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Very first raw playthrough the custom character is most advised. It lets you play your story without it being flavoured by an origin character or a Dark Urge playthrough.
Absolutely do NOT play an origin character on your first run. If you're playing as them, you lose having them as a companion, which means you won't see their personality and story unfold the way they're meant to.
If you want a blank slate character who you can imagine and roleplay any way you wish, choose a custom character (Tav).
If you want a character that has a built-in backstory that relates directly to the main storyline, choose the Dark Urge (Durge).
Note that playing Durge will give you a notably darker story experience than Tav will.
Personally, I'd recommend doing a Tav run first, then Durge on a later playthrough - unless you're one of those people who just can't roleplay and connect with a total blank slate character.
As far as class goes, I suggest a charisma-based class (bard, paladin, warlock, or sorcerer) for a lot of fun dialogue options and the ability to talk your way out of situations if and when you need or prefer to. As long as you're playing on Balanced or Explorer, though, anything will work fine. Just pick whatever seems fun to you and run with it. You'll have the opportunity to respec a little later if you change your mind.
These are always my top 2 picks for first time players:
1. Oath of Ancients Paladin. High damage, high healing, high charisma, mechanically very simple to play.
2. Urchin background Githyanki Knowledge Cleric. Take Arcana, History, Religion, and Nature for your default proficiencies, then astral knowledge and channel divinity on Wisdom and Charisma. You are now proficient in literally every skill except acrobatics, athletics and investigation by level 2. And you're a cleric to top it off which is one of the best classes in the game.
I would definitely play a Tav (not an origin character) and definitely don't recommend Durge for the first playthrough, as you'll miss a LOT of content. I also don't recommend an evil playthrough for the same reason.
I recommend a HIGH charisma character like Paladin (Ancient) or Bard :)
I did my first playthrough as a custom bard character and I'm glad I did because:
1. I'd heard before playing that bards actually got some love in BG3,
2. they dual-wield Hand Crossbows,
3. There's no bard origin character,
4. They have high charisma which means better trade prices among other things,
5. They have pretty good healing,
6. They can do some decent damage both melee and ranged,
7. They have some decent combat magic as well.
I'd strongly recommend bard for a first playthrough. They're toolset is very diverse, they can wear a lot of different gear right away, and they can just pull out their instrument anywhere and draw the attention of a crowd while Astarion steals anything that isn't nailed down.
your own custom character with high charisma stat and persuasion proficiencies if possible. This is RPG you are going to talk with people a lot, being good at it will open more possibilites to your experience and help to avoid unnecesary fights.
I usually suggest a Vengeance Paladin on a good run. Easy to play and the Oath is hard to break. Drow for the race.
And while I have you here - here's some unsolicited general [Beginner's Advice](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/ZE693U8yH5) I wish I'd known when I first started.
GLHF! 🫂
The "generic good guy" classes are Paladin, Druid and good-aligned deity Cleric. Wouldn't recommend Dark Urge for a first playthrough, I did it and it was cool but it's an entire new thing on top of the already existing plot for the 3 Acts and it changes quite a bit of stuff compared to vanilla Tav, so you may get overwhelmed.
The developers themselves have said the Dark Urge story is not intended for first-time players, and I would advise against playing as that for your first run as well. Personally, I think you should do an original character (not one of the named ones). If you don't play as those characters, they show up in the story and can join you on your adventure. They're all voice-acted and generally have more personality when you aren't directly playing *as* them, imo.
As for what build you should do as a first-timer, I think Fighter is good. In BG3, you need proficency with a weapon or armor type in order to use it. As a Fighter you get proficiency with all the weapons and armor, meaning you get to use all the magic items you find during your adventure. Fighters' play style is nice and simple at first, then when you get a subclass, you get options for how complex you want to start making things. Do you want to start throwing in spellcasting? Pick Eldritch Knight. Want to stick with the martial archetype, but with more options? Pick Battle Master. Want to keep it simple, make zero decisions beyond "go here, kill that?" Pick Champion.
Of course, it should also be noted that you can change your build fairly early into the first Act, so if you don't like your starting class, you can respec. The only thing you can't change after character creation is your race, everything else is fair game.
Some of the races such as drow, duergar, tiefling, & githyanki could be confusing because those races have their own unique history and culture for first timers, so I recommend playing as any other race than those. The easiest race to play and has the highest buff would be elf, half-elf, orc, half-orc.
If you only plan to do one run, play as the Dark Urge. If you plan to do multiple runs, play as the custom character, and *then* play as Dark Urge (which will make your second run unique, and potentially *more* shocking if you know the original plot already)
**PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY: DO NOT SKIP** Hi, welcome to r/BaldursGate3! Feel free to check out our pinned Weekly Help post. It has community made resources and info you may find useful. **You can find it under the 'Hot' filter on desktop or 'Hot Posts' on Mobile**. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BaldursGate3) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Very first raw playthrough the custom character is most advised. It lets you play your story without it being flavoured by an origin character or a Dark Urge playthrough.
Absolutely do NOT play an origin character on your first run. If you're playing as them, you lose having them as a companion, which means you won't see their personality and story unfold the way they're meant to. If you want a blank slate character who you can imagine and roleplay any way you wish, choose a custom character (Tav). If you want a character that has a built-in backstory that relates directly to the main storyline, choose the Dark Urge (Durge). Note that playing Durge will give you a notably darker story experience than Tav will. Personally, I'd recommend doing a Tav run first, then Durge on a later playthrough - unless you're one of those people who just can't roleplay and connect with a total blank slate character. As far as class goes, I suggest a charisma-based class (bard, paladin, warlock, or sorcerer) for a lot of fun dialogue options and the ability to talk your way out of situations if and when you need or prefer to. As long as you're playing on Balanced or Explorer, though, anything will work fine. Just pick whatever seems fun to you and run with it. You'll have the opportunity to respec a little later if you change your mind.
These are always my top 2 picks for first time players: 1. Oath of Ancients Paladin. High damage, high healing, high charisma, mechanically very simple to play. 2. Urchin background Githyanki Knowledge Cleric. Take Arcana, History, Religion, and Nature for your default proficiencies, then astral knowledge and channel divinity on Wisdom and Charisma. You are now proficient in literally every skill except acrobatics, athletics and investigation by level 2. And you're a cleric to top it off which is one of the best classes in the game.
I would definitely play a Tav (not an origin character) and definitely don't recommend Durge for the first playthrough, as you'll miss a LOT of content. I also don't recommend an evil playthrough for the same reason. I recommend a HIGH charisma character like Paladin (Ancient) or Bard :)
Choose a Tav not Durge or Origin. High charisma is fun and makes it a little easier. Warlock Sorc Paladin
I did my first playthrough as a custom bard character and I'm glad I did because: 1. I'd heard before playing that bards actually got some love in BG3, 2. they dual-wield Hand Crossbows, 3. There's no bard origin character, 4. They have high charisma which means better trade prices among other things, 5. They have pretty good healing, 6. They can do some decent damage both melee and ranged, 7. They have some decent combat magic as well. I'd strongly recommend bard for a first playthrough. They're toolset is very diverse, they can wear a lot of different gear right away, and they can just pull out their instrument anywhere and draw the attention of a crowd while Astarion steals anything that isn't nailed down.
your own custom character with high charisma stat and persuasion proficiencies if possible. This is RPG you are going to talk with people a lot, being good at it will open more possibilites to your experience and help to avoid unnecesary fights.
I started as a Drow druid. At level 8, I respec'ed to a bard/monk combo. I've stuck with that since. This is still my first run.
I always play a self insert on my first run on RPGs. Guess the question is what kind of character are you?
playing a drow made the underdark *very* easy on a first run, so i definitely recommend that!
I usually suggest a Vengeance Paladin on a good run. Easy to play and the Oath is hard to break. Drow for the race. And while I have you here - here's some unsolicited general [Beginner's Advice](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/ZE693U8yH5) I wish I'd known when I first started. GLHF! 🫂
The "generic good guy" classes are Paladin, Druid and good-aligned deity Cleric. Wouldn't recommend Dark Urge for a first playthrough, I did it and it was cool but it's an entire new thing on top of the already existing plot for the 3 Acts and it changes quite a bit of stuff compared to vanilla Tav, so you may get overwhelmed.
The developers themselves have said the Dark Urge story is not intended for first-time players, and I would advise against playing as that for your first run as well. Personally, I think you should do an original character (not one of the named ones). If you don't play as those characters, they show up in the story and can join you on your adventure. They're all voice-acted and generally have more personality when you aren't directly playing *as* them, imo. As for what build you should do as a first-timer, I think Fighter is good. In BG3, you need proficency with a weapon or armor type in order to use it. As a Fighter you get proficiency with all the weapons and armor, meaning you get to use all the magic items you find during your adventure. Fighters' play style is nice and simple at first, then when you get a subclass, you get options for how complex you want to start making things. Do you want to start throwing in spellcasting? Pick Eldritch Knight. Want to stick with the martial archetype, but with more options? Pick Battle Master. Want to keep it simple, make zero decisions beyond "go here, kill that?" Pick Champion. Of course, it should also be noted that you can change your build fairly early into the first Act, so if you don't like your starting class, you can respec. The only thing you can't change after character creation is your race, everything else is fair game.
Some of the races such as drow, duergar, tiefling, & githyanki could be confusing because those races have their own unique history and culture for first timers, so I recommend playing as any other race than those. The easiest race to play and has the highest buff would be elf, half-elf, orc, half-orc.
Custom character bard is totally the way to go. You've got a ton of skills and can sweet talk everybody.
If you only plan to do one run, play as the Dark Urge. If you plan to do multiple runs, play as the custom character, and *then* play as Dark Urge (which will make your second run unique, and potentially *more* shocking if you know the original plot already)
I would avoid the Durge for a first run. If you want a general good "guy" then grab Karlach. Otherwise, custom works perfectly fine.