Chance of enemies noticing and coming for you while you have Sanctuary active?

[Annie Other]

Loaded a save close to where you encounter the three Intellect Devourers at the beach to do some experiments before I enter one of the dungeons.
Activated Turn-Based Mode, cast Sanctuary on myself, ungrouped and started walking around in Turn-Based Mode to scout out the location of the creatures. And then they came dashing towards Shadowheart (who was quite a bit away and out of sight) and one even came after me.
I did nothing to cancel the spell. It was still on when I got attacked. It only got cancelled when I had to defend myself.

Is it supposed to be that way? If so, what is the chance that enemies don't ignore you while you have Sanctuary active?
Or did I run into some bug?

[Orion Invictus]

Sanctuary does not prevent combat, nor does it prevent you from being attacked in the normal sense. It only prevents you from being targeted with things that target one individual.

For example, if you had cast Sanctuary on yourself I would not be able to target you with Fire Bolt, but I would be able to cast Fireball in your general vicinity and damage you via its AoE. It's still me attacking you, but since I'm not targeting you, it's allowed.

With that in mind, here's what I think happened:
- When you entered combat, the Intellect Devourers became "aware" of your Sanctuary status.
- Since the vast majority of NPCs will ignore any character with Sanctuary, they beelined for Shadowheart, the only viable target in your group. I assume these particular Intellect Devourers are simply programmed to know where all your teammates are, since this encounter is part of the tutorial, but I'm not sure.

I wouldn't call this a "bug" per se, I just think the devs didn't expect someone would do what you did.

Given that this is the first complaint I've seen about it on the forum, you might very well be one of the first - if not the first - person to try this. Or I'm wrong and people just didn't come to the forum about it, or I just didn't see it.

[Annie Other]

Was not meant as a complaint, I just was wondering.

I am experimenting a lot which is just another reason why I am so slow.

[Morgian]

You can always see if a NPC maintains a spell, and so do the NPCs. When you aggroed them, they went for the one who maintains the spell and one to block/provoke you into attacking.

[Annie Other]

I just walked aroun.
But now I understand. Probably will be the same with Invisibility spells. Monsters who can't see invisible things will ignore the invisible character and dash towards the next possible target. Got it.
Thank you. Knowing this will help with planning.

[Calculus]

Originally posted by Annie Other:

I just walked aroun.
But now I understand. Probably will be the same with Invisibility spells. Monsters who can't see invisible things will ignore the invisible character and dash towards the next possible target. Got it.
Thank you. Knowing this will help with planning.

Assuming they are aware of another target. I would always recommend using stealth when doing stuff like that because let's face it... AI does cheat when it comes to target visibility.
AI is always programmed to behave as it doesn't have full vision because it's much simpler than coding vision for the ai...

[Annie Other]

Because Stealth is not a spell, I get it.
It's not how it is supposed to be, but I understand.

[Calculus]

Originally posted by Annie Other:

Because Stealth is not a spell, I get it.
It's not how it is supposed to be, but I understand.

I was more thinking about stealth on shadowheart because then after they spot your character you will be sure they won't go for shadowheart. It could make them trigger searching for her, so i would also advise moving her far away.

[Annie Other]

Could try that, thanks.
Now this was just an experiment.
In the meantime, I have a party of four and will have to decide on what to do next.
Things will be different with a party of four and in a dungeon. I just sometimes check things.

(Also aleady cast a healing spell on Astarion to see what happens. In NWN healing spells did harm undead creatures. Not sure about BG3, but it definitely doesn't hurt him while he is in the party.
Tried to turn him. The game showed me a 35% chance. Nothing happened. Didn't get a failure message, so I don't know if I failed or if it just doesn't work.
Yes, I sometimes just have to try stuff to see what happens...)