Baldur's Gate 3 - The Investigator (Call of Cthulhu Inspired Build)

HI all! Today we have a slightly different kind of build. A while back I was asked to make a build inspired by Lovecraftian horror. As someone who loves the Call of Cthulhu TTRPG, I had to give it a try. The idea of this build is that you play as a normal person who slowly loses their sanity over the course of the game, utilizing illithid powers and mind bending spells and abilities.
This was super fun to build and I hope you enjoy it!
The Investigator (Call of Cthulhu Inspired Build)
Arcane Trickster or Thief Rogue 3/Great Old One Warlock 9
Dark Urge is recommended for this build, but optional
Weapons:
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/... (for the buff)
Armour:
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
then
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
then
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
then/or
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
then/or
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
or
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
Accessories:
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
Illithid Powers:
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/...
bg3.wiki/wiki/... (IMPORTANT)
Be sure to join our Discord!
/ discord
Mods I use:
Improved UI - www.nexusmods....
BG3 Mod Fixer - www.nexusmods....
Tav's Hair Salon - www.nexusmods....
Vessnelle's Hair Collection - www.nexusmods....
Native Camera Tweaks - www.nexusmods....
Native Mod Loader - www.nexusmods....
Vemperen's Other Heads Repaired - www.nexusmods....
Faces of Faerun - www.nexusmods....
WASD Character Movement - www.nexusmods....
Basket Full of Equipment SFW version - www.nexusmods....
Tutorial Chest Summoning - www.nexusmods....
Compatibility Framework - www.nexusmods....
Icon and Race Patches for Tav's Hair Salon - www.nexusmods....
Patches for CC Mods (Races Hairs Heads Cosmetic and such) - www.nexusmods....
Baldur's Gate 3 Community Library - www.nexusmods....
Everybody Dyes Unlimited Dyeing - www.nexusmods....
Dissidia's Heads - T2 and T4 - www.nexusmods....
Astralities' Hair Color Supplement - www.nexusmods....
All items (Release ready) - www.nexusmods....
Strong Female Heads - www.nexusmods....
Yves Hair Gallery - www.nexusmods....
Less Wrinkled Expression and Forehead for Face - www.nexusmods....
Dissidia's Hair - ALL BODY TYPES - www.nexusmods....
Lazy's Heads and Hair - www.nexusmods....
No More Dirt And Blood - www.nexusmods....
Faerun Utility - www.nexusmods....
M Half Elf Head E Preset for Other Races - www.nexusmods....
Loiru - Custom Heads for Males - www.nexusmods....
Citizen Outfits as Camp Clothes - www.nexusmods....
Shirts Dresses Corsets - www.nexusmods....
Boring Dyes - www.nexusmods....
Yogurt Heads - Half Orc and Elf Presets - www.nexusmods....
Full Custom Companions (Hirelings) - www.nexusmods....
1XP to Level - www.nexusmods....
The Disgusting Hair of Auntie Ethel - www.nexusmods....
Absolute Tadpole of Illithid Powers - www.nexusmods....
Extra Gear - www.nexusmods....
Yennefer's wardrobe - www.nexusmods....
Respec Spell - www.nexusmods....

[@HoboZone]

Hi all. Small error on my part. I forgot that the Dark Urge has the Haunted One background, so your skill proficiencies will be a bit different. Apologies!

[@AKJ1306]

The Necromancy of Thay would of course be very fitting, since I always had the impression that it feels alot like the Necronomicon from Lovecrafts Crhulhu Mythos

[@spctvl03]

On higher difficulties the more bodies you have on the field the better too! It fits the investigator/inspector angle because, even if you didn't summon the quasit, you're FOSHO checking out the weird mirror and imprisoned book lol. I love your RP angles @HoboZone. Subbed

[@riley5074]

Cool build!! I think you could totally adapt the roleplay of this build to fit that web game Larian made, "Blood in Baldur's Gate." In that game, "Tav" is actually referred to canonically in the world, as an investigator that was looking into the murders committed by the Dark Urge. As Tav keeps uncovering more, Sceleritas Fel eventually takes notice, and issues Tav a challenge: Tav has a tenday to identify the killer (Durge) or they die. There is a full recap on the forgotten realms wiki, as soon as I turned this video on I instantly thought of it!

[@Razyazy]

Im gonna head canon this as my tav for my first playthrough thanks

[@arokh72]

All hail the old ones. The KZbin algorithm sent me here...or did other forces? I'm glad they did, the lore building you've put into this character is amazing. The whole idea of the burden of the memory loss, the stress of the parasite, and even embracing those powers, sending you down a dark mentally unhinged path, just calls out to me.

[@KirDmA]

For someone who doesn't know - mage hand can drink elixirs, so if you want you can use it to increase it strength to 21 or even 27, so throwing people with (you can think that your mental powers) your mind is best feature you can get from arcane trickster)

[@AKJ1306]

Ight, you crushed it Hobo. You recognized the mission and just mastered it haha. Love the build, all thematically perfect and on point 😅

[@HoboZone]

Glad you like it!

[@NaveSutlef]

I absolutely love these kinds of builds where you really focus on the roleplay. Would love more like this! Also a big fan of Cthulhu.

[@kasperholm8248]

This is so nice! I played a Lovecraftian detective and our characters are very similar. Down the line, does the character reject the madness or embrace it ;) Good job and thanks for the video!

[@jpperron1835]

Just have to tell you that this is my favourite concept you have ever done and that is saying a lot because you do amazing concepts always!

[@aaronsmithey4044]

I love this twist of flavor and definitely going to do this next. I was thinking it would be good to add a Hireling that is an "imaginary alter ego" i.e. Batman(shadow monk) that shows up and 'saves the day' and then you mentioned DC and confirmed my enthusiasm.

[@AKJ1306]

FIRST! Finally! I have waited untold aeons! I have endured horrors beyond human comprehension! Thanks Hobo! ❤

[@flibbernodgets7018]

I liked the themeing of this one a lot! Good job

[@bananaacquaintance569]

This makes me want to make a party of various warlock builds + a shadow monk with the ring that allows you to see in magical darkness for an absolute nightmare team that kills enemies in a field of darkness

[@aidanru.2469]

I've been looking for build ideas because my spouse and I are trying an evil DURGE run but we make and play as Sue and Will from Glee. We already agreed that Sue will be a Dark Urge throwing barbarian build with the Berserker and Thief subclasses. But Will was a hassle to figure out until I saw this build video. It works well if I go Lore Bard instead of Arcane Trickster or Thief. Hoping this works out for our run 😂😂. You're doing God's work here!

[@dreinacho]

Damn, that is incredible I think my first solo run will be based on this idea, thanks!

[@ProbeAway]

Sleep would be a good spell option at level 3 because it doesn’t have a save. It’s less useful as the game goes on though. Love the theme!

[@DamienStarry0w0]

It would tie into blood in baldur's gate story so well bc the tav in that story was investigating durge's murders so when they eventually got killed in the end that tav would make a deal with withers to be revived but be teleported on the nautilus with the now amnesiac durge at the price of the tav's memories of durge which gameplay wise would explain the character not recognizing who durge is idk lol

[@revisitedgrunt3706]

This is a really cool idea. I'm definitely going to try out this build.

[@CoffeeBeerHeals]

I love the idea of this build but I think I would personally tweak it to be more of being championed or protected by Cthulhu instead of patroned. I would change a few spells to make it feel like your character is having these things happen around you while you remain human. Makes it stay in the theme of being a normal human that wants to hide in the darkness to stay safe. I wouldn’t take a summon for the build but most of the control spells still seem to work fine

[@Matriarchator]

I wasn't expecting that, but you gave me inspiration for a character build I wanted to ask you about ... I'm either an open book or ...

[@Azybiash]

I would LOVE to see a build that's based on the rhyme "Counting Crows". I think it would be an interesting union of beast master and necromancer

[@hammock329]

Tell us about your plans and we’ll help you!

[@TheShadow1Assassin]

Could you make a dragon themed barbarian using dragonborn , maybe usig the four elements monk for a theme. Great video btw really enjoyed the concept

[@HoboZone]

I've done a build like this but for Karlach, it could be easily tweaked for this concept. Barbarian 3/Four Elements 9 is what you want. You don't need much from Barb so going this high in Monk gives you the full power it has to offer, that being the highest unarmed strike and spell damage.

[@TheShadow1Assassin]

@@HoboZone thanks much, I'll take a look at that. BTW I appreciate how you don't meta builds instead making builds for concepts like an actual dnd player

[@trophygatherer]

This actually has me wondering about a build based on The Hunter from Midnight Suns. They have a two-weapon fighting style and they have different light & dark abilities, light leaning toward cleric & dark leaning towards warlock.

[@usg-647]

LOVE this!

[@user-kj4xt8sp4e]

Hiii, thank you so much for your builds! I kinda got dissappointed with how many popular youtube builds focus on being as OP as possible, abusing multiclassing to create combos that wreck a game that isn't really hard, and with little regard to RP and lore of Forgotten Realms. Your builds though - they're really really awesome. Btw, do you accept suggestions/requests? I would love to see your thoughts on a Red Wizard of Thay build. I'm not sure how to make it interesting and not simply a generic wizard. Many assume that their gimmick is specializing in one school of magic, growing extremely potent with it, but abandoning spells from another school altogether. But it's probably just something that was true for all wizards in earlier edition, and people wrongly assumed it still stands true for Red Wizards. Another Red Wizard's trait is circle magic, which I doubt even mods would implement, and tattoos, that currently don't have gameplay benefits. So I wonder how we could build a Red Wizard that will stand out from regular wizards. For in-game inspiration, we only have mentions of a necromancer Ilyn Toth, and latest general depiction of Red Wizards is Sophia from Honor Among Thieves film. Who's still just a wizard but edgy lmao Sorry for this rant lol, I do realise there's not much to build around

[@HoboZone]

If you wanna join our Discord so you can submit your request there, it would be much easier for me to manage. Stops this comment from getting lost as new ones come in.

[@aaronsmithey4044]

So Awesome!

[@Matriarchator]

39:25 - I forgot to check it for Hotfix 21, but I believe Shadow Possesion to still be bugged. You just get 50% health restoration.

[@HoboZone]

Hey thats good enough for me.

[@jasongaylard2547]

I guess Baldur's Gate could be connected to the Dreamlands.

[@jasongaylard2547]

It’s invaded my dreams anyway 😏

[@jeremywhetstone300]

So I've been going hard in watching your videos and thinking about my second playthrough of the game and I was curious about your thoughts on how to make an Agent 47 type character. In my head, dual wielding crossbows is as close as it would get to using his silver ballers, but iirc dual wielding crossbows isn't great in BG3? Would love your thoughts!

[@HoboZone]

Dual Wielding crossbows is one of the strongest builds in BG3, by a wide margin. For what you want, I would suggest a Thief Rogue/Battle Master Fighter mix. Pick up two weapon fighting for the crossbows, and Battle Master for the ranged maneuvers. Grab Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert with 2 of your 4 feats and you'll be an insane damage dealer. Rogue would give you Stealth and other skills as well.

[@jeremywhetstone300]

@@HoboZone appreciate the input! I'll have to flesh out the finer details, but this is definitely a great starting point!

[@jakeparkinson8929]

I cooked this just for you and its a mess: 6/3/2/1 Spore Druid/Berserker/Paladin/Fiend Warlock temp hp is 24, kills regain temp hp, two attacks per turn, smites, eldritch blast (why), freaking zombies, and one fighting style. You can use halo of spores instead of a bonus action to heal.

[@Kebelix47]

Hobozone, I would love to see a "Hunger of Hadar" build. I thought about 5 warlock 7 white dragon sorcerer and the snowburst ring+ wintercluches + mourning frost, with gale to use evard black tentacles and a ranger with spike growth. What do you think?

[@HoboZone]

Sounds pretty good to me. My old cryomancer build used a lot of ice focused equipment so I may have more advice there.

[@jmoney3932]

Please can you run a dnd game on this channel, I want to see your dnd builds in action

[@HoboZone]

That would take a lot of work and co-ordination from multiple people. I'd love to do some actual play Tabletop on this channel, but I don't think it's feasible as of now.

[@jmoney3932]

@@HoboZone well I mean hey, you doing pretty good as of now. Keep up this work and I see you being the next big dnd creator

[@HoboZone]

@@jmoney3932 lol I doubt it. I'm much happier having a smaller channel.

[@RandomGuy010]

The only stat boost equipment I ever use is the INT headband. There's too much good and fun equipment out there to be wasting a slot on stat boosts.

[@SimonSays288]

I don't know if you take build requests here but I can't wrap my head around how to build Helllboy. Would love to see your take on the character!

[@HoboZone]

I take build requests over on the discord. I can't guarantee they'll get done relatively soon but I do do them every now and then

[@harley3211]

oOOooo interesting!!

[@keithwin3449]

As much as I LOVE BG3 it’s honestly surprising that they completely ignored fixing a subclass entire Benefit of using it

[@HoboZone]

It is strange, but I mean it took 6 patches to make shield bash work. Perhaps the fact that Arcane Trickster isn't that popular means it isn't a priority.

[@zimattack9994]

there had better be an unhealthy amount of fire or a few old man hindersons

[@HoboZone]

Gotta love Old Man Henderson

[@zimattack9994]

@@HoboZone the only man to ever win call of Cthulhu

[@scottmcmillen3015]

8:02 Infographic would have been a nice touch.

[@HoboZone]

Whoops, I forgot. Apologies! The info is still available in the description.

[@TheGravegiver]

Hey @HoboZone if you dont mind can you detail which mods specifically are needed to recreate the look of your character out of all the mods you listed? Really love the theme and idea I want to use it for my first Durge playthrough!

[@HoboZone]

The mods are linked in the description. The outfit is from citizens camp clothing, but that's all I'm sure of.

[@pyrogod1041]

Iv seen many builds based off of X-men characters but iv yet to see one based off or rouge you should try to make a build based off of her if its even possible in baldurs gate

[@spctvl03]

I could envisions a build around the skill vampiric touch 11 necro wizard, dip 1 into life cleric for extra healing on vampiric touch and now you can wear any armor and easily use clubs, daggers or even no melee weapon but have a shield for better AC. Or go 7 necro wiz 5 life cleric for necrotic spirit guardians?

[@eti4376]

Do you have any more charisma-based dark urge playthrough ideas?

[@HoboZone]

Look at the dark urge videos ony channel

[@rojczan1399]

Actually i MUST ask, how does your character not have black veins and eyes from the Sassy Empy Tadpole?

[@HoboZone]

Because I used a mod to add the powers. I meant to give this character the veins, but I forgot.

[@rojczan1399]

I see i see, honestly i find veins not fitting for almost ANY character

[@jaredbinkley4932]

Is there anyway you could do a build around spore Druid with a martial class? I think there’s a lotta potential for role play as a person who uses evil to fight evil, I just can’t ever make it work right when I try it with jaheria. Maybe dual wielding so she can use flame scimitar in one hand?

[@HoboZone]

I've done quite a few actually! Check either my Ghostflame Blade or Death's Hand. Also, you kinda predicted my Jaheria build for next week lol

[@Razyazy]

Would this work for a resist durge

[@HoboZone]

Yes, I actually recommend it in the video

[@DeadlyMouse390]

will you make a pirate build plese :)

[@HoboZone]

I will eventually.

[@DeadlyMouse390]

@@HoboZone thank you i appreciate it

[@Razyazy]

Can you use this as a half wood elf

[@HoboZone]

Yeah human was just for flavour

[@illiaJ5622]

Spoiler, but... The Dark Urge couldn't really be someone who investigated the Absolute because... story reasons. Let's leave it as that.

[@HoboZone]

Yeah I know, but it would be a hell of a plot twist if your memories of being a regular citizen of Baldur's Gate were planted by the mindflayers. I mainly wanted it for the whole, "bouts of insanity" thing.

[@illiaJ5622]

@@HoboZone that makes sense actually. My own Dark Urge wasn't that dissimilar, remembering first their life before they became... all that.

[@ohokaye817]

Call of Cuthulu is great but as a d&d player, i dont need to finish this sentence.

[@HeroicMoron]

Where'd you pick up that outfit for the character? :0