Baldur’s Gate 3’s most common item can accidentally kill the party

Be careful when using torches in Baldur’s Gate 3, as they can accidentally annihilate the party if you use one in the wrong area.

In Baldur’s Gate 3 and D&D 5e, some races have Darkvision, which allows them to see through all non-magical darkness. Everyone else requires a light source, especially if you’re going to be exploring dungeons or entering the dangerous Underdark.

Luckily, the game provides plenty of options for light. One of the most common items in containers and on enemy corpses are torches. These have their own special inventory slot, making it easy to switch between them and your weapons with a single button press.

Even if you don’t find a torch, several magical Cantrips in Baldur’s Gate 3 provide light. You’ll need them, as users on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Reddit are talking about how using a torch led to their party’s destruction.

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“Almost lost me my honour run and locked me out of the Titanstring,” the OP wrote, “Entered the Zhentarim hideout with my shillelagh torch and blew it up.”

This anecdote refers to the Zhentarim base in Act I, which is covered in flammable oil. The Zhentarim is an evil organization so wicked that it doesn’t follow fire safety precautions, as walking around with a torch can nuke the base. This also locks you out of the Titanstring bow, with a quest reward in the area.

“I was wondering why when I loaded into my honor run down there everything instantly exploded,” one user wrote, while another said, “I saw the title and thought, ‘must be torch.’ I lost Titanstring and blew up my honor mode team with only Laezel surviving with 8 hp.”

The Everburn Blade from the tutorial also has this trait. One user said, “I had the same problem when I had the Everburn blade equipped. Walked in casually and went through all the usual steps and dialogue and as I entered the main area…. Let’s just say my time in the base was super short.”

The torch has some useful traits in Baldur’s Gate 3, especially if you need to ignite an explosive and have nothing else to hand. That said, you need to be extremely careful about keeping one active and should probably have a spellcaster learn the Light Cantrip instead.