Baldur's Gate 3 promises level 12 cap, new races, 22 new subclasses, and whopping 174 hours of cinematics in community update

Protagonists from the upcoming Baldur's Gate 3 pose dramatically in front of stormclouds, with a flying ship crashing to the earth behind them.
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Baldur's Gate 3 just keeps getting bigger. Larian Studios dropped a new community update today, revealing a new release date as well as a huge package of features that'll be included with the full release. 

First off, the game's level cap—initially slated to be level 10—has been raised to 12. For those unfamiliar with the TTRPG ruleset Baldur's Gate 3 is built atop, that's a big deal: Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition only has 20 levels in total, so a bump from 10 to 12 is a huge power spike, providing casting classes with 6th level spells.

"While we originally planned for Level 10 to be the highest character level in the game, too many rad high-level spells would have been left just out of reach had we done so. Instead, Baldur's Gate 3 players will be able to reach Level 12, unlocking Planar Allies, Otto’s Irresistible Dance, and Chain Lightning."

Just those three spells ought to have the mages among you drooling. Planar Allies allows you to summon a divine ally for up to 10 days, Otto's Irresistible Dance forces your foes to boogie with no saving throw, and Chain Lightning can hit up to four targets with a whopping 10d8 lightning damage. Of course, we'll have to see how these translate to Larian's new colossal RPG.

A powerful dragonborn warrior stands strong in a gloomy dungeon.

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Also mentioned are two new racial options: Half-Orcs and Dragonborn, the latter sporting 10 whole draconic subraces.

"A Dragonborn's subrace determines their damage and resistance. For Silver Dragonborn that's cold damage; for Red Dragonborn it's fire. In Baldur's Gate 3, there are 10 subraces to choose from: Black, Blue, Brass, Bronze, Copper, Gold, Green, Red, Silver and White, more subraces than any other race in the game."

The post mentions you'll be able to see the Dragonborn in action during the Panel From Hell: Reveal Showcase on July 7.

Monk will be dashing into the full release with three subclasses from the TTRPG: Way of the Open Hand, the Way of Shadow, and Way of the Four Elements.

"Monks are masters of manipulating the field of combat - pushing, pulling, and stunning enemies across the battleground using forceful Ki-powered punches. Their combat style is a balance between Fighter and Rogue, allowing them to traverse the map effortlessly - with Step of the Wind - and then strike out with powerful melee blows."

Larian also revealed a new playable character for your party, Karlach, a tiefling barbarian with a battle-scarred past, freshly escaped from a war between devils and demons. Sarah Baylus, Lead Writer at Larian Studios, sums her up nicely: 

"In a 2023 setting, [Karlach would] roll in on a Harley with shades and a cigar between her teeth, blaring Sabbath - a diesel-soaked dynamo with a heart of gold. She seeks justice for the oppressed, camaraderie, and revenge on the bastard who sold her to Hell."

A powerful tiefling barbarian stands, scarred by her previous battles with a battleaxe slung across her back.

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Lastly, we received an estimation of how much story we can expect from Baldur's Gate 3. There's a lot of it, to put it lightly.

"Baldur’s Gate 3 has more cinematic dialogue than three times all three Lord of the Rings novels combined. It has 174 hours of cinematics, making it more than twice the length of every season of Game of Thrones combined."

Whether we'll be seeing three novel's worth of dialogue on a single playthrough—or whether Larian's rolling its branching storylines into one massive number—will have to be seen on the game's full release. Either way, it's looking like we'll need to brace for a long journey through the Forgotten Realms.

Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

Read more
Baldur's Gate 3 Gale romance - Gale sacrificing himself
Baldur's Gate 3's accidental PS5 release of Patch 8 has the theorycrafters in a flurry—though I'm just glad D&D's blade cantrips are officially here
Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3's shows off its upcoming photo mode by going haywire with memes
An Oathbreaker Paladin restoring their Oath in Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 8 is so big, it needed its own patch before it even released, and we're one step closer to a Permanent Booming Blade Economy
An elf using magic
Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 testers are whispering that a previously mediocre subclass is now an S-tier war god of infinite thunder smites, but there's no way it can last
Larian's Next Game™
Larian brings back the Baldur's Gate 3 advent calendar to tease its next game
Baldur's Gate 3 Gale romance - Gale sacrificing himself
Despite the big Baldur's Gate 3 update in the works, Larian says its 'full attention' is now focused on its next game
Latest in Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate 3 player character made to resemble Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher.
Wait a minute, Geralt of Rivia actor Doug Cockle was in Baldur's Gate 3 this whole time
Half Orc wearing rare Bhaalist Armor in Baldur's Gate 3 standing in front of Astarion and Karlach
It turns out you can get Baldur's Gate 3's best assassin armor without killing a baby angel elephant and joining a cult, all you have to do is pickpocket a ghost
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again—but it's really still quite good
Withers Big Naturals mod image - Withers with big naturals
Sure, why not, here's a guy beating Baldur's Gate 3 without a race or class at all
Baldur's Gate 3 - Lae'Zel looks disaproving
Lae'zel's voice actor Devora Wilde also auditioned for Shadowheart, Karlach, 'And probably Astarion?'
An Oathbreaker Paladin restoring their Oath in Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 8 is so big, it needed its own patch before it even released, and we're one step closer to a Permanent Booming Blade Economy
Latest in News
Pedro Pascal as Joel in a coat in winter looking unhappy
'Don't you know what he did?': The truth comes out in The Last of Us Season 2 trailer
Aloy
'Creepy,' 'ghastly,' 'rancid': Viewers react to leaked video of Sony's AI-powered Aloy
Split Fiction trailer still - Zoe and Mio standing side by side, wearing glowing neon sci-fi jammies
Split Fiction sells 1 million copies over 2 days
A soldier looks out over the Verdansk map, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.
The original Verdansk map is returning to Call of Duty: Warzone, to celebrate which we get a soldier crying to Nat King Cole
More than 5 years after launch, Control gets a surprise patch that lets everyone play the Hideo Kojima mission
Swen Vincke
Swen Vincke stamps seal of approval on Stardew Valley mod that yoinks the Baldur's Gate 3 cast out of D&D and into a cosy pastoral life