These are the guides you should actually start with, to ensure that you get the best experience when playing Baldur's Gate 3 for the first time. Exploration, including exploring and learning the game mechanics, is part of the fun. Avoid spoilers as good as you can and allow yourself to immerse in a unique one-in-a-life-time-adventure. Only by sticking to your decisions and avoiding to reload due to "what if" cravings the story has a chance to develope into something very special with all its ups and downs.

https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3107682627
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3122428771
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https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3015444196
By the end of the day it is entirely up to you how you want and are going to play the game.
Just keep in mind that there is no turning back, no reload to wipe your memory, once you have discovered the spoilers.

Let us be plain on the matter: you are here because you feel lost.

You either feel overwhelmed by everything Baldur's Gate 3 has to offer, that you start having second thoughts whether you can enjoy the game like this. Maybe it has gotten so bad that you rather want to learn how to do your taxes instead of playing.

Or you are hopelessly paralysed by the manifold selection of choices for your character, unsure how to go on without continously looking back with regrets.

Consider this guide sort of a "Starter Kit" for both those cases.

What you will find are recommendations for class builds which help you through the game and some extra veteran tips to get past Act 1. I will not go beyond Act 1 in my explainations. If you feel this is not enough, and you have no joy in exploring the game by yourself, then this game is not for you. Simple as that. All I am offering to you are orientation points to get started.

I mean, I have offered you plenty already with the guides mentioned above. This is more about you taking a recommended class, me showing you a recommended path, me recommending to you how to skill your companions.

The rest of the adventure is still on you.

First thing first: you are not here because you select Tactician difficulty or Honour Mode. Those difficulty selections are not meant for beginners for good reasons. Even if you are a brilliant mind, a world genius, the best of the best, those difficulty selections can be quite unfair.

You are here because you wonder how much you will miss out if you select Explorer difficulty, and whether you need to feel bad if you chose it and still struggle with the game.

The good news is: the differences between Balanced and Explorer difficulty are fairly little.

• Enemies have 30% less maximum health
  
• Party members have 100% more health
  
• You get a 20% discount from merchants

Gameplaywise that means the game is more forgiving, but still can be a challenge, depending on how you play and how you build your and your companion characters.

It is a wise decision to start the game in Explorer mode to avoid frustrating moments early on.
It is also a good decision to start in Balanced mode and then turn the difficulty down if needed.
You could even adjust more by using the Custom difficulty.

There is no harm in changing the difficulty mid-game if you desire.

I recommend starting with Explorer until you feel you have gotten a good grasp of the game.

By the end of Act 1 you can then start considering starting a new playthrough at a higher difficulty. That way you can enjoy alternative decisions without getting too far ahead with your initial savegame and then from Act 2 on switch between the savegames to enjoy more of the game altogether. You are not limited to just one character as you can start as many campaigns/characters as you want with as many savegames as you want. Well, except when you play Honour Mode where you just have one savegame. But that is a different story.

STR: 17
DEX: 8
CON: 15
INT: 8
WIS: 8
CHA: 16

STR: 8
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 8
CHA: 17

Starting as a Fighter and then multiclassing into Sorcerer gives you heavy armour and weapons proficiency. That means you become much less vulnerable when being able to cast magic while wearing heavy armour.

Remember when multiclassing in Explorer difficulty to use the workaround
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3015444196
STR: 8
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 8
CHA: 17

Starting as a Fighter and then multiclassing into Bard gives you heavy armour and weapons proficiency. That means you become much less vulnerable while still enjoying the benefits of a powerhourse. Whether in magic, melee with Finesse weapons or ranged attacks.

Remember when multiclassing in Explorer difficulty to use the workaround
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3015444196
All the mentioned class builds above have in common that their spellcasting ability score is Charisma. That means in addition to a strong class to play they also give an advantage when you are talking to all the non player characters (NPCs).

While it might feel weird at first to see things like

INT: 8 / WIS: 8 = does it mean I play a dumb character...?

you do not have to worry about that. It only affects gameplay mechanics and the ability scores distribution as suggested above is to keep things as simple as possible. Alternatively you can of course take the suggested default ability scores when picking the class of your choice.

These suggestions are to get a very easy start with the game. You can respec later on in the game once fate makes you meet with Withers, a mysterious ally on your journey.

In character creation you can select as possible origin character The Dark Urge.
That is a player exclusive origin character to play, and you can customise their appearance as you would with a custom non-origin character. Allowing you to enjoy the backstory of The Dark Urge with the character looks of your desire.



The Dark Urge is a beginner friendly origin pick. That means you get to enjoy not only the story as it is supposed to be, but also with the version which comes closest to a Baldur's Gate canon one.

You start with amnesia and will be haunted by Dark Urges, which you either embrace or resist. It is utmost interesting and adds a sort of heaviness to the story - but not to the gameplay itself.

If you allow the story to unfold naturally it can be by far the best character background story since a legendary BioWare Star Wars game. You might just want to prepare your nerves for the twists and challenges ahead.

Roleplay-wise it naturally matters whether you play your own creation with a background story of your choice in form of head-canon. But playing The Dark Urge at least once is something no one should miss out on. Whether as your first pick or for another future playthrough.

Remember: The Dark Urge character looks and class are fully customisable. The Sorcerer Dragonborn looks awesome and sure fits the story greatly with the mysterious source of their power. But if you want to play ~ let us say ~ as a Halfling who is haunted by dark urges to go on an unexpected journey... well, you can!

With the exception of The Dark Urge I cannot recommend taking any origin character for your first playthrough. That has something to do with how the story of the game unfolds, as the companion characters who are also origin characters have their stories designed around the player character.

Only The Dark Urge will not make an appearance as extra character if not taken as origin player character. They would meet a much simpler fate instead.

When picking an origin character keep in mind that their designated fate cannot be changed. And only The Dark Urge can be customised.



Very cool: if you click on Play Introduction, every character have an impressive sequence.

For the cheap price of 100 Gold each time, you can respec your character and your companions as often as you want. That means your class build setup is not fixed and there is nothing to worry about misclicks or testing things out.

Got bored of being a melee fighter? Try being a mage and vice versa.
Need a rogue to disarm traps? The mage companion does not have to be a mage.
Found an interesting equipment you want to use, but your build needs adjustments?
Withers got you covered with all of that.

When playing Paladin your character follows an oath. Whether it is the oath to banish evil, protect the innocent and weak or to take vengeance and punish the wicked - that oath is essential to the very being of a Paladin. Should you break that oath either by accident or by choice during your journey, you will become an Oathbreaker Paladin with a different set of abilities, matching your path of an abandoned oath.

To respec an oathbreaker character one has to pay an additional price of 1000 Gold as penalty, in which the oath gets restored before that character can change their class once more. A special Oathbreaker Knight will join your camp party once a party member has broken their oath.

Not happy with the details of your character's look?
At every camp you can find a Magic Mirror which allows you to make a few adjustments. More major character traits, such as Body Type and character background cannot be changed. But a typo in your character's name, a beard trim, a new haircut and much more can be easily done with the Magic Mirror.

You like more than just one hairstyle? Change it midgame. No problem!
Mirror, mirror on the wall, make me the fairest one of all ~

If you have rescued her from the pod on the Nautiloid, Shadowheart can be found near you after the crash. Otherwise you can find her either at the door to the Dank Crypt, at the Emerald Grove or when you are approaching a certain milestone point.

STR: 8
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 17
CHA: 8

Having a potent healer in your party can be a big boon for a beginner. The high dexterity turns her character more into a ranged weapon user with the benefit of high initiative, which means she gets an early start during combat, allowing her to prepare buffs and to heal any incoming damage to the party in time.




Astarion can be found when you follow the path within the crashed Nautiloid to the left hand side.

STR: 10
DEX: 17
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 14
CHA: 8

Take the Two-Weapon Fighting style from the first level of Fighter and continue leveling up the Rogue as Thief. It might look boring at first when compared to Arcane Trickster or the Assassin. But it is no less powerful in the long run and gives great flexibility thanks to the additional Bonus Action granted from the Thief subclass. Pair double Finesse melee weapons and double hand crossbows with the Fighting style and sneak attack whenever possible gives you as result not only a great scout and lockpicker but also a great damage dealer.





Gale can be found stuck at the Waypoint portal near the ship. Lend him a helping, if you like.

Should you recruit Gale, you must not leave him dead for too long under any circumstances.

STR: 8
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 17
WIS: 8
CHA: 8

Take as Fighter the Defence Fighting style for an additional +1 to armour class in addition to the fact that an armoured mage is a much less squishy than a mage who can only wear robes.

Whenever you find scrolls with Wizards spells on them, you can have Gale learn the spells for a small fee. That way a Wizard can have access to the largest selection of spells for any classes in the game and even use some very unique spells exclusively available as scrolls more often than just once.

A Wizard never uses a weapon, in general. While spell slots are limited, Cantrips can be used unlimited. A good Wizard makes sure that they have access to a variety of Cantrips to attack enemies close and far. The recommended build allows Gale to use ranged weapons very well, which will come handy whenever spell casting is not possible e.g. due to Silence condition.




Lae'zel got trapped by two hunters who are wary seeing a Githyanki - for good reasons.
Unless you can convince them to leave her to you, you will need to fight them before you can free her by destroying the trap's floor.

If you are playing a Paladin or have a Paladin in your party, make sure to toggle the passive for non-lethal attacks. Now when you beat the hunters with melee weapons they will not die. Otherwise killing them might lead you to breaking your oath for having killed innocents.





You can tell the non-lethal attacks are activated by the condition symbol next to your characters protraits.

STR: 17
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 8
CHA: 8

There is nothing to improve the solid and strong Battle Master subclass of the Fighter.
Precision Attack from the combat manoeuvres pairs well with the Feat Great Weapon Master. With Alert and Savage Attacker Feats there is hardly anything which can withstand the power of the Githyanki warrior.




Wyll can be recruited at the Emerald Grove. You find him in the training area.

(The Fiend is fixed due to the story)

STR: 8
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 8
CHA: 17

What is important here is to understand how the Pact of the Blade Warlock works, in comparison to the other classes. First you have the Pact of the Blade. That allows you to turn any melee weapon into a Pact weapon. What makes it so great is the fact that Pact weapons use the spellcasting modifier if it is higher than the standard attacking modifier.

That means: a melee weapon which normally uses Strength or Dexterity (Finesse weapon) for its attack rolls will use the high Charisma ability score instead. For that reason Wyll does not need many points in Strength, allowing him to focus on Charisma which also empowers his spells.

Make sure to pick Agonising Blast at level 2 as Eldritch Invocations. That gives the Warlock's Eldritch Blast Cantrip an additional fixed damage based on the high Charisma.

The Warlock's spell slots refreshes upon Short Rests. They might not be able to cast that many Fireballs in an encounter. But they can do longer without the need for a Long Rest.




Karlach can be found at the riverbed to the north of the Blighted Village.
Normally I would not mention her at all, since it is a spoiler. But you are here because you want to know about her, and all the companions you might have otherwise missed.

STR: 17
DEX: 15
CON: 16
INT: 8
WIS: 8
CHA: 8

What is important to understand is that the Barbarian is not weak and squishy because they cannot wear armour or otherwise impede their Rage/Frenzy status. In Rage they have resistance against physical damage aka they take 50% less damage.

It can be a little tough for beginners as you want to lookout for equipment which increase the armour class of the Barbarian without counting as armour. The Feat Ability Score Increase is strongly recommended to push Strength and Dexterity each by 1 to get the additional modifiers for both ability scores. Great Weapon Master and Savage Attacker are once more great Feats of choice to further increase the overall damage output.

The Thief part in this build serves fully as getting the additional Bonus Action as resource, allowing additional usages of the Bonus Action attacks which are unlocked during the Berserker's Frenzy state.

The other possible companion characters are no origin characters and therefore considered more of a bonus. But... I give you one honourable mention due to her being a fan favourite.



She will be in the Shattered Sanctum the first time you meet her. If you decide to side with her she becomes recruitable in Act 2. But you will lose Wyll and Karlach in the process.

If you do not want to side with her ~ well, there is a loophole you can use.
But it is not something I recommend to beginner.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3110543554

Do not worry about the rest.

You will come across every one of them as part of the story. That includes also Minthara.
Whether the story allows you to recruit them or not is part of your personal adventure.
I am already offering you here a starter kit with plenty of indepth information you normally would have to figure out by yourself. We do not want to go too far ahead with things, right?

One of the hardest wall new players hit are when they meet enemies which they are not meant to encounter yet. While they act as "natural barriers" to encourage players to look around elsewhere first, it can still be very frustrating if you are not used to this kind of exploration gameplay.

To ease your burden a little here is a recommendation of things to do in order for an easy going leveling up progress throughout the first act of the game.

1. Pickup Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale and Lae'zel, then move towards the Emerald Grove (1).

2. Explore the Emerald Grove while avoiding the Secluded Clove area (3).
You might come across a few quests here and there, and resolving smaller "talk quests" will gain you experience points. While you are at it, you can pickup Wyll at the training area.

3. Once you are ready to move on, pay the Dank Crypt in the east a visit (2).

4. By now Withers should have joined your party, either due to your level or you coming across him.
Make sure to take Long Rests now and then. No worries about the general usage of camp supplies as you will find them nearly everywhere. If not in form of food then in form of alcohol. There is so much camp supply to be found in the game, you could in theory have a Long Rest after every battle with no issues on the long term.

Use the opportunity to respec your companions to increase their effectiveness.

5. With the respeced companions in your full party you can tackle the encounter awaiting you at the Secluded Clove (3).

6. Move on to explore the Blighted Village (4).

7. Afterwards check on Wyll's companion quest which involves Karlach (5).
Once you have recruited her into your party, go to Withers and have her respec as well to increase her effectiveness. Then continue with Karlach's companion quest which is essential to unlock more of her powers and to keep her in the party.

8. In the Blighted Village (4) you might have found already the Infernal Iron she needs.

9. With Karlach's companion quest resolved you can continue exploring the Sunlit Wetlands (6).

10. Continue with checking upon Waukeen's Rest (7) with Wyll in party, make sure to avoid the area around 10.

11. By now you are strong enough to tackle the search for Halsin at the Goblin Camp. If you side with Minthara, know now that Wyll and Karlach will permanently leave your party and eventually become your enemies on the battlefield.

12. Once the Goblin quest is resolved, one way or another, it is time to explore the Underdark (9). You will not find (9) on the map above, as it is an entirely different map. You can access the Underdark either via the secret entrance in the Shattered Sanctum (8), the mysterious hole below the Blighted Village (4) or via the elevator in the Zhentarim hideout at Waukeen's Rest (7).

13. It matters not in which order or direction you explore the Underdark. Your level is high enough by now.

Fighting the Beholder: focus your attack. The longer the battle lasts the more minions they try to revive. Alternatively you can punch out the minions from their charmed state. They will help you in the battle but might attack you afterwards again.

Arcane Tower: the trick is to get to the base of the tower. Use Featherfall spell/potions. From there on it will become clear how to proceed.

Rescuing Baelen: if you have a scroll of Misty Step in your inventory, it is done. If not: the trick is to extinguish the torch before everything blows up. You cannot only save Baelen but also gather the quest item Noblestalk.

Mourning Frost: Combine the parts you can get from the petrified drow leader, from the Myconid treasury and from the crazy drow near the Sussur tree to gain a powerful ice magic stave. It might be the first time you notice that some items are special despite they do not look special. Did you notice how you could craft a magic spear with an items from the dead dwarf and from the owlbear cave?



14. Once you reached the Sharran temple in the Underdark, should you decide to fight Nere, it will be much easier if you take out the Duergar first.

Fighting the automaton Grym: Use bludgeoning weapons such as hammers after removing their resistances by bathing them in lava.

15. Once you have fully explored the Underdark take Lae'zel to the point of interest 10.

16. Continue your journey through the mountain pass. There you will find a temple of Lathander which not only hides a Githyanki creche but also holds a hidden treasure. The most powerful melee weapon you can find against shadows and undead. An advantage you do not want to miss out for act 2.

And that concludes our "Starter Kit".

With you passed Act 1 of the game you are ready to tackle the rest of the game on your own.

By now you should have gotten a good grasp of the game's basics.
You might want to start even applying more advanced multiclassing options, or start a new playthrough. And if you still worry if your party might be too squishy, there are many more and more cunning ways to deal with enemies.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3124459563
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3102875934
If you are excited to start anew, I recommend strongly to do it before finishing your latest playthrough. That way you can avoid major spoilers and keep the game fresh and then finish both playthroughs one after another. For example what I did

First playthrough - play until beginning of Act 2

Starting the 2nd playthrough - play until the beginning of Act 2

Continuing the first playthrough until the beginning of Act 3

Switching back to the 2nd playthrough - play until the beginning of Act 3

The benefits of that method are you avoiding story spoilers and fatigue. It becomes harder to replay everything from scratch when you reached the ending. Also, the excitement of "what if" and testing different routes is strongest before seeing the ending.

Regardless how you do it: most important is you having fun!

Because the impact is so great to know about these two, that you should not miss it.



In Act 2, when you come across the Drider, one way or another, try to get your hands on their Moonlantern before they use it as weapon. And once you got your hands on it, make sure not to use it as a weapon. The lantern holds a possible ally who has the power to make travelling through the shadow cursed lands much more easier. Provided you help and befriend that ally.

The buff they give can be even reapplied as often as you wish by using their item, should you wish to travel forth and back between Act 1 and Act 2 area as long as it remains possible.



Animal Speaking is a great spell, which unlocks countless dialogues within the game. The amount of content is not only enormous but also highly enjoyable. You do not need necessarily the spell to enjoy it. Many traders sell the potion of Animal Speaking as well, which lasts until a long rest. One potion a day and you get to talk to animals who have a lot to tell. Often flavourful, sometimes incredibly funny and many times even helpful with several side quests.