Baldur’s Gate 3 allows one player to control up to four characters at the same time, assuming they are in a solo campaign with three NPC companions. Of course, moving four characters individually while exploring outside of combat would quickly become a chore, so characters move as a party while outside of combat. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.
This isn’t always the case, however. You’ll run into instances where one character is lagging behind the group, and other instances where the whole party has ditched your controlled character. Sometimes this is an easily fixable glitch, and sometimes it’s a feature.
How to toggle Group Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3
If you’ve input a move command while not in turn-based mode and only the selected character moves, chances are you have accidentally turned Group Mode off. This is done by left clicking on a small, easy to miss button beneath the character portraits on the screen-left border, labelled “Toggle Group Mode.”
Toggling this on or off will determine whether or not your party moves as one unit or as four individuals, and despite being such an important tool, it’s actually pretty easy to miss.
As you can see, the button is very small, and very close to a portrait, making it easy to misclick. Conversely, Group Mode also can be turned on or off by pressing G on your keyboard.
How to tell if Group Mode is turned on in Baldur’s Gate 3
In the above picture, Group Mode is turned on. You can tell by looking at how close the portraits are to one another. If there is no gap between portraits, Group Mode is on. If there is a small space between each portrait, it is off.
See the difference? It’s slim, but easily noticeable if you’re actively looking for it. Keep in mind that if your characters are very far away from one another, chances are Group Mode won’t make them meet up. In this case, simply leave Group Mode turned on and begin moving your characters towards one another. Once you reach a certain distance thresh hold, they will start moving together automatically.
Though rare, occasions may occur when Group Mode is on but characters still won’t move as a unit. This is an easy fix as well.
BG3: What to do when characters won’t move in Group Mode
When this happens, one of two things is usually going on:
- A character is stuck behind an obstruction.
- A character is unable to reach an area.
On a couple different occasions, I’ve found that one member of my party won’t return to camp with me or won’t move forward with me. Upon assuming control of that character, I usually find that they’ve gotten themselves in between two barrels. Simply navigating through or around the obstruction will fix this issue.
In the second case, let’s just say it’s easy to forget that Gale isn’t as athletic as your Barbarian. Many times I have jumped across a river or gap, and not realized somebody was left behind until several minutes later. Upon panning over, I’ll always see poor Gale twiddling his thumbs next to the gap that the rest of the party jumped over.
If an NPC cannot make a jump, they will simply not attempt it. This usually means they will wait there until you tell them what to do instead.
Using Group Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3
If you think this feature is pointless, think again. So long as Group Mode is on, characters will follow you if they’re able to. They don’t care if its a good idea or not, just if they’re able to. This means that if you’re carefully navigating through traps or environmental hazards, the party will follow you—taking the most streamlined route possible. Nine times out of 10, the most streamlined route is directly through traps.
This is just one example, but fans of Karlach will know that she basically doesn’t take any damage from fire. The other night, I was exploring a burning building when it occurred to me that it would be classic Larian Studios for them to put great loot hidden in the back of a room completely consumed by a raging inferno.
Thinking myself clever, I took control of Karlach and plunged towards the back of the flames. I was right about the hidden loot, but I forgot to turn Group Mode off. Can you guess what happened to the rest of my party?
