Already in the first act of Baldur’s Gate 3 there are some profound decisions to be made that will significantly influence your gameplay. While some are actively presented to you, you’ll probably encounter others more incidentally. In this article, we present the five most important decisions and their consequences.
A word in advance: This article contains mild spoiler potential. We try to avoid major plot points, but we would like to make you aware that it is not entirely without spoilers, as we lay out the fundamental points of each decision.
1. Who to take along, who to leave behind?
In the tutorial area, you cannot avoid letting Lae’zel fight by your side. The Gith almost insists on being with you – who would say no to such persuasion in a blade.
You can also already free Shadowheart on the Nautiloid. However, once it is downed and you can freely move around the crash site, the decision is up to you: Who lives, who dies, who writes history (with you)?
Lae’zel, Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale, Karlach, and Wyll are the six possible companions in Act 1. Their stories are also closely intertwined with the main story. Taking them along or leaving them behind can have significant impacts on the further course of the game.
Where to find them is detailed in our article Baldur’s Gate 3: Companions – How to find all companions and unlock them. Recruit them or avoid them. As you like.
2. Save the Tiefling refugees or drive them away?
Once you enter the Emerald Grove for the first time, it quickly becomes clear that with the Druids, unfortunately, it’s not about tree cuddling and dancing happily in circles. The situation is actually quite tense: A goblin horde threatens the peaceful gathering.
The deputy leader of the Druids, Kagha, has ordered to shield the grove from the outside world and wants to get rid of a group of Tiefling refugees first.
The refugees have barely made it back from one of the hells to the material plane. They are naturally hoping for protection and safe passage.
Zevlor, the leader of the Tieflings, does not want to leave the grove. At least not until the threat from the goblins is lifted. Without this, he and his people would not be averse to departing for Baldur’s Gate.
Your decision has far-reaching consequences: The Tieflings can appear later in the story, one of their smiths is more or less essential for Karlach’s story, and you could miss out on important items and information – depending on how you decide.
3. Accept or decline the mark of the Absolute?
When you enter the goblin camp – whether in a good or evil run – you meet Priestess Gutt. She is one of the three leaders of the camp. Her task is to teach the newcomers in the ranks of the Absolute and to brand them with the Mark of the Absolute.
If you haven’t broken in with sheer violence, you can speak to her. If she recognizes you as a “true soul” aka bearer of a mind flayer parasite, she will offer you the mark.
Whether to accept it or not has various advantages and disadvantages:
Throughout the game, you will repeatedly deal with the cultists. If you have the mark, infiltrating their ranks becomes easier and their followers can be deceived by you. Additionally, there are some powerful items that you can only use with the mark.
On the other hand, the fact remains that Gutt brands your character with the mark. It cannot be removed throughout the entire game, which leads to certain NPCs treating you with distrust from the start. Whether the items bound to the mark are worth this sacrifice is something to consider.
4. Visit the Githyanki cradle or not?
Lae’zel insists from the beginning on visiting the cradle. She hopes for support from there and a safe way to remove the parasites.
You can find the Gith cradle on the mountain pass that you can enter west of Waukeen’s Rest. The area is more difficult than the alternative, the Underdark. The game even displays a warning if your level is not high enough. Therefore, it seems like a good idea to take the path underground.
On top of that, the Gith are anything but friendly – as they make clear during a first encounter at the bridge to the mountain pass.
All in all, it’s not a bad decision to skip the cradle. However, we can recommend that after an extensive excursion with a level-up in the Underdark, you still venture into the mountains: The cradle is important for Lae’zel’s story and feeds you a lot of information about the main story.
5. Save the Emerald Grove or destroy it?
One of the most important, if not the most important decision in Act 1 is whether you save the Emerald Grove or destroy it with the goblins.
Your decision has far-reaching consequences and largely determines whether you have a “evil” or “good” run ahead of you. It also affects whether you can recruit Halsin or Minthara.
This decision also ultimately determines how the refugees will fare, whether you fight against or with the cult of the Absolute, as well as which NPCs will be friends or foes.
For spoiler reasons, we would prefer not to reveal more about this decision at this point. However, we can state that both sides have their advantages, and it may be worth making a different decision on a second run. Baldur’s Gate 3 is an incredibly extensive game that reacts and adapts to each of your decisions. Therefore, it is certainly worth a second, if not even a third or fourth look.
These were the five most important decisions in Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate 3. How did you decide? Did you visit the Gith cradle? What do you think of Raphael? Let us know in the comments.
