Beginner’s Guide to Baldur’s Gate 3: Classes, Companions & Combat

Starting Baldur’s Gate 3 can feel overwhelming. With twelve classes, dozens of subclasses, and a branching narrative that reacts to almost every decision, the first few hours present more choices than most RPGs offer in their entirety. This guide covers the essentials: choosing your first class, managing your party, and understanding the combat system built on Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules.

Choosing Your First Class

Your class determines your role in combat and, to a lesser extent, your dialogue options. Fighters and Paladins are the most forgiving for newcomers. Fighters get multiple attacks, self-healing through Second Wind, and heavy armor proficiency. Paladins combine martial prowess with healing spells and devastating smites.

Spellcasters like Wizards and Sorcerers offer incredible power but require understanding spell slots, concentration, and positioning. If you want magic without the complexity, consider a Warlock, which operates on a simplified spellcasting system with fewer slots that recharge on short rests.

Rogues reward careful positioning. Sneak Attack deals massive damage when you have advantage or an ally adjacent to your target. A Rogue who understands when to engage and when to hide will consistently outdamage most other classes in single-target situations.

Your First Companions

You meet Shadowheart, Astarion, Gale, Lae’zel, Wyll, and Karlach in Act One. Each fills a distinct role. Shadowheart is your primary healer as a Cleric. Lae’zel is a devastating Fighter. Astarion provides Rogue utility. Gale handles arcane damage as a Wizard.

A balanced party typically includes one frontline martial character, one healer, one damage-dealer, and one utility character. Your own class should complement what your chosen companions provide.

Understanding D&D 5E Combat

Every attack, spell, and skill check in BG3 uses a d20 roll modified by your relevant ability score and proficiency bonus. To hit an enemy, your attack roll must meet or exceed their Armor Class. Spells that require saving throws force the target to roll against your Spell Save DC.

Advantage and disadvantage are the most important mechanics to understand. Having advantage means you roll two d20s and take the higher result. Disadvantage means you take the lower. High ground grants advantage on ranged attacks. Attacking from stealth grants advantage. Standing in certain environmental hazards imposes disadvantage.

Action economy matters enormously. Each turn you get one Action, one Bonus Action, and Movement. Some abilities like the Fighter’s Action Surge grant additional Actions. Efficient use of your action economy separates competent players from great ones.

Essential Early Game Tips

Save often. BG3 does not autosave frequently, and some decisions have immediate, irreversible consequences. Quicksave before important conversations and before combat encounters.

Explore thoroughly. Hidden treasures, secret passages, and optional encounters are everywhere. The game rewards curiosity with powerful equipment, additional experience, and narrative depth.

Long rests advance companion storylines and restore all your resources, but they also advance certain time-sensitive quests. Short rests are free and restore some HP and certain class abilities. Use short rests liberally between fights.

Read item descriptions and tooltips. BG3 provides detailed information about everything if you hover over it. Understanding what your abilities actually do prevents costly mistakes in combat.

For more class-specific strategies, see our Paladin build guide and our spellcaster tips for RPG combat.

Managing Difficulty

BG3 offers three difficulty levels. Explorer is designed for players who want to focus on the story with minimal combat challenge. Balanced is the intended experience, where encounters are fair but demand engagement with the systems. Tactician adds boss legendary actions, smarter AI, and increased enemy stats, creating a significantly harder experience that rewards deep tactical play.

You can change difficulty at any time outside of Honour Mode. Start on Balanced and adjust if you find combat too easy or too frustrating. There is no shame in lowering difficulty for a specific encounter and raising it back afterward.

Multiclassing Basics

At each level up, you can choose to take a level in a different class instead of continuing your current one. Multiclassing is powerful but risky for beginners. A common effective multiclass is taking two levels of Fighter on any character for Action Surge, which grants an additional action once per short rest. This is universally powerful regardless of your primary class.

Avoid multiclassing before level 5 on martial classes or level 6 on full casters unless you have a specific plan. The abilities gained at these levels, Extra Attack for martial classes and 3rd-level spells for casters, are too important to delay without good reason.