea on my part, even though it’s usually not a disadvantage to sneak, and certainly feels smarter than just walking straight through the front door unhidden, like I used to do on previous playthroughs.



But the game simply skipping my in-combat character’s turn when I switch characters, because a friendly NPC is right after me in the turn order?
Has this happened to anyone else? Is it specific to Jaheira, or can this happen with any friendly NPC that comes after you in the turn order (or may technically share initiative with you)?

I’m playing unmodded, as the Honour-Mode achievements wouldn’t work otherwise.

It sounds like you may have accidentally ended Gale's turn by mistake.

I've never had any issues with NPC's overtaking turns, nor any issues with interacting with not in combat party members while one engaged character is stood around waiting for a turn (Or even using said party members while NPC's are taking turns)

As such it sounds very much like what would happen if you passed Gale's turn. Which you may have done without realizing.

That said, if I recall correctly, that particular encounter at Moonrise does have a unique interaction whereby the Harpers decide to engage on their own if you wait long enough. So there is a possibility that this behaviour caused this issue, whereby their auto-engage activated when you selected another party member that wasn't in combat.


Fun Fact: Mods don't necessarily affect Honour Mode achievements. Many mods (Including save files made right at the end of the game, mods that add in god items that make you invincible and ultra-powerful and even mods that adjust difficulties and balance mechanics like removing Honour Mode specific features) will still allow achievements to be obtained.

Thanks a lot, that sounds like a reasonable explanation!

I am certain I did not click the “End Turn” button for Gale, but rather directly clicked my Tav’s portrait instead. And suddenly I heard Jaheira shouting stuff while I was steering my Tav and the other attached companions closer to the stairs at the entrance.

For comparison, I used sneak again immediately after the battle, when I went up the stairs of Moonrise Towers to the first floor and approached the Necromites waiting there. Once again, Gale was at the front, cast Glyph of Warding, then I switched back to my other characters to have them follow. And this time, as expected, Gale patiently waited, keeping combat frozen in time, without the enemies simply continuing the turn order. But of course, there were no Harpers involved in that fight anymore.



So is that auto-engage behaviour of the Harpers the same thing that activates when you decide to climb the towers on the outside? I’ve heard that doing so always results in Jaheira dying, as you’re leaving the Harpers to fend for themselves on the ground floor.

Seems like this just adds to the list of uniquely annoying Harper behaviour. On my very first playthrough (Balanced), I used Cloudkill in the entrance area, and the Harpers blamed me for the death of one of them who was stupid enough to walk into the Cloudkill. (They got the “Witness” icon, and I remember being afraid that everyone would attack me once I returned to Last Light Inn, or that the “Enemy of Justice” tag would carry over into Act III, with all the guards in Baldur’s Gate constantly chasing me. I was mentally prepared to reload back then, to do the entire Mind-Flayer Colony and the Myrkul fight again. Luckily, it ended up not being necessary.)

On a later Tactician / Custom-Mode playthrough, I used Hunger of Hadar instead of Cloudkill, and a little further down on the floor, rather than on the staircase itself.
Somehow that ended up working better, even though the enemies themselves of course use Hunger of Hadar, too. Perhaps placing the AoE spell a little further away from the approaching Harpers prevents them from simply rushing into it, and encourages them to go around it from the sides instead.



In turn, does this auto-engage behaviour of the Harpers also exist if you spear the Nightsong? Because as far as I recall, only Jaheira waits for you at Moonrise, then? (Of course, that auto-engage behaviour could still apply to her alone, but it would seem rather unrealistic to me that she would attempt to storm Moonrise all by herself if you e.g. decide to climb the outside of the tower in such a scenario.)


During the rooftop fight on my current Honour-Mode run, Nightsong ended up being as useless as many had warned me she would be on higher difficulties. So I was mentally preparing to say, “If I fail the Myrkul fight and have to do another run, Nightsong is getting speared again.”
Luckily, she redeemed herself by doing a lot more work in the actual Myrkul fight. Though I dare to believe I could have managed without her — most of the damage was done by plenty of Scorching Rays, from my Fire Sorcerer Tav and Light Cleric Minthara.


The plan from here on is:

Most likely. As it seems that there's just a timer before they decide to rush in. I haven't pinpointed the exact trigger for the timer (Either leaving Shar's domain or going near Moonrise) but there does appear to be one, I found it on one of my first playthroughs as I stopped to recover health by passing around the Peirapt of Wound Closure and chugging health potions and do some inventory management... Only for the Harpers to decide to rush on in of their own accord.


NPC's running headfirst into AoE's is not unique to Harpers. It occurs whenever there are NPC's since there's no code in regards to avoiding them.

There are a number of times when this causes issues, such as the Nere encounter (The terrified gnomes love to go run themselves into AoE's, die and then all get mad at you) as well as several encounters in the city in Act 3 where the civilians in the street can walk into AoE's and cause everyone to get mad at you.

With also some lesser issues that don't involve enraging factions, such as the Druids in the Kagha encounter who love to get rekt by Kagha's Moonbeam (Regardless of if she's an ally or enemy) or even your own party members running through your own AoE's once a fight ends and they rush back to your PC...


Most likely. AI behaviours in this game are not complex enough to factor in choices (There have been complaints in another thread about how Jaheira will act like you have the Artifact even if you pass the skill check to not let her know about it).

So she'll run in even if she's alone.