D&D 5e rule changes

Rule changes

Race changes

Class changes

Spell changes

Feat changes

This page describes any changes that have been made in Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3) from their original specifications in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition 2014 (D&D 5e 2014). Other rule changes can be found on their related pages.

The rule changes described on this page and related pages are written with the assumption that the reader understands the relevant D&D 5e rule. These pages will not explain what the D&D 5e rule is, only what the changed or altered BG3 rule is. These pages also include many BG3 features and abilities that are unchanged from D&D 5e to help a D&D 5e player quickly see which options have changed and which have not, and make decisions without having to do additional research. If the BG3 rule aligns with a rule from the 2024 5e revision or other material from future playtests, that is considered a rule change from D&D 5e.

Fundamental changes

Characters

See also: Class changes and Race Changes

• The level cap is 12.
• Characters must use standard point buy. There is no rolling for ability scores.
• All races have a +2/+1 flexible ability score bonus – similar to the alternate rules from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything – though the standard 5e racial ability score bonuses and the +1/+1/+1 options do not exist. Half-elves and humans have been granted additional features (chiefly,  Civil Militia) to make up for this change.
• Hit points gained on level-up are always fixed values; there is no option to roll a hit die.
• Party members can be respecced after meeting  Withers early in Act 1 of the game. Party members may respec their class, subclass, spells, any other class-related choices (e.g. fighting style), ability scores, and skill proficiencies gained from class (though not from background). It is not possible to change a character's race or background.
  • If an origin character or companion's starting class (or subclass) is changed, their unique dialogue and quests will still treat them as a member of their original class. They will still gain additional dialogue options from their new class as normal.
• Multiclassing has no ability score requirements.
  • This makes it possible to reach the level cap with one level from each of the 12 available classes, which grants an achievement if done without ever respeccing.
• Tool, vehicle, and language proficiencies are not implemented; only proficiencies for weapons, armour, skills, and musical instruments.
  • As such, backgrounds only provide proficiency in two skills.
  • Rather than having proficiencies for individual instruments, there is only a single proficiency for all musical instruments. It is not part of any background, but can be granted by the bard class, the  Performer feat, or a special dialogue interaction.
• Inspiration is granted automatically when a character in the active party does or sees certain things associated with their background. For example, if a character has the  Charlatan background, they may gain inspiration if they deceive their way into a fortified enemy position. The entire party cannot collectively have more than four inspiration uses stored up at a time, which can be spent to reroll a failed skill check or saving throw in dialogue.
• Characters can carry a maximum of 40 kg (80 lbs) + 10 kg (20 lbs) per point of Strength. If a character is carrying more than 80% of their maximum carrying capacity, they are  Encumbered. Above 93.33% carrying capacity, this becomes  Heavily Encumbered.

Death

• Most characters not in the party, including important NPCs, are killed outright when reduced to 0 hit points.
  • They do not make death saving throws and cannot be resurrected.
• Party members cannot instantly die from damage: a party member reduced to 0 hit points is  Downed, regardless of whether the remaining damage exceeds their hit point maximum, with the exception of wildshaped creatures. There are, however, other ways to instantly die, such as falling into a chasm or various story events.
  • Party members make death saving throws once reduced to 0 hit points.
  • Dead party members can be resurrected using the  Revivify spell, a  Scroll of Revivify, or by Withers for a fee of 200 gold. There is no time limit on resurrection, and Withers does not require a character's corpse to be intact or present.
  • If a party member takes damage that reduces their Wild Shape form's Hit Points below 0, the remaining damage is applied to their original form. If the remaining damage is also enough to reduce their original form to 0 Hit Points, they die instantly, skipping the usual death saving throws.

Resting

• The party is limited to two short rests per long rest. Short rests restore each party member's hit points (including those left at camp) by an amount equal to half their maximum HP (rounded down). There is no hit die rolling.
  • The bard's ability  Song of Rest provides an additional short rest.
• Long rests require camp supplies, which are food and drink items that must be looted or purchased. Taking a long rest without sufficient camp supplies results in only partial recovery of spell slots and hit points.

Dice rolls

• There is a weighted dice setting in the game called Karmic Dice, which is enabled by default.
  • While enabled the game mitigates bad luck streaks. Some players report that this can make fights feel quicker or more potent, but results can vary and this is not guaranteed.
• Rolling a natural 1 on an ability check always results in failure, even if modifiers alone would exceed the DC. Rolling a natural 20 on a skill check always results in success, even if with modifiers it would not exceed the DC. There are no additional fumble or critical success features besides an automatic failure or pass of the ability check.
• When Saving Throws are used in dialogue, rolling a natural 1 or natural 20 always results in failure or success, regardless of the saving throw's DC or the character's modifiers. Regular saving throws do not have critical failures or critical successes when a 1 or 20 is rolled.
  • Death saving throws also do not have critical failures or critical successes. A roll of 1 gives only one fail rather than 2, and a roll of 20 results in a success, rather than restoring 1 HP.

Combat

• Initiative is rolled with a d4 instead of a d20, and is not treated as a Dexterity ability check. Features that grant a bonus to initiative still exist, but most grant a flat bonus to the roll instead of advantage or a bonus based on an ability score.
  • This makes it more likely that multiple characters on the same side will roll identical or adjacent initiative values, allowing them to exploit the shared initiative feature described below.
  • If two or more player-controlled characters are next to each other in the initiative order, their initiative is shared. These characters can act in any order and can even blend their turns together.
• Combat areas tend to have a large amount of verticality, but are relatively small in horizontal size. This has led to the following mechanical changes:
  • The ranges of many spells are reduced (as described on individual spell pages), often to 60ft.
  • The normal range of ranged weapons has been reduced to 60ft, except hand crossbows, whose range has been increased to 50 ft.
  •  Darkvision is reduced to 40ft, and  Superior Darkvision to 80ft.
• Cover mechanics are not implemented, but a line of sight to the target is still required for ranged weapon attacks,  Throw attacks, and projectile spells.
• When a creature at least 10ft above their target makes a ranged attack, they receive a +2 bonus to the attack roll due to high ground. When a creature at least 10ft below their target makes a ranged attack, they receive a -2 penalty to the attack roll due to low ground. The Sharpshooter feat removes the low ground penalty.
• Rules for hearing-based detection are not implemented, and NPCs may only detect what they see. If a character hides while not in any creature's sight cone, they automatically succeed. If they try to hide while in a creature's sight cone, or are already hidden and enter a creature's sight cone, then, depending on the creature's senses (such as  Darkvision or  Blindsight) and the hider's level of obscurity, they may be automatically detected or may roll a Stealth check against the creature's passive perception.

Spellcasting

See also: D&D 5e spell changes

• Prepared spellcasters may change their prepared spells at any time out of combat.
  • Some spells with an ongoing effect will end if the caster unprepares them, while others will not. It's not clear whether this inconsistency is intentional.
• Verbal, Somatic, and Material components are ignored. Being  Silenced prevents casting of most spells; however, some spells that do not have verbal components in 5e do ignore this, such as  Ice Knife.
• Spellcasting focuses are not required for any class. Spellcasters can cast any spell, even with both hands full.
  • While casting bard spells, bards will play an equipped musical instrument or whistle if they have none equipped. However, this is merely cosmetic.
• The game does not stop a character from casting a levelled spell with both an action and a bonus action in the same turn.
• All caster classes are capable of ritual casting, and the Ritual Caster feat instead allows the selection of two ritual spells. Ritual casting does not take any more time than normal casting, but cannot be done in combat.
  • Some spells that are not ritual spells in 5e have become so, such as  Disguise Self; see D&D 5e spell changes for more.
• Anyone can cast any spell scroll from any class list, even if they do not have the Spellcasting feature, and there is no Arcana check for casting spells of a higher level than a character could normally cast. Wizards are still unable to copy a scroll into their spellbook if the spell is of a level higher than they have spell slots.
• Spell scrolls do not have a fixed DC or attack roll bonus. They use the caster's spellcasting ability (see spellcasting ability for how this is determined for multiclass characters and characters without the spellcasting feature).
• A character with at least one level in wizard can scribe scrolls of any level up to which they have spell slots. For example, a character with 1 level in wizard and 2 levels in cleric can learn level 2 wizard spells by scribing them from scrolls, since their effective spellcasting level is 3, granting them level 2 spell slots.
• Cantrips receive their second upgrade at character level 10, rather than level 11.
• Due to the level cap being 12, characters generally do not have access to spells of 7th level or higher (as 7th-level spell slots become available at class level 13).
  • The exceptions are a few spells that can only be used by NPCs that are technically classified as 9th level, and  Power Word Kill, which is available as a one-time-use ability if specific choices are made in the story.

Action economy

• A character can have one ranged weapon set equipped and one melee weapon set equipped and is able to freely switch between them an unlimited number of times per turn. This includes starting their turn with the melee weapon equipped, switching to a crossbow for free, shooting at targets, and switching back to the melee set to allow them to make opportunity attacks. A character able to make multiple attacks with one action can switch weapons between attacks. Equipping a weapon from the ground, a container, or an inventory costs an action.
•  Shove is not a part of the attack action. It is a bonus action available to all characters. Shove only pushes the target back an amount that depends on the shover's Strength and the target's weight. It normally does not knock a target prone unless they are shoved off a high ledge. (Some creatures are shown falling to the ground when shoved, but this is purely cosmetic as they get up again immediately without spending any movement, and this doesn't apply the  Prone condition at any point.)
• Falling damage is determined by fall height and deals consistent damage based on a percentage of a creature's max HP. It is also guaranteed to cause a creature to go Prone if a fall deals more than 25% of their max HP and will never cause a creature to go prone otherwise.
• Using the  Help action on a  Downed ally brings them back to 1 hit point. This action can also be used to remove various other harmful conditions, such as  Ensnared,  Enwebbed, or  Sleeping. It cannot be used to provide an ally advantage on an attack roll or ability check.
•  Jumping is a bonus action which consumes 10ft of movement speed. With a Strength score of 10 or below, a creature can jump 15ft, and this increases by 3ft for every two points in Strength above 10. The jump always consumes 10 feet of movement regardless of the actual distance jumped, effectively increasing the creature's movement speed by up to 20 feet (at 20 Strength). Characters do not roll an Athletics check to avoid being hit by an obstacle they are jumping over, or an Acrobatics check to avoid falling Prone when landing in difficult terrain.
• The Dodge action is not implemented, though the monk's  Patient Defence and the Battle Master Fighter's  Evasive Footwork manoeuvre function similarly.
• Readying an action is not implemented.
• Grappling is not implemented.
• Consuming a potion only costs a bonus action. This greatly increases the utility of drinking potions while in combat.
• If a creature  Throws a potion as an action, it will break and affect all targets in a small radius. This applies to many – but not all – types of potions.
• A character can Throw creatures which are more than one size larger. There is a minimum Strength required, based on the target's weight, and the thrower must succeed on a contested check using Athletics against the target's passive Athletics or Acrobatics.
  • Contested ability checks have the acting character roll an ability check against a DC of the target's passive skill.
• Bonus action attack options, such as off-hand weapon attacks, do not require a character to first take the Attack action.
  • Exceptions include the attacks gained from the Polearm Master feat and the monk's  Martial Arts: Bonus Unarmed Strike, which are not available unless at least one attack was already made on the same turn.
• Donning and doffing armour only takes an action, regardless of armour type, making it feasible during combat.
• A character regains their reaction at the end of their turn, not at the start of it.
• Effects granting restricted extra actions generally lack those restrictions. For example, the extra action granted by the  Haste spell is not restricted to making a single attack and can be used to cast spells.
  • In Honour Mode, these features are heavily nerfed and mostly brought in line with their D&D counterparts.

Deleted/Removed Actions

• There is no Dodge Action.
• There is no Help Action (the Help Action has been redefined here).
• There is no Ready Action (a character cannot ready an action and wait for a target to trigger the action as a Reaction).

Equipment

• Weapons are given special weapon actions depending on the weapon type. These can only be used if the wielder is proficient with the weapon, and generally can only be used once each per short rest. Some magic weapons have additional weapon actions unique to them.
• When a character is standing on a surface such as fire, acid, or poison, most weapons can be  Dipped in the surface as a bonus action. This causes them to deal additional damage of an appropriate type with each attack for a few turns.
• There is no magic item attunement system. All magic items can be equipped immediately, and it is possible to equip one in each equipment slot. There are two slots for Rings.
• A character can have a melee weapon set and a ranged weapon set equipped that they can toggle between freely. If a shield is equipped in the melee set but the ranged weapon set is being actively wielded, a creature still benefits from the AC boost the shield provides.
•  Opportunity Attacks cannot be used without a melee weapon currently in hand. It is not possible to use a ranged weapon as an improvised weapon or use a melee weapon together with a hand crossbow.
  • Opportunity Attacks seem to be tied directly to the  Threatened condition, which only occurs in the reach of a melee-equipped hostile.
  • Opportunity Attacks can be enabled after making a ranged attack by manually switching back to a melee weapon before ending a character's turn.
• If an enemy moves out of reach of a character wielding two melee weapons who has Dual Wielding toggled on their hotbar, two separate opportunity attacks (one with each weapon) are made as part of the same reaction. The attack animation shows two separate strikes. As with a normal two-weapon attack, the off-hand attack's damage roll lacks the ability score modifier unless the character has the  Two-Weapon Fighting fighting style or a similar feature.
• Characters other than monks can only make  Unarmed Strikes when they have no melee weapon equipped. Tabletop D&D generally allows unarmed strikes such as kicks and headbutts while one's hands are full.
• Some equipment, like gloves, boots, or helmets, may require armour proficiency to wear effectively. They don't grant a bonus to armour class, unless they have a magical effect that specifically says so, and a character will only be able to don them effectively with the correct proficiency. These items also count as armour for the purpose of effects that only apply when wearing armour (e.g.  Defence fighting style) or when not wearing armour (e.g.  Unarmoured Defence).
• Heavy armour does not have a Strength requirement, and therefore no movement speed penalty.
•  Padded Armour does not impose disadvantage on Stealth checks, making it mechanically equivalent to  Leather Armour, though it still weighs less and costs less.
• Starting equipment cannot be selected; starting equipment is given based on a character's starting class. Backgrounds do not provide starting equipment.
• If the target of a ranged attack is within 10ft, then ranged attacks will have disadvantage, rather than 5ft.
• Crossbows do not have the loading property restriction. Combined with the homogenisation of ranges, this leads to non-magical crossbows usually being superior to bows.
  • This also allows a character to dual-wield hand crossbows. It does not allow a character to wield a hand crossbow with a shield because the crossbow goes in the ranged set, while the shield goes in the melee set. But, as discussed above, the character gains the AC bonus of a shield equipped on their melee set even while the ranged set is active.
• The heavy weapon property was initially included in the game, but it did not apply disadvantage to attack rolls made by small characters, and was subsequently removed from the game in a later update.
•  Extra Reach weapons have an effective range of 2.5m/8.3ft, rather than 10ft.
• Slings, darts, blowguns, lances, nets, and whips are not in the game.
  • The Sling and Dart exist in the code, but are inaccessible in normal gameplay. They can be accessed through third-party tools or mods.
• The weights of various pieces of equipment are changed. For example,  Chain Mail weighs 36lbs instead of 55lbs.
• Thieves' tools are split into two items:  Thieves' Tools for lockpicking and  Trap Disarm Toolkits for disarming traps. These are consumed on each unsuccessful use. Because there are no tool proficiencies, the Sleight of Hand skill is used for these checks.
•  Soul Coins can be used to power infernal engines (specifically, the one inside  Karlach), but the other uses defined for them in the adventure Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus – asking questions of the imprisoned soul or siphoning its essence for temporary hit points – are not implemented.

Conditions

•  Blinded: In addition to its regular effects, ranged attacks are limited to a range of 10ft.
• Characters can still be targeted with attacks and spells while Obscured, overcoming effects like  Darkness and  Fog Cloud, provided the attacker gets close enough (as described above with the Blinded condition). The AI can and will abuse this to get advantage on characters Blinded by these effects or to target AoEs inside the areas.
  • Unlike with most spells in 5e, a spellcaster can target creatures they cannot see with spells.
• The Deafened condition is not implemented.
•  Encumbered: A character becomes encumbered when carrying an amount greater than 80% of their maximum carrying capacity, rather than 15lbs times their Strength (or 5lbs, when using the more realistic variant: encumbrance). Being encumbered also halves jump distance in addition to the normal effects.
  •  Heavily Encumbered: A character becomes heavily encumbered when carrying an amount greater than 93.33% of their maximum carrying capacity, rather than 10lbs times their Strength. It also prevents them from being able to climb or jump at all, in addition to the normal effects.
• Exhaustion is not implemented.
•  Frightened: Creatures which are frightened are unable to move at all, rather than being unable to move toward the source of their fear.
  •  Fearful: Identical to Frightened, except instead of being unable to move, the target must run from the source of its fear and cannot take any additional actions.
•  Grappled: The only creatures that can grapple are the Tentacle and the Shadow Creeper.
•  Paralysed: Attacks from within 10ft automatically hit and are always critical hits, rather than hits from within 5ft being automatic critical hits.
•  Prone: Being prone gives disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws, attacks against a prone creature have advantage out to a range of 10ft rather than 5ft, and ranged attacks against a prone creature do not have disadvantage. A creature cannot do anything while prone. Starting their turn while prone will cause a creature to automatically use half their movement to stand up; if a creature becomes prone during their own turn, the turn automatically ends. Becoming Prone will also make a creature stop concentrating on a spell or similar ability that requires concentration.
•  Turned: Turned creatures will not dodge, as it is not implemented as an action. If a Turned creature cannot move, it will just stay where it is and do nothing.
•  Wet: This is a new condition that prevents the character from  Burning and grants resistance to ⁠fire damage, but also makes the creature vulnerable to ⁠lightning and ⁠cold damage.
•  Threatened: Imposes disadvantage to ranged attacks within 10ft of the target, unlike in 5e, where this penalty's range is 5ft.

Miscellaneous

• The  Great Weapon Fighting fighting style rerolls all of an attack's damage dice on a 1 or 2, even if they are not part of the weapon's base damage.
• "Lifeberries," a.k.a.  Goodberries that have been buffed by  Disciple of Life from a Life Domain Cleric, do not work in BG3.
• The  Haunted One background grants proficiency in Medicine and Intimidation, neither of which is among the four skill options for the 5e version of this background as defined in Curse of Strahd.
• If a background provides proficiency in an already chosen skill, there is no option to select another skill to replace it. Therefore, wood elf  Criminals and half-orc  Soldiers, for example, lose a skill proficiency as Stealth and Intimidation are provided by both race and background.

Other changes

See related pages for details on changes from the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition 2014 rules specific to the classes, races, spells and feats available in Baldur's Gate 3.

Class changes

Feat changes

Race changes

Spell changes

See also

• 5th Edition (2014) System Reference Document
• D&D System Reference Document 5.1