Much like a wise sage from a motivational 1980s movie sequence, we are brimming with pride as we witness the incredible mods you’ve been designing and utilizing since the release of our official modding tools in September. In under three months, you have shared over 3,000 mods, accumulated over 70 million downloads, and even concocted a spell to transform your adversaries into cheese.
For those eager to learn the art of modding, visit Larian: Channel From Hell where Aoife will simplify the process and highlight some exceptional recommendations. While we are concluding our feature-packed updates for Baldur’s Gate 3 shortly, our modding tools are far from reaching their finale. With the sustained contributions from the modding community exploring new features, substantial updates are on the horizon, including enhanced functionality to weave your own tales.
Before we bid farewell to Faerûn and venture into uncharted territories, we have one significant patch in the wings. Next year, expect this update to bring some of the most anticipated features to BG3: including cross-play, a photo mode, and 12 new subclasses.
Let’s delve into the exciting elements of Patch 8!
Whether partnering with PS5 players from your PC or joining forces with Mac users from your Xbox, Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer will soon support full cross-platform progression, including cross-play – as true enthusiasts always envisioned.
With the update active, you can invite friends to join your cross-play lobby directly, irrespective of platform and locate available multiplayer lobbies with friends on other systems through the Larian Network.
Patch 8 will unlock a unique way of experiencing your favorite class, introducing new subclasses for each of the existing Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard classes.
Prepare for novel abilities, animations, visual effects, summoning skills, cantrips, and specially voiced dialogues for the Oathbreaker Knight, complete with reactions tailored for Oathbreakers, plus a hint of custom homebrew mechanics to elevate your role-playing escapades.
As a Bard from the College of Glamour, you possess the ability to mend allies and manipulate foes equally. Use Mantle of Inspiration to grant your comrades 5 temporary hit points. If an enemy makes a move while it is in effect, they will become Charmed. Play your cards well, and you can leverage this with Mantle of Majesty, commanding Charmed enemies to flee, approach, become immobilized, collapse, or drop their weapons.
Choose the Path of Giants and unlock immense power, allowing you to hurl friend and foe alike with ease. Say goodbye to relying on potions to build strength! These Barbarians benefit from Giant’s Rage, a passive ability granting both strength and size enhancements, which boosts your Throw attacks. Burdened by an overstuffed inventory? Not you, thanks to your expanded carrying capacity!
As a Cleric devoted to death, you’ll unveil some sinister new tricks – including necromantic spells specializing in inflicting damage and three fresh necromancy cantrips. This includes Toll The Dead, a cantrip dealing 1~8 damage when your Cleric rings the ominous bell – scaling if the target is already injured. Additionally, we have introduced a homebrew ability to detonate nearby corpses, damaging adversaries.
The Druids of the Circle of Stars draw wisdom from the celestial, gaining access to powers beyond those of typical wild shapes. Manifest into one of three Starry Forms – embodying the Archer, Chalice, or Dragon constellation. Each form complements a different gameplay strategy: the Archer delivers radiant damage through astral arrows, the life-restoring Chalice replenishes hit points for you and those nearby, while the sagacious Dragon enables damage dealing with a bonus to constitution rolls. The Starry Forms not only provide a celestial aesthetic but also practical, potent options to elevate your role as healer, combatant, or strategist.
Sworn to uphold the tenets of justice, Paladins adhering to the Oath of the Crown are bestowed with abilities to bolster allies and disrupt opponents. Lead your band of adventurers with Righteous Clarity, provoke enemies with strategic interruptions, and safeguard your party with Divine Allegiance, absorbing damage while restoring health.
Balancing sorcery and precision archery, the Arcane Archer subclass introduces distinctive skills along with new archery animations. Send adversaries to the Feywild, temporarily removing them from battle, or unleash Psychic damage compelling enemies to succeed at a Wisdom saving throw or face blindness until their next turn.
Bringing the homebrew into play, Drunken Masters can consume alcohol directly from their inventory and imbibe freely along the Sword Coast to rejuvenate Ki. Share your drink with enemies using the Intoxicating Strike to enhance your Armor Class and hitting proficiency against inebriated targets. Enemies in a drunken state are vulnerable to further abilities like Sobering Realisation which not only sobers them up but also inflicts physical and psychic damage.
The Swarmkeeper subclass endows Rangers with three lethal swarms to aid in battle. The Cloud of Jellyfish inflicts extra lightning damage – potentially electrocuting adversaries. The Flurry of Moths introduces Psychic damage and the chance to Blind your foe. Meanwhile, The Legion of Bees administers piercing damage, requiring enemies to make a strength-saving throw or risk being knocked back 15 feet. Each swarm also offers teleportation capabilities!
This Rogue subclass introduces a variety of new tactics suited for seafarers. Employ underhanded tactics like casting sand to Blind opponents or flicking your weapon to Disarm them. Activate your Fancy Footwork passive during melee to guarantee opponents cannot launch opportunity attacks against you for the remainder of your turn.
As a Sorcerer wielding Shadow Magic, you excel when enveloped in shadows. Enjoy Superior Darkvision and the embodiment to Shadow Walk amid dimly lit or darkened spaces. Summon the impeccably homebrewed Hound of Ill Omen to torment foes, and employ Strength of the Grave to avoid defeat – indispensable for those attempting Honour Mode runs.
Hexblade Warlocks forge a pact with a mysterious entity from the Shadowfell, which materializes as enchanted weaponry. Cast a curse upon foes and command their spirits to serve. Vanquish any entity not typically found in nature, constructed, an amorphous blob, or already lifeless, and you could resurrect their spirit for ten turns. This summoned being deals necrotic damage and leeches a portion of the adversary’s soul to heal your Hexblade Warlock.
The Bladesinging subclass marries swordsmanship with spellcasting. Anticipate new spellcasting animations performed with your weapon, alongside a new Bladesong skill that enhances speed, agility, and concentration, plus boosts to any Constitution saving throws you make.
Finally, you can transition from flaunting trophy fish on your dating profile to capturing moments with your Hound of Ill Omen. Photo Mode will debut in Baldur’s Gate 3 with Patch 8!
The Photo Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3 is comparable to a photo booth, allowing for virtually any desired composition. This new feature provides a plethora of customization and editing tools for your in-game photography, offering varying levels of creative freedom, whether during explorations, combat, dialogue, or cinematic sequences.
Easily accessible from the HUD or via hotkeys (F9 on PCs, or pressing both analog sticks on consoles), you select the focal character, choose their optimal angle, and adjust the camera’s position accordingly.
If in your party, everything from summons to Wild Shape forms can be perfectly framed. For budding virtual shutterbugs, enable the camera reticle and composition grid to capture stellar shots.
Once you’ve set the scene, proceed to the Lens Settings to tweak the Field of View, Exposure, Depth of Field, and Focus.
If an NPC disrupts your photo, you can toggle off Party, NPC, or Enemy characters.
Now, you’re ready to shine! For those feeling imaginative, create a scene reminiscent of a Faerûnian musical – choose a facial expression, and sift through over 40 static and animated poses, each offering multiple variations for the perfect arrangement.
Internal testing for Patch 8 is already underway, and we’re thrilled to showcase some awe-inspiring captures by our playtesters using photo mode, and their creative editing choices!
Though lens and camera settings remain unchangeable during certain cinematic segments, you can play with color grading, contrast, saturation, highlights, brightness, and vignette.
Morphic Pool, by Celia Medvescig, Playtester
Add a touch of flair to your scene with various frames and letterboxes for achieving cinematic excellence.
Crèche, by Michael Simard, Playtester
Select from over 300 stickers, adding up to 30 to your scene, including emojis, icons, blood splatter, textures, objects, and of course, cat ears.
Soon in your hands, you will elevate role-play to new heights using unique combinations of poses, stickers, and frames. We eagerly anticipate the creative nightmares you shall conjure.
A romantic moment between custom characters, by Helena Van de Veire, Playtester
With your invaluable feedback and support, our preceding patch ushered in noteworthy adjustments with merely two post-release hotfixes. That’s an accomplishment from our perspective, and we aim to replicate the success for Patch 8. Let’s discuss the stress-testing process!
This go-around, you are invited to participate in stress testing, where you can explore new subclasses, discover Tav’s optimal photography angles, and collaborate with friends across other platforms – yes, the stress test will extend to Xbox, PlayStation, and PC players.
Why stress test Patch 8?
The objective is to transcend our in-house testing, identifying potential issues pre-release.
Besides introducing new features in Patch 8, we’ll incorporate a substantial range of bug fixes and polish cinematics – including resolving Shadowheart’s disappearing hair dye when taking a romantic swim. We’ll reveal more on these fixes in an upcoming update!
We aim to initiate testing early in January, with opportunities for registration prior to that. Processes will differ this time, and we will present Community Update #31 to guide you through what to expect and how to participate!
Don’t wait, we will speak with you soon.
We are tremendously honored by the multiple nominations Baldur’s Gate 3 has earned, particularly our recent nomination for Best Community Support at The Game Awards 2024, which fills us with delight.
Your imaginative fan art, inventive fanfiction, and delightful modding creations have been instrumental, and we eagerly look forward to your continued enthusiasm with our future projects.
If you’d like to support us at this year’s The Game Awards, vote for Baldur’s Gate 3 as Best Community Support before December 11th by clicking here. Tune in live on December 12 at 7:30pm EST on The Game Awards YouTube and Twitch channels.
With December virtually upon us, we’re excited to bring back our festive advent treats, offering delightful surprises for both the naughty and the nice.
Be on the lookout later in December for puzzles that promise rewards you’ll treasure and never forget!