Twas the night of the update, and the snow drifted freely
As we printed out liability waivers ahead of killing Geoff Keighley
Dunked a Druid in gravy, added flour to thicken
Now we’ll finally find out if roast Wildshapes taste like chicken
Yes, dear readers, that magical time of year is upon us once again. Chestnuts are roasting over open fires, hearts are brimming with good tidings, and Geoff Keighley is combusting on our set from the violent heat of a Level 5 Fireball spell. It can only mean one thing: it’s Patch Day!
Patch #9: Holy Knight is now live!
Patch #9 is our final major update before our August 2023 launch as we put the finishing touches on BG3. This community-inspired update is a direct response to your feedback, and brings some of your most requested features and changes to Baldur’s Gate 3. We’ve boosted the level cap, revamped our Reactions System, unlocked Flying and unveiled a long-awaited playable class: Paladins, along with many other new additions, tweaks and fixes. Streaming live from the jolliest place on Earth – Belgium – today’s Panel From Hell gives you a first look at all this new content in action.
Coming hot off the heels of our trailer reveal at last week’s TGAs, Larian’s Christmas From Hell revealed Matt Mercer as the voice of Minsc, peeled the wrapping off the new Baldur’s Gate 3 Collector’s Edition – available for pre-order now! – and saw the return of Geoff Keighley as host, followed by his death and swift resurrection; a Christmas miracle.
Miss the livestream? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Pour yourself a mug of hot cocoa, curl up in front of the warm irradiating glow of your computer monitor, and bask in the fires of righteousness that emanate from today’s patch highlights:
Critical Roleplay: Introducing Paladin
A hybrid between cleric and fighter, Paladins are marked by the ability to unleash formidable and devastating blows on enemies while providing support to their team in the form of actions like Lay on Hands, their classic Paladin heal. While they progress more slowly through their spell slots than other spellcasters, they also pack extra damage thanks to their specialised Paladin feature Divine Smite which imbues weapons with a holy radiance and does massive damage.
Building on the direction of this class in 5th Edition, Paladins in BG3 are distinct from our other divinely inspired classes. Their powers are channelled through the Oath to which they have sworn — one that they choose at the start of character creation.
Patch comes with two Paladin subclasses. Take the Oath of the Ancients and fight on the side of light and the natural world. Like Arthurian Green Knights in plate armour, these Paladins vow to preserve the sanctity of life and the beauty of nature, using Healing Radiance to let nature heal all nearby allies.
Take the Oath of Devotion and uphold justice in the pursuit of the greater good. These are your classic Knights In Shining Armour, Paladins who follow a code of honour and virtue both in and out of battle – the kind of guys who’d probably do their taxes early just because it felt like the right thing to do. Their signature feature, Holy Rebuke, lets them call upon their Oath in combat to envelop an ally in an aura that deals 1d4 Radiant damage to anyone who hits them with a melee attack.
Paladins are very much a roleplaying class, and those who take this path will have the opportunity to explore their character’s moral code and, depending on the choices they make, discover what it means to be an Oathbreaker.
Oathbreaker is our third, hidden subclass that is triggered if a Paladin goes against their moral code. Once that Oath is broken, say by killing an innocent or selling out the Druids to the Absolute, you’ll lose your previous Oath-inspired actions. But in turn you will gain darker ones like Control Undead – a Level 3 spell that lets you enlist an undead creature to fight for you. This is a subclass for those eager to explore their character’s motivations and beliefs in dialogue, who seek to define justice for themselves.
Powering up to Level 5
We’ve raised the level cap! D&D players will recognize Level 5 as a big power boost for many of the classes, and in Patch #9 you can now reach those same heights in Baldur’s Gate 3. To wet your appetite, here are a few examples: Spellcasters gain access to powerful 3rd-level spells like Fireball, Counterspell, and Animate Dead. Clerics receive Spirit Guardians, a spell that deals heavy radiant or necrotic damage to foes around them, while Sorcerers and Wizards get Haste, giving their character an additional action point, movement, and more AC. Fighters, Barbarians, Rangers, and Paladins also receive the extra feature at Level 5 allowing them to make a second weapon attack for free.
Level 5 also unlocks the Fly spell, which is ideal when positioning for a death-from-above ranged attack or just to escape the grasp of your pitiful gravity-bound enemies.
A Reactions System fueled by your choices
This update includes one of our most requested features: a revamped Reactions System. The Reactions System refers to the way that certain combat actions can be triggered by various combat circumstances. For example, if you have Counterspell prepared and an enemy casts a spell at you, the game can now pause and ask if you want to use your Counterspell to block the enemy’s spell.
And there’s more!
As always, these highlights represent only a fraction of what you can expect from today’s update. For the complete list of new features and tweaks check out our patch notes below and marinate in the flavourful juices of such fixes as:
- We’ve added the option to choose your character’s identity and included non-binary support. In English, we now support they/them pronouns. Other languages will follow.
- We extended the Combat Cameras so they can be triggered by player and enemy melee Critical Hits, summons, Wild Shapes, and several other spells and abilities. More drama!
- You no longer need to kill your summons to dismiss them.
- When rolling dice during dialogues, the reason why you are rolling is now prominently displayed.
- You can no longer use the Bitter Divorce wand to resurrect party members without limits.
- You can no longer use the Second Marriage wand more than once in and out of combat.
- Fixed Halsin speaking through his eyelids while wildshaped
And with that, I wish you all a Merry Patchmas.
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