10 Beginners Mistakes to Avoid in Baldur’s Gate 3

I wasted 100 hours making these Baldur’s Gate 3 mistakes – from bad ability scores, hoarding consumables, missing permanent bonuses, and failing in combat – these are the 10 BIGGEST Mistakes to avoid in BG3!

Avoid These 10 Beginner’s Mistakes in BG3

Below are the most common mistakes beginners make in BG3 and how to avoid them:

1. Ignoring Origin Characters
2. Mismanaging Ability Scores
3. Skipping Shield Proficiency
4. Playing Without a Clear Goal
5. Not Starting Combat with Surprise
6. Not Pre-Buffing Before Fights
7. Missing Permanent Bonuses
8. Not Equipping a Ranged Weapon
9. Avoiding Tadpole Powers
10. Running an Unbalanced Party

1. Ignoring Origin Characters (Especially Dark Urge)

I played through BG3 about 5 times before trying a different Origin Character, specifically the Dark Urge. I was always afraid of being locked into a unique story (bad guy) with a background (Haunted One) that I couldn’t change. However, what I soon discovered was the Dark Urge Origin Character is not only a unique way to play BG3 all over again due to it’s story, but you become much more powerful early in Act 1.

Shortly in Act 1, you are visited by Sceleritas Fel while at your campsite resting. He gifts you the Deathstalker Mantle cloak, which is one of the only cloaks in Act 1. The cloak’s unique effect Shadow Itself: Once per turn, when you kill an enemy, shroud yourself in primeval darkness to become Invisible Invisible for 2 turns. This turns your main character into an invisible nightmare for the enemies and makes solo and honour mode runs much easier.

But that’s not it for Dark Urge, you get even more power, like the ability to transform into Salyer once per long rest with a bonus action, and gain 153 hit points at level 10! Imagine, just about being dead, only to use a bonus action and gain 153 hit points! It’s that powerful.

All of this to say, if it’s your first time playing BG3, I would recommend Dark Urge. If you’ve never beaten honour mode or have played the same boring Tav 20 times, trust me, you want to try Dark Urge not only for the power but unique experience in the story. BG3 feels like a brand new game with this Origin Character.

2. Mismanaging Even vs Odd Ability Scores

In Baldur’s Gate 3, you only get bonuses at even intervals on your ability scores. A 17 Strength provides the same bonus as a 16 (+3). In character creation you need to make a decision about your ability score, should you set your main stat to 17 or 16?

The best path for pure performance is setting one ability score as an odd number, say 17. Then, in Act 1, defeat Auntie Ethel and take her “hair” for a permanent +1 bonus. This hits 18 (+4) early. Combine this with a Feat at Level 4 and the Mirror of Loss in Act 3 to reach a permanent 22 in your main stat. An example ability score for a Gloom Stalker Ranger Multiclass build might look like this:

• STR: 8
• DEX: 17
• CON: 16
• INT: 8
• WIS: 14
• CHA: 10

That build can hit 18 Dex, take the Sharpshooter Feat at level 4, and Graceful Cloth chest and reach 20 Dexterity all in Act 1.

Auntie Ethel’s Hair is done in the Sunlight Wetlands if you get her to surrender and bargain for her life. Magic Missile is helpful during this fight to hit the illusions. If you screw this up and forget to do this prior to leaving Act 1, just make sure you respec your ability scores to even numbers.

Also note, this doesn’t apply to every build. For instance, a Throw Barbarian Build takes the Tavern Brawler feat which gives a special feature and a +1 to ability score. For this build and Monks, you want two odd numbers in character creation, but in general have your main stat odd, and get this bonus for a huge boost to your overall performance in BG3.

Check out our Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Builds video!

3. Skipping Shield Proficiency on Spellcasters

Have you ever started BG3 only to have your spellcasters get nuked every combat encounter? Then don’t skip out on shield proficiency at level 1. Either the Human or Half-Elf racial bonus grants you Shield Proficiency regardless of class. Combine this with 16 dexterity ability score in character creation for a +3 AC in clothing. Then, cast Mage Armor every time after a long rest for another +3 AC, and equip a shield for yet another +2.

Now within minutes of the playing BG3, your squishy spellcaster will have 18 AC, if you steal a shield from a corpse in the tutorial. I’m embarrassed to say this, but I didn’t know you could equip a quarterstaff with a shield! You lose nothing, and don’t have to multiclass to get this bonus. I’d recommend Wood Half-Elf because they gain 1.5 meter movement per turn and this is a massive bonus especially at early levels where movement is key.

A couple of extra tips here if you still struggle or choose the wrong race at the start. You can get the Bracers of Defence in the Apothecary’s Cellar, located in the Blighted Village. This is the same place you start the Necromancy of Thay quest. This grants a +2 AC if you’re not wearing armour or a shield.

The second tip is getting Mirror Image scroll or spell and combine it with Blur scroll or spell. These two spells “stack” and can be used just prior to combat when you know your squishy Sorc is going to be targeted. You will be nearly impossible to hit for at least one turn.

If that weren’t enough tips, one more but will keep the title the same. Always take the Shield spell early. This will trigger a reaction and grant a +5 AC bonus for one turn and stacks with your 18 AC bonus. With 23 AC, you will be nearly impossible to hit, and feel much more confident to survival annoying Act 1 encounters with your Wizard or Sorcerer.

4. Playing Without a Clear Early-Game Goal

After doing a few honour run playthroughs, I realized just how important it is to have a clear goal at the start of the game. I had one honour run mode where Lae’zel went off to talk to her Githyanki pals under the bridge in Act 1. You know the fight. Only to have my entire team dragged into the fight, stunned, and dead. I was left slamming my keyboard and blaming my failure on Githyanki betrayal. This tragic story has a point, get higher levels early before attempting the hard act 1 fights.

Your biggest power surges happen at level 3 if your class hasn’t chosen a subclass, level 4 for a feat, then finally level 5 with extra attack and level 3 spells. Therefore, your goal is to spend your early hours doing non-combat quests (talking, exploring) to hit Level 3 or 4 before tackling the major boss fights. If you’re struggling, you aren’t bad; you’re just under-leveled.

Step one is to do everything in the tutorial. One critical piece is to free Us, this critter can become a summonable companion in Act 2 (more on this later). Make sure to free Shadowheart and kill all the extra creatures you can to earn every ounce of EXP. Next, once you drop off at the beach, your primary objective becomes getting the companions, solving the Dank Crypt area, then Emerald Grove.

In terms of Companions order, go with Astarion (no combat required), Gale (no combat), and Lae’zel (can be combat). This will give you a full squad along with Shadowheart. Then head to Dank Crypt where you unlock Withers, complete that section and head to Emerald Grove. Do all the dialogue, talk to literally everyone because there is tons of experience just for conversations.

After this section, you can do some high experience quest without combat if you know the proper ways to deal with enemies like Owlbear Cave. However, what I do is the Blighted Village section talking your way through the Goblins and Wind Mill. One room contains the Apothecary’s Cellar with tons of loot and a high passage where you can recruit Shovel as an NPC.

If you do all of this area, you should be at level 3 at least. From here, you be much more powerful before tackling other challenges. Below is a chart of what you should do before level 4-5 and what to avoid:

5. Not Starting Combat with Surprise

People often ask what’s the biggest tip you can give someone for improving their combat performance and BG3, and it’s this simple: start in stealth, shoot an arrow, and trigger surprise. If you know a fight is going to occur, never yolo into it only to trigger a cutscene and combat. Instead, break off one individual character, typically a Ranger/Rogue with a Long or Shortbow. Crouch to go in stealth, and enter turn base mode if you’re close to red blob that indicates someone’s attention. Move to the edge and hit a target to trigger the Surprise status.

The Surprise status effect gives you one free round of combat, before even doing initiative dice rolls. If you did this properly and you see “surprise” above each enemy’s head, then sneak your remaining party into combat and have them attack with a range option if possible.

You can even send scouts ahead, like the Ranger level 1 Find Familiar spell. Not every combat encounter will you be able to do this, but most of them you can especially if this is your second time playing the game. For honour mode runs, you can even leave one character back just in case you miss or something goes awfully wrong.

For those honour mode runs, make sure to keep a potion of invisibility on you. If you’re the last character in your party, use a bonus action to consume it and move as far away from combat as possible. You can eventually flee and resurrect your allies from death. While costly, it’s better than a party wipe.

6. Not Pre-Buffing Before Fights

Another big mistake players make in combat is not pre-buffing. Let’s assume you know a combat encounter is going to occur, so you now are going to sneak and trigger surprise. Great, but one extra layer to that is pre-buffing. Most players don’t take the time to apply oils to their weapons. Something like Oil of Accuracy helps you increase the percentage chance to land an attack and stacks with Bless. It last 10 turns, while Drow Poison can put enemies to sleep.

You also want to drink Elixirs which last until long rest. Bloodlust, Hill Giant Strength, Heroism, Peerless Focus, Vigilance, Colossus, each of these adds massive bonuses and should be taken, especially before hard fights.

Lastly, don’t forget to pre-buff with spells like Bless, Shield of Faith, Longstrider, Mage Armor, Mirror Image, Blur, Etc. Enter turn-based mode, go into each character and apply an oil and or elixir, then cast spells. You may need to end turn and cycle through one or two turns to get all the buffs running. You do turn base mode so three turns don’t fly by while you’re fumbling through character screens and inventory. Then when you’re ready, sneak up with a Ranger and initiate combat and you’ll be much more prepared.

End Game Pre-Buff

You can cheese this pre-buff sort of gameplay even further at end-game. What I do is getting one specific hireling either a Druid or Cleric whose sole job is to pre-buff. I dismiss one companion and bring him in.

• Heroes’ Feast level 6 spell for increase HP and Wisdom Saving throw advantage
• Longstrider with a Ranger on every character
• Aid with a level 5 spell for increase HP
• Freedom of Movement to help with stuns and terrain
• Death Ward so if you get downed you pop up with 1 HP
• Darkvision for any character without it due to race

Do this for a massive boost in HP. Just before the fight starts, cast Bless or anything with concentration and remember to cast any summoning creatures so you don’t waste an action on turn one.

7. Missing Permanent Bonuses and Free Power

Did you know that BG3 has tons of permanent bonuses that offer free power as early as Act 1? Well, of course you did, because I’ve mentioned it multiple times and said I would talk about that later! Even as early as the Prologue, you need to focus on these key permanent bonuses, which help your character regardless of build.

The first bonus you should seek is Find Familiar: Scratch. Recruit him after meeting him in the wilderness near Owlbear Nest coordinates X: 69 Y: 476. You want a high Wisdom character like Shadowheart to initiate speech with Scratch. You can use the spell or elixir Speak with Animals and pass various speech checks here. Your goal is to make him calm and return to your camp where you can convince Scratch to join you permanently and summon him. While it doesn’t seem like a lot, you can summon this low HP critter and have him move to enemies you expect to attack to give the target a disadvantage.

Auntie Ethel’s Hair – +1 to Any Ability Score. Complete Auntie Ethel’s quest in the Sunlit Wetlands. Lets you start with an odd ability score and later round it out for higher accuracy, damage, AC, and initiative. Do not kill Auntie Ethel as you encounter her, you can use command spell instead. During the fight use up-cast Magic Missile to hit projections or examine which will help you determine which she is. 20% below HP and she will trigger dialogue where you can bargain to save her life.

Awakened – Illithid Powers as Bonus Action – this is done in a chair within Githyanki Creche via NPC Zaith’isk. It allows you to use Illithid powers as a Bonus Action. However, it’s a massive amount of speech checks to pass and you can either save scum to pass them all, or pre-buff with tons of spells to help with dialogue and cross your fingers. Getting this bonus helps you Mind Blast or Black Hole spell at end-game with a bonus action.

Without going over all of the bonuses, just realize the Necromancy of Thay area has two in Act 1, Cheeky Quasit a permanent summon called Shovel and a late game spell that is unlocked in Act 3. Spend the extra time to unlock these at least for a huge advantage in your entire campaign.

8. Not Equipping a Ranged Weapon on Melee Builds

Another mistake players make is not equipping a ranged weapon, regardless of whether they are a spellcaster or a melee player. Even if you’re not proficient in the weapon, you still get the bonuses. Only if you’re not proficient in armor does it cut off spellcasting, not weapons.

Therefore, look to always equip a back bar or range weapon just for the bonuses. In Act 1, the Bow of Awareness grants +1 to initiative, which is super helpful for lower dexterity clerics or fighters. Act 3 has the Hellrider’s Longbow which grants a +3 to initiative. Act 2 has the Darkfire short bow which grants resistance to both fire and ice!

But there are many more, and you can get creative. Hunting Shortbow can be found super early and it grants Hunter’s Mark spell once per long rest. Even if you never intend to fire a shot, having this on a Fighter just to mark a target with a bonus action can add DPS where otherwise you couldn’t. Look for any range weapons that you can equip just for bonuses on all of your characters.

9. Avoiding Tadpole Powers

Early in Act 1 you’re confronted with a parasite and an inner voice begging you to consume it. Most players wonder what the trade offs are and never consume the Tadpole, but if your goal is power, you need to do it. There are almost zero negative narrative consequences for using the basic tadpole powers. Powers like Cull the Weak (instantly kills low-health enemies) and Luck of the Far Realms (guaranteed critical hit) are too powerful to ignore for roleplay fears.

Later in the game, there are more consequential choices. Specifically, at the end of Act 2, you can take the Astral-Touched Tadpole. This unlocks some of the most powerful abilities in the game, but also makes your character change permanently. Yes, you will look ugly with darken veins and color all of your character. But who cares when you can cast Black Hole!

This obscenely overpowered spell sucks in enemies and slows them plus it recharges on short rest. You can use this with a bonus action if you didn’t skip ahead and learned about the Awakened bonus. Imagine a turn where you suck in an entire group of enemies, only to waste them with a mega fireball? Yeah, this is totally worth it.

10. Running an Unbalanced Party

Baldur’s Gate 3 REALLY, and I mean REALLY wants you to use companions specifically Astarion, Gale, and Shadowheart. Unless you’re familiar with the game and know all the OP builds, you should have a balanced party, especially for dialogue and exploration, not just combat. Don’t just run all heavy hitting Fighter’s with zero utility outside of combat.

A well-rounded party solves problems before combat starts. Ideally, you want:

• A Dexterity character for stealth, traps, and theft – I prefer the Ranger over the Rogue because it’s nearly as effective but with extra attack and better weapon and armor options. I usually ditch Astarion and respec Lae’zel to a Ranger even though she yolo’s off in Act 1.
• An Intelligence character for Arcana and Investigation – while I prefer Sorcerers in combat, having a high intelligence Wizard with skills that help exploring is critical. Another advantage of the Wizard is they can learn any spell by consuming spellbooks. So you always have everything at your fingertips and the utility is nice outside of combat.
• A Wisdom character for Perception and Insight – the no brainer character her is Shadowheart, with Perception and Insight being the two most important skills while exploring in my opinion. Make sure to get skill proficiency in these when possible.
• A Charisma character (Sorcerer, Paladin, Warlock) as your main speaker – you’ll want a high charisma character to speak for you. If you’re running a strength or dexterity character, just swap and control this character while exploring. It doesn’t’ always work, meaning some dialogue will go straight to your main character no matter what. But, it comes in handy throughout the game.

And one more bonus tip: If it’s your first time playing BG3 and you’re going through all of these selections and choices, keep it simple. The game is super complex. The easiest thing to do is start out as a Fighter and pick the Battle Master subclass, don’t respec, don’t overthink anything. Go with 16 STR, 16 CON, and the rest isn’t as important. Equip a two-handed sword, take Great Weapon master feat, increase your STR to 20, then Savage Attacker or Alert. This build isn’t fancy, its not flashy but it’s great at level 1-12 and doesn’t require any pre-buff crazy five minute cycling of metamagic. It’s simple, it works, and it will help you to not overthink every single build choice, trust me!

Looking for more Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) Guides and Content?

Thanks for reading our build guide. Below are other guides and articles about the BG3:

• 9 Best Classes for Beginners in BG3
• Warlock Build for BG3
• Oathbreaker Paladin Build for BG3
• 10 Multiclass Builds for BG3
• Hack’s YouTube Channel