Developer Larian Studios shared a new blog post detailing the character customization in the Early Access version of the upcoming CRPG Baldur’s Gate 3. Your journey starts with the choice of your race, subrace, background and class. In certain cases, you also get to choose a subclass and even a deity. These choices will ripple out across the story, affecting how you roleplay throughout the game.
Baldur’s Gate 3 – Early Access Races
In Early Access, you’ll choose from 8 races, each with their own selection of subraces with more to be added later:
- Human race – the most common face to see in Faerûn, humans are known for their tenacity, creativity, and endless capacity for growth.
- Githyanki are peerless warriors from the Astral Plane, known for their legendary silver blades and red dragon mounts. They seek the total destruction of mind flayers, whose ancient empire enslaved the githyanki for millennia.
- Elf race provides a choice between High Elf and Wood Elf. High elves value magic in all its forms, and even those who do not study spellcraft can manipulate the Weave. Meanwhile, Wood elves spend their reclusive lives in Faerûn’s forests. Decades of training in archery and camouflage are enhanced by an otherworldly swiftness.
- Drow, split into Seldarine Drow and Lolth-Sworn Drow. Seldarine drow can be found seeking allies from all over Faerûn, aiming to settle their conflict with Lolth – and each other – by any means necessary. However, raised by Lolth’s cult in the city of Menzoberranzan, Lolth-Sworn drow extol the virtues of their corrupt and merciless goddess.
- Half-Elves represent all of the above, allowing you to choose between High Half-Elf, Wood Half-Elf and Drow Half-Elf.
- The dwarven race lets players choose between Golden Dwarves and Shield Dwarves. Gold dwarves are known for their confidence and keen intuition while their Shield brethren survived a long fall from grace, surrendering many of their ancient kingdoms in wars with goblins and orcs. These losses have lead to a cynical mindset, yet shield dwarves will endure anything to restore their ancestral homelands.
- Halflings, separated into Lightfoot Halflings and Strongheart Halflings. Lightfoot halflings are stealthy but social, travelling all over Faerûn to make names for themselves. Legends say dwarven blood gave stronghearts their hardiness. Resistant to poison and wellsprings of endurance, these halflings easily hold their own.
- Tieflings are grouped based on their bloodline: being the descendants of Asmodeus, Zariel or Mephistopheles.
Baldur’s Gate 3 – Early Access Classes
Early Access will feature 6 classes to choose from Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock and Wizard. Each one will feature at least two subclasses to choose from. Just like your background and race, your class will also give you options in the world with roleplay. NPC’s might recognize the skillset you live your life by, and in turn you’ll gain options in dialogue and unique opportunities your other companions will not have.
Classes evolve as you level up and each class presents plenty of opportunities for customization. Once you hit level 4 for instance, you’ll get to select from a wide range of feats. Feats represent talents or an area of expertise that give characters special capabilities. They embody training, experience, and abilities beyond what your base class provides.
Baldur’s Gate 3 – Early Access Appearance
Within the Appearance tab, you’ll customise the finer details of your character. You can choose from different voice options, alter facial features, hairstyles, colours, and beards. Hair and Eye colour will have multiple “canon” options, but these options can also be ignored and you can just pick whatever you want from all colours available. Finally you can add the finishing touches with a variety of Tattoo and Makeup options. You’ll notice that many subraces have different appearances to each other, which add another layer of variety to the roleplay in your party.
