Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game designed with immaculate detail that can often overwhelm new players. The choices in Baldur’s Gate 3 can come back to haunt you or bless you dozens of hours later. Throwing away a seemingly inconsequential item can have major repercussions on your experience later in the game, so what should you keep?
This doesn’t mean you have to hoard every single cup and hammer you find in a barrel. If you want to experience as much content as the game has to offer, be sure to read that flavor text and inspect everything — especially these critical early game items.
Updated by Katie Simpson on October 25, 2023: The featured image for this article has been modified to better reflect the contents of the list. We’ve also updated the introduction to address first-time players. Some of the in-text links have been updated with new articles and features.
10 The Spider’s Lyre
It is entirely possible to play the whole game without knowing Minthara, the drow Paladin in the goblin camp of Act 1, is a companion you can recruit. Minthara is one of three leaders of the goblin camp you need to eliminate if you plan on saving the Druid Grove and Tiefling refugees. But, when you reach the Shadow Cursed Lands of Act 2, you may find a group of goblins and a Drider who offer safe passage through the extremely dangerous region to any True Soul…if you can prove it.
They’ll ask to see proof of your allegiance, and you will need to produce Minthara’s Lyre, called The Spider’s Lyre, to win them over. Without this instrument, you’ll be on your own in the Shadow Cursed Lands, which is a massive challenge. Obtain the lyre from Minthara by killing her and looting it, or siding with her and wiping out the grove.
9 Infernal Iron
Plenty of people might dismiss the un-bordered little icon for Infernal Iron as a sign of a worthless item, like ropes and tongs and empty bottles. But Infernal Iron is absolutely crucial to progressing the storyline of everyone’s favorite one-horned Tiefling, Karlach. You need Infernal Iron to complete Karlach’s personal quest, The Hellion’s Heart; without it, she won’t survive long.
There are many places to find Infernal Iron, and it can be used with Karlach at the blacksmith Dammon. Dammon can be found at the Druid Grove in Act 1, Last Light Inn in Act 2, and The Forge of The Nine in Act 3. Bring the iron to Dammon with Karlach, and you’ll be able to alleviate some of her infernal issues.
8 Noblestalk Mushroom
Noblestalk mushrooms are exceedingly rare in Baldur’s Gate 3: there’s literally only one. This single mushroom can be found in the Underdark in Act 1 of the game and can be encountered as part of the quest to Find The Mushroom Picker. A merchant named Derryth in the Myconid Colony will ask you to find her husband, Baelen, who has gone missing and is helpless to find his way back.
You’ll find Baelen stuck in a field of highly-reactive Bibberbang, which will explode and ignite a torch nearby if you get too close or make any sudden movements. Setting off the Bibberbang will kill Baelen and destroy the highly valuable Noblestalk tucked away in a corner of the cave. But Noblestalk isn’t just good for selling to the nearest merchant: it can heal and remove negative effects, it can be given to Shadowheart to help restore her memory, it can cure Baelen, it can win over the surly Derryth, or it can be used to restore your own memories if you are playing as the Dark Urge.
7 Harper Pin
This teeny-tiny little trinket is easily missed if you don’t go snooping through the druid Jaheira’s home in Act 3. Talk to Jaheira’s son Tate to get the Harper Pin. Tate can be found upstairs in Jaheira’s home. The pin can be used in the pin slot on Jaheira’s desk, opening the way to her personal hideout. This beautiful cave holds three powerful items:
-
Staff Of The Ram:
A very rare quarterstaff that is versatile, dealing 1d6+2 Bludgeoning damage if held one-handed or 1d10+2 Bludgeoning damage if held with two hands. This quarterstaff has a chance to knock an enemy back 2m and stun them. -
Belm:
A very rare scimitar that does 1d6+2 Slashing damage and comes with the ability Perfectly Balanced Strike. -
Khalid’s Gift:
A very rare amulet that prevents Jaheira from becoming cursed, grants the Aid spell, and a +1 to the wearer’s Wisdom.
A Quasit is a type of adorable, spiky demon, and if you’re perceptive enough, one can be yours to pal around with. In the Apothecary’s Shop of the Blighted Village in Act 1, you can find a hidden cellar leading to some questionable magical hobbies of the previous shopkeeper. Inside the coffins underground you’ll be able to pick up a Scroll of Summon Quasit. Casting from the scroll will summon Shovel, a crude, sharp-tongued familiar.
Talk to Shovel a bit to learn to cast the spell from memory and summon her whenever you want. Be warned: don’t learn the spell by consuming the scroll as a Wizard, or you won’t be able to learn the spell from Shovel, and she will not be able to be summoned again. Shovel is a great familiar, especially early game, and can turn invisible.
5 Vision Of The Absolute
Act 1 of Baldur’s Gate sees the player encounter the Owl Bear and her cub. The adorable Owl Bear cub can be recruited into your camp to befriend your other furry friend, Scratch, but while you’re mercilessly killing his mother, you may have overlooked the junk embedded in her. Looting the Owl Bear’s body gives you the Head of a Broken Spear, which seems pretty useless unless someone gets too close.
But, combined with the Shaft of a Broken Spear, looted from Edowin’s body to the west of the Druid Grove, you can make the uncommon spear Vision of the Absolute. This spear is versatile, meaning it will deal 1d6 Piercing damage if held in one hand or 1d8 Piercing damage if held with two hands. The spear comes with the Absolute Night ability, which grants a chance to blind your target and do an additional 2d6 Piercing damage to anything with multiple sets of eyes.
4 Rusty Mace
The Blood of Lathander is not actually a vial of body fluids as its name suggest, but an extremely powerful mace. This Legendary mace has a +3 enchantment and grants several abilities:
- Sunbeam: A level 6 evocation spell that deals a whopping 6d8 Radiant damage in a beam.
- Lathander’s Blessing: Once per long rest if your HP is reduced to 0, you regain 2-12 HP and nearby allies regain 1-6 HP.
- Lathander’s Light: Create 6m of light around you, which blinds fiends and undead within the radius of the light.
But to obtain this mace at Rosymourn Monastary, you’ll need to find a completely useless Rusty Mace. The Rusty Mace is used with some other junk weapons scattered around the ruins at a puzzle to unlock access to the Dawnbringer Crest, which you need to safely retrieve the Legendary mace. The Rusty Mace is buried in a small grave to the southeast of the ruins on a hill.
3 Grymforge Moulds
Using the Adamantine Forge in Act 1’s Underdark will grant you some wildly powerful weapons and armor if you’re prepared (and you manage to best the giant robot guarding it). There are six of these hefty molds around the Sharran Temple Ruins the Duregar have been holed up in:
These moulds are heavy, so you’ll be forgiven if you find one and immediately send it to your camp to make room for other things in your inventory. However, there are only a few sources of Mithril Ore in the Underdark, so you’ll need to pick which items to craft carefully. The Adamantine weapons and armor these moulds help craft are invaluable early in the game and continue to be useful even into Act 3, so don’t let them gather dust in your camp storage.
2 Soul Coins
Like Infernal Iron, Soul Coins have no fancy border to show how important they really are. Soul Coins are crafted from the souls of the dead and are used as currency in Avernus. Soul Coins are valuable, but don’t sell them; give your Soul Coins to Karlach to boost her Infernal Engine heart temporarily in battle.
Karlach will gain Infernal Fury until she takes a long rest, adding 1-4 Fire damage to her attacks when raging or her HP falls below 25%. Use these wisely and don’t sell them, even if you’re hurting for cash. There are only a few in the game.
1 Volo’s Ersatz Eye
Everyone’s favorite bard will come back to your camp if you saved him from the goblin camp in Act 1, and he promises he knows a thing or two about ceremorphosis and Mind Flayers. Regale Volo with your experience as a Mind Flayer victim, and he’ll ask to leave and do some research. When he comes back, you can let him operate on you in a hilarious and somewhat unsettling sequence.
If you go through several gruesome dialogue prompts and persist with the operation, despite the game trying to coax you back at every turn, you’ll lose your eye and Volo will have a helpful prosthetic to replace it. Volo’s Ersatz Eye grants permant See Invisibility to the affected character — for free. All you have to do is lay still and let Volo take an ice pick to your skull for a while. Easy, right?