Key Takeaways
- Baldur's Gate 3 takes inspiration from D&D 2014 handbook, offering familiar spells, classes, and subclasses from the iconic source material.
- The 2024 Player's Handbook brought significant changes, introducing new subclasses like the College of Dance for Bards and offering gameplay improvements.
- Changes in the 2024 PHB, such as equalizing subclasses at Level 3, could drastically alter gameplay and strategy in Baldur's Gate 3's sequel.
Baldur's Gate 3 is drawn from Dungeons and Dragons and specifically draws its spells, classes, and subclasses from the Dungeons and Dragons' 2014 Player's Handbook. The 2014 Player's Handbook served as the basis of all gameplay for an entire decade of Dungeons and Dragons, and its gameplay and classes served as the baseline for Baldur's Gate 3's own classes, spells, and mechanics, including encounters.
2024 saw a new release of the Player's Handbook, which brought a number of significant changes to classes and subclasses, as well as gameplay. Bards received an entirely new subclass in the College of Dance, which has the potential to completely overhaul encounters, while other popular subclasses were streamlined and improved. These changes mean that Baldur's Gate 3's successor will likely see some significant changes merely by following the 2024 PHB rather than the 2014 version, setting it apart from Baldur's Gate 3 and giving it a distinct identity even before considering its setting and story.
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New Class Rules and Subclasses Could Bring Big Changes to Baldur's Gate 3's Sequel
The changes introduced with the 2024 PHB included new classes and subclasses, upgraded and streamlined the existing ones, shuffled the spell lists, and changed some vital gameplay rules to improve the game's quality of life. Most of the classes in the 2024 Player's Handbook look very different from their 2014 counterparts, and in many ways are more true to the original spirit of that class. An example is the Bard's College of Dance, which specializes in unarmed combat, much like the Monk, but also makes more use of Bardic Inspiration to draw in party members. Just this subclass could change encounters, introduce more magic items that improve unarmed combat, and give players more builds for their characters and party.
Two New Paths for Clerics
Another example is the Cleric, a class that now has two paths to choose from, between specializing in magic and specializing in weapons training. This single change to the Cleric already grants them more flexibility than in Baldur's Gate 3, but changes to the Cleric's subclasses take this further by improving the Cleric Spell List, and their Channel Divinity, in particular the effects of Turn Undead.
How the 2024 PHB Could Change Gameplay in Baldur's Gate 3's Sequel
Overhauling Subclasses to Equalize Them
One of the changes that could most affect a Baldur's Gate 3 sequel is the change to when subclasses are applied to a class. Rather than subclassing at different levels, all classes now subclass at Level 3, and all classes now only have four subclasses. This gives some classes like Rogue and Bard an additional subclass, but dramatically reduces the subclass options for Wizard and Cleric. This equalizes the classes across the board and gives the other classes more subclasses to play with, such as Soul Knife for Rogues and the completely new subclass, the College of Dance, for Bards.
Some gameplay characteristics of Baldur's Gate 3 that differed in the 2014 Player's Handbook made it into the 2024 PHB, such as the length of short rests, and taking potions as a bonus action. Undead and constructs can now be healed with potions and spells, which will make a dramatic change in gameplay and combat strategy for necromancers who use summons, as well as Clerics with necromancers in the party. This will also likely change the versatility of the types of enemies and encounters in Baldur's Gate 3's sequel.
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Baldur's Gate 3
RPG
Systems
- Top Critic Rating:96/100 Critics Recommend:98%
- Franchise
- Baldur's Gate
- Platform(s)
- PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X
- Released
- August 3, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Larian Studios
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Engine
- Divinity 4.0
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- How Long To Beat
- 100+ Hours
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- X|S Enhanced
- yes
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical Only
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
- Cross Save
- yes
- Cross-Platform Play
- Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't support crossplay
