Summary
Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on Dungeons & Dragons 5e but has a maximum level of 12, not the tabletop RPG’s maximum level of 20. Expansion of the level cap is unlikely. Higher-level spells and stronger villains in late-game DnD make it challenging to continue Baldur’s Gate 3 past level 12 in a video game format. Increasing the level cap would lengthen the game and require extensive planning and development, making it difficult to create an expansion for Baldur’s Gate 3 in the future.
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on Dungeons & Dragons 5e, but reaching the maximum level of 20 isn’t possible in this video game version of the beloved tabletop RPG. The Baldur’s Gate 3 level cap is significantly reduced to level 12, which is higher than it was in the early access version of the game but doesn’t hold up against DnD’s standard. However, players shouldn’t hold onto hope that developer Larian Studios will be increasing the level cap further anytime soon through expansions or DLC.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has its roots in DnD 5e, and it’s the closest to a faithful video game adaptation that’s been made. All the same, there are some features from DnD that don’t translate well or easily into a video game format, especially one that can be played solo. The gap between level caps is only one among the many differences between Baldur’s Gate 3 and DnD, and like most of them, there’s good reason for the decision that was made. If Larian Studios does ever decide to go for a higher maximum level, there will be a lot of challenges that the studio needs to handle for it to work in a video game.
Related: “An Iconic, Engaging Mess Of Brilliant Ideas”: Baldur’s Gate 3 Review
A Higher Level Cap Would Completely Change BG3
Those who’ve taken part in a D&D campaign might already know that the higher a character’s level gets, the stronger the spells that character can access. An interview with Larian’s founder Swen Vincke from PC Gamer details the challenges of making Baldur’s Gate 3 go beyond level 12. From new villains to an even bigger game, a higher level cap would mean that BG3 would essentially have to be made into an entirely new game, as the mechanics of DnD during the late game are quite different from the mechanics that players see implemented in BG3 from early game.
High-Level D&D Spells Would Break Baldur’s Gate 3
Higher-level spells alone make continuing Baldur’s Gate 3 past level 12 difficult. As mentioned in the interview with Vincke, characters start to become more god-like as DnD progresses, so spells like wish, true resurrection, time stop, and power word kill are so strong that they have incredible effects on the world in which they’re used, a far cry from cantrips and low-level spells that tend to be much simpler in nature. To put that kind of power in a video game format would be incredibly time-consuming and require a lot of planning to implement the results of choosing to use such powerful spells.
Baldur’s Gate 3 already leaves out dispel magic for similar reasons, as considering how the game would change with the ability to widely dismiss magical effects became too troubling during development. Unlike tabletop DnD, there’s no DM to reflexively adapt to world-changing abilities, making including any of them a potential rabbit hole. Trying to replace some spells with simpler, but powerful alternatives could mitigate the damage, but it would make the game feel less like DnD 5e at high-level play than intended.
Stronger Spells Make Balance Hard In Baldur’s Gate 3
Encounter balance in Baldur’s Gate 3 has to consider the flexibility of different party compositions, as any fight should be doable with a variety of different characters or classes. At high levels, the tools that a wizard has to conquer a challenging obstacle are more radically different from a fighter’s techniques than ever, throwing a wrench into the works. Stopping short of the most powerful abilities keeps the nature of the playing field a little more even, resulting in a difficulty curve that is less likely to see random spikes depending on character choices for a campaign.
High-level gear also complicates game balance, as martial classes tend to require excellent late-game gear to remain competitive with experienced spellcasters.
In addition, higher-level spells add another layer of difficulty in that the antagonists in the game must remain threatening despite the powerful arsenal that characters have at their disposal. A foe who can’t hold their own against better skill sets is impossible to see as a problem because they’d be easy to defeat. Plus, designing an antagonist who’s that powerful brings even more challenges for the developer, since the plot will change with such a strong villain and increase the required complexity for both the players and the antagonists.
Related: Maggie Robertson On How Orin The Red Is “Always Trying To Test The Player’s Limits” In BG3
Even at an actual DnD table, it’s not uncommon for campaigns to end closer to the Baldur’s Gate 3 level 12 mark than the actual cap of level 20. It takes significantly more skill and experience as a DM to juggle the powers of a level 20 party, and finding adequate challenges that remain compelling and fit within the story can be hard. Keeping a group together for that long can be a challenge of its own, and this fundamental issue of length is one that affects Baldur’s Gate 3 as well.
A Level 20 Cap Would Make Baldur’s Gate 3 Even Longer
Baldur’s Gate 3 is already massive, and players can invest hundreds of hours in the game. Increasing the level cap would affect both of these aspects, as players would need more opportunities to gain experience. Those who play DnD are likely already familiar with the amount of effort that goes into a campaign that reaches level 20, and that’s where imagination, figurines, reference images, and static maps are usually the extent of immersion in the world of the tabletop game. Transferring that experience into a video game format would be a monumental task for developers.
Related: Baldur’s Gate 3: How Using D&D 5e Changes The Game From BG 2
Another issue that arises with a higher level cap is the lack of a human dungeon master orchestrating the game as it unfolds. Baldur’s Gate 3 gives plenty of options, but they’re pre-programmed so that the paths are already created to fit players’ possible choices. Aside from being longer, the choices players would have to make would grow, especially with spells like wish, where its application has few limitations. As a result, the hours needed to beat Baldur’s Gate 3 would increase alongside the time it would take to create an expansion to the game that adds more levels.
Will Baldur’s Gate 3 Have A DLC Expansion?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Vincke said in his interview that an expansion to Baldur’s Gate 3 is not currently being worked on, and it’s unlikely that will change moving forward. He left open the possibility that Larian Studios could return and add more content, but after laying out the reasons behind the decision, it makes sense as to why the logistics of creating such an expansion could be a deterrent, even if there’s interest from players and possibly even the development team. At this point, it would be better to assume that there won’t be a BG3 expansion in the future.
As Vincke said, he has other projects for the studio to work on, including a hope to return to the Divinity franchise. He wants the team to have the freedom to try projects but be able to drop them if the idea doesn’t work in practice. It’s possible that the team could return to the universe of Baldur’s Gate, but it’s also possible that the content they create doesn’t work out the way they want, and it’s never released. Understandably, Vincke is hesitant to announce any new projects, although it can be a bit of a disappointment to players who anticipate the next journey that Larian Studios will take them on.
Despite spending years in early access, Baldur’s Gate 3 had a successful launch with its full release, recently racking up a host of 2023 Game Awards nominations. It truly captures the experience of a DnD campaign put into a video game, but it has limitations that prevent developers from going beyond level 12, which is certainly a reasonable decision given the mechanics of late-game DnD. Larian Studios does still plan to create more adventures for players to undertake after Baldur’s Gate 3 despite the lack of any current announcements regarding DLC, but it might be best not to count on more to do in Faerûn.
Source: PC Gamer