Baldur’s Gate 3’s level cap is unusually low

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Coming soon, Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the most anticipated games on Steam that has great expectations to live up to. Only one thing surprises some fans: the level cap is 12. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus is an enthusiastic Dungeons & Dragons player and explains why it has to be like this.

This is the maximum level in Baldur’s Gate 3:

  • You can get up to level 12 in Baldur’s Gate 3. Originally only level 10 was planned.
  • The level is tied to the character, so it doesn’t matter which or how many of the 12 available classes you play.
  • That’s not much compared to other roleplaying games. Even the template D&D and Pathfinder games offer 20 levels or more.

    • Why exactly was level 12 chosen? In Dungeons & Dragons you get new bonuses at different levels. More happens at some “breaking points” than at others. Level 12 is one of them.

    Here, for the third time, you will be given the opportunity to increase your attribute scores or select a talent. This will make your character significantly stronger, depending on how well you planned beforehand.

    Another breaking point that is more important for most classes is at level 13:

  • the practice bonus increases from 4 to 5
  • most spell classes learn their first spell at rank 7
  • Rogues gain an additional die for their sneak attacks
  • some archetypes/subclasses get new abilities

    • Developer Larian hasn’t officially commented on this, but as a D&D player I know that from level 13 it’s all about getting really strong. And while it may be a bit disappointing, the 12 limit probably makes sense for the game.

    You don’t need a high level for the most interesting scenes in the game:

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    You are only heroes, not gods

    Probably the most important reason for the level cap is the available spells. Larian is pretty strict about the rulebook, and even rank 7 spells can be absurdly strong.

    Bards, for example, receive the “Dream of the Blue Veil” here, through which the whole group can switch to another plane of reality, insofar as there is a connection there. Without spoiling it: if you know the intro, you know that this would be a big problem for the story. Even worse would be rank 9 spells, available at level 17. There are things like:

  • Power Word Death: Kills a target with less than 100 health with no real chance for them to fight back.
  • Wish: Does pretty much what the name says, grant a wish. The most powerful spell in the game.
  • Mighty Fortress (actually level 8): Creates a castle with walls, turrets, a mansion, rooms for the party, servants, and enough food for a nine-course banquet for 100 people a day. Doesn’t sound “powerful” but would be absurd in game.
  • more than 400 spells are even still unknown

    • In addition, you can build your own classes in Baldur’s Gate 3 by combining several classes. This is already a popular strategy in D&D, but it can lead to characters that are too strong, especially for experts. In short: from level 12 you are no longer legendary heroes, but become demigods.

    If you do it right, you will find combinations that are simply unfair. That already existed in pen and paper, but it was only possible to “patch it out” slowly. In order to avoid “game breaking” bugs, Larian would probably have had to continue developing for several years. However, it is possible that DLCs will increase the level.

    While I personally would have loved to see “wish” working properly in a video game, things like that only work properly when you can discuss them with the master and not with a fixed code. And level 12 is certainly enough for enough hours of play:

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