Baldur's Gate 3 class guide

Baldur's Gate 3 is Larian's take on Dungeons & Dragons. It's the first Baldur's Gate game in years, and both PC RPGs and tabletop ones have changed a lot since Baldur's Gate 2. Larian is using the 5th Edition of D&D, first released in 2014, but you should expect plenty of liberties in the adaptation from pen-and-paper to digital. Some things aren't changing, though—there are real dice rolls, and the character classes are straight out of D&D's rules.

Here's everything we've learned about Baldur's Gate 3's classes during its early access period, and what you'll be able to play in August's full release.

Baldur's Gate 3 classes

Larian committed in a Reddit AMA to having all 12 of the D&D 5E Player's Handbook classes playable in Baldur's Gate 3. During early access, 11 of those classes were eventually playable, with the final class—monk—confirmed for the full release in a June 2023 community update.

• Cleric - Clerics act as representatives of the gods, wielding potent divine magic to heal or hurt.
• Fighter - Fighters have mastered the art of combat, wearing armour like a second skin and fighting with skill.
• Barbarian - Barbarians are fierce warriors who can enter a battle rage, fighting without subtlety, but enhanced damage and survivability.
• Ranger - Rangers are unparalleled scouts and trackers, honing a deep connection to nature in order to hunt their favoured prey.
• Rogue - Stealthy, skilled, and death-defying, a rogue is best placed in shadows from which they can sneak attack.
• Warlock - Bound by their pact to an all-powerful patron, warlocks trade loyalty for supernatural abilities and unique magic.
• Wizard - Wizards master the arcane by specializing in individual schools of magic, preparing spells from their books in advance and learning new spells from scrolls.
• Sorcerer - Sorcerers are natural spellcasters, drawing on inherent magic that comes to them as a gift.
• Bard - Bards are a versatile class who inspire their party with magical words or music.
• Paladin - A hybrid between cleric and fighter, Paladins are marked by the ability to unleash formidable and devastating blows on enemies while providing support.
• Monk - Monks are masters of unarmed combat, stunning enemies using forceful ki-powered punches.
• Druid - Druids wield nature magic and can transform into several kinds of animals with their wildshape ability.

Baldur's Gate 3 subclasses

OK, so those are the base classes. But what about subclasses? In Divinity: Original Sin 2, Larian heavily encouraged multiclassing, combining skills from various classes to make a highly specialized character. In Baldur's Gate 3, Larian's leveraging D&D 5e's subclasses, with a total of 46 subclasses available at full release:

• Cleric - Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, War
• Fighter - Battle Master, Eldritch Knight, Champion
• Ranger - Hunter, Beast Master, Gloom Stalker
• Rogue - Arcane Trickster, Assassin, Thief
• Warlock - Archfey, Fiend, Great Old One
• Wizard - Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Necromancy, Illusion, Transmutation
• Barbarian - Berserker, Wildheart, Wild Magic
• Bard - Lore, Valor, Swords
• Sorcerer - Wild Magic, Draconic Bloodline, Storm Sorcery
• Paladin - Ancients, Devotion, Vengeance, Oathbreaker
• Monk - Open Hand, Shadow, Four Elements
• Druid - Land, Moon, Spores

Some of the subclasses are self-explanatory, like assassin, but others... not so much. If you want to read descriptions of the weirder ones, here are the weirdest, most exciting subclasses in Baldur's Gate 3 that we can't wait to play.

What about multiclassing? Multiclassing will be available in Baldur's Gate 3 at launch. Unlike in tabletop D&D, there won't be any restrictions based on your character's ability scores. Every time you level up, you'll have the option to take a level in a different class. While it's not necessary to get the most out of 5E, multiclassing can be fun if you're familiar with the ins and outs of the system. Here are the best multiclass builds in Baldur's Gate 3, if that sounds like your cup of tea.

In addition to classes, Baldur's Gate 3 lets you choose three more important character attributes that will shape your playthrough. You can choose your Race, Origin, and your Background, which will affect your story and how other characters in the game react to you.