Baldur’s Gate 3 modders can bring D&D’s creepiest villain to life

The toybox has been opened, as Baldur’s Gate 3’s modding tools now (unofficially) allow for level editing. This means that fans have the chance to bring D&D’s most iconic villain into the game, along with the haunted realm that has been terrifying adventurers for decades.

Baldur’s Gate 3 received official mod support in Patch 7, allowing fans to add things like playable races and new subclasses to the game. There are some restrictions, however, as Larian confirmed that more areas and quests cannot be added to the game. 

Or at least, that was the intention. It didn’t take long after the release of the official modding tools for fans to break their way into the level editor, and while it’s still early days, this could open the door to new campaigns. Potentially, this could involve adapting some of the best D&D stories into Baldur’s Gate 3’s engine. 

Baldur’s Gate 3’s modding breakthrough can let us leave the Forgotten Realms

The fact it only took a matter of days for fans to poke holes into the modding tools means the sky is the limit for what can be accomplished regarding new content.

Naturally, fans will want to put their own twist on things. There may come a day when we have Minthara and Minsc as Origin characters, the cut Halfling Werewolf Bard party member is completed, and Alfira is given full main character status. 

But what about creating whole new campaigns? Baldur’s Gate 3 already has a Roguelike mode that completely alters the main storyline using only existing assets, so we know a lot is possible with the tools fans had before. 

Suppose players can create new maps and fill them with characters. In that case, that means we’re going back to the days of Neverwinter Nights and could potentially see full conversions, and while editing existing maps will be the most time-effective way of creating new content, we’ll almost certainly be seeing fresh stages for players to explore. 

The D&D multiverse has decades of content that can be mined for ideas. The best route the Baldur’s Gate 3 community could take is to adapt existing 5E campaigns that fans are familiar with to the video game world.

And few D&D adventures are more popular with fans than Curse of Strahd. 

Curse of Strahd is still D&D 5E’s best campaign

Count Strahd von Zarovich is easily D&D’s most iconic villain (well, except for Vecna, and most people only know him because of Stranger Things and Dead by Daylight.) Strahd is a powerful vampire lord who resides in Castle Ravenloft, beckoning adventurers to come dine with him and potentially be his next victim. 

The famous bloodsucker has been the focus of various D&D adventures since the ‘80s, but modern players know him from Curse of Strahd, the 2016 5E campaign that involves the party being sent to Barovia. This Transylvania-inspired realm is ruled by the vampire and is cut off from the rest of the multiverse. 

What makes Curse of Strahd so popular among fans is not just the strong villain who keeps appearing throughout the story to torment the party, but it’s the realm itself or, more importantly, how you explore it. 

While D&D is all about theater of the mind and technically limitless possibilities, the official campaigns are quite linear. This is due to content being balanced around character levels. After all, you don’t want the level 1 party sneaking up on the ancient dragon they’re supposed to be fighting six months from now: they’ll get toasted. 

Curse of Strahd ignores that design philosophy for a true open-world approach. Once the players are dumped in Barovia, they’re free to approach the story in any way they want, with only minor nudging needed by the DM.

Hanging over all of this freeform exploration is Strahd himself. He’s aware that an adventuring party is stomping around his realm, and he’s not likely to sit in Castle Ravenloft and wait for them to show up with torches and pitchforks. He will show up and mess with the party, maybe beating them for daring to threaten his rule, but he won’t kill them until they stop being fun. 

When Strahd is played well, he is the most memorable D&D villain. This is because he has true power over the party and isn’t afraid to flaunt it. There’s no hiding from him, nor can he be killed without great difficulty. Strahd might be cursed with vampirism, but you’re cursed to deal with him, and his pleasant demeanor hides a true monster. 

Learning about Strahd’s messed-up backstory and facing him periodically throughout the story is a big reason why so many D&D players love him, as he’s not just the end boss who waits in the final dungeon. Strahd is an active part of the adventure and loves rubbing his high-level powers in your face. 

Speaking of the final dungeon, Curse of Strahd is also home to Castle Ravenloft, one of the biggest and nastiest locations in all of D&D. Not only that, but if players really want to, they can try and sneak in at the start of the adventure and go looking for treasure! Just don’t expect to survive the horrors that stalk its halls.  

No two runs of Curse of Strahd are the same, which is why so many DMs choose to run it repeatedly. In that sense, it’s perfect for a video game adaptation, yet we never received one. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 mods could give us the Curse of Strahd video game we’ve been waiting for

This brings us to Baldur’s Gate 3 mods and their potential for future D&D-inspired storylines. Countless adventurers have explored Barovia over the years; now it’s Tav’s turn. 

Bringing Barovia to life in Baldur’s Gate 3 would be one of the hugest achievements that the modding community could accomplish. Creating iconic locations like the village of Vallacki, the Old Bonegrinder mill, and its hags, the haunted ruins of Argynvostholt, or the eerie secrets of the Amber Temple. 

More importantly, creating Castle Ravenloft in Baldur’s Gate 3 would be a monumental task, but not completely out of the realm of possibility. Baldur’s Gate 3 occurs across acts with massive maps broken up into chunks and layers. Castle Ravenloft is vast, but no more so than something like the city of Baldur’s Gate in Act III. 

The greatest achievement would not only be putting Strahd into the game but also giving him interactions with the established cast. Obviously, there wouldn’t be voice acting involved, so it would be up to the fans to create new dialogue for characters like Astarion and Karlach encountering Strahd. 

Is that just ascended fanworks? Well, yeah, but so are all mods (except for the ones that get the official seal of approval.)

Considering Baldur’s Gate 3 already has a pretty big vampire storyline, there are already elements there that can be used for a full Ravenloft mod. It’s not too hard to imagine the existing assets for Cazador being reworked into Strahd, at least on a technical/design level. 

It’s a shame that the most popular D&D 5E adventures didn’t get more love in the video game realm outside of board game adaptations. The success of Baldur’s Gate 3, as well as D&D’s upcoming Project Sigil means that this will likely change in the future, and we’ll see more crossovers between the tabletop and video game worlds.

It’s unlikely that an old campaign like Curse of Strahd will be adapted at this point: it’s more likely that a new version of the book will be made that works with the updated version of D&D 5E, possibly to coincide with its tenth anniversary in 2026. 

When it comes to the classic Curse of Strahd, then it’s up to the fans to show their love with a proper gaming adaptation. The breakthroughs in Baldur’s Gate 3’s modding community mean it could happen in the future. 

It’s bad enough that Tav/the Dark Urge have a tadpole in their head, but getting sent to Barovia is considered a fate worse than death, and I can’t wait to see it come to life someday.