Baldur’s Gate 3 Custom Mode finally gives players missing immersive D&D options

Baldur’s Gate 3 is an amazing video game version of D&D, but it’s missing a few options that could add a lot of immersion. All of that has changed now that Patch 5 is live and we have Custom Mode.

All immersive D&D features added to BG3

Thanks to Patch 5, Baldur’s Gate 3 now has a Custom Mode. This allows you to fine-tune your adventure with a myriad of gameplay options. You can choose the enemy’s aggression and difficulty, persistent proficiency bonuses, no death saving throws, and a lot more. However, two specific options standout which make BG3 a true immersive D&D experience.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3: Honor and Custom mode, explained

The two options in Custom Mode that make Baldur’s Gate 3 play a lot more like a D&D tabletop experience are the option to hide the succeed check for all dice rolls and the option to hide enemy health in battle.

In tabletop D&D, the DM doesn’t tell you what number you need before rolling. They also don’t tell you how much health an enemy has at any point in combat — you can ask them how beaten up they are looking, but that’s about it. With these two Custom Mode features, you can make Baldur’s Gate 3 feel more like a D&D game night.

I’m personally a huge fan of these options. I think having the ability to toggle succeed checks and enemy health is a really fun accessibility choice, one that isn’t a requirement to turn on.

Turning off enemy health and succeed checks adds much more player awareness and contingency planning to the game. For example, my current party of four friends has been blasting through groups of enemies with ease because we know which enemies are low health. With the enemy health hidden, we’ll have to play smarter and more strategically to ensure we come out on top.

The same goes with hidden succeed checks. Since I’m a Bard, I’m going to have to be a lot more choosy with when I want to give myself or one of my allies Bardic Inspiration when rolling since we won’t know what the check requirement is to succeed.

I can’t wait to try out these new immersive D&D features in Baldur’s Gate 3. Which ones are you most excited for?

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