D&D Elements The Game Should Have Borrowed

Highlights

• Baldur’s Gate 3 lacks the Upper City, a significant area from the tabletop game, which could have served as a hub or large city for players to explore. It would make a perfect DLC location.
• The game lacks a deep crafting system, although there is a lot of equipment and alchemy available. Crafting benches were present in early versions, and it would have been interesting to see a more detailed crafting system.
• The max level in Baldur’s Gate 3 is lower than what is allowed in D&D, limiting the variety of abilities players can acquire. A higher max level, such as 15, would have provided a better balance.

Baldur’s Gate 3 might be the best video game adaptation of Dungeons and Dragons to date, with its massive variety of character choices, monsters, equipment, and areas. The game is a truly stunning achievement that every D&D fan shouldn’t miss.

That all said, there are still a few things missing that are present when playing D&D at the table. These features, places, character options, and other elements are things that may have been cut or simply too impossible to translate to a video game. Regardless of the reason these elements are missing, players that are overly versed in the tabletop game may find themselves longing for them to come to the game.

10 The Upper City

A massive part of Baldur’s Gate

The biggest missing piece in Baldur’s Gate 3 is definitely the Upper City of the title region. The wealthy provence of Baldur’s Gate is a go to for D&D campaigns that need a hub or large city to stop in. It has also played a large role in previous Baldur’s Gate releases.

Considering it is the namesake area that the game is set in, it shocked players to find out that they only stop in this part of the city for a brief moment during Act III, and cannot fully explore it as they would hope to. It could be the perfect place to set any future DLC.

9 A Deeper Crafting System

This downtime activity was mostly cut from the game

It might be a bit pedantic to point out the lack of crafting when there is a ton of equipment and alchemy is in the game, but considering that early versions of the game had crafting benches, it’s tough not to wish players could have seen what a deep crafting system would have looked like.

In traditional D&D, crafting is a fun activity at camp or on long stays in towns, as it allows players to keep thinking about their character and how they function, while also being able to customize weapons to make them more personal as well as more powerful.

8 Higher Max Level

D&D allows players to go past 12

The lower max-level makes sense, considering that level 20 Dungeons and Dragons characters are demi-gods with powers that wouldn’t translate well to the game, but the new chosen limit still feels too low.

With the amount of content available, many players hit the max long before the end-game, meaning the variety of new abilities slows dramatically through Act 3. A middle-ground of 15 would be better.

7 Artificer Class

This class is one of the few missing

The artificer is an inventor class that combines magic with tools and technology to create highly strategic supplies and spells to aid their allies or hurt their enemies. It’s such a popular class that some players have already added it to the game unofficially through mods.

With so many classes available already there is no shortage of build diversity in the game, but it would be nice to have this popular class as an option for players that want to focus on support or creative alternatives during encounters.

6 Dodge Action

This combat maneuver would have added even more combat options

D&D allows players to sacrifice their main action during combat to instead ready a dodge. The dodge then instills disadvantages to attack roles targeting the player. This feature is bizarrely absent from BG3.

It’s possible that it wasn’t deemed necessary, or that it would have messed up the momentum of combat, but having it would have definitely added some extra strategy to encounters, as party members would have been able to play more defensively when needed.

5 Long Rests Without Gathering Supplies

Resting can halt momentum and feel like a chore

The resting system in the game is solid and adds a unique level of depth not seen in many RPGs, but it can still be frustrating or momentum halting when the player needs to take a long rest and doesn’t have the needed supplies.

Having to gather food before being able to rest makes logical sense, but when the player can already only take long rests at camp, it adds an unnecessary layer of inventory management that overall feels tedious. In a tabletop campaign, the DM would skip over the details and get players back into their story.

4 The Feywild

This surreal place is excluded from the game

The Feywild is a plane of existence full of faeries and other mystical beings, known for being overloaded with wild magic and chaos. It is a land that players can access in a DnD campaign for some genuine weirdness or emotional beats.

With equipment and creatures that are related to the Fey and Feywild already in the game, it’s a bit disappointing that players never get to visit the sensory-driven plane themselves. It could easily be a DLC location.

3 Secret Rolls Are Always Visible

Seeing these rolls removes any tension

During a tabletop campaign, the DM can make rolls without telling the players what the results are, or even what the roll was for. In BG3, passive rolls show up on screen, so if there is lurking danger or if the player may notice something, they see the roll.

This removes the element of surprise, as well as allows the player to easily metagame failed rolls, since they know exactly where to go to trigger them again.

2 Ridiculous Equipment

Sentient weapons or magic items add flavor to any campaign

Something that makes legendary loot more than worth seeking out in D&D is the amount of personality or pure hilarity that items often come with. Things like the Weapon of Warning or Shield of Expression would instantly be coveted by players.

A sentient sword that could open new dialogue options or a shield that makes faces at enemies attacking it are only two examples of the wildly deep collection of D&D items that often provide as many laughs as they do stat boosts.

1 Ready An Action

Similar to the dodge action, this combat strategy is missing

In D&D, players can choose to forgo an action on their turn to instead ready a future action. The player’s character doesn’t attack or cast anything, but instead prepares a specific action they will perform if a certain condition happens before their next turn.

This is a great way to set up counterattacks or protect allies, but the feature is absent from the video game. Even a simplified version that only allows limited actions would add new battle strategies.