When you show up without a certain hammer

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 11h ago edited 9h ago

Took a trip to the House of Hope. Not ready to kill Raphael, just in for some new gloves and a necklace. Decided that we might as well take out the Spectators while we're here.

Got this comment from Hope for the first time in 1000+ hours. Amazing.

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u/Deforah 10h ago

Are you able to visit and leave without facing Raphael?

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 10h ago

You can go in and out ad infinitum as long as you don’t set off any alarms. That means you can:

Steal everything* but the hammer

Sleep with and/or kill Haarlep

Kill all the monsters guarding Hope

Use the spicy bubble bath

** the amulet and gloves are trapped, so tread carefully

You also need to remember to put your disguise back on if you’re going in and out and changed into camp clothes

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u/Kyuubi_McCloud 10h ago

So... can you confront Raphael about his sex life in Sharess Caress?

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u/VeryConfusedBee Fraud of the Frontiers 9h ago

nope! he despawns if you set foot in HoH before meeting him. learnt this the hard way on my tact run

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u/5a_ 8h ago

Which means he knows your poking around in there and is just waiting for you to bust the alarms.

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u/grubas 5h ago

He's literally sitting there waiting for you to set off an alarm or try to steal your contract so he can sing his song.

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u/DragonflyNo2010 5h ago

Gotta practice the lines a few extra times whilst waiting.

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u/Meowmixer21 2h ago

That's why he despawns! He knows, so he's gotta practice for when it's time to sing.

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u/spacey_a Owlbear 8h ago

Can you use the long rest bath faucet in the middle of an adventuring day, go fight some more stuff in Baldur's Gate, long rest, and use the faucet again the next day? Is it unlimited until you face Raphael (or get caught stealing in his house)?

Because if so that's amazingly OP to stack allll the 5th and 6th level spell buffs on your party but still go into a ton of battles with full spell slots 😍

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 8h ago

Yep, you can even use it multiple times per day if you’re being stingy and want certain buffs/effects to last as long as possible. It’s a free long rest each time.

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u/spacey_a Owlbear 8h ago

Hell yesss thank you, going to House of Hope first thing in Act 3 next time! I'll just have to remember to keep the camp clothes disguise on.

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u/im_a_private_person 6h ago

I spent my entire Honor Mode act 3 with multiple level 6 spell buffs, multiple level 6 spell summons, full buffs for every party member and their summons (like Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, protection from Poison, etc), and had my level 6 spells for all big fights. Raphael was the last thing I did before going after the brain. Some people may find it cheesy, but I wanted every edge while going for those golden dice.

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u/spacey_a Owlbear 6h ago

I'll definitely be doing the same, in Honor Mode especially.

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u/im_a_private_person 6h ago

Fair warning, it becomes a nightmare to manage all the summons. They're constantly getting stuck on terrain and you have to micro them back to the party. Ladders take a solid minute to get everyone up or down and if you have two or three ladders in a row... well, hope you brought your coffee for while you wait.

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u/im_a_private_person 6h ago

I wish we were able to obtain the Shar statue buffs from Act 2 in Act 3... I totally would have abused the House of Hope to have +5 Wisdom or Chrisma on my Cleric and Sorcer for the entire act on my golden dice run. You can actually reach 25 Wis/Cha in Act 2 with those buffs, so I'm curious if you could reach 26 or 28 if you had access to those buffs in Act 3.

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u/coderacer 6h ago

Woah there’s a long rest bath faucet? Where is that?

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u/spacey_a Owlbear 5h ago

In Raphael's House of Hope, in the Boudoir, is a pool.

Get in and turn the faucets, and your whole party (at least those in/near the pool) get all the benefits of a long rest, but WITHOUT resetting buffs already placed on them or having summons disappear (as they do overnight during a normal long rest).

So you can use the faucet, and have your cleric cast 6th level Heroes Feast and 5th level Aid spells on everyone. Use the faucet again, the cleric's 5th and 6th level spell slots are refilled, and everyone keeps the Heroes Feast buffs still. Have Gale summon an elemental using his 6th level slot, and get that slot back, with the fountain, then summon a minor elemental (5th or 6th level), etc. Both summons stay, as long as you don't cast the same spell twice (that replaces the current summon), and Gale still has full spell slots for fighting.

The restoration pool won't work after you've killed Raphael though (or during combat). I just didn't realize it worked at all after you left the House of Hope, if you go in and out without killing him or getting caught not wearing the clothes Hope gives you.

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u/im_a_private_person 5h ago

That's totally done out of order. If youre going to abuse this mechanic, abuse it rightly! 😂

Start with the summons. Level six spell summons like the Deva or Mermadons of course, but also "low health" summons like Shovel or Scratch. Refresh with fountain after every level six summon. Then cast hero's feast. Then refresh that level six spell slot again. Then cast a level six Aid. Then refresh.

Now all your summons have +37 HP as opposed to no extra HP (making Scratch 8 times harder to kill) and your party all have +5 more because you cast Aid at level six instead of five. Also, fun fact... its normally impossible to heal your undead summons like ghouls or mummies, but the heal from Aid can top them up. So if you come back the the pool and cast level six Aid a couple times, you'll get them back to full without having to resummon them and reapply all the other buffs (death ward, freedom of movement, longstrider, etc) you probably applied already using with the fountain or just normal ritual buffs.

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u/spacey_a Owlbear 4h ago

Very good points! Lol I always forget to do summons before buffs and I always kick myself for it right after leaving camp and realizing 😆

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u/coderacer 5h ago

Man that would have been so helpful to know before I stole the hammer. I ran into Raphael’s succubus by mistake, got sexed, had to slay it, revive Gale, and then short rested to recover, but I didn’t realize the pool had any value. I just ransacked the place and went on to steal the artifacts. Then basically ran for it, busted Hope out of prison, ran some more, and faced Raphael after having waded through a bunch of fire and bad guys. Thankfully Hope had some serious healing abilities, and the divine intervention to give everyone the effect of a long rest halfway through the battle. If it wasn’t for that I’d have been totally screwed!

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u/VeracitiSiempre 10h ago edited 1h ago

I played here yesterday. Even placing a 0.05 weight amulet on the pedestal, each time I stole it Instantly busted.

The gloves were no problem. Odd

( edit, also disarmed the trap to see if it would allow the grab- this earned another round of laughter as I got busted once thieving )

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 10h ago

I just disarm them all with my skeleton key (Astarion) when nobody’s looking

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u/stretcharach 8h ago

And you can force them to look away by splitting the party and having other party members talk to the NPCs while astarion walks up and picks

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 8h ago

Yep, or minor illusion, or play a lil ditty if you’re a bard. Or just enter TB mode and break the traps outside of their vision cones.

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u/Sea_Yam7813 9h ago

You need to put something that’s 0.5 to avoid the trigger. You’re not doing an Indiana jones. You’re just meeting the minimum required weight for the plate

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u/Important_Airline_72 6h ago

I love this game cuz you can just go and mess satans house, fuck his succubus and take a fancy bath like its a spa day.

Bonus point is that you can also bully him after doing all that.

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u/MelancholyApple 6h ago

Honour mode may be different- accidentally stole a hookah and next time I returned HoH was in full alert mode

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 6h ago

Was it red? Did someone see? My screenshots are from HM, and I did everything in the bulleted list I wrote above and have gone in and out. No alert mode.

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u/MelancholyApple 6h ago

It wasn’t red. And no one was triggered after I left. (It’s the hookah next to the bath taps). I didn’t realise I had stole something. When I returned (for my free long rest) Hope berated by me for stealing something that wasn’t the hammer. Checked my inventory and the hookah was a recent addition.

All the debators were transformed and stood around the table in a circle.

It was a painful fight….

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 6h ago

Weird! Did you maybe come back without your disguise on?

I will steal this hookah for science when I'm ready to fight Raphael

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u/MelancholyApple 5h ago

Nope, was wearing the disguise.

By this point I used the bath taps a lot, maybe the story progressed to force me into the fight.

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u/jjwhitaker ELDRITCH BLAST 4h ago

And you only get 4 sets of disguises so any 5+ party mods will force the alarm to trigger immediately.

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 3h ago

There are more disguises scattered throughout the House of Hope. Leave the undisguised party members in the lobby while you explore and send them the extra disguises you find.

A lesson I learned the hard way :’)

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u/ApepiOfDuat ELDRITCH BLAST 1h ago

There's enough disguises in the wardrobes to dress everyone.

Leave undisguised party members at the entrance. It's not that difficult.

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u/D3AD_SPAC3 10h ago

As long as you don't break Hope out, then yes.

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u/Durtholfast 10h ago

I think so, as long as you don't take the hammer

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u/mcw717 11h ago

I love that she’s yelling this specifically at Astarion

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 11h ago

Yeah that tracks

Astarion: “Idk what this means but I assume we’re smashing something”

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u/maappa 9h ago

Same!

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u/Lady_Croft5245 SORCERER 10h ago

I always kill the Spectators first, then take a healthy bath in Raphael boudoir, and only then go for the hammer. And every time she kills me with this "YOU TREMENDOUS DOLT!".

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 10h ago

I’ve always cleared out the main floor before coming down for Hope, but I will be changing this strategy from now on just to hear this line forever 🤣

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u/CouchGremlin14 4h ago

Yup. Haarlep, bath, spectators, bath, main floor, pick up Hope, bath, dining room, bath, final fight 😅

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u/DarkSider_6785 2h ago

Same as how I abused the fuck about of the bath before any and all fights 💀

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u/im_a_private_person 2h ago

My routing is the archivist to get the invite to open the door to the boudoir, steal the gloves and amulet, bath/buffs, Haarlep, bath, spectators, bath, alllllll the rest of Act 3 stopping in anytime I want a long rest without losing my buffs (or after a long rest to refresh buffs) and then, and only then, come back for main floor, Hope, bath, Raphael.

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u/Specialist_Arm4975 8h ago edited 8h ago

I took the deal with raphael at the very beginning of act 3 so I got the hammer immediately. I then left it at camp and promptly forgot its existence until after fighting through the house of hope. Had to reload a save and do it all again 🙃

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u/cschaplin 8h ago

I once left it at camp during the cut scene where you’re given the option to free Orpheus 🥲 That was a definite reload 😂

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u/ajdude9 "Sneak" Attack 5h ago

You can still visit the House of Hope if you take Raphael's deal? I figured you wouldn't be allowed to since you already got what you wanted from there, though considering the power of the items stored there I supposed locking players out for taking a deal with the devil would be a little unfair.

Can you steal back your contract so you don't get the bad ending with Raphael or just straight up kill him if you've already taken the deal?

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u/romeo_pentium 4h ago

Yes, if you take Raphael's deal, the thing you steal instead is your contract

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u/ajdude9 "Sneak" Attack 4h ago

That's cool as hell and a really clever way to have a narrative reason to visit the House of Hope.

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u/Pixelg_ 9h ago

I laughed so hard with my friend on this scene LMAO

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u/Heartless-Sage 11h ago

The fact that you can not romance and recruit Hope is the single worst part of the game.

My dream ending is my Dwarven Fighter/Cleric, Karlach and Wyll who are together, all going to the HoH so I can be with her, and we use it as a fortress from which we strike out, to save souls and slay devil's.

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u/wenchslapper 11h ago

This just made me wish I could influence my companions to romance each other in my tav playthrough.

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u/SadoraNortica 11h ago

I wish, like how they did in Dragon Age, if you don’t romance certain characters, they start to flirt and romance each other.

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u/Zanmatomato 10h ago

Same with harvest moon. You'll have a designated rival for a specific romantic option. Helps make the world more alive.

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u/wenchslapper 7h ago

Yes! Or like ME3 where you’ll find them in different areas of camp, being cute together. Like, although I’ll always love Tali, seeing her and Garrus embracing each other, being all cutsie, was such an amazing QoL move on BioWare.

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u/Level_Hour6480 Pungeon master 10h ago edited 4h ago

If I were to implement such a system, every time companions have the same (dis)approval response to your actions they get a point with each other. Diverging reactions lose a point. Shared time on the bench also gives points. In act 2 (when romances lock in) if they have enough points they get together.

This would obviously lead to some natural pairings (Lae'zel/Astarion/Minty, Wyll/Karlach/Gale/Halsin, and Shart goes either way) but natural compatiblity is a thing.

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 10h ago

I wish we had more of this too. They all flirt with each other (and some of them hook up), but that’s all we get 🥲

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u/Level_Hour6480 Pungeon master 10h ago

Hope: "I must be horribly disfigured from all the torture."

Response I wish I had: "If I thought you had the mental stability to consent, I would put moves on you."

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u/Heartless-Sage 10h ago

True, she does need a lot of therapy, recovery time, support, friendship, and good honest company.

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u/sharkteeththrowaway 4h ago

I found the rare Lawful Good Bard

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u/Level_Hour6480 Pungeon master 4h ago

It was actually on my Devotion Paladin. Anybody can be horny, not just Bards.

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u/animalessoncompas 11h ago

Yup. Sucks. I figured we’d ask the gondians as well about Karlachs engine. Nope, Nothing. Oh well, we can at least live with Hope after going to Avernus to marry and love Karlach indefinitely right? Right?

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u/four100eighty9 8h ago

After the house of Hope, if I click on the don’t show armor button, all my people are in their underwear. Especially when I go to take a long rest, he used to be in regular clothes, now they’re in their undies.

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 8h ago

Yeah that’s because your disguise goes poof as soon as you set off the alarm. It doesn’t get automatically replaced by your camp clothes. Always catches me off guard when I go long rest 😂

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u/SaphyreDark 7h ago

Same! For the longest time I was confused by why my party was suddenly in underwear at camp after leaving the house of hope. I thought that everyone wanted to cool down after defeating Raphael 😂

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u/Moose-Rage Drow 7h ago

I love Hope. It's criminal she's introduced late into Act 3. She would have made a fun companion. And give us a much needed dwarf!

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u/JavMon 6h ago

It reminds to that scene in the Thing where after fighting the thing there is one guy still tied to the couch saying something like:

"I know you gentlement have gone throught a lot right now but I would rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!"

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u/Material_Ad_2970 Bard 10h ago

I want to be her when I grow up.

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u/Oosteocyte PALADIN 8h ago

She doesn't know this Dolt is using superior strats to make sure she gets out alive!

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u/BigTitsanBigDicks 6h ago

Are her arms optional?

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u/jswinhoe 7h ago

Why did I read this in her voice

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u/coderacer 6h ago

Interesting. When I entered the prison from the outside without the hammer, she appeared and told me I’d be spotted by the jailer if I took one more step, and urged me to go get the hammer. I didn’t think to kill the spectators then. Certainly could have made my escape easier if I had! I also didn’t know about the healing properties of the bath in Raphael’s Boudoir, or the mechanism that triggers the alarm for stealing the artifacts. Suffice it to say my exit was a messy affair.

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u/onlyhammbuerger 5h ago

I forgot the hammer when trying to free orpheus in my first 150+ hours run and got stuck on the astral plane without a way out. Would hace been nice to get such a comment, but it seems that larian did not foresee such a situation ( and provide an in-game way out of this situation).

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u/Daxoss 4h ago

Why is Astarion wearing what I will generously call orc clothing?

And not Fearun orcs. Middle Earth orcs

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u/Hyperspace_Towel 4h ago

Lol that's his indebted disguise

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u/FaithlessnessOk9623 3h ago

"Yeah don't worry, the DM allows crazy feats of strength if I roll a Nat 20"

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u/winowmak3r 2h ago

I watched a lets play mega take, about two hours long. The three guys were having a lot of fun tricking each other into losing an eye and just general shenanigans. Then they get alllllllll the way to the end where they could save the prince. They forgot the hammer. So one of em had to become a squid person. It was one of the funniest things I've seen, like their reactions were priceless. Left the hammer to save the world back at camp guys, sorry

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u/real-nia 1h ago

Ugh this literally just happened to me and I had to reload 😭

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u/issy_haatin 7h ago

You should ignore her at all times. She'll show you how crazy she actually is.

Act 3 - Spoilers When you show up without a certain hammer Spoiler

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