Baldur’s Gate 3 is a long game packed with content. From the numerous choices in the character creation menu to the variety of ways you can handle situations, the game has something for everyone and can get complicated very quickly. To ease new players into the game, we have created a beginner’s guide of what to do when you first begin BG3.
This guide will cover the top 10 things any beginner needs to know when they start their first run of the game. Since you will be going in completely blind, these tips will make your early game experience of Baldur’s Gate 3 a little less daunting.
1) Choosing your character
As it is with any RPG, creating your character is the most essential part of your journey. There are a few factors to consider when creating your perfect character.
- Race: Your character’s species. Each race offers different abilities.
- Subrace: Your character’s race origin. Subraces affect how other characters perceive you.
- Background: Your character’s backstory. Backgrounds determine your character’s nature.
- Class: Your combat class. How you battle is determined by your starting class.
- Abilities: Your starting skills. Depending on your class, you acquire different skills.
While the class and abilities can be changed as the game goes on, the race, subrace, background, and appearance of your character do not. Make sure the character you create is exactly how you want it to be before proceeding into the main story. If there is one thing to take from the extensive creation menu, it is that Larian Studios wants you to take your time with Baldur’s Gate 3.
Or you could just skip all of that and choose from one of seven Origin characters. You will meet six of them throughout the story as you play through the game, but the seventh (The Dark Urge) is a unique character with a unique backstory. We don’t recommend him for a first playthrough, however, as some decisions you can make in the game might lead to less-than-optimal outcomes.
2) Following tooltips
As soon as you wake up in the Nautiloid, the game will present certain pop-ups that linger for a while. Each time you need to make an important early decision or are about to learn a new feature for the first time, Baldur’s Gate 3 will present tooltips that explain how a certain feature works. For new players, make sure to take your time and read through these.
Following the tooltips closely during your first run is essential because you will be encountering multiple similar situations throughout your run. The earlier you learn how to tackle these situations, the better off you will be in the long run.
3) Gathering your companions
Now that you know the basics, it’s time to find worthy companions to fill up your party with. Once you’re off the Nautiloid and make your way to the surface world, you should be in the Wilderness. This is where you gather your allies.
- Shadowheart: The first companion you meet, a Half-Elf Cleric with missing memories.
- Astarion: This Elf is also a Vampire spawn, a Rogue that can pick locks and disarm traps.
- Gale: A Human Wizard that excels at magic, he is a powerful glass cannon character.
- Lae’zel: This Githyanki Fighter is a great mix of tank and damage dealer in the early game.
- Wyll: A Human Warlock who is proficient with the blade, he holds a sinister demonic secret.
- Karlach: A powerful Tiefling Berserker that can cleave through enemies.
By the time you explore the entirety of the Wilderness in Act One, you should have been introduced to all the Origin characters mentioned above. Depending on the class you first start with, you can balance out your party with any combination of these characters. We recommend having one tank/frontliner, one support, and two damage dealers to ensure a smooth early game.
4) Checking everything
Since this is your first run and Baldur’s Gate 3 is an extensive RPG, we recommend checking everything you come across. This includes crates, boxes, packs, corpses, and whatever else can be highlighted. You might just come across some powerful weapons and armor early into the game that might make your run a lot easier.
We recommend getting into the habit early since acts two and three cover dense areas with a lot of useful items that can go unchecked if you’re not used to this aspect of exploring. Even if you come across items you don’t use, you can always sell them for profit and buy the things you need instead.
5) Utilizing speech checks
Battling is an integral part of the game, even if some battles in Baldur’s Gate 3 are almost impossible to win. This is when you switch to a more diplomatic approach instead. Talking your way out of situations is a perfectly viable way of playing the game. You can either use Deception, Persuasion, or Intimidation to get what you want, unless you’re a Bard, then you can use all three.
If you’re not a Bard or a character with high Charisma, we recommend using Wyll to handle all of your conversational needs. The experience you gain afterwards might be a little lacking compared to what you would have acquired from battle but worry not. By the time you reach the end of the game, your characters should be well and truly maxed out if you experience everything possible on your run.
6) Saving often
Since a lot of Baldur’s Gate 3 is reliant on dice rolls, sometimes you might not get the crucial rolls that you might have wanted. Other times you might get the dreaded “Critical Failure” roll and ruin a perfectly good persuasion attempt that was going great until that point. This is where keeping multiple saves comes in handy.
Save-scumming is a concept where you quicksave before every crucial decision and reload if things don’t go your way. This method is usually frowned upon by hardcore players, but sometimes you just have to do it. One bad decision can sometimes potentially ruin several hours of play, so we recommend keeping multiple saves ready when you envision yourself getting into a sticky situation.
7) Resting
The game presents you with two inherent options to let your party recover: Short Rest and Long Rest. While you can use certain consumables in the game to recover your health, Short Rest will always recover 50 percent of your party’s HP when you use it. Having two of these can be a lifesaver when you’re in tough dungeons or lengthy combat zones in the game.
Then comes Long Rest. This feature not only fully heals your party, but will also recover all of your spell slots and cure your afflictions. This, however, comes at the cost of using camp supplies that you can find while traversing the overworld. Make sure to use Long Rest sparingly since using it too many times during questlines can cause some of them to end prematurely if too much time passes.
8) Using tactical advantage
When it comes to battling, Baldur’s Gate 3 follows a classic turn-based tactics style of combat. Similar to Larian Studios’ previous games, knowing your strengths in battle and positioning your characters are the keys to success. Some characters excel in battle when they close the gap on their opponents while others can deal devastating damage from a distance.
The more you play with certain characters, the more you learn their strengths. Characters like Karlach and Lae’zel excel when they’re up in enemies’ faces while Gale can devastate groups of enemies from a distance. Party creation is essential to this success as we will be discussing next.
9) Building a balanced party
Knowing your characters is important when it comes to combat and non-combat situations. Having too many long-range fighters and not enough frontliners can open your party to gap-closing assaults that can quickly eliminate them. On the other hand, too many melee fighters allow mages to send your party to oblivion before you can position them. Balancing your party is an art you have to master.
As much as you utilize them in battle, make sure to talk to them at camp to ensure everyone is on the same page. Your party members will also like or dislike certain decisions you make based on their alignment. Building a balanced party around both strengths and alignment can be challenging but you have hundreds of hours and multiple build guides to help you with that.
10) Experimenting freely
The final tip for players new to Baldur’s Gate 3 would be to experiment with the game. There is no right or wrong way to play since Larian Studios has made every playstyle viable on some level. While violence might not solve all of your problems, it can definitely solve some of them. On the other hand, talking your way out of most situations might not always yield the most optimal results.
Depending on your origin, race, class, and alignment, you can make every playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 a unique one. With over 50 variations in endings depending on your choices made, we recommend freely experimenting with every challenge you come across and remember to have fun.
