Auntie Ethel's Hair

Auntie Ethel's Hair is a common item that can be used to permanently increase a character's Ability Score of your choice by 1.

Two lice still scurry around on the little flap of skin attached to this clump of matted, crusty hair.

Properties

• Consumables
• Single Use
• Rarity: Common
•  Weight: 0.2 kg / 0.4 lb
• Price: 280 gp

Effect

Consuming this piece of fey flesh grants a permanent +1 bonus to an Ability Score of your choice.

Where to find

After Auntie Ethel is weakened (below 20% Hit Points) and has a turn to act, she begs for her life and implores you to let her keep Mayrina and her baby, offering you power in return. The player has the possibility to roll a DC 20 Intimidation check or DC 20 Deception check against Auntie Ethel to both free Mayrina and get this power, at the cost of letting Auntie Ethel go.

• Auntie Ethel cannot offer this bargain if she is  Silenced.^{[Needs Verification]}
• Auntie Ethel will not bargain for Mayrina if she is unconscious.

Notes

This stat increase appears to be uncapped, taking effect after other items/bonuses that raise stats to a capped amount.

If you are a Paladin, taking the deal will break your Oath.

"Auntie Ethel's boon" appears in the character's Notable Features section after consuming it.

Prior to Patch 6, there was a known bug where, if Auntie Ethel's Hair was in the player's inventory when the Owlbear Cub appeared at camp for the first time and the player fed the cub, the cub would automatically "eat" Auntie Ethel's Hair instead of any camp supplies. The hair would disappear from the player's inventory.

A unique interaction can happen if playing in Honour mode when the player is making their dialogue skill check. If any spell is used for the check, like guidance for example, Auntie Ethel will trigger her legendary action, Weird Magic Surge, which will create an illusory duplicate. This action will throw the player out of the dialogue and into combat once more. Even if the skill check succeeded, no reward will be given to the player and the dialogue cant trigger again. Other non-spell related effects, however, such as bardic inspiration, will still work on this check.

It is possible to obtain Auntie Ethel's Hair, free Mayrina, and also kill Auntie Ethel:

• Leave one party member hidden and out of combat, while the rest of the party whittle Auntie Ethel's Hit Points down to a range where the next hit will guarantee a kill. (Check Sidenotes below).
• When the dialogue is triggered, successfully intimidate or deceive her to both give you the hair and free Mayrina, but do not end the dialogue.
• Switch to the out of combat party member. You will be shown the quest reward window that lets you choose which version (ability score) of the hair you want.
• Confirm the quest reward window, then finish off Auntie Ethel while she's still in dialogue with the other party members.

Sidenotes:

• This method does not work in a multiplayer game.
• It is recommended to get her Hit Points down as low as possible because you will only get one chance to attack her, otherwise the out of combat character will be dragged into the dialogue and she will escape.
• This method might not always leave a corpse to be looted ^{[Needs Verification]}

Variant	UID	UUID
Strength	QUEST_HAG_HagHair_Strength	8f6b0c08-d1b1-4ae7-ade2-da3c679ce323
Dexterity	QUEST_HAG_HagHair_Dexterity	7e3afbf6-4e1a-444e-826d-f8e0e0a8308f
Constitution	QUEST_HAG_HagHair_Constitution	d16922ba-a36b-4015-8072-27610821fb53
Intelligence	QUEST_HAG_HagHair_Intelligence	9abbab89-d29f-47c0-9ffe-f12018dd83d9
Wisdom	QUEST_HAG_HagHair_Wisdom	de2c9582-fab5-4d5e-9a81-44d67af6a681
Charisma	QUEST_HAG_HagHair_Charisma	eec5de82-c988-40e6-8f10-474d5675c550