Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General BG3's Lore Setting?

BG1 and BG2 remain my favorite PC games, by far. I've done enough homework that I'm not expecting BG3 to be a true continuation from the PC games, so I'm wondering how to best catch myself up to date to it's current setting? I haven't played tabletop D&D in decades (2nd Ed.). I've read the Baldur's Gate novels and it's my understanding that the novels are considered cannon lore above the PC games. While I'm downloading BG3 EA, what basic reading material should I catch up in to familiarize myself with the new setting?

I guess D&D 5th edition manual? It's a good question. Personally my knowledge of D&D lays in BG series only.

I recommend also reading every single note/book in the game ^^ While it doesn't answer the question it helps knowing what's the current situation of certain organisations like shadow druids or...

There is a published D&D adventure called Murder In Baldur's Gate that is basically the continuation of the story from Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, and bridges the gap from those games to the current timeline of Faerun. It's worth checking out, as it includes the resurrection of Bhaal and the death of the Baldur's Gate protagonist, among other things. It is considered canon, so it's events inform what happens in BG3.

My google-fu has been pretty weak this morning. That or the very few articles, including wikis, that I'm finding have very little to say on the matter. I'm basically looking for a summary (cannon) of what has happened in the 100 years since the BG novels and what took place within Descent Into Avernus.

Hmm, I don't think I've seen a good summary of it.

Murder In Baldur's Gate was a good example of what I was looking for. Thank you. Are there any other official works that would be relevant to BG3's setting?

Hard question. Basically they changed a lot in 4E but as that sucked hard reversed much of it in 5E. So when you skipped 4E then much of the lore is the same, just 100+ years in the future.

Try to search for "Spellplague" (the switch from 3.x to 4e) and "Second Sundering" (the switch from 4e to 5e), I'm fairly certain one of the Forgotten Realms wikis has at least a basic recounting of the important events.

I found and copied over this gem from Reddit: Thank you, Questionable71! Keep them coming, please! Big download and likely much has happened!

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Everything that has happened to Baldur's Gate between the events of BG1 and BG3.
Baldur's Gate 3 takes place roughly 124 years after the events of Baldur's Gate 2. Lots of major events have taken place between that span of time. Some affected the Forgotten Realms as a whole and others affected only Baldur's Gate and the surrounding regions. This post will serve as a timeline detailing everything that has happened between now and then, for those curious as to what has happened.

1368 DR. The events of Baldur's Gate 1 and its DLC take place. Bane, the God of Hatred is revived from the dead.

1369 DR. The events of Baldur's Gate 2 and its DLC take place. Sea Monsters attack Baldur's Gate trade ships, ceasing all trade between Baldur's Gate and the continent of Maztica. Several Bhaalspawn are killed allowing Bhaal, the God of Murder to regain power.

1370 DR. Gorian's Ward (the protagonist of BG1 & 2) refuses to ascend to divinity and instead retires to live a peaceful life within the library fortress of Candlekeep.

1372 DR. Bane fully regains his power as the God of Hatred and begins rebuilding his religion across Faerun. The Great Wizard Eliminster is taken captive by Nergal, former Archdevil of Avernus before being rescued by a group of adventurers. 3rd Edition D&D adventures take place.

1373 DR. Bahamut, the Dragon God of Justice is freed from his prison.

1374 DR. The events of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance take place. The Thieves Guild within Baldur's Gate is dispanded. Mask, the God of Thieves is killed and absorbed by Shar, the Goddess of Darkness. Faerun is bombarded by multiple asteroids and meteor showers. Erathan, a scholar from Candlekeep writes, "The Kingdoms of Men: A Guide to the Great Powers" a book about the complete history of humans on Toril.

1375 DR. Vhaeraun, the Drow God of Thieves is killed by Eilistraee, the Drow Goddess of Freedom. 3.5 Edition D&D adventures take place.

1376 DR. Mordoc SeLanmere, a human-vampire, attempts to destroy Baldur's Gate and turn its residents into zombies. He is stopped by the combined forces of The Harpers and The Flaming Fist mercenaries.

1377 DR. Kiaransalee, the Drow Goddess of the Undead is destroyed by Eilistraee.

1379 DR. Eilistraee is killed by the mortal Halisstra Melarn, a drow priestess of Lolth.

1383 DR. The Dwarven gods Laduguer, Deep Duerra, Gorm Guthyn, and Haela Brightaxe are killed in a civil war between members of the Dwarven pantheon. The Dwarven plane of Hammergrim is absorbed into the Astral Sea.

1384 DR. Tyr, the God of Justice is tricked by Cyric, the God of Strife into killing Helm, the God of Guardians. Tyr blames Cyric for Helm's death. Tyr is then killed by Orcus, an Archdemon from the Abyss.

1385 DR. An apocalyptic event known as the Spellplague wrecks the Forgotten Realms. Mystra, the Goddess of Magic is killed by Shar and Cyric. All spellcasters in the multiverse lose the ability to cast spells as a result of the Spellplague. Savras, the God of Wizards is killed by the Spellplague. The World Tree Cosmology is destroyed as a result of the Spellplague. Multiple planes of existence are absorbed into the Astral Sea. Asmodeus, the Archdevil of the Nine Hells absorbs Savras' divine power and ascends to godhood. Cyric is blamed for the Spellplague and is imprisoned by the other gods. Multiple Earthquakes, Tornados, Tsunamis, and Wild Magic Storms wreck the Sword Coast including Baldur's Gate as a result of the Spellplague.

1386 DR. The Sea of Falling Stars collapses into the Underdark as a result of the Spellplague. Many Underdark residents flee to the surface. Portions of the planet Abeir fuse with Toril as a result of the Spellplague.

1395 DR. The Spellplague ends. The ability to cast spells returns to the multiverse, however many spells no longer function the same as they once did. Multiple regions across the Sword Coast become infected and cursed with Wild Magic as a result of the Spellplague, these areas become known as Plaguelands.

1409 DR. Orburt Lewel orders the petrified statue of Minsc and Boo to be placed on display within Baldur's Gate.

1425 DR. Velsharoon, the God of Necromancy is killed.

1444 DR. Bored from retirement, Gorion's Ward joins the Flaming Fist mercenary company. A powerful Vampire Lord conquers the nearby city of Elturel. A priest of Torm, then makes a pact with the Archdevil Zauriel in order to liberate Elturel from the undead. The city is saved when a second sun appeared over the city and destroyed the undead. The priest takes credit for the city's salvation.

1452 DR. A druid by the name of Torimesh creates Insight Park within the city of Baldur's Gate. Gorian's Ward becomes the leader of the Flaming Fists and is crowned Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate.

1479 DR. Lendris, a small town outside of Baldur's Gate is terrorized by an unknown undead assailant. Eliminster revives Mystra, allowing her to resume her duty as Goddess of Magic and reverse some of the effects from the Spellplague. Eliminster is killed but his spirit lives on within the body of Amarune Whitewave. Coran (a party member from BG) joins the Parliament of Peers within Baldur's Gate. Baldur's Gate experiences a Golden Age and begins expanding its territory into the surrounding countryside, the Outer City District is expanded. Baldur's Gate ends its rivalry with Amn and allies itself with the country of Elturgard.

1480 DR. 4th Edition D&D adventures take place.

1482 DR. The events of Murder in Baldur's Gate take place. Gorian's Ward is attacked by Viekang, the last living Bhaalspawn on Toril. The winner of the Battle is unknown, but the victor is forcefully transformed into the Bhaalspawn Slayer, an avatar of Bhaal. The avatar is quickly killed by Flaming Fist mercenaries and a group of adventurers. Gorian's Ward dies, causing an event known as the Second Sundering to occur. Bhaal revives himself from the dead as a result of the Sundering and reclaims his position as the God of Murder.

1486 DR. Helm is revived by his champion Kleef Kenric, and resumes his position as God of Guardians. Minsc and Boo are freed from their petrification by the Wild Mage Delina.

1487 DR. Candlekeep is attacked by several groups of people seeking the knowledge within the keep. Elminster aids the monks of Candlekeep in driving them off. Asmodeus loses a portion of his divinity as Azuth, the new God of Wizards ascends to divinity. The Second Sundering comes to an end and the gods Mystra, Lathander, Mask, Bhaal, Helm, Tyr, Eilistraee, and many others return to life and reclaim their place in Toril's pantheon. Mystra heals the Forgotten Realms and removes any remaining traces of the Spellplague.

1488 DR. The gods can no longer answer the prayers of their followers directly, instead they can now only speak through their champions and clerics.

1489 DR. The Era of Upheaval ends. The gods lose a large amount of their influence over mortals. Tiamat attempts to escape the Nine Hells but is stopped by a group of adventurers. Various new priesthoods, cults, and clergies form as a result of the Second Sundering.

1491 DR. The Elemental Evils attempt to invade Faerun but are stopped by several groups of adventurers. Deities no longer grant mortals the power to resurrect the dead, except under extreme circumstances. Mystra rewrites the way mind control spells work in order to make spellcasters more resistant to their effects. Oreioth, a necromancer from Baldur's Gate is exiled to the town of Red Larch. 5th Edition D&D adventures take place.

1492 DR. The events of Descent into Avernus take place. The city of Elturel is pulled into the Nine Hells. Zauriel is redeemed by a group of adventurers and the city is returned to Faerun. Zauriel leaves the Nine Hells and returns to Mount Celestia. (<Descent into Avernus spoilers, but Larian has already announced which ending is canon for Baldur's Gate 3.)

1492? DR. The events of Baldur's Gate 3 take place.

If you want to know specifics about the events of any official WotC campaign book it's pretty easy to find summaries of them on reddit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKV0wPg9oNA - good overview

If you want to be up to date with the setting and assuming you already have the grey box from AD&D you need to check out the third and 4th edition Forgotten Realms setting books and the 5th edition Sword Coast Book. But in short all you need to know is BG3 happens more than 100 years after BG2, the original Bhaalspawn is dead so that Bhaal cold be reborn (he's back), there was a calamity in the past 100 years that caused magic to go crazy but it's been recently solved. The Sword Coast is still basically the same although a lot of humans have obviously died in the 100 years time skip between the second and third game. Ah, yes, Minsc and Boo are still alive (due to a petrification effect recently dispelled).

Oh man, that timeline is GREAT!

thanks for the timeline awesome ...

^This. Sadly WotC has not published a 5e FR campaign/player's guide, so for the 5e part of Realms history you have to get it piecemeal from various places.
3.5e: FR Campaign Setting; Player's Guide to Faerun (2 books)
4e: FR Campaign Guide; FR Player's Guide (2 books)
There is also The Grand History of the Realms, written by Ed Greenwood, which is just awesome for FR history.

Uh... Descent into Avernus is in the year 1494 DR. The Baldur's Gate gazetteer that comes with the tabletop game is set in 1492 DR. See, Thavius Kreeg, the man responsible for making the deal with Zariel that will lead to Elturel being pulled down into Avernus was made back in the Year of the Seductive Cambion (1444 DR), and his deal with Zariel is set to expire in 1494 DR, meaning in 1492 DR, nothing really happens in Elturel, they still have two years left before getting pulled to Avernus. With all that said, there is no way Baldur's Gate 3 is in 1492 DR either, because it has been said many times that Baldur's Gate 3 is a direct sequel to Descent Into Avernus, and the tiefling refugees are in the mortal plane because of what happened to Elturel after Descent into Avernus.

By the way, I've constructed an even bigger timeline of events from almost every D&D Forgotten Realms novel, video game, source book, comic book and tabletop game, from -30000 DR to 1494 DR split into 3 parts.

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=675526


Edit: Zariel is canonically redeemed? That's news to me.

Baldur's Gate III is set in 1492 DR. It says 1492 DR is the "current year" in the tollhouse ledger. Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus is also set in 1492 DR, taking place before Baldur's Gate III. It was originally thought to be 1494 DR due to the 50 year contract with Thavius Kreeg, but Wizards are known for their "approximations" that they put into writing.

It's either Wizards made this approximation (48 = ~50), which they are known for making, or everything else is wrong. There's still some debate on this, though Adam Lee (official D&D story writer) confirmed that DiA is set in 1492 DR.

EDIT: Thanks for the FR Chronology list. I'm very interested in such a thing, and agree with your conclusions. Any evidence for the chroinology of the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance series?

I'm fully aware of that tollhouse ledger, I mentioned it in Part 3 of my FR Chronology list. I also mentioned the discrepancies between it provides between it and the timeline of Descent Into Avernus, how it contradicts already established lore and what we've been told the past year.

The "Descent Into Avernus" story is actually set in 1494 DR, it is the "Baldur's Gate Gazetteer" that comes with the game describes the city in the year 1492 DR. for people who only know of the Forgotten Realms lore through the Baldur's Gate games. If you follow the lore details on why Elturel was sent down to Avernus, you'll find that the infernal contract Thavius Kreeg signed with Zariel way back in 1444 DR had a 50 YEAR EXPIRATION DATE (The Forgotten Realms Wiki and the comic book series Infernal Tides which chronicles Minsc and Boo's adventures prior to Baldur's Gate 3 confirms this), so that means contrary to what Larian Studios told us, Baldur's Gate 3 is the prequel to Descent into Avernus, not the other way around. And that contradiction is increased tenfold when you pay attention to the dialogue from the tiefling refugees who claim they all came from Elturel. Nothing happened to Eltruel yet in 1492 DR, the city had two years left before the infernal contract Thavius made with Zariel expired! Also, the leader of the tiefling refugee camp, Zevlor, is a former member of the Riders of Elturel, a.k.a. the Hellriders. Most of the tiefling members are deserters who abandoned Zariel's crusade.

Evidence to Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance's timeline? You're asking why is it in 1374 DR? Because after that year, the singing Elfsong Ghost disappeared after the destruction of the Onyx Tower, and six decades later in 1437 DR, Baldur's Gate suffered a serious undead crisis where the city was attacked by ghouls and zombies. Though the incident brought all the dead back to life, it did not bring the Elfsong Ghost back to life, but instead brought its song back, as the ghost had been brought peace ever since Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance.

I hope WotC and Larian will clarify the issue of time and Zariel's status. The fact that you devils crying out to Zariel and have oathbreakers swearing to Zariel after the return of Elturel means

1. That "not redeemed" is cannon
or
2. That Larian got permission to break cannon

Wondering which it is. If Elturel has returned it has to be after the decent module.

I understand that it has a 50 year expiration date, though I believe this was an approximation on behalf of Wizards, even though this is an infernal contract (and would invalidate it). Thus, I believe the 1494 DR date is simply a mistake by the authors. BG3 comes after BG:DiA, as those tiefling refugees reference "the Descent" which had already happened.

Can you please give me a source for the 1374 DR date for BG:DA. Where does it say this? Is it in a sourcebook or the game itself?