Baldur’s Gate 3 patch 4 heavily nerfs intimate speedruns

Larian Studios has released another chonky Baldur’s Gate 3 patch, and aside from containing the usual bug fixes that make venturing through the Forgotten Realms much smoother, one specific change included with this latest update stands out among the rest due to its heavy impact on the game’s speedrunning community and how they tackle sex speedruns.

Now, in a casual playthrough, romancing a character you’ve had your eye on typically requires a ton of maneuvering and a little help from, say, a Baldur’s Gate 3 Minthara companion guide. But if you’ve been following BG3 speedrunners closely, you should be familiar with how they’ve accomplished certain aspects in record time by exploiting some of the game’s mechanics. This includes taking advantage of Lae’zel and her promiscuous nature to break the sex speedrun record, which currently stands at around two minutes from the story’s start.

Unfortunately, Larian Studios has decided to break up the in-game debauchery by introducing a change that makes it more difficult for players to get frisky quickly with the wild Githyanki. The specific change included with the Baldur’s Gate 3 patch says: “For Lae’zel to decide to romance you, you no longer only need to gain high enough approval from her. You must also have proven yourself worthy through your actions.”

It’s unclear what type of accomplishments you’ll need to be worthy enough for the rough-edged warrior. However, based on her Githyanki heritage, winning a few difficult encounters, like learning how to get into the Goblin camp in Baldur’s Gate 3 and subsequently obliterating all its inhabitants, may be enough to win her favor.

Nevertheless, we fully expect the speedrunning community to find a new way of breaking the current record despite the recent nerf. While you wait to see what they do next, though, check out the rest of the changes below so you know what else to expect with the patch.

Baldur’s Gate 3 patch notes 4

HIGHLIGHTS

• You can now dismiss dead avatars to Withers’ Wardrobe. Withers will now also explain how the wardrobe works.
• You can now customise hirelings’ appearance when recruiting them.
• Colour-blind mode: We’ve added a setting to the Accessibility tab that will allow you to choose protanopia, deuteranopia, or tritanopia. This affects the colours used to distinguish factions and relations: map and minimap icons, portrait frames, and character outlines and circles.

Gameplay

• Refined Scratch’s fetch behaviour. He will now fetch… pretty much everything.
• Archfey warlocks now get a choice of cantrip at Level 4 as intended.
• Updated the mechanics of Speak with Dead so that you can cast it again if you didn’t ask any questions the first time. (For example, if you’re told the corpse doesn’t want to speak to its killer, and then you cast the spell again in Wild Shape.)
• At Level 6, Knowledge Domain clerics will now correctly gain ‘Channel Divinity: Read Thoughts’, Nature Domain clerics will now correctly gain ‘Dampen Elements’, and Trickery Domain clerics will now correctly gain ‘Channel Divinity: Cloak of Shadows’.
• When you purchase a statue from Boney in the circus, you can now choose to make it look like you in full equipment, in camp clothes, or naked.
• Scratch’s ball will now be harder to lose. If you lost his ball, go see him at camp and he might give it back. (Ball warranty voided for chasm-related accidents.)
• Added a controller option so that, if you want, you can have the End Turn button require a hold instead of a tap.
• Fixed the Enemy of Justice condition sometimes applying when it shouldn’t.
• Fixed an issue where assaulting someone while Invisible would still cause a guard to spot you and start a dialogue with you if there was a civilian nearby.
• Halsin will no longer spontaneously decide it’d be fun to turn into a bear before he talks to you in Act I.
• Added more autosaves in the Shadow-Cursed Lands and to several Wyrm’s Crossing and Lower City locations, including the Steel Watch Foundry, Iron Throne, and Rivington.
• Licking the hunk of spider meat in the Gauntlet of Shar might make you sick. You should have listened to Gale.
• You can now read the recipe for the Emperor’s favourite soup.
• You can now use sponges and soaps to clean up your party members, removing grime, blood, and bad odours!

Combat

• Cazador suddenly remembered he can , so he’ll no longer give up the ghost if he falls into a chasm.
• Fixed an inconsistent issue where enemies wouldn’t do anything during combat except Dash and move.
• Fixed some NPCs being able to shoot through floors and ceilings. They’ve said they’ll play fair.

Flow

• We’ve told Mol to be more polite and thank you if you saved Mirkon from . This will close up the quest correctly.
• Added better multiplayer support for the post-celebration night in Act I. Now all avatars can choose which companion they want to get jiggy with.
• Lae’zel was having trouble getting over Act I and Act II. She’ll no longer make certain comments in Act III as though you’re still in the earlier stages of your adventure.
• Blocked some quest updates for Jaheira’s quest when you skip certain parts of it to avoid spoiling big reveals.
•  will now support you in the endgame if their questline was peacefully resolved in 
• If Avatar Gale or a Tav with Gale as a recruited companion is nearby to witness the , they will be preferred as the active speaker in the dialogue for Gale’s origin moment.
• Added new dialogue options for Minsc when he learns about the connection between the Dark Urge and 
• Now Connor will disappear if Mayrina decides to  in Act III. You can also talk to him if you resurrect him with the wand.
•  now correctly returns to camp after a companion is 
• Gale should no longer complain about you making a deal with Raphael if you haven’t.

Art

• Tweaked the colour of the Potion of Mind Reading to distinguish it from Potions of Healing.

Animation

• Added some new idle animations and behaviours for Minthara, Halsin, Shadowheart, and Lae’zel at camp.
• Karlach will now feel more alive while idle in camp rather than just standing there doing nothing.

UI

• You can now customise which solution is selected in the second slot of the Alchemy panel.
• Added map markers for when characters want to talk to you.
• Added unique map icons for the Magic Mirror and Withers’ Wardrobe.
• Improved the Skills section of the Character Sheet: Added icons for the individual skills, added stars to indicate Proficiency and Expertise in certain skills, and improved the skill tooltips.
• Combat rounds are now displayed under separate headings in the Combat Log so it’s easier to distinguish when things happened.

FLOW AND SCRIPTING

Across Acts

• Fixed a bug causing you to get teleported back to camp when trying to leave camp after falling in water.
• Companions will now consistently have something to say to you when you break up with them by choosing to be with someone else.
• Fixed a lingering exclamation mark over Tara at camp.
• If your Dream Visitor or Halsin inform you that it’s impossible to extract your tadpole, you can now hark back to this knowledge when Volo offers his extraction services.
• Fixed Scratch repeatedly pointing out the same discoverable item (treasure mounds, levers, etc.).
• Removed a line when talking to Wyll that refers to information revealed when using your tadpole powers on Karlach even if you never talked to her.
• Bedrolls will now only be added or removed during the transitions between cutscenes.
• For Lae’zel to decide to romance you, you no longer only need to gain high enough approval from her. You must also have proven yourself worthy through your actions.
• If you initiate romance with Lae’zel for the first time in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, the romance path will, accordingly, jump straight into Act II.
• You can no longer initiate romance with Lae’zel right after certain events in the crèche until she has cooled down a bit.
• Fixed a ‘Leave.’ option appearing twice in a row when talking to Minthara about your other party members.
• Lae’zel will no longer talk about future Astarion endgame outcomes after certain branches of her fight with Shadowheart in Act I.
• Barcus will now cower when a combat he can’t join is happening near him.
• Fixed the game not recognising that you know that Astarion is a vampire after he tells you about it.
• Gale will no longer thank you twice for giving him his first magic item.
• Minthara now acknowledges the gift of vengeance you have given her.
• Gale will no longer thank you twice for giving him his second magic item.
• Fixed the player character mentioning Astarion killing the Gur hunter even if Astarion never met him.
• Wulbren will no longer do accounting with his weapon drawn.
• Fixed Gale not starting his follow-up camp dialogue if he’s told not to tell Mystra anything.
• Sceleritas Fel should no longer react to violence in the camp.
• Shadowheart should no longer spoil the game after talking about Gale’s shadowy practices.
• Addressed Gale’s attitude problem during his discussion of his impending doom.
• Fixed a bug where Florrick might express surprise twice that Wyll looks like a devil.
• You can now use the alchemical extracts of the Tongue of Madness or Timmask Spores, or even a crafted Tadpole Elixir, to progress the ‘Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite’ quest.
• Fixed some instances where Gale referred to trying to blow up at the end of Act II even if he didn’t.
• Fixed a wrong reference to the Dark Urge’s first murder when a companion may become their second.
• Fixed a flow issue when talking to Karlach.
• Shadowheart will overcome her fear of wolves if she learns the truth behind her fear.
• Dame Aylin will always be ready to talk if there is an exclamation mark over her head.
• Minthara no longer insists on talking as though you’re still in Moonrise Towers even after you’ve left.
• Fixed Sazza not showing up at Moonrise Towers even if you completed the ‘Save the Goblin Sazza’ quest. This was also affecting the ‘She Cannot be Caged’ achievement.
• Fixed Elminster not coming to meet Gale at camp.
• Loading a savegame made after triggering a Game Over where you succumb to the Absolute and become a mind flayer will now enforce the Game Over state instead of letting you quickload and continue. (So you can no longer waltz around the early game as a squiddy boy or use this trick to form a whole squid squad with all party members.)
• Lae’zel will now correctly communicate her knowledge of Orpheus’ current state if you interact with the githyanki slate about Orpheus after learning of Orpheus’s fate. 

Keep in mind that these are only the Baldur’s Gate 3 patch 4 highlights, and you can check the rest out through the game’s official website. If you need help finishing the game, take a look at our guides on how to get the Blood of Lathander in Baldur’s Gate 3 and how to save Alfira in Baldur’s Gate 3.