D&D: Explore Baldur’s Gate Even Further With New, Free Gazetteer
WotC has released a new, free expansion that opens the doors to Baldur’s Gate at your tabletop. Check out the Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer!
Wizards of the Coast put up a new free sourcebook that delves a little more into the city of Baldur’s Gate. You’ve explored it in the video game, now check it out for yourself in the Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer.
This new, lore-centric book provides a closer look into the city of Baldur’s Gate, as the name implies. Rules-wise, you’ll find two new NPC stat blocks, as well as a new, Faceless background, some Dark Secrets mechanics to motivate your party, and a whole lot more.
Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer – Free On D&D Beyond
Even the most hardened adventurers watch their steps in Baldur’s Gate, where lives hold prices in copper and greed proves deadlier than dragon fire. Baldur’s Gate has a reputation for being a rough place, where crime and opportunity walk hand in hand, and where anything can be bought, sold, or seized at sword point. If something can be given a price, it’s for sale somewhere in Baldur’s Gate. Drugs and poisons sit on shelves alongside tinctures and remedies. Trade goods from Chult, mechanical wonders from Neverwinter, tomes of magic from Calimshan, and the most believable counterfeits of each can all be found in the city’s stalls.
The Flaming Fist, a mercenary company paid for by the city, protects residents without the barest hint of civil delicacy. The Watch, the guardian force of the wealthy Upper City, exists only to serve the patriars — the city’s detached upper class. Meanwhile, crime flourishes under the control of the Guild, which oversees almost every organized criminal act, from dockside gambling rings to blackmail at patriar garden parties. Either under the Guild’s auspices or in defiance of them, those who cut purses or throats make a decent living in the city, their talents traded as briskly — and often just as openly — as those of any other professional.
For all its shadows and dark dealings, Baldur’s Gate is not without its lights. Some residents earnestly seek to make the city a safer place by banding together to make their own sort of imperfect but effective justice.
Inside this book, you’ll find a ton of lore about Baldur’s Gate. There’s a history of the city, as well as an in-depth look at life in it “today.” DMs and players looking to create characters who hail from the city of Baldur’s Gate will find this book indispensable.
Players who don’t much care will get a kick out of the two new player options.
The Faceless is a new background that gives you Deception, Intimidation, and Disguise Kit proficiencies. But the real fun is in its Faceless Persona background feature, which lets you develop a whole alternate persona complete with magical abilities that help you disappear into the crowd.
And then there’s the Dark Secrets mechanic.
These new mechanics work as a great way of bringing the party together. Every member of the party decides on a “dark secret” that everyone shares. These dark secrets provide GMs with another hook to play around with in terms of the party and the characters.
See you in Baldur’s Gate!
