Summary
- Mods are now more accessible than ever, transforming Baldur's Gate 3 with new races, spells, and ways to interact in the game world.
- From increased carry weight to AI-controlled party members, mods seek to enhance gameplay and customization for players of all levels.
- By embracing the power of mods, players can unlock achievements, fast-track XP gain, and create a more immersive gaming experience in Baldur's Gate 3.
Mods have been around since the early days of PC gaming, but it's only over the past decade or so that they've become accessible to the average player. These days, most mods can be installed with just a few clicks and very little know-how, with many developers embracing the practice and actively encouraging modders to improve and enhance their games.
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Having been in early access since late 2020, there are already hundreds of mods for Baldur's Gate 3. Some offer minor quality-of-life updates or tiny tweaks and changes to the way that the game looks or runs, but the very best Baldur's Gate 3 mods can completely transform the experience for players.
Updated June 12, 2024, by Tom Bowen: Despite almost a full year having now passed since the game's retail release, Baldur's Gate 3 remains incredibly popular. The 2023 Game of the Year winner still averages around 70 thousand daily players on Steam, thanks in part to the huge variety of mods that are now available for it. The best Baldur's Gate 3 mods allow players to breathe new life into their playthroughs, either by improving customization or altering existing in-game mechanics to better suit players' needs.
1 Baldur's Gate 3 Mod Fixer
Improves Mod Stability
To say that figs999's Baldur's Gate 3 Mod Fixer is one of the best Baldur's Gate 3 mods seems like a bit of an understatement. It's more of an essential mod, really, given that it is required to make a lot of the game's other popular mods function as their creators originally intended.
This is because many of the best Baldurs Gate 3 mods were created when the game was still in early access and stopped working correctly after the game's full release. The Full Release Mod Fixer addresses this, allowing players to use a lot of older BG3 mods that are no longer supported by their creators.
2 Highlight Everything
Improves Visibility
Baldur's Gate 3 is a beautiful game, but the isometric camera angle can sometimes make it difficult to spot certain items or tell which ones can be interacted with. Players are able to highlight objects by holding down the left alt key, but this only works with certain things, which can be frustrating in certain situations.
As the name suggests, shalzuth's Highlight Everything mod fixes this issue and makes it so that every single interactable is highlighted when holding down left alt rather than just the ones that are highlighted by default. This can make finding hard-to-spot items considerably easier, thus making it one of the very best BG3 mods.
3 Fantastical Multiverse
Adds Scores of New Races
Baldur's Gate 3 provides players with a ridiculous amount of customization options both when it comes to their character's appearance and their race. As such, the idea of adding more than 50 new races to Baldur's Gate 3 may seem like insanity to some players, but that's exactly what modder Dungeons and Souls decided to do.
Their Fantastical Multiverse mod introduces 54 new races from the 5th edition, including Changeling, Kobold, and Dhampir. This may not mean all that much to more casual players, but for hardcore Dungeons & Dragons fans or those with a passion for mythology, the additional options can make a world of difference to a playthrough.
4 AI Control Party While in Combat
Lightens the Load in Combat
Those who are new to the RPG genre may find the prospect of having to control a party to be a little overwhelming. After all, a lot of AAA titles tend to focus on just one playable character these days, meaning that a lot of players don't have all that much experience with party management. Thankfully, there are Baldur's Gate 3 mods for that.
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oilnarak01's AI Control Party While in Combat - Animal Archetype Edition mod is one of the better ones, providing players with a special spell that will cause AI to control party members in combat. Though players may still need to keep one eye on health bars and the like, this must-have mod will allow them to focus more of their attention on their own character as they get to grips with the game's combat system.
5 WASD Character Movement
Allows Keyboard Movement
Old-school Runescape fans shouldn't have too much trouble with the point-and-click nature of Baldur's Gate 3, but for those more accustomed to using their keyboards to move around, it may take a bit of getting used to. Alternatively, players can circumnavigate this adjustment period altogether by installing Ch4nKyy's WASD Character Movement mod.
As the name might suggest, WASD Character Movement allows players to use WASD (or the keys of their choosing) to move around, while also binding the camera controls to the same keys. This essentially turns Baldur's Gate 3 into a more traditional third-person adventure game, allowing players to experience Faerûn from a whole new perspective.
6 Achievement Enabler
Unlocks Achievements When Using Mods
Like a lot of games, Baldur's Gate 3 has a system for disabling achievements when mods are in use. Naturally, many players have sought ways to get around this system, with modder DK providing a simple yet effective solution; albeit one that lands in a decidedly gray moral area.
Achievements are supposed to be exactly that; a small reward for accomplishing some impressive feat in-game. As such, some may see the use of the Achievement Enabler mod as cheating, but as a player gains no kind of advantage through unlocking an achievement, those who use it are arguably only cheating themselves.
7 Fast XP
Allows Players to Level Up More Quickly
As people get older, it's not uncommon for them to find that they have a lot less free time with which to play games. Even those who do have time may have better uses for it than grinding for XP in Baldur's Gate 3, creating a market for a mod like the one from prolific modder Malcroix.
The Fast XP mod does exactly what it says on the tin; effectively allowing players to double the amount of XP that they earn while playing. They can either choose to use the mod to reach level 6 quickly or half the XP requirements for every level, thus allowing them to hit the level cap twice as quickly as they normally would.
8 5e Spells
Adds New Spells and Cantrips
Baldur's Gate 3 boasts a wide variety of spells, which, together, should be more than enough for the average player. However, for those who are looking for a more authentic D&D experience or anyone who plans on completing multiple playthroughs of BG3, DiZ91891's 5e Spells mod is well worth a look.
When it comes to adding new spells into the game, 5e spells is easily one of the best Baldur's Gate 3 mods around. It adds or modifies more than twenty Cantrips, as well as a ridiculous amount of first to fifth-level spells. It continues to be updated on a regular basis too, so players can expect even more new spells in the months to come.
9 Carry Weight Increased
Increases the Maximum Carry Weight
Encumbrance undoubtedly helps to make things more realistic, but given that this is a fantasy game featuring elves, orcs, and dwarves, it seems safe to assume that not all players are all that interested in realism. For those who aren't, encumbrance can be incredibly frustrating, particularly the ones who enjoy looting everything that's not nailed down.
Baldur's Gate 3: How To Manage Encumbrance
Nothing ruins the momentum in Baldur's Gate 3 quite like becoming encumbered after getting weighed down by loot in the middle of a dungeon.
Sure, there are ways to manage encumbrance, such as switching characters out with another party member once they hit their carry limit, but why do that when there are mods? Mharius' Carry Weight Increased mod is every hoarder's dream, allowing players to raise their carry weight limit as little or as much as they see fit.
10 Customizer's Compendium
Adds NPC Customization Assets
Baldur's Gate 3 offers players a ridiculous amount of options when it comes to customizing their characters' appearance, but some players may still find themselves wanting more. AlanaSP was apparently one of these players and decided to tackle the problem head-on by creating one of the very best BG3 mods for customization.
Customizer's Compendium unlocks a variety of new options in the character creator, many of which were previously only used for NPCs. As all of these options are already baked into the full release of the game, the mod is very easy to install, and the new customization options blend in seamlessly with the existing ones as a result.