D&D: Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 5 Is A Doozy
With changes that touch on almost every facet of the game, from combat to cutscenes, Baldur’s Gate 3’s new patch puts destiny in your hands.
Patch 5 is out for Baldur’s Gate 3 right now, and with it comes a host of changes that overhaul and update the game with hundreds if not thousands of new lines of dialogue, revamped locations for various cinematics that happen at your camp, and a rebalancing of several abilities in combat. Considering just how much the game has changed, it’s hard to pick out just one thing that stands out most–but hard doesn’t mean impossible, and the clear breakaway hit here is the Active Roll system. Let’s take a look.
Active Rolles means being able to call upon your abilities in the middle of conversations. Which is huge, considering just how much of the game happens in conversations. The game shifts so much depending on what you roll–one encounter might be a deadly fight or meeting a new ally depending on how your character rolls. And as many gamers know, the RNG is a cruel, dispassionate deity that doesn’t care how good your skills are, you’re going to roll a 2.
So being able to nudge the tides of fate by using abilities like Guidance midway through the conversation will keep you skating along in the direction you’d like to go. It’s not exactly playing with the more “forgiving” dice that have been in the game for a while, but it’s a great option for folks who want to lean into the rules of D&D while playing Baldur’s Gate. In addition to the major patch features (which have introduced an upgraded, better AI to the game), there’s a ton of new stuff in this patch. Here’s a look at what awaits you.
via Larian Studios
- Added new scenes expanding on Shadowheart’s mysterious artefact.
- Added new recruitment scenes with Shadowheart.
- Additional reactivity from Shadowheart when she approves of you.
- Added Background Goals – Now every character will have their own series of secret miniquests based on their Background and for each you complete you’ll receive an Inspiration Point up to a maximum of 4.
- Added new camp scene with Scratch and the owlbear cub.
- Added Point and Click character responses.
- Added 12 new magic items in loot and quest rewards.
- Revised active roll UI during dialogue. This includes improved displaying of bonuses and double dice for rolling with Advantage or Disadvantage.
- You can now use spells and items to increase chances when rolling during dialogue (including your companions’ spells and items).
- Picking locks and disarming traps are now active rolls.
- Added a new Disengage action that allows you to avoid provoking Attacks of Opportunity.
- Adding an item during Bartering will automatically equalise the gold on both sides.
- Added a way to cancel concentration from the concentration indicator.
- You can now pin most tooltips to hover over additional terms… for more tooltips.
- Increased the line limit in the dialogue history window.
- You can now save while leveling up.
- Added unique visual effects for class-specific spells.
- Added new icons for spells, statuses and items.
- Added dozens of new interactable items, expanding on the lore and background of the world.
- Revamped visuals for spells used by multiple classes to create more cohesion with Class-specific spells.
- Properly indicate when an action is fully free (does not count as a full or bonus action in combat).
- Added a tooltip for surfaces in combat log entries.
- Added better feedback on saving throws.
- Added feedback to clarify why casting a spell at a target is impossible.
- NPCs have new reactions when they’re unable to talk to you.
- Updated assorted spell, item, status, and book descriptions.
- Cinematics
-Cinematic character emotions.
-Camera choice and motion.
-Cinematic VFX.
-Improved cinematic motion when characters look around.
-Improved cinematic behaviour involving objects.
-Introduced a cinematic visual for ‘The Mark of the Absolute’. - Animations
-Updated Worg model and its climbing animations.
-Added Crab and Spider climbing animations.
-Added Stave animations for Goblins.
-Improved Mind Flayer animations.
-Improved Human running and idle animations. - Audio
-Characters now have semi-procedural armour sounds during cinematics that follow their movements.
-Creatures now have jumping vocalisations.
-Added new ambient sounds and music to camps.
-Explosions – bigger booms, louder braaams.
-Impacts and gore – combat actions are more nuanced and represented much more ‘close-up’.
-Item Destruction – all new debris system to increase realism.
-Added sound feedback when Moon Puzzle is solved.
-New UI sounds.
-More detailed cinematic sounds.
-Remastered Spell Vocals.
-Multi Output – You can now choose your audio device to tailor a better audio experience.
-Midnight Mode – A dedicated mix to avoid disturbing people around you. - Multiplayer
-Added multiplayer support for local ready checks if other party members are not nearby.
-A warning is now shown when trying to talk to another player’s followers.
-Added additional feedback when connecting to a lobby.
-You can now lock your inventory in a multiplayer game.
And that’s just a taste of the improvements and add ons. For the full list of patch notes, click here.
Happy Adventuring!
