Should You Take Raphael’s Deal In Act 3 and Let Him Remove The Parasite in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Striking a deal with the Devil has never been a good idea in any video game, and Baldur’s Gate 3 is no different. Shown as a literal devil, your character meets Raphael while doing the Open Hand Temple Murders quest in Sharess’ Caress.

As with others, he will offer to remove your Illithid parasite for a price. Now, this deal will seem increasingly enticing as other methods fail to produce results, but should you take him up on the offer and strike a deal with the devil? Let’s find out.

Should You Take Raphael’s Deal in Baldur’s Gate 3?

You shouldn’t take Raphael’s deal in Baldur’s Gate 3. While there are many reasons why you shouldn’t take up Raphael’s deal, in short, you get a lot more out of rejecting the offer rather than taking him up on it. While Raphael even tries to cut you a better deal by throwing in the Orphic Hammer, trust us when we say it isn’t worth it. This deal might not seem very significant at that point, but it can have disastrous consequences down the line.

Since we mentioned disastrous consequences, it would be wrong to assume that everyone will want to decline this offer. While this guide serves as a basis for the general player base, players wanting to choose a more evil path are always free to accept the offer and go through with it. They will then have to make their choices accordingly and bear the future damages.

However, we vehemently agree that most of you should either choose not to accept the offer in the first place or, even if you do, do not follow up on it later on. There’s a workaround to this as well that we’ll mention in the end.

Why Should You Refuse Raphael’s Deal?

There are quite a few benefits to refusing Raphael’s deal in Sharess’ Caress. Some you’ll see immediately, while others will appear down the line. They include:

• Increased respect from party companions
• Visiting the House of Hope
• Beating Raphael in combat
• Keeping the Crown of Karsus for yourself
• Different cures for the Illithid parasite
• Deal remains available later on

If some of these apparent benefits confuse you, trust us when we say all of them are very advantageous. The House of Hope is a late-game objective, and going there proves extremely useful. You acquire tons of goodies from there, like the Helldusk Armor Set as well as the Orphic Hammer. Plus, you get to engage in one of the best fights of the game, the fight against Raphael.

Other advantages, like your party members respecting you and finding a different cure for illithid parasite are also valuable at the end of the day, as well as keeping the Elder Brain’s crown in your inventory.

How To Get Out of Your Deal With Raphael

We mentioned before that you don’t need to follow through once you’ve made a deal with the Devil. Of course, at the time of making the deal, Raphael says that going back on your word will cause you to lose your soul to him for eternity. That doesn’t sound like a tempting prospect.

This is why if you want to get out of the deal, all you have to do is steal the contract when you enter Raphael’s domain. You can find the binding contract inside the Archive within an Impervious Sphere in the House of Hope. Look for Raphael’s Notes to learn of the phrase you need to use to break the sphere. This will consequently anger Raphael, unleashing his fury.

What Happens If You Accept Raphael’s Deal?

For those of you who are curious as to what happens if you accept the Devil’s deal, you’ll end up getting the Orphic Hammer early and skipping the House of Hope quest. Using the Orphic Hammer, you free Orpheus and defeat the Elder Brain. After defeating the Elder Brain and acquiring the Crown of Karsus, you’ll need to hand it over to Raphael.

Raphael has no good intentions with the power of the Crown, and this will hurt your party’s perception of you. Still, if you’ve chosen to do as many evil things as you can in this playthrough, we won’t stop you from striking a deal with the Devil himself.

For more guides and information on Baldur’s Gate 3, check out these related pieces from our team: How To Get to Baldur’s Gate, How to Get Spellsparkler, Is BG3 on Switch?, How to Find Wyll and How to Romance Shadowheart.