D&D Dungeon Masters list their biggest issues with Baldur’s Gate 3 players

Baldur’s Gate 3 has become a fantastic entry point to Dungeons & Dragons and is growing the hobby. There are some drawbacks for Dungeon Masters though and they’ve listed some misconceptions of newcomers at the tabletop.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has brought many new players to the roleplaying game on which it’s based but it has caused some confusion. We can’t help but feel partly to blame given that we did say the game is the perfect excuse to give D&D a try.

Of course, given the game’s meteoric rise in popularity and the obvious crossover in fandom, it was sure to have an impact on D&D. Even veterans of the classic roleplaying game have confessed that Baldur’s Gate 3  has changed the way they play.

Knowing the written rules of D&D helps convert certain Baldur’s Gate 3 tricks to the tabletop but new players have developed some unrealistic expectations. Dungeon Masters on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Subreddit have listed some of the things they’ve had to tell recent D&D converts coming from the game.

Things DMs now have to tell their new players after BG3
byu/bughunter_ inBaldursGate3

Baldur’s Gate 3 offers players a lot of freedom in how they approach situations in and out of combat, and while it’s inspired by D&D, it’s not a one-to-one recreation. u/bughunter_ kicked the conversation off with a list of “things DMs now have to tell their new players after Baldur’s Gate 3”.

“No, you cannot throw a healing potion at your downed party member,” they put forward as an example. “No, you cannot send one character back to the shopkeeper and transfer the entire dragon horde to his inventory.”

The initial list inspired plenty of other players and DMs to relay their own experiences in which Baldur’s Gate 3 attempted to bleed onto the tabletop. “No, you can’t save scum that dice roll,” one user quipped, though with Advantage, you can do something close.

Some of the game’s more famous moments would undoubtedly make for hilarious in a D&D session. The most obvious was there for the taking. “No Kevin, you can’t shag a bear,” commented one user, who we hope wasn’t speaking from experience but hey, it’s probably been asked somewhere.

Some Dungeon Masters did point out that there aren’t really hard and fast laws to D&D. As Captain Barbosa would say, they’re “more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules”.

“All of these can easily be ‘yes you can’. You’re a DM. You can do whatever you want if the players enjoy it,” one seasoned game master explained. “I don’t really care about the rules as long as players are laughing and having a good time. I let a lot of things slide.”