Baldur's Gate 3 players, heed this 80-hour Monk's painful lesson and don't scam yourself out of gold

News
By published

A higher Charisma score means more money in your pocket

Baldur's Gate 3
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

A Baldur's Gate 3 player has realized they've spent 80 hours underselling themselves at every vendor they've spoken to, potentially losing out on thousands of gold - all because they're using a low Charisma character.

Streamer itmeJP tweeted their discovery, revealing that they'd only discovered the role that Charisma plays in your interactions with traders after 80 hours with the game. For the uninitiated, those with the gift of the gab will endear themselves to NPCs more quickly - a high Charisma modifier isn't just for Persuasion and Deception roles, but has an effect on what prices you'll be offered for different goods.

That means that my bard, with a Charisma score of 20, can buy goods at a lower price (and sell them at a higher price) than, say, Lae'zel, who has a terrible Charisma modifier. Fortunately, you don't need to worry about who's selling each individual item - even as you swap between inventories, the Charisma will be set by the character who began the interaction, not the character holding the item.

It's also worth noting that an NPC's attitude towards your character will affect prices. If you're rude to a vendor, or they see you committing a crime before you start to bargain with you, they'll be less likely to give you a good deal. So if you're planning some petty theft, maybe do it after your shopping spree.

Elsewhere, it turns out that Baldur's Gate 3's most popular class is the Paladin, and that most people are skewing 'good', rather than 'evil'. That probably means limited thievery (which is another good way to get extra money in your pocket), but also probably means that plenty of people are missing out on those silver-tongued benefits that a higher CHA character has to offer.

368 Baldur's Gate 3 players defied D&D logic to complete the game in just four days.

Ali Jones
Ali Jones
Managing Editor, News

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.