Baldur’s Gate 3 launched to early (albeit unscored as of yet) critical acclaim and strong commercial success, as indicated by the impressive Steam concurrency records that it has repeatedly beaten since August 3rd.
However, being a PC game at heart and having stayed for nearly three years on Steam Early Access, Larian’s latest game was always going to be heavily modded. After all, while Baldur’s Gate 3 is a fairly faithful rendition of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, there are still many changes and differences that not all purists will agree on. In this article, we’ll list the best Baldur’s Gate 3 mods currently compatible with the launch version. The mods will provide anything ranging from quality-of-life additions, rule tweaks, expanded party size and level cap, and more.
Prerequisite for Baldur’s Gate 3 Mods
First things first, though. Nearly all Baldur’s Gate 3 mods will require the so-called Mod Fixer created by Mharius to work correctly. Its installation is extremely straightforward: you’ll just need to extract its contents (a single file called Full Release Mod Fixer.pak) into AppDataLocalLarian StudiosBaldur’s Gate 3Mods. Note that the AppData folder may be invisible unless you’ve already changed your Windows File Explorer options to show hidden files, folders, and drives.
If, upon launching the game, you get a warning message that tells you the game wasn’t able to ‘create a working story’, then you should also download the optional file, which is to be installed in the same folder mentioned above.
Party Size Increase
The first Baldur’s Gate 3 mod covered on Wccftech, the Party Limit Begone mod by Sildur overrides Larian’s default max number of four characters in a party. The first version compatible with the game’s 1.0 release allowed up to eight characters in single player while the multiplayer limit stayed at four. Sildur has since released a new version (1.2) that doubles the party limit on both counts, bringing the maximum amount to sixteen characters in single player and eight characters in multiplayer. However, this version also comes with a program that patches the Baldur’s Gate 3.exe file. If you don’t want to do that, just grab version 1.0.1 from the Nexus Mods archive, drop its content in the Mods folder (inside Baldur’s Gate 3/Data), go into the game, and reach the camp. There, ask one of your current companions to wait at the camp, and you should subsequently have the chance to add them back and the extra others, too.
Level Cap Unlock (up to 20 with Multiclassing)
A spot of honor among Baldur’s Gate 3 mods has to be reserved for the Level 20 (Multiclass) mod created by Malcroix. Whereas Dungeons and Dragons notoriously has a level cap of 20, Baldur’s Gate 3 only goes up to level 12. With this mod, you can overcome that, though you’ll need to take advantage of the game’s built-in multiclassing feature as no single class can be higher than 12 right now. Additionally, you need to take level 12 as your very last because after that, the game won’t let you level up any longer. So, if you’re aiming to create a Level 12 Fighter/8 Barbarian, take up to 11 levels in the Fighter class, then take all the 8 levels in the Barbarian class, and only then level to 12 as a Fighter.
The mod offers three variants, though one is for testing only. Of the two meant for actual gameplay, one merely unlocks the level cap but doesn’t provide any XP boost, so you may obtain a level or two more than 12 if you really do everything. The second variant halves the required XP for level up, therefore enabling players to potentially reach level 20 if they squeeze every experience point out of Baldur’s Gate 3. To install the mod, download it and extract its contents into the folder Baldur’s Gate 3/Data.
Adding Spells and Feats
One of the drawbacks compared to D&D5e is that many spells and feats are missing. The following Baldur’s Gate 3 mods take care of that, adding expanded gameplay options for users.
The 5e Spells mod created by Celes and uploaded by DiZ91891 adds an enormous amount of spells sourced from various official D&D5e books like Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and others. This massive mod adds signature D&D spells like Finger of Death to Baldur’s Gate 3, going up to level 9th incantations like Invulnerability, Time Stop, and True Resurrection. In contrast, the basic game only goes up to level 6th spells. The mod also tweaks a lot of existing spells to have durations more similar to the Player’s Handbook, though there is an optional file that can be downloaded to keep those as Larian redesigned them.
To install this Baldur’s Gate 3 mod, you’ll need to first grab the BG3 Mod Manager and then load the mod through that program, setting it active and saving the load order before attempting to launch the game.
Similarly, the Feat Extra mod adds a few missing Feats to Baldur’s Gate 3: Eldritch Adept, Elven Accuracy, Infernal Constitution, Dwarven Fortitude, Squat Nimbleness, Everybody’s Friend, Poisoner, and Skulker. They’re not that many, but they can be handy in certain character builds, especially if you get to high levels with the above mod and don’t know where to spend a feat point. You should install this one with the BG3 Mod Manager, too.
A new entry among Baldur’s Gate 3 mods is Animate Dead ++. Uploaded today by Sailor Cat, it aims to make life easier for would-be necromancers by, for instance, removing the requirement of nearby corpses and overcoming the default limitation of minions, which means you’ll be able to raise as many undeads as you have spell slots. Again, use BG3 Mod Manager for installation.
Tweak the Ruleset
As mentioned above, Larian made some fairly significant changes to D&D5e in this game. The Fix Bad DM mod created by Eric and uploaded by plunkett1 attempts to restore some of the original behavior, making the game fairer too. Actions like shoving and jumping have been made full actions instead of bonus actions as they were simply overpowered in the current state, and dipping weapons into a surface to get the related bonus effects (such as fire) is changed to work only for wooden weapons, light clubs, and darts. It’s not all nerfs anyway, as the mod also allows characters to immediately regain both action and reactions upon recovering from the downed state, whereas the default game only enables the usage of bonus action. Use BG3 Mod Manager for installation.
The Mage Hand improved mod by Delfigalo1368 can be very useful, too. Mage Hand is great for interacting with the environments during certain puzzles, but Baldur’s Gate 3 limits its usage to two casts per short rest. This mod lets you cast the spell at will. Use BG3 Mod Manager for installation.
Ritual casting is also fairly limited in the vanilla game, as there’s only a feat that lets casters pick two spells to cast without having to prepare them beforehand. The Ritual Casting for Wizards mod created by Blood and uploaded by pchiller12345 restores the D&D5e mechanics for the following spells:
- Disguise Self
- Speak With Animals
- Feather Fall
- Find Familiar
- Enhance Leap
- Longstrider
- Detect Thoughts
- Speak With Dead
Install with BG3 Mod Manager.
Quality of Life
It wouldn’t be a proper guide without some quality-of-life mods listed. First and foremost, the Bigger Fonts mod created by Cezarrr and uploaded by Rim153153 makes everything more visible, which is especially helpful if you’re playing on a large screen from some distance. This mod doesn’t need BG3 Mod Manager, so you can just drop its contents in the Baldur’s Gate 3Mods folder.
Secondly, the Carry Weight Tweaks mod made by Avalonica reduces the time you’ll spend managing the inventory by greatly increasing the carry capabilities of your characters. Install with the BG3 Mod Manager.
Visuals
You’ll find several ReShade presets in the Visuals category on Nexus Mods, but none stand out right now as major improvements. We’ll instead focus on the following two Baldur’s Gate 3 mods: No More Dirt and Blood and No Fog No Outline Better Colors.
The first one is self-explanatory. Larian added dirt and blood accumulation after fights as a means of increasing realism, but not everyone is into watching their characters dirty and bloodied during dialogues. No More Dirt and Blood by Margerard fixes that, coming in two options which make dirt and blood either stop accumulating or downright invisible. To install, drop its contents in Baldurs Gate 3Data.
The second mod created by DisablePP and uploaded by Poponos aims to remove the fog and its outline while also improving colors. This one needs to be extracted to the same folder that contains the game’s .exe file.
Cosmetics
There are several Baldur’s Gate 3 mods that add new character customization options to the game. In this list, we’ll highlight two. Customizer’s Compendium by AlanaSP unlocks NPC options in the character creation tool, while Faces of Faerun by Aloija adds a few additional head options. Both are to be installed with BG3 Mod Manager.
That’s enough for today, but with the game thriving, the modding community is sure to deliver even more exciting ways to expand the gameplay experience. Stay tuned for new additions!
