If you’re looking to plan ahead for which Baldur’s Gate 3 races you’ll be picking on launch day, you’ve come to the right place.
The game offers plenty of races and classes to choose from, and in this article, we’ll be going over all of the base races Baldur’s Gate 3 has to offer. It’s important to note that there are also subraces for some of these that may have variations of their ability score bonuses or features.
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All Baldur’s Gate 3 races available to play at launch
Below you can find all of the playable races in Baldur’s Gate 3. We do provide what the subraces are, but not exactly what changes they bring.
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Drow
Drow are a subrace of elves, living mostly in the Underdark and having darker skin of a more purple complexion along with typically having white hair.
- Ability: +1 Charisma and +2 Dexterity
- Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed, Fey Ancestry, Superior Darkvision, Proficiency in Rapier, Shortsword, and Hand Crossbow
- Subraces: Lolth-Sworn Drow and Selderine Drow
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Dragonborn
Dragonborn are, you guessed it, basically bipedal humanoid dragons. If you’ve always wanted to play a dragon-ish creature, this one is probably for you.
- Ability: +2 Strength and +1 Charisma
- Racial Feature: Draconic Ancestry and Base Racial Speed
- Subraces: Red, Green, Blue, Black, White, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper and Brass Dragonborn
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Dwarf
If you’re into the fantasy genre at all, you should be familiar with dwarves. Dwarves are short in stature, typically a bit on the thick side, and tend to live in caverns within mountains.
- Ability: +2 Constitution
- Racial Feature: Darkvision, Dwarven Resilience, Proficiency in Battleaxe, Handaxe, Light Hammer, and Warhammer
- Subraces: Gold Dwarf, Shield Dwarf and Duergar
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Elf
In the same vein, elves are one of the most popular races in most games they’re in. They tend to be more fair and elegant, in addition to immortal when it comes to age. They typically hail from forests and definitely make for great bow users.
- Ability: +2 Dexterity
- Racial Feature: Darkvision, Keen Senses, Fey Ancestry, Proficiency in Longsword, Shortsword, Longbow, and Shortbow
- Subraces: High Elf and Wood Elf
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Gnome
Gnomes can sometimes be confused for halflings (we’ll get to them), but they are certainly not. Gnomes are, in fact, small but not quite as short as halflings. They’re close in stature to dwarves, but less thick (typically). While dwarves are more sturdy by nature, gnomes are known for their wits.
- Ability: +2 Intelligence
- Racial Feature: Gnome Cunning
- Subraces: Deep Gnome, Forest Gnome and Rock Gnome
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Githyanki
Not so typical fantasy, the Githyanki are described as “lanky, yellow-skinned humanoids dwelling in the Astral Plane” via the Baldur’s Gate wiki. They were once enslaved by Mindflayers (oof), but it did lead to them gaining some psionic powers.
- Ability: +1 Intelligence and + 2 Strength
- Racial Feature: Githyanki Psionics: Mage Hand Conjuration Cantrip, Choice of skill proficiency, Base Racial Speed, Proficiency in Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shortsword, Longsword, and Greatsword
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Halfling
As mentioned before, halflings are a small bunch, normally no taller than 4.5 feet. They tend to be good with sneakier tasks thanks to their dexterity bonus and the Lucky racial feature which allows them to re-roll ones and avoid some bad results.
- Ability: +2 Dexterity
- Racial Feature: Lucky
- Subraces: Lightfoot Halfling and Strongheart Halfling
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Half-Elf
If you’re looking to only dip your toes into being an elf while maintaining some of your human characteristics, then you can play a half-elf! As the name alludes to, you’ll be half-elf and half-human. This gives you some freedom with where you put your second +2 ability score bonus.
- Ability: +2 Charisma and +2 Ability to one other ability of your choice
- Racial Feature: Fey Ancestry and Darkvision
- Subraces: High Half-Elf, Wood Half-Elf and Drow Half-Elf
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Tiefling
Tieflings don’t necessarily have a base race to choose first, you have to go straight into one of the subraces. No matter which you choose, however, you’ll be as charismatic as they come. These horned humanoids are descendants of demons, so if that’s your vibe, pick a Tiefling.
- Ability: Depends on Subrace
- Asmodeus Tiefling: +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma
- Mephistopheles Tiefling: +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma
- Zariel Tiefling: +1 Strength and +2 Charisma
- Racial Feature: Darkvision and Hellish Resistance
- Subraces: Asmodeus Tiefling, Mephistopheles Tiefling and Zariel Tiefling
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Human
Ahh, the jack of all trades. Humans gain a +1 to all stats, meaning you may not get a big boost in one, but your baseline across the board will be pretty good! You can’t go wrong with playing a human, as the options are basically endless.
- Ability: +1 Strength, + 1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, and +1 Charisma
- Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed
Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Half-Orc
Similar to the half-elf, a half-orc is a combination of orc and human. Given orc’s size and build, you’ll be stronger than the normal person and also be able to take a punch. Half-orcs are typically not the prettiest, but they make a great melee combatant.
- Ability: +2 Strength and +1 Constitution
- Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed, Darkvision, Relentless Endurance, Menacing, Savage Attacks
Now you should have a good idea of what every Baldur’s Gate 3 race brings to the table and how it can impact your time as you play through the highly anticipated game.
The game is set to launch for PC users on August 3 while PlayStation 5 players will have to wait until September 6.
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