How does sanctuary work?

[Wärmepumpe mit Brötchenaufsatz]

I have 200+ hours in this game and I still don't understand how to deal
with enemies who have this enabled - although I ~somehow~ managed
to kill every single one of those which I encountered.

What am I supposed to do? How to effectively handle this?
Sometimes, in some rounds, it's suddenly gone, others have this
continously enabled (but only as long as they don't move??).

This spiderman from the dark woods was the first one, somewhere
on top of a roof, months ago.

The latest ones I had where those Bhaal dudes, five or six, around the altar
in this, well Bhaal cave with this white eyes woman in a tight bloodysuit
and a Disney princess crown on her head - before this unusual transformation.

Didn't think about this and let Lae'zel attack the circle with one of her short-rest
standard attacks. She dealt damage, the sanctuary was removed from the
character and she could continue with the usual sword swingery.

All later melee attacks were not possible. "Sancuary, not vulnerable."
Some of the AoE-attacks worked, but not all. Why?

What shall one do?

Also: Is this an enemy-only mechanism or could I use this too?

[AsianGirlLover]

Just use AOE attacks, it’s not that complicated. Cloud of Daggers, Fireball, Wall of Fire, etc.

[Wuorg]

Sanctuary gets removed when the creature that has it takes any offensive action, which usually means dealing damage. Otherwise, it will remain active until it expires. There's the odd exception to this in BG3, but that rule of thumb is fine to keep in mind.

If it got removed after Lae'zel attacked them, it is probably because her target did some sort of opportunity attack. Creatures with Sanctuary active still take damage from AoE spells, although if the spell requires an initial target, you will not be able to target them directly (consider a spell like Chain Lightning).

All Clerics can prepare it starting at level 1, so you can get access to it too. It is just usually less useful for player characters than it is for NPCs.

For more details, check out the wiki page: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Sanctuary

[Orion Invictus]

You can't target someone who has Sanctuary. That means if you want to use something but need to select them directly, you can't. That's it.

[Wärmepumpe mit Brötchenaufsatz]

"My" Gale has an 11d6 lightning bolt attack.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3394638211

Doesn't this count as an area attack?

It did not harm the Bhaal dudes in any way; and afair, they didn't
have any anti-lightning.

[RollerPig]

Originally posted by Wuorg:

Sanctuary gets removed when the creature that has it takes any offensive action, which usually means dealing damage. Otherwise, it will remain active until it expires. There's the odd exception to this in BG3, but that rule of thumb is fine to keep in mind.

If it got removed after Lae'zel attacked them, it is probably because her target did some sort of opportunity attack. Creatures with Sanctuary active still take damage from AoE spells, although if the spell requires an initial target, you will not be able to target them directly (consider a spell like Chain Lightning).

All Clerics can prepare it starting at level 1, so you can get access to it too. It is just usually less useful for player characters than it is for NPCs.

For more details, check out the wiki page: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Sanctuary

This... non target AoE attacks work and you can also get in melee range and bait out attacks of opportunity. Not sure if Karnus takes that bait but the devil thing in the house of hope does (usually works)

displacement non damage, non target AoE works as well (gust of wind, black hole, thunder arrows, smoke powder bombs etc.)

[Wuorg]

Originally posted by Wärmepumpe mit Brötchenaufsatz:

"My" Gale has an 11d6 lightning bolt attack.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3394638211

Doesn't this count as an area attack?

It did not harm the Bhaal dudes in any way; and afair, they didn't
have any anti-lightning.

(Edit: I don't think this is what happened. See my edit below. I am leaving this first bit here for posterity) It is likely this was just a targeting issue. Sometimes small changes in elevation make line-type AoEs act a little weird. I assure you, those enemies do take AoE damage.

Although, it is worth mentioning that Orin has Evasion (https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Evasion) so perhaps you were looking at her when you noticed something didn't take damage? (edit: I just double checked, and her goons also have Evasion on Tactician! This seems like the more likely explanation, assuming that is the difficulty you played on.)

[Wärmepumpe mit Brötchenaufsatz]

Mhh, could be, yes.
At least I now know what to pay attention for.

Thx.

[Wuorg]

Originally posted by Wärmepumpe mit Brötchenaufsatz:

Mhh, could be, yes.
At least I now know what to pay attention for.

Thx.

Those enemies are deliberately designed to be tricky to take out. You're not alone in getting confused, I'm sure!