"Baldur's Gate 3" is a huge game and a great experience filled with unexpected storylines. Unfortunately, this also means that even after several patches, some bugs still exist.

Many of these have been squashed, and Larian's furious pace has added an entirely new epilogue in addition to quality-of-life improvements. One such bug is a hilarious interaction with a freecast, one of the illithid abilities gained by eating brain worms. The following is a spoiler for Act 3.

Freecast is a toggleable passive that allows you to cast your next action for (you guessed it) free. No action cost, no bonus action cost, no spell slot consumed, nothing. This is a powerful gift from your bug-eyed roommate.

Also, there has been a bug in the last few patches. According to the tooltip, Freecast refreshes on Long Rest. But there are lots of odd ways to refresh it. I didn't know about this as I refrained from using the worm's power the first time I played, but I got the idea from a recent example posted on the game's subreddit.

Ant_of_Doom uses Idol of Silvanus, which can be found in the druidic forest in Act 1. This item grants an aura of proficiency in animal manipulation and nature skills. Curiously, this item also refreshes the Freecast.

However, wielding this idol can seriously affect the story. After a little research, it was also discovered that there is another way to trigger this exploit. Equipping or unequipping an item on a character refreshes the Freecast. I have video evidence of my paladin boy in the current patch:

The only caveat is that Freecast is a partial irishid power. You can't get it without transforming your painstakingly crafted character into a poorly made goth with too much eye shadow and rotten teeth. Also, equipping and unequipping such items during combat requires an action: so you can't refresh your freecast during combat.

Still, this is an incredibly powerful way to apply buff spells like Aid, Heroes' Feast, and Death Ward unharmed. Gale's perusal of the Nesserace Orb was in vain - it turns out that the real secret to arcane power is to scarf down worms and then take off your pants (or ring, if you're bored).