Baldur's Gate 3 Accessories: The Slots That Set Your Ability Scores

A Cleric with 8 Constitution and an Amulet of Greater Health has 23 Constitution. Not a bonus on top of 8 — the amulet overwrites the number. Every point that character did not spend on Constitution in the creation screen is now sitting in Wisdom instead, permanently, for the cost of one accessory slot.

That is the whole argument for reading your non-chest slots properly. Body armour is a solved problem — you find the highest number you are proficient with and the AC math does the rest. The other six things you wear are where the actual build decisions live, and most of them are cheap.

Six categories, and none of them are armour

The wiki's equipment index lists twelve types. Strip out weapons, shields, light sources and musical instruments, then strip the chest slot — which is Armour and Clothing — and six wearable categories are left: Headwear, Cloaks, Handwear, Footwear, Amulets, and Rings.

None of those six carry a base Armour Class value. They carry passives, and the passives are where the numbers get strange.

Six items set an ability score outright

The wiki keeps a category for this, and it has exactly six members. Four are accessories; two are weapons that do it as a side effect.

Every one of them carries the same clause: the enchantment has no effect if the wearer's score is already higher without it. So these are floors, not bonuses.

What 'set' actually buys you

Character creation gives you 27 points and a hard ceiling of 17 after your own +2 and +1 are assigned. A set-score item ignores that ceiling entirely, which means the points you would have spent chasing it are refunded into something else.

Amulet of Greater Health is the headline item: Constitution 23, which is a +6 modifier, plus Advantage on Constitution saving throws. It sits on the left-most pedestal in the House of Hope Archive, and the wiki documents that the trap can be disarmed with a DC 20 Sleight of Hand check so you can take it without the fight, provided you leave the Orphic Hammer, the Soul-Sworn Contract and Hope alone. One caveat: if the wearer's Constitution was below 22, their maximum hit points rise to match, but their current hit points do not heal up to the new maximum.

Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength set Strength to 23 and add +1 to Strength saving throws, from the same Archive. Compare that to the potion route — the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength sets Strength to 21 and eats your one elixir slot for the day. The gauntlets set a higher number and cost you a glove slot instead, which frees the elixir slot for Bloodlust or Peerless Focus.

Gloves of Dexterity set Dexterity to 18 and add +1 to attack rolls — and the wiki notes that the +1 includes spell attacks. They are sold, not looted, by A'jak'nir Jeera in Crèche Y'llek for 300 gold. They do not stack with The Graceful Cloth's Cat's Grace +2 Dexterity.

Warped Headband of Intellect is the weakest of the four and still worth knowing about: Intelligence 17 is only a +3 modifier, but it is uncommon, costs 250 gold, and is carried by Lump the Enlightened in the Blighted Village in Act 1. The wiki flags it as most useful on characters that want Intelligence as a secondary stat — Eldritch Knight Fighters and Arcane Trickster Rogues — and notes it originally set Intelligence to 19 before being cut to 17 during Early Access. There is also a Wizard quirk worth exploiting: spells prepared while wearing it stay prepared after you take it off.

The modify tier is a different thing

Separate from the six above, a second group adds to a score with its own cap. Birthright is very rare headwear sold at Sorcerous Sundries for 410 gold that gives Charisma +2, up to a maximum of 22, and the wiki records that it stacks with the Mirror of Loss "Bard's Memory" bonus for a total Charisma of 24. Gloves of Soul Catching give Constitution +2, up to 20. Additive items respect a cap; set items ignore your score entirely. Do not mix the two up when planning point-buy.

Headwear: check the proficiency line first

Headwear is split by armour proficiency the same way body armour is, and two of the best helmets require Medium Armour proficiency. That is a real constraint on the classes most likely to want them.

Helm of Balduran (legendary, Medium Armour) sits on a stone altar next to Ansur in the Dragon's Sanctum and stacks four separate effects: Balduran's Vitality heals you 2 at the beginning of every turn — combat only, and it fires even at full health; Balduran's Favour gives +1 Armour Class and +1 to saving throws; you gain Stun immunity; and attackers cannot land critical hits on you.

Sarevok's Horned Helmet (very rare, Medium Armour) is the offensive counterpart, carried by Sarevok Anchev at the Murder Tribunal. Deathbringer's Sight reduces the number you need to roll for a critical hit by one, and the wiki notes the effect stacks, so it adds to a Champion Fighter or a Hexblade's Curse rather than overlapping with them. Dauntless makes you immune to being Frightened.

For casters, Hood of the Weave (very rare, no proficiency needed) is +2 to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack rolls, sold by Mystic Carrion in Philgrave's Mansion for 1,450 gold. And Circlet of Psionic Revenge (rare, Crèche Y'llek) deals 1d4 Psychic to whichever enemy forced a saving throw you then passed, with an extra +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saves if the wearer is Githyanki.

Cloaks: cheap defence, and one item that does not work

Cloak of Protection is uncommon, gives +1 Armour Class and +1 to saving throws, and costs 200 gold from Quartermaster Talli near the Last Light Inn waypoint — the same merchant who sells the Yuan-Ti Scale Mail. If you are already stopping there for the armour, this is the second thing to buy.

Cloak of Displacement (rare, 190 gold from Entharl Danthelon at Danthelon's Dancing Axe in Wyrm's Crossing) triggers at the start of every one of your turns: enemies get Disadvantage on attack rolls against you until you take damage. The documented quirk makes it better than it reads — the Displaced condition is not removed by anything the game does not count as a hit, and that explicitly includes taking half damage from a successful save against a damage-dealing spell. An area spell that clips you does not switch the cloak off.

Vivacious Cloak is uncommon, priced at 70 gold, and grants 8 temporary hit points whenever you cast a spell in melee. It is in a locked traveller's chest in the south-east corner of the Grand Mausoleum, which puts it on a Bladesinger or a Warlock right when they start standing in the front rank.

Then the trap. Cloak of the Weave is very rare, sold by Helsik at the Devil's Fee for 300 gold, and advertises Arcane Enchantment +1 plus Absorb Elements. The wiki's bug list is blunt about the second half: the item lacks the necessary passives in the game code for Absorb Elements to function. You are buying a +1, not a +1 and a defensive reaction.

Handwear: two stat setters and a Monk payoff

The glove slot has to cover the two set-score items above, which makes everything else here a genuine competition.

Bracers of Defence (rare) give +2 Armour Class while unarmoured and not holding a shield, and they are in a gilded chest in the secret cellar under the Apothecary, beneath the Blighted Village — Act 1 loot on a rare item. On a Monk or a Draconic Sorcerer running an alternative AC formula, that is +2 AC for the price of a trip to the cellar.

Helldusk Gloves (very rare) come off Haarlep in the House of Hope Boudoir. Infernal Acuity is +1 to Spell Attack Rolls and Spell Save DC — and the wiki lists a bug that the passive actually grants +1 to all attack rolls, spell or not. They also add +1 to Strength saves and a Rays of Fire cantrip on a short rest recharge.

Gloves of Soul Catching (legendary) are the reward for completing Hope's quest, Save Hope, and they are an unarmed build's endgame. Soul Fist adds 1d10 Force to every unarmed attack. Soul Catching fires once per turn on an unarmed hit for 10 healing, or a +5 bonus to one attack roll or saving throw until the end of your next turn — you pick one, not both. Plus Constitution +2 up to 20.

Footwear: mobility no spell gives you

Boots of Persistence (very rare, 1,300 gold from Dammon in the Lower City) grant permanent Freedom of Movement and Longstrider plus +1 to Dexterity saving throws. Read the fine print first: they require Medium Armour proficiency, which rules out the casters who most want permanent Freedom of Movement.

Disintegrating Night Walkers are story-rarity boots worn by Nere in Grymforge, so they arrive in Act 1. The Night Walker passive blocks Enwebbed, Entangled and Ensnared, and stops you slipping on Grease or Ice — with the honest limit that the Ensnared immunity only covers Ensnaring Strike cast at level 2 or below. They also cast Misty Step as a bonus action on a short rest cooldown, which is the part that matters on a character with no other exit.

Evasive Shoes (rare, 95 gold from Mattis at the Last Light Inn) are +1 Armour Class and +1 Acrobatics with no proficiency requirement at all — the cheapest AC in this slot for a Wizard or Monk.

For the Prone-immunity question specifically, the status effects guide covers why Helldusk Boots and Boots of Striding are not interchangeable.

Amulets: the Spell Save DC slot

Amulet of the Devout (very rare) is +2 Spell Save DC, plus Godswill, an additional Channel Divinity charge for wearers who have access to Channel Divinity. It is in the main Offering Chest in the basement of the Stormshore Tabernacle, and there is a cost the item page spells out: looting any item from those offering chests curses the interacting character with Castigated By Divinity — unless it is Jaheira doing the looting while wearing Khalid's Gift.

Periapt of Wound Closure (rare, 125 gold from Lady Esther on the Rosymorn Monastery Trail) carries two passives that read small and play large. Wound Closure automatically stabilises you at the start of your turn while Downed. Potent Healing makes every heal you receive restore the maximum possible hit points — it only maximises healing to the wearer, not healing the wearer hands out. On an Honour Mode frontliner, auto-stabilise is an out that damage cannot take away.

Amulet of Misty Step is uncommon and grants bonus-action Misty Step on a short rest cooldown. It has two possible sources — a gilded chest in Gut's private chambers in the Defiled Temple, and Omeluum's stock after Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite — but the wiki is explicit that it can only be acquired once, at whichever you reach first.

Broodmother's Revenge (uncommon, carried by Kagha) poisons the wearer's weapon for 2 turns whenever they are healed, which turns any per-turn healing source into a per-turn damage rider.

Rings are where the cheap damage riders live

Three of the rings below are uncommons valued at 40 gold — and two of the three you do not even buy.

Callous Glow Ring deals an additional 2 Radiant damage to illuminated creatures every time the wearer deals damage — and per the wiki, actions that deal multiple instances of damage apply it to every instance, naming Magic Missile, Scorching Ray and Flurry of Blows. Three Magic Missile darts is +6, not +2. It is in an opulent chest in the vault room near Balthazar in the Gauntlet of Shar.

Coruscation Ring applies Radiating Orb to creatures the wearer damages with spells, provided the wearer is illuminated. Both item pages point at the same combination: Radiating Orb illuminates the target, and an illuminated target is exactly what Callous Glow wants. It is in a trapped heavy chest in the Last Light Inn cellar.

Caustic Band adds 2 Acid damage to weapon attacks (Derryth Bonecloak, Ebonlake Grotto), and Strange Conduit Ring adds 1d4 Psychic to weapon attacks while you are Concentrating — melee, ranged and thrown, but not Unarmed Strike. That last one is a gish tax refund: the ring pays you for holding a concentration spell you were holding anyway.

Killer's Sweetheart (very rare, from the Self-Same Trial in the Gauntlet of Shar) makes your next attack roll after a kill an automatic critical hit, refreshing on a Long Rest. Three details make it better than the tooltip suggests, and one makes it worse:

• You can set it to Ask or disable it in the Reactions tab to bank the crit for a target that deserves it.
• Using it does not consume your Reaction.
• The automatic crit applies to every target hit by a single AOE attack, such as Whirlwind Attack.
• The catch: despite the tooltip, Executioner only applies to weapon attack rolls. It does nothing for a caster.

Rounding out the slot: Ring of Free Action (rare, 160 gold from Araj Oblodra) ignores Difficult Terrain and grants immunity to Paralysed and Restrained; Risky Ring (rare, same merchant) is Advantage on attack rolls, Disadvantage on saving throws, which is a trade rather than an upgrade — the Disadvantage applies to every save you roll, including Constitution saves for concentration; and Ring of Regeneration (very rare, Act 3 Sorcerous Sundries) heals 1d4 at the start of your turn in combat, including at full health.

That last one is the other half of Broodmother's Revenge. Heal 1d4 every turn, poison your own weapon every turn.

The same defence package shows up in three slots

The same small defensive bundle — +1 Armour Class and +1 to saving throws — appears in three different slots:

• Cloak of Protection, uncommon, 200 gold from Quartermaster Talli in Act 2.
• Ring of Protection, rare, rewarded by Mol for Steal the Sacred Idol in the Emerald Grove — Act 1, and free.
• Balduran's Favour on the Helm of Balduran, legendary, Act 3.

Given how sharply AC returns accelerate once you are already in the high teens, that small package is worth more than it reads — and the Ring of Protection is the earliest of the three, in Act 1, for a quest rather than gold.

Quick Action Checklist

• Six items set an ability score outright, and four are accessories: Amulet of Greater Health (Constitution 23), Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength (Strength 23), Gloves of Dexterity (Dexterity 18), Warped Headband of Intellect (Intelligence 17).
• A set-score item refunds your point-buy. Plan the build around wearing it rather than around reaching the number yourself.
• Amulet of Greater Health raises maximum HP but does not heal you to it — equip it out of combat.
• Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength beat the Elixir of Hill Giant Strength (23 vs 21) and leave your elixir slot free.
• Helm of Balduran and Sarevok's Horned Helmet need Medium Armour proficiency, and so do Boots of Persistence.
• Cloak of the Weave's Absorb Elements does not function — the item is missing the passives in code.
• Bracers of Defence are +2 AC for unarmoured builds and sit in the Blighted Village apothecary cellar in Act 1.
• Callous Glow Ring's 2 Radiant applies per damage instance, so Magic Missile and Scorching Ray multiply it.
• Killer's Sweetheart can be banked via the Reactions tab and costs no Reaction — but only works on weapon attacks.
• Periapt of Wound Closure auto-stabilises you when Downed and maximises every heal you receive.
• The +1 AC / +1 saves package exists on a cloak, a ring and a helmet. The Ring of Protection is free in Act 1.