Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Meaningful Backgrounds For Custom Characters

Losing the background tags for dialogue was the only real thing I found disappointing in the latest video.

However, I disagree with the OP that adding more options is the way forward. This is exactly the problem they had. They already have a ridiculous amount of dialogue tree options to manage, so any suggestions need to be a feasible as possible to stand a chance. I’d suggest one of the following:

1. Just make it vague.

If you’re a folk hero, you’ve done something to help the downtrodden. Some people will recognize your name and know your story, but they don’t have to spell it out. Maybe you meet someone whose life you saved? Maybe some nobleman demands compensation for the damage you caused doing whatever? No one actually needs to say what you did.

If you’re a criminal, you could have contacts and a reputation in the criminal underworld. There could be people who are happy to see you and want to work with you again, others you had a “professional disagreement” with. The details don’t have to be explained.

2. Have a set backstory for each background.

Obviously that means you won’t head canon your own story, but it could allow more interesting dialogue and quest options relating to your background. This could even allow custom character stories to be as detailed as the Origin characters if they want to take it as far as they can go.

3. Set backstory as above, but also include an option for “undefined” on each.

So if you like the sound of the folk hero or criminal backstory, you can play that and get the story/dialogue elements. If not, you can just pick a generic folk hero or criminal which only gives you the basic advantages/disadvantages without the specific dialogue. That would effectively mean 3 tiers of character customization/background- Origin characters, custom characters with backstory, and generic custom characters with only vague backgrounds.