I FINALLY got to play it. Finally. I've wanted to play it since it came out in 2023. 5e? I'm in.
First character:
I had all these plans over the years but I blanked on character creation. Just went with default pretty non-binary Elf as a Fighter, got bored of that and respecedd to Hexblade 1 Paladin 11. Smite was so good, having SAD for my 20+ in Charisma, Hex Weaponry, Eldritch Blast go brr, Paladin tankiness. I broke my Oath by being too morally flexible, the breaking point was letting the Hag live. Oathbreaker was OK but I think I would have preferred to stay Vengeance.
Companions/The Party:
Lae'zel was my first companion and she stayed the whole game! I liked her honesty and could tolerate her whole alien POV. Anytime I felt she was too harsh or direct or whatever I just reminded myself she was from another plane of existence. She really like my whole 'do things my way' approach so ended up falling in love with my character. Woo! She went Barbarian Berserker 9 Fighter Champion 3 IIRC.
Gale I rescued from a portal and I liked his wit and friendly nature so he was in. I kept him as a Wizard for a little bit but as soon as I could I re-specced him as a Life Cleric. I was playing on Balanced so didn't need THAT much healing so re-specced him again as a Light Cleric and he was very useful in Act 2 especially.
Astarion I kept along and made him my Assassin 3/Gloomstalker 6/Fighter 3 I think was the split. He was my designated Thief/Sneaky guy. Enemies LOVED trying to find him while he was Bonus Action Hidden.
---
Most fights would open with Astarion shooting something 3 times and hiding, Laezel raging and walloping stuff 3 times, my Tav and Gale reacting to whatever the situation was afterward. Gale was a bit up and down - bleh in Act 1, excellent in Act 2, mixed in Act 3. I chalk it up to not being familair with what was possible: started to enjoy throwing around Wall of Fire and whatnot by the end with him. Much simpler with Astarion and Laezel. My Tav was a tank by the end, dishing out radiant smites and explosive damage so was great.
---
I briefly had Shadowheart in the party but she wildly underperformed (I read later due to her poor build) but next time when I run with her, Wyll and Karlach I'll respec her as a better cleric.
Act 1
What a dense first Act! I tried to beat the Commander before he got backup cambions... and failed. The cambions killed me. So I reloaded for the first time. Got off the ship and collected my party, found the grove, side with them.
I pretty much did every single quest in Act 1, I think, bar one or two. I killed a lot of people. I found the Hag and broke my Oath to get her sweet hair +1 to my Charisma.
I tried to hear the Goblins out, managing to diplo my way into their camp and trust but seeing all the slaves, and murder, and torture... I was like, fuck these guys. Was really handy strategy here and later on: befriend a side just enough, hear them out, then betray them and kill them en masse or in groups. I was able to sort of systematically wipe out the goblins and get their delicious experience points.
I was level 7 when I left the first act, which is a lot. I also acquired the legendary weapon, the Blood of Lathander, for my Oathbreaker-Hexblade monstrosity Tav so I was well set up for a trip to the Shadowlands.
Act 2
The Shadowlands were really easy for me - a Light Cleric and Radiant Paladin? A Gloomstalker rogue? GWM Barb Laezel? It all just clicked. Once again found myself siding with the 'good' guys in a no-brainer.
Sheart ditched me after I cleared the Trials of Shar without her, first companion to no bueno. Fine. Wasn't using you anyway!
Act 3
I was level 10, almost level 11 (out of 12 level cap) by the time I reached BG so was telling myself I wouldn't do every quest; leave some content for next time.
There is a lot to do in the city, I LOVED everything to do with the circus,
Killing Orin was tough but managed to knock her off the battlefield with Illithid push.
Ansur was easy with the one Scroll of Otiluke's I had used there.
Gortash was too tough/I lost the will to push on so I resolved to keep him until he gets himself killed by the Nether brain later.
I accidentally made the Emperor the wielder of the final spell of the game and missed out on becoming an illithid! I had a head canon as my Tav being a Illithidphile(?) so was annoyed when I realised I missed it, at the very end of game. Luckily I reloaded and fixed it later, as below.
I expect when I return on Tactician and Honour Mode I'll be using Act 3 a lot more to get experience points so I'm kind of glad I skipped a lot of the content.
Ending
I finished it December 30th 2025 but I think in my eagerness to skip bits of dialogue it didn't show me any character-specific endings? I didn't actually fully finish any of the companion quests so maybe that's why. Did a quick search there and seems like it's usually pretty quick. I did finish it 3 times back to back:
1. Gale-bombed the brain. Partially because I could not kill the red dragon/mindflayer spellcasters/etc the way I wanted to. Cut to BG citizens cleaning up corpses and celebrating lmao.
2. Reloaded further back and became a mindflayer myself (as I had originally meant to) fought and subdued the brain. Domination. Everything was so much easier the second run to the Nether brain; partially because I knew what I was doing this time but also Mindflayer Tav was what I really wanted. I didn't mean to make the Emperor the Orpheus vessel or whatever but missed the dialogue cue for what I wanted. Good thing I had a save.
3. Reloaded at the choice at end 'dominate or destroy' and destroyed it. Mindflayer Tav killed themselves after. Seemed 'canon' as an ending as what I neglected to mention is Laezel was my lover but got pissed and left the party/attacked when I disregarded Voss too much. Had to recruit a Dwarf Barb off Withers at the pre-endgame checkpoint. So Tav killed themselves to stop the hunger/maybe be rejoined with Laezel somehow in Sovengard/destroyed the Netherbrain-Crown etc.
Astarion remarked that he could be in sunlight in the 3rd ending. Karlach died as I hadn't done her questline. Laezel was dead in all 3 endings so nothing to see there. Gale was his usual cheery self but didn't go to see Mystra so his quest wasn't 100%. Wyll was free from his bondage so I was happy with that. Shadowheart ditched me in Act 2 because I didn't bring her to the Trials of Shar.
Next time
Will definitely go back to it in a few months but was so burnt out by the end. I need to play through on Tactician and Honour mode so that's a whole thing to look forward to. Will probably get the full endings with the companions then. I had reached level 12 early in Act 3 so kind of lost interest in seeing all quests through, but I tell myself I will have plenty to look forward to in a second or third run! Also there's all the Dark Urge stuff to do. One of those runs will be a Durge playthrough!
I'm really looking forward to the second run but am completely wiped out from BG3. Haven't binged a Christmas game like that since Twilight Princess came out on the Nintendo Wii.
Update: Tactician finished January 9th 2026
Hoo boy!
So myself and Dave played a quick co-op session on the 2nd of January 2026. I blanked again so rolled a half-orc barbarian I think. Dave was a DB Bard. We had one goal: disarm and kill Commander Zorg or whatever his name is. We did that so quickly, in less than 30 minutes or something on balanced! I think Dave managed to disarm him and I picked up the sword. Cue us walloping him. Easy! We played a little bit of the starting area but got killed in the Grove. Oops!
Second character (Tactician):
I caught the bug again. I had to roll up a new character and go through on Tactician. No regrets. I was fresh from my 90 hour Balanced playthrough where I had played all of Act 1, most of Act 2 and maybe half of Act 3. I was in just the right headspace to clear it efficiently (in about 70 hours).
I made a half-Orc Fighter with a ridiculous hairdo. A few days later I throughly enjoyed watching the adventures of 'Twilight Eclipse' on YouTube. Anyway I went gradually went Battlemaster and (shockingly for me) did not multiclass my character. I think less of the Tav as my character and more of 'my party' I am the omniscient being that guides these 4 hapless heroes to greatness more so than I am Tav. Especially because my Tav here is the Dark Urge and Bhaal's Chosen.
Fighter 12 is OK, not too exciting, plus Battlemaster is pretty damn good. Being able to trip/push/menace/goad various enemies was cool. Kind of like being a fighter who casts combat spells. I enjoy gish builds but I think all of this is just leading me to my inevitable honour mode playthrough as a Sword Bard.
I went with a Polearm/Sentinel build (very hard to give up shields for me, lover of high AC and HP) and it was OK. Sentinel/Polearm builds are praised to high heavens which might hold true on the tabletop but did not excite too much here. I think unlike my first game I didn't quite equip my characters optimally (by accident first time) so maybe I missed a step here.
The second party/companions (tactician)
Lae'zel once again made it into the main party. I had her as a Fighter until I met Karlach, then dismissed her. She had been arguably my #2 best character in my first run as a Berserker (with 3 levels of Champion) with a Great Weapon Master, Giantslayer Sword and who threw stuff occasionally. So anyway she was dismissed. After the Grove Fiasco (see below) she was BACK in my party and arguably became #1 as a Tavern Brawler, Berserker, Gloves of Hill Giant Strength Throwzerker. By the end of the game she was my most reliable hitter and arguably took party carry and MVP.
Gale was once again in my party, this time as the Hexadin and not the Light Cleric. Lmao. Some day I will run him as a Wizard. Anyway he sort of underperformed in this role - still rock solid and had the benefit of two levels of Warlock so had Repelling and Agonising Blasts. This was better than my (already excellent) OG Tav with 11 Pal 1 Warlock. But I kind of fucked up his equipment and unlock OG Tav was not doing Radiant Shockwaves with the Blood of Lathander so yeah.
Shadowheart I got second and she stayed all the way to the end, plus completed her questline! First companion I did that for. The Shar fight at the end was tough but like most of my major fights in this run, only required one replay. She took the Light Cleric 12 role Gale had held in first game. Not as stunningly impressive as the first time (especialyl by the endgame) but Wall of Fire is so good. Fireballs. Spirit Guardians kind of fell off this time but was good early on. I mistakenly used Fire Bolt/Igmiss a lot early on (based on INT which I had nerfed).
So it all worked pretty well, I was usually able to kill/shut things down first round and go from there. I should say I had all 4 party members partially-Illithid this time around. Flight is just so OP. Plus a few other powers. Having Durge use Black Hole to sweep crowds into a ball for Fireball/throwing weapons/Wall of Fire was great.
---
Astarion I recruited after a brief tussle with a knife but then killed him when he tried to take a bite out of me while I was sleeping. Rude!
Karlach WAS in the party immediately when I got her (last to recruit as usual) as the designated Barbzerker BUT she left after the Lae'zel/Grove Fiasco. I will get that Hot Date trophy one day but not today. Lae'zel took her place.
Wyll WAS in my party as the designated Hexadin but left after the Grove Fiasco. Understandable. I strongly considered a reload but the last save I had was before the (long) Grove defence so no bueno. Gale took his place.
Act 1 again singleplayer Tactician
Usual escape the Naut. I disarmed the Commander for his awesome sword for my Dark Urge. Otherwise just got the hell out of there.
Usual explore around, got Sheart, then Gale, then Laezel. That was enough to help me tackle the first Grove fight. Exploration nets a lot of experience so I searched the map and passively levelled up. I acquired Wyll and Karlach around here somewhere so Lae'zel and Gale were camp-bound forever, or so I thought. Despite it being Tactician, I found every fight much easier. I just knew what I was doing in BG3 terms and 5e terms combined.
One episode that disturbed me greatly was during a long rest in the Owlbear Cave the tiefling bard came to join the party, cool! Hadn't seen that before. Was thinking of even giving her a spin on the main roster. I woke up to find her brutally murdered. Oops! Dark Urges! It disturbed Eoghan let me tell you but Durge revelled in it.
Anyway the Grove. I told Minthara I would help them take the Grove. Karlach was mad but I told her to trust me. We go to Grove eventually and turn on the Goblins, helping the Grove defenders. Long, battering battle but Karlach landed the final shot I think. Anyway we celebrated afterward and as I had no strong relationships in particular (having rejected Gale twice lmao) I was set for sleep. But Lae'zel wanted to talk [!] so I did. She said if only I hadn't ignored her so much we'd be lovers. Fine. I did what any Half-Orc thought a Gith might appreciate and smacked her with my Sword, thinking a duel would break out or something? I was set on killing Laezel right there. Karlach ftw.
Instead, ALL the Tieflings at the party became my enemies, minus Chell, and we had to fight Zevlor (defence MVP) and all of them plus Halsin after having already exhausted ourselves from the Grove defence? So we killed them all ofc. Wyll was on the beach so joined the fight super late. Anyway immediately afterward Karlach and Wyll left the party for good! And I lived in a weird existence where some people would acknowledge my defence of the Grove against the Goblins and others would say we killed all the good guys.
Kind of fitting for a Durge playthrough but may have slightly broken the game and locked me out of a lot of content. Oh well. Also, Lae'Zel and Gale were back in to replace Wyll and Karlach who were replacing them. So the same as last time except Astarion was dead (otherwise I would have consigned him to camp forever anyway) and Shadowheart was here to stay, as planned.
I explored the Underdark to a reasonably thorough extent, I enjoyed siding with King Glut this time. The Forge Fight was a bit tough but I used the Hammer to wipe him easily. I went on to clear the Creche as usual (easier this time) and finished Act 1 at level 6 or 7. Same as last time.
Act 2 again singleplayer Tactician
I immediately killed the Goblin as usual then the Goblin scouting party, in record time. Found the Spider guy and killed him. Wiped out various mobs of Shadows and such. The Harpers blew passed me without saying hi. Rude. I went to the Light Inn and helped the demons smuggle out Isobel. Then darkness fell and all the Harpers turned so had to kill them. Jaheira was still on my side but died fighting.
I proceeded to kill the 3 Thorm baddies by talking to them. Gold Lady killed herself, Drunk drank himself to death while I told him stories and pretended to drink; Surgeon allowed his harem of nurses to perform surgery on him, killing him for me. All that was left was Ketheric (and Isobel). I cleared the Shar Trials relatively painlessly and Shadowheart elected to spare the Nightsong and dyed her hair grey. The Nightsong cleared the trash out of Moonrise for me but I still had to fight the set battle in the entrance hall versus the Warden this time: much easier and quicker this time. Up to Ketheric and he was a total joke.
Down into the depths and cleared through all the Mind flayer sludge easy enough, then came the final battle of Act 2 versus Ketheric/Isobel/Mind Flayer, then later the God of Death Myrkul. The first fight was easy after killing the Mind Flayer. Had to replay it a couple of times early into the fight to make sure he was dead first. Isobel was easy as were the Intellect Devourers/Necromites. Ketheric too.
Myrkul was grand - he wiped me the first time, but I got him handily enough the second time, a theme of this run. Wall of Fire kept eating at him. Gale hammered him with Blood of Lathander smites. Laezel walloped him. Durge shot his two hand crossbows. My Earth Elemental had killed all the Devourers, then proceeded to help hold off Myrkul. The Nightsong did a little bit of work too. A surprise honourable mention were two Mephits I had summoned: they were able to one-shot Necromite eggs. Those healing the boss had defeated me the first time. None reached him the second time. Posed for a picture then it was off to Act 3.
Act 3 again singleplayer Tactician
Baldur's Gate! 3! I immediately helped Squatters stay in the house then explored the entire region for easy experience. Bought a statue of myself for 5000 gold in the circus. Resolved the circus fights. Watched Gortash be crowned. Defeated the serial killer. Helped out the hag survivors. Boinked the Emperor. Made everyone turn half-Illithid. Killed Loroakan and robbed his vaults. Murdered the firework shop people in a poorly fought showing. Should have went smooth but I kept making mistakes, oh well, we won. But SH and Gale had to go to jail for some reason? Broke them out of jail. I completed the trial of Ansur but did not kill Ansur himself. Best left.
Went to Orin and finally used my Slayer Form in a one on one duel, Bhaal on a Pole Match. I did a good bit of damage but she wiped me out. Shit. I revivified the Dark Urge and proceeded to defeat her and her cronies, but then Bhaal rejected me and squished me to death in a cutscene, but I was fine after the cutscene? One of many weird instances this run. I reloaded and fought the duel again, no Slayer Form. Kicked her ass as Battlemaster. I went Slayer Form toward the end of the fight just to put an exclamation point on it.I also had a Deva and a Quasit but they were of minimal use.
Gale talked to Mystra who wanted the Crown, completing his quest (almost). she would not be getting it. Shadowheart went to the House of Grief and we fought a horde of enemies; the first time they grinded me down badly; when you're spending your rounds healing, you've lost. I reloaded and played it slightly differently and kicked their asses. Consulted the Mirror and got a +1 Charisma for Gale and +2 Constitution for Lae'zel. Could not get it to work for my Durge so gave up, that was a good haul.
I slightly respecced Gale at last after finally re-affirming my oath to take advantage of that +1 for 18 to start with (17+1) and earlier I had slightly optimised the other three by respeccing once again (sometime earlier in Act 3). Shadowheart got Resilient Consitution 15>16 for example. Small feat changes. Tried Tavern Brawler at last with Lae, small changes to Durge maneuvers etc.
Anyway I went to Hell and stole the Amulet of Con and Gloves of Strength. Did not fight Raphael this time. Content saving? Gave both items to Lae, negating the Mirror boost but oh well. Will optimise another time. I think in future run Honour Mode only lets you do the mirror once, which I did anyway in Tactician. Back to the mortal plane and assassinated Gortash: I flew up the side of the castle, left everyone in the belltower and then drew him to me. Fuck dealing with all the traps/bane/Steel Watchers. Took a few reloads to get the optimal opening to all this. He climbed up the ladder and two turns later he was dead. The worst part was all the stalling as the SW couldn't reach me so just took forever to flee the place. I had to collect Nyrluna as I had Lae throw it at Gortash but because combat started to fast it glitched and just lay there. Gale got it back and we all flew home.
I had been level 12 since the Shar Temple I think so my interest was dipping. Still felt good just time to end this. Still a lot of Act 3 content I've never seen so am happy enough to leave it for the next time(s). Started the finale and managed to nat 20 the brain on DC99 to get a nice debuff on it for the final final fight! Nice. No reloading required! Killed Voss before he fled like a coward so Lae was not mad at me because I took his silver sword. Nice! I was afraid she was going to leave/fight again. I had no allies other than Withers, Sorevok boost and the Nightsong. It was so quiet and empty again lmao. I skipped the courtyard fight/bombing run with an invisible Shadowheart. I kind of like both sequences but just wanted to save my energy/resources for the two final fights. The whole party was teleported up the brain stem for the finale.
Ending
Was way easier this time, by far. Everyone had fire resistance. Throwzerker Laezel on the left flank wiped out a Mind Flayer or two before dying. Gale and Djinn on the right flank killed another two eventually. The Durge held the centre and drew fire/killed soft targets. The Red Dragon never died but stood there and did minimal fire blasts to us - I initially threw stuff at him with Lae for huge damage but abandoned attacking him completely. Oh and the Shadow Party I simply Telekinesis to their deaths and/or killed easily. The Emperor completed the ritual and we all piled into the brain. Flight is so broken. Had revivified and then used Shadowheart’s Divine Intervention to heal/rest everyone inside the brain. Killed it in the 3rd round easily. Probably could have killed the Red Dragon if I wanted but best left. Gave up everything for Bhaal. Fin.
Conclusion (again)
Had way more fun the second time. Felt good to play a slightly resistant but ultimately all-in Bhaalist. Also just knowing enough about 5e myself and the Bg3 system by now that I was able to sweep through the game relatively painlessly. Honour Mode beckons.
I have 4 achievements left: Karlach date (easy?), 100gc from bard (easy), free Sazza x3 (should be fine) and beat Honour Mode (we shall see).
