Baldur’s Gate 3 fixes problems that Dungeons & Dragons has struggled with for years

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Baldur’s Gate 3is quite possibly one of the most enjoyable adaptations of tabletop role-playing juggernautDungeons & Dragonsthat’s ever graced a hard drive. However, Larian Studios' latest offering earns a place amongst the best RPGs not by being 100 percent faithful to the source material, but by knowing when to play fast and loose withD&Dorthodoxy.

However, thoughD&D Fifth Editioncreates a strong and consistent rules framework, Larian had to make more than a few changes to create the playground it was looking to build if it was going to create a title to rival thebest RPGs. Not only are these changes welcome, but they actively improve theD&Dformula, giving battles a sense of physicality and tangibility that they simply lack in the original ruleset.

Take health potions, for instance. InFifth Editionas written, potions can be administered to a single target, their utility is cut-and-dry. However, inBaldur’s Gate 3, characters can throw potions, causing them to burst open, providing an effect over a wide area. Immediately, whole new worlds of strategic possibility open up. Is it worth lobbing a potion into a difficult combat but healing your enemies in the process? How much of a risk are you willing to take when using your healing items?

Risk isn’t usually a concept we’d usually associate with healing potions

Risk isn’t usually a concept we’d usually associate with healing potions, butBaldur’s Gate 3has made some of the least interesting items inD&Dfar more compelling by adding an entirely new dimension for their use. As a result, a well-thrown healing potion feels clever and exciting.

Jumping and shoving are also commonplace inBaldur’s Gate 3, adding not only greater verticality to the combat but also giving battles a sense of weightiness. Stronger, heavy characters can literally push lighter ones around - sometimes to their deaths. The addition of this mechanic makes beefy charactersfeelstrong - somethingDungeons & Dragonsstruggles with beyond giving its stronger characters bigger damage numbers.

A helping hand

As you’d expect from one of thebest PC strategy gamesout there,Baldur’s Gate 3places great emphasis on how players manage pressure on their party, diverting fromD&Das written by changing several key actions as well as the action economy, itself.

Traditionally, the “Help” action inD&Dis used to boost an ally’s roll on a specific task, allowing them to roll two dice and pick the highest. InBaldur’s Gate 3, however, “Help” is used to revive downed allies, bringing them back up on a single hit point.

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Suddenly, rather than rendering the helper a background supporter,Baldur’s Gate 3makes them a vital savior. Plus, given that every party member has access to this action, it means that the downing of your last healer doesn’t necessarily spell the end for your party. It creates both extra opportunities for strategyanda safety net for players, expanding it well beyond its more passive pen-and-paper counterpart.

The action economy itself has also been tweaked by Larian, allowing for more novel approaches

The action economy itself has also been tweaked by Larian, allowing for more novel approaches. Potions only require a bonus action to use, rather than the regular action they require in theD&Dtabletop. This allows you to be far more proactive with your potion stock. Gaining situation advantages through potion buffs or a timely heal, but still having time to attack or cast a spell makes for more dynamically paced combat. Turns no longer need to feel wasted on healing or preparation. Savvy potion buyers can have their cake and eat it - though notably, they cannot have their potionanddrink it.

Baldur’s Gate 3takes its encounter pacing seriously, too, breaking up adventures into manigable chunks. Between long rests - nights spent in camp - Larian’s RPG allows you two short rests per day. These refresh certain abilities and allow your party members to recover hit points. They are also instantaneous - a big change fromDungeons & Dragons. In the tabletop game, so-called short rests require an hour of in-game time, a taxing demand that often has parties stop and debate the pros and cons of stopping to rest rather than getting on with the story or, god forbid, actuallyresting.

Action surge

Baldur’s Gate 3also spices up weapon attacks by giving each weapon type its own set of unique moves. Usually refreshing every short rest, these techniques help to give the different weapons on offer a real sense of variance and diversity. For instance, sword users can use a bonus action to hit their enemy with a pommel strike, potentially dazing the target and making them vulnerable to further attacks. By contrast, archers can fire a hamstring shot, reducing enemy movement on a successful hit.

In the vanillaD&Dtabletop game, basic attacks are rarely this exciting, unless you’re lucky enough to roll a critical hit (or the dreaded natural one). Though the game’s myriad classes are full of tantalizing options for characters in and out of combat, there are relatively few ways to spice up basic attacks.Baldur’s Gate 3, by contrast, generously offers new options to characters of all stripes, so long as they’re using a weapon with which they’re proficient.

Baldur’s Gate 3 generously offers new attack options to characters of all stripes

Magic users also get in on the action, withBaldur’s Gate 3removing the somatic and material requirements for spells in favor of a few simple magic words. For those not in the know, many spells inD&Drequire both physical components and free hands to perform, meaning that spellcasters sometimes have to choose between being armed and being able to cast spells. It’s something of a hassle, which, in my experience, many Dungeon Masters ignore altogether. Fortunately, Larian has followed suit, allowing spellcasters to show off their arcane prowess without having to faff around with component pouches or swapping around weapon load-outs.

D&Dhas a long history of what is called “house rules” - permutations to the established ruleset agreed upon by groups of players to reduce headaches and make the game more fun. Across all of these changes, Larian looks as though it’s taken this tradition to heart by not only making theD&D Fifth Editionrules cohere with the interactive video game landscape but also by adding their own flair and flourishes, so as to offer its own unique flavor ofDungeons & Dragons.

As a Dungeon Master myself, with over 10 years of experience, I can confirm that taking this kind of initiative is in the finest tradition of tabletop RPGs and shows Larian’s deep understanding of the genre. In this way,Baldur’s Gate 3’s divergence fromD&D’s rules as written doesn’t just make it a better video game but also makes it a betterDungeons & Dragonsgame.

If you’re still waiting for Baldur’s Gate 3’sPS5release on September 6 or its future release on Xbox Series X|S, our lists of thebest PS5 gamesand thebest Xbox Series X gameswill help you stay busy in the meantime.

An editor and freelance journalist, Cat Bussell has been writing about video games for more than four years and, frankly, she’s developed a taste for it. As seen on TechRadar, Technopedia, The Gamer, Wargamer, and SUPERJUMP, Cat’s reviews, features, and guides are lovingly curated for your reading pleasure.

A Cambridge graduate, recovering bartender, and Cloud Strife enjoyer, Cat’s foremost mission is to bring you the best coverage she can, whether that’s through helpful guides, even-handed reviews, or thought-provoking features. She’s interviewed indie darlings, triple-A greats, and legendary voice actors, all to help you get closer to the action. When she’s not writing, Cat can be found sticking her neck into a fresh RPG or running yet another Dungeons & Dragons game.

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