Choosing your background in Baldur’s Gate 3 is a decision that will heavily influence both your play style and decision-making throughout the entire game. For players wanting a sneaky, morally questionable playthrough, there’s no better background than the Criminal. Want to know how to maximise your potential as a master thief? The Baldur’s Gate 3 Criminal Quests and Inspirations Guide has got you covered.
Being a Criminal grants you with proficiency in the stealth and deception skills. This means that you're capable of not only sneaking behind NPC vendors, but you can also talk your way out of trouble. Proficiency in stealth can be particularly helpful when sneaking up on enemies. Naturally, opportunities for gaining Inspiration Points will require you to use these two skills to their full potential. You'll need to adopt a very fast and free approach when it comes to following the laws of Faerûn.
For more on the game, check out our Baldur's Gate 3 Thorn Mausoleum guide. We've also got a race tier list, plus details on whether you can play Baldur's Gate 3 solo.
How do you obtain Criminal Inspirations in Baldur's Gate 3?
There are numerous ways to gain Inspiration as a Criminal in each chapter of Baldur's Gate 3. The game provides some indication to the player as to how they should attempt to gain Inspiration Points, by suggesting that Criminals should “break the law” and “leverage less-than-legal connections” to their advantage. However, some of these Inspiration Points are easily missed, particularly on your first playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3.
The table below highlights all of the Criminal Inspirations you can pick up during the first Act. Following through with these quest decisions will lead to some difficult outcomes; the Criminal background certainly isn't for the faint of heart.
| Inspiration Goal | Description | Hints |
|---|---|---|
| A Fine Fortune | Steal an item worth at least 1000 gold. | Killing Minthara and looting the Spidersilk Armour will count as stealing. Items in chapter one worth more than 1000 gold are exceptionally rare. |
| Escape Artist | After being arrested, escape from jail. | Trespassing in any restricted area will grant you the dialogue option to go to jail. |
| Finders Keepers | Refuse to return Barth's locket. | If Barth dies in the skirmish outside the Druid Grove, then this inspiration cannot be obtained. |
| A Sound Investment | Give Mol money for a guild in Baldur's Gate 3. | You must help at least one of the Tiefling children in or around the Druid's grove to enable this interaction. |
| Jailbreaker | Help Sazza the goblin escape from Makeshift Prison in the Druid Grove. | To safely escort Sazza out of the grove, use the hidden door on the cliff, located to the North-West of her cage. |
| Serpent's Bounty | Take Zevlor's payment for killing Kagha. | Investigate Kagha's relationship to the Shadow Druids to prevent the conflict escalating between the druids and the tieflings. |
| Heretic | Steal the Idol of Silvanus from the Druid Grove. | If the druids have already been wiped out when obtaining the Serpent's Bounty inspiration, the Idol can be easily obtained. |
| Culling the Crowd | Use poison to kill the drunk goblins in the Goblin Camp. | Use turn-based mode to hide and put a vial of poison into the keg at the Goblin Camp. If you succeed a deception or persuasion check after the poisoning, it will not make the goblins hostile. |
| Slaughter's Prize | Ally with Minthara to loot and slaughter the Druid Grove. | If Slaughter's Prize is completed before any of the Inspirations that require NPCs in the Druids Grove, those Inspirations will become unobtainable. |
| Open for a Surprise | Acquire the Iron Flask from the Zhentarim. | The Iron Flask is in a locked chest in the cave along the Risen Road. You will have to get past the group of gnolls. |
| Friend of the Family | Become an ally of the Zhentarim. | Give the unopened Iron Flask to Zarys in the Zhentarim Hideout. |
| Swiftly Stolen | Steal the Duergar boots from the Gnome. | The gnome can be found at the Myconid Colony in the Underdark, next to the Sovereign. |
| Blood Price | Murder an innocent civilian. | Any civilian who you initiate combat with will suffice. Finding an isolated area with no onlookers will increase your chance of success. |
You will be rewarded with an Inspiration Point and 25 Experience Points when you complete a background goal. These Inspiration Points are used to reroll a failed Ability Check. Additionally, you can hold up to four Inspiration Points at any given time. The inspiration you gain can be used to reroll the Ability Check for any member of your party, not just the character who obtained the inspiration.
The backgrounds of your companions and their goals will also net you Inspiration Points, so taking note of their backgrounds can help you stay stocked up. Don't be afraid to burn through all your inspiration if you're desperately trying to tame an Owlbear Cub, there's plenty to go around.
What class should I play as a Criminal in Baldur's Gate 3?
The Criminal background best lends itself to the Rogue class, with its emphasis on cunning and covertness. However, subclasses such as the 'Gloomstalker' Ranger or even the 'Way of Shadow' Monk synergise well with the Criminal background's stealth proficiency, providing an interesting option if you want to get the most out of your background choice.
Ultimately, every build can be viable when playing Baldur's Gate 3, so choose the background that best suits the type of character you want to play.
That's all there is to know about gaining Inspiration as a Criminal in Act 1 of Baldur's Gate 3. For more Baldur's Gate 3 walkthroughs, check out how to get better prices for your loot, or our guide on whether you should use your Illithid powers.
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