One Baldur's Gate 3 Location Is A Treasure Trove, Even If It Doesn't Make A Lot Of Sense (2024)

Baldur's Gate 3 offers a lot of challenging locations with rewarding loot for those who conquer them, but the easiest place to stock up on gold really doesn't add up at all. For the most part, Baldur's Gate 3 follows the typical Dungeons & Dragons approach to party rewards, dotting equipment, gold, and valuables across dungeons and the inventories of fallen enemies. Other instances offer rewards for conversational checks or thinking outside the box, so there's no shortage of ways for an intrepid party to leverage skills for riches.

The weirdest anomaly can be found in the Lower City of Baldur's Gate, the big Act 3 hub that houses an absolutely dizzying amount of late-game content. Aid the Underduke, one of the many side quests available, sends the party on the trail of a new criminal boss known as the Stone Lord. His trail points in the direction of the Counting House, a bank where the Nine-Fingers guild apparently plays to ambush him if the party doesn't get there in time to intervene.

Baldur's Gate 3's Counting House Has Terrible Security

A High-Profile Bank Should Be Better Defended

As a high-profile bank in a major city, it stands to reason that the Counting House would have some great security features, but that's actually not the case at all. Of all the infiltrations that a Baldur's Gate 3 party can perform throughout the game, the Counting House is a serious contender for the easiest one. A few guards are on hand at each major set of doors, but venturing down into the vaults only requires a party to convince Head Clerk Meadhoney, who doesn't seem to be great at running a tight ship.

If security tightened up on the lower floor of the Counting House, the ease of access to it might not be a big deal. Things get even simpler once the party's made it past the first barrier, however. Any party member can waltz into the area housing standard vaults in the hall by pushing a door open, and the vaults inside should be simple enough to break open for any high-level party. The only real obstacle lies in some magic circles on the floor that teleport trespassers back outside, but they're easy to circumvent and inflict no harm.

Proceeding to the inner high-security vault isn't much harder. The combination for the outer door can be acquired elsewhere in the Counting House, but it's also easy to brute force, as the bank has thoughtfully included a sequence of lights above the door showing whether each selection is correct. Throughout all of this, there are simply no guards in sight, and it seems obvious that some of the guards stationed elsewhere in the building should be moved to serve as security in the part that actually matters.

Stealing From BG3's Counting House Feels Inevitable

Roleplay Is The Only Good Reason Not To

Reddit user Whybotherr posted a lighthearted call-out of the Counting House situation, also taking note of the fact that the robbery taking place in the inner vault upon the party's arrival proves that they aren't the only ones capable of outwitting the bank's meager defenses. From the player's perspective, this can make the Counting House a great Act 3 location to check out, but it's arguably a low point for the game's immersion. Although human incompetence is realistic, the Counting House starts to push credulity, even if the average Baldur's Gate citizen would struggle more than an adventuring party does.

A good-aligned party might still resist the temptation to steal from the Counting House, but the laxness of security is arguably even more criminal than taking advantage of it is. Besides, there's only one group equipped to defeat the Absolute, and any citizen with a vested interest in living a free future should understand the necessity of funding that cause. The Counting House is a bit of an absurd location in Baldur's Gate 3, and as long as that's the case, the party might as well get something out of it.

Source: Whybotherr/Reddit

Baldur's Gate 3

Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur's Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.

RPG

Franchise

Baldur's Gate

Platform(s)

PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X

Released

August 3, 2023

Developer(s)

Larian Studios