Summary
- Baldur's Gate 3 is based on Dungeons & Dragons, sharing its magical setting of Faerûn, including many of its spells.
- Many BG3 spells are rather straightforward, and aren't particularly inventive when it comes to fantasy magic, but others are incredibly odd.
- From covering the battlefield in slippery substances to potentially killing enemies with nothing but a mean-spirited jest, BG3's weirdest spells are often some of the most useful.
Being based in the world of Dungeons & Dragons, Baldur’s Gate 3 is packed full of awesome spells to cover a multitude of situations. However, when they are examined closely, some spells are more than a little odd. Either because of their outcomes or the concept behind them in general, these spells are some of the weirdest in Baldur's Gate 3.
Although the spells available to the party in Baldur’s Gate 3 only go up to level six, that doesn’t mean that some of the strangest spells in DnD can’t be found in the game. Obviously, only certain classes have access to magic, but there are plenty of spell scrolls to be found and purchased right up until the end of Baldur’s Gate 3. This gives every party an opportunity to try out of some of these interesting and sometimes amusing spells.
7 Speak With Animals (First-Level Divination)
Bards, Druids, Nature Domain Clerics, Rangers, Wildheart Barbarians, Oath Of The Ancients Paladins, Forest Gnomes
Perhaps one of the best known Baldur’s Gate 3 spells is speak with animals, having garnered a reputation among the player base for creating some of BG3’s funniest moments. As the name suggests, the spell allows the character casting it to speak with the various animals found in the game. Cue the party chatting with every critter in sight, from massive deep rothés to angry squirrels who hate music.
Speak with animals can be cast as a ritual after a long rest, then swapped out for another spell. The effect will continue and lasts until the next long rest.
However, on top of the novelty of speaking with BG3's animal NPCs, speak with animals is also very useful for quests. In fact, there are several quests in BG3 that require the party to speak with different animals, such as the Strange Ox first met at the Emerald Grove or the pigeons at the post office in Rivington. So, while it might be a weird idea to chat with the local wildlife, it is worth having at least one party member have this spell in BG3.
6 Feign Death (Third-Level Necromancy)
Bards, Clerics, Druids, Wizards
Feign Death is a very strange spell with a very niche use. Bluntly put, the spell's effect places an ally into a magical, protective coma, where they then become resistant to all damage except psychic. The spell also stops any disease or poison effects and can be removed with the help action.
Feign Death is best used on NPCs that the game classes as an ally in situations where they need protecting, and the NPC AI just isn't helpful. However, it seems that most BG3 players appear to be using this spell to pickpocket merchants once their attitude with them is maxed. Whatever use the party find for feign death, it is more than a little strange that there is a spell to put allies into a coma.
5 Polymorph (Fourth-Level Transmutation)
Bards, Druids, Sorcerers, Wizards, Trickery Domain Clerics
Polymorph is a classic DnD spell beloved by players and cursed by DMs for the chaos it can bring to the table. Thankfully, or disappointingly, depending on which point of view taken, polymorph in BG3 has been limited significantly when compared to its DnD version. Now, instead of any creature the spell caster can imagine, the target will now transform into a sheep.
Polymorph was such a funny DnD spell to begin with, but somehow limiting it to only sheep has made it ten times funnier. This, of course, has led to some hilarious uses, with various bosses within BG3 giving their evil monologues to the party as sheep. Even better, as a Trickery Domain cleric, Shadowheart will automatically learn this spell at level seven.
4 Grease (First-Level Conjuration)
Wizards, Black Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers, Arcane Tricksters, Eldritch Knights
It would be interesting to meet the wizard who invented the grease spell and ask them the reason behind such an bit of magic. Grease covers the ground in a thick greasy substance, causing that area to become difficult terrain with a chance to make every creature who attempts to walk on it fall prone. That alone is extremely useful for controlling the battlefield; however, another benefit of using grease is that it is extremely flammable.
When a creature in the grease or the grease itself is targeted with fire, either from a weapon attack or spell, the whole puddle will ignite. This does a decent amount of damage and the puddle will continue to burn for a couple of rounds, damaging any who through it. As one of the best low level spells in BG3, grease creates a lot of options for the party, even if the spell itself is a little peculiar.
3 Stinking Cloud (Third-Level Conjuration)
Bards, Sorcerers, Wizards, Fiend Warlocks
Stinking cloud is a funny spell in a childish kind of way. The spell creates a cloud of gas that smells so bad that targets within it must make Constitution saving throws every turn or become nauseous. When nauseous, the character cannot take any actions, only bonus actions, reactions and their movement.
Quite what the cloud smells of is perhaps best left to the imagination, but just as with grease, one can only imagine the reasons behind creating such an unusual spell. Stinking cloud is so oddly specific and disgusting that whoever created would have had to have been very strange person indeed. Regardless of its origin, stinking cloud is a fantastic spell for knocking enemy spellcasters out of a fight in BG3, as they tend not to have very high Constitution scores.
2 Otto's Irresistible Dance (Sixth-Level Enchantment)
Bards, Wizards
The highest level spell of the bunch, Otto's irresistible dance does exactly what it sounds like by making a target dance uncontrollably. While under control of the spell, the target cannot take any actions or move and all attacks on them are at advantage. Worse still, Otto's irresistible dance is one of the rare examples in BG3 of a spell that has no initial saving throw, but the affected target can attempt to save on subsequent turns.
This makes Otto's irresistible dance a fantastic way to immobilize an enemy during a fight, as the only way to stop them losing a turn would be to use counterspell. The spell was created by Otto, a peer of Bigby and Melf, and an ally of the Circle of Eight. That such a powerful mage would create such a strange, whimsical spell just adds to the charm of this incredibly useful control spell.
The Circle of Eight was a collection of Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax's characters, from his original Greyhawk home campaign.
1 Vicious Mockery (Enchantment Cantrip)
Bards, Pact Of The Tome Warlocks
They say that words can hurt, and vicious mockery takes that idea and runs with it. This strange cantrip is notorious with DnD players and a staple for bards everywhere. There are some fantastically scathing vicious mockery lines in Baldur's Gate 3, which are all fully voice acted, no matter which character is casting the spell.
The cantrip itself imposes disadvantage on the target's next attack roll, as well as dealing psychic damage. This damage steadily increases as the character levels up from 1d4 to 3d4 at level 10. By this point, it is fully possible to kill an enemy simply by insulting them, which is the weirdest and funniest thing any spell in Baldur's Gate 3 can do.
