I was both furious and impressed

Fucked me up pretty good for a faker

Spoilers below:

!She's a lich, and she used a wish ring to nuke us. !<
- I mean, forcing the BBEG to use a Wish on you is pretty baller
- Which is a bit fucking overkill given that the level cap in game is 12.
  
  I've never really bought the "DnD breaks down after level 12" argument for a game that already hard nerfed and didn't use quite a lot of spells, but my first DnD experience was Neverwinter Nights and they solved it mostly by making all spells direct and simple combat spells.
  
  We seemed like the kind of party that would definitely require overkill to get rid of. Like someone else said in this thread, it's pretty baller that we were enough of a threat for her to resort to that.
- "How do you know she is a lich?"
  
  "Well she turned me into a newt!"
  
  "A newt?"
  
  "I got better"
  
  BURN HER!
- Ive never played DnD, what's the mechanic behind this?
  
  Wish is the highest level spell in the game. There are predefined things it can do, but because of the open nature of tabletop, it can do just about anything, as long as your Dungeon Master approves it. The spell doesn't exist in Baldur's Gate 3 for the players, since it would completely break any encounter, and because players can't merely tell a computer what creative thing they want to do with it. Also, we never achieve the level requirement to cast Wish in Baldur's Gate. As far as the mechanic behind Vlaakith's usage, they coded it to outright kill you. No rolls to see if you evade, no possibility of response, just poosh! Dead. It's the only time you'll see the spell in the game and you don't know that's what happened at the time.
  
  Edit: if you enjoy fantasy, board games, and adventure, then you should definitely check out D&D! They sell starter packs for $20 that have everything you'd need to play an adventure with a group of friends. D&D 6e, or One D&D as they're calling it is coming out later this year, but I'd stick with 5e, which is the game everyone knows and loves. Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast a while ago, and they've been displaying typical big corp malarkey and greed. Avoid anything new from them and stick with what is familiar in my opinion.
  
  It should be noted that this should not work. In every version of the game I am aware of, the spell description for wish explicitly calls out wishing an enemy dead as something the spell should not be able to accomplish. The typical monkey's paw that is described as happening when you attempt to wish a person dead is that you are propelled forward in time until after they die, effectively removing you from their lifespan. This is part of the 5e description of wish as well.
  
  For example, wishing that a villain were dead might propel you forward in time to a period when that villain is no longer alive, effectively removing you from the game.
  
  Vlaakith is an ancient and powerful enough lich that it is entirely reasonable she has the means to kill a low level adventurer like the protagonist of BG3, even from her safe stronghold on another plane of existence, however, the particular method they chose to have her do it in is explicitly called out as something that is impossible, and shouldn't have been used, if only because it sets a bad example for people who have never played D&D and BG3 is their first experience with it.
  
  I wish for a very large explosion to occur where that annoying idiot is standing
  
  I'd love to play D&D but I don't have any friends sadly so I have to stick to BG3 lol
  
  The time I flipped off vlakith I think I just got a game over screen without much explanation so I just chalked it up to some half assed divine power thing. Now it makes more sense
  
  Wait, they're renaming D&D 6e to "One D&D"? 😂

It's still weird that she can cause insta fail if you flip her off but if you don't she just sends goons to kill you? Why wouldn't she just instakill you right out of the gate?

Someone explained that on another thread, but I don't remember the explanation. I think she used her Wish spell to observe you in the Astral Plane, or something like that, and couldn't use it again. Someone out there knows the actual explanation, but that someone isn't me!
- I haven't played BG3 but I've played 5e to death.
  
  She presumably has a single 9th level spell slot, as that's the most almost any creature can get. Wish is 9th level. Wish can replicate any lower level spell regardless of if the caster knows it or could cast it, or you can say fuck it and do basically anything, with a 1/3 chance of losing it to cast forever.
  
  There are a few ways to just annihilate an adventuring party of lower level, such as casting fireball 9th level, but it sounds like she thought she'd risk the hail Mary and actually wished the party to die without a spell.
  
  It seems that alternatively our end up in the astral plane and she uses wish to cast something like scrying which she didn't have prepared, meaning she couldn't then use the spell slot to wish the party to death.

Yeah me too lol. I knew her backstory so I was all "Fuck off, glorified zombie" and I was playing a Paladin so I refused her and told her where to stick it.

After re-loading my save, I played along. Then came back and slaughtered the entire creche. I think that was where I broke my oath, too.

I have broken my oath so many times that I just stayed an oathbreaker.

There's the illusion of choice for a brief moment before you're railroaded. I quit after she killed my party.

Well, there was a choice not to go into that chamber, you decided against it. Once you are there and she shows up, you can decide to suicide or do what she says and live. That's not railroading that's the expected outcome at lvl 8-9 against a almost-god.
Man, you really missed out if you quit there. The storyline is amazing as you continue through act 2 and 3. Shadowheart, Karlach, and Astarion each have absolutely crushing personal back-stories, and following them through to resolution was one of the best gaming experiences I've ever encountered.
- I'll reinstall this week and try again. Maybe the break will make me less frustrated.
  
  Deaths are going to happen. It's a hard game. Save often, pick gear that synergizes with your talents, make sure you have a full party, and re-spec your companions using Withers. Personally I think the game is the best I've ever played, and it's the only game I've finished since Zelda BotW. I'm about to finish it for my 2nd playthrough here soon, and I never do that.
  
  I want to like it, but I hate save-scumming being almost required. I am a casual gamer, having to prep for every other battle or having to follow a specific sequence or needing a particular spell or pick up some random book that is actually important later just burns me. It's frustrating to miss out on content because you aren't following a guide religiously.
  
  You don't have to do everything in a single playthrough. You probably shouldn't try to do everything in a single playthrough. They added so much content because they want the game to be replayable. If you're a casual gamer, then play casually and don't worry about not discovering everything. Larian advises against save scumming and going back to a previous reload because you don't like the outcome of a given choice. I'd recommend just playing organically and rolling with your choices. Leave stuff behind if you can't figure it out. There are only a few sections where you may have to look something up to figure it out and progress forward. None of the optional stuff like the Necromancy of Thay is mandatory. You'll be plenty powerful without it.