Baldur’s Gate 3 can hands down be one of the most complex games when it comes to decision-making and its effects on your characters. Be it the dialogues you choose or the items you give or take from certain NPCs, it isn’t easy to guess which can have a lasting impact. One of the many such dilemmas that you may face is whether or not you should give Necromancy of Thay to Astarion. Acquiring it is a task in itself which can be done in the game’s Act 1, but assuming you are already done with that, here is what you should do next with this spellbook.
Minor Spoilers Warning for Acts 1 and 3 of this game.
Should You Give Necromancy of Thay to Astarion or Read it in BG3?
If Astarion is a core member of your party that you plan to play with throughout the game then you should give him Necromancy of Thay. Otherwise, you should read the book yourself. Before you go ahead and make this decision make sure you have the Dark Amethyst gem on you. This allows you to open the book, bring out the book the first time and you get the following options:
- Place the amethyst in the slot on the book’s cover.
- Drop the tome, ready to destroy it.
- Give the book to Astarion.
- Put the book away.
The two main advantages of giving the book to Astarion are as follows:
- When you give him the book you gain his approval. This can come in handy if you are trying to romance him.
- Aside from that, the second and most important outcome is that he will learn the Danse Macabre necromancy spell. Using it you can summon 4 uncontrollable ghouls that fight with you. They can be summoned once per long rest.
Now if you don’t have Astarion in your party or are looking to read the book for yourself then you must open the book after placing the amethyst gem. Make sure your character has high Wisdom because each page you turn requires you to pass a Wisdom dice check that gets harder each turn. Going from 10 to 15 to 20. Failing these checks also has consequences you need to keep in mind, for example, if you only fail the check once you get Whispers of Madness but failing twice or more times grants you the Baleful Knowledge debuff.
If you want to play safe then you can put the book away to decide what to do with it later. Or you can also destroy it altogether to get approval from Wyll, Lae’zel, and Karlach.
That is all on what you should do with the Necromancy of Thay in BG3. For more help on other such choices be sure to also check our guides on whether you should let Gale reforge the crown, kill Chop, and if you should obey or defy Vlaakith.