Baldur's Gate 3: Gale's secret scoring system revealed

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I confess: I am totally Team Gale. I love my magic-hungry aesthete - a living warning sign with a penchant for pathos who is likely to follow me into a Weave tear at any time. I have almost as much admiration for YouTuber SlimX, who regularly posts the code of Baldur’s Gate 3 and unearths true lore treasures in the process. 

This time he has made a very special discovery: 

a hidden points system that quietly and secretly controls Gale's fate - and influences your own.

The secret maths behind Gale's fate

Gale has two invisible counters running in the background of the game:

• The death score measures his willingness to blow himself up.
• The crown score pursues his temptation to claim the crown of Karsus.

Both values start at fixed values: the death score starts at zero, the crown score curiously at three - long before Gale even finds out about the crown. Early foreshadowing? Absolutely.

Over the course of the game, your decisions and conversations influence these two scales. If you encourage Gale in his martyrdom, the death value increases (+1), while the crown value decreases (-1). And vice versa: If you encourage him to become powerful, the balance shifts in the other direction. Important: Both values never increase at the same time - progress in one direction blocks the other.

Gale's path to self-sacrifice - the death score

Serious changes in Gale's willingness to sacrifice himself only occur in Act Two, especially after his encounter with Elminster. After that, he reveals to you an existential wizarding crisis. Your reaction determines the further course of events: do you support him in his thoughts of sacrifice or do you gently steer him towards self-protection?

These decision-making moments run through various scenes: after the defusing of the bullet, in the ritual room of Moonrise Towers, or during those campfire conversations in which Gale pretends that everything is fine - while his reflection tells a different story.

Words carry weight. The highest achievable death score without tricks is two points. Above this value, the game marks Gale as„willing to sacrifice“. You shouldn't expect big effects - much remains subtle and symbolic. Unless you cheat.

SlimX has done just that: manipulated the values and uncovered hidden lines of dialogue. These include unused scenes - such as conversations with Gale's corpse or touching confessions of love, exclusively for players with an active romance. Particularly impressive: with a death score of 6 and an existing relationship, Gale only thinks of your face at the moment of the explosion. 

Drama level: Olympic. My poor, tragic baby.

Divine temptation - the crown score

While the path of death culminates in Act Two, Gale's divine ambition unfolds in Act Three - specifically, when you give him the Annals of Karsus. If you let him read the book, he begins to reach for the stars. If you refuse to let him read it, you might save his life - but you will also miss out on one of the most tragic story variants.

Here, too, you can influence the points scale using dialogue options. Encourage him in his megalomania („You could be a god!“), the crown score increases. If you slow him down with admonishments about hubris and responsibility, it goes down. In romantic relationships, you have less direct influence - but in the code, the counters continue to run.

SlimX discovered that rare dialogues appear at crown value 6 - provided the timing and conditions are perfect. Conversely, at crown value 0, there may be scenes in which characters like Lorroakan humiliate Gale mercilessly. That's a good thing. Deep.

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Fate in the shadows - why all this?

Why is there an invisible scoring system that most players never notice? Because Gale is not a simple NPC. He is drama personified - torn between self-sacrifice and divinity. While you think you're talking about magic or lost towers, the game is calculating your judgement of him in the background.

Thanks to SlimX, we now know: Every decision counts. Every dialogue, every campfire conversation - everything influences the direction. Gale doesn't randomly wake up and decide that today is a good day for a divine transformation or an explosive exit. The game forgets nothing.

So remember that when you're sitting round the fire together or he tells you about his lost past: The scales tip with every word. Whether you lead him to explosion or enlightenment is up to you. But be sure: he won't forget the consequences.

Image source: Bioware