Baldur’s Gate 3: Should You Kill or Free Lae’zel in BG3

Lae-zel is one of the first characters players meet in Baldur’s Gate 3, joining up with her through circumstance alone. However, after the game’s opening events, players have the chance to kill or free Lae’zel, and it’s tough to know what to do.

Killing or saving a key character is usually a turning point in many ways, locking off romance options and sometimes even quests. This guide explains what will happen if players kill or free Lae-zel in Baldur’s Gate 3, so they don’t need to create multiple save files to find out.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Prepare Spells in BG3

Should You Kill or Free Lae-zel in Baldur’s Gate 3

When players first encounter Lae-zel, they’ll see she’s been caught by a pair of Tieflings in a cage. Thanks to the brain worms working their way around both her and the player character’s brains, it’s possible to converse with her.

Players can then choose to try to deceive the Tieflings and get them to leave, or persuade them to kill Lae-zel. Below, we’ve outlined the outcomes of killing and freeing Lae-zel in Baldur’s Gate 3. While it’s possible to go on with the main story either way, there are some pretty big differences based on players’ choices.

What Happens if You Free Lae-zel in Baldur’s Gate 3

If players choose to free Lae-zel, they’ll need to defend her from the Tieflings that captured her. After killing them or convincing them to leave, players can get Lae-zel to join their party. Many consider her essential because she’s a Fighter and can mix up the party’s composition quite a lot. Her base stats when players first met her are as follows.

• Background: Soldier
• Initiative: +1
• Movement Speed: 9 Meters
• Darkvision Range: 2 Meters
• Strength: 17
• Dexterity: 13
• Constitution: 15
• Intelligence: 10
• Wisdom: 12
• Charisma: 8

By freeing Lae-zel, players can work towards romancing her if they want to. By playing with her in the party and making an effort to get to know her, players can even unlock a Companion quest specifically linked to her. This quest was quite restricted in Baldur’s Gate 3’s early access but is now fully playable since the game’s official release.

What Happens if You Kill Lae-zel in Baldur’s Gate 3

If players choose to kill Lae-zel, the Tieflings will release her from her cage and prepare for a fight. Players will again have the chance to side with her, but they can reject her and side with her captors as everyone rolls Initiative. The fight is pretty easy because the Tieflings are incredibly powerful. In our playthrough, they killed Lae-zel in a single hit.

The Tieflings in Baldur’s Gate 3 will chat with the player after the battle is over, and players are free to loot Lae-zel’s corpse for all of her gear if they fancy it. She’s got armor with slightly better stats than what some classes start with, but the real benefit is the value of that gear, giving players a nice boost once they reach a store to sell it at.

Obviously, by killing Lae-zel, players prevent her from being a romance option for the rest of their playthrough. It’s also impossible to play through her Companion quest later in Act 1 because she’s no longer round to trigger it.

Where to Find Lae-zel in Baldur’s Gate 3

Lae-Zel is located in the opening area of Baldur’s Gate 3, where the Nautiloid crashes, to the north of where players awaken after the opening scene. Players will know they’re getting close to the area because there are two Tieflings close by talking about what to do with Lae-zel. See above for a map reference for the exact location.