How to Get the Potion of Everlasting Vigour BG3 and Why You Might Regret It

You're standing in Moonrise Towers. The air is thick with the smell of absolute zealotry and rotting meat. In front of you is Araj Oblodra, a drow blood merchant who looks like she hasn't slept since the Second Sundering. She wants a drop of your blood, and in exchange, she’s offering something that sounds too good to pass up. We’re talking about the potion of everlasting vigour bg3, a legendary consumable that doesn't just give you a temporary buff—it changes your character's DNA. Permanently.

It’s one of the few items in Baldur’s Gate 3 that can actually break the natural cap of your stats. Normally, you’re stuck at a Strength of 20 unless you’ve got some very specific gear or feats. This potion? It adds a flat +2 to your Strength score forever. No concentration required. No "until long rest." It just is. But getting it requires a choice that feels exceptionally gross if you’re trying to be a decent person, or even just a decent friend to a certain pale elf.

The Mechanics of a Permanent +2 Strength

Let’s be real: in a game where every +1 to an attack roll can be the difference between a Critical Hit and a pathetic whiff against a boss, a permanent +2 is massive. That’s a +1 bonus to your Athletics, your carry capacity, and, most importantly, your damage and accuracy with Strength-based weapons.

If you drink the potion of everlasting vigour bg3 on a character like Karlach or a Strength-focused Paladin, you are essentially getting a free Ability Score Improvement (ASI) without having to sacrifice a feat like Great Weapon Master or Sentinel. It stays with you through the end of Act 2 and all the way into the heart of the Lower City in Act 3.

The interesting thing is how it stacks. If you’ve already used your feats to get your Strength to 20, this potion pushes you to 22. If you later find the Mirror of Loss in the House of Grief, you could potentially hit 24 Strength. That is "shoving a dragon off a cliff" levels of power.

But there’s a catch. There is always a catch with Larian Studios.

Why Astarion Hates This Potion (And You)

To get your hands on this vial of liquid gains, you have to convince Astarion to bite Araj Oblodra. It sounds simple. He’s a vampire; biting people is his whole deal, right? Wrong.

Araj's blood "smells like putrefaction and honey," according to Astarion. He finds the very idea of tasting her blood revolting. It’s not just a matter of bad taste, though. For Astarion, his body has been a tool for others for two hundred years. Being forced to bite someone he finds disgusting just because you want a stat boost triggers his trauma in a way that’s actually painful to watch.

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If you force him to do it, you get the potion of everlasting vigour bg3. You also get a very angry vampire. If you're romancing him, this choice can be a relationship-killer unless you navigate the following camp dialogue with extreme care and genuine contrition. Honestly, seeing him scrub his mouth out back at camp makes that +2 Strength feel a little heavy.

Is a +2 Strength worth your companion's autonomy? Mechanically, yes. Morally? That's the beauty of this game.

Finding Araj Oblodra in Moonrise Towers

You can't find this potion in a chest. You can't craft it with alchemy. You have to go to the main floor of Moonrise Towers during Act 2. Araj is usually hanging out in a side room on the ground floor, near the kitchens.

When you talk to her, she’ll first ask for a vial of the protagonist’s blood. Do it. She gives you a unique potion based on your race in return. But the real prize—the potion of everlasting vigour bg3—only enters the conversation if Astarion is in your active party.

1. Talk to Araj with Astarion nearby.
2. Listen to her creepy request for a vampire bite.
3. Ignore Astarion’s very clear "please don't make me do this" face.
4. Press the issue until he bites her.
5. He will immediately recoil in disgust.
6. Araj, delighted by the "scientific" result, hands over the potion.

It’s a one-time deal. If you kill Araj before doing this, or if you progress the story to the point where the Harpers are storming the tower, the opportunity is gone. You can find Araj again in Act 3 in the Lower City, but she won't give you the Strength potion then. She’ll have other, weirder experiments for you involving explosives, but the "everlasting vigour" ship has sailed.

Strategic Allocation: Who Should Drink It?

Don't just chug this because it's in your inventory. Because the potion of everlasting vigour bg3 is a permanent increase, you want to put it on the character who will benefit most from it for the next 40 hours of gameplay.

A Rogue/Ranger hybrid using Finesse weapons doesn't want this. A Sorcerer or Wizard definitely doesn't want this, unless you’re doing some weird "Muscle Mage" build for the memes.

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The best candidates are:

• Lae'zel: If you're keeping her as a pure Fighter, she hits like a truck. This makes her a tank.
• Karlach: As a Wildheart or Berserker Barbarian, Strength is her lifeblood.
• Your Tav/Dark Urge: If you’re playing a Paladin, Cleric (War Domain), or a Barbarian yourself.
• Minthara: If you recruited her, she benefits massively from the extra hitting power.

One thing to keep in mind is the "respec" mechanic with Withers. If you drink the potion and then later decide to change your class to a Bard, the +2 Strength still applies to your base stats after the respec. It is truly permanent. It's a foundational change to the character sheet.

The "Meta" Way to Play the Araj Encounter

If you are a completionist who wants the potion but also wants to stay on Astarion's good side, you have to be careful. You can actually get the potion and still keep his approval high if you’ve been nice to him elsewhere.

The trick isn't in the biting itself—he’ll always hate that. The trick is in the conversation at camp afterward. If you tell him you're sorry and acknowledge that he’s a person, not a tool, you can actually gain a massive amount of approval. Sometimes, admitting you were a selfish jerk is the fastest way to a vampire's heart.

But if you tell him to "get over it" or that he "owed you," don't be surprised when he leaves your party or tries to put a stake through your heart.

Does the Potion Expire?

There’s a common misconception that the potion of everlasting vigour bg3 might lose its potency if you die and get resurrected, or if you transition between Acts.

It does not.

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It functions exactly like an Ability Score Improvement. It’s a "Passive Feature" that shows up on your character sheet. You can see it under the "Notable Features" tab. It effectively raises your Strength floor and ceiling. This is why it’s arguably the most powerful single consumable in the entire game, rivaled only by the Hag’s Hair from Act 1 (which gives a +1 to any stat).

If you’ve already used Auntie Ethel's hair to boost Strength, and you use this potion, you've gained a +3 to Strength without spending a single feat. That is wild. You can have 20 Strength by the middle of Act 2 while still taking feats like Savage Attacker or Polearm Master.

Final Steps for Your Build

If you’re sitting on the potion right now, here is what you need to do to maximize it. Check your current Strength. If it’s an odd number (like 17 or 19), the +2 will bring you to an even number (19 or 21), which increases your modifier. If your Strength is already even, the +2 will still increase your modifier.

Basically:

• Check your Strength score.
• If drinking it puts you at an odd number (like 19), consider visiting Withers to tweak your base stats so that the +2 lands you on an even number (like 20).
• Modifiers only increase on even numbers (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22).
• Aim for 22 Strength by combining this potion with your standard level-up improvements.

Go find Araj in the southeast corner of the main floor of Moonrise. Make your choice. Just remember to bring some mouthwash for Astarion afterward. It's the least you can do.

Actionable Next Steps

1. Locate Araj Oblodra: Find her in Moonrise Towers (X: -126, Y: -190) before the "Point of No Return" at the end of the Gauntlet of Shar.
2. Prepare Astarion: Ensure he is in your party and that your relationship can handle a -10 approval hit if you force the bite.
3. Optimize the Drinker: Identify the character in your party with the highest Strength potential and ensure they drink it to hit an even-numbered stat threshold.
4. Respec if Necessary: Use Withers to adjust your base stats so that the +2 bonus results in a 20 or 22 Strength, maximizing your combat modifiers.