Gale is undoubtedly an exciting companion in Baldur’s Gate 3. You either love or hate the cocky wizard/liability.
Right now, I’m on the side of hate. Mainly because I’ve encountered a bug in BG3 that has turned Gale into a walking plague that’s killing off all my other party members and even NPCs. There are solutions for this bug, but not all are ideal.
What is the Necrotic Aura?
Necrotic Aura is a damaging aura that deals 1-4 Necrotic damage to nearby players each turn. Those running with Gale in their party will, unfortunately, become intimately familiar with this aura because he emits this when he dies. When functioning correctly, the aura is permanent until the character is revived.
Baldur’s Gate 3 permanent Gale Necrotic Aura bug, explained
During my fight with the goblins at Emerald Grove in Act One, Gale was downed several times. I used scrolls to revive him and potions to heal him, but then I noticed that my other party members were losing health, seemingly for no reason. I checked for enemies, checked for stats, and then realized Necrotic Damage was hitting them. What is the source of this Necrotic damage? Gale.
When Gale is killed, and I mean killed, not downed, you need to go through several steps to resurrect him. His Necrotic Aura condition makes these steps more complicated, which sees his body exuding Necrotic energy that deals 1~4 damage to nearby creatures every turn.
My Gale, however, was downed. He was revived with a scroll and healed but left with a permanent Necrotic Aura. I’m not the only one, either. It took me a while to work out. Gale was the source, but the dark fog around him made me check his condition. He’s the culprit.
How to fix the permanent Gale Necrotic Aura bug
Unfortunately, I found out Gale was the culprit too late. He had accidentally downed all my party members and some NPCs, and all my scrolls and potions were used. The man was a walking menace. If you have the same issue, the best option is to reload a save from before the bug; you can also try this option if you don’t care about reloading. I had to do this and will save often in the future, just in case. After doing that, I sent Gale back to camp because the man was a liability.
If your other companions are still alive, then you can try the options others have suggested to try and fix this bug, but it’s essential to keep Gale away from everyone until you work out what you want to do and can try to rectify the issue. This is easier if you use turn-based mode, as you can move each character individually rather than have them move as a group.
Have a long rest. Go back to camp, and then you have two options. You can either try to keep yourself alive long enough to speak to Gale and ask him not to travel with you anymore, or you can risk going to sleep immediately.
Asking Gale not to travel with you anymore will remove him from your immediate party and hopefully stop him from continuing to damage people. The problem is that the aura does a lot of damage, and Gale talks a lot, so you may need more time or health to do this. If you can, you should go to sleep and hope Gale’s bug is gone by the morning if it’s not already. If he is not in your party, then he shouldn’t be able to hurt the other party members.
If he does hurt them, or you’ve chosen to go to sleep and risk him hurting the others, then the aura should hopefully be gone by the morning. Then you’ll need to revive everyone using Gale (or whoever is left alive) and have another sleep. Some have found that the aura disappears following the nighttime cutscene, so if you don’t want to lose your savings, then it’s worth trying.
I suggest the nuclear option and reloading your savings. Bugs like this are a painful reminder that you need to save regularly in Baldurs Gate 3.
There you have it. You now know everything you need to fix the permanent Gale Necrotic Aura bug in BG3. Enjoy!
