Larian Studios held their second Panel From Hell Livestream today, sharing some major additions coming with Baldur’s Gate 3’s fourth update called Nature’s Power. It outlined some of the exciting details for the next update including the arrival of the Druid class.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Next Big Patch Adds Druids
Larian Studios announced during their Panel From Hell livestream the first new playable class Druid will be coming in the next big update, Patch 4 – Nature’s Power. The Druid class comes with over 30 Spells and Abilities, which includes Wild Shape. There is also new dialogue and voice-over, delivering the same playing experience in terms of deep narrative for Druid as for other Classes in the game. Larian also hints in their press release for players to visit the Druid’s Grove as a Druid, as there will be a game of spot-the-difference. In Baldur’s Gate 3 the game reacts to who you are, resulting in new rewards, options, story moments, and interactions found through Act 1.
Druid
Druids harness the power of the wilderness, being able to shapeshift their form for different situations. As the Dire Wolf or Polar Bear you can slam enemies and crunch bones, while as a Spider you can spin silken thread over environments or soar above Faerun as a Raven. You can even embrace the Mindflayer’s tadpole that has been implanted in you, and discover a new Abberant Shape.
There are eight Shapes available to the Druid class: Deep Rothe, Cat, Raven, Dire Wolf, Badger, Spider, Polar Bear, and Aberrant. NPCs will also react to the type of animal form you adopt, in procedural ways. Interact with a bear in Bear Shape to get them to move out of your path, by speaking their own language.
Rooted in D&D lore, fans will know that Druids traditionally come from one of a number of Circles, choosing a circle will inform how they can play:
- Circle of the Land: Keepers of the Old Faith, these Druids are connected to arctic wastelands, sunny coasts, scorching deserts, fair forests, green grasslands, tall mountains, treacherous swamps, and even the vast, otherworldly realm of the Underdark. Based on what type of geography they’re connected to, they gain additional power.
- Circle of the Moon: Changeable as the moon, these stewards of nature haunt the deepest parts of the wilderness. Transformation is no problem for most Druids, but those who keep the ways of the moon gain the ability to morph into more powerful combative Wild Shapes like the Polar Bear.
You can find full details on how the Druid class works in D&D by checking out the VOD for the Panel of Hell 2, where Lead System Designer Nick Pechenin and D&D Principal Rules Designer Jeremy Crawford discuss how Larian has incorporated the characters classes into Baldur’s Gate 3.
Big Changes Happening with Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 4 – Nature’s Power
There are some major changes happening to Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access with Patch 4 alongside the addition of the Druid class. The Nature’s Power update brings with it a number of changes which have been requested by the community or influenced by them through feedback. These include fixes and overall improvements according to the press release:
- Optional Loaded Dice: This optional change will help smooth out the extremes of the bell curve. It retains the core elements of RNG, ensuring a player can no longer be unlucky or super lucky with several dice rolls in a row. The system also runs in two parts: dice rolls in dialogue are different to those in combat, and this change only impacts the d20, not damage rolls.
- Improved Cinematics: Narrative cinematics will be given a new lease on life thanks to major improvements in lighting and animation, resulting in some truly spectacular story sequences.
- Speak With Dead Cinematic Functionality: Cinematics in special cases like Speak with Dead will get huge improvements, along with the ability to join conversations as an animal. The patch will also add improved animations with the Druids in the Grove as they cast spells and use their abilities.
- Multiplayer: Those embarking on their adventure together with friends will be able to see other players’ equipment, spells, inventory and character sheets (as well as the ability to take and place items to and from). There is no lock function — that will come in a future patch. As a result, your friends could, for example, steal your items. But don’t worry. They’re your friends. They wouldn’t do that to you, would they?
- Quality of Life: A series of much-requested features will be implemented. Players will be able to target friends and enemies with spells and equipment by clicking on their portraits. As an alternative to clicking on a character in the world, players will also be able to easily select and attack whoever they want from the UI. We’ll also be adding a flee button for the errr… tacticians among us. And using torches will be easier thanks to the long-awaited addition of the torch button!
Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access Patch 4 will be coming soon. In the meantime if you’re wondering whether jumping into Early Access is right for you, you should check out Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access First Impressions: Should You Get BG3 EA?.
If you’re playing BG 3 be to check out our latest builds in Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access Companions Guide: Gale and Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access Companions Guide: Lae’Zel. For everything else, visit our Baldur’s Gate 3 wiki.
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