Every player character in Baldur's Gate 3 derives their strengths and weaknesses from six core ability scores. Just like in Dungeons & Dragons, these scores are strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. They determine everything from a character's hit point total, to their damage with weapons, to how charming they can be in conversation.

Ability scores scale from one to 30, with 1 giving a –5 penalty to associated rolls, and 30 giving a +10 bonus. There are numerous ways to increase and decrease these stats, from leveling up to using consumables and equipment. But how high can these numbers actually get on a player character using methods in the game? More than that, how high could one character get each of these stats simultaneously?

Types Of Ability Score Buffs In BG3

A Lot To Consider

To answer that question, one must first understand what can raise ability scores, and which methods of improving them are compatible. At level one, Baldur's Gate 3 uses a form of "point buy" to allow players to build up their character's scores. They have a number of points they can attribute to each of them, though the lowest any ability score can be is 8, and the highest is 15. Players then choose one score to add a +2 bonus to, and one that gets a +1, meaning one stat can be as high as 17 from the start.

Characters also get ability score improvements at certain levels. Most classes get three across the course of their progression, but fighters and rogues get four, meaning a character going for the highest ability scores needs to pick one of those classes. Each ability score improvement lets players add two points anywhere they want across their scores, up to a maximum of 20. That's eight points in addition to what characters started with, meaning they could naturally get two scores up to 20.

Many people would consider a score of 20 for a single stat high enough, but in Baldur's Gate 3, they can easily go higher. There are many items and pieces of equipment that give players extra points in a certain score, or raise a score to a certain value. There are also a few unique consumables and interactions that permanently or temporarily raise a score. Using these methods, it is possible to get each stat much higher than 20.

Strength Can Go Higher Than Any Other Ability Score

The Strongest Person In The Forgotten Realms

Thanks to certain gear and potions, strength can get higher than any other score. The simplest means of sending one's strength into the stratosphere is drinking a potion of hill or cloud giant strength. An Elixir of Hill Giant Strength sets a character's strength score to 21 for one day, and the Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength sets it to 27. It doesn't matter what a character's base strength is for these items; they always set it to a given value. 27 is really high, but it actually can be beat. To do this, players need 20 points in strength via leveling up, and then a few other unique buffs.

Auntie Ethel, the hag in Act One, can provide a piece of her scalp that permanently raises any stat by one. Ethel also has a potion in her lair called Act Two as part of the "Lift the Shadow Curse" quest means he will return to aid the party in the final fight, granting a +1 bonus to all ability scores.

The Devilfoil Mask is great for raising strength, but for each point of strength they provide, they give a –1 penalty to intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.

But that is only 26. To get higher than 27, players need to take advantage of the Devilfoil Mask, which comes with a lot of baggage. When a character is wearing one of these masks, they gain a +1 bonus to strength for each nearby creature also wearing one. There are four masks to find in the game, meaning players can equip them on each of their party and gain a +3 bonus to strength. This brings the total up to 29. However, if players manage to get themselves and their party near a merregon in the House of Hope, it could potentially go even higher, up to 30.

Dexterity Has Relatively Fewer Buffs

A Touch Of Grace

Strength has many different ways of being raised; by contrast, every other stat has far fewer. Every ability score could theoretically make use of certain buffs: Auntie Ethel's boon, Thaniel's last-minute buff, and ability score improvements. It is just a matter of determining which stats get those improvements to achieve the highest scores in every one of them.

For dexterity, players can get the stat to 20 through level-ups, and then to 22 via Ethel and Thaniel. There are also the Nimblefinger Gloves, which gnomes can use to raise their dexterity by 2. Unlike most other equipment that raises dex, like The Graceful Cloth, these gloves don't have a maximum value restriction, meaning they would work with these other buffs. Finally, there is another permanent consider: the Mirror of Loss. Interacting with this mirror in the House of Grief can grant characters a +2 bonus to any stat they want, up to a maximum of 24.

So, 24 is the highest that dexterity can be raised to. But that uses up a lot of buffs that could be used on other ability scores, and this stat has another item to consider: the Gloves of Dexterity. These gloves set the wearer's score to 18, and while they don't help with going higher than that, wearing these would help players save ability score points.

Constitution Is Pretty Straightforward To Raise

Becoming Indestructible

Constitution fuels a character's hit point max and general durability, but there aren't a ton of items that can raise it. Most equipment that raises constitution has a maximum restriction of 20, meaning they only get it as high as players can already through leveling up. There are the Ethel and Thaniel buffs, as well as the mirror of loss, to get it to 24, but there is a more efficient alternative to get this stat pretty high.

The Amulet of Greater Health simply sets one's constitution score to 23, one point lower than it could be otherwise, but with no point cost and only taking up one gear slot. There isn't any other neckwear to raise one's ability scores, so usually, this is the best choice for raising constitution.

Intelligence Is A Tricky Score To Raise

Are You Smarter Than An Illithid?

The three "mental" stats, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma, are a bit trickier to figure out. This is because there is an interaction in Act Two that could theoretically raise each of them by five. Finding the hidden Sharran Sanctuary in the ruined town of Reithwin reveals three statues of the Lady of Loss, each of which can be interacted with for this temporary buff.

The issue here is that this five-point upgrade can't be brought out of Act Two, meaning that players can't use it with the items in Act Three or achieve maximum level for their last ability score increase. Still, a five point increase is pretty high, and generates some high values for these three scores on their own.

By this point, characters can raise their intelligence to 20 via level-ups, and reach a score of 21 with Ethel's boon. The five-point increase from the Sharran sanctuary gets intelligence up to 26, the highest it can go. However, when it comes to getting the highest score in every stat, players may want to consider the Warped Headband Of Intellect, which sets intelligence to 17.

Raising Wisdom Shares Much In Common With Intelligence

A Word To The Wise

Much like intelligence, wisdom is complicated due to the Sharran Sanctuary buffs in act two. But unlike intelligence, there is no item to set wisdom to a high value. In fact, there is no equipment to raise wisdom in the game whatsoever.

The exception to this is Khalid's Gift, which can raise wisdom by one point, up to 21. However, it is a Jaheira-exclusive item, doesn't actually get one's wisdom modifier any higher, and conflicts with the Amulet of Greater Health.

Wisdom must be raised through leveling up, which can get it to 20. With Ethel's boon and the Sharran buff, it can reach a maximum of 26. But otherwise, 22 is the highest it can go, with Ethel and Thaniel's buffs.

Raising Charisma Is Quite Easy

The Perks Of A Silver Tongue

Charisma is one of the most important stats in Baldur's Gate 3 for any protagonist, and there are a lot of ways to raise it. There's leveling up, Ethel's boon, Thaniel's buff, and two pieces of equipment: the hat called Birthright and Duke Ravengard's Longsword. Each provides a +2 bonus, though the hat can only go as high as 22 (and conflicts with the Warped Headband of Intellect), and the sword only up to 24.

In addition, the Mirror of Loss can be used here, and it actually grants an additional +1 bonus to charisma. It can still only get the stat as high as 24, but it is important to grab. With all these, it is possible to get charisma up to 24, using level-ups, the mirror, Ethel and Thaniel, and the Duke's sword. In Act Two, it is also possible to get charisma up to 26 with Ethel's boon and the Sharran buff.

How High Can Each Stat Be At Once?

With Our Powers Combined

Considering all this, players know how high each stat can get on their own, but what about together? For peak resource efficiency, players should use the Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength and Amulet of Greater Health for their strength and constitution. That means both of those stats can stay at 8 in character creation. Wisdom and charisma both need to be maxed out with ability score improvements, which means setting them to 17 and 16 respectively at the start, and using all four level-ups to get them higher.

That doesn't leave much room for any other stat to be leveled up to higher peaks, so players should wear the Gloves of Dexterity and Warped Headband Of Intellect to boost their dexterity and intelligence. Wisdom can only get higher with consumables and buffs, so Ethel's boon and the Mirror of Loss will both go towards it. For charisma, characters should get one point from the Mirror and another two from the Duke's sword.

Finally, getting Thaniel's buff in the final fight raises all base stats by one. That leaves this character with 27 strength, 18 dexterity, 23 constitution, 17 intelligence, 24 wisdom, and 24 charisma. Given how many buffs are locked in Act Three it's unfortunately not optimal to use the Sharran Sanctuary, and therefore impossible to get every stat above 20 simultaneously. Still, this character will be incredibly powerful, and mow down any obstacle Baldur's Gate 3 puts in their way.

Source: Larian Studios/YouTube (1, 2)