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Baldur's Gate 3 gameplay is based on D&D 5th Edition

Larian Studios is hoping to offer the same creative flow and freedom of choice in Baldur's Gate 3 as the tabletop version of D&D 5E.

Josh Hawkins

February 27, 2020 1:05 PM

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There’s no question that Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the most anticipated RPGs over the year. During today’s special gameplay reveal, we learned a bit about the upcoming RPG from Larian Studios, including the heavy influences it pulls from D&D 5th Edition, the latest version of the popular tabletop sensation.

Much like the tabletop game that inspired many of the mechanics in Baldur’s Gate 3, the game will focus heavily on dice rolls, pinning the success of the player’s actions on these rolls. Larian Studios has also stated that it is doing everything it can to give the players the same amount of choice and freedom that the tabletop version of D&D offers. To try to help pull this off, Larian has updated the rules behind the scenes of Baldur's Gate 3 to align with the ruleset used in D&D 5E, the most up-to-date version of the tabletop game.

In a special preview that Blake Morse had of the game, he stated “the world of BG3 has a ton of new ways for players to interact with it. For starters, there are now vertical layers to just about every environment and players will now be able to leap to and from the high ground. It may seem like a small feature, but it opens so many doors.” You can, of course, check out his full preview of Baldur’s Gate 3 here on the site, where you can learn more about the developer’s work to bring this world and story to life.

Players can expect to see Death Rolls, and even things like extra dice rolls from seeking out advantages. There's a lot of numbers going on behind the scenes, and in the presentation we witnessed at PAX East, the players are always going to be at the mercy of the dice. This is something that D&D fans will no doubt appreciate seeing in a virtual form.

It appears that Larian is also bringing over some of the mechanics that it featured in the Divinity: Original Sin series, offering various breakable and moveable items around the environment. Players will be able to use these items to their advantage, really giving the player a sense of freedom inside of the virtual world that the studio has created here.

Make sure you check out the gameplay reveal livestream from earlier today to learn more about Baldur’s Gate 3.

Josh Hawkins

Guides Editor

Joshua holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has been exploring the world of video games for as long as he can remember. He enjoys everything from large-scale RPGs to small, bite-size indie gems and everything in between.