Baldur's Gate 3 is almost upon us—something I'm still trying to wrap my head around—so Larian has released the full list of races, subraces, classes and subclasses that you'll be able to use to create your perfect Forgotten Realms adventurer on October 6.
The Early Access launch will give you eight races to pick from, most of which come with subraces, giving you 16 different options in total. Having returned to Divinity: Original Sin 2 a wee while ago, seeing the leap in fidelity in the character creation screen is quite the thing. This time, Larian's going for photorealism, so each head is based on 3D scans of actors and models. You'll be able to choose from 150 head options across the 16 races.
Making these characters look realistic was more important this time around because of the cinematic dialogue. Where Original Sin 2 kept things isometric, Baldur's Gate 3 has more camera options and lots of close-up shots. Just look at this handsome dwarf lad.
Here's the list of all the races and subraces available on day one:
- Human
- Elf – high elf, wood elf
- Half-elf – wood half-elf, drow half-elf
- Drow – Seldarine drow, Lolth-sworn drow
- Dwarf – gold dwarf, shield dwarf
- Halfling – lightfoot halfling, strongheart halfling
- Tiefling – Asmodeus tiefling, Mephistopheles tiefling, Zariel tiefling
- Githyanki
As for classes, Baldur's Gate 3's launching with six of them, letting you make a cleric, fighter, ranger, rogue, warlock or wizard. Each of them then has at least two subclasses that lets you further specialise them. I have no idea what I'll pick for my first Early Access jaunt, but Larian's definitely tempting me with the Beast Master ranger thanks to this description of a possible build: "A beast taming mage-breaking charlatan halfling ranger with a toxic frog as a familiar." Yes please.
Here's the full list:
- Cleric – Life Domain, Light Domain, Trickery Domain
- Fighter – Battle Master, Eldritch Knight
- Ranger – Hunter, Beast Master
- Rogue – Arcane Trickster, Thief
- Warlock – The Fiend, The Great One
- Wizard – School of Evocation, School of Abjuration
These initial choices will, in part, determine how people react to you, not just how you fare while you're out slaughtering goblins and exploring weird caves. And then there are the origins, which let you play as characters with more elaborate backgrounds, personal quests and unique hooks. At the moment, they are all attached to a specific class, like Astarion the blood-sucking elven vampire being a rogue, but that could change. At the start of Early Access, you won't be able to play as an origin character, but you can still meet and recruit five of them as companions.
This just represents what Baldur's Gate 3 will launch with next week, and Larian's confirmed that there will be a lot more races and classes added to the already solid list. If you're wanting to play a gnome illusionist—and who doesn't?—you're going to have to wait.
In the meantime, take a gander at our more detailed guide to Baldur's Gate 3's classes and Baldur's Gate 3's races to help you pick your first character.
