I lovingly refer to her as “Shady”.

Welp, I gave in last month and got BG3 when it was on sale. I was getting a little tired of ESO and Skyrim and wasn't in the mood for reinstalling Oblivion again. So I wanted something a little different.

Never played a straight D&D RPG before, just the TES games (which I understand play fast and loose with the D&D stereotypes).

First character I rolled (before I knew anything about how the game works) was a half Wood Elf Druid. She ended up romancing Wyll though Shadowheart, Lae'zel and Gale all expressed interest in her. Phae felt bad for Astarion, but could never quite fall for him romantically. As we played through the storyline, it got more and more interesting, and I actually ended up falling hard for Karlach. Just loved the way her boisterous yet sweet hearted personality just shone through the voicing and the animation, just like someone I once knew years ago.

Made a lot of mistakes, learned a lot in that first play through. Found the final battle a bit tough, and after the twelfth or thirteenth try in that final fight, gave up and went for the nuclear option. Couldn't help feeling that my build and that of my companions weren't maxed enough to take on the fight effectively.

Now in my second play through, playing a Druid again, but this time a pure Wood Elf. Like Phae, she is older (older even than Julian in OHDH!), and this time I went with Circle of the Moon (Phae was Circle of the Land) and respec'd the companions as soon as I got Withers. This time around, after having played through the whole story, a lot of the mysterious things he said clicked and I was like a-ha - my initial suspicion from the epilogue in the previous play through was confirmed.

The fights are better, and I'm a bit more effective in how I use my character's abilities and those of my companions. Already we are at Level 6 and just starting the Underdark trek toward the Moonrise Towers. And Lyll (my character) and Karlach are already an item!

To sum it up, while I'm not a fan of the top down isometric gameplay (it is not as immersive as the player centric camera view I'm accustomed to) or the turn based combat, I do admit the characters are immersive (I love Jaheria's sarcasm and found myself trading barbs with her and both of us enjoying it), and the animals - from Scratch and the Owlbear Cub to a certain Miniature Space Hamster - are terminally adorable. The storyline absolutely left me gobsmacked, and finishing it left me feeling sated and yet emptily sad, because there is no more "what's next?"

Well, apparently Divinity is what’s next from the studio that made BG3. They walked away from doing any DLC for BG3 or the next Baldur’s Gate title because they “weren’t excited about it”. To me that really doesn’t pass the smell test, BG3 brought them more acclaim than any of the Divinity games ever did, so I’m thinking something happened behind the scenes that turned them off of the IP. Either that or they don’t get excited by raking in big piles of money or getting praised all over the internet for their work.

BG3 is a great game. Glad you enjoyed it, for the most part.

Haute, it sounds like we both had pretty much the same experience. The game was a struggle at first as one gets used to the system. It helps once you realize that you can change the classes of the NPCs if you want, and take them in very different directions. For example, I always respec Shadowheart to a cleric of a different domain than Trickster. I was just not impressed with that. But she's really amazing as a War domain cleric, and an awesome healer as a Life domain. After a certain point in the game changing her to a Light domain is also pretty appropriate, and that subclass gets some bonus fire-based attacks that can be pretty cool. When I played Silverlight I made her a Light domain Cleric for the entire playthrough.

Wyll can likewise be cross-classed with Paladin, which synergizes well with his Warlock class. Jaheria makes for a great single-class Bard. I typically make Minsc a Wildheart Barbarian or a Battlemaster Fighter. He is an absolute beast as either one.

And the Paladin/Sorcerer combo is just over the top as a combat monster. I discovered that my first playthrough by pure chance, as that most fits January.

I also felt much the same for the NPCs, especially Karlach. She is just so honest and earnest in the way that she embraces life in spite of all of its trials and heartaches, that I can never fail to fall for her.

I went back to Baldur's Gate 3 yesterday. I have not played it since last summer. There were more patches to download and install again. I am surprised they are still rolling out patches after all this time. They must be near the end of doing that. Thankfully this time the updates did not cause any CTDs with my mods.

I did find some updates to some of them, including the Script Extender, and the Mod Manager. Those installs went fine. My hotbar was blank, and that fixed by updating Better Hotbar 2.

I also found some interesting new mods since the last time I played.

Arcane Vanguard is a neat fighter/wizard combo class that has a lot of different subclasses to choose from. I originally tried using this for a new playthrough of Blood Raven. It does not really suit her, but it is interesting enough that I think I will try it with an all new Graveknight character.

Angel Wings and Halos gives you wings that you can now add to any of the human-sized races. So you don't have to use that Avariel Race mod for a winged character anymore.

Half angel ( Aasimar 5E ) is a mod you need to use the Wings mod above. But it looks interesting on its own.

Ren's Divine Hair Gallery adds some new hairstyles to the Aasimar above, and other races.


So I am thinking of creating a winged Graveknight character, maybe based loosely around a new character from the Blood Raven story I have been working on. She will be a new student of Blood Raven's who is a necromancer (her first act of necromancy was raising her dead cat). Or maybe after a half-human/half-elemental character I was planning on introducing in a later book, inspired by the Unnamable movies/short story by Lovecraft.

Yeah patch 8 was (supposedly) their last patch for BG3. They walked away to pursue more Divinity stuff.

Also, please let me know what you think of that Aasimar mod. I’ve got an idea for a plague angel character.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Feb 5 2026, 10:26 PM

From what little I have looked at it so far, the Aasimar race it adds gives you an option for 3 subraces, your basic Aasimar, a Fallen Aasimar, and I forget the third. It sounds like your Plague Angel idea might fit in pretty well with it.

I have also been using the Appearance Edit Enhanced mod. It gives you three spells that allow you to alter your character at any time. One allows you to Respec your character, the same as if you went to Withers to do so. One gives you the option to change your appearance, the same as if you used the magic mirror in your camp to do so. The final one allows you to completely reset your race, class, and appearance, everything. It is just like when you originally created your character. Be careful using that one, because it will completely blank out your character right from the start and reset you as the base High Elf Barbarian. So if you want to just make a few small tweaks like changing your hair, go with the mirror option.

And it works on the Origin characters too. But there are complications with Wyll due to his... well... spoilers.

A neat side effect of the complete reset option is that it also resets your Guardian too, allowing/forcing you to change their appearance as well.

I fiddled a bit with the Aasimar mod. It is a little confusing having both it and Ren's Wings mod installed, as both mods give you wings and Flight. The Aasimar mod gives you three spells to summon three different looking pairs of wings. But the Wings mod allows you to choose your wings during character creation, using the Tail slot. The Wings mod is to give any race wings of course, so if you just want to play an Aasimar, you might want to turn off the Wings mod just to be less confusing.

And there are 3 subraces. Your basic Aasimar, a Scourge Aasimar who is basically one who fights evil and has a Radiant energy burst attack, and the Fallen Aasimar who has become evil.

Those two mods sound neat! There have been many times I’ve wanted to change my race/species in game But couldn’t. That also might cut down on some of my restartitus (ha, who am I kidding).

The Aasimar mod seems like exactly what I want but I think I would not use the wing mod. Personally, I just don’t see the need to give other races/species wings, especially when the Fly spell exists. One exception could be Tiefling, especially if there is a bat-like wing. Would suit their demonic heritage. That’s just my take on it though, people are free to do whatever is fun for them.

I just had an exasperating day. I tried to play BG3 and suddenly it would not start anymore. It was giving me the following error message:



So the Script Extender would not run, meaning all the mods I have dependent upon it also would not work.

Now the Script Extender is supposed to update automatically when you start the game. In fact, there are no readily available specific versions of it out there to download. You just download the updater and install it, and then it downloads the actual script extender. I tried different versions of the updater, but to no avail. I tried the script extender update feature built into the BG3 Mod Manager. That did not help either.

Finally I found this page for a similar issue. Using the Manual Install files here, I was able to get it to work.

Ironically, I checked after I got it working, and it appears that this manual version too simply updated the extender because my game is showing a script extender version newer than the manual file. But at least this time it was able to work.

Tutorial Chest Summoning is another mod I recently found. It gives you a spell to summon the tutorial chest from the Nautiloid. You know, the one most modders like to put their modded items in. This allows you to summon the chest at any time or place in the game to get those modded items.

I’m glad you got it working again.

The summon tutorial chest mod is pretty much a must have. So many mods make use of the tutorial chest to place their content into the game world.

I have been fighting so many bugs since I tried to start playing BG3 again. But I think I finally have it sorted out now *knocks on wood*...

Aside from the script extender issue I previously had I also found I had another issue. All the new subclasses from Patch 8 were suddenly unavailable anymore. I eventually figured out it was caused by the optional Feats every 2 levels extra from Unlock Level Curve. The base mod itself is fine. Just don't use that extra pak file for Feats every 2 levels instead of the vanilla 4.

Instead you can still get Feats every 2 levels by using the Universal Feat Every X Level(s) - MCM. It does require Mod Configuration Menu. It is the first mod I have used to do so. But thanks to MCM, it allows you to tweak exactly how often you want to receive Feats. Best of all, it does not break the new subclasses.

But that was not all of my headaches. I also found that when going up to level 2 with a Wizard, most of the Wizard subclasses did not get new spells or subclass features. Only Abjuration, Evocation, and Bladesinging were normal. All the other Wizard subclasses literally got nothing. They were just blank under their names and subclass descriptions.

I eventually fixed this by reinstalling the entire game. Not through the offline installers (I had done this about 3-4 times already). No, I had to start up Gog Galaxy, and go to the Verify Files option in it. That installed the entire game over again over the internet. It took about 8 hours to do so. But it fixed this final problem. So my guess is that when I downloaded those offline installer files something got screwed up in them. I deleted them all, and plan to re-download them in the future, probably overnight.

But now things are finally working. I have all the subclasses, all the Wizards get their spells, and I get feats every two levels. And of course the Script Extender is working as well.

What a pain in the neck! Glad you were able to finally get things working again though.

8 hours?!

Goodness, what an ordeal!

The game's install files are 127gb, whether you use the offline or online installer, so it takes forever to download. Plus even using the offline installer files it takes an hour and fifteen minutes to install it (on my PC).

Compare that the Baldur's Gate 1 Enhanced Edition, which is 2.71gb...

Heh heh . . .

I'm playing the Mac version of GOG's BG3, which means I'm limited in my mod choices (and pretty much only through the in game mod manager, not the download and install methods you're using). It's pretty simple, really, since I don't have the capability to use any script extenders.

But I'm okay. I'm mostly using mods that upgrade/overhaul the standard pets - Scratch, Owlbear Cub, Shovel (I've finally learned to find and activate it on this, my FOURTH play through), and US, which I have not found since the Nautilus crashed, but learned that you can find it and summon it in Act 2. So I'm giving those two a go

Another mod I found is one that adds cats to the game - not like the cats of Skyrim, but cats that really join you in combat. I still giggle every time my little orange cat takes down a hobgoblin - they're a bit overpowered in the lower levels since Hunter the orange cat gets two strikes per action plus three bonus actions, including bonus claw strikes for a potential of five total claws - the damage does add up! I'm also loving the Evolved versions of the above pets, especially Scratch and the Owlbear Cub.

In my third play through I figured out how to recruit Minthara even though my main character was neutral/good. She was pretty good, but I was quite unimpressed with her personality and storyline. It just didn't help me connect to her the way I did with the others. So having tried her once, I probably will just kill her in future playthroughs, including this one.

This time I decided to play on Balanced mode, rather than Exploration, to open the door to potential multi classing (it's disabled on Exploration mode). It's a bit harder, but that's okay. After three playthroughs I know my supporting characters' strengths and weaknesses and am more comfortable with using the turn based combat system.

Other mods I'm using are those that add more levels (I thought 12 was kinda cheesy, since I'm used to more levels, but BG3 does not support the depth of play that the TES series do, so . . .). It's more for multi classing purposes really. Also one that allows you to play with more than four in a party - I've been playing with all the recruited characters and it really does help me a lot. This is where the turn based system really shines, as far as I'm concerned. Also one that gives me auto sort containers that also help with the weight issues.

I've played Druid twice (Circle of the Land and Circle of the Moon), and Cleric (life and currently nature). I found the Cleric of Life to be really handy for healing, but Shadowheart does well as healer. I really like having the Speak with Animals in my spell slots, so when I found the Cleric of Nature has that, I thought I'd give it a whirl this time through. It might be my base class and I would multiclass with something else, but I haven't yet decided what.

It seems BG3, though limited in play through, has a strong story and character development that I haven't yet tired of playing different classes, though I'm slowing down in my gameplay and not spending as much time per session.

Glad to hear you are enjoying your Balduring.

You can respec all of your companions (and yourself) by using Withers in your camp. There are also mods that allow you to do it on the fly. You cannot change their appearance, names, or Background. But you can completely change their class, skills, and the like.

When I was still getting used to the game I would make Shadowheart a Life Cleric, for the healing bonus you already noted. It makes a big difference when you are still learning the game, and taking a lot of hits in the process. Later I experimented around, and often made her a War Cleric for the extra attack it confers. In my current playthrough I made her a Death Domain (it is one of the new subclasses added by Patch 8). Anything but her default Trickster Domain, which I find underwhelming.

Wyll is the other one I have experimented with the most. As a Warlock he multi-classes very well with Paladin, as both are Charisma builds The same as a Warlock/Sorcerer. Astarion works well as a Rogue/Thief for the extra bonus action. Multiclass him as a Fighter/Champion. Make him a dual wielder with hand crossbows. I found I like Jaheria best as a Bard, and Minsc as a Wildheart Barbarian or a Battlemaster Fighter.

If you are ever in doubt about what to multclass a character once you go above level 12, then you can never go wrong with a few levels of Fighter/Champion. The base class gives you good hit points, and a ton of weapon and armor proficiencies. Not to mention Fighting Styles. Finally the better chance to get criticals works well with every class in the game. There is also a mod out there which improves their critical hit ability as well.

For example Karlach is just a beast as she is already. But even she can benefit from a few levels of Fighter. I have also read some people say that they love making her a Monk and taking the Tavern Brawler Feat, then have her throw things (including people), as makeshift missile weapons.

Oh, all my companions visit Withers their first night in camp after recruitment! I love having Astarion in the Thief role - he does all the lock picking and trap disarming for the party.

I really like Shadowheart as the Light Cleric - she's got some heals but also some hits as well, especially in mid - late gameplay.

I'm happy with Minsc as the Ranger with the Hunter subclass - love using him as the heavy ranged hitter with his Volley ability - that gets heavily used.

Jaheria as Bard sounds interesting - I haven't looked into that class too much but any tips about re-classing her as Bard would be appreciated! I find having two Druids (three in my first two playthroughs) in the party a bit of overkill. Bard sounds like it would suit her backstory as Harper better than Druid, anyhow.

The one concept of gameplay I'm still not sure about is the guidance on dice rolls - sometimes I see guidance from two or even three different characters as options for the roll, and I'm not sure what the difference between them is.