About the Guide
This guide is a labor of love created by Vul and Elle to offer aspiring heroes a way to save their worlds. It is unofficial, unsanctioned, and more than occasionally irreverent. The views expressed in the guide are ours, and should not be taken as Wizards of the Coast or Larian's views.
It isn't our fault if they don't recognize our awesome!1
Purpose of the Guide
We've seen a lot of advice on the Internet on how to "beat" Honor Mode, but very little advice on how to succeed without being either a optimizing try-hard2 or a sketchy, decidedly non-heroic ahole. Too many aspiring heroes, faced with the possibility of a total party kill, compromise heroism in the name of winning in the moment. And okay sure, maybe they don't end up dying... but can they really call themselves heroes if they're willing to sacrifice their values for the sake of victory?
We say... no. Adventurers, maybe. But heroes they are not.
So, to help those of you who want to to the right thing, who want to save Faerun the right way, we've created this Heroes Guide to Honor Mode. Because we know you, like us, want to protect the innocent, defeat the forces of evil, and bring hope and light back to your Faerun no matter the personal sacrifice. You want to win the right way because that's the sort of person you are, and you know that success is more than winning... it is holding true to those ideals.
In other words... you're a hero.
And hero... we want to keep you alive to celebrate that final victory, as best we can.
Our Baldurian Street Cred
Oh sure, a dhampiric elven druid / goth gamer girl3 and an 'I don't even really game much' salty succubishian hellion arcanist4 are offering advice on Honor Mode. I mean. Fair, I guess. What do we know about Honor Mode?
Well. A lot, actually. So, some stats for the haters:
- We've adventured in Honor Mode seven times
- We've completed Honor Mode five times
- We have two adventures active
- For those who hate maths, we have a 100% success rate so far
- We take on all of the side quests and choose to save everyone we can
- We've even made Honor Mode harder by adding bonus challenges to our adventures!5
Basically, we're good at this Honor Mode thing, okay? We only play Honor Mode now because the stakes are higher, the challenges are... more challengy.. and the decisions actually matter. The advice in here has been distilled through our many Honor Mode runs. We know it works because we've done the things we're suggesting you use to succeed!
Having said that, no one is perfect. If you have a better way to do things, we'd love to hear!
Honor Mode Differences
Okay look, Honor Mode isn't impossible, but it is a challenge. We decided to write this guide when we read that there were 1.2 million failed Honor Mode tries and 144,000 successful ones. That's like... a 12% success rate, hero. So yeah, Honor Mode is no joke.
But why is it so hard to succeed?
Well, the full list of differences between Honor Mode and Balanced Mode can be found here, but the ones that impacted us the most are:
Decisions Matter. You get one chance to get things right, whether it's in dialogue or combat. You can't test out decisions and actions to see which outcome you like best. Every mistake or missed social cue is final, so you have to get used to the idea that your actions have consequences. You know how your life in Earth Realm works, where your decisions can't just be rolled back to yesterday if they go wrong? Yeah, pretty much that. Speaking of that...
Dead is DEAD. You may have revivify scrolls and healing magic, but if your party is wiped out, that's it. Your quest is over. Get used to the idea that in Honor Mode, every combat can turn deadly in an instant and every encounter has the potential of going horribly wrong. Unlike your previous adventures, you can't just get a redo. And the same goes for the people you're saving; if you fail to protect them well enough, they're going to die.
Stuff Gets Expensive. In Honor Mode, you need double the food for a Long Rest, so you really need to pay attention to how many supplies you're using. We've run low more than once... you'll need to plan your rests carefully to make them last. Oh and hero? Everything is going to cost more. Potions, armor, weapons, scrolls... the economy in Honor Mode sucks and you're the one paying for it..
Oppenents are Stronger. Your opponents have more hit points, better stats and more abilties than they had in Balanced mode. The strongest of them will have Legendary Actions, powerful abilties meant to make them true boss material. Not even kidding here... encounters that were "easy" in Balanced can kill you in Honor Mode.
Opponents are Smarter. Your opponents in Honor Mode to know how to use their skills, how to choose advantageous positions, how to complement allies, and who in your party to take down first. In Balanced Mode, opponents aren't always smart about what they do. That's much less common in Honor Mode. While you should never treat a deadly encounter with anything less than full respect,6 this is especially true in Honor Mode where being overconfident will get you dead.
What Was Once, May Not Now Be. Without spoiling anything for you, there are certain... situations... where boosts you relied on in Balanced Mode no longer exist. You should never assume that what was true in Balanced Mode is also true in Honor Mode. If you go into every Underdark passageway and every weird clearing in the forest assuming that your only support will be the support you carry in with you and that the only rest you'll get is the one you had just before you started, you'll be a lot less likely to die.7
| Okie look. You have probably saved a Faerun or two in Balanced. And for reak, well done! But Honor Mode isn't Balanced Mode, and the sooner you realize that... the better off you will be. |
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How to Use This Guide
Okay, so let's be super clear. There is no absolute right way to use the Guide. Some heroes may just use it to prep for their Honor Mode run by reading through our pre-adventure advice. Other heroes may only reference it for the parts of their quest they always find difficult. Still others may read and follow it step by step. We're cool with all of those! Our goal is to get you though your quest, after all! You tell us what you need.
But we do have some suggestions because... of course we do!
First, we recommend that everyone read through this Introduction and Part I of the Guide. In Part I, we cover choosing between solo and group play, party building, character creation, and run you through a quick Adventurer Academy to prepare you for your quest. This advice is the same advice we follow when we're saving a Faerun... basically, they're the building blocks of our success.
Even if you're already super skilled, those sections will get you thinking like a hero!
What we recommend after that really depends on your experience in adventuring so far:
Story or Balanced Modes are Challenging - If you find these modes challenging, we strongly suggest that you use the whole Guide. Honor Mode can be extremely unforgiving, with pitfalls and problems that make even the hardest encounters in those modes feel easy. We can help you navigate them in a way that gives you your best chance of success.
Tactician or Honor Mode Experience - If you've completed an adventure in Tactician or you've tried and failed Honor Mode, we recommend using the whole Guide. You can skip the sections you're certain you can handle on your own, but we believe you'd benefit from the advice all the way through.
Completed Honor Mode or Failed Well - If you've already completed Honor Mode, or you failed Honor Mode but you did reasonably well (you made it at least to Act III) then we suggest at least reviewing the sections where you stuggled. We'd love to join you for you entire adventure, but we suspect that you only need us part time.
Honor Mode Veteran - If you've completed Honor Mode successfully a few times, we honestly think you're good to go. If there's something you struggle with, though, we'd love to help you too! And if you have suggestions, please tell us!
Just Reading - If you're just curious, you're welcome here too! But... we have suspicions that you want something... more. No pressure, but... think about it?
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I was fucking terrified of Honor Mode the first time we woke up prisoners, and I swore I would never try Honor Mode again after we finished our quest. So it's fine if you aren't ready for it right now... I still get nervous as fuck when we begin a new Honor Mode quest! |
| Yesh, that. And actually, hero... maybe you're thinking 'I am not good enough to do this, I'll never be a hero.' But you know what? You're here, reading this guide for a reason that isn't just 'my kind of friend Elle forced me to do it.' I believe in you. |
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What this Guide is Not
We also want to be clear on what we've created. We have a particular... we guess, vision on what we want the Guide to be... and some very strong opinions on what it will never be. So, let's be as transparent as a Lamborghini driving creep sliding into a teenager's DMs.8
This guide is not official. We love Faerun, and we love our Faerun the most, but this Guide is not official Larian or Wizards of the Coast canon. We're creating it out of our love for Toril and our irrational desire to save as many Faeruns as we can! Not that it isn't obvious but we thought we'd be super clear.
This guide is not a walk-through. If you're looking for a walk-through, then there are plenty of them online, and some of them are even pretty good. The Heroes Guide is meant for experienced heroes who have saved Faerun at least once before. We expect you to know where you're going, how things work, and where to find the cool things you think you'll need to succeed. We're focused on strategy, tactics, encounters, and on the decisions that will determine whether you succeed or fail.
Okay, but real talk... we do walk you through the prologue with a pretty heavy hand, because we want you to get used to adventuring in Honor Mode.
And hey, we all get lost sometimes, Map Genie has a pretty cool interactive guide if you need a refresher on where things are!
This guide is not an optimization tutorial. Our philosophy is that anyone can be a hero. We know there are guides that offer advice on proper 'builds' and the absolute best way to be the most overpowered hero. If that's your play style fine we guess9 but we like to see interesting, diverse, imperfect heroes, not EveryBro the Protagonist. So if you're here hoping for advice on how to optimize, you'll have to get your advice elsewhere.10
This guide is not a guarantee. Adventuring can be deadly, and that's extra true in Honor Mode. We can teach you how to be better at surviving, but we can't guarantee that you won't end your adventuring career bleeding out on the floor of some cave or digesting in a ravenous gnoll's belly.
What we can offer you is the benefit of our experience to give you a fighting chance. It's going to be up to you to rise to the challenge, though.!11
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You might fail. You need to understand that before you start. You. Might. Fail. We think you won't, we hope you won't, but it wouldn't be an epic quest if it wasn't possible that you'd die along the way. |
| We've come so close. Honor Mode is... not easy, especially if you're going to be your best self. But we're here for you! And if you get stuck, or you need advice... you should absolutely contact your local temple and send us a Sending! |
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Or they could just send us a message on Mastodon and save a ton of gold? |
| ....hn. Or that, yesh. I guess that would be easier. |
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Final Thoughts
To us, Honor Mode is the best mode because our decisions matter, but that also means that there are no take backs. Hurtful words or actions cannot be undone and ill-advised battles cannot just be reverted to the last good save.
Basically, hero, this is real life.
So you need to remember that Things Will Go Wrong. You are going to fail that skill check, whiff that attack, and sometimes, if your luck is running cold, someone is going to die.
In this version of Faerun, you can't just undo your bad luck and your bad decisions with a quick 'load last save.' That's what makes Honor Mode so meaningful, but we would be lying if pretended it didn't suck sometimes, especially when we knew that mistakes... our mistakes... had been avoidable.
So yeah, Honor Mode hurts.12
But despite that... because of that... Honor Mode is worth the pain.
- 1. We do have... opinions.., on some things that don't match their canon. That's okay... there are plenty of Torils in the multiverse, just like there are plenty of Earth Realms!
- 2. The 'art' of optimizing every aspect of a hero to maximize their stats at the expense of originality, personality, and fun.
- 3. Yesh, we know. She's basically your dream girl.
- 4. With active bitch face, no less.
- 5. We'll cover the "Honor Mode Plus" challenges later!
- 6. In your regular life or in Faerun
- 7. This is a good way to live life, too!
- 8. If you're going to slide into a girl's DMs, we know some people...
- 9. I'm not allowed to say that people like this lack skills so I won't. - Elle
- 10. I recommend the bin. - Elle
- 11. All salt and snark aside, we are here because we believe we can teach you to be your best self. Class is in session!!
- 12. If you're truly empathic, your failures will stick with you. We're sorry in advance... Honor Mode is rewarding, heroic even, but it is going to hurt. There are no take backs.