Just like in 5E D&D there are many different systems and mechanics in Baldur’s Gate 3. One that new players might have trouble grasping is the death system. The death mechanics in Baldur’s Gate 3 work on a similar system to the TTRPG. There are multiple saves that you can make before dying fully, and that’s the last chance to remain alive.
Once a character hits zero hit points they enter a state of being incapacitated. From there, you have three chances to stabilize. The game will roll for you each turn, and on a successful check, the downed character can stabilize. Combat is unforgiving in this game, so expect to lost characters at some point. If you manage to overcome those three saves once, you still need to be healed to have that character rejoin the fight. If you fail three saves, that’s a full death. Also, if you take a hit during combat while downed, that can cancel out two saves.
It’s unclear if the carry-over damage system is in Baldur’s Gate 3. That means that if you have a max hit point pool of 100 and take 200 points of damage, you instantly die and skip the death saves process.
When a character reaches three successfully death save rolls, they live. Should they roll three failures, though, a character dies. All that said, there is a way to stave of the clutches of death.
After, or before, a character succeeds all of their death saving throws, there is an option that acts as an emergency heal. You can use a bonus action called “Help” on a downed character to have another party member bring them back with 1 HP. This will then free them up to use healing magic or other means like food to heal up. You can use this bonus action to sort of bypass the randomness of death saves. Although if you’re surrounded by enemies, you’re running the risk of getting taken out if you try to rush to a downed party member to bring them back.
If they do die entirely though, hope is not lost. This is where magic comes in. It’s unclear what methods of revival will be in the final game. But at the moment there are options to use scrolls of Revivify, provided they are used soon after death, to cancel out the death. These are exceedingly rare though, so use them sparingly and only during key fights.
It might also help to learn how to fast travel, or maybe you want to see how short and long rests work in the game. Anyway, on to the main guide. We also have a simple guide that explains how to prepare spells as well.