SugarTickles
Credits & Sources
This guide is a SugarTickles rewrite of material from bg3.wiki, the community-run Baldur's Gate 3 wiki, reorganized into an act-by-act route for playing alongside the game, with gaps marked for our own playthrough. Full credit to the wiki's editors. The pages we drew on most:
- Act One, Act Two, and Act Three: the regions, the order of events, and the points of no return.
- Escape the Nautiloid, Find a Cure, Free Lae'zel, Save the Refugees, Save the First Druid, Save Mayrina, Hunt the Devil, Rescue the Grand Duke, Find the Githyanki Crèche, and Travel to Moonrise Towers: the prologue and Act One.
- Infiltrate Moonrise Towers, Lift the Shadow Curse, Find the Nightsong, Gauntlet of Shar, Last Light Inn, Rescue the Tieflings, and Rescue Wulbren: Act Two.
- Get Gortash's Netherstone and Get Orin's Netherstone: Act Three.
- Companions: who joins where, and the ways to lose them for good.
Where we haven't confirmed something in our own game yet, you'll see a gold "To verify" note. Dashed "Your notes" boxes mark spots to fill in. Story twists are tucked inside spoiler boxes; open them only when you're ready. Screenshots and video are our own captures. We don't copy the wiki's images: the game art belongs to Larian Studios, and Dungeons & Dragons belongs to Wizards of the Coast.
License: because this page adapts bg3.wiki, its text is shared under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The wiki's text written before July 20, 2024 is licensed only under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, so we use that license for the whole page (the wiki's license terms). You may share and adapt it, with credit, for non-commercial use, under the same license. Baldur's Gate 3 and its art, characters, and names are © Larian Studios; Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, and the Forgotten Realms are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast. SugarTickles isn't affiliated with Larian, Wizards of the Coast, or bg3.wiki, and this guide isn't official. It's a fan guide, made with love.
No ads, ever: the license doesn't allow commercial use, so this page will never carry ads, affiliate links, sponsorships, or anything else that makes money.
Installing the Game
Buy it, play it on a Mac or a PC, and keep your saves safe
1. Buy the game
Baldur's Gate 3 is on Steam and GOG, plus PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. It runs natively on Windows and Mac: install it and press Play. It's a big download (around 150 GB), so give it room. This guide follows the computer version.
2. Know where your saves live
The game autosaves often, but make your own saves too, especially before a big choice. Quicksave is F5 and quickload is F8 on a computer. Back up this folder before a long session or before adding mods:
- Mac:
~/Documents/Larian Studios/Baldur's Gate 3/PlayerProfiles/Public/Savegames/Story - Windows:
%LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\PlayerProfiles\Public\Savegames\Story(paste into File Explorer's address bar)
3. Mods (optional, and not for your first run)
The game has a built-in mod browser on the main menu (Mod Manager), so you don't need any outside tools. We'd play the first time without mods: the game is big enough already, and a few choices are easier to follow when everything is the way Larian made it.
The Nautiloid
You wake up in a pod on a mind flayer ship with a tadpole behind your eye. The ship is under attack, and it's on its way through Hell.
Before You Start
The choices on the character creation screen
- Pick who you are. You can play one of the six Origin characters (Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, or Wyll), make your own Custom character, or play The Dark Urge, a custom character with a dark story of their own. For a first run, a Custom character lets you meet all six Origins as companions. The Dark Urge is best saved for a second playthrough.
- Pick a difficulty. Balanced is the game as designed. Explorer is gentler if you're here for the story. Tactician and Honour mode are for once you know the game. See Difficulty Modes.
- Pick a class you'll enjoy. Your companions cover a lot of ground: a fighter (Lae'zel), a cleric (Shadowheart), a wizard (Gale), a rogue (Astarion), a warlock (Wyll), and a barbarian (Karlach). Any class works. If you can't decide, a Paladin, Fighter, or Cleric is forgiving to learn on.
- Talk to everyone, read everything. Most of the game's best moments come from conversations. When a dice roll shows up, that's a skill check, and a failure usually opens a different path, not a dead end.
Escape the Nautiloid
Where: the Nautiloid, a mind flayer ship · Quest: Escape the Nautiloid
- Break out of your pod. Look around the first room (the Nursery) for loot on the raised paths, but don't touch the larva pool in the middle: it bursts. Leave through the door on the west side.
- In the next room, take the lift up to the elf with the exposed brain. Pass the check to see what it really is: an intellect devourer called Us. You can free it, leave it, or destroy it. Freed, it follows you for a while.
- Head outside. Lae'zel, a githyanki warrior, drops in and joins you. Fight off the three imps together.
- Climb north. A pod in this room holds Shadowheart. Open it with a check, or fetch an Eldritch Rune from a body in the next chamber east and use that. This starts Rescue the Illithids' Captive. Recruit her.
- Enter the Helm. A cambion, Commander Zhalk, is fighting a mind flayer. You don't have to beat him: your goal is the transponder on the far west side. Reach it, and connect its nerves when the mind flayer tells you to.
- A red dragon attacks, the ship breaks free of Hell, and you crash. Watch the cutscene.
The Wilderness
A beach of wreckage, a grove full of refugees, a goblin army that follows a new god, and the first hints that your tadpole isn't behaving like it should.
The Crash Site
Where: the Ravaged Beach and the Roadside Cliffs · Quest: Find a Cure
- You wake on the beach. Everyone who was on the ship has a tadpole, and nobody has turned into a mind flayer yet. Your journal now tracks Find a Cure: the rest of Act One is about following leads.
- If you saved Shadowheart on the ship, she's nearby. If not, you can still find her later.
- Walk west along the beach. A pale elf runs up asking for help, then holds a knife to your throat: that's Astarion. Talk him down and he joins you.
- Head east to the stone circle. A voice calls for help from inside a portal. Give it a hand (literally) and out comes Gale, a wizard from Waterdeep. Recruit him.
- Follow the road north to the Roadside Cliffs. Two tiefling scouts, Nymessa and Damays, have Lae'zel trapped in a cage. Talk them into letting her down (or shoot the cage), then recruit her. This is Free Lae'zel.
- Explore the Dank Crypt near the beach. Inside, a sarcophagus holds a strange skeleton called Withers. Wake him. He moves into your camp and is useful for the rest of the game (see Camp).
- Rest at camp tonight (the tent icon). Your companions talk about the tadpole, and you start to learn who they really are.
The Emerald Grove
Where: the Emerald Grove, north of the Roadside Cliffs · Quests: Save the Refugees, Save Arabella
- At the Grove gate, goblins attack a group of tieflings. Join the fight on the tieflings' side. A warlock named Wyll fights alongside you.
- Inside, Zevlor, the tieflings' leader, argues with Aradin, an adventurer whose group just lost their druid guide. Calm them down. Zevlor tells you about the goblins and the trouble with the druids.
- Find Wyll training tiefling children with a sword, and recruit him. His quest is to hunt down a devil on the Risen Road.
- Go to the Inner Sanctum. A tiefling girl, Arabella, has been caught stealing the druids' Sacred Idol, and Kagha is about to punish her. Talk Kagha into letting her go (Save Arabella).
- Kagha has started the Rite of Thorns, a ritual that will seal the Grove and force the tieflings out. Their usual leader, Halsin, is missing: the goblins took him.
- Find the healer Nettie. She can't cure you, but she points you to Halsin. Be honest with her and agree to her terms, or she'll try to poison you.
- Meet the bard Alfira, who needs help with a song, and the gnome author Volo.
The Blighted Village & the Hag
Where: the Blighted Village, the Riverside Teahouse, and the Sunlit Wetlands · Quests: Rescue the Gnome, Save Mayrina
- Head west to the Blighted Village. Goblins hold it. Talk your way past the gate or fight.
- A gnome, Barcus Wroot, is tied to a windmill. Rescue him (Rescue the Gnome). Search the village, including the cellar under the old apothecary (Search the Cellar).
- The cave to the north belongs to an owlbear and her cub. It's a tough fight at low level; come back later if you like.
- South of the village, two brothers are arguing with an old woman about their sister. That's Auntie Ethel, and the sister is Mayrina. This starts Save Mayrina.
- Follow Ethel to her Riverside Teahouse in the swamp. She's a hag. She'll offer to remove your tadpole in exchange for an eye. Don't take it: she can't actually do it.
- Follow her through the fireplace into her lair. Fight past her masked servants, find Mayrina in a cage, and beat Ethel. Put out the fire under the cage fast, or Mayrina dies.
- When Ethel is nearly dead, she offers a bargain. Freeing Mayrina is the kind choice. Taking Auntie Ethel's Hair (a permanent +1 to an ability) is the greedy one.
The Risen Road & Karlach
Where: the Risen Road, east of the Grove · Quests: Hunt the Devil, Rescue the Grand Duke
- On the road, a group of paladins led by Anders has holed up in the Toll House. They're hunting a "devil" and want your help.
- Down the cliff and across the stream, find the "devil": Karlach, a tiefling who escaped from Hell. Hear her side. Then decide who to believe. One side has to go (Hunt the Devil).
- Side with Karlach and she joins you. She's one of the best fighters in the game, and one of the warmest characters.
- Further along, the inn at Waukeen's Rest is on fire, with people trapped inside, including Councillor Florrick of Baldur's Gate. Put out the flames and get them out (Rescue the Grand Duke).
The Goblin Camp
Where: the Goblin Camp and the Shattered Sanctum, northwest of the Blighted Village · Quests: Save the First Druid, Defeat the Goblins
- The goblins think you're a "True Soul": a chosen servant of their god, the Absolute, because of your tadpole. Use that. Walk in through the front gate.
- Inside the Shattered Sanctum, three leaders run the camp: Priestess Gut, Dror Ragzlin, and the drow Minthara. Each wants to know where the Grove is.
- Find Halsin. He's in bear form, fighting goblins in the worg pens behind the Sanctum. Help him. Afterwards he asks you to deal with the leaders so the Grove is safe.
- In a room off the Sanctum, the goblins are torturing Liam, one of Aradin's group. Talk the goblins away and free him. He tells you about the Nightsong, a "relic" a Baldur's Gate wizard wants.
- The big choice: defeat all three leaders to save the Grove, or side with Minthara and help raid it. This guide follows the Grove. Kill (or knock out) the three leaders, then go back to Halsin.
- Return to the Grove. The Rite of Thorns ends, the tieflings get ready to leave for Baldur's Gate, and they throw you a party at camp. Halsin tells you your tadpoles came from Moonrise Towers.
The Underdark & Grymforge
Where: below the Defiled Temple, the Zhentarim Hideout, or the Whispering Depths · Quests: Defeat the Duergar Intruders, Save the Grymforge Gnomes
- There are several ways down. The easiest to find is the Defiled Temple under the Shattered Sanctum: solve the Selûnite door puzzle there (the dwarf Brian's poem has the clues) and keep going down.
- In the Myconid Colony, the mushroom folk ask you to deal with some duergar (Defeat the Duergar Intruders). A myconid named Glut has his own plans.
- Visit Omeluum, a friendly mind flayer, at the colony. He'll study your tadpole (Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite).
- Find the old Selûnite Outpost. The book In Search of the Nightsong there says the Nightsong is held in a Sharran fortress near Moonrise Towers.
- Take a skiff across the lake to Grymforge. Duergar have enslaved deep gnomes there, and True Soul Nere is trapped behind a rockfall. Free him or don't; either way, save the gnomes.
- Optional — below Grymforge is the Adamantine Forge, where you can craft some of Act One's best gear if you can beat its guardian, Grym.
- The elevator in Grymforge goes up to the Shadow-Cursed Lands. That's your way into Act Two if you take this route.
The Mountain Pass & the Crèche
Where: the Risen Road, the Mountain Pass, and Rosymorn Monastery · Quest: Find the Githyanki Crèche
- With Lae'zel in the party, cross west over the Risen Road. A githyanki patrol is arguing with some Flaming Fists, and a red dragon drops from the sky. Lae'zel runs to meet its rider, Kith'rak Voss. Go with her and keep the conversation calm.
- At the Rosymorn Monastery Trail, summon the cable car with the wheel and ride across. Climb into the monastery through the broken windows.
- Below the monastery is the githyanki crèche, Crèche Y'llek. The gith don't trust outsiders. Let Lae'zel do the talking where you can.
- In the infirmary, the Inquisitor W'wargaz offers to cure you in the Zaith'isk, a githyanki machine. It doesn't go to plan.
- Optional — the monastery also holds the Blood of Lathander, a legendary mace, behind a puzzle (Find the Blood of Lathander).
- The Mountain Pass leads down into the Shadow-Cursed Lands: your other way into Act Two.
Before You Leave Act One
A checklist for your last day in the Wilderness
- The tieflings are safe and you've celebrated at camp.
- Everyone you want is recruited: Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Wyll, and Halsin.
- Florrick is out of Waukeen's Rest.
- Mayrina is free of Auntie Ethel.
- You've been to both the Underdark and the crèche, or decided to skip one.
- You've talked to every companion at camp and finished their camp scenes. Some only trigger in Act One.
- You've sold your junk and bought anything you want from traders like Arron and Dammon at the Grove.
The Shadow-Cursed Lands
A land under a curse that kills anyone who strays from the light, an inn holding out against the dark, and the immortal general who runs the cult from Moonrise Towers.
Into the Shadows
Where: the Ruined Battlefield · Quests: Seek Protection from the Shadow Curse, Follow the Convoy
- Step out of the darkness. The curse hurts anyone who isn't in a pool of light. Grab a torch from the braziers by the exit and keep it lit.
- From the Underdark: a group of Harpers is fighting shadows nearby. Help them. Their leader, Lassandra, points you to the one safe place left: the Last Light Inn.
- From the Mountain Pass: a goblin mistakes you for a True Soul and sends you to wait for a guide. That's the drider Kar'niss, whose moonlantern keeps the curse off. Harpers ambush the convoy on the way. Help them, and they take you to the inn.
- Either way, head for the Last Light Inn.
Last Light Inn
Where: the Last Light Inn · Quests: Resolve the Abduction, Lift the Shadow Curse, Rescue the Tieflings
- At the gate, Jaheira, a veteran Harper, tests you with a tadpole specimen and thinks you're a True Soul. A tiefling friend from the Grove (or someone else) vouches for you. Show her the Mysterious Artefact, the strange stone you've been carrying since the crash, and she backs down.
- Jaheira explains: the cult's leader at Moonrise Towers is Ketheric Thorm, and he can't die. The Harpers want to stop him.
- Go upstairs to meet Isobel, the Selûnite cleric whose magic shields the inn. Speaking to her triggers an attack: a winged man named Marcus tries to carry her off.
- Protect Isobel. If she's taken or killed, the shield falls and everyone at the inn is lost to the curse.
- The tieflings from the Grove are here, but some are missing: they were taken to Moonrise Towers (Rescue the Tieflings).
- If Halsin is with you, he wants to lift the curse itself. A man asleep in the inn, Art Cullagh, keeps murmuring the name "Thaniel." Wake him (Halsin suggests something from his past) to start Lift the Shadow Curse.
Reithwin Town
Where: Reithwin Town, west of the inn, and the House of Healing
- Reithwin was a prosperous Selûnite town before the curse. Now its streets are full of shadows. Explore during the day with your torches lit.
- Several members of the Thorm family still haunt their old posts: Thisobald Thorm at the tollhouse, Gerringothe Thorm at the Waning Moon bar, and Malus Thorm at the House of Healing.
- North of town, past the graveyard, is the Grand Mausoleum of the Thorm family. Hold off on that until you've been to Moonrise Towers.
Moonrise Towers
Where: Moonrise Towers, across the bridge from Reithwin · Quests: Infiltrate Moonrise Towers, Rescue Wulbren, Rescue the Tieflings
- Walk in as a True Soul. In the audience chamber, Ketheric's lieutenant Z'rell is questioning the goblins about what happened at the camp. If you knocked Minthara out, she's here too, begging for her life. Ketheric leaves the prisoners to you.
- Talk to Z'rell behind the throne. Prove your faith, and she sends you after Balthazar, Ketheric's necromancer, who was last seen at the Thorm Mausoleum. She gives you a key to his room.
- Search Balthazar's room for its hidden area. His notes reveal what the "Nightsong" really is.
- Find the prison. Down in the cells are the gnome Wulbren, captured tieflings (including Rolan's brother and sister, Cal and Lia), and others. Break them out and get them to the boat or out on foot.
- Once they're free, go back to the Last Light Inn to collect your thanks.
The Gauntlet of Shar
Where: through the Grand Mausoleum north of Reithwin · Quests: Find Ketheric Thorm's Relic, Find the Nightsong
- Solve the mausoleum's puzzle and go down into the Gauntlet of Shar, an ancient temple to the goddess of loss. Snuff out every light in the entrance hall to open the way.
- Balthazar is already here, and he'll order you to clear the way for him. Help him or fight him; either way, you'll need what's below.
- Collect four Umbral Gems. Three come from the Trials of Shar: the Soft-Step Trial (sneak through a maze), the Self-Same Trial (fight shadow copies of your party), and the Faith-Leap Trial (cross an invisible path with one character).
- The fourth gem belongs to Yurgir, an orthon in the east wing, who has a contract with the devil Raphael he'd love to break.
- If Shadowheart is with you, she wants to complete one more Sharran trial. Help her; it's part of her story.
- Use the gems to open the way into the Shadowfell. There you find the Nightsong.
⚠️ Spoiler: what the Nightsong is, and Shadowheart's choice
The Nightsong isn't a relic. It's a woman: Dame Aylin, a celestial, held prisoner for a century to keep Ketheric immortal. Shadowheart is asked to kill her for Shar. Bring Shadowheart with you: if she isn't there when Aylin's fate is decided, she leaves for good. Freeing Aylin (or killing her) ends Ketheric's immortality.
Defeat Ketheric Thorm
Where: Moonrise Towers and the Mind Flayer Colony beneath it · Quest: Defeat Ketheric Thorm
- Back at the Last Light Inn, Jaheira gathers the Harpers and Flaming Fists to storm Moonrise Towers. Join the assault.
- Fight your way up to the roof. Ketheric is waiting there, and now he can be hurt. Win the fight.
- When he falls, the way opens into the Mind Flayer Colony below the towers. Follow him down.
- Explore the colony. It's where the tadpoles are made, and where you learn what the cult has been building.
- Face Ketheric one last time.
- After the fight, the story takes a turn you won't see coming. The act ends at your new camp, Wyrm's Lookout, on the road to Baldur's Gate.
⚠️ Spoiler: what's behind the Absolute
The "Absolute" is an elder brain, controlled by three Chosen of the Dead Three: Ketheric (for Myrkul), Enver Gortash (Bane), and Orin the Red (Bhaal). Each holds a Netherstone. Your tadpoles haven't turned you because of the Mysterious Artefact, which holds a prisoner of its own: Prince Orpheus of the githyanki. The friendly figure who's been visiting your dreams is the Emperor, a mind flayer.
Baldur's Gate
The biggest city on the Sword Coast, a new Archduke, a murderer with a knife for every friend you have, and an army of the Absolute on the way.
Rivington
Where: Rivington, the outer district south of the river · Quests: Solve the Open Hand Temple Murders, Find the Missing Letters
- From Wyrm's Lookout, walk west into Rivington. Refugees fill the streets: the city won't let them in.
- Look around the Circus of the Last Days. It's a lot of fun, and a few acts aren't what they seem.
- At the Open Hand Temple, someone has murdered the priests. Investigate (Solve the Open Hand Temple Murders). The trail leads to Orin.
- At Sword Coast Couriers, letters for your companions have gone missing (Find the Missing Letters). Track them down: each one adds something to a companion's story.
- Find the camp of the Gur, monster hunters. They're after one of your companions.
- Cross Wyrm's Crossing, the bridge into the city.
Wyrm's Rock & Gortash
Where: Wyrm's Rock Fortress, the Iron Throne, and the Steel Watch Foundry · Quests: Get Gortash's Netherstone, Rescue the Grand Duke
- Enver Gortash is being crowned Archduke of Baldur's Gate in Wyrm's Rock Fortress. Go up to the ceremony.
- Gortash makes you an offer: kill Orin, and rule the city with him. You don't have to answer yet.
- He's guarded by the Steel Watch, giant clockwork soldiers. Before you take him on, go to the Steel Watch Foundry in the Lower City and shut it down (Disable the Steel Watch).
- Find the Iron Throne, an underwater prison off the coast. Duke Ravengard, Wyll's father, is held there along with a group of gnomes. Get them out before the prison floods.
- Then go back to Wyrm's Rock and take Gortash's Netherstone.
The Lower City
Where: the Lower City and its sewers · Quests: The High Harper, the Nightsong's end, and many more
- Make the Elfsong Tavern your first stop. You'll hear about half the city's trouble there.
- At Sorcerous Sundries, the wizard Lorroakan is still offering a reward for the Nightsong. If you freed Dame Aylin, think carefully about what you tell him.
- At the Counting House, meet Minsc. With Jaheira's help, and once he survives a fight in the sewers, he can join you (The High Harper).
- Each Origin companion's story comes to a head somewhere in the city. See Companions' Final Chapters for where.
- Explore. The Lower City is full of side quests: a guild war, a printing press, a haunted bookshop, a devil's house, and much more.
Orin & the Temple of Bhaal
Where: Candulhallow's Tombstones, the Murder Tribunal, and the Temple of Bhaal under the city · Quest: Get Orin's Netherstone
- Once you're in the Lower City, Orin the Red kidnaps a companion who's waiting at camp. She wants you to kill Gortash for her.
- Find your way into her temple. Investigate the city's serial murders (Investigate the Murders), or kill Gortash first: either way, you get the password to the Murder Tribunal, hidden under Candulhallow's Tombstones, northeast of the Elfsong.
- At the Tribunal you meet Sarevok Anchev. Win his trust or fight him for the Amulet of Bhaal and the map to the temple.
- The Temple of Bhaal is in the Undercity Ruins. Hold the amulet to the temple door, fight past the assassins, and face Orin.
- Take Orin's Netherstone from her dagger, and rescue your companion.
Companions' Final Chapters
Where each Origin companion's story ends, roughly
- Astarion (The Pale Elf): his old master, the vampire lord Cazador, lives in a palace in the Lower City. Investigate Cazador's Palace when Astarion is ready.
- Gale (The Wizard of Waterdeep): talk him through what he wants to do with the Crown of Karsus. Keep his approval high.
- Karlach (Our Fiery Friend): find Dammon, the tiefling blacksmith from the Grove, now in the Lower City, and hear what he can do about her infernal engine.
- Lae'zel (The Githyanki Warrior): finish her business with the githyanki queen, Vlaakith, and decide what to do about Orpheus.
- Shadowheart (Daughter of Darkness): the House of Grief, Shar's temple in the city, holds the end of her story.
- Wyll (The Blade of Frontiers): his father, Duke Ravengard, is in the Iron Throne. Get him out.
Confront the Elder Brain
Where: the Morphic Pool and the Upper City · Quests: Gather Your Allies, Confront the Elder Brain
- Throughout the game, Gather Your Allies has been keeping a list of everyone who owes you: the tieflings, the druids, the gnomes, the Harpers, the githyanki, and more. Check it before the end. The more allies, the easier the final fight.
- With all three Netherstones, head for the Morphic Pool, where the elder brain feeds.
- From here the game moves to its finale in the Upper City. Finish everything else first.
- Make your last choices, and see your story through.
⚠️ Spoiler: the last choice
At the end, you have to decide who controls the elder brain, or whether anyone does. You can free Prince Orpheus, side with the Emperor, or take control yourself. Each path asks a hard price of someone, and some of your companions will have strong opinions.
Around the Realms
The camp, the people you meet there, and how resting works.
Camp, Resting & Withers
Your camp moves with you through each act
- Short rest (twice between long rests): heals a bit and refreshes some abilities. Use them after a tough fight.
- Long rest (at camp): full heal, all spells back. It costs camp supplies, which is just food. Pick up any food you find. Many companion scenes only happen at camp after a long rest, so rest often.
- Withers: the skeleton from the Dank Crypt. At camp, he can bring back dead companions for a fee, and he lets anyone re-pick their class and abilities.
- Hirelings: from level 3, Withers can also hire mercenaries, one of each class. Handy if you've lost a companion or want to try a class.
- Your traveller's chest: send items to camp from your inventory to keep your bags light.
Reference
Quick tables to keep handy while you play.
Companion Finder
Where to recruit everyone, and the easiest way to miss them
| Companion | Class | Where | Don't miss them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lae'zel | Fighter | Nautiloid; then the cage on the Roadside Cliffs | Talk the tieflings down, don't fight them |
| Shadowheart | Cleric | The pod on the Nautiloid; or later on the beach or in the Dank Crypt | Hard to miss |
| Astarion | Rogue | Ravaged Beach, west of the wreck | Talk him down when he ambushes you |
| Gale | Wizard | The stone circle east of the wreck | Pull him out of the portal |
| Wyll | Warlock | Emerald Grove, training the tiefling kids | Don't raid the Grove |
| Karlach | Barbarian | Risen Road, below the Toll House | Side with her, not with Anders |
| Halsin | Druid | Goblin Camp, in the worg pens | Free him and don't attack the Grove |
| Minthara | Paladin | Goblin Camp; then Moonrise Towers | Knock her out (don't kill her), then free her at Moonrise |
| Jaheira | Druid | Last Light Inn; joins after the assault on Moonrise | Keep her alive and friendly |
| Minsc | Ranger | The Counting House, Lower City | Have Jaheira with you |
Points of No Return
The moments that close doors behind you
| When | What you lose |
|---|---|
| Long rest or fast travel after seeing Waukeen's Rest burn | Florrick and the people trapped in the inn |
| Attacking a druid, or taking the Sacred Idol | The Grove seals; the tieflings are thrown out |
| Going to the Rosymorn Monastery Trail, the Mountain Pass, or the Shadow-Cursed Lands with the Grove unresolved | The Rite of Thorns completes; the tieflings are lost |
| Entering the Shadowfell in the Gauntlet of Shar | All of Act One, for good; Moonrise prisoners if not yet freed |
| Defeating Gortash before the Iron Throne | Duke Ravengard and the Iron Throne prisoners |
| Starting Confront the Elder Brain | The rest of Baldur's Gate |
Big Choices
The decisions with the biggest ripples (light spoilers)
| Choice | What it changes |
|---|---|
| The Grove or the goblins | Who survives Act One; who's at the Last Light Inn; Wyll, Halsin, or Minthara as companions |
| Karlach or Anders | Whether Karlach joins; what Wyll's patron does to him |
| Auntie Ethel's deal | Mayrina's fate, or a permanent ability boost |
| Isobel at the Last Light Inn | Whether the inn, and everyone in it, survives |
| The Nightsong | Shadowheart's story, and Dame Aylin's |
| Gortash's offer | How you take the last two Netherstones |
| Who controls the elder brain | The ending |
Difficulty Modes
You can change difficulty anytime, except in Honour mode
| Mode | For |
|---|---|
| Explorer | Story first: easier fights and a little help on dice rolls |
| Balanced | The game as designed. Our pick for a first run |
| Tactician | Smarter, tougher enemies, and higher costs |
| Honour | Tactician-plus, with one save. If the whole party falls, the run drops out of Honour mode |
| Custom | Mix and match the settings |
General Tips
- Save often, and keep a few separate saves. Quicksave before every conversation that feels important.
- High ground gives ranged attackers an edge. Shove enemies off ledges.
- Jump (and Misty Step) gets you places the path doesn't.
- Read the surface: water and electricity, grease and fire. Many fights are won before they start.
- Talk to the dead. The Speak with Dead spell turns corpses into clues.
- Long rest when it's offered. Most quests don't care how often you rest; the few that do are flagged in this guide. Camp is where the story happens.
- Don't sell your junk too fast. Camp supplies, scrolls, and potions all matter more than gold.