Summary
- Baldur’s Gate 3 is limited to only 11 playable races, far fewer than are in Dungeons & Dragons 5e.
- A mod addresses this, adding over 50 new playable races to BG3.
- The mod adds many races from 5e, but also from other games and popular homebrew settings.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5e ruleset. That does not mean, however, that the video game plays exactly like the tabletop RPG. In fact, developer Larian Studios has made a lot of changes to the DnD rules so that the gameplay doesn’t get too complicated or bogged down by not having a dungeon master.
However, a certain mod brings a lot more options to the game than players have by default. Specifically, it adds over 50 playable races from various settings in the tabletop game. With DnD 5e’s many sourcebooks, the TTRPG has far more playable races than BG3‘s 11. In addition to adding many from DnD, the mod also includes races from other popular games, such as Elezen and Roegadyn Final Fantasy XIV.
Why Add New Races to Baldur’s Gate 3?
One of the most lacking parts of Baldur’s Gate 3 is its limited selection of races, which is in part remedied by the Fantastical Multiverse mod created by Nexus Mods user DungeonsAndSouls. Only the most traditional and straightforward races are included in BG3, and no monstrous races are included at all. The closest players can be to a monstrous race is a devilish tiefling, a tusked half-orc, or a scaled dragonborn. Not one of these is considered to be a “monstrous” race according to the 5e rules, either.
That is a glaring omission. Not only do players tend to want as many choices as possible regarding their characters, monster races in DnD and other tabletop games are incredibly popular, enough so that there are entire books dedicated to them, such as Volo’s Guide to Monsters and its updated cousin, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, that include several revisions and updates to DnD’s playable races.
Not every race in the mod is a monster, though. Numerous subraces are included, such as astral elves from Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, air, water, earth, and fire genasi, and nine different kinds of tieflings. There is also the beloved kender from Krynn, the world of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. While not a subrace of halfling, the inclusion of the diminutive, fearless thieves is sure to make a number of players incredibly happy.
Kender are known for taking objects even out of their friends’ bags. In Baldur’s Gate 3, players can pickpocket their own party members, which would be an incredibly in-character way to roleplay a Kender in multiplayer sessions.
What Features Does The Fantastical Multiverse BG3 Mod Include?
It wouldn’t be much of a racial mod if players didn’t get to see and customize their characters. Fantastical Multiverse does not simply paste stats and abilities onto generic humanoid character models. From bugbears to locathah to kobolds, players will customize and roam the Sword Coast as their selected race.
In terms of gameplay, the features that matter the most are racial bonuses and ability increases. Fantastical Multiverse is based on the newest revisions of DnD 5e rules. This means that players will be able to allocate stats according to the character rules introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Additionally, the mod includes the most recent updates to races for the 2024 launch of One D&D, such as the orc and goliath.
Players will also get built-in racial abilities such as the aasimar’s healing hands, a smaller version of the paladin’s lay on hands, or the dhampir’s vampiric bite that is quite different than Astarion’s signature ability. Conversation options will also match the player’s choice, giving new choices based on the race’s traits. For instance, an aasimar might get a planar dialogue option where an elf might get one based on class in that same situation.
Other Rules Changes In The Mod
The purpose of One D&D in 2024 is to rebalance certain things about 5e. One of those issues is that some class or race-specific abilities can only be used once before needing to take a short or long rest. One D&D changes these from being single-use to being able to be used a number of times equal to the character’s proficiency modifier. Fantastical Multiverse adds this feature to Baldur’s Gate 3, and it can make many abilities feel much more powerful.
Additionally, lineages who don’t need to rest for a full 8 hours can take advantage of that in the video game now. The trance ability for the mod no longer lets the character be put to sleep because halving the time it takes to take a long rest isn’t a factor in Baldur’s Gate 3. These are solid changes in the spirit of the One D&D rebalancing as well as the changes Larian made for video game accessibility.
How Much Does This Change Baldur’s Gate 3?
Fantastical Multiverse makes the game feel quite a bit more like tabletop DnD. For the players who care about immersion and roleplaying their characters, interacting with the world as a kobold and seeing a red dragon flying overhead is a much different experience than if they were a tiefling. Plus, a goliath might choose a different path than a bugbear or genasi would.
From a mechanical perspective, using one of the Fantastical Multiverse races can give players a lot of new options. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a long game, and there is a lot of combat in it. Some choices such as the dhampir lineage gain all-new abilities like spider climb. In the tabletop RPG, spider climb lets players walk on walls and ceilings without using their hands. The ability was not included in the base game of Baldur’s Gate 3. However, the spider climb from DungeonAndSoul’s mod gives players an additional movement ability that doesn’t require an action or bonus action to use, just part of their movement speed. In a game where positioning matters a lot, this one trait can change the tide of battle.
The Mod Includes Homebrew Races, Too
Homebrew is non-official content made for Dungeons & Dragons. Etharis is a homebrew world, from Ghostfire Gaming’s 5e-compatible, dark-fantasy Grim Hollow setting. Five different character races from Grim Hollow are in Fantastical Multiverse: ogresh, downcast, the disembodied, laneshi, and dreamers. The mod creator, DungeonsAndSouls, has also included eight of their own homebrew races, straight out of their homebrew world Malipāla. In addition to that, four different Final Fantasy XIV races are included, the Hyur, Elezen, Roegadyn, and Garlean.
Other And Upcoming Races by DungeonsAndSouls
In addition to Fantastical Multiverse, DungeonsAndSouls also has a Baldur’s Gate 3 mod on Nexus Mods called Fantastical Minds that lets players roleplay as a type of mind flayer called an ulitharid. The page for Fantastical Multiverse also indicates other races that might be included in the mod or in a separate one, like Fantastical Minds. Some are expected, like the player-favorites miqo’te and lalafell from Final Fantasy XIV. Others are more surprising, such as the gnoll, fletchling, automaton, azarketi, and vishkanya from Dungeons & Dragons main competitor, Pathfinder.
Source: DungeonsAndSouls/NexusMods (1, 2)
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Baldur’s Gate 3
- Franchise:
- Baldur’s Gate
- Platform(s):
- macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5
- Released:
- 2023-08-31
- Developer(s):
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s):
- Larian Studios
- Genre(s):
- RPG
- Multiplayer:
- Larian Studios
- ESRB:
- M
- Summary:
- Baldur’s Gate 3 is a long-anticipated sequel to Baldur’s Gate 2, released in 2000 from BioWare and now being handled by Larian Studios. Set 120 years after the events of Shadows of Amn, Baldur’s Gate 3 puts players in the role of a customizable protagonist who has been captured and infected with a parasite that will turn them into a mind flayer. Before the process is complete, the ship they are on crashes, leaving them on a quest to cure themselves as they meet up with other survivors. Gameplay is turn-based and can be played co-operatively online or tackled alone in a single-player campaign with NPC allies.
- How Long To Beat:
- 50 – 100 hours
- Prequel:
- Baldur’s Gate 2
