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A character must have the Illithid passive Ability Drain.

At the beginning of the encounter (5 turns remaining), cast Synaptic Consumption on the Netherbrain (DEX 10 → 5). Synaptic Consumption then reduces the Netherbrain's Dexterity by 1 at the end of each round, just before the Netherbrain takes its turn. However, Synaptic Consumption alone is not enough. On the final turn, the Chains of Karsus break before the fifth Dexterity reduction can occur, leaving the Netherbrain at DEX 1 instead of 0.

To overcome this, hit the Netherbrain once with a bow (or any DEX-based attack) during the fight while having the Ability Drain passive. This applies Ability Drain Dexterity, reducing DEX by 1.

During my testing, I also confirmed several important mechanics:
1. Synaptic Consumption and Absorb Intellect share the same mutually exclusive status and cannot both be applied to the same target.
2. Ability Drain can coexist with Synaptic Consumption.
3. Different Ability Drain effects (e.g. Strength and Dexterity) can coexist on the same target.
4. The Netherbrain is not immune to ability scores being reduced to 0.
5. Death caused by reducing an ability score to 0 bypasses the Netherbrain's normal death sequence. There is no surrender sequence and no final cutscene. The game skips directly to Withers' epilogue reunion party.

Still bugged in 2026.

BG3 refined it, but Original Sin 2 still holds up for that sandbox feel. If Larian can blend that freedom with BG3's polish, the next Divinity could be something special

They were probably just unlucky bystanders caught up in the chaos of the nautiloid's attack on Baldur's Gate

Update: Part 4, Chapter 32 is now published. Welcome to Greyhawk! Hope you enjoy it!

BG3.5 - Hellraisers (Fanfiction)
Baldur's Gate 3.5: Hellraisers - an original fanfic story that is a sequel to Baldur's Gate 3 Fanfic: The Afflicted. It picks up immediately after the events of Baldur's Gate 3 as characters from the previous fanfic - Fiovay, Kai, Aelun, Vlyn, and the other members of their party - travel to Avernus. Their quest is to save Karlach but also to hopefully find and rescue Darson, Aelun's father, from the clutches of Demogorgon.

Here is the link to the blog site: https://baldursgate3hellraisers.blogspot.com/2025/10/baldurs-gate-35-hellraisers.html

You mean to tell me that the Jaheira bug that makes her not an ally and prevents you from using her as a proper companion hasn't been fixed for over 2 years??

I don't care how good this game is, that is a game breaking bug that should've been resolved years ago when this was first brought up. A whole companion that is unplayable/broken, 100% unacceptable.

Edit: I don't care how many threads have been created for this very issue. I've scoured enough of the internet and dealt with enough AI trying to fix this, so you can deal with my 1 extra little thread, because I'm not finding one to post in.

Thread moved. Thanks for the heads up, Ido58!

Yeah, I’ve had my share of frustrations with SMS not coming through for logins, especially with gaming accounts. Sometimes it’s just delayed, but other times it never arrives and I end up stuck waiting or reaching out to support too. Logging in with Steam or Google saves me when the SMS part is down, but it would definitely be better if they offered some backup option or more reliable messaging.

It's interesting that they haven't done that, I was coming to the forums just to double check before signing up on the main site.

I wish Steam kept more older versions. I would love to roll back to before hotfix [sic] 36. Game worked perfectly then and I finished a playthrough with no issues, this hotfix has messed more up than it fixed. Invisible NPC's that aren't actually invisible but simply not present at all even though the game thinks they are, the old "can't exit turn based mode" bug rearing its head again when it was fixed previously etc etc. So annoying. My only option seems to be to roll back to 7 and then add the hotfixes one at a time through the steam consol - deep joy. Or I guess stop playing until the next supposed fix is released.