Baldur's Gate 3: 10 Best Mods, Baldur's Gate 3
by Alaguvelan M
Updated Aug 10, 2023
Baldur's Gate 3: 10 Best Mods
Baldur's Gate 3 stands as a realm of choice within a sprawling open world. Carrying the torch of revered classics like Dragon Age: Origins and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the minds behind Baldur's Gate 3 understood the importance of embracing the thriving modding community these titles often attract.
Casters Extra
While Baldur's Gate 3 has etched its narrative and world in a commendable manner, certain cherished subclasses fell through the cracks. Enter Casters Extra, a mod that introduces a slew of D&D 5e subclasses absent from the game. Among the remarkable additions are the Twilight Domain Cleric and the Bladesong Wizard, accompanied by the intriguing summoning of Pseudodragons and Gazers as familiars.
Though this mod exhibits a slight lag during patch compatibility, generally a span of a week or two, the anticipation pays off. Not only do these subclasses bestow additional layers of customization to your gameplay, but they also strike a balanced equilibrium, enabling seamless engagement. As a delightful bonus, the mod's creator, lostsoulman, actively manages its compatibility, temporarily shelving it when incompatible and promptly relisting it post-update.
Rogues Extra
Crafted by the same visionary behind Casters Extra, Rogues Extra extends a tapestry of fresh possibilities to Rogue players within Baldur's Gate 3. The mod embraces subclasses such as Soul Knife, Phantom, Mastermind, Scout, and Swashbuckler, adorned with several absent cantrips and progressions featured in the base game.
In a similar vein to Casters Extra, this mod synchronizes updates slightly behind the main game's timeline. Yet, its mod page maintains a vigilant and transparent stance, ensuring players are kept informed about the mod's status. This commitment is noteworthy, as these updates demand additional time, safeguarding players from inadvertently jeopardizing their gaming experience.
Backgrounds Enhanced
For those desiring an extra touch of personalization during character creation, Backgrounds Enhanced emerges as an essential mod. This gem bestows each background in the game with an added proficiency, enabling a richer exploration of the game's offerings without compromising on thematic immersion.
For instance, the Folk Hero gains proficiency in Athletics, a fitting addition that might easily pass unnoticed as a mod. Similarly, the Sage acquires prowess in Investigation, an intuitive enrichment for a background grounded in exploration and knowledge gathering.
Fast XP
The Fast XP mod becomes a haven for seasoned players seeking a swift early-game level progression, expediting the journey towards power breakpoints and multiclass thresholds. While one might argue that this tips the balance toward an easier game, players generally report a satisfactory experience.
Mechanically, the mod doubles the Experience Points earned until level six, at which juncture the experience gain reverts to the Vanilla rate. The decision to taper off at level 6 reflects sagacity, aligning with the stage when significant character builds like the Shadow Monk or Barbarian flourish.
Enhanced Gear Progression
One sore point often raised by players pertains to gear progression, where they find themselves toggling between mundane and magical items from the game's inception to its culmination. Enhanced Gear Progression steps in, reshaping loot generation within traders, containers, and character creation. This transformation bequeaths players a genuine sense of advancement through the game.
Beyond this overhaul, the mod infuses full plate and splint armor in various forms, along with the inclusion of lootable copies of Gale's Robes and Daisy's Dress.
Customizer's Compendium
While many users appreciated the Full Release Character creator, the task of appeasing everyone is a tall order. Enter the Customizer's Compendium Mod by AlanaSP, ready to transform the character creation experience. This mod facilitates the crafting of your envisioned character while upholding remarkable speed in updates.
The Customizer's Compendium embraces an expanded array of options encompassing faces, ears, horns, and hairstyles. Further enhancing the spectrum, it lavishly broadens the color palettes for eyes, skin, and hair to extravagant levels. Notably, the mod avoids a disproportionate focus on femme-presenting characters, ensuring inclusivity for various body types.
Buy Your Starting Equipment
A unique offering in the modding landscape, Buy Your Starting Equipment introduces an intriguing facet of customization. Instead of the customary practice of being endowed with predetermined gear upon selecting a class, players commence with gold and no equipment. This gold can then be exchanged at a trader in the spawn area, housing the customary inventory for a level one character.
This ingenious approach encourages diverse builds without the burden of unnecessary expenses. A Fighter might embark with Light Armor, or a Barbarian with Medium Armor, transcending the confines of vanilla gameplay. Although it is technically possible to sell starting armor in the base game, the disparity between purchase and selling prices often deters such endeavors.
Tav's Hair Salon
Despite the pivotal role of character hair in conveying personality and allure, many games falter in delivering a satisfying hair customization experience. Larian's Baldur's Gate 3 does a commendable job, yet room for improvement persists. Here, Tav's Hair Salon takes the stage.
Approximately 30 new hairstyles grace this mod, primarily tailored to the slender female body type characteristic of taller races like Tieflings, Humans, and Elves. Select races like Githyanki to enjoy a modest assortment, while options for masculine characters remain limited. It's important to note that the Customizer's Compendium serves as a prerequisite for Tav's Hair Salon to function seamlessly.
Party Limit Begone
One of the highlights of Baldur's Gate 3 is its charming cast of companions, each with their unique interactions, dialogues, and viewpoints to unravel throughout your journey. Nonetheless, players grapple with the constraint of forming a party of only four members.
Party Limit Begone extends a lifeline to those unwilling to sacrifice companions or those seeking multiplayer flexibility. With this mod, the shackles of the party size limit are broken, granting the liberty to amass a larger band. The caveat here is that this may disrupt game balance due to the expanded action economy, yet for players inclined towards the narrative rather than the challenge, this poses no hindrance.
Improved UI
Distinguished as the cornerstone of modding, Improved UI emerges as the inaugural entry on this roster. The mod's prime directive is twofold: streamline the UI and bolster mod support. It accomplishes both tasks with finesse. Notably, one standout feature empowers players to tailor Origin Characters to align with their creative vision.
In terms of UI refinement, the mod tactfully conceals extraneous buttons, such as the Trade icon during dialogues with non-vendor NPCs. Additionally, the intrusive popup that accompanies mod usage is eradicated. For modding enthusiasts, Improved UI shatters the constraints on scrolling within the character creator, spanning faces, hair, and color palettes.
This array of mods collectively enhances the tapestry of Baldur's Gate 3, infusing it with a renewed vitality and engrossment, as players chart their course within this ever-evolving world.
Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment in the Baldur's Gate series and is set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. The game was released in early access in October 2020, and it is available on Microsoft Windows and Google Stadia.
The game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fictional world in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Players create their own character, choosing from a variety of races and classes, and embark on a quest to save the world from a deadly parasite known as the Mind Flayer.
Baldur's Gate 3 features turn-based combat, where players take turns to attack their enemies. The game also includes a wide variety of spells and abilities that can be used in combat, as well as non-combat skills such as persuasion and deception that can be used to influence NPCs.
One of the unique features of Baldur's Gate 3 is its focus on player choice and consequences. The game features a branching narrative with multiple paths and endings, and the choices that players make throughout the game have a significant impact on the story and the world around them.
The game's graphics and sound design have also been widely praised, with many critics citing the game's stunning visuals and immersive sound effects as some of its strongest features.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a highly engaging and immersive role-playing game that offers players a chance to explore a rich and detailed world filled with danger and adventure. Its focus on player choice and consequences, as well as its stunning graphics and sound design, make it a must-play for fans of the Dungeons & Dragons universe and role-playing games in general.
Baldur's Gate 3 Gameplay
Baldur's Gate 3 gameplay is a turn-based role-playing game that emphasizes player choice and consequences. The game includes a wide range of races and classes that players can choose from, including humans, elves, dwarves, and more.
At the start of the game, the player creates their own custom character, choosing their race, class, abilities, and appearance. The game then begins with a cinematic introduction that sets the stage for the main story.
Players explore a vast world filled with danger and adventure, interacting with NPCs and completing quests to progress the story. The game features a branching narrative with multiple paths and endings, and the choices that players make throughout the game have a significant impact on the story and the world around them.
Combat is turn-based, with players taking turns to attack their enemies. Players can choose from a wide variety of weapons and spells to defeat their foes, and the game's tactical combat system allows players to position their characters strategically to gain an advantage.
Baldur's Gate 3 also includes non-combat skills such as persuasion, deception, and intimidation that players can use to influence NPCs. For example, players can use persuasion to convince an NPC to reveal important information or to avoid a fight.
The game's graphics and sound design are also impressive, with stunning visuals that bring the game's world to life. The sound design includes immersive sound effects that add to the game's atmosphere and help to create a sense of immersion.
Baldur's Gate 3: 10 Best Mods - FAQs
Baldur's Gate 3 boasts a vibrant modding scene, and some standout options include Casters Extra, Rogues Extra, Backgrounds Enhanced, Fast XP, Enhanced Gear Progression, Customizer's Compendium, Buy Your Starting Equipment, Tav's Hair Salon, Party Limit Begone, and Improved UI.
Casters Extra introduces missing subclasses from D&D 5e, adding more customization. Rogues Extra, by the same creator, offers fresh options for Rogue players, including subclasses and cantrips absent in the base game.
Backgrounds Enhanced is a mod that grants each background an additional proficiency, allowing players to further customize their characters' skills and experiences while maintaining thematic immersion.
The Fast XP mod accelerates early-game leveling, doubling Experience Points earned until level six. This helps players reach power break points and multiclass levels faster, though it may impact the game's difficulty balance.
Enhanced Gear Progression addresses the lack of gear progression in the later stages of the game. The mod alters loot generation, providing a sense of advancement by offering improved gear options.