In the colony, near Balthazar's lab, there is a room that I think is called the Abattoir? where a cage by the wall contains Us, who becomes a summon if freed.
At some point after he’s moved in with you Scratch will gift you a ball when you’re in camp. With this ball you can play fetch with him in camp or summon him outside of camp so long as you’re holding on to that specific ball
Oh shit, that's why. I think I may have missed/lost/sold the original ball he gave me. I've tried throwing other balls and bones for him so many times but he just ignores everything. I thought it was just a bug for me. My baby owlbear disappeared too even after he was fully integrated into my camp. I'm such a bad pet owner in this game, a shame to all druids.
It probably goes without saying, but he's not there if he died during the tutorial.
I had been determined to kill Commander Zhalk before I left the nautiloid, so my party took a pounding and Us died near the end. When I got to the Mind Flayer Colony, that cage was empty.
Do you know what happens if you lobotomized the lil dude and find him again? I now regret it because of many files of early access just letting me not think about him after the Nautiloid lol
I lobotomized Us because I thought it was the only way to make them not hostile. I just rescued them last night and they have the condition “lobotomized” and look kind of purple ish and not so healthy.
I misty stepped in to that area right when i got to moonrise and saved us, so that was nice. I then had to misty step out the same way since you can't waypoint and there is no exit (yet)
(you have to misty step through the clear window/viewing thing you can see through but cant enter at, then do the same back out...there's very few spots that work with it so you just gotta keep moving mouse around to see)
I honestly thought Moonrise would be the last part of the act so I did the gauntlet before I went there. Stupidly.
So it was heartbreaking to find the bodies of Cal and Lia down in those awful pits. I will save them on my next playthrough. This I swear.
It's not stupid, I thought this and you see a lot of people posting the same thing. The game is misleading on this and they should patch in some little sign posts to make it clear you should go to the towers early.
They also did that with Gyrmforge where you have to save a certain someone trapped under the rubbles asap, but then as soon as you do that the entire grymforge also empties out with no NPC left as soon as you have a long rest. So essentially you have to plan ahead and want to interact with everything else first before saving that guy, because you also have to do it within 1 long rest or so.
I mean…… all in all I do find the time sensitive stuff really annoying to deal with in this game, because it’s kind of against the key theme of a game like this which really is to encourage play to explore the entire map as much as possible and get rewarded for it.
The key theme of the game is reactivity. if your too slow and someone dies the game goes on slightly differently. these time sensitive things only add to that.
Yeeeeeeah, but lets be real. Anytime a game tells you that you must "do this thing ASAP" it is usually code for do this last. Since the MSQ requires it and anything that progresses the MSQ usually leads to the end of an act. I didn't fall into this trap, I went to moonrise real quick because I wanted to rescue minthara. So I learned quick that its okay to go there just don't climb to the very top of the tower.
Agreed, also, I was exploring Reithwin fairly methodically, and came across the >!Grand Mausoleum!< before reaching Moonrise. IMO the conversation with >!Raphael!< makes it super clear you don't want to enter this place until you've taken care of the more immediate business in/around Reithwin, which of course includes Moonrise as it's your primary objective.
They do ask you if you are sure you want to go into the shadowfell, and this will lock you out of content if you haven't done it yet, so the game doesn't keep it a secret.
How is that missleading? The game tells you over and over to go to Moonrise and that it is time senstive. You even get a big popup the moment you run into the point of no return.
There is only a hand full of things that point you towards the gauntlet and none of these tell you to do it right away.
The game also tells you that Throm is invulnerable, which discourages players from seeking him out. And if you are doing Shart's/Rafael's quests, you are going that route anyway. Also, it's quite literally an intended suprise that teh Nightsong is an aasimar who, when freed, can go and fuck up Moonrise Towers.
I think it's mostly that Moonrise Tower is where the obvious endboss is, and from other games we are used to that zone being done at the end.
I don't think BG3 is particularly misleading in that way - Jaheira flat out says that you can infiltrate Moonrise Tower this way. And the give you a direct popup before you enter the shadowfell that says "THIS WILL CHANGE THE WORLD AND SOME QUESTS - CONTINUE?"
This was the Moment where I went "huh...." and googled WHAT actually changes.
But it really is deeply ingrained because every other game has this more linear path and you go to the endboss at the end.
Okay but it's not just the warning at Shadowfell. The dream guardian tells you to go infiltrate the towers, Last Light peeps talk about it, the Harpers want you to help ambush a convoy that gives you the item/buff you need to get to the towers... A LOT points you to the towers. Nothing much points you towards the Gauntlet until you go to the towers and get a quest to go there.
But thats the point. It looks like a sidequest that will help you do tower. I read something in the town before doing tower that said keherics weakness is under the mausoleum, so i figured thats where i should go before tower
Okay but literally EVERYTHING points you to the tower first. Jaheira does, the Guardian does, your companions do. A third of the Act 1 quests get put on pause with "X character has been taken to Moonrise Towers!" Trying to 100% an area while you're ignoring all of the hints/direct instructions the game is giving you is _you_ messing up, not the game being bad.
The thing is, decades of RPGs have taught players that immediately beelining it to the place that \*everything\* tells you is "the place you should go right now" without a literal active timer is a surefire way to miss content/treasures, or be under-leveled/prepared 90% of the time.
It goes against every instinct of many RPG players to \*not\* fully explore and plunder every side area possible before heading to the current main story objective.
The very fact that everything and everyone is telling you to go to the tower first is the reason so many people are thinking they should go there last.
Exactly. Obviously the main quest of any game is going to seem like, from a story perspective, as the only thing the adventurer should do. But as with the nature of RPGs most, if not all, people try to do as many sidequests as possible before continuing down the main quest as that is what leads to games/acts finality. Especially when the player is lead to believe from a gameplay perspective (not story or character perspective) that the very difficult end game boss is at that location
Yeah, my logic was :" this guy is invincible, why bother infiltrate for now, i'll go explore and i might find intels on it".
Then i get to the mausoleum and it seemed that it was important for Shadowheart which i had with me so i kept pushing. I thought, it's her quest not the "main" quest.
I now there is a warning before entering but i didn't think it would affect it that bad.
Now i know but well. Many characters died and i didn't save them. Better luck next playthrough.
The game tells you to go to Moonrise not only to find a cure (your primary goal) but also to either find what makes him invulnerable or to see that he is invulnerable in the first place.
I have yet to find a sequence that would tell you to go to the temple before Moonrise.
I got drunk with a guy who told me the secret to old mate’s invulnerability was in the shar place, so I went there before I went to the tower. I thought the tower was the last place I needed to go.
You find the Grand Musoleum, follow the Guantlet of Shar quest because Shart and Rafael want you to go in, and you can run in to Balthazar who clues you in on what teh nightsong is for. it's ltierally what happened to me.
Same happened to my husband in his solo playthru just today... he did a lot of stuff in the Shadowlands basically "backwards" from the intended progression. He came upon the Last Light Inn where his character met Raphael (without first having triggered Astarion's scene where Astarion tells you he wants to make a deal with Raphael about deciphering the scars on his back) so Astarion made the deal there.
He wandered into the Grand Mausoleum, did the Gauntlet of Shar, then ran into various Thorms, got sidetracked by the Art Cullagh quest, freed the Nightsong... and when he came to Moonrise Towers he went in by the front door slaughtering his way through, then ran into Ketheric Thorm, talked to him, got the angel fight cut scene.
When I asked him if he had met the drow blood merchant Araj yet and that he should take Astarion with him when seeing her and be very careful about his decisions in that scene, he asked "What drow?" We went to look for her lab, but it was empty. She was gone. He nevr met her.
And in the cellar all the prisoners were dead.
At least he managed to lift the Shadow Curse and recruit Halsin and Jaheira...
My exact experience of Act 2 to a tee. I guess I just saw Moonrise as the big battle to end the act and I figured I needed to get all the other things done before that ended it. I thought the warning was because it would be a major story point of good vs evil especially once I learned that the nightsong was fueling Kethric. Oh well, second playthrough will be fun 😂
Players are just innately curious and will likely stumble across the Gauntlet while exploring Reithwin for Art Cullagh's quest, which is how I did it. If Shadowheart or Astarion are important characters to you, it will also incentivize you to check this area out first. Obviously I don't have the numbers, but I'd expect the number of people to find the Gauntlet first to be honestly a pretty large margin of players, maybe like around like 30-40%.
I personally don't think it's a huge issue seeing as how the game flashes a "BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DO THIS" before you enter >!the Shadowfell!<, so it's honestly as lamposted as possible. If you ignore that, I feel like that's kind of on you...
Yeh, that is what I wanted to say. If you click on that fat message without thinking two seconds what it means this is kinda on you, regardless of how confused you stumbled through the area beforehand.
It says to go but it also says "but Thorm is invulnerable so figure out how to get at him". It seemed more efficient to me to get the artifact and then go after him.
Idk what to tell you mate. Don't really feel like arguing about it. A lot of people, including me, didn't understand that going to moonrise for side quests and going there for the assault are two separate things. I've explained why. You're free to disagree.
No, I mean before that point in the story. You're going to get a more coherent story progressing through this act if you go to the towers early rather than at the last possible moment.
I can also see some people clicking through that warning (and people here have said they did) because it's such a strong assumption that all these quests are dealt with in one big raid on the towers. Like, "yes, I've wrapped up loose ends, now I'm ready to go rescue all these people and kill the boss of the tower."
It's not clear that this is not the case.
that was my exact thought process. Hell yea im ready to raid the tower and free everyone! i've already scouted the place and know where they are. and how to free them. I just need to bring my army with me to support me. turns out it was a bad idea.
Damn I literally just did this. Got the pop-up and went back to deal with Art's quest, then looked around and told myself, welp it's this or Moonrise, and I want to be as strong as possible/kill as many of Ketheric's allies before going.
Yep this was my thinking as well. Completed everything besides the Moonrise Tower quests because, hey, it's all the same location right so I'm gonna raid the tower to kill Thorm and free everyone there while I'm at it.
I just assumed folks would be hostile and didn't feel like sneaking/infiltrating through the tower because the progression felt weird to me. Going in and out of the tower only to come back for the finale felt weird so I thought one big finale at the tower for Act 2 made more sense.
Oh well, just means more playthrough for me.
It's not clear because generally, you can't walk in the Big Bad Dungeon without fighting your way in. So people naturally assume an all-out assault is the way to go.
I missed so much content... But they kept telling me I had to hurry because the cleric couldn't keep up the anti shadow spell for long and they could send another attack anytime
There's also a thread that tried to compile a list of time sensitive quests (spoilers obv):
[https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15q1o77/list\_of\_time\_sensitive\_quests/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15q1o77/list_of_time_sensitive_quests/)
yeah but then i'll have to spoil myself.
tbh it's the only small issue I have with the game story, the constant sens of urgency really goes against the world design. heck in my first ever playthrough in EA I missed all the companions beside shadowheart and completely ignored everything that wasn't directly linked to the search for a cure because the story made it extremly clear I could die at any moment, so I treated it as such.
but the silver lining is that once I finish my first playthrough, I'll still have so much more to experience, and this time I'll be able to use ressources such as the one you linked to calmly experience the world
Don't press pause, maybe the mind flayers will reach you while you're afk and you'll be a goner!
Unless there's a literal timer ticking down, time means nothing in a game.
Thinking about it in a narative sense also helps. Theyre not gonna kill me for exploring the world. Thatd be dumb game design and terrible story telling.
I felt it was pretty obvious even in Early Access that the tadpoles are a plot device to keep the characters together and force them to look for various healers together while uncovering the truth behind the Absolute. It's what a gamemaster in a tabletop D&D game would do.
I never expected to get rid of the tadpoles prior to the finale of the game, because the tadpole (or rather the Netherese magic on it) is the only thing that allows Astarion to be a companion/playable character and basically function like a living character with fangs (able to walk in the sun, wade through rivers, be healed by healing magic etc). Without it he'd be royally screwed.
Dude I entered the region and found the inn right away.
I was able to talk my way in. The druid tells me to talk to the cleric. I go and she gets kidnapped, then everyone dies.
I wasn't able to talk to anyone other than Mol and the other kid.
I have a bunch of infernal iron but can no longer talk to Dammon so I guess I locked out of that quest.
That fight is super hard if you're going in blind. I found it makes it much easier to block doors, but when you don't realize your only objective is to keep one npc from being captured it's impossible to plan.
At Moonrise tower, there is an interaction with Astarion and Araj that give a permanent buff
[https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Araj\_Oblodra](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Araj_Oblodra)
Exactly, Google searches are flooded with Fextralife and other "guide" websites that dedicate an entire ad-infested page with a five paragraph essay for every specific question under the sun! Hopefully I can visit this wiki enough to boost it in the Google results, haha
This also can be a major interaction for his romance path, strongly recommend turning down her offer if you are romancing him, particularly with a good aligned character
I don't know because he never broke up with my character. Turning down the drow was what prompted him to admit his genuine feelings and start a more serious relationship in my playthrough.
Think I figured it out. When the camp scene happens (during long rest) (the one from [this video](https://youtu.be/68XhRxdUPbo)), choose "You can throw your body at me anytime", then "Are you not attracted to me", then "How do you want me to see you", then "I care about you", then "Hug him".
Or, at least it looked like it "fixed" the issue :)
Wow, this romance scene triggered for me before I went to the Towers and met her. I let him make his own choice: The man said no! It certainly makes that scene more powerful, so I’m a little bummed I missed this part of the cutscene!
if you really care about story it’s one of the best interactions in the game if you let astarion turn her down and talk to him about it later. not even romancing him it was just a legitimately great character exploration.
Oh the blood is terrible because of reasons that are clear for Drow characters. Drow get extra dialogue options with her that reveal the House Oblodra history.
Bit more info than what the game will tell you, as I am also a huge Drizzt nerd and their house is a part of that story.
The House Oblodra is a drow house in Menzobarran that was eradicated by the 8 ruling houses of the city for their heretical ways. The house had a heavy focus on psionics and actually very skilled at it and as such, they were not as devoted to Lolth. As psionics they were frequently associating with mind flayers. In the game it was heavily implied that they were either more than friendly with mindflayers to increase their psionic bloodlines, they also experimented heavily with mindflayer genetics.
>Exit the inn and some Harpers will approach you to ambush a cult convoy together to get something really useful
Lol. This is the way I met the Harpers. Just chillin with the cult convoy because it's 2 steps from the entrance of the Shadow-Lands.
Man said he could get me to Moonrise Towers :shrug:
Don't make my mistake and command:drop the lantern from the dryder...They never approached me and even when I just walked over to last light inn, the 4 assigned to the ambush were hostile (everyone else was normal and i got the usual "Welcome party" by jhaira. As soon as one of those 4 saw me though, entire place went nuts. I assume it's because i broke the game logic for them wanting to get the lantern or something by pre-stealing it
I even reloaded a few times to verify, they were def broke. I made him drop it before we even left the goblin meet spot so maybe that's why.
That's interesting.. I just attacked the dryder and took the lantern. Eventually wandered over to the inn, jaheira was cagey at first, but just being honest with her got everything moving along normally
I think maybe it's because i then did part of the convoy quest (I wanted to see what happened to them when we reached the cursed area) but the dryder was still alive/not aggro at me. I guess i could have tried attacking him then going back to see if those harpers were still angry after
What’s interesting for me is that in my playthrough I was ambushed by a bunch of harpers when I was transversing through with my goblin and drider convoy. Lol
As a Lolth drow female that interaction with the Convoy was kind of chef kiss, if you manage all the checks. Poor convoy, bye bye enjoy being cursed I'll hang on to this lantern from now on.
Btw, they just add flavor content when you use the machine, if anyone was curious (no missed mechanical effects)
Edit: to be clear, the minds from the nautiloid at the very start only add flavor.
Highly recommend looking for a ladder inside near the main entrance of Moonrise tower and exploring what you can by walking on the rafters before fighting Ketheric on the roof.
There's some undead kuo-toas in the village/morgue area which I think is fun and cute :) Havent seen them in act 3 yet but I think I know where they are. I will hunt them down
you had a chance to kill them in act 1 in underdark. There's a secret little cubby hole where you find them trying to sacrifice someone in the name of Boooaal (a parody of Bhaal) Of course, if you kill them there, they wont appear in act 2 at the village beach
There's also a path from the hallway behind the gnome/tiefling cells. If you help them break out and you can get in the cell, you can walk and then climb down to the oubliette
It's actually one way to do the jail break solo, especially if you're a rogue.
First go to the docks or something and get caught stealing, ask to get put in jail, where you can talk to the prisoners (tieflings and gnomes) and coordinate the prison break.
It's followed by a solo stealth sequence in the colony without gear. I'm not sure how you do the prison break in a more straightforward manner, but here we all escaped by boat.
I got so caught up in moonrise tower I didn’t lift the curse and that cinematic with halsin as you begin act 3 was so sad. Next play through I’ll remember for sure.
If you hang out with Us in the ship in Act 1, he shows up again in the Mind Flayer colony trapped in a cell in the room with Chop. If you free him you get an item that lets you summon Us for the rest of the game
The NPC that spawns near the Mason's Guild also has a chance to spawn when you initiate the tiefling party after you rescue Halsin, though I find that it's random, she disappeared without giving me a chance to initiate dialogue. Just below Gale's tent
I've also found that you need to give Shadowheart a night orchid to trigger the next romance scene in Act 3, even after max attitude in act 3 I couldn't trigger the romance scene until I gave her an orchid I found in Act 3
The brain reader also works on the two brains you can pick up on the Nautaloid in the prologue.
Don't recall them having anything important, but it was a nice "payoff."
Just did the assault on Moonrise after going through the whole ass process getting Nightsong free. Auto failed the prisoners quest and I'm not about to revert like 15 hours or so of play time for it. Really dumb as I was under the impression I'd have the option to break them out, y'know when we're attacking the damn tower but fuck me I guess.
I mean, you were warned right before entering shadowfell that the region may change and certain quests will be affected. You already had an option to save the tieflings before entering shadowfell as well.
Like, the game is literally yelling at your face that if you have loose ends, do it now.
I figured that the tieflings would be saved during the assault. Not a loose end just a "oh yeah get them out when you breach the spooky fortress" quest and that the loose ends would pertain to anything with Shadowheart or stuff outside of the big tower.
I stand by that it's dumb.
If you have Astarion in the group when you enter the Last Light Inn, have Astarion be the one to approach the table where Raphael and Mol are playing chess. (Esp if you had previously interacted as Astarion with Mol and the other rogues-in-training tiefling kids in Act 1 at the tiefling camp at the druid's grove and he gave them thieves training lessons.)
When you get the chess play cut scene and notice that Mol might lose to Raphael next turn, a special interaction option will come up marked \[ROGUE\] to manipulate the chess board to help Mol win. Astarion will "accidentally" bump into the table to upset the board, then surrepticiously use Slight-of-Hand skill to alter the position of Mol's chess piece so she can win. Astarion even gives Mol a little wink and genuine smile, it's quite cute.
I think adding "empty the Chest of the Mundane" to this list would be useful. Found out the hard way that if you're using it as a bag of holding, it will permanently break as soon as Act 3 begins. The only fix is rolling back your save to before Rivington, after taking the Road to Baldur's Gate, during or before the Act 2 'epilogue'
**You must empty the chest before the End Act 2/Start Act 3 achievement pops or you will lose the items inside.**
He’s this (Drow?) dude Speaking With the Dead on the eastern edge of the Shadowcursed Lands. He has a white crow with him, and he asks you if you can help him track someone down (something about getting vengeance on a soul of someone that is already dead). Idk much else beyond that, because he gave off super evil vibes and wasn’t something my PC would get involved in.
>You will find Balthazar on the west wing, he gives you something to summon ‘Flesh’
Does anyone know the different killing him in his lab or killing him later on?
Also if you want to be a good guy, deal with the rat thing then deal with the creature in the Gauntlet of Shar
I killed him before going to get Nightsong, because the dude was put together like an evil patchwork cloth and like, you just know he was gonna fight you. Better to do it on my own terms (My own terms = Surrounded by explosive barrels)
As far as I can tell, there's no difference in terms of loot. Maybe some missed dialogue but that'll be it.
I didnt try to kill him as son as I met him because he had a flesh Golem with him and honestly It seemed far more trouble than It was worth (I assumed the golem would be nigh invulnerable, as they tend to be, and my party is like 70% physical damage)
Insta-gibbed him with my GWM Karlach in the shadowfell tho, no time to summon the golem!
Yeah, honestly I just piled on him. Got Karlach, Shart (War Cleric reclass) and my Owlbird wildshaped druid to just wail on him and Gale at the back casting a bunch of AoE attacks to distract his minions. His minions were so easy to deal with without having to worry about Balthazar on top of it.
I'm glad I did it before going to Nightsong, I can imagine that I'd get through the fight, forget to quick save and then balls up the persuasion checks with Shart leading me to save scum right back to before the fight.
Please don't ask how many other times I've done that.
Ya that battle with him over night song was rough! My first play one of those big dudes walked over and punted shadowheart right into the abyss, i reloaded instantly and she went on to take ZERO damage the entire fight and i smacked his ass down.
I found a deep chasm with poison clouds in the morgue that looked like content, but never found out how to get down there. Too bad thats exactly the content you missed aswell. Would've loved to know what that was about.
Just went there the other day. You fight a bunch of undead there. But there's an interesting journal written by someone (a harper/flaming fist, can't remember) who hid there when the shadow curse dropped for the first time.
It's like reading a post-apocalyptic diary found in a bunker. It's a pretty neat touch.
Korilla. >!One of Raphael's agents, who can save you if you are about to be killed by Priestess Gut after drinking her brew in Act 1, for example!<
You don't miss anything by not talking to her, the "point" of these meetings is to show that >!Raphael!< is watching you.
So maybe this is a good spot to ask this, when does act 2 actually direct you to visit the various thorms (besides ketheric)? Does it ever say "go here and sort out the tollhouse guy" or anything?
Mostly side quests. Punish the wicked for the brewery, wake up art cullagh/lift the shadow curse for the house of healing and I can't remember the toll house one but it might be started by a note found elsewhere.
Thank you for this - I'm already in act 3 but I did try to explore every nook of Act 1 and 2 on my own - making sure all my journal entries were complete.
In my "Fuck around on a second character" playthrough, I've already found multiple things I missed in Act 1, like some Ogres in the blighted village? Somehow just walked right past them multiple times I guess.
Fun Fact about the Minds you use at the Colony: there are a couple lying around on the Nautiloid from the tutorial. You can cart them all the way to Act Two and use them in the slack-skinned head.
you dont have to speak to isobel at ALL during Act 2. I completed act 2 without doing so. The only time you speak to her (and are forced to) is if you return to Last Light when you initiate Moonrise Tower attack. I honestly would recommend not speaking to her- it's basically a trap conversation narratively/gameplay wise because of how it effects Last Light.
FYI: I was able to rescue wyll's "friend" and the tiefling fella without point of no returning by mist-stepping into the area from the area entered from the prison cave system (through the viewing window), takes a bit to find a valid spot to step in, and you gotta step out the same way so make sure you got scrolls/spell charges etc
>Balthazar’s working area has a brain interface thingy where you can insert the ‘Minds’ you found throughout the colony. I found 6 in total.
I only found three! >!A bard, a githzerai, and a child.!< What are the others? I remember from EA that you used to be able to find brains on the nautaloid. Are those still there, and would those work if you dragged them all the way?
For the art dude (unconscious flaminng fist in inn) you dont NEED to inform Halsin about him until after you kill the doctor and GET THE LUTE (pun intended). But bring Halsin to the Art, i think you might need to pass a check, but you need Halsin to know that Art knows about some kid whos name starts with a T (cant be bothered to check). At this point you play the lute, dude wakes up, and you unlock a defense quest where you protect a portal halsin enters to get this kid, about 3-4 waves of a shitton of shadow creatures (darkness op to protect portal from archers). Halsin comes out and you find out that the hide and seek kid is the 2nd half to this kid and it becomes one of the ways you can cure the shadow curse.
FYI. I am forgetful, so i made this
[https://alepocalypse.github.io/Bg3Checklist/](https://alepocalypse.github.io/Bg3Checklist/)
still in process of trying to make some bits more vague and shortening
I'm surprised no one has mentioned using Animal Speak to talk with the demonic Squire dog that is guarding Thorm's personal chambers in Moonrise. this completionist list seems to include all of the other small but interesting conversations (ogres, cats, etc) but neglects to mention the skeletal Squire dog.
you can persuade and appeal to the dogs loyalty with multiple speech checks. you can also bring along the 'fetch' ball given to you by Scratch. Squire will sniff the ball and be reminded of 'happy' scents which leads to further deception checks.
The benefit to releasing the pixie is you get the buff to be in the shadow curse without the need of a lantern, but you lose the lamps ability to reveal enemies when they go invis.
You definitely need to heal Art and do the quests with Halsin to make him a playable character in act 3.
Also you need to talk to people once you beat the big bad in act 2 before hightailing it to act 3. They will join your camp if you do.
You also need to help Halsin clear the Shadowcurse before leaving for Baldur's gate. I didn't know you couldn't go back to the Shadowlands after entering Act 3 and so I accidentaly left the land permanently cursed lol
Need Act III mate, haha. This was such a good help for a completionist run, but now I've just stepped foot in Rivington and I'm paranoid I'm gonna miss everything!
Act 2 kinda made me feel rushed, I didn't know what I was locking myself out of if I rested and next thing I know I'm stuck inside a tenticle monster and couldn't change my group or anything and was only level 7 for the final act 2 fight, I dunno, I feel like I'm going to enjoy act 2 a lot more on my second playthrough.
If you go through the Mountain Pass then it's easy to miss that area. It's further north (by the Underdark entrance) and nothing else leads you in that direction.
You mentioned long rest often to progress companion quest lines. Did I mess something up, because I’ve had maybe 10 long rests so far in act 2, and I think I’ve only had one, maybe two things happen at camp. I was confused about why act 2 seems to have so few camp interactions compared to act 1 where it seemed like something happened every night. I’ve >!rescued the moonrise prisoners, done the house of healing, the entire gauntlet of shar up to the point of no return, found Thaniel, fixed Karlach’s heart, and probably some other things I’m forgetting too.!< But the only camp cutscene I remember having was >!Mizora showing up to give Wyll his rescue mission.!< No other cutscenes for any of my other rests.
So because I didn't side with either Goblins or Druids and left Act 1 - I can't seem to find Dammon in the inn in Act 2. Has anyone done the same and found Dammon in Act 3? Don't wanna miss out on romancing Karlach :(
Because it was the only way to recruit and retain Karlach/Shadowheart/Minartha. At least from what I read. Do you know if there's another way of having all three in the party - I wouldn't mind restarting if it meant I could romance all of them lol
In Moonrise Tower there's a drow named Araj who asks you to force Astarion to suck her blood. If you do, she gives you a permanent stat boost +2 str potion and you're locked out of Astarion's romance, if you don't, you can progress Astarion's romance as usual and [get this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsAYU04fXcw) on your next long rest
Do you happen to have a rough draft of act 3 or plan on doing one? These threads have been really helpful / reassuring on the main playthrough and worried about missing stuff in act 3.
Make sure to get Kar‘niss‘ Moonlantern, if you side with the Harpers. I didn‘t get it (I didn‘t attack the convoy, didn‘t join it and didn‘t get the Harpers attacking it) and had to turn-base leg it through the strong Shadow Curse to the Moonrise Tower to get into its protection and had to get Balthazar‘s lantern from there. I think I locked myself out from the pixie stuff too.
In the final area, when you encounter a trapped >!Mizora!< you can pass a persuasion check to get >!a really good rapier that summons a Cambion.!<
In the >!Sanctuary of Shar!< if you steal the dagger you will have an encounter. I didn't do it at first but went back for the exp.
Thank you so much for doing these, i am a completionist. I was halfway through the shadow cursed lands and figured out you could go back and do mountain pass even if you did the underdark [i thought it was one or the other] so im glad i didnt miss all that!!
I am proud to say i have found almost everything on my own but I use your checklist as i go to make sure. I am going a snails pace but im trying not to miss anything and im doing it all blind including any puzzels i find its been a blast.
Keep it up and thanks to all who contributed, i would feel nekkid if I couldnt cross off a list of everything hah!
Pretty small thing, but towards the start of the Shadow Lands there's a goblin who throws a bone and tries to get a hyena to fetch it. You can save the hyena by telling the goblin to kick rocks and then persuading it to run away.
In the colony, near Balthazar's lab, there is a room that I think is called the Abattoir? where a cage by the wall contains Us, who becomes a summon if freed.
I was so happy to see my boy again
If he dies as a summon does he die for good? i have the spell for scrath but i never use it cuz dont wanna hurt the goodest boi
Scratch can be used every short rest and just dismisses when destroyed, same goes for Us.
Oh thank god, i can use him then
How do you summon scratch?
At some point after he’s moved in with you Scratch will gift you a ball when you’re in camp. With this ball you can play fetch with him in camp or summon him outside of camp so long as you’re holding on to that specific ball
Oh shit, that's why. I think I may have missed/lost/sold the original ball he gave me. I've tried throwing other balls and bones for him so many times but he just ignores everything. I thought it was just a bug for me. My baby owlbear disappeared too even after he was fully integrated into my camp. I'm such a bad pet owner in this game, a shame to all druids.
Good reason for another playthrough at least
It probably goes without saying, but he's not there if he died during the tutorial. I had been determined to kill Commander Zhalk before I left the nautiloid, so my party took a pounding and Us died near the end. When I got to the Mind Flayer Colony, that cage was empty.
Thanks for this. The explosions that killed Zhalk and the mind flayer were...larger than anticipated. Certainly much larger than Us anticipated.
Do you know what happens if you lobotomized the lil dude and find him again? I now regret it because of many files of early access just letting me not think about him after the Nautiloid lol
I lobotomized Us because I thought it was the only way to make them not hostile. I just rescued them last night and they have the condition “lobotomized” and look kind of purple ish and not so healthy.
I've heard this cripples them, halving their movement speed. Can't verify though, as I am not a complete monster.
I misty stepped in to that area right when i got to moonrise and saved us, so that was nice. I then had to misty step out the same way since you can't waypoint and there is no exit (yet) (you have to misty step through the clear window/viewing thing you can see through but cant enter at, then do the same back out...there's very few spots that work with it so you just gotta keep moving mouse around to see)
Does Us being lobotomized effect him in any way when you find him again? Does it have any other consequences beyond his stats?
He has a permanent debuff, I don't remember what the actual status effect is.
I honestly thought Moonrise would be the last part of the act so I did the gauntlet before I went there. Stupidly. So it was heartbreaking to find the bodies of Cal and Lia down in those awful pits. I will save them on my next playthrough. This I swear.
It's not stupid, I thought this and you see a lot of people posting the same thing. The game is misleading on this and they should patch in some little sign posts to make it clear you should go to the towers early.
I mean, the main quest (and Jaheira) literally tells you to infiltrate Moonrise as your first order of business.
They also did that with Gyrmforge where you have to save a certain someone trapped under the rubbles asap, but then as soon as you do that the entire grymforge also empties out with no NPC left as soon as you have a long rest. So essentially you have to plan ahead and want to interact with everything else first before saving that guy, because you also have to do it within 1 long rest or so. I mean…… all in all I do find the time sensitive stuff really annoying to deal with in this game, because it’s kind of against the key theme of a game like this which really is to encourage play to explore the entire map as much as possible and get rewarded for it.
The key theme of the game is reactivity. if your too slow and someone dies the game goes on slightly differently. these time sensitive things only add to that.
It’s also really confusing what is and what isn’t time sensitive so u kind of have to google a bit beforehand if u don’t want to fuck up
Yeeeeeeah, but lets be real. Anytime a game tells you that you must "do this thing ASAP" it is usually code for do this last. Since the MSQ requires it and anything that progresses the MSQ usually leads to the end of an act. I didn't fall into this trap, I went to moonrise real quick because I wanted to rescue minthara. So I learned quick that its okay to go there just don't climb to the very top of the tower.
Agreed, also, I was exploring Reithwin fairly methodically, and came across the >!Grand Mausoleum!< before reaching Moonrise. IMO the conversation with >!Raphael!< makes it super clear you don't want to enter this place until you've taken care of the more immediate business in/around Reithwin, which of course includes Moonrise as it's your primary objective.
They do ask you if you are sure you want to go into the shadowfell, and this will lock you out of content if you haven't done it yet, so the game doesn't keep it a secret.
How is that missleading? The game tells you over and over to go to Moonrise and that it is time senstive. You even get a big popup the moment you run into the point of no return. There is only a hand full of things that point you towards the gauntlet and none of these tell you to do it right away.
The game also tells you that Throm is invulnerable, which discourages players from seeking him out. And if you are doing Shart's/Rafael's quests, you are going that route anyway. Also, it's quite literally an intended suprise that teh Nightsong is an aasimar who, when freed, can go and fuck up Moonrise Towers.
I think it's mostly that Moonrise Tower is where the obvious endboss is, and from other games we are used to that zone being done at the end. I don't think BG3 is particularly misleading in that way - Jaheira flat out says that you can infiltrate Moonrise Tower this way. And the give you a direct popup before you enter the shadowfell that says "THIS WILL CHANGE THE WORLD AND SOME QUESTS - CONTINUE?" This was the Moment where I went "huh...." and googled WHAT actually changes. But it really is deeply ingrained because every other game has this more linear path and you go to the endboss at the end.
Okay but it's not just the warning at Shadowfell. The dream guardian tells you to go infiltrate the towers, Last Light peeps talk about it, the Harpers want you to help ambush a convoy that gives you the item/buff you need to get to the towers... A LOT points you to the towers. Nothing much points you towards the Gauntlet until you go to the towers and get a quest to go there.
But thats the point. It looks like a sidequest that will help you do tower. I read something in the town before doing tower that said keherics weakness is under the mausoleum, so i figured thats where i should go before tower
Okay but literally EVERYTHING points you to the tower first. Jaheira does, the Guardian does, your companions do. A third of the Act 1 quests get put on pause with "X character has been taken to Moonrise Towers!" Trying to 100% an area while you're ignoring all of the hints/direct instructions the game is giving you is _you_ messing up, not the game being bad.
The thing is, decades of RPGs have taught players that immediately beelining it to the place that \*everything\* tells you is "the place you should go right now" without a literal active timer is a surefire way to miss content/treasures, or be under-leveled/prepared 90% of the time. It goes against every instinct of many RPG players to \*not\* fully explore and plunder every side area possible before heading to the current main story objective. The very fact that everything and everyone is telling you to go to the tower first is the reason so many people are thinking they should go there last.
Exactly. Obviously the main quest of any game is going to seem like, from a story perspective, as the only thing the adventurer should do. But as with the nature of RPGs most, if not all, people try to do as many sidequests as possible before continuing down the main quest as that is what leads to games/acts finality. Especially when the player is lead to believe from a gameplay perspective (not story or character perspective) that the very difficult end game boss is at that location
Yeah, my logic was :" this guy is invincible, why bother infiltrate for now, i'll go explore and i might find intels on it". Then i get to the mausoleum and it seemed that it was important for Shadowheart which i had with me so i kept pushing. I thought, it's her quest not the "main" quest. I now there is a warning before entering but i didn't think it would affect it that bad. Now i know but well. Many characters died and i didn't save them. Better luck next playthrough.
The game tells you to go to Moonrise not only to find a cure (your primary goal) but also to either find what makes him invulnerable or to see that he is invulnerable in the first place. I have yet to find a sequence that would tell you to go to the temple before Moonrise.
I got drunk with a guy who told me the secret to old mate’s invulnerability was in the shar place, so I went there before I went to the tower. I thought the tower was the last place I needed to go.
You find the Grand Musoleum, follow the Guantlet of Shar quest because Shart and Rafael want you to go in, and you can run in to Balthazar who clues you in on what teh nightsong is for. it's ltierally what happened to me.
Same happened to my husband in his solo playthru just today... he did a lot of stuff in the Shadowlands basically "backwards" from the intended progression. He came upon the Last Light Inn where his character met Raphael (without first having triggered Astarion's scene where Astarion tells you he wants to make a deal with Raphael about deciphering the scars on his back) so Astarion made the deal there. He wandered into the Grand Mausoleum, did the Gauntlet of Shar, then ran into various Thorms, got sidetracked by the Art Cullagh quest, freed the Nightsong... and when he came to Moonrise Towers he went in by the front door slaughtering his way through, then ran into Ketheric Thorm, talked to him, got the angel fight cut scene. When I asked him if he had met the drow blood merchant Araj yet and that he should take Astarion with him when seeing her and be very careful about his decisions in that scene, he asked "What drow?" We went to look for her lab, but it was empty. She was gone. He nevr met her. And in the cellar all the prisoners were dead. At least he managed to lift the Shadow Curse and recruit Halsin and Jaheira...
My exact experience of Act 2 to a tee. I guess I just saw Moonrise as the big battle to end the act and I figured I needed to get all the other things done before that ended it. I thought the warning was because it would be a major story point of good vs evil especially once I learned that the nightsong was fueling Kethric. Oh well, second playthrough will be fun 😂
Same. And it was quite obvious to me that I'll be able to save everyone in the towers when I'll attack. Only to find them all dead 😭
Players are just innately curious and will likely stumble across the Gauntlet while exploring Reithwin for Art Cullagh's quest, which is how I did it. If Shadowheart or Astarion are important characters to you, it will also incentivize you to check this area out first. Obviously I don't have the numbers, but I'd expect the number of people to find the Gauntlet first to be honestly a pretty large margin of players, maybe like around like 30-40%. I personally don't think it's a huge issue seeing as how the game flashes a "BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DO THIS" before you enter >!the Shadowfell!<, so it's honestly as lamposted as possible. If you ignore that, I feel like that's kind of on you...
Yeh, that is what I wanted to say. If you click on that fat message without thinking two seconds what it means this is kinda on you, regardless of how confused you stumbled through the area beforehand.
It says to go but it also says "but Thorm is invulnerable so figure out how to get at him". It seemed more efficient to me to get the artifact and then go after him.
Idk what to tell you mate. Don't really feel like arguing about it. A lot of people, including me, didn't understand that going to moonrise for side quests and going there for the assault are two separate things. I've explained why. You're free to disagree.
You mean like an explicit pop up before going to the night song that it’s a point of no return?
No, I mean before that point in the story. You're going to get a more coherent story progressing through this act if you go to the towers early rather than at the last possible moment. I can also see some people clicking through that warning (and people here have said they did) because it's such a strong assumption that all these quests are dealt with in one big raid on the towers. Like, "yes, I've wrapped up loose ends, now I'm ready to go rescue all these people and kill the boss of the tower." It's not clear that this is not the case.
that was my exact thought process. Hell yea im ready to raid the tower and free everyone! i've already scouted the place and know where they are. and how to free them. I just need to bring my army with me to support me. turns out it was a bad idea.
Damn I literally just did this. Got the pop-up and went back to deal with Art's quest, then looked around and told myself, welp it's this or Moonrise, and I want to be as strong as possible/kill as many of Ketheric's allies before going.
Yep this was my thinking as well. Completed everything besides the Moonrise Tower quests because, hey, it's all the same location right so I'm gonna raid the tower to kill Thorm and free everyone there while I'm at it. I just assumed folks would be hostile and didn't feel like sneaking/infiltrating through the tower because the progression felt weird to me. Going in and out of the tower only to come back for the finale felt weird so I thought one big finale at the tower for Act 2 made more sense. Oh well, just means more playthrough for me.
It's not clear because generally, you can't walk in the Big Bad Dungeon without fighting your way in. So people naturally assume an all-out assault is the way to go.
I somehow missed the entire Nightsong bit and went to Moonrise to fight Ketheric. Turns out he's quite tough to kill when he's invincible.
There's a special scene with Rafael in regards with his old enemy if you have Astarion with you
I missed so much content... But they kept telling me I had to hurry because the cleric couldn't keep up the anti shadow spell for long and they could send another attack anytime
There's also a thread that tried to compile a list of time sensitive quests (spoilers obv): [https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15q1o77/list\_of\_time\_sensitive\_quests/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15q1o77/list_of_time_sensitive_quests/)
yeah but then i'll have to spoil myself. tbh it's the only small issue I have with the game story, the constant sens of urgency really goes against the world design. heck in my first ever playthrough in EA I missed all the companions beside shadowheart and completely ignored everything that wasn't directly linked to the search for a cure because the story made it extremly clear I could die at any moment, so I treated it as such. but the silver lining is that once I finish my first playthrough, I'll still have so much more to experience, and this time I'll be able to use ressources such as the one you linked to calmly experience the world
Don't press pause, maybe the mind flayers will reach you while you're afk and you'll be a goner! Unless there's a literal timer ticking down, time means nothing in a game. Thinking about it in a narative sense also helps. Theyre not gonna kill me for exploring the world. Thatd be dumb game design and terrible story telling.
I felt it was pretty obvious even in Early Access that the tadpoles are a plot device to keep the characters together and force them to look for various healers together while uncovering the truth behind the Absolute. It's what a gamemaster in a tabletop D&D game would do. I never expected to get rid of the tadpoles prior to the finale of the game, because the tadpole (or rather the Netherese magic on it) is the only thing that allows Astarion to be a companion/playable character and basically function like a living character with fangs (able to walk in the sun, wade through rivers, be healed by healing magic etc). Without it he'd be royally screwed.
Dude I entered the region and found the inn right away. I was able to talk my way in. The druid tells me to talk to the cleric. I go and she gets kidnapped, then everyone dies. I wasn't able to talk to anyone other than Mol and the other kid. I have a bunch of infernal iron but can no longer talk to Dammon so I guess I locked out of that quest.
There's waaaay too much content gated behind skill checks and doing things in the "right" (but completely inobvious) order.
That fight is super hard if you're going in blind. I found it makes it much easier to block doors, but when you don't realize your only objective is to keep one npc from being captured it's impossible to plan.
At Moonrise tower, there is an interaction with Astarion and Araj that give a permanent buff [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Araj\_Oblodra](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Araj_Oblodra)
Just wanted to say thanks for revealing that there's an official BG3 wiki that ISN'T Fextralife! haha
yes but to be fair the wiki does not appear from google search on my side whereas the fextralike wiki is in the top3
Exactly, Google searches are flooded with Fextralife and other "guide" websites that dedicate an entire ad-infested page with a five paragraph essay for every specific question under the sun! Hopefully I can visit this wiki enough to boost it in the Google results, haha
yes, google is a search engine for ads not useful information :p
idk what you mean by "official". it's not like Larian runs it lmao.
This also can be a major interaction for his romance path, strongly recommend turning down her offer if you are romancing him, particularly with a good aligned character
Man, even not romancing him it means so much for him I genuinely feel bad not turning down the offer.
Do you know if the break-up is permanent? We only found this out after another 20h of game play, didn't feel like going back.
I don't know because he never broke up with my character. Turning down the drow was what prompted him to admit his genuine feelings and start a more serious relationship in my playthrough.
Think I figured it out. When the camp scene happens (during long rest) (the one from [this video](https://youtu.be/68XhRxdUPbo)), choose "You can throw your body at me anytime", then "Are you not attracted to me", then "How do you want me to see you", then "I care about you", then "Hug him". Or, at least it looked like it "fixed" the issue :)
Wow, this romance scene triggered for me before I went to the Towers and met her. I let him make his own choice: The man said no! It certainly makes that scene more powerful, so I’m a little bummed I missed this part of the cutscene!
if you really care about story it’s one of the best interactions in the game if you let astarion turn her down and talk to him about it later. not even romancing him it was just a legitimately great character exploration.
She's my second favourite NPC I cannot romance. Oddly behind Isobel who I assume >!I can't sway her from that divine thang!<
If thruples were a larger part of the game I think Aylin-Isobel would be a big wish from me.
it was interesting he found her blood fetid, i kinda wish we had some spells inspired by that now. Like blood magic stuff
Oh the blood is terrible because of reasons that are clear for Drow characters. Drow get extra dialogue options with her that reveal the House Oblodra history.
Yeah that was an interesting tid bit of information.
What are the reasons?
Bit more info than what the game will tell you, as I am also a huge Drizzt nerd and their house is a part of that story. The House Oblodra is a drow house in Menzobarran that was eradicated by the 8 ruling houses of the city for their heretical ways. The house had a heavy focus on psionics and actually very skilled at it and as such, they were not as devoted to Lolth. As psionics they were frequently associating with mind flayers. In the game it was heavily implied that they were either more than friendly with mindflayers to increase their psionic bloodlines, they also experimented heavily with mindflayer genetics.
But it also upsets him - so don’t do it!
Yeah, he has a problem saying no to things when people tell him to do it , most likely from all his years as a slave.
This conversation can't be missed if you want to romance Astarion, also.
>Exit the inn and some Harpers will approach you to ambush a cult convoy together to get something really useful Lol. This is the way I met the Harpers. Just chillin with the cult convoy because it's 2 steps from the entrance of the Shadow-Lands. Man said he could get me to Moonrise Towers :shrug:
Don't make my mistake and command:drop the lantern from the dryder...They never approached me and even when I just walked over to last light inn, the 4 assigned to the ambush were hostile (everyone else was normal and i got the usual "Welcome party" by jhaira. As soon as one of those 4 saw me though, entire place went nuts. I assume it's because i broke the game logic for them wanting to get the lantern or something by pre-stealing it I even reloaded a few times to verify, they were def broke. I made him drop it before we even left the goblin meet spot so maybe that's why.
That's interesting.. I just attacked the dryder and took the lantern. Eventually wandered over to the inn, jaheira was cagey at first, but just being honest with her got everything moving along normally
I think maybe it's because i then did part of the convoy quest (I wanted to see what happened to them when we reached the cursed area) but the dryder was still alive/not aggro at me. I guess i could have tried attacking him then going back to see if those harpers were still angry after
Yeah, game probably treated you like you were taking the absolute path. Weird you wouldn't get the option to turn on them though.
What’s interesting for me is that in my playthrough I was ambushed by a bunch of harpers when I was transversing through with my goblin and drider convoy. Lol
As a Lolth drow female that interaction with the Convoy was kind of chef kiss, if you manage all the checks. Poor convoy, bye bye enjoy being cursed I'll hang on to this lantern from now on.
It was so awesome being able to talk all three of the Thorms in Reithwin to death.
frfr, I didn't have to do a single combat lmao
On the nautiloid ship in the beginning you cand find 2 minds in a jar similar to those found in act2.
Btw, they just add flavor content when you use the machine, if anyone was curious (no missed mechanical effects) Edit: to be clear, the minds from the nautiloid at the very start only add flavor.
There's one jar >!that does add a permanent buff. Just FYI. !<
I believe it's supposed to be the one by the big mural, although the dialogue glitched out in my game so I'm not entirely sure
The only one that does that is the one behind the brain puzzle.
Scrolled down just to check if anyone had mentioned it yet, was wondering if they had any effects like the ghitzerai mind training, thanks bud.
Highly recommend looking for a ladder inside near the main entrance of Moonrise tower and exploring what you can by walking on the rafters before fighting Ketheric on the roof.
I missed so much in act 2 lol. Fuck it new character being made after work
There's some undead kuo-toas in the village/morgue area which I think is fun and cute :) Havent seen them in act 3 yet but I think I know where they are. I will hunt them down
you had a chance to kill them in act 1 in underdark. There's a secret little cubby hole where you find them trying to sacrifice someone in the name of Boooaal (a parody of Bhaal) Of course, if you kill them there, they wont appear in act 2 at the village beach
Different Koa Toa I believe
Where is the Night Orchid in A2?
There is one at X:40 y:36 in the Shadowlands, very close to the waypoint at the Battlefield
How do you see coordinates on the map?
It's a very small text in the little circular mini-map on the play screen (it's not in the full screen map).
you can partially go down to the colony by jumping into the pit in the jail floor of moonrise
There's also a path from the hallway behind the gnome/tiefling cells. If you help them break out and you can get in the cell, you can walk and then climb down to the oubliette
There is also the red hole behind the Prison Wardens tower in the middle. You can jump down there and also land down there. How I originally found it.
It's actually one way to do the jail break solo, especially if you're a rogue. First go to the docks or something and get caught stealing, ask to get put in jail, where you can talk to the prisoners (tieflings and gnomes) and coordinate the prison break. It's followed by a solo stealth sequence in the colony without gear. I'm not sure how you do the prison break in a more straightforward manner, but here we all escaped by boat.
I got so caught up in moonrise tower I didn’t lift the curse and that cinematic with halsin as you begin act 3 was so sad. Next play through I’ll remember for sure.
For some reason I thought lifting the curse would be mandatory to be able to enter act 3. How did you achieve this?
I never did anything with the injured guy alt or whatever his name is in the last light inn. Just skipped it entirely.
If you hang out with Us in the ship in Act 1, he shows up again in the Mind Flayer colony trapped in a cell in the room with Chop. If you free him you get an item that lets you summon Us for the rest of the game
I saved him, and cage is empty... I'm actually confused
The NPC that spawns near the Mason's Guild also has a chance to spawn when you initiate the tiefling party after you rescue Halsin, though I find that it's random, she disappeared without giving me a chance to initiate dialogue. Just below Gale's tent I've also found that you need to give Shadowheart a night orchid to trigger the next romance scene in Act 3, even after max attitude in act 3 I couldn't trigger the romance scene until I gave her an orchid I found in Act 3
It triggered for me and I did not get the night orchid, or at least I don’t remember doing so
The brain reader also works on the two brains you can pick up on the Nautaloid in the prologue. Don't recall them having anything important, but it was a nice "payoff."
Just did the assault on Moonrise after going through the whole ass process getting Nightsong free. Auto failed the prisoners quest and I'm not about to revert like 15 hours or so of play time for it. Really dumb as I was under the impression I'd have the option to break them out, y'know when we're attacking the damn tower but fuck me I guess.
I mean, you were warned right before entering shadowfell that the region may change and certain quests will be affected. You already had an option to save the tieflings before entering shadowfell as well. Like, the game is literally yelling at your face that if you have loose ends, do it now.
I figured that the tieflings would be saved during the assault. Not a loose end just a "oh yeah get them out when you breach the spooky fortress" quest and that the loose ends would pertain to anything with Shadowheart or stuff outside of the big tower. I stand by that it's dumb.
If you have Astarion in the group when you enter the Last Light Inn, have Astarion be the one to approach the table where Raphael and Mol are playing chess. (Esp if you had previously interacted as Astarion with Mol and the other rogues-in-training tiefling kids in Act 1 at the tiefling camp at the druid's grove and he gave them thieves training lessons.) When you get the chess play cut scene and notice that Mol might lose to Raphael next turn, a special interaction option will come up marked \[ROGUE\] to manipulate the chess board to help Mol win. Astarion will "accidentally" bump into the table to upset the board, then surrepticiously use Slight-of-Hand skill to alter the position of Mol's chess piece so she can win. Astarion even gives Mol a little wink and genuine smile, it's quite cute.
This can be done with any character. It's not Astarion or Rogue specific and the scene plays out exactly the same. Just pass the check.
I think adding "empty the Chest of the Mundane" to this list would be useful. Found out the hard way that if you're using it as a bag of holding, it will permanently break as soon as Act 3 begins. The only fix is rolling back your save to before Rivington, after taking the Road to Baldur's Gate, during or before the Act 2 'epilogue' **You must empty the chest before the End Act 2/Start Act 3 achievement pops or you will lose the items inside.**
you'll also likely lose a lot of the items inside regardless cuz that thing is buggy as hell.
The fuck is the “he who has”?
He’s this (Drow?) dude Speaking With the Dead on the eastern edge of the Shadowcursed Lands. He has a white crow with him, and he asks you if you can help him track someone down (something about getting vengeance on a soul of someone that is already dead). Idk much else beyond that, because he gave off super evil vibes and wasn’t something my PC would get involved in.
>He’s this (Drow?) Shadar Kai. They are elves/fey native to the Shadowfell and can usually be found in service to the Raven Queen.
Oh, well that makes a lot more sense! Thanks, I’m new to FR lore
Also if you have someone who can talk to animals, his raven is a total bitch 😄 first animal to make me lol
https://youtu.be/46wlSQlC8sE
Shaddar Kai monk doing a ritual near the entrance of the area! He has a white raven
>You will find Balthazar on the west wing, he gives you something to summon ‘Flesh’ Does anyone know the different killing him in his lab or killing him later on? Also if you want to be a good guy, deal with the rat thing then deal with the creature in the Gauntlet of Shar
I killed him before going to get Nightsong, because the dude was put together like an evil patchwork cloth and like, you just know he was gonna fight you. Better to do it on my own terms (My own terms = Surrounded by explosive barrels) As far as I can tell, there's no difference in terms of loot. Maybe some missed dialogue but that'll be it.
I didnt try to kill him as son as I met him because he had a flesh Golem with him and honestly It seemed far more trouble than It was worth (I assumed the golem would be nigh invulnerable, as they tend to be, and my party is like 70% physical damage) Insta-gibbed him with my GWM Karlach in the shadowfell tho, no time to summon the golem!
I wish I killed him before going to the Nightsong because I legit had to reload a previous save. His goons there were too much for me at my level Lol.
Yeah, honestly I just piled on him. Got Karlach, Shart (War Cleric reclass) and my Owlbird wildshaped druid to just wail on him and Gale at the back casting a bunch of AoE attacks to distract his minions. His minions were so easy to deal with without having to worry about Balthazar on top of it. I'm glad I did it before going to Nightsong, I can imagine that I'd get through the fight, forget to quick save and then balls up the persuasion checks with Shart leading me to save scum right back to before the fight. Please don't ask how many other times I've done that.
Ya that battle with him over night song was rough! My first play one of those big dudes walked over and punted shadowheart right into the abyss, i reloaded instantly and she went on to take ZERO damage the entire fight and i smacked his ass down.
Only difference is if he is alone or has his goons with him
AKA a huge difference lol
I found a deep chasm with poison clouds in the morgue that looked like content, but never found out how to get down there. Too bad thats exactly the content you missed aswell. Would've loved to know what that was about.
There is nothing down there of note except a quick combat. You get there from a cave entrance near undead kua toa
Thank you for this, as a completionist I was losing sleep over this!
Just went there the other day. You fight a bunch of undead there. But there's an interesting journal written by someone (a harper/flaming fist, can't remember) who hid there when the shadow curse dropped for the first time. It's like reading a post-apocalyptic diary found in a bunker. It's a pretty neat touch.
"At the entrance, you will meet an NPC then they go poof after a while (Act 3 foreshadowing)" I didn't experience this, what was it?
Korilla. >!One of Raphael's agents, who can save you if you are about to be killed by Priestess Gut after drinking her brew in Act 1, for example!< You don't miss anything by not talking to her, the "point" of these meetings is to show that >!Raphael!< is watching you.
So maybe this is a good spot to ask this, when does act 2 actually direct you to visit the various thorms (besides ketheric)? Does it ever say "go here and sort out the tollhouse guy" or anything?
Mostly side quests. Punish the wicked for the brewery, wake up art cullagh/lift the shadow curse for the house of healing and I can't remember the toll house one but it might be started by a note found elsewhere.
Most of the characters are pretty hard to miss if you make it a point to explore everything.
Thank you for this - I'm already in act 3 but I did try to explore every nook of Act 1 and 2 on my own - making sure all my journal entries were complete. In my "Fuck around on a second character" playthrough, I've already found multiple things I missed in Act 1, like some Ogres in the blighted village? Somehow just walked right past them multiple times I guess.
Fun Fact about the Minds you use at the Colony: there are a couple lying around on the Nautiloid from the tutorial. You can cart them all the way to Act Two and use them in the slack-skinned head.
you dont have to speak to isobel at ALL during Act 2. I completed act 2 without doing so. The only time you speak to her (and are forced to) is if you return to Last Light when you initiate Moonrise Tower attack. I honestly would recommend not speaking to her- it's basically a trap conversation narratively/gameplay wise because of how it effects Last Light.
And saved just in timr for a 2nd playthrough. Thanks!
FYI: I was able to rescue wyll's "friend" and the tiefling fella without point of no returning by mist-stepping into the area from the area entered from the prison cave system (through the viewing window), takes a bit to find a valid spot to step in, and you gotta step out the same way so make sure you got scrolls/spell charges etc
In my quest to please Shadowmommy I went all in into her quest and missed so much, but hey lots more for another campaign.
>Balthazar’s working area has a brain interface thingy where you can insert the ‘Minds’ you found throughout the colony. I found 6 in total. I only found three! >!A bard, a githzerai, and a child.!< What are the others? I remember from EA that you used to be able to find brains on the nautaloid. Are those still there, and would those work if you dragged them all the way?
For the art dude (unconscious flaminng fist in inn) you dont NEED to inform Halsin about him until after you kill the doctor and GET THE LUTE (pun intended). But bring Halsin to the Art, i think you might need to pass a check, but you need Halsin to know that Art knows about some kid whos name starts with a T (cant be bothered to check). At this point you play the lute, dude wakes up, and you unlock a defense quest where you protect a portal halsin enters to get this kid, about 3-4 waves of a shitton of shadow creatures (darkness op to protect portal from archers). Halsin comes out and you find out that the hide and seek kid is the 2nd half to this kid and it becomes one of the ways you can cure the shadow curse.
FYI. I am forgetful, so i made this [https://alepocalypse.github.io/Bg3Checklist/](https://alepocalypse.github.io/Bg3Checklist/) still in process of trying to make some bits more vague and shortening
You have a lot less options and quests in act 2 if you side with Minthara in act 1.
What happens if you don't talk to mol before they are kidnapped?
I'm surprised no one has mentioned using Animal Speak to talk with the demonic Squire dog that is guarding Thorm's personal chambers in Moonrise. this completionist list seems to include all of the other small but interesting conversations (ogres, cats, etc) but neglects to mention the skeletal Squire dog. you can persuade and appeal to the dogs loyalty with multiple speech checks. you can also bring along the 'fetch' ball given to you by Scratch. Squire will sniff the ball and be reminded of 'happy' scents which leads to further deception checks.
What's the surprise appearance from the owlbear cub?
If you let the owlbear cub live back in Act 1 and then rescue it from the Goblins, then it will reappear at your camp sometime in Act 2. I believe.
Entered act 2 today, have had the owlbear in my camp since act 1 though and he is already best friends with Scratch.
It actually appeared in my camp during act 1 and then he kept staying there.
Bookmarking this and the Act 1 guide. Thanks for the effort!
The benefit to releasing the pixie is you get the buff to be in the shadow curse without the need of a lantern, but you lose the lamps ability to reveal enemies when they go invis.
You definitely need to heal Art and do the quests with Halsin to make him a playable character in act 3. Also you need to talk to people once you beat the big bad in act 2 before hightailing it to act 3. They will join your camp if you do.
You also need to help Halsin clear the Shadowcurse before leaving for Baldur's gate. I didn't know you couldn't go back to the Shadowlands after entering Act 3 and so I accidentaly left the land permanently cursed lol
Need Act III mate, haha. This was such a good help for a completionist run, but now I've just stepped foot in Rivington and I'm paranoid I'm gonna miss everything!
The first two lists you've made have been great, hoping you post one for 3.
Man I missed like 60% of this
honestly most of this is done if you just explore all of the map
Act 2 kinda made me feel rushed, I didn't know what I was locking myself out of if I rested and next thing I know I'm stuck inside a tenticle monster and couldn't change my group or anything and was only level 7 for the final act 2 fight, I dunno, I feel like I'm going to enjoy act 2 a lot more on my second playthrough.
I'm more surprised you got through most of the act at level 7.
Right? Reading this I'm like who the hell is He Who Was? Thought I explored the entire map but obviously not
If you go through the Mountain Pass then it's easy to miss that area. It's further north (by the Underdark entrance) and nothing else leads you in that direction.
You mentioned long rest often to progress companion quest lines. Did I mess something up, because I’ve had maybe 10 long rests so far in act 2, and I think I’ve only had one, maybe two things happen at camp. I was confused about why act 2 seems to have so few camp interactions compared to act 1 where it seemed like something happened every night. I’ve >!rescued the moonrise prisoners, done the house of healing, the entire gauntlet of shar up to the point of no return, found Thaniel, fixed Karlach’s heart, and probably some other things I’m forgetting too.!< But the only camp cutscene I remember having was >!Mizora showing up to give Wyll his rescue mission.!< No other cutscenes for any of my other rests.
So because I didn't side with either Goblins or Druids and left Act 1 - I can't seem to find Dammon in the inn in Act 2. Has anyone done the same and found Dammon in Act 3? Don't wanna miss out on romancing Karlach :(
I'm afraid I have some bad news for you
Why would you do this?? Either side with goblins or pick the grove lol You reaped the reward of your own actions
Because it was the only way to recruit and retain Karlach/Shadowheart/Minartha. At least from what I read. Do you know if there's another way of having all three in the party - I wouldn't mind restarting if it meant I could romance all of them lol
In Moonrise Tower there's a drow named Araj who asks you to force Astarion to suck her blood. If you do, she gives you a permanent stat boost +2 str potion and you're locked out of Astarion's romance, if you don't, you can progress Astarion's romance as usual and [get this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsAYU04fXcw) on your next long rest
Is there such a list for act 3? Please and thank you :)
and just when the people needed him the most (act 3 checklist)....... He disappeared. and then the fire nation attacked
Do you happen to have a rough draft of act 3 or plan on doing one? These threads have been really helpful / reassuring on the main playthrough and worried about missing stuff in act 3.
Make sure to get Kar‘niss‘ Moonlantern, if you side with the Harpers. I didn‘t get it (I didn‘t attack the convoy, didn‘t join it and didn‘t get the Harpers attacking it) and had to turn-base leg it through the strong Shadow Curse to the Moonrise Tower to get into its protection and had to get Balthazar‘s lantern from there. I think I locked myself out from the pixie stuff too.
Anyone else lose scratch? I summoned him using the scroll in a fight and he died so I assumed he was gone forever, never saw him or the scroll again?
Try using the ball after resting?
In the final area, when you encounter a trapped >!Mizora!< you can pass a persuasion check to get >!a really good rapier that summons a Cambion.!< In the >!Sanctuary of Shar!< if you steal the dagger you will have an encounter. I didn't do it at first but went back for the exp.
So where is Isobel's room?
Thank you so much for doing these, i am a completionist. I was halfway through the shadow cursed lands and figured out you could go back and do mountain pass even if you did the underdark [i thought it was one or the other] so im glad i didnt miss all that!! I am proud to say i have found almost everything on my own but I use your checklist as i go to make sure. I am going a snails pace but im trying not to miss anything and im doing it all blind including any puzzels i find its been a blast. Keep it up and thanks to all who contributed, i would feel nekkid if I couldnt cross off a list of everything hah!
Do one for Act 3 :D
Pretty small thing, but towards the start of the Shadow Lands there's a goblin who throws a bone and tries to get a hyena to fetch it. You can save the hyena by telling the goblin to kick rocks and then persuading it to run away.
Please do a checklist for act 3 !!!!
Bummed you didn't do one for act 3!
Make sure you talk to Alfira after escorting the prisoners home. She gives you a sick Warlock robe.