Our Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Creation Tips Guide dives deep into the process of Character Creation that you have to take care of as soon as the opening cinematic ends. So, let’s get started!
Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Creation Tips
Creating your very own character is one of the many ways to customize your playthrough of Baldur’s Fate 3.
The Character Creation suite for BG3 is deep and satisfying in that it gives players a lot of options to tinker with.
But, with this level of creative freedom, things can get muddled for first time players.
This Character Creation guide is sure to help you gain a deeper understanding of the process of learning to make a character in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Step 1 – Select your Origin and Background
This is the first step of the process and one where you’ll have to choose whether you want to try out a built-in character or create your own.
This goes without saying, but the very purpose of this guide revolves around going with the latter. So, select this type in your character’s name and move on.
You’ll also be asked to pick a Background. Your choice of Background heavily impacts your character’s overall build as it gives your character Proficiency bonus to two skills.
There is no hard and fast rule here; your choice completely depends on the playstyle that you wish to adopt.
However, if you’re a beginner, it’s better that you go with a Background that allows you to get a feel of your surroundings and what you’re in for.
The following are the available Background choices in Baldur’s Gate 3:
- Acolyte
- Charlatan
- Criminal
- Entertainer
- Folk Hero
- Guild Artisan
- Noble
- Hermit
- Outlander
- Sage
- Sailor
- Soldier
- Urchin
The Sailor Background can be a pretty decent choice in that case as you get Proficiency Bonus in Athletics Skill and Perception Skill.
Athletics will allow you to interact with your vicinity to the full by running, jumping, and throwing objects while Perception will allow you to read and notice the things around you.
Step 2 – Select your Race
The next step of the process is to select a Race. When you do select one, you are also assigned a Subrace.
Your base stats, weapons, gear, in short, your overall build is hugely affected by the Race of your character.
So you should bear in mind that whichever Race you choose complements your character.
In addition, the way other in-game characters interact with you or respond to you is also somewhat defined by your character’s race, making it all the more important to pick the right option.
Baldur’s Gate 3 offers you a plethora of Races and Subraces to choose from:
- Drow – Lolth Sworn
- Drow – Seldarine
- Dwarf – Gold
- Dwarf – Shield
- Elf – Wood
- Elf – High
- Githyanki
- Half-Elf – High
- Half-Elf – Wood
- Half-Elf – Drow
- Halfing – Lightfoot
- Halfing – Strongheart
- Human
- Tiefling – Asmodeus
- Tiefling – Mephistopheles
- Tiefling – Zariel
For starters, the Race Dwarf with the Subrace Shield is the recommended choice.
Aside from the Proficiencies in Battleaxe, Handaxe, Light Hammer, Warhammer, Light Armor, and Medium Armor, you get a +2 bonus in both Strength and Constitution.
You also get to develop a resistance against poison and walk at the speed of 25 ft/s.
Step 3 – Choose your Class
After you’ve chosen your Race, you’ll now come across the ‘Class’ Tab.
Your Class basically is the key to determining your playstyle in the game as it is mostly related to your character’s gear.
There are a total of 6 Classes to choose from; Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock, and Wizard.
Of these, Cleric comes with 3 different Subclasses; Warlock comes with 2 different Subclasses while Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, and Wizard have no Subclasses at all:
- Cleric – Life Domain
- Cleric – Light Domain
- Cleric – Trickery Domain
- Fighter
- Ranger
- Rogue
- Warlock – The Fiend
- Warlock – The Great Old One
- Wizard
For starters, the finest, the most understandable, and the one that best accompanies the Dwarf Race we chose above, is the Fighter Class.
With the Fighter Class, not only do you get 12 hit points per level (the best you can get with any of the classes) but also get to regain HP once per day (a feature of uttermost importance for the newcomers).
Of course, there is also the added benefit of Proficiencies in Strength Saving Throws, Constitution Saving Throws, Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Medium Armor, Shield, Simple Weapon, and Martial Weapon.
Step 4 – Set the parameters of your Abilities
The last step of the process will take you through the ‘Set Abilities’ Tab.
This is where you can see your character’s Abilities like Strength and Dexterity and the scores assigned to them.
You can make adjustments to these parameters according to your need but remember that if you go above 15 points for any particular stat, you’ll have to reduce the points from others.
For the build used in this guide, just go with the default parameters.
Step 5 – Select the right pair of Skills
Whichever Background, Class, and Race you choose, you’ll be presented with the same skills to choose from in the ‘Skills’ Tab.
You can choose 2 skills of your character to hone and become proficient in. If you don’t know what any of the skills entails, simply take the cursor on it to see its description.
If your Background, Race, or Class makes you proficient in a particular Skill, you’ll acquire an additional bonus of +2 in that skill, given that it’s one of your choices.
For the Character emphasized in this guide, having the Class of Fighter, Race of Dwarf (Subrace of Shield), and Background of Sailor, you need to look for Skills that focus on his interaction with other in-game characters since the areas of Athletics and Perception are already covered.
Insight and Intimidation are two of the decent choices that are sufficient to fill up the gap in your Character’s Skillset.
Insight helps you detecting a lie in some other character’s speech, possibly changing the course of your choices moving forward.
Intimidation Skill on the other hand can be used with characters misbehaving with you.
