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Since Larian Studios are using 5E instead of Second Edition as the previous titles used, that is more than enough reason for Baldur’s Gate and D&D fans to grow suspicious of 5E’s translation to a video game. Overall, Baldur’s Gate 3 does an excellent job translating the dice-throwing role-playing experience to a virtual medium. That said, the game does make a few core alterations to the ruleset that might be jarring to some. Here are 10 ways Baldur’s Gate 3 is both faithful and deviates from its source material.

10 Similar: Short And Long Rests

Some players were concerned about how Baldur’s Gate 3 would handle the Short and Long Rest mechanic from Dungeons & Dragons. Thankfully, Larian has been able to not only keep the system intact but also utilize Long Rests as a form of roleplaying.

Short Rests can be used once per every Long Rest, providing health recovery for all party members and Spell Slots for Warlocks. Taking a Long Rest will end the day and recover crucial class resources. What’s so great about its implementation in Baldur’s Gate 3 is that Long Rests take the party to an isolated camp where the player can interact with NPCs, learn more of their companions’ backstories, and select companions to accompany them on their next adventure.

9 Different: Alignment

Alignments are completely absent in Baldur’s Gate 3. Instead of selecting an alignment at character selection, players morph their character’s tendencies through gameplay and their use of the Mind Flayer’s Tadpole.

That doesn’t mean NPCs don’t have beliefs, however, far from it. Nearly every major character in Baldur’s Gate 3 has motivations and some type of backstory that molds what their character stands for. In order to earn the favor of companions, players will need to complete actions that align with their beliefs — a system similar to Mass Effect and Fallout 4.

8 Similar: Character Creation

Character creation in Baldur’s Gate 3 is a near-perfect representation of filling out a character sheet in the tabletop version of Dungeons & Dragons. Players get to choose their starting race, class, subclass when applicable, background, and proficiencies exactly as a character sheet would require. Baldur’s Gate 3 also uses a point-buy system for its stat allocation, allowing players to allocate points into stats they desire instead of relying on dice rolls.

7 Different: Balance

While Baldur’s Gate 3 is mostly faithful to the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, the game’s overall balance is much different. Most spells in the game have had their dice rolls modified or replaced entirely with fixed stats. For example, Fire Bolt is now 1d6 instead of 1d10 but creates burning ground on impact.

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These numerical tweaks also extend to creatures as well. Many creatures in Baldur’s Gate 3 either have increased health pools or added special attacks when compared to the tabletop variant. This change is further exasperated by the game’s use of levels for encounter balance rather than challenge ranking or CR, meaning certain encounters in the early access build are much deadlier than they would be if translated to pen and paper.

6 Similar: Turn-Based Combat

As with all versions of D&D tabletop, Baldur’s Gate 3 uses a turn-based combat system for its encounters rather than the real-time with pause (or RTwP) system that the first two Baldur’s Gate titles used. Combat is much more deliberate in this installment, requiring players to synergize abilities to take down opponents. While this is a major change for the series as a whole, it does bring the core combat closer to the tabletop experience than the past games did.

5 Different: Abundant Environmental Hazards

One of the most controversial additions to Baldur’s Gate 3 is the addition of environmental effects. Brought from the Divinity: Original Sin titles, certain spells and objects in the environment can create environmental hazards such as patches of burning ground or electric pools of blood. While it sounds supplemental to the game’s core combat, in practice it plays a much larger part in encounters than it ever did in past games or tabletop Dungeons & Dragons.

The best example of this is Fire Bolt’s nerf from rolling a 1d10 for damage to a 1d6. In exchange, Larian allowed this spell to create burning ground on impact that deals fire damage over time. When players also consider how many environmental objects can be destroyed to create hazards, arenas quickly turn into a whirlwind of ground degens that mimick Divinity: Original Sin much more than Dungeons & Dragons or past Baldur’s Gate titles.

4 Similar: Dialogue

Currently, the dialogue system in Baldur’s Gate 3 replicates the experience of D&D quite well but is missing a few key features such as weaving spells into dialogue options. Larian has stated that this will be added in the future, however.

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Considering the proposed additions, Baldur’s Gate 3 does a fantastic job of utilizing condition-specific dialogue options. Players that create an Elf Ranger will have different unique dialogue options from a Tiefling Warlock, as an example. While a video game can only have so many dialogue choices, it is good to know that this many unique dialogue choices exist to help with immersion, role-playing, and replayability.

3 Different: Class Designs

Not every class in Baldur’s Gate 3 is faithful to the source material. Rangers, for example, have been given nearly a complete overhaul that changes how their Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer features work. Rogues have also seen major changes, if indirectly, as any character can now disengage from combat as a bonus action through the Jump Bonus Action. Sneak attacks have also been altered and are now considered an action instead of an added damage bonus.

2 Similar: Frequent Dice Rolls

Dice rolls are as much a character in Dungeons & Dragons as players are. Most actions in D&D require dice rolls to determine if the character succeeds or fails at something. Many video games tone down the volume of dice rolls significantly since players can use their own skills to see, hear, and react to events.

Baldur’s Gate 3 manages to avoid this issue by utilizing skill checks constantly. Walking by objects can result in automatic skill checks that determine if players spot traps, specific details, or recall information pertaining to a subject. It works in such a seamless fashion that it never intrudes on gameplay yet perfectly captures the experience tabletop Dungeons & Dragons provides.

1 Different: Action Economy

Some actions in tabletop D&D have been included in Baldur’s Gate 3 to help mimic the chaotic combat that can ensue. Jumping, throwing items, and dipping weapons into elemental hazards are just a few examples of what players can do.

The issue is that these actions fundamentally change the flow of combat. Jumps in Baldur’s Gate 3 are a bonus action, cross more ground than walking, and also disengage players. For comparison, disengaging from an opponent requires an action in Fifth Edition D&D and doesn’t grant any movement. Shoves are also a bonus action instead of a main action. All of these changes result in the player having much more mobility and crowd control than the source material originally intended.

Mages also receive some action economy changes, if rather insubstantial. Fifth Edition’s rule restricting multiple leveled spell casts on the same turn is not enforced in Baldur’s Gate 3. While true that this rule is almost never enforced in tabletop, it goes to show that Baldur’s Gate 3 does take a few liberties with its gameplay systems.

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