Baldur’s Gate 3 is a title that prides itself on character creation, and versatility in the way you come to enjoy its story. However, in the making of such a diverse game, one can’t help but notice that there seems to be a sore lack of certain options to play. Along with this, there are some classes, subclasses, and even monsters that don’t seem to make an appearance where they feel like they’d fit best. When considering the many options that were left out, some are just footnotes, or NPCs available to interact with, but there’s always room for something more. In particular, the addition of playable races like the Goblin, Goliath, Dhampier, and Assimer would greatly improve the overall playability of the game. Three of these four races are already present in the mainline title save for the Goliath, so it’s a wonder if the developers will ever offer them as DLC races.
Additionally, there are classes like the artificer and blood hunter that would fit perfectly in this setting that have been left absent. Subclasses like the druid’s circle of constellations, or the hex blade warlock remain obscure, leaving their classes a bit singularly aimed. Finally, some clear creatures and races should fit in this storyline that are only left as footnotes in the grand scheme of things. Nonetheless, despite all of this, Baldur’s Gate 3 has plenty to offer its players. Perhaps with future DLC all of these things and more could be seen, as most of these would greatly improve the replayability of the experience!
Adding Different Races
For the most part, there’s a wide margin of races and their subtypes that are available for the player to choose from. All of these reflect the basic races and some of their archetypes that might be found throughout the Sword Coast. However, when dealing with this consideration, there are a few basic races that have been thrown to the curb.
Additionally, two races could add a unique flavor to the game while maintaining some semblance of plausibility for the mind flayers curse. Overall they would make a great addition to some future content to improve the creativity of character creation, and even future story campaigns. The mainstay races that seem to be absent include the Goliath and the Assimer; while the Goblin and Dhampier would be great additions to the side plots of the stories.
Crafty Goblin
One race that’s relatively surprising that you can’t play as is the simple Goblin, the small green cousin of the gnomes and elves. These evil-intentioned little creatures are seen working with the absolute to vie for power. You can even acquire one as a temporary companion from Emerald Grove if you play your cards right, however, you can’t play as, or customize your goblin. It’s frustrating since these small menaces are not only the perfect background for something like a rogue or cleric but also a reliable ally in the Underdark or ruined situations.
Goblins would make a great addition to the smaller races available to play in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Goblins can prove to be a great ally when you’re trying to run a stealthy party or adventure, especially given their size. They have a natural affinity with stealth and can see in the dark making them an incredibly potent spelunking race to consider in most tabletop adventures. However overall, what makes the goblin most useful as a player race potentially is their ability to be teamed up with other small creatures. When done, you gain access to the overpowered ability known as the fury of the small. Overall though, it would just be nice to play as a race of people who also have an affinity for picking up every shiny magical item they come across.
Towering Goliath
Another great addition to the races section would be the Goliath. Being the smallest of the giant species, they would make a great companion or even player race for any party. Being a strength-based race, they could easily give the advantage of size, and athletics when dealing with hard situations. At the same time, they aren’t so large or overpowered as to make them too aggressive for new or older players. One of the better aspects of the Goliath is their weight-carrying capacity, which is double that of normal races. This means they can easily be a cart for your party, or even just be an overly effective martial character. Ultimately though, the true fun in adding the Goliath race would be the potential to have even more diversity from character creation.
Goliaths in their prime would go well for barbarians, fighters, or even paladins given their natural strength. Their size and durability added to that could help make any of the weaker classes more evened out. there’s a lot of merit to be had by being the smallest of the large races. And Goliath would be a perfect way of opening up those size types for players who might not have done so before. Besides this, it would help make more use of the smaller races by presenting them with more competition. It would allow their smaller-size features to shine even if it’s just against a rogue Goliath enemy.
Dhampirs could easily be played off the Cazadore quest line, as an addition to Astarion’s storyline.
Dark Dhampir
Since vampires already make a major appearance in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s fair to assume they would be more playable. Instead, we only get Astarion as a potential path for vampirism, opening the door for a heritage that should have been included. The dhampier is a type of demi-vampire that could easily make a fitting entry into the gameplay. As a heritage you could even play it off as an alternate background along with hex blade or dragon ascended sorcerers. In terms of abilities, any rogue, caster, or even martial class could benefit from some of the dhampir’s many abilities. Besides this, adding customization and optimization to Astarion’s bite can already be a powerful combination. If you were able to create your version there’s no telling the combinations that could be achieved.
Where you already have the introduction of a master vampire and even the dark urge play style, there’s a lot to be offered. Using this storyline, you could easily imply more master vampires are running around. Ultimately though, it’s all up to how you choose to deal with the building of your character. It would be cool to see a general addition of darker-themed characters. Routes like the dhampir would offer this without leaving the player entirely handicapped by the nature of adventuring. And overall, who doesn’t want to play as a vampire at least once in their time in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Angellic Assimer
Finally, the addition of the Assimer would greatly increase the customization options for clerics and warlocks alike. We already see races like the tiefling which dominate the sword coast, however, we also do see an Assimer through our travels. It wouldn’t be very hard to just give the Assimer the same treatment as they have with the tiefling and make them playable. Since the wing aspect of their character generally comes later on in their development this could be a good token to get players of this race. Additionally giving a player innate bless or healing spells, along with a radiance resistance could prove instrumental. There’s an endless amount of reasons why this half-angelic race belongs in the customization options of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Assimer would make a really valuable edition to the celestial nature of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Assimer provides the realms with the celestial counterpart of tieflings in multiple ways. Making excellent paladins, clerics, warlocks, and sorcerers these warriors are more than just simple angels. Therefore, by mixing their heritage with the skills of an adventurer they can be the best choice for any player. If they were added to the game, they could easily increase the divine aspects of the game while also making it more archaic. They serve as a decent means of speaking on behalf of gods or the divines, thus by adding them we could have learned more about the way gods operated in the game. However where they most shine is as wardens of the light, something that would always be fun to play out.
Potential Missing Classes
While there are plenty of classes and subclasses to choose from in Baldur’s Gate 3 it feels like they’re missing two rather unique ones as a whole. With Blood Hunter and Artificer missing from the roster, there’s quite a bit that’s left off the tables in terms of class composition. Overall both have their place in any game table, but they seem overly at home in Baldur’s Gate’s storyline. With interactions like Grymforge and Auntie Ethel you have clear insertion points for both classes. Sadly without them, the game feels limited to a basic player handbook worth of classes and races.
Monster Seeking Blood Hunters
Blood hunters would make a valuable addition to the landscape of Baldur’s Gate 3 as a half caster. Being able to operate as a more monster-oriented paladin, or even a better version of the fighter they can match a lot of fiends. Overall though, the Blood Hunter when mixed with other classes like the Ranger or Paladin could make for some explosive combinations. The Blood Hunter focuses on tracking down monsters and exorcising them kind of like a witcher would. That being said it’s pretty hard to argue against creating Geralt of Rivia when you keep in mind some of the more potent aspects of the Blood Hunter class.
Blood Hunters could easily work off similar merits as the warlock, or oath breaker paladin.
In their natural setting, blood Hunters behave similarly to dragonslayers and paladins. They train in magic and blades as a type of spell sword that can deal massive damage to fiendish creatures. Things like mind flayers or hags would provide ample opportunities for this class to shine. Combined with a stealthy party, they could easily overpower and defeat most threats without much issue. That being said where Blood Hunter is one of those classes that Mathew Mercer made, it may not be accessible to Larian for playing with.
Mechanical artificers
Essentially being the Magitech users of any game world, they prefer robots, guns, and other means of technology. That being said, they can equally be creators of constructs, golems, and other non-sentient entities that they use in battle. In this regard, they are a less morality-aligned version of a summoner. Being the middle ground that’s opposed to druids, they are about mixing magic with man-made structures to produce their results. And while there may be plenty of reasons to add them, amongst them is such fun as the artillerist subclass.
Artificers would easily fit into the otherworldly setting that the ilithid throws us into. Even if they are just dwarves or another race combating them, it would make sense that the archaic technology of the mind flayers would be matched by another force. In this case, they could easily be added for any number of reasons from a simple engineer or spellcaster to a potent siegemaster. Either way, it’s a shame that this class missed out on the creation table when considering what was able to be made. Although like the Blood Hunter, this class may be just not accessible to Larian due to the nature of who wrote it.
Artificiers already find their way into the lore, so seeing them as an added class would be amazing!
Overall, many more unique and interesting things could be added to Baldur’s Gate 3 to make it an incredibly immersive experience. However, as things stand it’s got a few more improvements it could make before being the best Dungeons and Dragons experience available. Hopefully, in the future, we could see more classes races, and creatures that have made it into their other titles. Since it is one of the top-rated games of the year, who knows what level of expansion we’ll see from potential DLC. All one can do is wait for the future, and hope some of our favorite races and classes end up making the final cut of the game!
