What will you do? Your past is not yet lost. Your future is not yet fixed. - Dame Aylin
About the Guide
This guide is a labor of love created by Vulpine and Elle to offer proper heroes a way to save their worlds. It is unofficial, unsanctioned, and occasionally irreverent.
Purpose of the Guide
In our exploration of the Internet, we've seen a lot of advice on how to "beat" Honor Mode, but very little advice on how to succeed without being either a optimizing try-hard1 or a sketchy ahole. Too many supposed heroes, faced with the possibility of death, compromise in the name of bettering their chances. Sure, maybe they make it through in the end... but are they really heroes if they've forsaken everything that makes a hero?
No. The answer is no.
So for the purposes of this guide, we've assumed that you're like us. You want to save Faerun the right way. You want to protect the innocent, thwart evil, and bring hope and light back to Faerun no matter the personal cost. You're an actual hero, and you'd rather fail than lie, cheat, and murder your way to a win because you know, in the end, that the only real win is to stick to your principled ideals.
In other words, you're a hero.
And we're here to keep you alive, as best we can.
Our Credentials
Oh sure, a dhampiric elven druid / goth gamer girl2 and an 'I don't even really game much' salty succubishian hellion arcanist3 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 eight times.
- We've completed Honor Mode six times.
- We still have two adventures still active.
- For those who hate maths, we have a 100% success rate so far.
- We take on all of the side quests and all of the heroic options.
- We've even made Honor Mode harder by making truly random heroes!4
Look, we're good at this Honor Mode thing, okay? After our first Honor Mode run, we only play Honor Mode because the stakes feel more real, the challenges are... well, challenging... and the decisions actually matter. The advice in here has been tweaked through our four 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 tips or tweaks we're willing to consider them!
Why is Honor Mode Different?
Honor Mode isn't impossible, but it isn't exactly easy, either. Last we looked, there were 1.2 million failed Honor Mode runs, which means 1.2 million Faeruns were lost to darkness while 144,000 were saved. That's like... a 12% success rate, hero. So yeah, you have your work cut out for you.
The full list of differences between Honor Mode and Balanced Mode can be found here, but some of the highlights include:
No take backs. You get one chance for each encounter and each conversation in Honor Mode. You can't test out decisions to see what might happen. Every mistake or missed social cue is final, so you must get used to the idea that your actions will have often irreversible consequences. You know how Earth Realm reality works, where your decisions can't just be rolled back to an earlier save? Yeah, pretty much that. Speaking of that...
Dead is dead. Sure, you have revivify scrolls and healing magic, but if you're wiped out, that's it. You've failed. You should get used to the idea that in Honor Mode, every combat can turn deadly and every encounter has the potential of going horribly wrong. Again, you can't just reload... if a battle is going poorly, well, you'll need to either extricate yourself or like... die. And the same goes for the people you're saving. Sloppy spellcraft or poorly thought out plans will get people killed.
Scarcity of Goods. In Honor Mode, you need double the resources 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. Along the same lines, everything is going to cost more. Developing relationships with shopkeepers is absolutely going to benefit you long term.
Opponents are Stronger. Your opponents are going to have more hit points and better resistances than their Balanced Mode counterparts. Some of them will have new types of actions, and the strongest of them will have Legendary Actions, powerful actions meant to make them super deadly. And yes, you should consider them deadly; even formerly "easy" encounters may bring new abilities and new tactics that might leave you bleeding out on a cavern floor.
Opponents are Smarter. You can and should expect your opponents in Honor Mode to know how to use their abilities, how to choose advantageous positions, and how to complement allies. We know that 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, this is especially true in Honor Mode where cockiness and overconfidence will lead you into an early grave.
What Was Once, May Not Now Be. There are certain... situations where the inclusion of an assist or an item or a checkpoint made what could have been a resource draining slog through a network of pain a relatively easy trip. You should not assume that what was true in Balanced Mode is also true in Honor Mode. If you go into every dungeon crawl and every mission assuming that your only support will be the support you carry with you and that the only Rest you'll see is the one you had just before, you'll be in a much better position to survive.
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Okie look. You have probably saved a Faerun or two in Balanced. I'm telling you tho... take nothing for granted. |
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How to Use This Guide
Okay, so let's be super clear. There is no right way to use this guide. Some people may only be interested in using it to prep for their Honor Mode run by using our general advice, others may want to use it for the parts of their quest they always find difficult, and still others might want to read and follow it step by step. All of those are fine! Our goal is to get you though your quest, after all!
But... we do have some suggestions because of course we do.
First, we really recommend you read through this Introduction (good job so far!), our chapter on Party Composition & Character Creation, and our chapter on Orchestrating a Successful Run. These sections contain a lot of the general principles we follow when we're starting a new quest.
If nothing else, they'll get you thinking as an Honor Mode hero!
If you're new to Honor Mode, we strongly suggest you use the whole Guide. Honor Mode can be extremely unforgiving, with pitfalls and problems unique to the mode itself. Let us help you navigate them all!
If you struggle with Story, Balanced, or Tactician or you have failed Honor Mode on your previous tries, we also recommend that you follow the whole Guide. Let us help keep you safe! You might even find that you're a much improved hero after your quest has ended!
If you've tried Honor Mode before and done reasonably well even if you failed or you're finding Balanced or Tactician Modes easy, we suggest that you at least read through the aforementioned sections and the General Tips in each chapter. You can follow the entire guide if you like and we've love it if you did, but we think you're probably a skilled enough hero for us to be a little hands off.
If you've already completed Honor Mode a few times but you struggle with certain sections or certain quests, we suggest that you read through the sections on those sections or quests. We've navigated through them all, so maybe we can show you a different approach!
If you're not looking to be a hero but you want to read for funsies, I mean... cool we guess!
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I was fucking terrified of Honor Mode the first time, and I swore I would never try Honor Mode again after I got the achievement. So it's fine if you aren't ready for it right now... we still get nervous when we begin a new Honor Mode quest! |
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Yesh, that. And actually, hero... maybe you're like 'I am not good enough to do this, I'll never win.' 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.' Maybe you're just curious, sure, but I mean... maybe you know, somewhere inside you, there's a real hero waiting to burst free. |
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What this Guide is Not
We also want to be clear on what we're offering. We have a particular... I 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.5
This guide is not official. We love Faerun, but this Guide is not officially commissioned by Larian or Wizards of the Coast. We're creating it out of our love for the world 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. The Heroes Guide is meant for experienced heroes who have saved Faerun 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.
But, I mean, I guess we all get lost sometimes, Map Genie has a pretty cool interactive guide if you need a refresher on where things are, or you need more guidance than we're offering.
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 I mean fine I guess6 but we like to see interesting, diverse, imperfect heroes succeed. So if you're going to optimize, you'll have to get your advice elsewhere.7
We're not saying that we don't offer some general advice on hero building or adventuring party composition... we do... but our goal is to help you realize your best heroic self, not to get that extra .02% to your perception because you exploited a weird glitch.
This guide is not a guarantee. Adventuring can be deadly. 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 toll house or digesting in a ravenous gnoll's belly.
We can offer you the benefit of our experience to give you a fighting chance, but ultimately it's going to be up to you to rise to the challenge!8
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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 tragically. |
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We've come close, so it is like... 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. |
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....hn. Or that, yesh. I guess that would be easier, to be honest. |
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Final Thoughts
"The hardest thing about this job is that you can't always save everybody." - Spider-Ham
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.
To that point, 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.
And remember: 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 impactful, but we would be lying if we said that sometimes, especially when we know that mistakes... our mistakes... were avoidable?
Honor Mode hurts.9
- 1. The 'art' of optimizing every aspect of a hero to maximize their stats at the expense of originality, personality, and fun.
- 2. Yesh, we know. She's basically your dream girl.
- 3. With active bitch face, no less.
- 4. We'll cover the "Honor Mode Plus" challenges later!
- 5. If you're going to slide into a girl's DMs, we know some people...
- 6. I'm not allowed to say that people like this lack skills so I won't. - Elle
- 7. I recommend the bin. - Elle
- 8. All salt and snark aside, we are here because we believe we can teach you to be your best self. Class is in session!
- 9. 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.