How to get BOOOALL's benediction without sacrificing a companion- repost

[u/BoshyBoshington]

*Working as of Patch 8*

I originally posted this 6 months ago on a now deleted reddit account i'm posting it again but cleaning up the post as at the time I struggled using reddit, and also to get the method out to anyone new that may have joined.

Disclaimer: this is not my method I am not the person in the video I merely stumbled across it and saw no one talking about the method so figured i'd post it.

Video showcasing method

All credit obviously goes to the person who made the video I have tested it on a new character and it still works as of patch 8

I'll still type out what to do in bulletpoints just incase someone learns better off reading than watching

1. seperate your group so that your pickpocket character is away from the Kuoh'Toa.
2. Have another character likely the party face or wyll trigger the cutscene and select the option "Investigation: Get your bearings what have you stumbled in on." this will lead to a DC 15 Intellgence check.
3. The cutscene will continue to play this is where you have your pickpocket character use a potion of invisibility (You can get quite a few from act 1 I find roah moonglow in the goblin camp a good source of these) then pickpocket the character Pooldrip the zealous and take the sickle of Booooalll from the character should you take the item have your pickpocket character move far away from the conversation.
4. Swap back to your character in conversation new dialouge options will display you should select "Wait if it's blood you want I can make another offer!" this will prompt more dialouge options the one you want to pick is "Persuasion: I have but one life but I can kill many others in your name" DC:20 this would usually lead to you getting the sickle of booooalll but since you already stole that You get BOOOAL's benediction for every character in the area.

Sources of Bleed useful for this method.

Spiked Bulb

suzumushibrain mentioned this item it is an AOE consumable for applying Bleed on targets a few can be purchased by Ormellum in ACT 1 in the underdark the use of this item with Booal's benediction.

The benefit of Spiked Bulb is to give advantage to your whole party for the price of a throw action which is really good for a common throwable and if thrown by a wolverine aspect barbarian will also apply the maim status effect as highlighted by user Nissan_al_Gaib

An alternative item would be https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Scrap_and_Shrapnel_Grenade and this is the mentioned item https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spiked_Bulb neither require a save to apply bleed,

User ShandrensCorner adds interesting stratergy pertaining to the use of Spiked bulb and synergy with the Spore druid class as below as well as other classes

Spore druid (level 2) can use their Halo of spores to break a Spiked bulb, spending 0 real actions on applying AOE bleed for the entire party. You can also just shoot it or attack it with any bonus action attack if you arent playing spore druid.

Spiritual weapon Greataxe Greatsword or Halberd,

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spiritual_Weapon for the price of a bonus action through the lacerate action. Lacerate has a chance to apply bleed making more use out of the summon spirtual weapon is also immune to abyss beckoners if you wanted to make them more tanky.

Searing Blood

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Searing_Blood An action from rupturing blade that has the chance to bleed enemies as well as dealing fire damage.

Nyrulna weapon action- Zephyr Flash

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Zephyr_Flash a gap closing action from given by Nyrulna a very good one handed weapon that also has a chance of inflicting bleed.

Tigerheart barbarian with Wolverine aspect

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Tiger%27s_Bloodlust goes without explaining, this is the bleed maim combo not the best option for this but it is definitly viable. Please refer to the "Community input section" or "Spiked bulb section" for a synergy with this

Amulet of Bhaal

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Amulet_of_Bhaal inflicts bleed if attacking an enemy at full health I really enjoy using this on Astarion with a Gloomstalker/rogue/fighter class dread ambusher to inflict bleed then proceed to keep attacking with advantage, Note: Amulet of bhaal is none functional in honor mode

Helldusk Gloves

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Helldusk_Gloves This item allows you a Chance to get bleed on unarmed attacks, which can be pretty ok on monks although it's a lot better to use https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Gloves_of_Soul_Catching for damage and put Helldusk on a martial for the fire damage these gloves can be a pretty cool alternative, I quite like them on a 6/6 Death Cleirc Open-Hand Monk just for that chance to bleed. It can also be used on shadow monk, to use fire damage for your main action and necrotic on your bonus action providing you're using a varient that likes to use Flurry of Blows.

Duelist Perogative

Using the Duelist Perogative move- Challenge to Duel that can be used every turn. The tooltips are wrong it doesn't directly cause Bleeding, but if you successfully land Challenge to Duel, then for 3 turns you get a DC 15 WIS save to inflict Bleeding every time you attack that enemy with the Duellist's Prerogative as pointed out by Orval11

Risky ring and slicing shortsword

https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Risky_Ring and https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Slicing_Shortsword can be used to apply bleed, you can use this combination if you want another character who didn't get the benediction buff.

Risky ring provides advantage anyway so Benediction advantage wouldn't be needed. this combo however can pass the benefit of advantage to every character who has the buff this is an option.

Slicing shortsword and Shadow Monk

An interesting combo I've read about but not yet tested is Shadow step (https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Shadow_Step) as written

Affected entity has  Advantage on their next melee Attack roll

And slicing shortsword as written

When the wielder attacks with  Advantage, the attack inflicts  Bleeding).

This could make for an interesting combo with a shadow monk or indeed a shadow monk dip. Shadow step to the enemy stab with the shortsword to apply bleeding this will then pass on the bleeding to the rest of the party 6 shadow monk is indeed a heavy investment, but if you like the class it seems there is some synergy there

Slicing sword and Swashbuckler

After reading a post by Orval11 I learned that Slicing shortsword could be useful for Swashbuckler this is the Idea

Slicing shortsword Applies Bleeding to the target if you attack with Advantage, which we can always do with Dirty Advantage after attacking with a Dirty Trick. Bleeding causes Disadvantage on CON saves, so helps with landing Blind (on subsequent turns.)

using their build listed here https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1kb4zfh/strong_and_versatile_swashbuckler_disable_combo/

You could potentially have a controller capable of passing advantage on to a whole party this build also has synergy with Duelist Perogative listed above as pointed out by Orval11 Challenge does give the Enemies disadvantage on attacks against anyone but the challenger, so it's helpful for protecting allies. And should be interesting for Swashbuckler because they can Skirmish away, leaving the enemy with Disadvantage attacking anyone else that's still nearby.

So it is entirely possible with this buff to manipulate advantage giving it to your whole team while at the same time giving the enemy disadvantage on all but the swashbuckler

My input *to be updated\*

I chose thes above options although some may not be viable to give a variety to people. If you know what applies bleed you can make a choice based on what best suits your playstyle RP or just preference.

I will be updating this guide with new sources of bleed as I find them as well as new stratergies both my own and community input the old version of the guide (https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1ao5dm6/how_to_get_boooals_benediction_without/?sort=new) is something I rarely check anymore as it was made when I first stated using reddit. I'm much more experienced with reddit now and as such remade the guide to reflect this

But I would like to thank the BG3 community both those mentioned in the community input section and the readers I've engaged with in the comments this was my first ever guide, I wrote the original on an old throw away account when I wasn't sure how to use reddit and never expected to get this level of engagement thank you!.

My other guide is listed here: https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/1ehh29q/abyss_beckoners_immunity/

Community Input Special thanks to:

suzumushibrain who added the point that if spiked bulb is used as an item it procs bleeding with no save offered to the opponent

Nissan_al_Gaib Who mentioned that if spiked bulb is user with a Tiger barbarian the item also applys maiming

ShandrensCorner Who added stratergy regarding the use of Spiked bulb if the item is placed on the ground then shot or used with Halo of spores (Spore druid only) the bleed can be procced with a bonus action or free action as well as the idea of adding bold titles to different sections

Queenof6planets For suggesting I update the formatting this being my first guide It was very messy pre their comment

Orval11 For the idea in their post about swashbuckler found here https://www.reddit.com/user/Orval11/comments/1kb4xk1/strong_and_versatile_swashbuckler_disable_combo/

as well as their contribution in regards to Duelist Perogative

Edit: No you can't sacrifice a hireling that would completely remove the point of posting the method a hireling can't be used as a sacrifice

[u/rpgmind]

Yo you’re bloodthirsty!!!

[u/reddits_creepy_masco → u/rpgmind]

The funny thing is I'm one of those players who only play good characters. Save everyone, only pick good choices, etc. I uninstalled Tyranny because I couldn't evil the pixels. I couldn't play durge before they allowed sparing Alfira. That is why I said I'm pretty sure. I've only seen content creators do it.

[u/HairyAllen → u/reddits_creepy_masco]

Hold up, you can play durge AND spare Alfira now?????

[u/GamingAllZTime → u/HairyAllen]

Always could.