Larian Studios will launch Baldur’s Gate 3 in early access on Oct. 6, and players will be able to choose from 16 races and subraces, along with six classes. The early access release will contain around 25 hours of content that is “designed for multiple playthroughs.” The main races available are human, githyanki, elf, drow, half-elf, dwarf, halfing, and tiefling with subraces within them.
The githyanki are warriors from the Astral Plane, hungry for destruction. Elves meanwhile are split between high elves and wood elves. High elves are adept at magic, and wood elves are skilled in archery, spending their time in forests. The drow then are divided into Seldarine drow and the Lolth-sworn Drow, which are enemies stemming from an “ancient schism.”
Half-elves come as high half-elves, wood half-elves, and drow half-elves in Baldur’s Gate 3. They typically inherit the traits and abilities that come with their elven sides, while drow half-elves aren’t usually raised in the Underdark like Seldarine drows are. Of the dwarves, gold dwarves value family and craftsmanship, while shield dwarves are more cynical with the aim of taking back their ancestral homelands from goblins and orcs.
The halfling race consists of the lightfoot halflings that specialize in stealth and the strongheart halflings that, thanks to perhaps dwarven blood, are resistant to poison and have high endurance.
Lastly, tieflings wield magical abilities based on which bloodline they belong to. Asmodeus tieflings command fire and darkness powers. Mephistopheles tieflings are “descended from the archdevil Mephistopheles” and use arcane magic abilities. Zariel tieflings have “martial strength” and can channel flames too.
Baldur’s Gate 3 will release in early access for PC via Steam, GOG, and Google Stadia on Oct. 6.
