Many buffs in Baldur’s Gate 3 are only temporary, but there are also 21 permanent buffs. MyMMO tells you what they do and how to get them.
In Baldur’s Gate 3, you have the opportunity to strengthen your characters with permanent advantages. You retain these advantages even if you decide to change your character’s class.
The adventures in Faerûn lead you into challenging battles that are a real test. Especially on the “Tactician” difficulty, these bonuses can be invaluable and support you in critical situations.
Warning Spoiler: The article contains story spoilers from Act 1 to Act 3.
Want to reskill your character? Here’s how to do it:
The advantages of each act
Permanent advantages from Act 1
The price paid
What does the buff do?
- +1 on intimidation rolls.
- Penalty on perception rolls
- Disadvantage on attack rolls when fighting witches.
- Visually, you get an impressive cloudy eye.
How to get the buff: Allow Aunt Ethel in the tea house to do her best to address your parasite problem.
Aunt Ethel’s hairs
What does the buff do?
- +1 to an attribute value of your choice, which is pretty strong.
- Can go over 20.
How to get the buff: Defeat Aunt Ethel during the quest “Save Mayrina” and reduce her hit points below 10, but do not kill her. After you weaken her, she will offer you one of her hairs as thanks for your mercy.
Mark of the Absolute
What does the buff do?
- You gain access to unique dialogue options.
How to get the buff: Speak with the goblin high priestess in the goblin camp and accept her generous offer to be marked with the Mark of the Absolute. You can accept this offer with multiple companions.
Volo’s false eye
What does the buff do?
- Permanent ability “See invisibility”
- Right eye is visually altered.
How to get the buff: Rescue Volo from the goblins’ clutches and send him to your camp. He will offer to remove your parasite. Agree and allow the operation to proceed. You will then receive a prosthetic false eye.
- A detailed guide: Baldur’s Gate 3: How to get Volo’s false eye
BOOOAL’s blessing
What does the buff do?
- Attack roll advantage against enemies afflicted by the status “Bleeding”.
How to get the buff: Sacrifice one of your companions for BOOOAL in the Underdark. The sacrificed character cannot, according to my information, be resurrected.
Playing musical instruments
What does the buff do?
- Ability to play any musical instrument.
- Your musical skill allows you to entertain your companions and NPCs, who will reward you with gold in return.
- Use your music to distract merchants, guards, and other NPCs – a great way for your rogue character to show off their skills as a thief.
You always have access to these songs:
- Bard dance
- Battles of yore
- The power
- The High Seas of the Queen
- Of divinity and sin
- Sing for me
How to get the buff: Seek out Alfira in the Druid Grove and assist her in completing her song. Successfully pass the charisma check, and you will gain this ability. We have a guide for you that shows in detail how to do this:
Loviatar’s love
What does the buff do?
- Once your hit points fall below 30%, you gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and wisdom saving throws.
How to get the buff: Agree to submit to the command of Abdirak in the goblin camp at the ruined shrine, which ends in torture.
Necromancy of Thay
What does the buff do?
- You gain the ability “Speak with Dead”.
- When you reveal the last page of the book, you gain an additional powerful spell that allows you to summon ghouls.
How to get the buff: Obtain the necromancer’s book from the necromancer’s hideout in the ruined village. Uncover the secrets by using the dark amethyst. You can find the amethyst in the whispering depths. Afterwards, you can read the book, except for the last page. This will only be revealed in Act 3. Our guide shows you how to do it:
Survival instinct
What does the buff do?
- Uses a psionic power to heal yourself by 3d4 hit points when your hit points drop to 0.
How to get the buff: Complete Omeluum’s quest in the Underdark to examine the parasite.
Summon familiar: Scratch
What does the dog do?
- He always brings you random items, sometimes useful things like healing potions.
- Scratch can assist you in battle as an ally. He can die, but you can always summon him again.
How to get Scratch: Convince Scratch to join your group and play a game of ball together.
- A detailed guide on how to get Scratch: Finding Scratch – How to get the cutest dog in the game
Summon familiar: Shovel
What does Shovel do?
- Shovel is a quasit who can support you in battle.
- He even has his own voice lines.
- You can only get Shovel with a wizard.
How to get Shovel: Search for the scroll “Summoning a Quasit” in the ruined village, hidden in one of the sarcophagi of the apothecary. Now you can learn the spell of the scroll with your wizard.
Awakened
What does the buff do?
- Illithid abilities can now be used as a bonus action.
How to get the buff: Let the Zaith’isk explode in from Créche Y’llek (Githyanki cradle) and pass all three saving throws. Tip: Save beforehand in case you fail. If the saving throws fail, you receive permanent, stackable debuffs:
- – 2 on constitution
- -2 on wisdom
- – 2 on intelligence
Permanent advantages from Act 2
Arabella’s shadow entanglement
What does the buff do?
- You gain the ability “Entangle”, which you can cast on an undead or shadow creature.
How to get the buff: Successfully complete the quest “Save Arabella” in Act 1. Share the sad news of her deceased parents as soon as you meet her near the House of Healing in the Shadow Cursed Lands.
Potion of eternal strength
What does the buff do?
- Permanently +2 strength
- Can exceed 20 strength.
How to get the buff: Force Astarion to drink the blood of the merchant Araj Oblodra. You find her at the Towers of Dawn in Act 2.
- A detailed guide: Through Astarion, you get one of the best buffs in the game
Githzerai Thought Barrier
What does the buff do?
- Advantage on intelligence saving throws.
How to get the buff: Solve the puzzle in the mind flayer colony. Use the alert mind in the archive container and erase the spirit of the female elf head.
Permanent advantages from Act 3
Mirror of Loss
What does the buff do?
- +2 to an attribute value of your choice.
- However, you sacrifice -2 on another value.
- Attribute can be increased to over 20.
How to get the buff: In the House of Mourning, you meet the Mirror of Loss. Say a prayer. Then sacrifice either the knowledge of the necromancy of Thay or an attribute value. The debuff can be removed with “Remove Curse”.
Unstable blood
What does the buff do?
- Your blood is now flammable and explodes on contact with fire.
How to get the buff: Let Araj Oblodra draw blood from you in Act 2. You will find her at the Towers of Dawn. In Act 3, allow Araj to take your blood again near the tavern “To the Blushing Nix”. Afterwards, you will receive a potion that you must then drink.
Abominable laughter
What does the buff do?
- Once per long rest, you can cast the spell “Tasha’s Abominable Laughter”.
- The spell allows you to incapacitate a targeted creature with laughter. The creature stays on the ground laughing and cannot take bonus actions, actions, or reactions.
- Attacks against the creature (within 3m) have an advantage.
How to get the buff: Complete the quest “Help the Cursed Monk”. You will find his amulet in the Grim Forge. Bring it to the Temple of the Open Hand. Accept the monk’s curse to learn the ability.
The Tharchiate Codex: Blessing
What does the buff do?
- Once per long rest, you receive additional hit points.
How to get the buff: Read the Tharchiate Codex to receive the buff. First, you will be cursed; if you remove this, you will receive the buff that grants additional hit points per long rest. To read the last page of the Necromancy of Thay, you need the Tharchiate Codex.
- Where to find the codex, you can find out in this guide: “Search the cellar” How to open the necromancer’s book of Thay
Partial ceremorphosis
What does the buff do?
- Access to level 3 illithid powers. Also, automatic access to all level 1 illithid powers.
How to get the buff: Eat the astral-touched larva you received from the emperor.
Blessing
What does the buff do?
- +1d4 bonus on attack rolls and saving throws.
How to get the buff: Pay the NPC Boney in the Circus of Last Days 5000 gold. Afterwards, he will build a statue of you and you will receive the permanent buff once you have laid down to rest.
Do permanent advantages last forever? Most of the advantages listed here in Baldur’s Gate 3 are indeed of a permanent nature. However, there are some that may lose their effect if the character dies and is resurrected. For example: Loviatar’s love, BOOOAL’s blessing, and Githzerai Thought Barrier.
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