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Warning

If you’re tired of my continual references to Arctic Druid Angela, well, too bad. This post is neither a culmination, catharsis, nor an intended ending to her story.

On the other hand, if you’re curious about what the fuss is about, you’re in the right place!

Context

When I write up playthrough 15 of Baldur’s Gate 3, I plan to heavily indulge in the fanfic aspects of what a respected cultural ethnologist (my friend Sabrina) has termed an emerging spirit or egregore.

For this post, I want to focus on the concrete aspects of the character of Arctic Druid Angela. If you want to play the character yourself, this post contains the recipe.

I can’t promise you’ll have the results that I did. Some of what happened was due to circumstance and attitude. Some of it reflects my emerging skill at playing BG3. And some of it is typical Mary Sue wish fulfillment, although that term is normally reserved for a female author when creating an idealized female character.

The bottom line: In my eighth playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3, a hireling character that I named after a friend of mine (Angela, whom I refer to on this site as Real Angela to distinguish her from the fictional one) turned out to be unexpectedly successful. Her melee attacks, enhanced by Arcane Synergy, did more damage than her direct attack spells. She struck the final decisive blow against several powerful enemies.

Subsequent experimentation validated that impression, such as when she was able to solo the Assassin Queen encounter in Balanced difficulty.

To re-create Arctic Druid Angela, no mods are needed. She was “born” in a playthrough on Balanced difficulty with no mods.

If you try this recipe for some combination of the character’s appearance, abilities, and/or build, let me know what happens. Perhaps nothing will happen.

Or perhaps you’ll gain a better appreciation of what an “egregore” is.

How good is she, really?

How would she do in Tactician difficulty? I plan to find out.

Could she solo Honor mode? I don’t know, but I doubt it. Or if an experienced player made that happen, it would be along the lines of those YouTubers who post videos with titles such as “Solo Honor Mode Without Using Weapons or Spells”: a technical achievement as opposed to one based on the characteristics of the Arctic Druid build.

Appearance

If looks weren’t important, costuming mods such as FaerunColors and FearTaylor’s Camp Clothes would not exist.

The Angela hireling started as one that can be obtained from Withers: Maddala Deadeye. If you choose to start with that hireling, as I did, note that Maddala has an Urchin background. A hireling’s class, ability scores, and appearance can be changed (the former by changing the character’s spec via Withers, the latter through the Magic Mirror), but their background can’t be.

I can’t say how much of Arctic Druid Angela’s success was due to being a Druid with Sleight of Hand and Stealth Proficiency. Probably not much, since in my playthrough 8 it was Wyll who became the party’s “Rogue”.

Here’s what you’ll need to duplicate Druid Angela’s appearance:

If you’re having trouble matching the names like “Woven Razors”, “Rover’s Tumble”, “Sand”, “Black Neutral” to the menus available in BG3‘s appearance customization, click on “View Selection Grid”, then turn on Tooltips. For example:

Build

If you’re not interested in BG3 number-crunching, you can skip the sections on Build, Gear, and so forth. I’ll return to the normal insanity in the section entitled, “What the heck is Bill doing?”

Ability scores

Let’s start with the stats:

Reasoning:

• STR 12 – I gave her this so I wouldn’t to worry so much about how much weight she could carry. It also gave her a bit of boost in melee weapon damage. If you’re skilled enough to cast Shillelagh on an off-hand weapon, Strength won’t matter for melee damage; if she’s going to be a “party face” then I’d put the points into Charisma instead.
• DEX 16 – For Initiative and Armor Class. As I said above, she didn’t do much in the way of lockpicking and such. But in a different party, and given that she had the Urchin’s Sleight-of-Hand and Stealth bonuses, a high DEX is a good thing.
• CON 14 – In part to give her more Hit Points, but also to her maintain Concentration in combat. The key spell she might Concentrate on is Haste, which you absolutely do not want to stop Concentrating on in the middle of combat; you lose a combat round due to Lethargy.
• WIS 16 (later 18 with a Feat) – A Druid’s spellcasting stat. This is a no-brainer.
• CHA 8 – When she was added to my regular group, I never intended for her to become the face of the party. Later on, despite the handicap of a low Charisma, did actually did pretty well, thanks to bonuses cast on her by other party members. As I said, if I her set her up as a main character, I’d transfer points from STR to CHA.

Class

Her class was 12 levels of Circle of the Land Druid.

I really wanted her to have Armor of Agathys, given her propensity for running into close combat with the enemy. It also fit thematically with the notion of “Arctic Druid”. But that would require giving her one level of White Draconic Sorcery and cost her a Feat. In the end, I decided that I wanted the Feat over the spell. Pick whichever seems best for you.

At Druid levels 3, 5, 7, and 9, Land Druids get access to extra spells associated with a type of Land. At level 3, I picked Coast for Misty Step.

At Druid levels 5, 7, and 9, I chose Arctic; that’s why she’s “Arctic Druid Angela”. At level 5, that gives her Haste; at level 7 that gives Conjure Minor Elemental and the ever-popular Ice Storm; at level 9 this gave her Cone of Cold.

Druids don’t get anything special at level 12. If it hadn’t been for the Feat, there’s a very strong argument for giving her first level in Sorcery for the Constitution Saving Throw bonus and, as I said above, access to Armor of Agathys. Even as I’m typing these words, I’m tempted to try this next time.

“What does he mean, ‘next time’?” You’ll have to wait until later blog posts for the answer.

Feats

Note that these Feats may not be in the order I gave them to her.

• The first Feat, at level 4, is easy: Ability Improvement to take her Wisdom from 16 to 18.
• The second Feat, at level 8, is a bit of a choice: Alert or Spell Sniper. The latter will be useful if you want a different off-hand staff than Mourning Frost (see below); you can get the Ray of Frost cantrip via this Feat.
• Her third Feat was Dual Wielder, which let her hold two Staffs.

  

Gear

I tried a few combinations. I wrote about some of them in my original Arctic Druid Angela post. Here are my suggestions:

Weapons

At the start, you’ll want any staff, so you can cast Shillelagh. For melee attacks, the best “staff” for an early-level Druid is a Torch, which adds Fire damage to the Shillelagh.

As you level up, any staff that boosts Spell Save DC is fine. The earliest one you can get is Melf’s First Staff, which is sold by a vendor in the Underdark.

For Arctic Druid Angela, the staff you want to acquire is Mourning Frost. She’ll be using it for the rest of the game. The principle reason is that it gives her the cantrip Ray of Frost, which Druids can’t otherwise get without a Feat like Spell Sniper. Ray of Frost is “bread and butter” cantrip; much of the rest of her gear is going to key off it.

The reason to pick up the Dual Wielder Feat to hold two staffs at once. The best second staff for her to get is Markoheshkir. (Note that Markoheshkir is the best staff in the game for most spellcasters. Exceptions: Necromancer Wizards and Spore Druids prefer Staff of Cherished Necromancy; Eldritch Blast and Magic Missile builds prefer Spellsparkler.) This means that if you have more than one spellcaster in your party, there might be competition for it.

Since Markoheshkir is not available until later in the game, you might as well wait until Druid Angela gets to Level 12 before getting the Dual Wield Feat. If you’re good enough to get it at an earlier level, just respec her and pick up Dual Wield for her second Feat.

Until then, Ironvine Shield is a good choice from Act 1, assuming that she can remember to cast Shillelagh at the start of combat. In Act 2, she can get one of the best spellcaster shields that will serve her until she gets Dual Wielder: Ketheric’s Shield.

Cold Snap fits her build thematically. However, for it to work, enemies have to both miss her and fail their CON Saving Throw. By Act 3 they won’t do that often enough to make it worthwhile.

With all the other pre-combat preparations she can make (see below), she doesn’t have much time to also coat her weapons, though Oil of Accuracy can’t hurt.

If you want something thematically appropriate, there’s Oil of Freezing. However, most of the enemies you fight have good CON Saving Throws. Since this coating is hard to make, it’s probably best saved until the end of the game and used by the most potent melee fighter. (Of course, maybe your most potent melee fighter will be Druid Angela…)

Weapon set-up

For her ultimate weapon set-up, you’ll also want the Drakethroat Glaive and Staff of Spellpower.

Her start-of-day procedure is:

• Equip the Staff of Spellpower.
• Use its Arcane Battery for any high-level buff spell that seems appropriate. For example, if you put one level into Sorcery, cast a 6th-level Armor of Agathys. You could also use it for Heroes’ Feast after all the party’s minions have been summoned.

  

• If you’re using Protector hirelings to cast buff spells like Heroes’ Feast, Aid, and Warding Bond, now is the time to do it. That way her minions can get the benefits of these spells too.

  

  Be sure to do this before the next step.

• Equip the Drakethroat Glaive.
• Place Mourning Frost on the ground.
• Use the Glaive’s Draconic Elemental Weapon ability to give Mourning Frost an elemental boost. Arctic Druid Angela prefers Lightning.

  Do not use Cold for this. The Cold boost from the Glaive does not stack with the Cold damage from Mourning Frost. You won’t get both.

  If you have a Sorcerer in your party, you can give them the Glaive and have them use Twinned Spell to cast Elemental Weapon on two weapons. One can be Druid Angela’s off-hand staff; the other can be a melee fighter’s.

• Pick up the boosted Mourning Frost, but don’t equip it yet.
• Equip Markoheshkir in Druid Angela’s main hand, and put Mourning Frost is her off hand.
• Use Kereska’s Favor from Markoheshkir to invoke Frost of Dark Winter.

I discuss how to make this weapon combo work in the strategy section below.

Arctic Druid Angela does not normally use Wild Shape. If she does, some of the buffs (notably Kereska’s Favor) will go away. Be sure that the situation calls for the transformation and sacrificing her hard work.

Elixirs

Don’t forget your favorite Elixir! I generally prefer Elixir of Battlemage’s Power for spellcasters.

There’s also a strong argument in favor of Elixir of Vigilance, which has the same effect as the Alert Feat. If she doesn’t have Armor of Landfall yet, a strategy would be get the War Caster Feat and use Elixir of Vigilance instead.

Similarly, Elixir of Peerless Focus gives Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws, so it’s a lesser version of the War Caster Feat. It might be used if she doesn’t have the Armor of Landfall yet.

If she’s in a party and the abilities of her companions make some of the above unnecessary, there’s always that old standby Elixir of Viciousness. (You may have to pry it away from Astarion, though.)

A strategy that I often neglect is to switch between Elixirs in-between or even during fights, depending on what the enemies do. Don’t let Arctic Druid Angela suffer became I’m careless!

Armor

When Arctic Druid Angela became a hero, one of the rewards was Adamantine Scale Mail. That’s what she wore for the next few levels.

The Icebite Robe is the only item that gives Armor of Agathys. Druid Angela switched to that for a while, It can be found in Act 2.

The best spellcaster armor in the game is the Robe of the Weave.

However, for Arctic Druid Angela, the Armor of Landfall is much better, since it gives the same bonus to Spell Save DC and it gives Advantage on CON Saving Throws. It will give her a lower Armor Class overall, since you can’t cast Mage Armor on a character who wears it. She can compensate by wearing the Cloak of Displacement and casting Mirror Image (see below).

Head

In general, the best headgear for a spellcaster is Hood of the Weave for the +2 Spell Save DC.

However, for Arctic Druid Angela, the Coldbrim Hat may be a better choice. It applies Encrusted With Frost, which gives Disadvantage on DEX Saving Throws and makes it more likely for enemies to slip on the ice surfaces that she creates.

If she is not wearing the Ring of Arcane Synergy (see below), the Diadem of Arcane Synergy is also a good idea. It fits into the strategy that I’ll suggest below.

Cloak

Cloak of Displacement is her best choice. This gives enemy attacks against its wearer Disadvantage until the wearer takes damage. Try this if it seems she’s getting hit too often, especially if she keeps breaking Concentration. That cloak is high demand by melee fighters with lower Armor Class, though.

Cloak of the Weave is a good alternative if she’s part of a group. It has a bonus to Spell Save DC, which is never a bad thing.

Gloves

Winter’s Clutches are available in Act 1 and are a good start for Arctic Druid Angela.

Daredevil Gloves are also available in Act 1 shortly afterward, and can be worn by her through to the end of the game. They’re a good choice for her, since she likes to get close to the enemies as she casts Ray of Frost on them. There are times when the Daredevil Proximity has to be toggled on repeatedly, since it can tend to turn itself off. You’ll know when this happens, because you’ll get a lower hit chance with a “Target too close” message.

The Helldusk Gloves boost Spell Save DC, and also add Fire damage to her weapon attacks. However, for story purposes you might not want to kill the enemy who has them. Also, almost every other character wants the damage boost from these gloves.

Spellmight Gloves are also a viable choice. However, for Druid Angela, she sometimes has to sacrifice Spell Attack gear for other bonuses. So subtracting -5 from Spell Attack for an extra 1D8 damage may not be the best choice for her.

Boots

Arctic Druid Angela casts spells that create large areas of ice, and she likes to get close to her targets to swing her staffs at them. So she’s looking for boots that keep her from slipping on the ice.

The best boots for her are the Disintegrating Night Walkers. The problem is that they’re the best boots for a large number of other character builds as well, especially for melee fighters who might be walking over the ice that Druid Angela has created.

The next-best boots for her are the Hoarfrost Boots.

Both these boots are available in Act 1, and will last her the rest of the game.

Rings

I’ve spent more time playing with Arctic Druid Angela’s rings than any other gear she has.

I think the best rings for her are the Ring of Elemental Infusion, and the Ring of Arcane Synergy (if she’s not wearing the Diadem of Arcane Synergy).

Part of the decision depends on the combat strategy. The Snowburst Ring is great at creating more icy surfaces. The other two improve the damage she does with melee attacks.

There’s also the combo Callous Glow Ring and Coruscation Ring, which I tried on her for a while. This combination is excellent for any spellcaster that inflicts multiple hits in a single turn; they’re great for Eldritch Blast or Magic Missile builds. But Arctic Druid Angela typically only casts one or two spell attacks per combat round, so this may not be the best choice for her.

Necklace

The Necklace of Elemental Augmentation is probably the best choice for her. It adds to the damage of cantrips.

If there’s a problem with her Spell Save DC, the Amulet of the Devout may be better, as it gives +2 to Spell Save DC.

Bow

Druids don’t have weapon proficiency in any ranged weapons and can’t use bows to attack. But a bow’s bonus still applies to her other actions.

In the playthrough 8 party, she carried the Darkfire Shortbow for the free cast of Haste once per day. The Fire Resistance can’t hurt either.

Strategy

Arctic Druid Angela’s general strategy is to cast an Ice spell, most likely Ray of Frost, followed by an off-hand melee attack as her Bonus Action.

If you combine the effects of all the items in the list above, the idea is:

• I like to boost her Spell Save DC as much as possible, so her area-of-effect spells (Ice Storm is her favorite) have the best success chance. If there’s a group of enemies, she’ll usually start with Ice Storm.
• Her favorite “spell” is the cantrip Ray of Frost. It’s a spell attack, so emphasize bonuses to Spell Attack rolls over Spell Save DC bonuses.

  

  

• Boost the bonus to spell damage, especially cantrip damage, as much as possible
• Arcane Synergy and other effects boost melee weapon damage after a successful spell attach.
• So after casting Ray of Frost, hit the enemy with a staff. That will usually be the one in her off hand. That’s the reason for that long set-up procedure I have above: Give that off-hand staff the most damage we can.

  

Prep

Ideally, especially for players familiar with the game, there’s the opportunity to prepare before a combat. Arctic Druid Angela’s preparation is:

• Cast Create Water to make the enemies Wet and therefore take double Cold damage. This will not provoke the enemies if you’re far enough away or they consider you harmless.

• Cast Shillelagh. This only affects the staff in her main hand. She’s not likely to use it to strike the enemy, but Shillelagh is a cantrip so it can’t hurt.

  If you are using a desktop interface, you can consider starting with Mourning Frost in your main hand, casting Shillelagh, then swaping it into your off-hand. On a desktop, it’s just dragging a couple of icons. On a console, this takes several moves; it’s possible to waste so much time that the effect goes away. Also, if at any point Markoheshkir is not equipped, Kereska’s Favor goes away; it’s probably best to skip an attempt at swapping.

• Drink a potion or cast a spell to improve her mobility.

  • The obvious choice: Potion of Flying.

    

    As a personal matter, Druid Angela would never accept the advanced powers that would give her this ability.

  • The Potion of Glorious Vaulting triples her jumping distance.

    

    Jumping uses a Bonus Action. She’d prefer to use her Bonus Action to hit something with a staff, but just in case battlefield mobility is an issue, it’s nice to have the option to jump into the fray.

    If she has Fly, she might still want this as well. Tripling your jump distance can take you further than the distance you can walk or fly.

  • In the absence of any potions, and if she has the Level 1 spell slots to spare, she can cast Enhance Leap.

• Cast Mirror Image to make it harder for enemies to hit her.
• Cast Haste or drink a Potion of Speed to get the Hastened Condition.
• Immediately rush forward and cast Ice Storm or some other opening spell.

  Don’t hesitate! Hastened has a time limit. When its effect runs out, Arctic Druid Angela will become Lethargic and lose a turn.

Tips

• During the battle, don’t bother to heal your minions. They’re cannon fodder. Save the healing spells for Arctic Druid Angela.

  

• Keep track of how many turns of Hastened remain. In particular, if she’s using Potions of Speed, she’ll have to drink a new one every three rounds. Do that after she’s taken any other Actions, since drinking a Speed Potion takes a Bonus Action and immediately ends her turn.
• If a minion falls, consider resummoning them. They won’t have buffs like the one from Heroes’ Feast, but some help is better than no help at all.
• The ice left behind behind by spells like Ice Storm, or the Spike Growth that’s cast by the Dryad you’ve summoned, act as obstacles to the enemy. They will try to jump over them rather than take a single step on them, even if taking the direct path is most logical thing for them to do.

  Ideally, you’d like to place your Difficult Terrain in such a way that the enemy can’t simply jump over it. However, jumping distance depends on Strength, and the enemies get stronger at higher difficulty levels and later in the game. If you’re clever (which I’m not) you’ll put some kind of gap between regions of difficult terrain so the enemy jumps over the first region, then is force to walk around the second region.

• If the enemy Dashes, they’ve given you a gift. An enemy can’t Dash and attack on the same turn.

  Arctic Druid Angela likes to get in close to the enemy. But perhaps she can occasionally be convinced to keep her distance so the enemy is forced to Dash to keep up with her. Misty Step or the enhanced jumping can help with this.

Why a Druid?

If I’m being honest, an Arctic spellcaster build is not limited to a Druid.

• The advantages of an Arctic Druid:
  • Lots of minions. Two of them Dryad and Wood Woad, are unique to Druids.
  • The ability to Wild Shape for an extra pool of Hit Points, and for an extra pool of abilities (like an Owlbear‘s Crushing Flight or a Panther‘s Prowl).

  

• The advantages of an Arctic Wizard:
  • An Evocation Wizard gets Sculpt Spell. This means they don’t have to worry about their allies and minions being affected by area-of-effect spells like Ice Storm. (They still have to worry about slipping on the ice.) Evocation Wizards also get Potent Cantrip and Empowered Evocation, which add a serious boost to Ray of Frost.
  • An Abjuration Wizard has better tools for resisting enemy damage.
• The advantages of being an Arctic Sorcerer:
  • Twin-cast Ray of Frost. Twice the targets is always twice the fun.
  • Distant Spell lets you target enemies from further away.
  • Extended Spell causes the ice surfaces from spells like Ice Storm to last longer.

It’s the versatility of a Druid that first led Arctic Druid Angela to success. Before her epic jump that made her a hero, she was a Protector. Her main function was to cast Longstrider and create Goodberries for the party.

Due to a game patch, Goodberries now vanish if they were created by someone no longer in the party. Longstrider is readily available to many classes. So I’m no longer as inclined to spec a Druid hireling as a Protector. Druid Angela was in the right place, at the right time, with the right set of skills.

Only Druids can make the Epic Jump that made her a hero. But other spellcasters can be Arctic.

Why Arctic?

It has to do with the available spells in BG3, the available gear, and the opponents in the game.

One might emphasize a Fire-based build using Scorching Ray, the Hat of Fire Acuity, and maybe Incandescent Staff (though Mourning Frost does more Cold-based damage than Incandescent Staff does Fire-based damage). The issue is that so many opponents in BG3 have Fire Resistance.

A Thunder-based build is certainly possible with Cacophony, Hat of Storm Scion’s Power, and Booming Blade. But a Silence spell negates Thunder damage, and the enemies definitely cast Silence even in lower difficulty levels. However, lots of folks like builds based on Booming Blade (as do I) so who’s to say they’re wrong?

A Lightning-based build is also possible, and in fact is the basis of Magic-Missile and Eldritch-Blast builds. But those builds are based on accumulating Lightning Charges. There is no ranged Lightning cantrip in the game, as opposed to Ray of Frost which is a ranged Cold-based cantrip.

There are few enemies who have Cold Resistance. You can give an enemy Cold Vulnerability simply by making them Wet, using Create Water or even just throwing a water bottle on them. (To be fair, Wet makes an enemy Vulnerable to Lightning as well.) You can stack layers of Chill and Encrusted with Frost until they’re Frozen.

If you want raw damage power, there are better builds out there than a Cold-based one. If you want to see your enemies slip and fall prone so that you have Advantage on all your attacks, an Arctic build is the way to go!

What the heck is Bill doing?

If you’ve been scrolling past all the system-related stuff, you can start reading again.

If you’re wondering why I’m spending so much time with the fantasies about Arctic Druid Angela, all I can say is I’m not the only one.

I should rephrase that: No one else (to my knowledge) is spending any time with Arctic Druid Angela in particular. However, there are others who are weaving stories that are offshoots of their BG3 playthrough experiences.

Consider this video. It comes from a YouTuber who does challenge runs. This particular run demonstrates that it’s possible to go through Tactician dificulty without using any magic whatsoever, either magic items or spells.

The point of my embedding this video is not the challenge itself. It’s that the YouTuber, JJareli, embeds the run within a connected and continuing story that links all these challenge runs together. There’s nothing in the “official” BG3 or D&D lore about this family of characters (all of whom have mustaches) that engage in these playthroughs. It’s all JJareli’s creation.

When I saw this, I realized the the story of Arctic Druid Angela is not unique, either among BG3 fans or genre fandom in general. I’m expressing a form of fanfic in a different way.

When I attribute motives and feelings for a non-existent digital character, it’s not much different from giving a stuffed teddy bear a name and backstory. Maybe it’s childish, but at my age I reserve the right to be childlike.

Arctic Druid Angela will be back again. I have a vague idea that I might use the character to solo a Tactician run. Maybe.

And I may do something else with her as well.

What does Real Angela think about all this?

Although I named Druid Angela after my friend, they are not the same person.

Real Angela knows this (though she may not know who each of these people are). As I continue to spin my fiction of Arctic Druid Angela, none of it has anything to do with her.

Any more than any of these people have anything to do with me:

The point is, there’s no confusion about who’s who.