Best person to get Volo's eye and mechanic of how it works?

[agsst11]

As title says, who is the best person to give Volo's eye to (or what considerations should go in to my decision making on it)? I am on my 1st playthrough and am playing a Wizard Tav and will probably be leaving the other party members spec'd as they are by default for this run through. I've been mainly using Astarion (ranged - dual hand crossbows), Karlach (melee), and Shadowheart (mainly ranged with firebolt) and am done with a lot of Act 1 but don't know how much I might swap other characters in going forward (will probably swap Karlach for Lae'zel to do the Creche parts).

I saw some posts on Reddit saying that the eye works off of the spell casting stat of the possessing character's class so it would be of varying effectiveness depending on who I give it to, but in game it seemed to indicate it is just off of the invisible person's success with a dex save so I'm somewhat confused on how exactly it functions and if it has variable effectiveness by character/class/stats. Any help with clarifying this would be appreciated.

Edit:

Alternatively, is there any reason to keep Volo around by not gettingt the eye?

[wtiger27]

You don't need it on any class. And I was thinking it only helped the one with it, to see invisibility? But I may be wrong. If I am right, there are spells, potions and skills for such.

I have never did it to any char in 2000+ play runs, 9 game ending play runs. So I have not missed anything important.

[Angel]

whoever is gonna get up close and personal with the enemy, it doesn't seem to work all that often though for some reason

also yes you can keep volo around as an infinite merchant and an infinite source of stealing nice scrolls and stuff from

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by Angel:

whoever is gonna get up close and personal with the enemy, it doesn't seem to work all that often though for some reason

Enemies get a stealth (dex) save against it.

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by wtiger27:

You don't need it on any class. And I was thinking it only helped the one with it, to see invisibility?

If any member of your party sees the invisible enemy, they all see it.

[Mike Garrison]

If you like to swap party members around a lot, your player character is the best choice, because that character will always be in the party.

I don't know whether it uses the character's spellsave DC or if it has its own spellsave DC.

[Metallicus]

Lae’zel is always in my party as my frontline fighter so she is usually a great choice to see invisibility since she is up close and personal with the enemies.

[Isengrym]

I skipped it on my first playthrough but took it on my second to see how it goes. Enemies manage to stay hidden pretty often, even with the see invisibility. It sometimes works. It's a mildly nice bonus, but hardly crucial. As someone who enjoys RP and reactivity, I'm getting more enjoyment from the non-combat recognition it gets in the game: Wyll comments after you get it done, and I just met a character in Act II who commented on it ( Malus Thorm has an opinion on it, if anyone who's skipped the option is curious.)

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by Isengrym:

I skipped it on my first playthrough but took it on my second to see how it goes. Enemies manage to stay hidden pretty often, even with the see invisibility. It sometimes works. It's a mildly nice bonus, but hardly crucial. As someone who enjoys RP and reactivity, I'm getting more enjoyment from the non-combat recognition it gets in the game: Wyll comments after you get it done, and I just met a character in Act II who commented on it ( Malus Thorm has an opinion on it, if anyone who's skipped the option is curious.)

Yes, Wyll welcomes you to the "one-eye" club, and Malus Thorm wants to remove both your eyes, so he says you are "well on your way".

Of course, BG2 had a whole cult of the eyeless, but BG3 doesn't go that far.