As you stalk your way through the Counting House, ideally robbing every nook and cranny absolutely blind, you’ll find yourself faced with a vault and a puzzle. And you could run around everywhere, trying to figure it out. Or you could just read this guide. Here’s how to solve the Counting House Vaults Puzzle in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Solve Counting House Vaults Door Puzzle
Have you noticed that Act 3 has a lot of puzzles that require you to run to secondary locations? That’s somewhat the case for the Counting House Vault Door, which has nine panels on the floor and requires you step on them in the right order.
To find the answer legitimately, you need to go to the second floor of the Counting House, lockpick your way into the off-limits door, and find a ledger. The ledger will highlight an event that took place in 1356.
And… that’s the answer to our Vault Code puzzle. So, instead of running all the way up there, wasting Invisibility, and risking getting caught, here’s how to input the code.
To solve the Vault Code Puzzle in the Counting House
- Ungroup your party.
- Have the first character stand on 1 (top left).
- Have the second character stand on 3 (top right).
- Have the third character stand on 5 (middle middle).
- Have the fourth character stand 6 (middle right).
This needs to be done in the order listed, and no panel can be tread on incorrectly. Doing so will cause the puzzle to reset.
You’ll know if you stood on the correct panel because you’ll get a pleasant ‘ding!’ and the blue lights atop the vault door will light up bright blue.
Once that’s done, feel free to meander right on through the doors of the Counting House vault.
Where is the Counting House in BG3?
The Counting House is the southern-most building in the Lower City of Baulder’s Gate. It’s slightly separated by the rest of the city by a stone bridge, and its giant lavish doors beneath a gold lion emblem are hard to miss. You’ll know it’s the Counting House because it’s the only fancy looking building in all of Baulder’s Gate’s Lower City.
The closest waypoint to the Counting House is likely the Heapside Strand. Once there, just head west a ways until you see the bridge on your left. There will also be two guards standing on either side of the doors, as a further hint that you’ve reached the right place.
How to Get into the Counting House in BG3
There are three ways you can get into the Counting House: legitimately, violently, or stealthily. We strongly recommend the legitimate way; it’s easy, and it requires no fuss, no tears, and no effort. All you have to do is follow Jaheira’s questline, The Harper. After finding out about the Stonelord from Nine Fingers in the guild hall in the sewers, you’ll get a quest marker leading you to the Counting House.
When you’re at the Counting House, walk through the front doors and up to the Head Clerk, Meadhoney, at the windowed desk directly to the right of the giant center gate. If you’re following Jaheira’s quest, you’ll be able to convince Meadhoney to give you a pass to head into the vaults and deal with the suspicious man that’s on a tour of the bank.
Once you have your pass, you can show it to the guards and pass through the giant gate in the Counting House. From there, just follow the linear halls all the way down, and you’ll arrive at the vault.
If you’d rather be feisty, you can always choose violence to get into the Counting House. If you go this route, we recommend taking care of the Steel Watch Foundry first; this will get rid of the Steel Watchers around the bank and city, giving you a much easier time while you bully all the bank’s guards.
The Counting House guards aren’t all that tough, but they do have big swords, and they sure do know how to use them. Just make sure you have your beefiest characters with you, and you’ll be able to muscle through it. After you’ve taken care of the guards on the first floor, you can head through the giant center gate and make your way to the vault, continuing your path of slaughter all the way down.
If violence is not your preferred method but, for whatever reason, you aren’t able to get a pass to go through the Counting House gate, there is a stealthy roundabout way to get in. Nearby, neighboring just slightly west of the Counting House, is a warehouse called Flymm Cargo. Go into this building and back out through the southern metal door (you’ll have to lockpick it first).
Out the Flymm Cargo door, you’ll see several boats and a dock straight ahead of you. Jump onto the boat directly in front (you may need to cast enhanced leap, fly, or misty step to do this). You’ll now be on the Counting House dock.
The Counting House dock is a restricted area, and you’ll be either arrested or ousted and thrown to the front door if you’re spotted by the patrolling guards. So sneaking is essential here. We strongly recommend using invisibility because once you follow the docks back over to the Counting House on your left, there will be a couple guards standing outside the giant door you want to open, and they’ll be difficult to sneak past. You can try distracting them, perhaps with a druid’s Wild Shape cat form, but invisibility is the easiest way to get past them.
And once you do get through the Counting House dock doors, there will be a whole slew of more guards to contend with who will attack on sight if they spot you. If you can get past them (again, invisibility really helps), all you have to do is walk straight ahead through the doors down the hall.
If you’re finished with the Counting House and looking to break into another area that’s off-limits in BG3, check out how to open the Sinister Door in Szarr Palace.
