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If you’ve played any of the Pathfinder games from Owlcat Games, you probably know that stats, or Abilities, as they are called in Baldur’s Gate 3, are extremely important, as they influence your hit rolls, damage rolls, and AC. As you reach levels 4, 8, and 12 in your respective class, you will get a choice for a Feat, which can increase your Ability score, or just give you a cool skill that should help you dominate the battlefield. Well, if you really wanted some Feats that don’t give you Ability score increases, you will likely end up with a character with 17 in their best Ability. To fix this, here are all the ways you can increase Ability scores in Baldur’s Gate 3 in-game by completing various side-quests and using unique items.
All Ability Score Increases in BG3
There are only three things you can do in BG3 to increase Ability scores above the cap, besides taking Feats or equipping special armor and items:
- Auntie Ethel’s Hair – Act 1, +1 Any Ability Score
- Potion of Everlasting Vigour – Act 2, +2 Strength
- Mirror of Loss – Act 3, +2 Any Ability Score
Auntie Ethel’s Hair
Players can get Auntie Ethel’s Hair in BG3 if they lower her health below 20 in the final battle to save Mayrina. She will offer you her hair if you spare her, which you can then use to increase one of your Ability scores by +1.
You should always spare Auntie Ethel and get the Ability score increase since Auntie Ethel can revive and you won’t actually accomplish anything besides saving her prisoners and the masks.
After the battle, you will get to select which Ability score you want to increase with the hair and then you will have to use Auntie Ethel’s Hair in your inventory, with the character you want to get the buff, to get the permanent bonus.
Potion of Everlasting Vigour
In Act 2, in the Moonrise Towers, you can make Astarion bite Araj Oblodra in exchange for the Potion of Everlasting Vigour, which can permanently increase any character’s Strength by +2.
Astarion won’t want to do this and you will have to convince him first. Luckily, you don’t have to pass any checks and all you lose here is some relationship points with him.
Mirror of Loss
In the final Act of BG3, in the House of Grief, you can find a secret item, the Mirror of Loss, which you can use to increase your Ability scores by +2 or +1, depending on your luck.
The Mirror works relatively weird since it can randomly give you +2, +1, or no points. You will also lose 2 points in an Ability, but this can be regained by casting Remove Curse to get rid of that debuff.
So, if you pass the Arcana check and gaze into the Mirror, you have a 20% chance to get a +1 to Charisma. Otherwise, you won’t get anything. You can tell you got the Charisma bonus if you got this text after sacrificing your memories:
“Disappointment floods your mind. You were sure to succeed Stelmane, but Lord Enver Gortash has stolen your support. All that charming and cajoling in the parlours of Upper City, wasted.”
If you pass the Arcana check and then you also pass the prayer Religion check, you have a 15% chance to get a +2 Ability check. Some players have said that you can get the +2 just by closing the game after you pass the checks and loading back in.
If you’ve found the Necromancy of Thay and read the first three pages, you can give up the knowledge you learned, the Forbidden Knowledge feature, and you will always gain +2 in an Ability score.
You can use the Mirror multiple times to gain +2 Ability score increases in all of your characters in BG3.
And that is all you need to know about all Ability score increases in Baldur’s Gate 3. Check out other interesting BG3 guides and articles:
