Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Counter Hold Person in BG3

While many things in Baldur’s Gate 3 can ruin your carefully laid combat plans, losing an entire turn when a foe casts Hold Person on one of your teammates. Here’s how to counter BG3 Hold Person spell.

What is the Hold Person Spell in BG3?

The BG3 Hold Person Spell is a devastating Level 2 Enchantment. It lets you hold any humanoid target in place, essentially paralyzing them for as long as you can keep Concentration. This spell takes a Level 2 Spell Slot, 1 Action point, and has Wisdom-based Saving Throws. The spell range for Hold Person is 18m. The following classes learn the spell naturally:

• Level 3: Druid, Cleric, Circle of the Land Druid, Wizard, Warlock, Sorcerer, and Bard.
• Level 5: Oath of Vengeance Paladin.
• Level 7: Arcane Trickster Rogue.
• Level 8: Eldritch Knight Fighter.

At the end of each turn, the creature affected by BG3 Hold Person Spell does a Wisdom Saving Throw to end the condition. Depending on how good your Concentration is, this spell will either last a single turn or many turns. Being attacked by specific abilities can also break concentration and end the spell early.

How to Remove Hold Person in Baldur’s Gate 3

Hold Person is a concentration spell in Baldur’s Gate 3 that causes a character to be immobile and unable to take actions or bonus actions. While it is one of the more irritating spells to deal with, Hold Person can be removed relatively quickly by breaking the caster’s concentration.

Concentration spells require the caster to focus their energy on keeping the magic active; as such, they can only have one concentration spell at a time and lose their concentration when attacked.

When a caster is damaged while using a concentration spell, they must make a Constitution saving throw to keep it active. The higher the damage to the caster, the higher the difficulty of the saving throw.

You Can Counter Hold Person By Doing Damage

So, one of the easiest ways to get rid of the spell is to hit the caster with something that either deals a lot of damage or is hard to avoid. This could include a thrown item like Alchemists Fire, or a Magic Missile spell, which is guaranteed to deal some damage and force a concentration saving throw.

Counter Hold Person by Stopping the Spell Before it Casts

Another option is not to let the spell happen in the first place. At the fifth level, some spellcasters gain access to their third-level spell slots and the ability to learn Counterspell. This magical ability can be used as a reaction to stop any spell lower than third level. While a third-level spell slot is much to sacrifice to stop a hold person, it can be the difference between a killing blow or an inactive Barbarian losing their Rage.  

Where to Find Hold Person Spell

There are various ways you can find Hold Spell in Baldur’s Gate 3. You can learn the spell naturally as a Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Druid, Wizard, Warlock, and Circle of Land Druid at level 3. It’s also available to Arcane Trickster Rogue, Eldritch Knight Fighter, and Oath of Vengeance Paladin. You can find Hold Person scrolls throughout the world in loot or at vendors.

Now that you know how to deal with BG3’s Hold Person spell, why not find out how much time you will be sinking into Baldur’s Gate 3 by finding out how many acts there are to fight, talk, and sleaze through?