It turns out you can get Baldur's Gate 3's best assassin armor without killing a baby angel elephant and joining a cult, all you have to do is pickpocket a ghost

Baldur's Gate 3's Bhaalist Armor is hands down one of the best in the game, effectively doubling your damage if you're a classic dual daggers assassin sicko⁠—think the Shrouded Armor from Skyrim or Oblivion for something to compare it to. It's the best choice for rogues, duelists, even something to clad your tank with if you're an archer, since other characters can take advantage of its debuff on enemies.

It also requires you to make a fairly heinous moral choice to acquire, leaving a big conundrum for all the Chaotic Good Gloomstalkers out there. But in classic Baldur's Gate 3 fashion, there's an exploit to make it yours, keep your hands clean, and not even have to touch the many mods that make it available without being evil. Spoilers ahead for Baldur's Gate 3 Act 3.

The Bhaalist Armor is sold by a merchant named Echo of Abazigal, a ghost of the Baldur's Gate 2 Bhaalspawn dragon who only spawns if you become an Unholy Assassin of Bhaal at the conclusion of the Murder Tribunal questline⁠—no Unholly Assassin means no Abazigal, and no Bhaalist Armor. Becoming one requires sacrificing Inspector Valeria, an adorable little flying elephant or "hollyphant" from D&D's celestial realms. They're kind of a jerk or "shitey little elephant," as one character puts it, but they also have a cute little hat and tobacco pipe, so it's hard to justify killing them.

The Baldur's Gate 3 Wiki was updated to include the alternate armor acquisition route in December, and the earliest explanation of it I've found comes from Toyhouze on YouTube. When becoming an Unholy Assassin, Sarevok summons the ghost of one of your victims, and for some reason, the ghost NPC will be carrying Abazigal's entire inventory for you to pickpocket.

Larian's incredibly flexible Divinity engine will let you keep a companion far enough away from the cutscene so they can just run around while everybody's locked in dialogue mode, and you can swipe the armor from the ghost. The Tribunal will turn hostile if you get caught, so here's some tips on pulling it off:

• Have high Dexterity and proficiency (preferably specialization) in Sleight of Hand.
• Cast Enhance Ability: Cat's Grace on your thief, or have them wear the Graceful Cloth armor to get advantage on the roll.
• Cast Darkness or Fog Cloud so your thief is obscured, but make sure you don't hit the ghost or Tribunal members with it.
• Don't forget to save scum unless you're on Honour Mode!

I love this route to getting the armor for a host of reasons. I never wanted to just mod myself the armor, because I always thought there was something vital and cool about the friction of having the gear locked behind a moral choice⁠—it's a genuine mechanical temptation to be evil.

But as with the (now-simplified) Sheepthara trick to get Minthara as a companion on a good guy playthrough, jumping through the hoops of Divinity engine shenanigans to have your cake and eat it too feels like I'm sufficiently paying the piper. Rather than just modding or save editing myself an exclusive companion or armor set, I've hoodwinked the game like a hero from a fable finding a loophole with a mythological trickster.

Also, the armor just whips ass and looks cool to boot. Its +2 to initiative is always welcome, but Aura of Murder is where it's at. This AOE debuff centered on the wearer makes nearby enemies take double damage from piercing weapons like daggers, short swords, spears, rapiers, or arrows.

For my money, that effect upgrades the Gloomstalker-Assassin (one of the best builds in Baldur's Gate 3 already) from A to S-tier. Meanwhile, if you're an archer or thrower barbarian with the Nyrulna trident, you can slap the Bhaalist Armor on your melee tank and take advantage of the improved damage from afar.

I was already excited to sample one of Patch 8's new subclasses for my next playthrough, but now I'm wondering if I should just run a perfected dual-wield assassin guy. Meanwhile, even with a notable nerf, it still seems like we're about to enter a permanent Booming Blade economy.