Help:Style manual

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This page serves as a basic style reference for contributors to bg3.wiki. Everything written here is intended as a guideline to be referenced when needed, not as a rule.

General Wiki Guidance

Contributors should write articles using straightforward, succinct language. Remember: less is more.

Article Names

Guidelines for naming articles vary based on the type of article.

Concepts

When both singular and plural forms of a concept are viable, opt for the singular form. This enables easier linking while minimising the number of article redirects.

Saving Throw (Saving Throws)
- Link markup: [[Saving Throw]] and [[Saving Throw]]s both lead to Saving Throw, allowing for easy plural usage

Exception: When a concept is frequently searched for or described as a plural, use the plural form instead. Additionally, create a redirect for the singular form. This enables easier linking of articles.

Feats (Feat)
Spells (Spell)

Characters

Opt for the character's simplest name, without any titles, aliases, or nicknames. Titles and aliases can be described in the text of the article itself. If a title or alias is very frequently used in-game, consider adding a redirect for it.

Gut (True Soul Gut Priestess Gut)
Spaw (Sovereign Spaw)

Firstname Lastname is also acceptable.

Roah Moonglow

Items

Use the name of the item shown on the ingame tooltip, including the enchantment value, if any:

Longbow +1

When an item has both an enchantment and a unique name, use the unique name without the enchantment value:

Locations

When a location has multiple names, opt for the name displayed on the minimap while standing in that location. Create redirects for alternative names.

Ebonlake Grotto (Myconid Colony)

If a notable location does not have a minimap name, opt for the name of the nearest Waypoint or fold the location into a subsection of an existing article for the broader area encompassing that location (such as The Risen Road).

Wiki Organisational Terms

Chapters or Acts?

Follow the 'Chapter' nomenclature used by the quest journal, rather than the 'Act' nomenclature used in marketing materials. Additionally, spell out the chapter number as a word.

Chapter One (Act 1)

Links

Frequency of Link Usage

Linking to other articles is an important part of wiki information discoverability, but inserting too many inline links can break the flow of text. A general guideline to follow when a term is mentioned several times in quick succession is to link the first instance of that term in each section of an article.

Linking Related Articles "Out of Context"

TBA

Formatting

Abbreviations

TBA

Capitalisation

Follow Chicago Manual of Style guidelines for capitalisation of titles, item names, location names, game concepts, bg3wiki page names, page headings, and other proper nouns, even when in-game capitalisation differs.

Circle of the Moon (Circle Of The Moon)
The Festering Cove (the Festering Cove)

In short:

Capitalise nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.
Use lowercase for articles (a, an, the) and prepositions, except at the beginning of a proper noun clause

Punctuation and Grammar

Baldur's Gate 3 follows British English punctuation and grammatical rules (barring a few errors and inconsistencies). Aim to consistently employ these rules wiki-wide.

Regarding disputes and disagreements: Always prioritise fixing factual errors over rewriting articles to conform to a specific style. Please avoid getting into edit wars.

Quotes

'Single quotes' ("Double quotes")

Commas

Use Oxford commas (also known as Serial Commas) when listing three or more items, unless directly quoting game text that omits this comma.

Clerics, Rogues, and Barbarians (Clerics, Rogues and Barbarians)

Perspective

Write from a third-person perspective. Ideally, omit the perspective entirely.

This is item bugged in Patch 9. (We know this item is bugged in Patch 9.)
A Bard can use this to inspire allies. (We can use this to inspire allies.)

Second-person is also acceptable when the tone of a statement benefits from a more direct addressing of the reader, but try not to switch between third- and second-person perspectives too often.

Your choice of reward does not matter here.

Never use first-person perspective in the main wiki namespace, even when making conjectures. If a statement is tentative and needs to be verified, that's okay - simply include the {{Verify}} template to let readers and other wiki editors know.

This is also dropped by John Baldursgate. (I think this is also dropped by John Baldursgate.)

Present Tense

Write in present tense, not past tense. bg3.wiki is first and foremost a 'snapshot' of the current version of BG3.

Wyll is a Companion. (Wyll was a Companion.)
Mystra is the goddess of magic. (Mystra was the goddess of magic.)

Exception: Past tense is acceptable when describing a notable change from a previous version of the game:

Prior to Early Access Patch 9, this weapon was dropped by Zevlor.

Try to avoid slipping into future tense unless absolutely necessary.

You regain 10 Hit Points. (You will regain 10 Hit Points.)

Pronouns

Mimic pronoun usage from in-game text, where available. Otherwise, maintain gender neutrality when a pronoun is called for, and use 'they/them' for both singular and plural cases.

The Paladin can heal their allies. (The Paladin can heal her allies.)

Spelling

Aim to consistently employ British spelling rules wiki-wide, particularly when copying text directly from the game, as with item, feature, and spell descriptions.

Armour (Armor)
Defence (Defense)
Colour Spray (Color Spray)

Images

Guidelines for image style, placement, and so on.

Character Images

For character pages, whenever possible, include both a cinematic portrait/screenshot and a 3D model of the character. Display the cinematic portrait first and ensure the PageSeo template has been invoked with the cinematic portrait as the image parameter. This will help ensure consistency across character pages and external link previews (e.g. social media sites and Discord).