BG3 Difficulty Modes: Explorer, Tactician and Honour Mode

Baldur's Gate 3 has five difficulty settings: Explorer, Balanced, Tactician, Honour and Custom. Balanced is the standard game. Explorer makes fights easier and Tactician makes them harder. Honour mode takes Tactician's rules, gives bosses Legendary Actions and limits you to one save file, and a party wipe ends the run. Custom lets you mix and match individual settings.

You can switch between Explorer, Balanced and Tactician at any time, but Honour mode has to be chosen when you start a new campaign. Honour and Custom both arrived in Patch 5 in late 2023.

Last checked: November 9, 2026.

BG3 difficulty modes compared

Setting	Explorer	Balanced	Tactician	Honour
Enemy hit points	30% lower	Baseline	Higher, roughly 20-30% for most enemies	As Tactician
Your party's hit points	Doubled	Baseline	Baseline	Baseline
Proficiency bonus	+2 for everyone	Normal	Normal, but enemies get +2 to attacks and DCs	As Tactician
Long rest cost	40 camp supplies	40	80	80
Merchant prices	20% discount	Normal	Worse when buying and selling	Worse
Multiclassing	Off	On	On	On
Boss Legendary Actions	No	No	No	Yes
Saves	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	One file, overwritten automatically
Difficulty achievement	-	-	Critical Hit	Foehammer

Numbers in this table come from bg3.wiki's breakdown of the game's settings, checked against GamesRadar+, and the achievement names come from the game's Steam achievement list.

Explorer mode

Explorer is for players who mostly want the story. Enemies have 30% less health, your party has twice the usual hit points, and everyone gets +2 to their proficiency bonus, which makes attacks, skill checks and spell save DCs land more often. Merchants also sell for 20% less.

The catch is that multiclassing is switched off. That also blocks the Jack-of-all-Trades achievement, which asks you to take a level in every class in one playthrough. If you lower a game to Explorer partway through, any multiclass levels you already have stay, but you cannot add more.

Balanced mode

Balanced is the baseline every other mode is measured against. Enemies use a mix of spells and items, a long rest costs 40 camp supplies, and multiclassing is on. It is the right choice for most first playthroughs, and the Act 1 tips are written with it in mind.

Tactician mode

Tactician is the game's hard mode. It changes more than enemy health:

Tougher enemies: most get about 20-30% more hit points, and bosses often get more than that.
Better rolls for them: non-party characters get +2 to attack rolls and +2 to the DC of their spells and abilities.
Smarter AI: enemies focus spellcasters more often and try to finish off downed characters.
New tricks: some enemies gain attacks or passives they don't have on lower settings.
Pricier resting: a long rest costs 80 camp supplies instead of 40.
Worse trades: items cost more to buy and sell for less.

Finishing the game on Tactician unlocks the Critical Hit achievement.

Honour mode

Honour mode is the hardest way to play. It builds on Tactician and adds three big changes.

Legendary Actions

All the major bosses get Legendary Actions: extra moves with their own triggers that they can use outside their own turn, drawing from a small pool that refills on the boss's own turn. Each boss has a different set, and you can read them by examining the boss before you commit to a plan. Even early fights such as Auntie Ethel, the owlbear and the phase spider matriarch have them.

One save file

You get a single save for the whole campaign. The game overwrites it when you quit, return to the main menu, quicksave or autosave, and you can only load it from the main menu. Reloading a fight that went badly is not an option.

Permadeath on a party wipe

If your whole party dies, you choose between continuing in Custom mode, which ends the Honour run, or ending the campaign, which deletes the save. Restoration pods can also be used only once.

Rule changes

Honour also tightens some rules that apply only in that mode. Some extra-action combinations are less generous, many damage bonuses no longer stack on top of each other, and around 100 items have different prices or rarities. Builds based on stacking damage bonuses that work on Balanced may fall flat here.

Rewards

Beating Honour mode unlocks the Foehammer achievement and a golden D20 dice skin.

Custom mode

Custom mode starts from one of the presets and lets you change individual settings. The options cover:

enemy aggression, character power and enemy loadouts, each set to Explorer, Balanced or Tactician
extra combat mechanics in certain fights
the proficiency bonus for all characters
enemy critical hits and death saving throws
camp supply cost per long rest and trader prices
full healing on a short rest
multiclassing
the Honour ruleset and the single-save system

Most Custom settings can be changed during a campaign. The ruleset, the single-save option and multiclassing are locked once the game starts. Custom is a good fit if you like Tactician's tougher fights but find the 80-supply rests tedious, or if you want Honour rules without the single save.

How to change difficulty in BG3

Open the pause menu with Esc on keyboard, or the menu button on a controller.
Choose Difficulty.
Pick Explorer, Balanced or Tactician.

That works at any point during a normal campaign. Honour mode can only be chosen when you start a new game, and you cannot switch an existing campaign into it.

Which difficulty should you pick?

First run, new to turn-based RPGs: Explorer, or Balanced if you want a fair challenge. The beginner class guide helps you pick a class that forgives mistakes.
First run, used to D&D or tactics games: Balanced. Tactician is fine too, but it slows down every fight.
Second run: Tactician. Your game knowledge offsets the tougher enemies.
After finishing the game at least once: Honour mode. Knowing which fights are hard, and how to get around them, matters more than build strength when you can't reload.

If you plan to build a multiclass character, avoid Explorer. The multiclassing guide explains the rules.

Frequently asked questions

What is the hardest difficulty in BG3?

Honour mode is the hardest. It uses Tactician's tougher enemies, gives bosses Legendary Actions, allows only one save file and ends the run if your whole party dies.

Can you change difficulty in BG3 mid-game?

Yes, between Explorer, Balanced and Tactician, from the pause menu at any time. You cannot switch an existing campaign into Honour mode, since it has to be chosen when you start a new game.

What happens if you die in Honour mode?

If your whole party dies, you can either continue the campaign in Custom mode, which ends the Honour run, or end the campaign and lose the save. A single character going down or dying does not end the run on its own.

What do you get for beating Honour mode?

You unlock the Foehammer achievement and a golden D20 dice skin. Beating the game on Tactician earns a separate achievement, Critical Hit.

Does Explorer mode block achievements?

Mostly no, but Explorer turns off multiclassing, so you cannot earn Jack-of-all-Trades, which needs a level in every class. The Tactician and Honour achievements also require finishing on those settings.

What is Custom mode in BG3?

Custom mode lets you set individual difficulty options, such as enemy strength, camp supply costs, trader prices and whether multiclassing is allowed. You can also turn on the Honour ruleset or the single-save system without playing full Honour mode.