D&D players warn against adapting Baldur’s Gate 3 gear

Dungeons & Dragons 5E players have advised against adapting items from Baldur’s Gate 3 into the tabletop RPG due to how unbalanced they are.

While D&D 5E rules form the basis of Baldur’s Gate 3’s gameplay systems, the two have many differences. Baldur’s Gate 3 gives the player far more magic items, many of which have stronger properties than the ones you acquire in D&D.

The reason for the disparity is that Baldur’s Gate 3 has a much bigger focus on combat than D&D. Players need magic items to supplement the limited resources of their character class abilities and spell slots. Otherwise, they’d constantly be resting, breaking the flow of gameplay.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has introduced many people to D&D 5E, which means there’s an adjustment period while they get used to the changes in the tabletop RPG. This leads to some fans wanting to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 content into the game directly.

D&D players advise against using BG3 equipment

A user on DnD Reddit has asked for advice about a player in their game who wants to bring items from Baldur’s Gate 3 into the campaign. Other users in the thread offered their input, a lot of which warned against using video game gear in tabletop form.

“You should explain that while there are similarities between the games,” one user wrote, “They aren’t identical and that there are balance issues that need to be considered- they can make a character LIKE their BG3 character, but a direct port isn’t going to happen.”

“Do not let him do this. Yes you could homebrew them but that’s a lot of added work on your end that isn’t being returned. Don’t do it, trust me,” one user wrote, while another said, “Like 90% of the items in BG3 would be wildly overpowered in 5e? Cause it’s balanced to be a video game, not a TTRPG.”

“Frankly, if regular DnD had BG3’s itemization, presenting credible challenges to players would be incredibly difficult to do,” another user wrote, “BG3 goes crazy with enchanted items, and while I love BG3, I think it sets up weird unrealistic expectations for your tabletop character. Tabletop DnD characters are going to be nowhere near as flashy or powerful even though it’s built on the same system.”

D&D 5E limits the number of magic items a character can attune to, preventing players from using them to create overpowered builds. The idea is that players should rely on their class & race abilities, with items being bonuses that are earned throughout the campaign.

Directly putting the trick arrows and ridiculous number of weapons & armor from Baldur’s Gate 3 into D&D 5E would be a huge mistake unless the DM loves campaigns that are mostly composed of combat encounters, with players needing a steady supply of gear to keep them in the fight.