Highlights

  • Baldur's Gate 3 implements changes to adapt the 5th edition ruleset for D&D, ensuring that players always have fun.
  • An example of one of these changes is it replaces the grid-based movement system with a line-based movement system, allowing for more flexibility in combat.
  • Another change is alignment is no longer a prominent factor in the game, but players still choose alignment and breaking an oath as a Paladin has consequences.

There have been plenty of Dungeons & Dragons video games over the years, adapting the rules as best as they can depending on the genre. When dealing with RPGs, the game designers do their best to adapt the rules as faithfully as possible, yet changes are inevitable.

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In the case of the Baldur’s Gate series, the first two entries did an admirable job of adapting the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules, making changes when needed. Baldur’s Gate 3 does much of the same, in this case with the 5th edition ruleset for D&D. Now the changes done in the latest installment are not only for the sake of adaptation, but to ensure that no matter what you choose to do, you’re always having fun.

10 Grids Are Out, Lines Are In

Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach Moving

The battles in Dungeons & Dragons games generally use a game board that is broken down into a grid, with each square equaling five feet of movement. This determines how many squares each character can move during their round in combat.

In contrast, Baldur's Gate 3 uses the movement system designed for Divinity: Original Sin 2. Each character has a certain amount of movement each turn, and they are free to move around the battlefield in a line created by the player. While the D&D movement rules still apply, such as Attacks of Opportunity, the lack of a grid has some slight differences; you can be surrounded by more than eight creatures at a time, for example.

9 Alignment Is Gone

Baldur's Gate 3 Mizora

In previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons, alignment defined a set of ethics and morals that characters would follow. This affected even player characters, needing to choose alignment at character creation and then stick to those morals.

Now, while you still choose alignment in 5th edition, it rarely comes up unless you’re a class like Paladin, whose core mechanic revolves around their morals. In Baldur’s Gate 3, alignment is completely gone. There are still devils and angels that behave as you expect them to, but you’re free to act as you wish. Paladins in this case have to choose an Oath, and breaking it has some interesting consequences.

8 Spell Changes

Baldur's Gate 3 Gale Casting Freezing Sphere

The spells in D&D are designed with a Dungeon Master in mind, someone that can balance the most unpredictable outcomes. In a video game, you need to cover all possible outcomes, and even then players will find ways to break your game. That’s why a lot of spells had to be streamlined, and with the damage oriented spells this was no problem.

Other spells however had to be heavily nerfed, since there was little to no way of making them work. Disguise Self, while still useful, can’t be used as a get out of jail free card, and most NPCs will still recognize you. Yet the spell most affected is Polymorph, a spell with limitless potential in D&D is reduced to only transforming people into sheep in Baldur’s Gate 3.

7 The Bonus Spell/Cantrip Rule Is Gone

Baldur's Gate 3 Shadowheart Casting Healing Word

The most overlooked rule in the D&D Player's Handbook is found on page 202 (at the time of this writing). It states that, if a character casts a spell as a Bonus Action during their round, then the only spell they can cast with their Action has to be a Cantrip. A lot of DMs and players miss this rule, which means spells like Healing Word are far more powerful than they should be.

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The Bonus Action/Cantrip spell rule is gone in Baldur's Gate 3. It's now possible for characters to cast a spell as a Bonus Action and use a regular spell as an Action. This means Clerics can cast Cure Wounds and Healing Word in the same round.

6 Improved Classes And Subclasses

Baldur's Gate 3 Thief Subclass

Balance is not as important in D&D as it is in video games, since if players are too powerful or too weak, a few tweaks from the Dungeon Master can ensure that everyone is having fun. Lacking that, video games need to ensure that every class works as intended and is, at the very least, fun to use.

This is why certain classes had a significant rework, so they’re just as good a choice as more popular classes. Rangers, Monks and Rogues are the most affected, yet small changes can be found all around. The most notable is Ranger’s favored terrain, where instead of being better at traversing it they get a permanent elemental resistance.

5 Magic Items Are More Common

Baldur's Gate 3 Wyll With Magic Items

Magic items are rare in the current edition of D&D. The designers decided to give player characters more abilities in response to this, while the few items that did appear were more powerful, but came with new restrictions, such as having a limited number of uses each day.

Baldur's Gate 3 is heavily based on the Divinity: Original Sin 2 engine and many magic items from that game have been adapted for D&D. As such, it's far more common to find +1 items, potions, and scrolls. The magic arrowheads and explosives from Divinity: Original Sin 2 can also be found in Baldur's Gate 3, and they can perform AoE attacks that leave effects on the battlefield.

4 More Varied Bonus Actions

Baldur's Gate 3 Wyll Jumping

The action economy in both D&D and Baldur’s Gate is the same: one action, one bonus action, and a limited amount of movement. Yet not all classes have a use for the bonus action, unless it’s for drinking a potion. This makes most players take their action and end their turn, wasting the bonus one.

In Baldur’s Gate 3, a lot of base actions have been created so no matter your class, you don’t feel like you’re wasting resources. Shove, dip and jump are a few examples, and while most of those actions exist in D&D, they are part of other things like attacks or movement.

3 Resting Changes

Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach Resting

The way players recover their resources like health and spell slots is by resting. When you rest, you need to choose between a short or long rest, essentially choosing between a nap or a deep sleep. In D&D, the difference between the rests is the amount of time, specifically the amount of time you can spend without being threatened.

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In Baldur’s Gate 3, the difference needed to be different, since you can spend a lot of time idle due to the nature of video games. Short rests can now be taken instantly, as long as you’re out of combat, yet limited to two per long rest. Long rests can only be taken in your camp, their limiting factor being camp supplies, so if you don’t have food you can't take a long rest.

2 High Ground Rules

Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach Shooting

While there are plenty of rule changes from D&D, one of the most significant rules in Baldur’s Gate 3’s combat is one that doesn't exist in D&D. This is mostly due to how combat is presented, since in D&D’s grid based combat most combat scenarios are flat, with few elevations since it’s not only hard to represent, it’s also hard to calculate distance to hit.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a much easier time dealing with altitude. In fact most combat encounters deal with some sort of verticality. As such, they can add rules to this that are easy to follow, such as the High Ground Rule. This rule says that whenever you’re aiming down at someone, you have an easier time to hit, and aiming up is harder.

1 Preparing Spells

Baldur's Gate 3 Preparing Spells

The most significant rule change by far has to be preparing spells. In D&D, classes that need to prepare spells to use them can only do so during a long rest. This makes it so the player needs to be aware of every spell at their disposal as to not miss a crucial one.

In Baldur’s Gate 3, there’s usually only one player managing several characters, so keeping track of all those spells is nearly impossible. To remedy that, you can change your prepared spells whenever you’re out of combat, allowing you to pick more niche spells and only prepare them when necessary. This is particularly useful with Wizards, who have access to incredibly powerful spells.

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