Baldur's Gate 3's multi-layered system has me busy crafting a new kind of lecherous man from the component parts of Dungeons & Dragons as I've done in CRPGs in the past, fighter/mage/technician/herophant/whatever, man. The multitude of classes has always been synonymous with making the most of these for the most exotic genre of RPG.
Layered D&D rules will allow you to combine several Baldur's Gate 3 classes together into a hybrid that's stronger, or perhaps more fun, than either of them separately. You're also walking a tightrope, and you risk a diluted character if you don't manage a careful balance of how much and when to invest in each class. In the first part of this guide, I'll go over the basic rules and best practices for layering, but you can skip to section two for a collection of layered designs and layering ideas.
Note: We've updated this guide from a pre-release version based on what we found in the full game.
Each time you level up in Baldur's Gate 3, you can choose any of its 12 classes to advance into. Baldur's Gate 3 has removed the limitations of tabletop attributes from multiple classes, so your only limitation is whether the option is useful or not.
Baldur's Gate 3 has a relatively low level of 12, and multiple classes can delay or deny you end-game abilities - the amount you lose depends on the class. Many of the base rewards are also tied to your individual class level rather than your overall level. For example, you get an "ASI" or bonus/distinctive feature every four class levels - A level 8 Fighter will have two ASIs, while a Level 5 Fighter/3 Rogue will only have one.
Other level parameters to keep in mind:
Bonus Attack: Fighters, Barbarians, Rangers, Monks, and Paladins get a second full attack per turn at level 5. Blade Brawlers/braves get this at level 6. Bonus Attack is a priority ability that you don't want to delay more than one. or two levels.
Subclass: Most classes let you choose a subclass at Level 3 (Your Bard's College, for example). This is often, but not always, the minimum number of levels you'll want to reach in a second or third category. Most casters, as well as Paladins, choose their subclass at level 1.
Enchantment Levels: Complete casters gain new spell levels and spell slots for each individual class level. In addition, multi-class spell/spellcasting have a common set of spell slots, which removes the major drawback of this type of character in older versions of D&D. Wizard 4/Employee 3 can only cast level 2 spells of each class, but will have a plethora of spell slots to allocate to each, with Cleric spells able to go into wizard slots and vice versa - it's not known if Larian modified this progression One of the rules of the table, though.
Proficiencies: Classes gain lower weapon, skill, and throwing proficiencies when chosen later than at level 1. It can sometimes be helpful to choose a class like fighter or rogue at level 1 for their excellent martial/skill skills, even if they aren't going to be your class' main focus.
Traits: While these feats can be tempting, the highest level you can raise on character creation is 17 for a +3 bonus to their implementations. You get another +1 for each level, up to a maximum of +5 at 20 in the stat. I've found that a lot of my characters have 17 in the primary stat, and 15 in the secondary, and increasing those two traits to the next threshold is always the best use of the first ASI.
Paladin 2 / Warlock 10 😈👼️
Pick this up if you want: a spell knight stray with a dark side
Main Abilities: Divine Strike + Warlock spell slots, Blade Pact
Priority traits: charisma, strength * (consider only respect for charisma)
Secondary qualities: constitution, dexterity
Non-combat ability: very good! Definitely get proficiency in persuasion.
Recommended starting race: Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Zariel Tiefling, Dragonborn
Leveling order: Take two Pally levels, then every Warlock, baby.
Sorcadin's darling fame for tabletop athletics is a bit DOA in Baldur's Gate 3. The melee ports that make it work, Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade (essentially acting as a regular attack, which helps offset the extra attack loss), are absent in Larian's opinion of D& D 5e, which means that the traditional Paladin 2 / Sorcerer 10 Sorcadin is much less effective.
You can still get a nice jumbo cookout with Paladin 6/Sorcerer 6, but I'll do it even better: The Palock, and Paladin 2/Warlock 10. If you choose Pact of the Blade as your pact blessing, your Warlock will get an extra attack incrementally. Effective even in spelling class. It only applies to pact weapons, but you can link magical weapons to act as pact weapons.
You can use Warlock spell slots to take out the incredibly powerful Divine Blow from your Paladin, and you can even get higher level spell slots at a faster rate than Pally. The point of resistance is that Warlocks restore in short rests, which means that Divine Smite uses can be restored in a short rest - welcome to Smite City baby.
As a note: Performing Divine Strike with Warlock spells seems a bit inaccurate at the moment. Some users have reported that you can only use Warlock slots to attack after all your Paladin has been depleted, and Warlock slots currently do not work with Divine Smite feedback. It's unclear if this was a bug or some deliberate balancing act with Warlock's short rest period restored.
I think you could enjoy this build of play from the very beginning of the game and not disrespect it, but just note that it has two powerful spikes: level 5 (Warlock level 3), when you can choose your pact, and also level 7, when you take your fifth Warlock level and capture Additional attack with Pact weapons. You'll still deflect hits, but a level 7 is the last thing I want to delay a military character's extra attack.
In Praise of Respect: Blade Pact Warlocks can use their Charisma modifier instead of Strength when attacking with their alliance weapons, which means you have every reason in the world to reset your attributes to level 5 when you get a Pact of the Blade, dumping Strength and Dexterity in favor of Constitution and charisma.
Subclass wise, the Division of Vengeance's damage focus gives way to this high-damage build, but the Division of the Ancients has a certain science synergy with Archfey Warlock.
Fighter 2 / Wizard 10 🛡️🧙
Pick this up if you want: A battlelemage, a character who focuses primarily on spellcasting, but with heavy armor, armor and a fighting proficiency that helps them survive.
Key Abilities: Mage Spells, Heavy Armor Mastery, Combat Weapons Mastery, Shield Mastery, Increased Movement.
Priority traits: intelligence
Secondary traits: constitution * dexterity
Non-combat ability: Not great, you have to spot it with ASIs to master the skill.
Recommended race start: High Elf, Githyanki, Gnome, Asmodeus or Mephistopheles Tiefling
Leveling order: 1 or 2 levels of fighter, depending on whether you want Action Surge, then all wizard.
Many classes, including spellcasters, will find a huge benefit in taking just one or two levels off a fighter at the beginning of their build thanks to their proficiency which opens up gear options for more limited classes.
All of those can come in handy, especially for an easy-to-kill healer, and at level 2 fighters gain an Action Surge, which is an extra master action that can be used once per short rest period. Additional actions and proficiencies can be useful for any number of character roles.
Fighter1/Wizard11 is usually harder to kill than straight wiz, with more options when cornered by enemies, while only delaying and not losing endgame spells. Level up the fighter to 2, and you'll lose 6th Circle spells to Action Surge throughout the game.
You'd mainly play this as a straight wizard, substituting the power of the pure glass cannon for more variety when cornered. In early access, heavy armor doesn't require a minimum strength to use, so you might consider bumping your skill up to 14 and focus on cool weapons, armor, and any armor, medium or heavy, that gives you the highest armor class or AC.
Assassin Rogue 5 / Gloom Stalker Ranger 5 / Fighter 2 🥷
Pick this up if you want: Classic stealth assassin / DPS assassin, with either dual dexterous weapons or a bow. Astarion build strong potential.
Key Abilities: Ambition of Dread, Assassination, Action Rush
Priority traits: dexterity
Secondary Traits: Constitution * Charisma (if you work as a party face)
Non-combat ability: Decent to Excellent depending on whether you start as a Ranger or Rogue.
Recommended race start: Half-Elf, Wood Elf, Drow and Halfling
Leveling order: Four levels of Rogue, five Ranger, two fighters, then get the last level of Rogue
A very solid take on the classic DPS ambush "From the Shadows". The Ranger's Gloom Stalker sub-class has an incredibly powerful tentpole ability: Dread Ambusher, which grants you a +3 level to initiative, giving you a higher chance of attacking first in combat, as well as other huge advantages in the first round of a combat encounter listed below.
Rogues of the Assassin subclass gain the Assassinate ability, which grants unique bonuses against enemies who have not yet taken a turn in combat, as well as additional Rogue sneak attack damage. Combine the two together, and start as many fights as you can by stealthing down to priority enemies, which gives you the following advantages in the first (and usually most impactful) round of battle:
One free sneak attack with 3d damage before a fight starts, and another one in the first round of a battle
Bonus movement speed
Extra attack with 1d8 extra damage
Advantage in your attack flows.
Fighter Action Surge on short rest means 2 more full attacks
Bonus Assassin and Gloom Stalker initiative ensures that you take your turn first
Automatic critical strikes against enemies that you successfully stunned
This build is about getting the first major turn. I've been finding them strong throughout the game, but at max level you're looking at an opening round of seven attack (external melee sneak attack + 2 full attacks + scary embosher attack + 2 extra attacks with Action Surge), and we can even get up to nine attacks if you use Haste spell before a fight. Fear not if it's a story battle that starts with a cutscene: this setup still lends itself to an opening round even with the Sneak Attack and Surprise extra bonus for external combat eliminated.
While it's a fun exercise for maximizing your massive attacks each round, I often find it more beneficial to use the Ranger's Hunter's Mark spell as an extra in the first round of combat. Bonus d6 damage per attack is always welcome, and I've also come across a lot of items that provide extra damage to focus on a spell like Hunter's Mark. After that first round of combat, you still have a high-damage, high-damage Ranger/Rogue to carry around.
At first, I chose the Dual Wielder as my first ASI to take advantage of larger weapons like the Underdark longsword Phalar Aluve prowess. In the end, I found a lot of great enchanting short swords like Knife of the Undermountain King, which can be purchased at Githyanki Creche, and turned out to improve direct ability points of 20 Skill and 16 Charisma.
The Yuan-Ti Scale Mail you can buy from the Harper Quartermaster at the start of Chapter 2 is a great fit for this build: it gives you a full Dexterity bonus to AC and no penalties to stealth, and you'll have a medium armor proficiency from your ranger levels.
There's an argument to be made for a level 5 Ranger rush for extra attack, but I really don't like leaving Rogue's excellent level 1 skills on the table, Assassinate on its own is pretty good. To that end, I'd only like to reach four levels of Rogue at the start of Assassinate and your first ASI.
Oath of Revenge Paladin 6 / Arcane Trickster or Thief Rogue 6 🌚🗡️
Pick this up if you want: a holy avenger with more movement than a paladin usually gets, or a brawler brawler in plate armor.
Basic abilities: divine strike, sneak attack, cunning action: dash/disengage, vow of chastity, divine sense
Priority traits: dexterity
Secondary traits: charisma, constitution
Non-combat ability: Excellent, thanks to Rogue Experience. I recommend sleight of hand to disarm traps, and some kind of charisma mastery.
Recommended race start: Zariel Tiefling, Half-Orc.
Leveling order: Paladin 1 > Rogue 1 > Go to Paladin 5 > Go to Rogue 4 > Paladin 6 > Rogue the rest of the way.
Paladin got a slight flaw over his brethren in Baldur's Gate 3 - he's just too slow. Unless you want to sacrifice one of your spell slots (the ones for hitting, anyway), you can feel like you're dragging your feet. Now Introducing: Building Paladin Batman!
This is a Dex-based paladin built to deliver a dark holy avenger fantasy - while Oath of Vengeance is great for that theme, it also fits nicely into the Rogue category. Divine Sense gives you a free edge on attack flushes against the undead, while Vow of Enmity also gives you an edge against one target in particular - so if for some reason you don't have an edge, you have great ways to get it for a sneak attack.
You trade off the spell slot's advance, which means your divine hits will be less meaty, but Sneak Attack doesn't require a spell slot - so what you trade in for explosive damage you make up for in sustainability. The real stars of the show here are Cunning Action: Dash, Disengage, and Hide. Being able to double your speed as an extra for free forever? It's a good thing in any class, but especially a Paladin, considering how good they are in melee.
You also gain significant advantages outside of combat in the form of experience, letting you choose two skills to excel at. I recommend using sleight of hand to capture, followed by your favorite sleight of hand for the charisma skill - persuade, scare, or deceive. This is why I recommend delaying your Paladin's extra attack by one level by plunging into the rogue early. Having experience skills will make the first chapter much easier.
If you don't care about breaking the lock or being sneaky, you can still use force if you want to. Dexterous weapons will get more powerful if they are higher, and Sneak Attack only needs the weapon to be dexterous for it to work. In this case, trade the Sleight of Hand for athletics to become an unstoppable pushing machine.
In terms of subclasses, you can either run with Arcane Trickster for additional spell slots and utility spells - in which case, I'd recommend going for Shortword and shield - or Thief for an additional bonus action, which you can use for double wielding. The latter provides a great chance for blast damage, since you can technically only deal four hits in a turn after level 6.
One thing to note: while you can Sneak Attack and Smite in the same attack, at the time of this writing you need to either use Smite or Sneak Attack actions from the speed dial bar - you can just choose to 'respond' to one or the other in the prompt window .
Berserker Barbarian 9 / Champion Fighter 3 🪓💪😤
Pick this up if you want: Bigger, more powerful, two-handed Critical Strikes. This is a rock build for Karlach.
Key Abilities: Action Burst, Improve Critical Defense, Unarmored, Mighty Weapon Master
Primary traits: constitution, strength, dexterity
Secondary traits: can't do, hoss.
Non-combat ability: lol
Recommended starting race: Half-Orc, Githyanki
Leveling order: Barbarian to level 5, three fighter levels, then Barbarian all the way up.
This build is pretty simple: basically, you're sacrificing high level barbarian abilities like Relentless Rage (keep fighting on the brink of death Half-Orc style) and level 10 abilities of barbarian subclasses in favor of Action Surge and Champion's Enhanced Critical makes it easier to hit critical hits , and this last ability also pairs well with the barbarian's level 9 increased critical damage.
Since barbarians gain unarmored defense (add skill and constitution bonuses to your AC when not wearing armor), they don't get much benefit from starting as a level 1 fighter to master heavy armor. With that in mind, rushing to level 5 as a Barbarian for Extra Attack is the name of the game, followed by three fighter levels for Action Surge and Enhanced Critical. I tried out Karlach as a Wild Magic Barbarian, which seemed like one of the more fun subclasses in Baldur's Gate 3, but it really didn't get anything on the Berserker's extra attack per round and excellent throwing weapon abilities.
Constitution, Strength, and Dexterity will be critical to bolstering damage and defenses for the Barbarian/Hero, with little room for Nambi-Bambi compliments such as Intelligence or Charisma. Half-Orcs and Githyanki are fine to build, and Karlach is certainly a good fit too, either as a companion in your party or your choice of origin character.
For ASI picks, I'd prefer to buff Ability Points directly at level 4 to secure 18 Strength and 16 Constitution. For the second, first, you can't go wrong with the other ability bonus of up to 20 power, but I also had success with Polearm Master and then stick to chasers or spearmen. The Mighty Cloth Monk outfit can be purchased from the Harper Quartermaster at the start of Chapter 2, and the Bull Strength bonus provides another way to secure the ultimate power.
Cleric of Storm 2 / Wizard of Storm 10 ⚡
Choose this if you want: Lightning Master. Think Arc Warlocks from Destiny or Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars.
Primary Abilities: Wizard Spells (especially the lightning bolt), Tempest Rage, Channel Divinity: Destructive Rage, Weapon/Armor Cleric Skills
Primary traits: charisma
Secondary qualities: constitution, dexterity
Non-combat ability: Very good with Surk's high Charisma, even if you get Mastery in Persuasion.
Recommended starting race: Half-Elf, Drow, Zariel Tiefling, and Dragonborn
Leveling order: two for a Cleric, then ten for a Wizard.
You take two Thunderbolts, and you mix them together. Your two main advantages over a standard storm mage are overall survivability - clerics get medium shields and shields - and the lightning synergy of Tempest Cleric with a storm mage. Storm Clerics gain Storm's Fury, allowing them to retaliate against melee attackers with a huge blow, and Channel Divine: Destructive Fury. The latter allows Storm Clerics to use their Divinity channel points to deal maximum damage with a lightning or thunder spell.
Channel Divinity can only be used once per short rest period with this build, but it will turn spells like the third level team, Lightning Bolt, into a great nuke that you'll always have in your back pocket. The Wizard of the Storm/Wizard of the Storm may be more of a side move on a pure Wizard, but it offers a fun theme and gameplay, as well as survival benefits similar to the Fighter's Dive.
It will rely more on wizard spells than a cleric spell, but when creating the character I still want at least 14 Wisdom to tap into the fury of the storm. Otherwise, it's all-day charisma, as high as it gets. Similar to fighter/mage, I would choose skill over strength, cool weapons like Rapiers, and a shield with medium armor to increase survivability and make the most of my two clerical levels.