Hello, welcome to this guide that is like four guides got drunk and had a baby and no one knows who the mom is but someone got an F on their report card and why am I still typing? help

To find things you can look for the section headings or use ctrl + F to search for a word.

I will avoid spoilers whenever possible.

This guide is getting stupidly long. Hope you enjoy! [mental note to add a word count here]

For a more serious introduction to the game, see this guide:
Things you want to know before you play - Basic interactions by Baraz

This guide is currently being updated, if things look strange please leave me alone until I am done let me know in the comments so I can get to it asap!

Some things just need a final read through pass.

1. I hate spiders, just don't
   
   
2. So do gobbo's (tasty tasty yum yum snackies)
   
   
3. You may not have a bag of holding but your bag is pretty magical, somehow Shadowheart is carrying five crates, no I don't know how.
   
   
4. Stealthy bois should go first. Its also surprisingly easy to be stealthy if you avoid cones... if you want to waste time and don't feel like headbutting the first enemy you see. I wish ice cream was in this game...
   
   
5. Some spells last until the next long rest, so you can cast these at the start of the day and speak to all the squirrels! . . . or dead people.
   
   
6. Send all your foodstuffs back to camp. You really want to carry around ALL your snacks?
   
   
7. Jumping is surprisingly useful! (looking at you athlete feat + champion, BOING)
   
   
8. Talk to everyone! Worst case you have more reasons to stab them later
   
   
9. The more you [REDACTED] the more [REDACTED] so [REDACTED]
   
   
10. Avoid typing spoilers in your guide whenever you can. (Hi Larian!)
    
    
11. Magic items are dope, hoard them! (Gale -.-)
    
    
12. The higher charisma your character has the better they are at bartering, so maybe let the warlock do it, 'ey.
    
    
13. Do not attack an entire camp of enemies when you are in the middle of their camp. Seriously, it's not a good idea.
    
    
14. You can fast travel from almost anywhere, good for escaping places you don't want to be in anymore. (Like the aforementioned camp. Totally intentional. I promise.)
    
    
15. The purple runes on the stones are fast travel points. Keep an eye out for them.
    
    
16. You can change your spells around as long as you haven't used them. I always forget to change my spells.
    
    
17. Gale / Wizards are special and can read (shock) so they can learn spells off scrolls. This does destroy the scroll though and costs G's. Just remember that if you know all the spells you can't actually prepare them all, so choose wisely... or forget and use the above tip.
    
    
18. Your companions will like or dislike your actions. Play your cards right and you can have some happy fun times. Or turn them down like the socially awkward person you are and realize why you are still single IRL too. Edit: No longer single, WOO!
    
    
19. Friend? or Food?
    
    
20. READ THE DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS BEFORE EQUIPPING THEM. OTHERWISE YOU MAY FIND THAT GLOVES OF BLASTING BLOW *YOU* UP!
    
    
21. Some items give you spells. Movement, attack and healing spells are the most valuable in my opinion. But you do you.
    
    
22. Dying is not the end. It is merely another path. Which all your characters must take.
    
    
23. Seriously tho if you all die just reload a save, quick save is your friend. If only one or two die, it'll be fine. . . I think.
    
    
24. Save before you go to go to camp / long rest. A lot can happen, personal drama, cinematics, new friends, and it's very easy to put a foot wrong when you you were just trying to be funny. Just like real life. So save, it's not save scumming if it was unintentional !
    
    
25. For maximum DnD immersion set units to Imperial. (This also makes more sense in universe imo)
    
    
26. Pushing enemies off high places is funny, you might miss out on loot if they fall into a chasm... also try not to blow yourself up and fall into said chasm. That is less funny
    
    
27. Throw things! Healing potions! Bombs! Barrels with questionable liquid! Experiment! It's all possible and potentially useful!
    
    
28. The Devil is in the Details.
    
    
29. Find the Raisin man! Do not leave Act 1 without the Skelly-boi! He is best wrinkly dude!

Combat is about a few things, master these things and you will do well.

• Action economy, the more people on your side and the fewer on theirs the better chance of winning you have.
  
• Target selection, take down specific enemies with a nod to their weaknesses and how they exploit yours.
  
• Concentration, break the enemy's spells and keep yours going! more difficult in this game than in D&D maybe because you have a worm in your brain
  
• Controlling surfaces, fire, water, lightening, acid, and so on. Larian patched so this isn't as important anymore, yay!

1. Press ctrl to change the direction your characters are facing. This matters because Backstab is a thing (basically you get a bonus to your attack roll if attacking from behind) this applies to all enemies and your characters too. So stabby stabby.
   
   
2. Better armor is rare, only the outfit (or chest piece) actually changes AC (shields also add to it) otherwise, boots, gloves, head pieces and jewelry apply bonuses. Such as +1 to dex save or (in the case of a rare magic item) intelligence set to 18.
   
   
3. Start the fight whenever you can, getting the jump on the enemy is the difference between life and death. Preferably from stealth. With a rogue. This will give you a surprise round. (A surprise round is a full round where the enemy does not get to act) (note that when trying this method, often your other characters, if sneaking or out of range, will not immediately join the fight, you have to make them join manually, otherwise they will just watch you die)
   
   
4. Crowd control is the biggest deal in this game. Anything that can stun, terrify or put to sleep the enemy. Basically, make the enemy have fewer turns & actions than you makes it a lot easier to win.
   
   
5. The two most powerful spells I have found in the game so far are bless & healing word. They aren't fancy or flashy but boy howdy are they effective. Cleric FTW.
   
   
6. Finesse weapons allow you to add your dex to your melee attack rolls rather than your strength. Very important for high dex characters. This is basically just ranged weapons, daggers and shortswords, but read the tags.
   
   
7. Enemies are more intelligent and less forgiving than your average combat encounter run by your friendly dungeon master. So expect to get flanked, put to sleep, have a single character focussed down, and all the things your DM could do to you IRL but doesn't because he wants you to come back and play with him next week.
   
   
8. Size matters. The bigger the die being rolled for your weapon damage, the more damage it will do, however, more die, of a smaller number, offer more consistent damage.
   (If you want to know the nerdy math behind it, 2d6 cannot roll lower than a 2, but have a lower chance of rolling two 6's. Where as a d12 can roll a 1, but has a 1/12 chance of rolling a 12. Overall, the affect is debatable but more die tend to feel more consistent than larger, but fewer die.) For more on this topic see my Rant: Greataxes vs Greatswords for barbarians later in the guide! I'm not crazy, I promise.

As a quick note about building your own character.

With the way Larian has laid out BG 3 and the way most people will like to play (solo), it lends itself to building a player character that has a decent ability to speak (cha), tank damage (con) and carry stuff (str) so you don't need to worry quite as much about having too much in your inventory you little hoarder you...

With this in mind, the Paladin class, is what I would recommend. This is because it has a good balance of stats and allows a new player to dabble in most aspects of D&D without needing to start a new character every five minutes.
Failing that, a fighter or str based melee ranger would also work, the ranger might feel a little stretched for ability points though, since you want a good wis too. Or you could just run the default ranged... ranger.

You don't need to follow this by any means, and there is more detail in the classes section below.

With that said, ignore everything I just said and play the way you want!

Think of it like this, your class is the general flavor of the disk you want. For example, we can compare a fighter to a nice pizza.

Do you want a pepperoni pizza? That's a battlemaster fighter. What about extra cheese? That'll be the champion? Pineapple? Eldri— *stabbing noises*

I think you get my point. So first, pick the general flavor you want, for most classes you are stuck with this basic version until level 3, where you get to customize it a bit and add more of the kind of flavor you want.

For most classes this will include one subclass that just emphasizes what you already enjoy (ie the Champion Fighter, the Beserker Barbarian and so on, and other fun flavors to try.

It's usually best to have one class focused on being in the font/melee, one focused on supporting their team and one focussed on doing damage. All the classes are some mixture of these with the subclasses pushing them in one direction or another. For example, a typical Cleric will want to support, sit back and cast spells but a War or Tempest Cleric will want to get up close and hit enemies with the power of their Divine.

Classes below are grouped in alphabetical order.

Not really sure if I should organize these alphabetically or by class type (ie. martial, magical, hyrbid). Oh well, let me know if you think its bad.

* <-- this symbol means this class is recommended for newer players. Has nothing to do with the strength of the class, just that they tend to be more straight forward.
! <-- this symbol means this class is for more advanced / experienced players. Purely because they are difficult to play or can be overwhelming.
[mental note to apply this to subclasses too, damn I have so many notes]


You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Do you want to be tanky, strong and really really, disturbingly good at turning people into goo?

Then this angry boi is for you! Launch yourself into the middle of the fray, wildly swinging your axe and having arrows bounce off your rippling muscles. Any wounds you do take just making you even angrier.

Key features include: Is angry ; moar Damage (when angry) ; Very tanky (later, too angry to die) ; nudity (weapons just bounce off your muscular pecs, armor is for weaklings)

Your only weakness? P&P. Puzzles & people, but that's what friends are for.

Also for some reason they always have a bag full of every cursed item the party encounters, including the possessed ones... hey, barbarians are not known for smart ideas and *someone* has to carry all this stuff.

• Berserker Whats better than Rage? FRENZY (because you are EXTRA ANGRY)
  
• Wildheart Animals are badass! More of a build-your-own barbarian subclass, that focusses on their link with nature. Also good if you really like the vibe of druids.
  
• Wild Magic Angry farts are magic (sometimes?) Roll for random magic effects every time you get mad. Yay?

Example from popular media: Conan... the barbarian or Hercules from... every Hercules film.


The whole song and dance!

Bard is the jam, this is where it's at man. Rock out to your favorite tunes with the most versatile spellcaster... who is actually likable! Bards come with tons of spell options including ones for utility, control and a touch of healing. Just because they aren't shooting fireballs from their eyes doesn't mean you should underestimate them!

On top of the diverse spellcasting and the ability to be so awesome that you inspire your allies to be better, you are also so charismatic than no one can match your charms (much to the dismay of the warlock and sorcerer). Talk yourself out of, or into (wiggles eyesbrows) trouble with one of our two available bard colleges.

• The College of Lore bard wants to know the secrets of the universe, and that comes with some more knowledge and the ability to insult people in the middle of combat!
  
• The College of Valour bard is for the brave bard, who want to sing and get stuck into the thick of combat, with improved options for armor and shields!
  
• The College of Swords bard is the dashing rogue, similar in some ways to the Valour bard but focussed less on supporting people in combat and more on lookin' damn good doing it.

The supporty-healy boi cleric is pretty essential to any party and is probably the most powerful class in... well almost any system ever. The fools think that all a cleric can do is heal... which is only true if you pick the life cleric, but clerics have tons of powerful spells.

Healing word is a bonus action that lets you pick up allies from a distance. There is no reason to ever not have healing word. KEEP HEALING WORD IN YOUR SPELL LIST!

Bless is also dope. Bane (anti-bless) is more situational but more useful in those situations.

• Life Domain, IRL you are a medic, doctor or someone who loves playing Mercy in Overwatch. Am I wrong?
  
• Light Domain, being a healer doesn't mean you can't blow stuff up and melt faces, FIREBALL.
  
• Trickery Domain, you're a weird lil goth and you like it (we like you too but we can't tell you cuz edgy rules).
  
• Knowledge Domain, you're a religious nerd. You know more than the turbo-nerd wizards because you literally have the god of knowledge on your side.
  
• Nature Domain, because druids are a bit too into nature.
  
• Tempest Domain, you love Thor, or turning your enemies into piles of Ash. Hammers are recommended.
  
• War Domain, paladins needed someone holier than them for their crusade, so they called you.

Basically, a nature hippy with a fursona.

Typically focused around support and control spells or being a furry (turning into animals).
Not both since animals don't have thumbs which is important for casting a lot of spells.

Side note: This doesn't affect ability such as Rage (barbarian multi-class) and you should be able to continue to concentrate on spells you have already cast (last time I tested this wasn't the case but hopefully will be fixed soon)

Not recommended for new players, the first three or so levels can be tough as this class shines with more party members and more spell options.

• Circle of the Moon, you're a shape shifting tank bear-person in every sense of the word. Stop it. You know what you did. Lookin' at you Larian.
  
• Circle of the Land , nothing more druid than loving the land itself. Choose which kind of land is your favorite. Read the spell lists carefully as they are really different. Very much a spell-focussed druid.
  
• Circle of Spores, you really love that mushroom character from Mario, right? Thats why you love mushrooms? I'm not missing something am I?

Fighters are your standard, uh, fighty-person. I wonder what they do? Hm. Personally, I like it when they stick to hitting stuff really hard, and... a lot?

Nice to have, but not necessary for survival.

• Battlemaster is like a tactical fighter, the best fighter (I'm being entirely serious and not sarcastic at all I promise... what? I said I promise!)
  
• Eldritch Knight is a fighter with spells, not high level spells or many of them but you'll have like... a couple.
  
• Champion, we heard you like fighter in your fighter so we gave you some more fighter.

I don't really have much more to say, they are as straight forward as their name implies... oh I guess they do get to choose to get an extra action for a turn, so that's nice.

How do I make fighters funny? You're just the most skilled FIGHTER in the entire roster of classes. Clue is the name. Um... uhhhhh [insert tactical joke here].

Examples from popular media: most action hero characters... Achilles is an amazing example.


Someone once watched a Bruce Lee film and was like yes, I want this and then proceeded to rip off Kung Fu and misunderstand half of all the things and out popped Monk. Commonly regarded as one of the weakest classes when they have the potential to run across an entire battlefield and perma-stun the boss and make your DM cry when they wasted four hours on a stat block with a poor con modifier.

There is also a non-zero chance that you are a weeb. If you don't know what that means you're safe.

• Way of the Open Hand - The OG, the Bruce Lee, the Kung Fu master.
  
• Way of Shadow - I am ninja, you saw nothing *puff of smoke*
  
• Way of the Four Elements - You watched Avatar as a kid and now you play this monk. Life is a circle.

Kinda up to you if you are more of a Jackie Chan monk or a Karate Kid, or, I don't know. Goku? That counts, right? What about Hulk Hogan? Does he count as a monk?

Examples: See above


Hear me out, what if you really like clerics, but you also want to hit stuff? Oh wait, I also want to be able to talk to people and not be wooden like a Fighter or Barbarian?

Introducing the Paladin. Do you want to smite your foes? Be the bane of demons and evil-doers? Be the literal man (or woman) in shining armor?

You will be a little stretch on the stat points but you don't need intelligence (nerds) or dexterity (cowards). So try to get points into strength, and then constitution and charisma should be balanced. Wisdom is nice but no-one should come to you for advice, that's what clerics are for.

Unfortunately you will never be the best at anything, but you are the best at doing a number of things without being a wimpy wizard.

This is also a great class if you aren't sure what you like as it will let you dabble in a little bit of everything.

• Oath of Devotion - white knights and pure of heart, you are either really sweet or insufferable.
  
• Oath of the Ancients - nature is badass and therefore so am I.
  
• Oath of Vengeance - I am batman. Dark knight anyone?
  
• Oathbreaker - we don't talk about these ones *shivvers*

Honestly, just put on some Powerwolf and go to town.

Somehow I got through that without a deus vult joke.


pew pew


Honestly a really fun class, mostly geared for ranged combat but you can make a melee ranger if you pick the right options. I don't have time to be funny, I have to tell you about A LOT of options.

Favoured enemy / natural explorer determines the flavour you want including any additional cantrips or features.

SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF RANGER AHHHHHHH! Someone hold me, they gave rangers even more choice since the last time I looked.

Seriously, they have so many options and possibilities, I'm not sure there is even a point in listing... okay fine. Only because I love you. Cheeky.

Favored Enemy:

• Bounty hunter; Investigate stuff and stop people from coming closer, good if you hate germs
  
• Keeper of the Veil; you hate tourists
  
• Mage breaker; all these spell casters think they are * SO * much better than you.
  
• Ranger knight; lets you play a melee ranger more easily, but... why not just play a fighter?
  
• Sanctified Stalker; Stalking is okay if you are holy as well... right? (hint- no.)

Natural Explorer:

• Beast tamer; You can have a cat that is a spider that is a bird that is a frog but not really
  
• Urban tracker; diet rogue
  
• Wasteland Wanderer; damage resistance of your choice. So far fire and poison are significantly more common than cold damage. So one of those two is a pretty strong pick. Particularly if your multiplayer friends like setting fire to literally everything.

Even more thing to choose from (okay, this is now ridiculous):

• Bear; Because the party forgot to pick a tank
  
• Boar; Because you like bacon and think it's funny
  
• Giant Spider; Because you are a psychopath. Seriously, see someone. * shudders *
  
• Raven; Because you forgot what the point of this class was
  
• Wolf; Who's a good boy
  OR
  
• Colossus Slayer; because they must die faster
  
• Giant Killer; because the other big thing must die (this is for melee hunters)
  
• Horde Breaker; because choosing a single target focused class feels like a mistake.

Later you can choice between three sub-classes.

• Beast Master, because you absolutely insist on having a pet, or
  
• Hunter, because you must pew-pew even harder.
  
• Gloom Stalker, I hunt in the darkness, I become one with the darkness. Probably is in a support group with the rogue.

*cries in too many options*

Rogues do sneak attack damage when they attack from stealth. As you level up you can use a bonus action to hide again as a rogue. However, you need to make sure you are out of line of sight of the enemy to do this.

Ranged Rogue is kind of a thing. It is more effective to be a dual-wield melee rogue. As you get to attack again with your off hand as a bonus action. Letting you get as much as four (!!!) attacks off per round, compared to a ranged rogue's single attack.

The rogue is ... wait ... where is the rogue?

• Thief rogues get an extra bonus action (which can be used to attack with your second sword... which is your backup sword in case the first one breaks? I don't know. That joke was a stretch. Or dash to be a speedy boi.
  
• Arcane tricksters get some spells to mess around with, which are mostly utility based. You could also use them for damage spells but frankly the thief is way better for damage right now.
  
• Assassin *somewhere in a boardroom* listen guys, we don't have enough edge in our edgiest character, how can we make them ever edgier? Rogue Assassin :o :o :o

When you want to be a wizard but books are for nerds and you're more interested in being a chad. Bonus chad points for High Elf + Noble for extra smug-ness.
Flavours include:

• Wild Magic: the tide of chaos which is the ability to gain advantage, also “WiLd MagiK” which does something, is unclear what exactly, something, anything, can happen, only occurs on first level spells and above, terms and conditions apply to anyone near you including you
  
• Draconic: (read: son of a bard bloodline) gives +1 hp per level & chad bonus when not wearing armor (also applies when naked.. for reasons). Don't forget to choose what flavour of dragon your parent was, this just gives you one spell and determines the colour of your scales (yes, you have scales now, you weirdo)
  
• Storm Sorcery: I can't let the Tempest Cleric have all the fun, now can I? The Zeus to the Tempest's Thor. You can fly... as a bonus action. Enuf said. Bzzzzt

Basically, dragon is the better sorcerer, but wild magic is potentially disastrous, funny or useful while storm is the most traditional and also awesome but I am not biased and I won't hear otherwise. Also, dump int because knowing stuff is for nerds.

Metamagic(Just imagine jazz hands)
The reason why you don't go wizard instead, besides being a chad,
Note; these are active abilities that always cost sorcery points (very nerdy)

• Careful spell, avoid sizzling your allies
  
• Distant spell, so you can blap foes from behind your allies
  
• Extended spell, so your stuff lasts longer
  
• Twinned spell, two for the price of one, very good deal, yes?
  3rd Level +
  
• Heightened Spell, make enemies saves harder to make (there is no way to make that funny, fite me)
  
• Quickened Spell, Action spell----> Bonus Action Spell, very powerful
  
• Subtle Spell, you can cast while being silenced... wait, what? That's not what it used to do!

*Sorcery Points can also be exchanged for more spell slots for when you wasted all your big stuff on a squirrel.


Warlocks have a Sugar Daddy, or Mommy. Not sure which. Not judging, just thought you should know that the spells and stuff are on loan. Hence only two spell slots.

Eldritch blast is a warlock spell that uses no spell slots so you can use it + your hex to deal consistent ranged damage. Or you can just punch them in the face and feel like a badass for 0.0012 seconds before the wizard next to them turns you into crispy bacon.

Speaking of Hex. The type of ability score you hex will determine the affect of the hex. So, if it's a big strong dude who hits really hard in melee, hex strength so he can't hit you. Hex the dexterity of the archer, so they also can't hit you. Or combine and hex to wisdom and a spell from another caster to give that spell a better chance of working. Sleepy sleepy trolls.

As a Warlock you get a waifu, uh, 'patron' who is either a

• The Fiend aka. dark one, not the same as a friend. Worth remembering.
  
• Great Old One if you're into that sort of thing.
  
• Archfey who can and will meddle with you and your life and why would you choose to have a being a pure chaos in your life? *looks over at my partner* nevermind, I understand entirely. (I<3U)

Right now, the Fiend lets you heal a bit when you kill something, and the Old One does give you Mortal Reminder, which is a great song. Sadly all is does is scare enemies when you crit them. Archfey doesn't give you a passive but does let you charm or frighten enemies, and later turn into a puff of smoke if you take damage, which is how I react to damage IRL.


You... you could... you could be a lizard wizard *bursts out laughing*

Wizards are kinda cool, they can do immense damage, but are also so squishy. That means that don't have much health. But it's more fun to say squishy. "squishy" *hehehehehe*

Wizards should get more AoE spells (big blasty spells) later on but I haven't seen them so far in Early Access. They still have the most spells to choose from of any class. It's pretty insane. I don't know what half of them do. They are colour coded (kinda) tho. So yay?

I don't recommend wizards for new players as you have to learn your spells which can be as much fun as doing homework. Beware: Math

Okay, here we go, lizard wizard list, last one, woo:
Abjuration You can be a Abbbbbjuration wizward which lets you cast a ward (?). Kinda lame. More like a utility wizard.
Conjuration summon stuff and things! Maybe living things? Hopefully? Please?
Divination to pretend to be Doctor Strange and see the future and how you die in 10/10 encounters with that dragon, seriously, don't try it.
Enchantment is not sitting at a table making magic items. It's more like how you'd describe someone as being enchanting. Nerd version of a bard / warlock / paladin. You wouldn't need those fancy spells if you'd just practiced your piano lessons Dustin.
Evocation if you wana go blasting without worrying about the fact that your ally is next to the dude you are blowing up, go for Evocation. For explody fun, without the unnecessary hassle of health & safety! Leave your high-vis jackets at home!
Necromancy its never as cool as I think it should be, probably because my version of this class are usually the 'bad guys'. I just wanted to raise a family in peace. So uh... this might be broken. Being able to create a mini-army is very powerful
Illusion, you can't convince me that the VFX industry doesn't exist in the fantasy realm. Can you image how amazing movies would be? You just need to capture one wizard! Who can turn invisible... ah.
Transmutation to turn one thing into another thing, but not really, you can only do it temporarily and not all the things and druids take the cake for body modification and— why would you play this one again?

Your race matters. . . like, elf and stuff.

Uh, to clarify, I mean that, for example, if building a rogue, you want darkvision, you may also want the proficiency with shortbows + longbows that a Wood Elf gives you or any other racial bonuses.

But if you want to make a halfling fighter go for it!


Elves are pretty awesome and quite strong as a choice. Everyone will think you are probably stuck up because you think you're better than them. Which is quite unfair.
You know you are better than them.

Because sleeping is for noobs - you just meditate like a boss.

Really strong choice for most classes. Not recommended for Fighters as nothing really helps you there.


Tieflings are kinda. . . horny. I like it.

Three sub-races depending on what colour you'd like to be and if you'd rather set someone on fire or punch them.

Bonus: tails.
Woo!


So you're edgy? You haven't out grown your goth phase? Welcome to the club. We have Superior Darkvision.

Because you want to be a social outcast in this game and IRL.

Not a bad choice at all for Ranger / Rogue / Warlock (pick Warlock for maximum edge, careful, you might cut yourself).


Humies are boring. Get horns. (It's an RPG, stop playing human fighters, ugh)


Do not make fun of their funny noses. DO NOT make fun of their noses. I just.. wanna tweak it.

Generally people with anger issues. EDIT: No edit required, this is still entirely accurate.

Good for classes that want to hit stuff. Or suddenly make classes that aren't good at hitting things, suddenly good at hitting things.


Obligatory scottish accented short & strong people. If you don't know what a dwarf is, I seriously worry for your fantasy education. If you're still confused. Just look up Gimli gifs on google.

Comes in fighter and cleric options.

If you go fighter make sure to have an elf in the party and keep count of your kills (always have more kills than the elf).


You and your perfect teeth and your perfect hair and *ugh* your just so annoying.

Comes in snooty, tanned and goth flavours.

Basically the best choice because of the versatility and darkvision and everyone likes you and your perfect face and I just- *throws papers into the air*


You either meme hard or are a fan of Samwise (the best hobbit - fite me).

Really good for rogues. Or for creating a tiny fighter so you can wet yourself laughing when he charges into battle against gigantic foes.


To be honest, I don't know why you would want to play a gnome. Halfling is literally right there.

Okay fiiiiiiiiine, what if you wanted to play halfling but wanted darkvision and a bonus to intelligence for.. I don't know, a sneaky wizard?

Welp, * gestures half-heartedly * gnomes... exist.


So are we gonna talk about how good they look? WTF, how? How are they this good? Why do they look better than everyone else?

Ignoring their oddly dashing good looks, Dragonborn bring a little bit of the Dragon in Dungeons & Dragons to your game. They are very customizable with different options for their colour, which also affects their breath weapon and an elemental resistance.

Bonus: tails.
Woo!


Don't think about where you came from too hard otherwise WotC might retcon you.

A really great basis for interesting characters, including a noble knight, or a handsome barbarian, or anything with a massive weapon really (yes, that includes bards, ugh).

You are too angry to die and you hit like a freight train. Makes excellent fighters, barbarians and anyone with a mass— I already made this joke.

Author Note: OMG THIS GUIDE IS SO LONG WHY DID I DO THIS TO MYSELF

I don't know how to make this funny so. . .

AC (Armor class) is the number an attack roll needs to beat in order to hit.

If you don't know what your AC or your enemy's AC is, you can right click and examine them.

Then it will show up on the right of their portrait above their ability scores.

are the numbers that determine the physical and mental characteristics of any.. character.
They are as follows:

Strength: Makes you swol bro. (Also increases your chance to hit things with most melee weapons, and you know, helps you lift bro.)

Dexterity: Can you do a handstand while juggling a chair with your feet? My Dex 18 Rogue could. If they roll high enough. (Also adds to your AC with most armor, more on that later. Also adds to your attack rolls for finesse weapons & ranged weapons)

Constitution: Ever had a curry and suffered the morning after? Your con isn't high enough. (Adds to your hitpoints/health, helps you concentrate on things and avoid acid reflux. Generally a good stat but never the most important one).

intelligence: That one dude in class who gets A's without studying, he's probably a part-time wizard. (Also just makes you know all the things).

Wisdom: Your mother who somehow has eyes in the back of her head and always knows when your feeling down? This is her best stat. Great for clerics, but everyone needs to be able to see.

Charisma: The slick guy at the bar who somehow goes home with two girls. Yeah. I hate that guy too. (Makes everyone like you, give you discounts, at the moment only the Warlock really needs this for his spells).

Key ability scores for each class and subclass may change. This should be your highest score.
In general this is str for fighter, dex for rogue, int for wizard, wis for cleric, and wis or dex for ranger.

This will also change depending on how you specialize your class, so if you decide to run a melee ranger (why tho?) then str and con will be more important because a) you want to hit & b) you want to not die.

WARNING! Math:

So now that you know your ability score and what they do, they don't matter. I'm kidding! But really the big number (like 10, 14, 18) doesn't matter. It just lets the game work out a little number. This is known as your modifier.
This modifier only increases with each even stat level.
I'm not sure for BG3 get but in DND it's basically:
10-11 = +0
12-13 = +1
14-15 = +2
and so on. I think for BG3 they add +1 to this across the board. So 18 would be +5 not +4. I think this is difficulty level related. Will probably change once they add in difficulty levels.

On the bright side, the game does all the math for you, so when you roll a dice it goes oh, 1d20+3 str + 2 for the weapon = 15 !
and it just shows you the end result number. The only exceptions seem to be a critical fail or success.
Which when the d20 rolls a 1 or a 20 respectively.

In IRL dnd (optionally) something cool happens at this point. So;
On a 1 you might throw your sword across the room.
On a 20 you might cleave the goblin in half with a flourish. (and deal double damage in the process).

Far as I can tell BG3 keeps the "double damage" bit, but hasn't implemented anything else for this state currently.

Advantage / Disadvantage:

This just means you roll two d20's instead of one when trying to do something. Advantage means you take the better roll, disadvantage means you take the worse roll. It averages out being somewhere around +5/-5.

Gaining advantage is really helpful, whether by following dialogue or options that suit your class or using features such as the Barbarian's Reckless Attack. For attacks its also especially helpful as it increases your chances of rolling a 20, and getting a critical hit.

Concentration:

You can only have one concentration spell active at a time. Whenever you get hit you need to make a constitution saving throw (1d20+ con modifier) to see if you can maintain the spell. This is why its generally a bad idea for clerics and wizards to frontline (besides the squishy)

Some spells are really good at breaking concentration on enemies (Magic Missile or Scorching Ray are good examples), others are really powerful and require it, such as Haste, Bless, Bane and so on.

Damage Types:

You can Slash, Bash and Poke your way to victory. The only useful tidbit I have about this right now is that Bludgeoning damage is the only type that can damage breakable walls. So keep a warhammer handy.

When you have a chance, examine your enemies (right click on them) this will show you a little card that explains what they are good at, resistant to and weak to. Try to avoid using damage types they are resistant to, or even immune to entirely.

What you'll find is that spell casters have the most options here, while martial characters usually need to get a magical weapon to help deal with tougher foes who are resistant to the typical slash/bash/poke combos.

Leveling Up:

Max level in is lvl 12.

Frankly this section could be a guide on its own... for every class... so rather than doing that I will say read your new abilities carefully, do not be afraid to save, speak to the skelly-boi in camp and try a different class or subclass.

Try to keep ability scores even (as explained somewhat in ability scores math section).


Please ignore this unless you plan on messaging me about it again

Historically in d&d and other versions, great axes have typically been seen on the go-to weapon for barbarians. Why? Perhaps its thematic, but often this was a mechanical advantage given specifically for barbarians.

I can't quote old systems of dnd since I mostly do 5e & pathfinder but I know its changed over time and will change depending on your DM. Basically barbarians have a bonus to critical damage, this is written as "you can roll one additional weapon damage die when determining the extra damage for a critical hit with a melee Attack."

So a barbarian not only doubles their normal damage die, but adds more die on top of this (that don't get doubled), at least that's how I read it.

This would mean a greataxe would essentially roll 1d12x2+1d12 (up to 5d12; average 30 dmg) worth of damage, but you would only roll 2x2d6+1d6 (up to 7d6; average 21 dmg) for a greatsword. (math is right, trust me bro)

Personally I don't think this will happen often enough to be a consideration over the consistency of 2d6 normally. However, I also think this is a rubbish design, because it means that if you play a barbarian who wants to have maximum critical damage then you HAVE to go greataxe (or lance but pffft).

So personally when I run games I rule that you add the weapon damage die again, meaning a 20th level brutal critical for a greatsword would be 2d6x2+6d6 ( or 10d6, 30 dmg average), the same average as a greataxe. Personally I don't see why you wouldn't run it like this unless you deliberately want to ensure barbarians use greataxes and steer clear of greatswords. Which is a really odd choice.

I don't know which system Larian has implemented (if they ever tell me I will update this), but for now I'd guess the rules-as-written, which means greataxes on pretty much all barbarians.
You could also go for one of the 1d10 weapons (glaive, halbard, two-hand wield longsword) for a max level brutal crit average damage of 25 (I don't understand how the longsword is more than the greatsword though, which just brings back my point of how I think it should be read/ruled).

That's the math, that's the reason, you don't need to message me, it's okay. and now, normal service shall resume. Apologies for the rant.

I ran out of word count for this section.

Oh boy. I'm gonna regret making this section.

So I won't go over all spells because I would actually like to see my family this christmas. However, I will touch on those I have found most useful.

Bless:

Bless makes your peeps better. Pretty simple. They also glow a bit.
Mathematically, every save or attack they do gets a minimum of +1, up to +4. Which makes a massive difference.
The spell is concentration, so avoid getting punched in the face - more than usual.

Healing word:

The most powerful spell in DnD makes an appearance!

Okay, slight exaggeration but it is one of the most useful spells, and there is no reason to not have it. It's a bonus action heal that can pick up an ally from a distance, without having to touch them inappropriately like usual.

Blade ward:

Doesn't use a spell slot and gives you resistance to all normal damage from weapons. Basically the spell you use before running into the middle of six guys, and you might even make it out alive!

Eldritch Blast:

I must commend Larian on how spectacular they have made this spell. This is the Warlock chad's bread and butter. 1d10 damage without a spell slot, it's better than any bow or crossbow I have encountered. Great ranged option.

Hex:

Can't talk about the warlock without mentioning hex. Everytime you (the Warlock) hit the target they will take additional damage. They also roll an ability score (like strength) at disadvantage. Note THIS DOES NOT REDUCE AC, it's at disadvantage, it does not actually reduce the score.

Also you can reapply it for free!

Basically the Warlock button for saying, see that dude over there, he's gonna have a bad day.

Armour of Agathys:

Hit me, come on, I dare ya!

Bane:

The anti-bless, bless' edgier cousin. Makes enemies worse. Much more situational than bless but can stop that one elite dude from killing your entire party.

Which is nice.

Charm Person:

Hey handsome, you wouldn't hit a dear like me would you?

Create Water:

Why is everything always on fire? This is not okay!

Faerie Fire:

Make invisible things sparkly. Sparkly things are also easier to hit.

Tip: Do not go into battle in glitter and sequins. Attacks will have advantage against you.

Fog cloud:

Change the battlefield into a rave!

Make sure enemies on one side have to move in closer to engage you. Really useful against large groups. Do not use on allies.

Now all we need is music and dancing lights. Where is the bard?

Hellish Rebuke:

No really, please do hit me. Please!

Hunter's Mark:

The ranger equivalent of singling out one dude to have a truly awful day.

Inflict Wounds:

I don't need a mace when I can poke you to death!

Mage Armour:

Or, ya know, wear actual armour. Doi.

Shield of Faith:

Ha! Now you can't hit me!

Sleep:

How many adventurers do you see? One, two... three... f- Z z z

Thunderwave:

I feel like I need an AC/DC song riff to go with this.

Also known as back the **** up.

Blur:

Okay fine, you could still hit me. But what about now?

No relation to the band. I checked.

Lesser Restoration:

Sometimes you just need to give your bud a pat on the bum and his bronchitis will just disappear.

Melft's Acid Arrow:

Acid reduces your target's AC by 2. Handy. Just try to avoid spraying friends.

uh...

Mirror Image:

How can you still hit me? FINE then. Now you get to hit pretend me's for a bit while I work out how to kill you.

Misty Step:

* goblin on duty, watching out for adventurers *
* rogue - teleports behind him *
*goblin "Nani?"

I- I can't finish the bit. You know how it ends.

Prayer of Healing:

Y'all stupid asses keep jumping off buildings right next to a ladder. And WHY did the rogue decide to lick their poison dagger? Omw these people. Fine, just- have some healing and leave me alone. Imma pray to my god for a new cleric because I am sick of y'all.

Scorching Ray:

Set the bad guys on fire for once! Three of them at once! Woo!

Silence:

.-- .... .- - / -.. .. -.. / -.-- --- ..- / . -..- .--. . -.-. -

I'm in a unique position in this game, being someone who had made video games and homebrew D&D campaigns.

There are a million and one guides about the math of games like BG3. For once I wanted a guide that is about what these sorts of games should be about, and it isn’t min-maxing or working out how to romance everyone. It’s about having fun with the feel of the game and messing around with stuff that might get you arrested in real life... Or be the hero of the world, like we all wish we really were.

If you take anything away from this guide it should be this:

Have fun, tell jokes, be silly. Guides don’t matter.

If you can't find something and you really need my opinion on it then leave a note in the comments and I will get to it never when I can. I also appreciate additions, so let me know!

This guide is intended to be both informational and entertaining, so I may not be *entirely* factual all the time. I will do my best to explain things in a somewhat entertaining way as this sort of guide can be extremely dry otherwise.

I hope you all found this moderately amusing and informative.

Comments & ratings are appreciated. This is a work in progress. Thank you very much!

PS: Please try to avoid spoilers in the comments so people can die in unexpected ways! As the game intended.

This guide is SO LONG ! * Cries *

BG3 is a ridiculously massive game. I am currently updating the guide but It will take me time to test and write between all the activities life usually throws at us. Give me some time to comb through the whole guide and release updates. Thank you for understanding :)