Baldur's Gate 3 Beginner's Guide

Baldur's Gate 3 is a deep Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, but its opening hours get far friendlier once you know which class to pick, how a turn works, and why resting matters. This guide walks through the handful of early decisions that make the biggest difference for a brand-new player.

Pick a forgiving first class

If this is your first CRPG, choose a class that survives mistakes rather than one that demands perfect planning. Fighter is the classic recommendation: it wears heavy armour, hits reliably in melee, and its Action Surge lets you take a second attack action in one turn, so you rarely feel stuck. Life Cleric is the other great pick because it pairs heavy armour with strong healing and the Bless spell, which adds a bonus to your whole party's attack rolls and saving throws.

Paladin suits players who also want to lead conversations, since it starts with high Charisma for dialogue checks while still tanking on the front line. Whatever you choose, remember that nothing is permanent: you can completely rebuild your character later at camp, so treat your first pick as a starting point rather than a life sentence.

Build a party that covers every job

You control up to four characters at once, and a good group is less about any single class and more about covering roles. You want a durable front-liner to soak hits, a healer or support to keep everyone standing, a spellcaster for area damage and battlefield control, and someone with high Dexterity and Sleight of Hand to pick locks and disarm traps.

The story companions you meet in Act 1 map neatly onto these roles: Shadowheart is a cleric, Gale is a wizard, Astarion is a rogue, Lae'zel is a fighter, and Wyll is a warlock. A comfortable beginner line-up is your own character plus Shadowheart, Gale, and Astarion, which covers healing, magic, and utility in one stroke. You can swap companions freely at camp to match the fight ahead.

Understand dice and the action economy

Nearly every meaningful outcome, in and out of combat, is decided by a twenty-sided die roll plus a modifier from your ability scores. During character creation you spend 27 points to set six abilities between 8 and 15, then add racial bonuses on top; put your highest numbers in the stat your class relies on, which is Strength or Dexterity for martials, Wisdom for clerics, Intelligence for wizards, and Charisma for paladins, warlocks, and bards.

In combat each character gets one Action, one Bonus Action, and a pool of Movement per turn, plus Reactions that trigger on specific events like an enemy leaving your reach. Learning to spend all three resources every turn, for example moving into position, attacking with your Action, and shoving with your Bonus Action, is the single biggest skill jump a new player can make.

Rest often, save often, talk to everyone

Resources here are meant to be spent and then refilled, so do not hoard them. A Short Rest, available twice between long rests, restores up to half your health and recharges abilities like Action Surge without leaving the field. A Long Rest at camp costs 40 Camp Supplies, fully restores health and spell slots, and, crucially, triggers story and companion cutscenes that only play when you sleep, so rest whenever a fight leaves you low or you have made real progress.

Save manually before big conversations and risky jumps, since a single bad dice roll can change the story. Finally, explore thoroughly and speak to everyone: many of the best quests, items, and companions are found by wandering off the obvious path rather than beelining the main objective.

Your first hours, step by step

1. Finish the tutorial aboard the Nautiloid, which teaches shoving, jumping, and using the environment.
2. On the beach and around the crash site, recruit Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Astarion, and Gale as you explore.
3. Enter the Dank Crypt in the Overgrown Ruins and interact with the sarcophagus to wake Withers, who then joins your camp.
4. Head to the Emerald Grove, meet Wyll, and begin the questlines around the tiefling refugees and the goblins.
5. Take your first Long Rest as soon as you have supplies, and keep resting to unlock camp conversations.
6. Explore the wider map before advancing the main story, and pick up Karlach on the Risen Road to the north.