8 Baldur’s Gate roleplay ideas to spice up your BG3 playthrough

There are plenty of ways to find a new direction.

Viconia DeVir in Baldur's Gate 3 during a cutscene at the House of Grief.
Hello darkness, my old friend. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

Baldur’s Gate 3 offers plenty of choices for your approach to the game and the behavior you exhibit, which can make each playthrough different from your last.

Recommended Videos

While race and class choices offer different dialogue options and ways to play, adopting a roleplay strategy from the off results in more noticeable differences and a greater challenge that feels more rewarding.

Of course, coming up with fresh ideas for a playthrough is often the hardest part, so we’re here to help with eight roleplay ideas to spice up your game—following on from our last article that gave five ideas to try.

Non-lethal rules

A Drow Guardian in Baldur's Gate 3 in the Astral Plane.
Killing is banned. Screenshot by Dot Esports

The premise of this roleplaying idea is simple: you cannot kill anyone and, instead, must adopt non-lethal tactics in every situation. Given the amount of battles you will be involved in, this is a tricky challenge that will likely require reloading a hard save.

It’s up to you whether the non-lethal rules apply to your companions, though we recommend you apply them there too, to maximize the challenge.

How far can you get? Is it possible to complete the game without taking a single life? Time to find out.

The worst possible human

Another simple premise is to be the worst person you possibly can, which involves starting as a human, though other races are also an option, and then embracing the life of a true arsehole.

Choose the meanest and harshest options in dialogue, opt for the more evil story choices, and essentially shrug your shoulders at every problem brought to you and say: “Sucks to be you.”

This roleplaying idea works particularly well if you have a retail job that requires you to interact with the general public daily, as you can use Baldur’s Gate 3 to unleash all your frustrations.

Illithid lover

The Emperor in Baldur's Gate 3, a powerful Mindflayer.
Aim for a new form. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Baldur’s Gate 3’s story centers around the tadpole in your brain and getting rid of it. On your journey, the Emperor will persuade you to stick with it and embrace your Illithid powers—and the idea of this roleplay is to do that from the start.

Make it clear in every situation possible that you don’t want to get rid of the tadpole and rather like having a baby Illithid slivering around in your brain. Sure, it won’t be popular with some NPCs you come across, but that’s a problem for them.

Of course, this roleplay will also see you take advantage of any additional tadpoles you encounter through your journey and, as an Illithid lover, the Emperor’s embrace is waiting for you.

Bear necessities

The druid Halsin from Baldur's Gate 3 speaking on a mountainous background
These are the Druids you’re looking for. Image via Larian Studios

Druids are a popular class in Baldur’s Gate 3 and boast extremely powerful powers—but what if you didn’t use them and instead played as a bear throughout?

Essentially, you must transform into a bear on every occasion where you may revert to your initial form, and if you sustain enough damage for the transformation to end, you must treat it as dying and reload a save.

This is particularly challenging as all those wonderful spells and abilities at the disposal of a Druid are essentially worthless, though it does make for a unique challenge. For those who want to be a good boy, do the same but with a wolf.

The goat

Sticking with the animal theme, this roleplaying idea requires you to use the “Was a goat for 10 years” mod.

It’s exactly what it sounds like and adds a custom background to the game based around the fact you’ve spent the past decade as a goat and, for an unknown reason, have since returned to your natural form.

You’ll benefit from perks that fit your history, including Animal Handling, Athletics, plus Surefooted. Naming your character Lionel Messi is optional, but recommended.

The assassin

Like many of our other roleplaying suggestions, the general premise of being an assassin is easy to understand, but it can result in some tricky gameplay if you adopt to dive full-on into the assassin lore.

For this roleplay, select a Rogue and go down the Assassin route, making sure you stick to the main principal that your character cannot be caught and must “dispose” of any enemies silently.

You’ll have companions to help, who don’t need to stick to the same rules, but for your character, stealth is king and being spotted is not allowed—resulting in reloading a save if you are.

Fix Minthara

Minthara chatting to a character in Baldur's Gate 3
Make Minthara great again. Image via Larian Studios

There aren’t many truly, 100 percent evil characters in Baldur’s Gate 3, but Minthara certainly fits that category, and your main challenge here is to “fix” her and make her a valued member of society.

You’re required to make some questionable choices, including betraying the Druids and Tieflings early in the campaign, which will mean you can’t have Wyll, Karlach, and Halsin in your party, while Gale will need persuading to stick around.

Recruiting Minthara is not an easy task and requires following some very specific steps, eventually seeing you save her from Moonrise Towers, and from thereon, your challenge will be to make Minthara behave.

Oathbreaker

Playing as an Oathbreaker requires you to be a Paladin, select a Sacred Oath, and promptly break it. Thankfully, this can be done extremely early in the campaign and, unlike the Minthara route, doesn’t require much work.

Baldur’s Gate 3 will open the Oathbreaker path to you, with new dialogue scenes and a bit of backstory, which provides the benefit of not having to use your imagination constantly and seeing how things flesh out fully on screen.

If you want, you can flip this script entirely and remain focused on being a Paladin who sticks to their Oath throughout.

Author
Image of Josh Challies
Josh Challies
Staff Writer. Professional writer since 2014. Pokemon, Marvel, Star Wars and overall geek. Previously wrote for Yahoo Sport, Stats Perform and online news publications.