But the developers fear your omnipotence

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is number 1 of the top sellers in the Steam charts when this news is released and is currently number 3 of the most played games. This exceeded all expectations of the publisher Larian Studio and although most players are not yet through with their first run, the question of DLCs and expansions is in the room. You can read here why we probably have to wait a long time for Baldur’s Gate 3 to continue and why a new level cap of 20 is unlikely.

What happened? Larian Studio’s has released an absolute gaming hit with Baldur’s Gate 3. After the publisher’s team had expected around 100,000 simultaneous players, they surprised the more than 700,000 enthusiastic gamers at times.

With such overwhelming success, the question arises as to whether the publisher will release DLC’s and other additional content for the game.

The demand for Baldur’s Gate 3 is there. Since characters in the game can “only” be upgraded up to level 12 at the moment and builds up to level 20 are even possible in the Dungeons & Dragons template, there is still a lot of potential in terms of content.

Development of an extension of Baldur’s Gate3 not yet started

Why are the chances of an early DLC release currently bad? In an interview with PC Gamer, Larian founder Sven Vincke said that development of an expansion has not yet started. That means: A DLC would still be completely at the beginning.

If Larian Studios puts the same care into a DLC as they did into the main game, which took six years to develop, that could mean a DLC release in two to three years at the earliest.

Expanding to level 20 would make players too powerful in Baldur’s Gate 3

Why is the level cap expected stay at level 12? Normally, with a DLC, it would be common to raise the level cap as well. With Baldur’s Gate 3, however, this would lead to many problems, because the role-playing game closely follows the content and rules of Dungeons & Dragons.

Between levels 13 and 20, characters in the pen-and-paper can learn some game-breaking spells. Here are three powerful examples:

  • Astral Projection: Given the appropriate materials, the caster and up to eight other willing creatures can project their souls into the Astral Sea. This place was the home of all gods.
  • foresight: The character cannot be surprised for eight hours and has advantage on attack rolls, ability rolls, and saving throws. In addition, other creatures have disadvantages on attack rolls against the target.
  • Wish: The ninth-level conjuration is the most powerful spell a mortal creature can cast, according to the Player’s Handbook. The possible effects include the complete healing of up to 20 creatures in the player’s environment, the summoning of an object worth a maximum of 25,000 gold or the subsequent change of a dice roll and the resulting change in game reality.

    • For players, these effects are of course absolutely desirable. For a game master or video game studio, however, they’re a pure balancing nightmare. The development time of a DLC would be even longer.

    Larain boss Vincke also makes it clear that when you talk about adventures in the Level 13-20 area as material for an expansion, that sounds great at first, but on closer inspection it turns out to be quite demanding. That’s why most D&D adventures are made for players under level 12.

    A more detailed insight into the choice of the level cap can be found here: Why you can only play up to level 12 in Baldur’s Gate 3 and why that’s a good thing

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