Like a wise old mentor from an evocative 1980s movie montage, we brim with pride as we witness the impressive array of mods you have been crafting and utilizing since we released our official mod tools in September. In just under three months, you have shared over 3,000 mods, recorded downloads exceeding 70 million, and even devised a spell to transform your adversaries into cheese.
For anyone curious about getting started with mods, visit Larian: Channel From Hell, where Aoife provides insightful breakdowns and a few choice recommendations. While we will soon conclude our feature-heavy updates for Baldur’s Gate 3, our mod tools will continue to evolve. We plan significant updates ahead, including enhancements that will offer you more opportunities to narrate your own tales.
Before we bid farewell to Faerûn in pursuit of new adventures, we have one final major patch coming soon. Arriving next year, this update will roll out some of the most eagerly anticipated features for BG3: cross-play, photo mode, and 12 new subclasses.
Let’s explore what Patch 8 has in store!
Imagine joining PS5 players from your PC or teaming up with Mac users from your Xbox. Soon, Baldur’s Gate 3’s multiplayer will offer seamless cross-platform progression, complete with cross-play – just as the architects of gaming envisioned.
When the update is active, you can directly invite friends to join your cross-play lobby, regardless of their platform, and discover multiplayer lobbies with friends on different systems via the Larian Network.
Also, Baldur’s Gate 3 is currently available at a 20% discount on Steam, GOG, and PlayStation!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1086940/Baldurs_Gate_3/
Patch 8 will offer a fresh approach to playing your cherished class by introducing a new subclass for each existing Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard class in the game.
Expect fresh abilities, animations, VFX, summons, and cantrips, along with distinct voiced dialogues for the Oathbreaker Knight with specialized reactions for Oathbreakers, plus a bit of homebrewing to enhance your role-playing experience.
As a Bard of the College of Glamour, you wield powers that allow you to heal allies and command foes alike. Use the Mantle of Inspiration to grant your comrades 5 temporary hit points. If an enemy strikes while it’s active, they’ll find themselves Charmed. Master this strategy and you’ll exploit it brilliantly with Mantle of Majesty. Target charmed enemies to compel them to run, approach, freeze, lie down, or drop their weapons.
Choosing the Path of Giants, you gain formidable giant strength enabling you to toss both friends and foes effortlessly. Forget downing potions to enhance your muscles; these Barbarians benefit from the Giant’s Rage passive, augmenting both strength and size – allowing additional damage with Throw attacks. Is your inventory overloaded? Not with your enhanced carry capacity!
As a cleric with a death domain, you’ll discover some dark new abilities – from spells focusing on necrotic damage to three new necromancy cantrips. Among them is Toll The Dead, a cantrip that causes 1~8 damage when your cleric tolls a bell of doom – increasing in potency if the target is already wounded. Our homebrewed ability also lets you detonate nearby corpses, harming adversaries.
These Druids seek celestial insights, drawing upon powers beyond conventional wildshapes. Embrace one of three Starry Forms – Archer, Chalice, or Dragon. Each favors a distinct playstyle: the Archer inflicts radiant damage with astral arrows, the life-giving Chalice heals you and nearby allies, while the wise Dragon causes damage with an added boost to constitution rolls. Starry Forms are not just visually celestial but offer practical, powerful options to enhance your role as a healer, fighter, or strategist.
Dedicated to upholding the principles of law, you’re empowered to support allies and disrupt foes. Guide companions on the battlefield with Righteous Clarity, provoke enemies with strategic interruptions, and sustain your party with Divine Allegiance, absorbing damage while restoring health.
Fusing magic with marksmanship, the Arcane Archer subclass offers distinct skills and new shooting animations. Send foes to the Feywild, removing them temporarily from battle, or employ Psychic damage that compels enemies to succeed a Wisdom saving throw or be blinded until their next turn.
Putting the brew into homebrew, as the Drunken Master, you can drink alcohol directly from your inventory, or any bottle along the Sword Coast, to replenish Ki. Share a bottle with foes using Intoxicating Strike, boosting your Armour Class and hit chance on inebriated targets. Drunk enemies also fall prey to Drunken Masters’ abilities like Sobering Realisation – sobering targets and inflicting physical and Psychic damage.
The Swarmkeeper subclass equips Rangers with three lethal swarms to aid them in combat. The Cloud of Jellyfish deals additional lightning damage, possibly shocking your opponent. The Flurry of Moths inflicts Psychic damage with potential to Blind the enemy. The Legion of Bees causes piercing damage, forcing enemies to make a strength-saving throw or be pushed back 15ft. Each swarm also offers teleportation abilities!
This Rogue subclass introduces myriad new actions suitable for a piratical life. Fight dirty by tossing sand to Blind foes, flick your weapon to Disarm, or use the new Fancy Footwork passive while engaging an enemy to prevent opportunity attacks against you for the rest of your turn.
A Shadow Magic Sorcerer thrives in darkness. This subclass grants Superior Darkvision, and the ability to Shadow Walk between dimly lit areas. It also summons a tailored Hound of Ill Omen to harass foes and uses Strength of the Grave to avoid being downed – perfect for Honour Mode endeavors.
Hexblade Warlocks form pacts with Shadowfell entities, manifesting as magical weapons. Curse your enemies and bend their souls to your will. Defeat any non-elemental, non-construct, non-giant blob or undead enemy to raise their spirit, dealing necrotic damage and healing your Hexblade Warlock.
The Bladesinging subclass combines swordplay with wizardry. Anticipate new spellcasting animations, a Bladesong ability granting supernatural speed, agility, and focus, plus a bonus to Constitution saving throws.
Forget using fish pictures on your dating profile; start capturing moments with your Hound of Ill Omen. Photo Mode arrives in Baldur’s Gate 3 with Patch 8!
The Photo Mode acts like a photo booth, letting you set up almost any shot imaginable. This feature provides a variety of options to customize and edit your in-game photos, with different levels of freedom during adventuring, combat, dialogues, and cinematic scenes.
Accessible from the HUD near the minimap or using hotkey bindings (F9 on PC, simultaneous analog stick press on console), you can select your central character, showcasing their best angles, and adjust camera positions as needed.
If they’re in your party, you can meticulously set up your scene – including summons and those in a Wild Shape! Virtual photography enthusiasts can enable the camera reticle and composition grid for perfect shots.
Sorted your angles and positioning? Explore Lens Settings where adjustments to the Field of View, Exposure, Depth of Field, and Focus become possible.
Is an NPC disrupting your shot? Toggle off Playing, Party, NPC, or Enemy characters.
Prepare for your close-up! Or, invoke creativity by setting a full Faerûn musical scene – select a facial expression and explore over 40 static and animated poses, featuring multiple variations for the perfect layout.
Internal playtesting for Patch 8 is advancing swiftly, and we wish to showcase some of the remarkable shots captured by our playtesters in photo mode and their editing choices!
While cinematic scenes and dialogues prevent adjustments to parties, lenses, and camera settings, you can still color-grade shots, experimenting with contrast, saturation, highlights, brightness, and vignette.
Morphic Pool by Celia Medvescig, Playtester
Add elegance to your scene with diverse frames and letterboxing to achieve cinematic shots.
Crèche by Michael Simard, Playtester
Select from over 300 stickers and add up to 30 to your scene, including emojis, icons, blood splatters, textures, objects, items, and of course, cat ears.
Soon in your hands, you’ll elevate role-play with unique combinations of poses, stickers, and frames. We eagerly anticipate witnessing the creative nightmares you conjure.
A romantic scene between custom characters by Helena Van de Veire, Playtester
Thanks to your feedback, our last patch introduced significant enhancements with minimal post-update hotfixes – a success in our view, and we aim to replicate that for Patch 8. Let’s discuss stress testing!
You’re invited to join us for a stress-testing period, exploring the new subclasses, capturing Tav’s best angles in photo mode, and playing cross-platform with friends. This stress test will also be open to Xbox and PlayStation users, alongside PC!
Our goal is to extend beyond internal testing, to preemptively address issues before the patch is released.
In addition to new features in Patch 8, we’ll incorporate extensive bug fixes and refine cinematics, ensuring Shadowheart’s hair dye remains intact underwater during a romantic encounter. We’ll share further fixes in a future update!
We plan to commence testing in early January, with opportunities to register your interest beforehand. We’ll provide details and participation guidelines with Community Update #31!
Hang tight, we’ll be in touch soon.
We are sincerely honored by every award nomination for Baldur’s Gate 3, especially our latest nomination for Best Community Support at The Game Awards 2024, which deeply moves us.
Your sometimes audacious fanart, ambitious fanfiction, and delightful mods fuel our enthusiasm, and we eagerly anticipate the passion you’ll bring to our future games.
If you wish to support us, you can vote for Baldur’s Gate 3 as Best Community Support until December 11 by clicking here. Watch the awards live on December 12 at 7:30pm EST on The Game Awards YouTube and Twitch channels.
As December approaches, we’re bringing back a seasonal advent surprise, featuring delightful treats for both the naughty and nice.
Look out later in December for puzzles that will reward you with cherished memories!
