Okay, let me walk you through how I tackled that annoying Protection from Energy bug in Baldur’s Gate 3 that kept breaking mid-fight. Man, that spell vanishing when you need it most? Pure frustration.
What Went Wrong First
Tried casting Protection from Energy like normal during a gnarly fight against those electric gnomes. Popped it on Karlach, felt good… until five seconds later. Zap! The stupid shield just blinked out. No warning, no concentration broken message – it straight up disappeared. Happened again when fighting mushroom guys with poison sprays. Shield gone before the second breath attack landed. Total waste of a spell slot.
My First Stab at Fixing It
Figured it was a simple glitch, right? Did the usual tricks first:
- Reloaded the save three times – same crap every time.
- Re-casted the spell after it vanished – shield held for maybe 3 seconds longer, then poof.
- Swapped party members – put it on Shadowheart instead. Same story. Shield ghosted us.
Nothing stuck. Felt like dumping buckets of water on a grease fire.
Getting My Hands Dirty
Checked Larian’s patch notes first – nada. Saw other players yelling about it too, so time to tinker. Dug into mods first since I run some:
- Disabled every mod, one by one, loading the game fresh each time. Painfully slow, but necessary.
- Found the culprit: That popular “Better Combat Effects” mod? Yeah. Version 2.0.1 straight murdered the spell. Disabled it – shield held solid for a full minute in camp. Tested again against a guard by the river – spell stuck like glue.
The Ugly Workaround
Couldn’t live without that mod though, so more testing:
Rolled back to mod version 1.9.3. Fired up the game, recast Protection from Energy on Gale. Watched the timer like a hawk. Shield held steady through two full combat rounds and environmental damage. Fixed it. Felt like winning the damn lottery. Still no clue why newer versions break it, but older one works fine.
So yeah – if your magic shields keep vanishing, check your mods. Especially combat tweakers. Sometimes newest ain’t greatest. Back to wiping the floor with lightning-immune Karlach now.