D&D: Destructible Bridges, Tadpole Powers, And More Abound In Baldur’s Gate III

Baldur’s Gate III brings new wrinkles to the rules of 5th Edition, including destructible terrain, elemental effects, and more. See for yourself!

Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Sometimes it makes you stronger so that it can devour your brain and turn you into an eldritch abomination from another plane–so I guess sometimes things both kill you and make you stronger, depending on how philosophical you want to get about the definition of “you.”

We’re talking about video games, so there’s a spectrum here that runs from ‘red team bad, blue team good’ to ‘are they though?’ and often in the same game. We’re here to talk about destructible platforms and how cool they are though, so for now, put down your Hegel and let’s take a look at some new details for Baldur’s Gate III.

Mind Flayers are back in a big way, and their influence can be felt even when you’re not fighting them directly. As we learned from the gameplay reveal, they serve as one of the primary motivators for your character–you, personally, have been implanted with a mindflayer symbiote. This eye-tadpole will one day mature and devour your brain in an incredibly painful process which we’ll watch right now:

…but until then it gives you access to some unique powers. In the gameplay reveal, it meant that the vampire became a Daywalker with all of their strengths, none of their weaknesses. At least I’m assuming, nobody threw garlic at the character during the demo, but it’s Larian studios, so anything’s possible.

In a recent interview with Dragon+, it was revealed that the tadpole gives them new powers and unexpected boosts–your character can jump farther, has psychic resistance, and other abilities that they’ll be able to call on. And if the temptation of power at a price sounds familiar, you’re right, this does lean a little on the same dynamic as using your Bhaalspawn powers in the original Baldur’s Gate games. As developers from Larian put it in a recent interview with Dragon+

The more you use your tadpole by selecting it from the options within dialogue, the stronger the influence of your tadpole becomes. But the more you use it, the quicker you unlock your powers.

It’s that duality we’re introducing. It’s comparable to Bhaalspawn, which is a nice link to Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II. We want players to be wary this thing is still inside them, and the fact that they can turn into a mind flayer is still there.

But Mind Flayers are far from the only enemies. You’ll also run up against a cult known as the Absolute, who have similar abilities of their own. What exactly are the Mind Flayers up to, is but one question among many that players will have to answer in their game.

Equally as fascinating are the ways that Larian tackles the challenge of 5th Edition mechanics. As we saw in the gameplay demo, combat is turn-based with the same action economy you might expect, though a few things have been changed to streamline parts of the game that would be much too open for a video game. Players looking to use their reaction, for instance, will find the only option they have is an attack of opportunity, instead of whatever special abilities they might be granted from a (sub)class feature.

Larian wants to deliver a game that is much closer to the experience of playing D&D and that means opening up a world of other options:

ou will recognize everything from D&D but sometimes an adjustment has been made. We extended certain things and streamlined others. It is fifth edition for sure, only slightly adapted for a video game,” Imbert says. “It’s still problem solving in a narrative context rather than being solely combat based, which is a great cocktail for enjoyment. There are fights you can sneak around, you can use your Charisma and convince people to let you through and so forth. If you’re extraordinarily lucky with your dice rolls you may not fight a single time!

We’re bringing that sense of immersion from the roleplaying tabletop experience. In our excitement to tell a story we’ve made sure our characters have names and personalities, even when they fight. One gnome may cry out if you kill the other gnome because that’s his brother!

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Now it might be possible, given enough time and space, to account for everything a player might try–but it’s highly unlikely. So the game has made a few concessions to that fact. Wish is limited, Druids looking to wild shape have only a limited number of animals they can transform into–but what they lack in breadth, they make up for in depth of available options.

You can shove someone to trigger a Strength saving throw, pin them down with your arrow, then move away. That’s the kind of cool combo you want the players to be able to carry out. Turns are now team based, so it’s not the turn of your character, it’s the turn of your team. That allows you to switch between characters so you don’t have to wait for one to finish their turn before you can do everything with another.

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Another element of D&D that has been cleverly integrated into the game is the ability to use your environment. Taking an elevated position at least 2.3 meters above a creature will give your character advantage on their attack role. As with Divinity: Original Sin II, there’s also the potential to use surfaces to aid you in combat, drenching them in grease to slow your enemies before setting them alight to injure them. You might also dip your sword or arrow into fire to do additional damage or spread those flames even further.

And now we get to the good part. For the first time ever in a Divinity-engine game, the team is including destructible platforms. If an opportunity occurs, you could destroy the bridge that someone is standing on and send someone to their death off the map. An instant death, but be careful or you risk losing some good magic items.

In that regard, I love the idea that each playthrough can be substantively different, even if the same basic story beats are all the same. I’m looking to see how they’re riffed on, how about you?

Let us know what you think in the comments!

Author: J.R. Zambrano

Bell of Lost Souls Staff Writer and DM, J.R. covers RPGs of all stripes and on occasion eats sandwiches. You can ask him about either at [email protected]