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Companion approval is a key system in Baldur’s Gate 3, measuring friendship levels that influence everything from major plot points to available romance options. However, it turns out that this isn’t the only metric Larian uses to track our relationships with companions. Spoilers ahead for Shadowheart’s story in Baldur’s Gate 3.
YouTuber SlimX discovered a “hidden Shadowheart score,” referred to as “Nightsong points” in Baldur’s Gate 3’s script files. These points are earned through specific conversations with Shadowheart in Acts 1 and 2. Accumulating four out of six possible points unlocks a dialogue where she begins to question her faith in Shar.
If you achieve high approval and manage to initiate this conversation, you no longer need to persuade Shadowheart not to kill Nightsong at the end of Act 2—by default, she will choose to spare the aasimar. Interestingly, this seems to affect Shadowheart’s behavior only in the first two acts, while her final decision regarding Nightsong, regardless of how it’s made, shapes her storyline in Act 3.
Despite 300 hours of gameplay and three characters reaching this story point, I never earned enough Nightsong points to unlock this dialogue. SlimX points out that some aspects of the system, particularly the score from the conversation about Shadowheart’s supernatural wound, seem to have bugs. Opportunities to earn Nightsong points include:
- Two from the conversation about Shadowheart’s wolf memory.
- The conversation about the wound on her hand.
- Unlocking her memory with Noblestalk.
- Gifting her the Night Orchid.
- Letting her donate blood at the Gauntlet of Shar.
Now that I’m aware of this system, I plan to prioritize earning Nightsong points to unlock this dialogue in my next playthrough. I have some unfinished business with Honor mode, and it’s worth trying one of my crazy multiclass builds after the Shadow of Erdtree hype dies down. I’ll definitely revisit SlimX’s video on this system, which details the dialogue choices needed for Nightsong points and how to avoid those pesky interaction bugs.
