Baldur's Gate 3: How to Add the Dog Scratch to Your Party

Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Add the Dog Scratch to Your Party

By Alex NeyAugust 9, 20234 Mins Read Guide

Scratch is a stray dog in Baldur’s Gate 3 that you can gain as a camp companion. And more: this guide shows how Scratch follows you and your party on your travels.

What this guide is about: In the first act of Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll meet the stray dog Scratch, a white shepherd mongrel guarding his owner’s corpse in a stretch of forest near the Blighted Village. With a bit of empathy, as well as the “deal with animals” skill, you can make Scratch aware of his situation and offer him to come with you.

After the sad dog has briefly sniffed your hand, he sets off a little later to the camp of your hero group. For the time being, Scratch is a mere camp companion, but the animal foundling is ultimately not bound to the rest stop. This guide explains how to take Scratch with you on your travels.

How the Dog Scratch Follows Your Party in Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3 How dog Scratch follows you — You will meet the dog Scratch for the first time near the Blighted Village. (Baldur’s Gate 3)

Your new animal companion will have an easy time winning your heart. However, you won’t have to move mountains to take Scratch with you (almost) everywhere. As already noted, the pet must first guard the camp. Anyway, it only takes a little work and a certain amount of game progress to change this state of affairs.

Specifically, there are two requirements to fulfill for this:

Take Care of Scratch

Your virtual camp pet wants to be taken care of, so pet it whenever you return to the party’s resting place. Also, you should play with your friend, but it is not necessary to look for suitable toys. That’s because Scratchy himself will “hand” you a ball, which you can throw and let him retrieve.

Baldur's Gate 3 Add Dog Scratch to your Party — Above: The friendly Scratch at his temporary ancestral place, the camp.

However, the latter only works if you, as so often in Baldur’s Gate 3, succeed in rolling the corresponding dice. So if you’re unlucky, you’ll have to take care of Scratch a bit longer until he more or less sticks to your heels.

Use the Summon Companion Magic

Once Scratch has made enough friends with your character, the dog will not automatically follow him out of camp. A little magic is needed here, or more precisely, the spell “Summon Companion”. So unless you’re playing a Ranger with the Beastmaster subclass, who can summon animals as companions, or own an amulet that lets you summon animals, you may have a problem here.

But there is a solution, and it goes by the name of Minsc. This NPC is a human Ranger who can be added to your ranks of heroes. Minsc can be found in the counting house on the lower level of Baldur’s Gate. You’ll have to talk to one of the bankers there to get a quest that will lead you to Minsc’s location.

Baldur's Gate 3 Minsc — As a Ranger, the Beastmaster subclass is open to Minsc. (Baldur’s Gate 3)

Can Scratch Also Fight?

Yes, Scratch can also support your party in skirmishes. If you have already summoned him, he will automatically take part in the battle. Likewise, it is possible to summon Scratch during a confrontation. For this reason, your faithful friend also has status values.

Stats for Scratch: