More than two years after Larian Studios first unleashed Honour Mode on the adventurers of Faerûn, the ultimate test of skill and nerve still stands as one of gaming’s most brutal gauntlets. Released on November 30, 2023, this permadeath difficulty strips away every safety net: a single save file, no reloading past mistakes, and enemies sharper than anything seen in Tactician difficulty. The prize for those who survive? A set of coveted golden dice to roll in future playthroughs — but the price of failure has spawned a legion of tragic tales that have become campfire legends in the Baldur’s Gate 3 community.
Early statistics from Larian painted a stark picture. In 2024, the studio revealed that a staggering 1.2 million Honour Mode playthroughs had already ended in defeat — a number that has only grown since. As of the most recent Steam data, a mere 2.1% of players have unlocked the Foehammer achievement for completing the game on this merciless difficulty. For context, 22.8% of players have finished the game on any difficulty, and just five percent have dared to beat Tactician mode. The gap between those who start Honour Mode and those who actually finish it is a chasm filled with overturned dice and crushed ambitions.
The community has amassed a grim anthology of Honour Mode horror stories, each a warning to the overconfident. Here are three of the most memorable catastrophes.
The Epilogue Betrayal 🎲
One player achieved what seemed impossible: they battled through every act, defeated the Absolute, and stood triumphant at the after-party. With victory in hand, curiosity got the better of them. They decided to see how the ending would change if they became a Mind Flayer, unwittingly triggering a final series of skill checks. As an illithid, they had to roll to resist devouring their companions’ brains. Honour Mode offers no second chances. The dice turned against them, and their entire run — dozens of hours of perfection — imploded during the very epilogue that was meant to celebrate their success.
The Netherese Orb Catastrophe 💥
Another player barely escaped a battle with their life after three party members fell. Desperate, they retreated to camp and called upon Withers to resurrect the dead. When Gale’s corpse was magically transported to safety, his Netherese Orb — unstable and volatile — triggered without warning. The detonation wiped out everyone in camp instantly, erasing a run that had survived countless brushes with death. One moment of logistical convenience became an extinction event.
The Scratch Incident 🐕
Perhaps the most heartbreaking and bizarre failure involved the camp’s beloved dog, Scratch. A player innocently threw the dog’s ball during a co-op session. Their partner playfully picked it up to continue the game of fetch. This simple act, however, was interpreted by the game as theft. The entire camp — including the level 12 Oathbreaker Knight, one of the most formidable NPCs in the game — turned hostile. Within four rounds, the party was slaughtered. A run that had braved mind flayer colonies and infernal legions ended because of a misunderstanding over a stuffed toy.
These stories highlight why Honour Mode remains a merciless crucible. Unlike a standard playthrough where experimentation is rewarded, here every decision carries irreversible weight. A failed dialogue check, a misplaced surprise round, or even a simple oversight in camp can send a flawless run spiralling into oblivion. The mode demands not only mastery of combat but also an intimate knowledge of game mechanics, dialogue trees, and the myriad ways Baldur’s Gate 3 can punish improvisation.
Yet the slim 2.1% completion rate is a badge of honour rather than a design flaw. It reflects the very purpose of Honour Mode: to offer a genuine, tension-filled experience where every victory feels earned. Larian Studios has never shied away from letting players fail spectacularly, and the community has responded by sharing their disasters with equal parts pain and pride. The golden dice, when they finally appear in a player’s inventory, carry the weight of every near-miss, every clever escape, and every lesson learned from the million-plus defeats that came before.
For those still tempted to chase that elite status, the advice is simple: plan meticulously, respect every encounter, and never, under any circumstances, play fetch with Scratch in Honour Mode.
Data referenced from Game Developer (Gamasutra) suggests that punishing modes like Baldur’s Gate 3’s Honour Mode succeed because they transform routine RPG choices into high-stakes risk management, where even “safe” camp interactions or late-game narrative experiments can become run-ending events. Seen through a design lens, the 2.1% completion rate and viral failure stories are less about unfair difficulty and more about intentional tension: permadeath plus systemic interactivity creates memorable, shareable outcomes that reinforce player mastery, planning discipline, and respect for edge-case mechanics.