A Baldur's Gate 3 player has worked out that one of the RPG's simplest spells is enough to fool one of the gods of the D&D pantheon – except they didn't actually mean to and their discovery has accidentally ruined Act 2 and sent Shadowheart spiraling.
This article contains spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3 Act 2.
In a post on Reddit, user rokamuda outlined their "more evil" playthrough of the game's second act - playing as Shadowheart, after completing the Gauntlet of Shar, they opted to kill the Nightsong and doom the inhabitants of the Last Light Inn. Just like a good little Sharran. Unfortunately, however, they say that "immediately as I exited I got the cutscene of Lady Shar cursing me for not completing my mission."
The result is a very panicked Shadowheart, who's now been marked as an enemy of Shar despite having followed her instruction to the letter. But while this might sound like a bug (and something I would have instantly reloaded had this happened to me), it's actually the result of a very simple D&D spell.
Rokamunda says that they did the whole Nightsong sequence under the effects of Disguise Self, a first-level spell available to most dedicated spellcasting classes. As the name suggests, Disguise Self changes your appearance, clothes, armor, and weapons to that of someone else. In Baldur's Gate 3, you're limited to some pretty basic archetypes - male and female forms of each race - and they'd completed the dungeon looking like a generic female elf.
As a result, Shar - a literal D&D goddess - didn't recognise Shadowheart, her purported Chosen One. While rokamunda got to leave the Gauntlet with their Dark Justiciar gear, they technically failed their quest, leaving Shadowheart with some difficult questions to answer in the game's third act. It's pretty much the worst possible scenario, as while you get that extra loot, you'll no longer have the backing of the denizens of the Inn, nor will you have the favor of Shar. As one player asks, "What did you accomplish? Sounds like Shar pulled one over on you."
It's also, however, not the most impressive measure of Shar's intellect. As several fans point out, there are plenty of other NPCs - the Githyanki captain and the dead Mind Flayer among them - who recognise you through any attempt at disguising yourself. The fact that Shar - a literal god - can't see through this level one spell doesn't seem particularly divine. Like any good religious pantheon, D&D's divinities have their flaws, but this is a cut above.
