Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Can I Play this game if I am unfamiliar with D&D ruleset?

So I just caught a trailer and then watched some build guides on Youtube. Game looks awesome, and I actually played the first Baldurs Gate on PC...like a half lifetime ago. I love RPGs turn based combat as well as some CRPGs. So this would be right up my alley except for one key problem: I don't play D&D.

I have been an PC/Playstation rpger for 25 years so I get some basics. I know what 1d20 means, or what a Hit roll or saving throw is. But it pretty much ends there. And I do know D&D players need to read multiple books and guides to know their rules.

In watching the build guides, there is a lot going on here. I'd imagine most of you know what all these Feats and Proficiences are whereas I will be reading and learning on the fly.

Given the depth and complexity, do you think this can be enjoyable for someone just picking all of that up now?

Debating buying the what looks like not so early access but being clueless since it is based off of existing rules people playing it already know is giving me pause.

DnD5e is one of the most beginner friendly ruleset out there. You will be fine with only basic video game logic. Also minmaxing really isn't needed to enjoy the game, the early access is pretty easy until late.

Pathfinder this is not, you'll be fine

You will be fine. You should know enough to not run into any major issues, and rest you will learn as you go.

Thanks to all of you for the replies. I think this will actually make me buy the Early Access so I can learn this stuff before the game goes live.

I had no experience with turn-based RPGs prior to BG3 and was able to easily pick it up and figure out how it works. As long as a person is interested, they can learn everything just by playing the game, even people such as me who had no DnD turn-based experience.

It is about as easy of a system as it gets, IMO.

But if you are struggling there are a bunch of YouTube help videos and stuff too.

Just as a counter point to the opinions in this thread. I came into this game without ever playing D&D and was not familiar with the rules and would say that it was very NOT beginner friendly, nor does traditional video game logic apply. That being said, I learned and loved the game, but I would advise reading as much as you can stomach before ever even venturing into the character creator. Stats/Attributes were very confusing to me at first, as well as how they affect combat. I may be a bit slow, but I play way more video games than most, so I'd be surprised to hear someone whose first D&D experience is Baldurs gate 3 saying it was intuitive. Totally worth it though.

Some references for reading that might help, but keep in mind these are for actual pen and paper DnD.

Player Actions and Effects. website-based, click for more information.

Player Reference Sheet. Contains very basic information about stats and skills.

Checks and Combat Cheat Sheet. This is the largest one at 9 pages, and has visual cues from the pnp character sheet, but they are still useful.

I have never played tabletop D&D, and I love BG3!😊

If you have played any rpg computer game like Dragon Age, KOTOR or DoS then you have played the basic D&D concept

As a counter counter point, I played with a friend who was unfamiliar with tabletop RPGs systems and he was able to play and enjoy the early access with very minimal help. The good thing with DnD is that it is very hard to ruin your character build (unlike PF which is full of noob traps). How stats can influence combat is probably the hardest thing to grasp in this system, I do believe that BG3 explains those at character creation?

Piece of cake ….you’ll pick it up if you played other rpgs

It sounds like you have a lot of experience with crpgs in general, so I don't think you have anything to worry about. Since this is Early Access and not all the rules and such are present yet, the tutorial for the game leaves some thing to be desired, but hopefully that won't be the case come actual launch. There's definitely a lot of potential complexity under the surface, but as someone who's only played a little bit of D&D before, I don't think you need to fully grasp it ahead of time. It's stuff you can pick up as you play. Like feats are fun and interesting, but you don't need to deep dive into them if you don't want to, you can just apply ability score increases and you'll be fine.

- As others have said it before, BG3 is relatively easy to understand and you should have little problems if you have played other RPGs before.
The Pathfinder games are an example for a game where playing the game on something harder than story mode can turn into a doctor thesis about stacking different types of bonusses and such stuff.
They can be fun if you can do this but it takes much more learning efford just to get through the first dungeon.

- In fact it may even be good not having played DnD 5E before playing BG3.
They made some significant changed between this game and the default 5E rules.
Some people (including myself) do not like some of the changes.
So maybe you even enjoy the game more when you learn the (relatively easy) rules just by playing the game

I have not played D n D in 38 years or so...but I will naturally relearn it...the second I start playing BG 3.

The game automatically assigns your ability scores and skills in a way which suits your class. When you pick your background, you get a couple more relevant skills which rounds out your character.

You can tinker with them all a bit, and so long as you don't lower your main ability score too much, you're fine.

I spend most of my time tweaking appearance.

Here are a couple of very helpful links especially in case for future multi-classing:

Spell slots from multiclassing
https://fexlabs.com/5eslots/

Prerequisites (here you can also see which caster classes require which attribute for their spellcasting) etc. pp.
https://5thsrd.org/rules/multiclassing/

For everything else, a general and detailed insight can be found here:
http://dnd5e.wikidot.com

As others have said, 5e is the most new-player friendly system they've ever released - it's quick to pick up, intuitive, well explained using natural language that is nevertheless precise in its meanings where it needs to be, and is generally the most approachable D&D system ever... there's a reason its' seen a surge in game popularity, spread and exposure, and has become at this point the longest running and most successful edition of D&D to date; you don't need to read a huge amount of books or develop a fine-tuned catalogue of rules just to play and enjoy.

That said, to be honest, being largely unfamiliar with 5e may actually be helpful to you playing this game - it will save you all the many times you might otherwise expect something to work a certain way, or a rule to be in place when it isn't, etc., BG3 is only vaguely derivative of the 5e ruleset, and it doesn't explain itself very well on top of that (this has been getting better, but it's still not great). If you go in expecting solid 5e, you'll find yourself tripping over things and making a lot of unintended mistakes initially when things don't work as they should. you'll probably do better, as a new player, just taking the game as it is, and not thinking about it as a 5e game, because realistically it's not - just learn what the game gives you instead and you'll likely have a lot of fun.