Ad placeholder
Nere
Nere, also known as True Soul Nere, is a True Soul of the Absolute, and potential boss in Baldur's Gate 3. In Act One, he can be found at Grymforge, trapped inside a room that suffered a cave-in. He is a pivotal character for the quests
Free True Soul Nere and Deliver Nere's Head.
“Heretics. Let Nere be your end.„
Involvement[edit | edit source]
Act One[edit | edit source]
A group of enslaved deep gnomes are trying to free Nere from a cave-in near the main room of the Grymforge. To save him, the gnomes tell the party to find 
Philomeen, a runaway gnome in possession of an explosive capable of destroying the rubble.
Caution: Nere dies if fast travelling or long resting more than once after first communing with him at the cave-in.
After freeing him, the party can fight Nere and his mercenaries to save the gnome slaves. The party can also complete the quest Blind the Absolute - convincing 
Elder Brithvar to side against Nere.
Alternatively, it is possible to betray Brithvar and convince Nere and the Absolute Cultists to turn on the mercenaries.
It is also possible to lock the party out of either of these options through dialogue choices prior to rescuing Nere, leading him to kill both the gnome slaves and 
Sergeant Thrinn immediately after he is freed from the rubble. He then demands that the party help him to kill the rest of the cultists and duergar mercenaries; this turns all characters except Nere hostile and starts combat.
If the party defy Nere when he kills the gnome slaves (or when he demands to kill the other cultists, and not having a deal with Elder Brithvar), a fight starts against him and all the duergar at the same time. However, if the party have a deal with Elder Brithvar, it is possible to interrupt Nere from killing the gnome slaves and still side with him once Elder Brithvar attacks Nere, leading to an option of saving the gnomes while Nere is still alive.
Deciding to fight Nere's mercenaries before freeing him unlocks a dialogue option to convince him that the Absolute is little more than a group of cultists. This results in Nere abandoning the Cult of the Absolute and leaving Grymforge for good.
If Nere is defeated (or dies off-screen from a revolt or poisoning), it is then possible to remove his head (earning the 
Head of the Snake inspiration for party members with the Haunted One background) and deliver it to 
Spaw or 
Glut, completing the quest Deliver Nere's Head.
Regardless of his status, the party receives a 
Broken Moonlantern, a precursor to a crucial item needed to travel through the Shadow-Cursed Lands to reach Moonrise Towers. There is no way to fix this lantern, but the there are several options to find a working one later.
Act Two[edit | edit source]
If Nere survives in Grymforge and remains loyal to the Absolute, he appears briefly in Act Two in the Gauntlet of Shar as a zombie servant to 
Balthazar.
Combat[edit | edit source]
Attacks and abilities[edit | edit source]
Honour mode[edit | edit source]
Allies[edit | edit source]
If not completing Blind the Absolute, then additional allies will side with Nere:
* = These duergar do not join the fight until it gets close to them. If this does not happen before the fight ends (either by winning or escaping), then these characters disappear. 
Philomeen also disappears, but 
Skickpit and the Deep Rothé stay.
Encounter details[edit | edit source]
If the party completes Blind the Absolute then many duergar will choose to ally with them against Nere, significantly reducing the difficulty of the fight.
Several enemies have spells which can control the minds of party members. Nere uses 
Wicked Coercion, and both 
Mind Master Dunnol and 
Mind Master Fonmara use 
Mind Mastery, forcing the party to waste actions fighting each other.
This battle also occurs next to 
Lava which will quickly 
melt anyone who falls into it. Many enemies have ways of pushing party backwards into the lava, such as 
Shove, Thrinn's 
Thunderwave, or Nere's Shatter Visage on Honour mode. Nere has an abnormally high 
Athletics bonus of +9 and the 
Muscular passive, making it very difficult to shove him (DC 24), though he does not actually possess the Shove ability himself.
Caution: the gnomes may move into area of effect spells like 
Hunger of Hadar and, as they are not in combat, take damage in real time, potentially preventing the caster from ending 
Concentration before they die.
Tactics[edit | edit source]
It is most important to take out enemies that can mind control party members first.
It is advisable to keep away from the lava as well, as it will almost certainly kill anyone who falls inside. However, this can be used to the party's advantage by knocking enemies in, using actions such as Shove, 
Pushing Attack (Melee), 
Flurry of Blows: Push, Thunderwave, or 
Arrow of Roaring Thunder.
Proximity to a 
Sussur Bloom greatly reduces the amount of magic used, thanks to its Sussur Flower Antimagic Field. This is particularly effective against Nere since his spells are far more dangerous than his physical attacks. Failing that, he can be attacked with a Sussur 
Greatsword, 
Sickle, or 
Dagger to 
Silence him.
In Honour mode, Nere's legendary action, whilst stating it triggers when attacked, instead triggers on many offensive actions which do not require an attack roll. Even spells which do no damage and require no save, such as 
Create Water, will trigger it. Silencing him does not impact his ability to trigger this action; 
Incapacitating him prevents him from using it.
Also, while 
Psionic Visages are active, the Detonations triggered by attacking Nere are centered on the character who triggered the Detonation, rather than Nere.
Loot[edit | edit source]
It is possible to get both 
Gift from the Absolute and 
Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen by first completing Free True Soul Nere then killing Nere later.
Related literature[edit | edit source]
Related quests[edit | edit source]
Speak with Dead[edit | edit source]
Nere can be spoken to with 
Speak with Dead.
- Who are you?
- Nere
- True Soul... Nere...
- How did you get trapped?
- Nere
- Corridor... triggered old trap... cave-in...
- What were you doing here?
- Where did you come from?
- Nere
- Moonrise... Towers...
- How can I get to Moonrise Towers?
- Nere
Minthara in goblin camp... safe passage... Moonlantern... drider...
- Did you come here with the duergar?
- Nere
- Mercenaries... Absolute unites...
Bugs[edit | edit source]
- Due to an incorrect method of applying additional spell slots to Nere's character stats, he only enters combat with one
Level 1 Spell Slot and one Level 2 Spell Slot.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
-
Nere in early access
External links[edit | edit source]
Nere on the Forgotten Realms Wiki