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.
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.
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.
The mod currently increases the Health Points of enemies by a varying amount. The user can select the appropriate HP percent increase, download that, and install it via BG3 Mod Manager. Alternatively, there's a Tactician Plus Minus variant that reduces the default Tactician HP increase from 30% to 20%, 10%, or 0%. This can be used if you want to face the improved AI of Tactician mode without the health points increase.
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.
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 SelfSpeak With AnimalsFeather FallFind FamiliarEnhance LeapLongstriderDetect ThoughtsSpeak With DeadInstall with BG3 Mod Manager.
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.
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 3\Data.
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.
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!