Baldur's Gate 3 is going out with a big bang by adding 12 new subclasses, so you can finally become a drunken master or maybe just befriend some bees, along with crossplay and a photo mode

BG3 companions posing
(Image credit: Larian)

When Larian said it was ready to "move on" from Baldur's Gate 3 back in March, rather than continue to work on an expansion that had started to morph into Baldur's Gate 4, I assumed that meant it would be winding down the updates, too. But since then we've seen a bunch of substantial patches, and we've just learned that another one is on its way. Yep, Larian just decided to chuck another 12 subclasses into the game, as well as some more treats.

"Before we bid Faerûn adieu in search of stranger shores," the new community update reads, "we have one more major patch waiting around the corner. Arriving next year, this update will introduce some of the most eagerly awaited features to BG3: crossplay, and photo mode, along with 12 new subclasses."

New subclasses

The subclasses are absolutely the highlight here, introducing a different way to play each class. That's a pretty hefty addition. Here's what you can expect:

  • Bard - College of Glamour: A support subclass that heals allies and commands enemies.
  • Barbarian - Path of Giants: Become a burly beefcake that uses their rage to grow in both size and strength.
  • Cleric - Death Domain: One for the goths, this subclass focuses on spells that cause necrotic damage, and you can make corpses explode. Fun!
  • Druid - Circle of Stars: This celestial-themed Druid subclass gives you three 'Starry' forms with different flavours.
  • Paladin - Oath of the Crown: A righteous Paladin subclass, you'll be able to heal your pals by soaking up damage and disrupt your enemies with divine taunts.
  • Fighter - Arcane Archer: This magical ranged subclass can banish enemies to the Feywild and batter foes with psychic damage.
  • Monk - Drunken Master: Get all boozed up before a fight for the ultimate bar brawl, or intoxicate your foes before aggressively sobering them up.
  • Ranger - Swarmkeeper: A Ranger subclass for fans of bees! Not just bees, though: you'll be able to summon swarms of moths and jellyfish too. Why not?
  • Rogue - Swashbuckler: BG3 doesn't have enough pirates, but that's about to change thanks to this dirty, skullduggerous subclass that lets you blind and disarm enemies.
  • Sorcerer - Shadow Magic: With this subclass you can Shadow Walk between dim places, see better in the dark, or summon a spooky dog.
  • Warlock - Hexblade: This Warlock has made a pact with an entity that takes the shape of various magical weapons, and you'll be able to summon the spirits of fallen foes.
  • Wizard - Blade Singing: A martial Wizard subclass, Blade Singing splices spells with swordplay and lets you get properly stuck into the melee scrum.

Boy, that's a lot of new stuff. I'm going to be playing this game forever, I reckon. Oh well! I could think of a worse fate. While a lot of these new additions come directly from D&D, Larian's thrown some fun homebrew stuff in there too, and the subclasses also come with new animations, VFX and voice lines for Oathbreaker Paladins.

Photo mode and crossplay

The subclasses alone would make the update the biggest Larian's put together, but the photo mode and crossplay features give us even more to look forward to.

Crossplay means you'll be able to hang out with pals playing on other platforms. So if you've got some buddies adventuring away on their PS5, for instance, you'll be able to join them in the crossplay lobby. The photo mode, meanwhile, will let you set up your shot with a bunch of options, and then you can edit it to make everything look just right. Camera settings, lens settings, scene settings, post processing effects, frames and stickers mean that there should be a lot to tinker with.

The patch doesn't have a release date yet, but Larian's going to start stress testing it in January. If you can't wait until release, you'll be able to find out how you can participate in the test in the next community update.

I'm incredibly excited, even if this does mean I'm probably going to have to pause my latest playthrough because what's the point in playing BG3 unless you can murder goblins with bees? I can't wait.

Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog. 

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
Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach concept art
I'm a Baldur's Gate 3 Honour Mode sicko, and these are the 4 new subclass builds I'm most excited for in Patch 8
Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 stress test is now live for real
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
Key art of Kent Paul in Grand Theft Auto Vice City.
'My own voice was driving me f***ing insane': GTA Vice City actor admits even he couldn't get past his own, notoriously difficult mission
Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti graphics card
Specs for Nvidia's new RTX 5050, 5060, and 5060 Ti GPUs leak out and that 5060 might actually be half decent. If it's priced right
Pipboy holds up an open padlock.
A BIOS update could be all that's stopping you or someone else from jailbreaking your old AMD CPU
Asus's new ultrawide sucks as hard as it blows
Asus' new monitors purify 90% of airborne dust from your desktop and I've definitely seen some gnarly gaming setups that would benefit
A screenshot from Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro announcement video, showing a stylized processor against a dark background with glowing lines streaming from its edges
The AMD x Sony collab gave us FSR4 and a version will appear in PlayStation next year, too, having 'already started to implement the new neural network on PS5 Pro'
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