There’s So Much to Discover in the World of Baldur’s Gate 3 Modding
There’s So Much to Discover in the World of Baldur’s Gate 3 Modding
Main image courtesy of Hard-drive.net.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a huge game with hundreds of hours of content. You could easily play through it multiple times and still encounter something new each run. But you can take that replayability to the next level by incorporating mods into your next playthrough.
Baldur’s Gate 3 modding, while not as robust as a game like Fallout: New Vegas or even Stardew Valley, can still drastically change the game. New character creation options, new classes, overhauled difficulty, quality of life, bug fixes, and more can breathe new life in what is already seen as a masterpiece by many. But with over 8,000 files on Nexus Mods alone, it can be overwhelming to choose which mods are best for you, especially for first-time modders.
To remedy this issue, we’ve scoured the Nexus and found 30 mods that we think are essential additions for those looking to revitalize their Baldur’s Gate 3 experience. Feel free to download them all, pick and choose ones that catch your eye, or use it as a starting point for a larger mod list.
Mod Fixer is one of the most important mods in any Baldur’s Gate 3 mod list. It recompiles the game to allow pak mods to work. A ton of mods require it to function. Many mods come with a mod fixer built in, but better safe than sorry.
Native Mod Loader is a utility for installing native DLL mods. It’s required for mods like Native Camera Tweaks and WASD movement.
Script extenders are common utility mods across a variety of games. As the name implies, they “extend” the modding capabilities of whatever game they are created for, making them requirements for a long list of mods on the Nexus. Norbyte’s Script Extender is no different.
Compatibility Framework ensures that new class, subclass, and race mods play nicely together when installed at the same time. You’ll definitely want this if you plan to use a lot of such mods.
By default, the only way to move around in Baldur’s Gate 3 is by using the mouse. With WASD Movement, you can simply use WASD, the arrow keys, or any other set of keys to move. This feels much more natural and immersive compared to vanilla.
Native Camera Tweaks lets you see Faerûn from a whole new perspective, literally! It gives you more control over the camera so that you can view your characters and the world from different angles. Perfect for those who love to take screenshots.
The newest mod on this list. Fix Stragglers uses a combination of increased jump height and teleportation to remedy one of the more annoying quirks of Baldur’s Gate 3, that being companions not being able to follow you across certain terrain.
With all the items you pick up throughout a playthrough, your inventory screen is bound to become cluttered and difficult to navigate. Bags Bags Bags fixes this by giving you a number of bags and containers in which to organize your items. Many of these bags feature auto-filtering, so items will automatically be put into the bag instead of the regular inventory.
OIO is a must for repeat playthroughs where you’re looking to progress the story or companion quests in a particular way. It displays a ton of information during dialogue from approval points, to roll DCs, to romance statuses. If you ever wondered whether a skill check was worth it or what choice would most please a particular companion, OIO might be for you.
Many major story beats take place at camp while taking a long rest. But there’s really no way to know when you have an event waiting for you at camp that night, and you can even miss events depending on how you progress the story. Camp Event Notifications solves this problem by putting an exclamation point over your Tav’s head whenever there is a camp event available.
ImprovedUI easily could have fit under Utilities with how many mods require it to function. It simply changes the vanilla UI to make it more accessible and give modders a better base on which to incorporate mods around class, race, character creation, and more.
We’re cheating here and recommending a whole gaggle of mods by the extraordinary Pavelk. His Better UI mods make improvements to essentially every part of the Baldur’s Gate 3 user interface, from the map, to tooltips, the inventory screen, and even small widgets. Once you try one of their mods, you’ll want the whole series on your list.
Even with the hundreds of spells implemented in Baldur’s Gate 3, there's still hundreds more from D&D 5th edition that didn’t make the cut. Thankfully, 5e Spells adds in dozens of spells that tabletop players know and love. An essential mod if spellcasting is your preferred way to play.
At higher levels of play, D&D 5e can get a little wild. That’s why Larian decided to cap players at level 12 in Baldur’s Gate 3. But if you still want to experience what it’s like to play a level 20 wizard, UnlockLevelCurve has you covered. It increases the level cap from 12 up to 20 and incorporates a good amount of 5e class features to go along with it.
Pretty self-explanatory. Party Limit Begone removes the limit on the numbers of characters you can have in your party. You can get all that juicy party banter and finally face your enemies with all your companions at your side. This can be wildly overpowered without difficulty mods though. Speaking of…
Tactician Plus cranks Tactician mode (or Honour Mode) up to 11 by providing options for mild to massive health and stat boosts to enemies. Whether you're a Baldur’s Gate 3 master who’s trivialized the game or just someone looking to have fun with Party Limit Begone and other overpowered mods, Tactician Plus is sure to give you a challenge.
Another, more robust difficulty mod. In addition to increasing enemy health and stats, Combat Extender can also enhance enemy abilities, spells, and buffs, all handled dynamically based on certain enemy archetypes. It also has an AI add-on that makes enemies smarter in combat. Combat Extended alongside Tactician Plus for a truly punishing experience.
Similar to 5e Spells, Feats Extra adds in a number of feats from D&D 5e that didn’t make it to full release. This can add a ton of build diversity to your playthrough.
Additional Fighting Styles adds 10 D&D 5e fighting styles to Baldur’s Gate 3. You’ll want this if you’re looking for new ways to play the various martial classes available.
Compared to its 5e version, the War Caster feat in Baldur’s Gate 3 leaves a lot to be desired. It only allows you to cast Shocking Grasp in place of an opportunity attack. War Caster (2014 and UA2) adds the full 5e functionality of War Caster to Baldur’s Gate 3, allowing you to use a much longer list of spells in place of an opportunity attack. Frontline spellcasters will really get a kick out of this mod.
KiderionLykon’s Artificer is the most popular class mod on the Nexus, and for good reason. It adds the Artificer class and all its subclasses from 5e to the game (with full level 20 progression if you use UnlockLevelCurve). It perfectly captures the “magic mechanic” role that Artificers fill. If you’re looking for something totally different from the 12 vanilla classes, I’d give Artificer a try.
Another of KiderionLykon’s class mods. Drakewarden is a Ranger subclass that lets you have a little drake (wingless dragon) companion and gives you certain drake themed abilities. Pair this with the various dragon themed races and classes in BG3 to live out your fire-breathing fantasies.
Unlike the other class mods on this list, Dread Overlord is an original subclass concept, not pulled from existing D&D 5e content. It turns your Warlock into a necromancer that is empowered by the souls of the dead and can summon powerful undead to their aid. A great choice for a truly evil character.
Rogues Extra adds in a collection of six Rogue subclasses from D&D 5e to Baldur’s Gate 3. It also adds level progression up to 20 for the three vanilla Rogue subclasses. If you like sneaking and skulking, this is the mod for you.
There have been a ton of different playable races added to D&D 5e over the years, but only 11 made it into Baldur’s Gate 3. Fantastical Multiverse remedies this by adding in over 30 races from the various D&D 5e sourcebooks. If there’s a certain exotic race you’ve been wanting to play as in Baldur’s Gate 3, it can likely be found in Fantastical Multiverse.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s character creator is already pretty robust, but modders have added even more options for crafting your perfect character. New Character Creation Presets WIP is one such mod, adding new face presets to the character creator. These are a great starting point to sculpt a Tav to your exact specifications.
Treat yourself with a trip to Tav’s Hair Salon, a collection of new hair styles that you can apply at character creation (or the magic mirror). Straight, curly, short, long, Tav’s Hair Salon gives you all the options you could desire.
A major pain point of dyeing your clothes and armor in Baldur’s Gate 3 is that dyes are single-use with no option to preview what your equipment will look like with the dye applied. Everybody Dyes does away with this hassle by simply removing the single-use restriction on dyes. This will save you a lot of time and gold as you find the perfect color scheme for your party.
Extra Dyes for the Fashionable Folk of Faerun adds 42 new dyes to the game, giving you a ton of colorful options to choose from. With such color schemes as pitch black, pure white, and a lovely lavender, Extra Dyes is sure to have something that strikes your fancy. And don’t worry, each of its dyes are unlimited use items.
Fashion or stats? This age-old dilemma has plagued the lives of RPG players for time immemorial, and Baldur’s Gate 3 is no exception. Thankfully, Transmog Enhanced has delivered us from that sorry fate, allowing you to change the appearance of most armor and weapons in the game. Turn that ugly high level armor into a luxurious ball gown or doublet.
This list of 30 mods only scratches the surface of what the Baldur’s Gate 3 modding scene is capable of. Take a look for yourself and let us know down in the comments what some of your favorite mods on the Nexus are.
