Farslayer of Bhaal Ghislev, also referred to as Farslayer Ghislev, is a character who can be encountered in the Undercity Ruins area of Baldur's Gate 3, during Act Three.
Ghislev serves as part of a "test" to any characters who want to enter the Temple of Bhaal.
When the party enters the area past the Undercity RuinsWaypoint a combat encounter is triggered, where Ghislev takes a very early spot in the initiative order, and applies one round of surprised to all party members. This condition can be avoided by passing a DC 30 PerceptionCheck at approximately X: -115 Y: 958 to spot the cultists or by otherwise moving close enough to the Farslayer to begin combat with him alone. It can be prevented as well by means such as the Alert feat, the Feral Instinct feature or the effect of specific items like the Elixir of Vigilance.
On Ghislev's first turn, he casts Bhaal's Power Word Kill Ritual. Ghislev gains the condition Ritual Chant: Bhaal's Power Word Kill, and applies a separate condition to all allies within 55 meters of Farslayer called Bhaalist Ritual Target. Both of these conditions have a duration of seven rounds on Explorer difficulty, six rounds on Balanced difficulty and five rounds on Tactician difficulty.
The chanting range area of 55 m (183 ft) of Ghislev's spell is marked with a wall of bright-red fire. This border does not stop party members from crossing it. If a party member leaves the spell's area, its countdown is stopped for them, and resumes again once they re-enter the area; the timer continues with the remaining duration being that of the of party members who are already affected by it. The same happens to any party member who is left behind the spell area initially and enters it later.
Ghislev's ritual has the same one-cast-per-game feature as the basic Power Word Kill spell. If the party manages to survive the initial countdown of turns without killing Ghislev, they can continue fighting without risking an instant death.
Many Invisible Bhaalist cultists in the area gain the condition Entranced Murderer, and attack alongside him once the party gets close enough to reveal their locations.
Throw a shard of ice that deals 1d10Piercing damage. It explodes and deals 2d6Cold damage to anyone nearby. It leaves an Ice surface. On miss, the shard of ice still explodes.
All enemies aside from Ghislev are hiding invisibly around the arena. They join the fight if the party gets close enough to them.
3x Reaper of Bhaal archers are hidden on a ledge across the chasm to the right of the party as they enter the area.
2x Devastator mages are hidden on a ledge to the left of the party as they descend.
The Invoker of Bhaal is hidden directly on top of the gate to the left.
Strangler Luke and 3x Night Blade archers are hidden on the roof of a ruined building to the left of the bridge.
3x Night Blade archers are hidden next to a Smokepowder Barrel on the upper floor of the ruined building to the left of the bridge.
3x Night Blade dagger throwers are hidden on the lower floor of the ruined building to the left of the bridge.
Manglin' Abby is hidden by the exit on the far side of the bridge at (X: -100 Y: 1019).
The party members become surprised after Ghislev begins chanting his ritual. Despite the lack of a concentration indicator, the ritual spell does require concentration. Disrupting this concentration causes Ghislev to begin using regular spells against the party instead of restarting the ritual.
If a party member gets close to Ghislev, he uses Benign Transposition: Teleport to teleport to the exit near Manglin' Abby.
Every Night Blade archer is equipped with at least one Arrow of Roaring Thunder. All enemies leave the fight on their turn after Ghislev has been defeated and their corpses also instantly disappear upon his death. This can prevent the party from acquiring the Bonespike Gloves from Strangler Luke.
The stone bridge across the chasm is the most dangerous location in the fight since it is very easy to be knocked off of it. Both Manglin' Abby and Strangler Luke attempt to Shove party members off, while their ranged allies rain down Arrows of Roaring Thunder on the party. However, the bridge is not the only means of crossing the chasm. The party can also use Misty Step, Dimension Door, Grant Flight, or Arrow of Transposition to cross it and attack Ghislev directly.
Knocking Ghislev prone or using the Silence spell automatically interrupts his concentration on the ritual chant spell, preventing him from completing the chant.
A sufficiently upcast Magic Missile can take out Ghislav's Unstoppable charges all in one go, since each missile takes out a charge. Further, any missiles after the fifth do full damage.
The Smokepowder Barrel on the upper floor of the ruined building near the bridge can be ignited with a Fireball to damage and kill the 3 archers on that floor.
Ghislev has a relatively low Constitution Saving Throw, thus an effective strategy is to cast Flesh to Stone as soon as the fight starts, and he turns to stone before he can complete the chant, cancelling the spell and rendering him immobile and vulnerable. If the caster gets surprised and cannot apply the spell on the first combat round, there still is enough time to turn Ghislev to stone by successfully casting the spell on round two.
A Myrmidon who is hastened can reach Ghislev in a single turn by first using Dash, then Fly to reach the Reapers' cliff, then Elemental Warp over to Ghislev's platform. If the rest of the party stays in the starting area, this prevents any further enemies joining. An Air Myrmidon in particular can then stun Ghislev with Electrified Flail, preventing him from teleporting around.
invisible characters do not trigger the Farslayer or the ambush. An invisible character in turn based mode can easily dash through the whole arena and make it out the other side. There are no enemies (though there are traps) between the exit of the arena and the Temple of Bhaal Waypoint. Once the waypoint is active, the party can be reunited and continue on, skipping the encounter completely. Alternatively, all four party members can take on invisibility in turn based mode and stroll to the waypoint together. A third possibility is for an invisible character to move within range of his platform and cast Cloud of Daggers or similar area of effect damage over time spell. This will cause Ghislev to teleport immediately, without casting the spell. Careful uses of hiding allows for hit and run tactics that will kill him and none of the other denizens in the area will spawn, even when visible characters pass through the abbey or over the bridge.
