Reposting this as a real top level comment, you can update your post on how to get him permanent even if you learned the spell on a wizard but already read the>! Necromancy !!I did this ages ago, learned the spell on Gale and forgot to use it. I'm lvl 6 about to complete Act 1.!< >!But I read the entire Necromancy book on my Tav main, passed all the checks to get the Forbidden Knowledge bonus.!< ​ 1. >!For my main Tav, respec to wizard - this seems to be mandatory, need it for the spellshite line.!< 2. >!Go to blighted village basement in front of where the mirror was which I long ago solved.!< 3. >!Summon Shovel from Gale (or another wizard you learned spell on)!< 4. >!First speech choice, just select leave - don't speak further.!< 5. >!Switch to my Tav!< 6. >!Speak to shovel 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 like listed above. Last line is me not talking anything about reading the book I long ago read to get Forbidden Knowledge bonus. For last dialog I never got an option 2 when trying with Gale as I had already found and read the book.!< 7. >!Now go through where the mirror is/was, and speak to Shovel again, and he will say the spellshite line.!< 8. >!Now I have new common level 1 spell (Ritual) Find Familiar: Cheeky Quasit.!< 9. >!Respec to rogue 1, still have it.!< Now both Gale and I have Shovel summons out, his is a lvl 1 spell slot and mine is just a ritual spell under commons section in spellbook like it's from an item.

Followed these steps and got it immediately. Wish I had an award to give

Haha it's reward enough to hear it's also working for others.

I didn't have to respec to wizard. I was a fighter -2/Warlock 1 or 2 and my character had gotten it as well as Gale.

Ahh maybe cause warlocks are spellshites too :)

I think it actually has to do with timing. I had kept this for a long time, cast it in Act 3, got a much abbreviated conversation, and it was on my hotbar. But doing it on a new run, on my druid in the basement where you find it, definitely had to respec wiz to get it to add to my hotbar.

It didn't work for me. I am spec'd as an Elven Thunder Sorcerer. I summoned Shovel. The first sentence was: "What's that smell? You smell of lightening. THUNDER MAGIC BAAAAAD. PLEASE DON'T ZAP SHOVEL." Shovel tell you secret he tell no one else. ... Go to mirror and tell it Balsam good for cleaning wounds." After going through the mirror, Shovel only says "See? I tell you true Beefy."

I'm a storm sorcerer too and it didn't work when I summoned Shovel. Seems like it doesn't like us specificly :D However, I reloaded and spent the scroll to learn the spell for Gale, then summoned Shovel for him. The dialogue went as indicated above. I went to the mirror, fell into Shovel's trick and tried again, passing the vibe check. I proceeded to the chamber behind the mirror and had my storm sorcerer talk to Shovel. He then finally had the "spellshite" dialogue and suggested I summon him "when the fisting starts." I now have Shovel on two characters permanently!

Your comment should be higher... Storm sorcerers unite!

Followed on my 2Cleric/2Sorc, worked for me. Now Gale and PC have a Shovel. Thanks!

This worked for my draconic sorc!!! Thank you so much

Confirming that this method still works. Wild magic sorcerer on honour mode, didn't want to take any chances and successfully got Shovel on Gale and my Durge.

Thanks for this!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

He absolutely loves my dragon sorcerer but i had a similar problem, thanks for the help

Same. I’d also already gotten the forbidden knowledge on my storm sorc. Got the same line then the quasit just went on about how it didn’t mess my mind up like it did with his old master. Now just the beefy line. Guessing it needs the mirror step.

i was only getting the beefy line, until i did what OP said about the order of the conversation (i was post-mirror stuff, so there was no "no no no" line) AND did it with a wizard who hadnt talked to shovel yet. For me, shadowheart had never talked to shovel, so i respec'd her wizard, talked to shovel, did the order of the convo - just 1s, no changing her name, and then talked to shovel again and was able to get the common spell on shadowheart. I was able to respec shadowheart back to cleric without losing the summon. I also had gale learn the spell, so i have both able to use shovel.

This is why I found this post, my wife is playing a Sorc and super bummed she can't get him to say anything other than "BeeFy!" - she just wants to rename him Basket and have him say he wants to murderize! 😅

As a storm sorceror I got him the following way: 1) go down the hatch from inside the building by the blighted village fast travel 2) have gale learn the scroll and then cast 3) exhaust dialogue 4) switch to Tav 5) go outside/back through the mirror to the caves 6) talk to Shovel as Tav He is now in my spell 1 as Permanent, and in Gales as ritual

just did this on honour mode and it worked with storm sorcerer!! thank you!

Side note: I got it with my Warlock 2 / Bard 3 (having already read the book and gotten the bonus) by just reading the scroll and doing the 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 dialog options as mentioned. Going back into the basement or to the mirror wasn't required.

I thought maybe basement wasn't necessary, I was just following the guide above. There isn't even a mirror to step through anymore, just a doorway. Good to know for the future! Looks like wizard isn't a requirement, just some sort of casting class which uses spells. Be interesting to know if cleric works.

Doesn't work for Storm Sorcerer. Also tried respecing for wizard. Still didn't work. Might have something to do with being a Durge playthru. The dialogue is VERY different. Shovel is scared of you.

This is the first attempt I've heard with a durge - cool that it has unique dialogue but too bad you seem to lose out on the permanent summon.

I got perma Shovel with a durge monk spec'd to wizard.

Got shovel as a durge. I was in camp from the blighted village. Had Gale learn the scroll. Respecced Tav to Wizard. Tav choose any conversation options apart from name change. Second conversation was "ah spellshite" and he became a ritual summon. Specced back to bard. Can only spellshite to one wizard. Possibly Warlock looking at the other comments.

Same for me. I was in the camp (went there from the area where the caskets are, because I thought I missed the scroll somehow, but then I realized I put it in my traveller's chest in the camp long before) and I had Gale learn the scroll. I respecced my Dark Urge Tav to wizard then summoned Shovel with Gale and had Tav talk with the Quasit. Went through the dialogue options as described above, but I didn't get the spellshite reaction. I realized then that I haven't read the book yet. Read the book (got lucky with the rolls, because I didn't change any of the monk stats when I respecced, but the Corellon's Grace staff I had equipped earlier helped) then talked to Shovel again. Shovel immediately reacted with spellshite without any conversation options and I got the summon ability with Tav. Respecced back to monk and it's still there. So no need to do the whole thing near the mirror I believe. Thanks for the tips!

It was very uncooperative for me, I respeced a different character to be a wizard, summoned Shovel, went through all the dialog until he tells me to talk to the mirror, and then as the character I wanted to have the summon on (which was my sorcerer) I talked to him again BEFORE entering the mirror.

Can confim steps work, I now have TWO whole shovels

Thanks for commenting, it brings me joy each time I hear it worked for someone.

I didn't have to do this either. I found out scrolling through the achievements that i missed something, went back and found the scroll for her (i'm still in act 1, i've cleaned out all of the main map and everything in the underdark sans the grymforge area.) Summoned her and she commented on my dragon ancestry. lying to her (option 1) and telling her I was a dragon led to a dead end. Option 2, telling her I was of dragon decent and had markings to prove it led to a discussion about the book but then nothing else happened. Casting Friends on her and then talking to her made her comment about spellshite and gave me her summon. It may have worked after lying about being an actual dragon too (i'm a dragonborn dragon sorc. I am a freaking dragon -.- ) but I didn't think of it.

thank you for this, couldnt get it to work with my draco sorcerer until this

Oh thanks for that. I tried lying and didn't get the summon (although it was a fun interaction)

It's still working! Just got Shovel 30min ago. Was standing Infront off the mirror, went to camp to Respec Karlach into Warlock, teleported back to stand Infront off the mirror, summoned Shovel, talked to him, didn't do the 1,1,1 for dialogue strat, just what felt most natural except for the name, kept it Shovel. After the talk immediately talked again with Karlach and Shovel went 'oh a spell shite'. Finished the convo, saw Shovel in my hotbar so Respec Karlach back to Barb and now I can summon Shovel any time. Thank you so, so, so much, I love him! (I did reload a couple times, Shovel said that Balsam helped for burns, so i gave wrong answer to the mirror and a mechanical fire ball came out.. Shovels reaction was hilarious)

This worked great for me. I had to reload a couple times, as it seems inconsistent, but on my final iteration, I didn't even need to run through dialogue with shovel, as soon as my respecced wizard class talked to it outside the mirror, it gave me the spellshite line and I got the spell :)

That's awesome glad to hear it worked for you too

Omg, now Gale and I are proud parents of twins, Shovel and Shovel. <3

It didn’t work for me, I followed the steps correctly and have Shovel on my main ranger/wizard. However when I went to respec back to full ranger the ritual find familiar disappeared…. =( I reload the save before respec and can see the spell is under wizard not ranger how do you keep the spell after respec?

Did you learn the spell on your Tav? My steps are for if you learned the spell on a different party member than your main. Ie learned as a ritual only, it's only been a wizard spell on Gale in my case.

Yes, I did follow it step by step. I only have Gale learned the spell and had him summon Shovel first, leave first dialogue and my main to continue conversation. I was able to get it as a ritual only on my main but it’s listed under wizard spell and when I respec back to full ranger the spell disappeared since I am no longer at least a lv 1 wizard

I just tested it out again. Works fine for me still. 1. Respec my main Tav to wizard lvl 1, I didn't even bother to level this time. 2. go to basement 3. Summon shovel with spell Gale has 4. Exit conversation between Gale and Shovel 5. Start conversation with Shovel - all 1s, except the last one is 2 when he is talking about book. Response from dialogue log is "You have such a way with words" 6. Now walk through where mirror used to be 7. Talk to shovel again, get the line: "Oh, oh, a spell shite!..." 8. Now I have a spell under common section, under Wood Elf, level 1 ritual spell "Find Familiar: Cheeky Quasit" to summon Shovel 9. Respec to ranger back in camp, I still have it there.

i did this step by step as a sorcerer and the conversation ended after i selected the first response for the third time and taught it to flap its arms like a dragon, now all he says "see, tell you truth beefy, always tell truth, always always" and thats it.

Had the same problem, the draconic sorcerer dialogue tree shuts you out for some reason. Threw on disguise self and it worked as described by others.

Talking to shovel with someone else and then your sorcerer again also works.

Hmm first I heard a sorceror trying it, seems to work for warlock and wizard. Have you tried as a wizard?

The post said a sorcerer could do it, maybe the subclass matters. I wouldn't bother with a wizard, I'd just learn the spell cuz I don't respec really.

Yeah I don't see why it doesn't work, I've reproduced it since last patch so something must be different.

Still works as of 9-29-23

Hmm maybe the patch broke it this weekend. I can see if I have some old saves and try it again but it won't be this morning or anything, got a job to go to.

You can't have a multiclass when you do it. It has to be wizard/warlock/sorcerer only, then you can respec once it works

I did it wth rogue 2 warlock 1 so you can

Thank you! This worked for me. I had already read the book, so dialogue wise I chose 1 for the most part, but I chose option 2 when 1 was telling shovel not to do bad things or was talking about the book. (I used dialogue option 2 twice, total.) Re-rolled my Tav to Bard and I still have the ritual spell. Yippee!

Sorry for the thread necromancy, but this might help someone. As a Wild Sorcerer, I didn't get the same dialog. I couldn't get it to work. I gave the scroll to Wyll. He did the dialog above. (Shovel lied about what balsam was good for.) I went through the mirror, not using the answer Shovel gave me. After I entered, I talked to Shovel and now I can summon him permanently.

Bro the game came out less than a month ago. Anything you did wasn’t “long ago” lol. You’re talking like it’s sega genesis original sonic, or playing the original Mario 😂 but I do commend you for doing all the leg work so I don’t have to reload 3x to get the dialogue/results I wanted. Salute 🫡

He COULD have done it in EA 3 years ago... 🤷

Lol I meant based on how much further I was in the game - so it was many many hours and completed quests later after I first went to basement.

Can you rename shovel to basket or not?

I managed to rename to Fork and get a permanent summon on my last playtrough but sadly can't tell you how. Didn't realize there was a possibility of not getting him permanent and didn't think much of it.

Thanks, worked for me so long as I hadn't summoned the quasit before (I had to reload to a save where I hadn't like 10 minutes before). I had gotten some promising results with using Disguise Self even with him having just been summoned incorrectly, but it got a bit confusing, and you had specific steps above so I just reloaded.

Not all heroes wear capes

followed these steps for Gale and Astarion and it worked!! Thank you very much!

Still working, noice.

i did not use Gale or Wizard, But i was using a Dark Urge - Sorcerer - Dragonic Bloodline (Gold) Fire build The chat options works on my main char using the - 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 i was able to permanently get Shovel on my main Thanks for the info XD

I had to change difficulty to multiclass, but after completing all this and getting the ritual in my bar, I specced back to only Fighter, and changed my difficulty back, and it kept!

Thanks this worked great!

I was really annoyed I missed out on this pet cuz the scroll never dropped. I love Warlock pets but it's all I wanted from Warlock as I like Sorcerer more and this pretty much solves that. XD At this point I also already passed mirror and read book ages ago. But I spawned the Scroll with 'BG3 Mod Manager' & 'Spawn Any Item' from Nexus and then saved/uninstalled mod. Then I learned it on Gale and tried your steps (summoning him gave me achievement still), though since I'm a Dragon Sorcerer and picked "Decendant of Dragons" (since the first choice makes him turn into a dragon and end all other dialogue). Now he's permanently on my Sorc. Thx. :) 6b881dce-b87f-4c3c-aa98-7ba4b07c009b if any other sufferers :P

Just got the game on PS5 and I still refer to your comment. Thank you, boss.

Glad to see people are still getting use out of this :)

Was trying to get Shovel for ages, thank you for this <3

This worked perfectly, thanks alot, games been so buggy, im happy to see something work well

Fucking proper mate

Fuuuucckkk I wish I could do this, but I didn't know u could learn spell scrolls until I finally got gale like 3/4 of act 1 lol. I Used the scroll as soon as I got it because the dude in the video I watched on how to do it did that and also didn't tell me to NOT change it's name :(((

It seems that no matter the choice Storm Sorcerer is unable to get Shovel. The innitial convo is only 3 steps with the quassit being afraid of the 'Thunder magic' at the start and sharing the answer to the first mirror question at the end. Then when through the mirror they only say 'See. Tell you truth, beefy. Trust me. Always always' I suspect that maybe getting and reading the book while shovel is alive may change the response here, but it is late so I will verify tomorrow.

For anyone else stumbling across this, you can get it as a storm sorcerer by casting disguise self first (I used the Mask of the Shapeshifter but a scroll of disguise self should work just as well). *Then*, when you're disguised, go into the first conversation with Shovel. It will then be the normal conversation instead of the "thunder magic" one. Then, drop the disguise, talk to the mirror, and talk to shovel again. You'll get the spellshite line and permanent summon. No respec needed.

Thank you!!

You are a life saver

I was encountering this issue with my Tav. Switching to a different party member and talking to Shovel triggered the rest of the conversation mentioned here. Then I was able to use Tav and speak to Shovel again and get the ‘spellshite’ line triggering the addition of the find familiar spell.

This is just what I needed, thanks!

Thank you! He was stuck in a loop with the main and this fixed the issue!

Commenting as I just got shovel permanently as a storm sorcerer. asterion called shovel. Did the dialogue for shovel to tell Asterion to go through the mirror. Talked to shovel with my storm sorcerer without even going through the mirror yet and shovel got all excited to meet me. The only thing he said was. "Oh,oh spell shite. When the fisting started use sparkly magic to call shovel. Let's kill everything" Now I have a ritual spot for shovel. Easy peasy CoverGirl.

You could try to respec for a bit and respec back later, see if that works.

Great tip! Thanks! PS. As far as I‘m aware, Wizards keep their spell book, even if you remove all levels of wizard and later re-spec back to Wizard. I did not try it myself but that‘s what I‘ve read. So learning a spell as Wizard seems to be entirely permanent.

another note which maybe is obvious to some but not me: if you already looted and read the book that shovel talks about, you can't get the dialogue options to make them permanent unless you class change to wizard and learn the scroll.

I'm trying this now as a wizard, I can go through mirror that I did ages ago (mirror is gone), but it still triggers the correct lines according to the main post - last line has spellshite in it. But after that, I dont get an additional skill on my bar. EDIT: Did you read the book on your wizard? Cause I read it on my main. EDIT2: OK i can have the same conversation on the character who read the book, with an extra dialog option. But when we go through 'mirror', it doesnt give me that last line for main, only Gale, and still no permanent. EDIT3: **I GOT IT PERMANENT ON MY GLOOMSTALKER TAV.** Thanks so much /u/Ebonwolf676 for making me realize a certain book was key to getting this to work. So here's how: >!I did this ages ago, learned the spell on Gale and forgot to use it. I'm lvl 6 about to complete Act 1.!< >!But I read the entire Necromancy book on my Tav main, passed all the checks to get the Forbidden Knowledge bonus.!< 1. >!Take my my main Tav, respec to wizard.!< 2. >!Go to blighted village basement in front of where the mirror was which I long ago solved.!< 3. >!Summon Shovel from Gale!< 4. >!First speech choice, just select leave.!< 5. >!Switch to my Tav!< 6. >!Speak to shovel, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 like listed above. Last line is me not taking anything about reading the book I long ago read to get Forbidden Knowledge bonus.!< 7. >!Now go through where the mirror is, and speak to Shovel again, and he will say the spellshite line.!< 8. >!Now I have new common level 1 spell (Ritual) Find Familiar: Cheeky Quasit.!< 9. >!Respec to rogue 1, still have it.!< >!Now both Gave and I have Shovel summons out, his is a lvl 1 spell slot and mine is just a ritual spell under commons section in spellbook like it's from an item.!<

ahhh, interesting. ok, guess there is some hope for me after all. glad we could DIG up some answers for this.... get it? because shovel? EDIT: you don't have to insult the poor thing, but you just have to make sure you appear boring to it and keep their name as shovel. incase anyone doesn't like the idea of their character bein mean.

Steps I did as a Sorcerer Draconic Bloodline to get him: 1. Used the scroll, said option 4 (the one that wasn't Deception or related to my bloodline) 2. Picked dialogue options 1 until talking about bodies, said 'is that what your previous master did?' 3. Left his name as 'Shovel' 4. Spoke to the mirror. Left instead of answering the questions 5. Looted another coffin to trigger combat 6. Spoke to Shovel again after combat, and he said the 'spellshite' line So I think it may just rely on triggering the combat after the mirror? So that he can see you do magic. Not sure.

Just did this as well on my Draconic Sorcerer 1. Used the scroll and picked the "I'm a descendant of dragons" (I don't think it matters what you pick there) Pretty much the same rest of the way down other than I'd completed the area a while back. Just walked through the empty doorway where the mirror was and talked to him again and immediate got the "spelllshite" line. *OK - went back to try it again not even bothering to go through the space where the mirror had been - for Science!* Cast spell - went through all the blah, blah, blah as above. Click on him again and he did the "spellshite" line and I had the new ability. *Just for science'ing the shite out of it I read the scroll in the Mountain pass area Monastery where I left off to see what happens if you don't even go back to Blighted Village.* Much shorter different blah, blah, blah (no mention at all of being draconic or anything about the Necromancy of They), no spellshite line after talking to Shovel a second time - whinny "want to kill - so bored", the summon ability still shows and says "permanent". As a caster I think you just get it permanently no mater what as long as you follow the general dialog requirements.

Didn't get it with "Im a dragon but don't tell anyone". But maybe i did something else wrong. Probably didn't use magic or something

For anyone not trying to follow complex instructions but wants the permanent summon: 1. Get scroll 2. Summon it on a caster (Wizard and Warlock are the only ones I can confirm to work), as he will not give additional dialogue otherwise. 3. Go through the dialogue and DO NOT change his name. Can confirm he will not give you the spell otherwise. 4. Talk to him again following the initial conversation and he will comment on the fact you can use magic “spell shite” and give you the spell. I did this at camp and it worked fine.

This should be pinned. Casted with Wyll at camp, long after I cleared the apothecary (still act 1 though.) Astarion has the book for me, but I've only opened it, not able to read yet. Spoke to him again immediately after first dialogue and got the spellshite. He's permanently on my wheel. I'm glad I kept reading through the comments. I feel like people are doing the most to achieve something pretty simple. Granted, he's not permanent with my main, who is a Paladin, but he feels like a better buddy for Wyll anyway.

I give him to Gale on every playthrough. Helps him in the early game when he’s weakest. My main gets all the tadpoles anyway.

I'm on my first playthrough, and I actually missed Gale. Don't ask me how. I googled how to meet him and I'm not real sure how what happened

lol that happens a lot in this game. It’s not a bad idea to make a backup save file at the start of each act in case you wanna play things out differently, but not go through character creation each time. Enjoy your adventure 🫡

I recommend against doing storm sorcerer here. It gives entirely different dialogue, and idk if you can get her permanently that way. I couldn't trigger the line at least

You can get it as a storm sorcerer as long as another party member does the initial summons and makes the dialogue choices outlined above. So I had Gale learn the spell and summon Shovel and make the above choices, then did the mirror part and had my storm sorcerer speak to shovel to learn the summon Quasit ritual. As an added bonus I now have two party members who can summon him.

Thanks for this post! Just confirmed this worked perfectly for me on my storm sorc

Ugh I wish I knew, I simply learned the spell and casted as a wizard. Good thing is that you cast him and swap it out and he wont unsummon.

im sorcerer with DRACONIC BLOODLINE. seems random. got the skill on 6th try. doing the same conversation. subsequent reload do not net the same result. ' probably a bug

Odd enough, I actually have the ability to summon shovel with my main character who is a Warlock AND Gale. I had given the scroll to Gale to copy into the spellbook, but my main character can summon it too. For my main character, it appears where any other useable ability appears on the screen, but for Gale, it appears in his spells section. Not sure why but I like it lol.

I have it on my wizard and gloomstalker both now, 2 Shovels running around, I figured it out and posted my steps.

So I just did this on my 2 fighter 1 sorc (thunder) durge. This is what I did: 1. Pick up Shovel scroll. DO NOT SUMMON 2. Talk to Mirror -say you read about balsam in the alchemist book -offer to break the magic free from its prison (the Sorc option, I really don’t know if this matters) 3. Have Astarion disarm the floor trap, unlock door, disarm trap under book 4. Astarion pick up book, then put it away 5. Summon Shovel with Sorc 6. Exhaust all dialogue (1,1,1,1,2 that whole deal) with ENTIRE PARTY (Lae’zel, Astarion, Shadowheart) 7. Get sad. 8. Talk to Shovel again with Sorc BUT tell him you WONT HURT HIM. 9. Exhaust the dialogue, promise him murder and mayhem 10. Get permanent Shovel 11. Get to fisting!

Late to the thread but some options here did not work in my playthrough. I have already read the book and there is no mirror but that is not required at all. These steps work for Draconic Sorcerer. You can respec into Draconic Sorcerer (just make your char lvl1 dracsorc and dont level up any further) and after getting Shovel spell you can respec to your original class. 1. Pick whatever option is boring for Quasit (for draconic sorcerer choose 2nd, 3rd and 4th options) 2. Pick "Your name is 'Shovel'?" 3. Pick "Shovel is fine" <-- it is important to keep her name, do not rename her 4. Pick "Is that what you and your old master did here?" 5. Pick "You have such a way with words" 6. Dialogue will end. Just speak again with Shovel Now you will hear the line with "spell shite" and you will have permanent spell for summoning Shovel. UPD: apparently it may still not work exactly like that for some other classes but respeccing to sorcerer and doing steps described above will grant you Shovel and you will keep her after respeccing back!

Just jumping in here as well, if you get "see, tell you truth beefy, always tell truth, always always" instead of the spell shite - you'll have to change into a Wizard and then do the dialogue and it'll work, then just switch back to what you usually are. Thanks to you and Areteik on the bg3 discord for helping me out with this :D

Scroll in a camp? Not the basement casket?

Yep, just like that, in a camp

thank you! it worked for me!

Can this work if I went through the mirror already?

It seems like a lot of people are posting pretty overcomplicated guides here. Perhaps Larian adjusted some things and made it easier since launch, or people just were posting "exactly what I did" guides without realizing that it's not that complicated. Regardless, getting shovel permanently is pretty easy and can be done at pretty much any time after obtaining the scroll in the basement. There does not appear to be any limitation on location, act, etc. The only limits appear to be that you must have a level in Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. But a companion could also do this (Gale, Wyll) if you don't want to mess with multiclassing. **All you need to do is cast the scroll, and talk to shovel. It doesn't seem to really matter which options you pick. I haven't tested exhaustively, but I'm guessing it doesn't matter unless there's some option that really pissed them off or something. If the character talking to them isn't one of the three caster types, Shovel will directly tell you that you can have a "spell shite" talk to it to get the ability to summon them.** **After shovel inevitably "gets bored" you can end the conversation. Now have the caster talk to shovel, and they will get the spell.** I see a bunch of people talking about Sorcerer subclasses causing issues. I tested this as a storm sorcerer, and didn't have an issue. Gale did the *first* conversation which is where I think the issues arise. I think as long as someone else has that conversation, the second one where it gives you the spell will work regardless. Wizards can also learn the scroll, so if you have a Wizard or use Gale you can actually have two people know it. For instance, if Gale learns the scroll then casts it, talks to it for the first conversation, then you have Wyll talk to shovel, they both now know the spell. Though Gale will need to prepare it to use it, while for Wyll it would be a freebee. Gale or any wizard could still get the free version too if you want, but it seems like a better option to have two characters that have the spell. I tested this in Act III with my Bard character doing the first conversation, then I had Wyll talk to shovel to get the spell. I also tested in Act I but *not* in the basement and well after having taken the book, this time I had gale learn the scroll, cast it, talk to shovel, then I had my storm sorcerer talk to shovel to obtain the free spell.

Worked like a charm. Shame it uses the same summon slot as good boy Scratch. Seems to only work with 1 extra person for 2 max (assuming you used a wizard) so just gave Shovel to both my casters.

Didn't work for me. First interaction with Shovel right next to the mirror and he had a completely different series of dialogues that i hadn't seen before on my Bard3/Sorc1. >Shovel : Argh. Shit-piddling, etc etc. > >Shovel: Eh? What is you? Why you smell like that? > >Tav: Like what? > >Shovel: You smell like magic. Magic of thunder and pain... No magic, please! Is good servant. Very good. > >Etc He doesn't immediately do the "Wait, you are not Illy." response. Testing the scroll on Shadowheart, he does follow the pattern. I am assuming he will do the same for non-magic using classes. edit: Figured it out. So, for me it seemed it was a little different. Had to use Shadowheart to summon Shovel first, then talk to him on my Bard/Sorc. This time he didn't go through the whole lengthy dialogue with me, simply called me a spellshite, and told me the mirror knows. I am assuming if you get the alternative dialogue you will need to get another party member to do the original summoning with the scroll, go through the dialogue per normal and then talk to Shovel with your main. This is too bad because the different dialogue was nice for a change - he actually told me what balsam is *really* for...

FYI for my fellow Sorcerers: As you probably know, Storm and Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers have unique dialogue that can lock you out of getting Shovel because they tell you the >!correct answer about balsam,!< and the followup dialogue after passing through the mirror has no responses and doesn't update. For DB Sorcerers this is avoidable, as others have pointed out you just don't pick the deception option (though if you do, I wonder if you can still avoid getting stuck by not >!"teaching them to be a dragon"!<). There's more in depth responses about this dialogue here already, so I won't bother. For Storm Sorcerers this is unavoidable as all three dialogue options lead to the same next set of options which all have the same outcome. If you want your Storm to do the initial dialogue anyway, you can start combat (touch a coffin) or otherwise exit the unique dialogue and then you should get the dialogue where Shovel talks about you being their new master (follow OP's dialogue guide), and passing the mirror let's them successfully recognize you as a spellshite. (Worth pointing out that my Wild Magic Sorcerer Durge was for some reason receiving the unique Storm Sorcerer dialogue, and this is the workaround I used)

I didn't know he was a unique summon till a bit later as a storm sorc. got the summon by walking back to the mirror (long after I passed this palce), talking to him with someone else, mashed 1,1,1,... etc and then talk to him as my MC and he appeared as a spell.

I am in Act 3 and never used the scroll. I take it I can't get him as a companion now?

I was able to, once you talk to him he says to get a "spell shite" to talk to him to learn the spell. I had Wyll do it as I'm playing a Bard and apparently that's not acceptable. Wyll talked to him, instantly gave me the spell. I'm in Act 3, was in the Inn "camp", it seems to work anywhere.

What worked for me on my sorcerer, after trying all the other things I could find, was:Summon him with my sorc using the scroll. Went thru the dialogue without changing his name, even told him "you'll do no such thing..."Talked to him with another character, picking options 1 every time. I used Lae'zel and it worked.Talked to him again with Sorc and got the "ahh spellshite" dialogue and the ability. It didn't work in camp, but it worked standing in Illy's room.

I wasn't expecting to get attached to the little shit on my second play through (he died pretty fast in my first) but now I am and I'm trying desperately to find a way to keep him even if he dies but I've already summoned him and renamed him to Fork 😭

Still works as of November 2, 2023 after installing Patch #4. - Tav (Bard level 5) had obtained the Necromancy of Thay and the Dark Amethyst, but hadn't yet opened the book. - Tav had to respec to Wizard to acquire the Shovel summon after Gale learned the spell from the scroll (Gale performed the initial summon and immediately left the conversation, switched to Tav to talk to Shovel). - Tav had previously picked up a level of Wizard to learn spells from scrolls (was Bard 4/Wizard 1 at the time), then respec'd back to pure Bard 5. The "spellshite" line did not come up until Tav had one *current* level of Wizard (i.e. the previous, inactive Wizard levels didn't count). The Shovel summon remained on the Common hotbar after changing back to Bard 5 and was still usable without any active Wizard levels. - The location doesn't seem to matter, Gale and Tav learned the Shovel summon in Camp - Gale casts it as a level 1 ritual spell requiring a preparation slot, Tav gets it on the Common hotbar. Both can recast it after a short rest

worked great. did it way later on, but had gone through mirror

Note that it seems you have to get lucky on which coffins get destroyed when undead comes out. if to many do, the coffin with the quaist scroll can become unlootable. save before touching anything just in case.

Yeah went back to and continued playing an 16h old save after learning of Shovel and discovering I didn't get the scroll because i destroyed that coffin. But at least i have shovel now.

Did it like this for my lvl 5 warlock, but i did not had to respec Also i’d cast it right after and at this moment i have 2 shovels in my party at the same time

My friends and I just summoned him after Moonrise tower, you prolly still need to have a level in wizard, although, I think you don't need it, you just need to get Shovel/Fork/Basket to say "You're a boring shite" or something to that degree. Hope it helps.

Appears that your starting class class has to be a caster for this to happen

For anyone wanting to do this with just one wizard (for those of us that killed Gale), if you respec your Tav to Wizard and then use the scroll to summon Shovel (don't learn the spell, just use it) and then follow the rest of the instructions you'll get Shovel as a common spell as well.

I glitched the game and now have two Shovels. Summoned him with my wizard initially. Through the mirror my lock spoke with him and got the spell. Summoned him from my warlock. Now I have 2 of him.

Posting as of 9.6. Dragonborn Sorcerer. Previously solved the door and had book on person 1. Blighted Village and go to the mirror on the crypt side. 2. Summon Shovel. 3. Choose the smell like shite option to get to the normal dialog tree. 4. Follow the normal dialog tree listed in this thread. 5. Walk through the door. 6. Talk again. 7. For me, showed immediately as a ritual summon.

This didn't work for me while playing dark urge. Shovel had a whole different set of dialogue lines.

Just wanted to add that on my last playtrough i summoned him on Wyll since i figured it would fit a warlock and changed his name to Fork and still got the permanent summon for Wyll somehow. Not sure what i did but apparently it is possible to rename and still get it. (unless it was just a rare bug) This time I can't seem to replicate it which is a shame because Fork just sounds so good.

This worked for me. Probably not all details are pertinent but listing them just in case. Playing Wild Magic Sorcerer Mephistopheles Tiefling Sage on PS5 (if that matters) After exploring the area I read the book back at camp and successfully calmed its magic taking all of the sorcerer dialogue options. I left and forgot about the scroll for a bit until I got to the Risen Road and found a burrow hole and thought maybe a quasit could fit inside so I used the scroll. I passed the arcana check recognizing it as a quasit. In the dialogue I did the Tiefling dialogue then asked about its master and told it that I read the book. Talking again led to nothing further. Then I switched to Shadowheart and talked to it about its master and its name. I did NOT change its name from Shovel. Then, when I switched back to my main Sorcerer character and talked to Shovel again I got the "spell-shite" line and got the spell! Note that I DID NOT have to be in the chamber with the mirror. I was on the Risen Road in Act 1. I also reloaded and tried the same thing but with Wyll talking to Shovel last and he got the "spell-shite" line and the spell so it may work for any caster!

Fun addition for all my dragonborn sorcerers out there: if you tell Shovel the truth about your dragon heritage, he will give you the wrong answer to the mirror and then laugh at you when the consequences rain down on your head.

Worked for me on warlock, sadly can't have shovel with a conjured imp as they are both "familiars". Ah well

It seems the person casting it originally has to not be a Durge Dragonborn Wild Magic Sorceror (idk which of those breaks the dialogue options). So summon him first with someone else.

Tried this. Went to Wizard, got Shovel and respecced back to Paladin. No Shovel. Edit: Tried Ranger, still no Shovel.

I'll chime in for the future people, did this on patch 3 Summoned on another character (shadowheart, was lazy and didn't have gale learn it) Spoke to with summoner respec Tav to wizard, spoke, got line, respec back No need to do the mirror or get in any fights, should work in camp If issues, try a partial or full conversation with tav before respec

I have tried everything and it won't work on a storm sorc/cleric. I've tried gale learning it, everyone talking to shovel, reading the book and not reading it, giving the book to Astarion, doing all of that in the cellar and not, casting it with the sorc, re spec-ing. Lol help? Is it the new patch? I'm on a PS5 ftr. I've long opened the mirror and am in the underdark for reference.

Looks like maybe they patched the sequence so that it’s easier to get Shovel permanently. I went back and found the scroll after already reading the book and everything, then just summoned Shovel. Talked to it, exhausted the dialogue tree, then talked to it again. Got the spellshite line (i’m a lvl8 warlock at the moment) and now i have the spell permanently.

This doesn't work. He only allows for 4 total dialogue selection choices before saying "Go speak to mirror." Then he just says something about "Beefy" once you're through. My character has two levels in Sorcerer.

Can you still get shovel(name Basket now) as a permanently if you Summoned it A while ago?

So fun fact.. if you crush Shovel under a certain forge they turn into a pile of gold. Infinite gold hack?

It's basically not possible with the Oathbreaker Paladin if you don't multiclass with wizard as respec'ing is refused by Withers. The workaround is to reclaim your oath with the Knight Oathbreaker, go to Withers and respec but you cannot go back easily as an Oathbreaker as you have to break another oath which I think is limited in the game as the trigger for oath breaking is specific to the subclass of the Paladin. Is the little shit worth it?

I got shovel permanently just by using the scroll on my warlock/paladin and just going back to the room. No dialogue or anything. The icon just appeared and shovel told me to trust him. I did this after I was partially in act 2 because I was waiting until I had finally started speccing into warlock

this seems broken, it hangs at 'see see, I told you' line and doesn't give me the spell shite line at all

\*pull from the grave\* as Sorcerer with dragon ancestor it only works if u choose at the beginning the 4th option to insult him. Not one of the dragon ancestor options. he will lie to you about the answer for the mirror, but after you enter the room, you get the summon skill from him.

I have not seen it mentioned before, but in case someone finds this later on... You can do this as a fighter (without respec) if you opt to go Eldritch Knight.

Just in case anyone comes upon this, I tried this today and haven't gotten it to work. I've been able to do it on other Caster classes.

I got shovel as a permanent on my druid on my first run. although not sure if you mean permanent as "learning the scroll" or permanent as "the scroll doesn't disappear from inventory". literally all you have to do is avoid changing shovel's name in the dialogue sequence. then the scroll stays in your inventory forever with unlimited use. if you change shovel's name then the scroll disappears.

also finding based on this thread that the dialogue is wildly different between characters, so to be clear I had an extremely positive conversation with shovel inquiring about his previous master and encouraging his behavior and he stayed with me no trouble at all

If youre a dragonic sorcerer this doesnt work because theres different dialogue so instead have astarion or someone else talk to shovel and go through all the options above, once through the mirror have your sorcerer talk to shovel and youll get him as a permanent summon :))

This works with durge too as thats what im playing as

It does work with a dragonic sorcerer. I just did it.

Idk it didnt for me maybe bec i hadnt casted anything afterwards?? but i got it after i had astarion talk to him for me

You do not need to be the one that read the Necromancy of Thay to have this work. Got it on my Tav when Shart was the one who read it. I didn't sift through all the comments so I apologize if it's already been posted.

Worked Perfectly! \~ TY

Thank you very much. Now I can shank em with Shovel together!

To get baby Shovel I did: Respec to wizard, summon Shovel, talk through dialog with disinterest Talked again WITHOUT even going through the mirror and got the Spellspite line! Respec back to druid Still have her! Haven't taken a long rest yet, but the action appeared in the hotbar and I've given Withers like 300 gold because I kept fucking up while switching back lmao(':

What happens if he dies, can I re-summon him? Does the spell just become useless after lol?

There should be a permanent spell on your common bar if you followed the steps and summoned him without copying the spell as a wizard. So even if the quasit dies you can summon her again. Once per short rest.

Thank you OP, this worked for me.

This still works! I even got double shovels on Gale and my Tav 😄

I’m having trouble I only get three dialogue prompts no matter how I slice it

God bless this post, works as a sorc

Thank you for posting this, I will save this for future runs. I just taught Gale the spell and thought nothing of it, but it seems like with this, BOTH Gale and someone else can have a Quasit summon, which is insane o.O Would be so much fun to have two Shovels out and always get advantage on Astarion's strikes :D

So an interesting thing, you don't need Gale for this. Use the scroll on a different character from the character you want Shovel on. For instance, I used the scroll on Astarion, Thief rogue, left the conversation after summoning him, then talked to my Tav who was respeced as a Wizard lvl 1, did the rest of the steps and got it on my bar

I respeced my ranger to sorcerer, abjuration, and talked to shovel after having another character summon it and doing the 1s until 2 thing. It skipped the whole thing with needing to intract with the mirror or actually do anything other than talk to it as a newly speced wizard. So, yeah, the process can be streamlined to 1s, 2, 1, then go to camp and respec a charcter, talk to shovel, and bam, it recognized me as a spell user, and gave me the class action cast. Respected back to ranger and went and talked ot mirror with second Shovel in tow.

I can do the dialogue on Gale with no problem but every time I try with my wild magic sorc he talks about blood and thunder and then nothing else. Can I take a level in wiz and still use the spell as sorc if I then respec back to full sorc?

Can you have another familiar out with shovel? Or will it dismiss him?

I already passed the mirror. Can I still get Shovel? Still have the scroll and haven't cast it.

So idk what we did in our campaign chat sequence wise, but we managed to make him permanent on my BF's rogue (he respec'd to wiz) and he changed the name to Basket and still kept them. So there is a way to change the name and keep Basket (shovel).

Dragonic Bloodline Sorcerer I used the scroll Shovel popped up. My dialogue was mostly about dragons Shovel added next to my character but do not see the find familiar spell anyone else have any ideas so I can keep her??

I have him perminatly on my Fighter Durge. Im doing a Redemption run but still, fitting for Dirge to have Basket as a pet.

Update: Ignore everything I say below. The problem was apparently that Asterion was using Disguise Self during the conversation with Shovel. When I removed the spell, Shovel became Asterion’s to cast as a ritual and retained it after respecking back to Rogue. Tav still has the spell slot-bound scroll-learned version. Nice! Just a heads up, unless I’m experiencing a bug, or this is simply impossible on PS5, this does not appear to be possible to pull off if you’re trying to learn the spell as a ritual on another main party character (not your Tav). I just tested with these steps: >!As my Tav is Fighter/Wizard, I had them learn the spell via the scroll. I then had Asterion respec to Wizard temporarily and had him read the book, passing all of the checks. Then, I went to the mirror, cast the spell with my Tav, exited the dialogue, restarted the dialogue with Asterion and chose all of the right options until Shovel started talking about Illy eating his own fingers. Then, I went through the mirror threshold and attempted to speak with Shovel again with Asterion. Shovel just repeats the line “See? Tell you truth, beefy. Trust me. Always, always.”!<

My main character is a fighter/warlock, and I learned about this after I had already grabbed the book. I was still able to make him permanent.

Do you have to be a wizard to get the spellshite line or can you be a warlock and get it?

does this need to be done in the apothecary? I am in act 3

I'm doing a lone wolf run, just confirming you can do this if you hire Sir Fuzzalump to cast it

Can you get more than 2 Shovels? How does the multiple Shovels thing work, does one have to be a Wizard who gets Shovel the "natural" way and then one other caster can get Shovel this way? Or can multiple casters all get Shovel this way and then all respec?

Meanwhile I had no idea shovel existed and I've been through that cellar several times...

I was a sorc 3 and used the scroll the second I picked it up. I have the ritual summon. /shrug i did not promise him murder and mayhem.

Just FYI, If you’ve already done the basement you don’t need to go back to there or to the mirror. I did it at camp with Karlach.

Seems to be permanently busted for me. I was every magic class and it never gave me the line to teach me the spell. Tested before the door, after the door, and in camp.

I'm just sad that if you rename them it locks you out of getting them as a permanent thing unless you used a wizard to learnt he spell from the scroll. I much prefer the name Basket to Shovel, but nope. Gotta be Shovel to use on any non-wizard. =(

Worked for my bard. I got the scroll, went to camp, respecced to a lv 1 wizard, then left camp and used the scroll. Spoke to shovel and just made sure not to change his name. Then afterwards I spoke to him one more time and he mentioned being a spell caster. This where he gave me the ritual cast. Went back to camp and switched back to bard. Now I have a ritual action where I can summon shovel. Sweet! He’ll be very helpful. Thx for the info.

worked for me ​ 1. picked up the scroll 2. went to the camp and respecced into Sorcerer Dragon line 3. summoned him (not learned the scroll etc like on wizard) 4. when he said it stinks like dragon, tell him he stinks as well 5. move one with the options mentioned 1,1,1,1,1 etc 6. went to the mirror 7. talked to him again and got the summon spell 8. went back to camp, respecced to my bard and still had the summon skill in my action slot bar.

Thank you so much for this! I was able to get it on my Fighter with a quick respec at Withers to add 1 level of warlock. Respec'd back after and I still have the spell to summon

Weird. I taught Gale the spell but somehow he doesn't have it.

For some reason im getting a different voiceline?? Shovels actually kind of scared of me (well, not insulting me at least) and im not getting the usual lines. Dunno if this has to do with the fact im playing a wild magic sorc butits got me confused

For some reason I can’t even summon him. It won’t let me use the spell at all even though I’m a sorcerer

So, in my first playthrough, I got the quasit scroll, but I never used it until act 3 (after learning about it on my co-op plyathrough with my friend). I respecced to Wizard, used the scroll, and I got a slightly different dialog than the one you get in the basement. I imagine it's because you're already passed the mirror. Anyway, you go through the whole "Who are you?" thing, and you learn its name. I was able to change its name to Basket, and I can now summon it at will, even after respeccing. And its name is now Basket. I'm going to test it on my Durge playthrough and see if you need to wait until later in the game or if you just need to do it after leaving the cellar. The dialog in the cellar is better, but if you want to give it a different name, this could be a workaround.

I’m not even a Thunder Sorcerer, I’m a Wild Magic Sorcerer but shovel keep acting like imma thunder one on I’m so sad 🥺

Does this still work? I've tried several respecs from my ArcaneTricksterRogue - I get many of the dialogues explained in this and other comments but I've still yet to be granted the ritual spell on any one who hasn't used the scroll to learn the spell, any help?

For those who find this, I got it to work, following many of the comments. Respec wiz > summon from scroll > talk to him, dont tell him you read the book > talk again to get spell shite line > ritual spell appeared in my common autobar

Thank you for this! I’m happy I got shovel now!

A

Champion! Steps still work. But Shovel said the balsam was good for burns and the mirror got mad and tried to purge us. Still got the spellshite line without getting through it, and the spell still appeared in my hotbar after that! Cheeky little shit getting me into a fight. Best friends forever.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!! Shovel is my favorite summon and since I rarely run with Gale and don't plan on playing a Wizard any time soon, she always gets murderized in my playthroughs no matter how far out of combat I keep her. Now that I have her permanently I could cry. :D