The perfect Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC already exists but there’s a catch

Larian Studios has confirmed that there won’t be any Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC, which is a shame, as one of their competitors already laid out the groundwork for the perfect way to expand on the original game. 

Many fans were shocked when the news of no Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC came out. It was easily the biggest game of 2023, and Larian could have made bank by selling extra races & classes, let alone new story content. However, Larian decided to move on to its next project, leaving the modding community to fill the gap. 

Larian might not be interested in DLC, but other studios are fine filling out their post-release schedules with expansions. In fact, a game based on D&D’s main rival did just that in a way that would have been ideal for Baldur’s Gate 3. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC faced a huge problem

The issue of making any DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3 is how it will connect to the base game. This wasn’t a problem with the old games, as Tales of the Sword Coast ran alongside the story of Baldur’s Gate 1, and Throne of Bhaal was a sequel to Baldur’s Gate 2, as it only had one ending. 

For Baldur’s Gate 3, you have a game that’s so reactive to everything you do that any new side areas or post-game content would be a nightmare to create. You have to accommodate for a lot of player choices, which means a DLC is a big project and likely contributed to why one never got made, despite Baldur’s Gate 3’s success. 

A roguelike mode makes perfect sense for Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 could have been expanded with a roguelike mode. One that you could try outside of the main story, or integrated via a way you could drop in and out of. 

The two Pathfinder titles developed by Owlcat Games (Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous) found the perfect ways to include their roguelike DLCs. You could tackle them on their own, with unlockable rewards that make future runs easier, allowing you to get further each time. 

This would be the perfect way to test out the countless builds on offer in Baldur’s Gate 3 without committing to a run. Or, more likely, playing until the end of Act I and giving up to start a new build. 

There was also an option to tie the roguelike content into the main story, so you could take your primary party members into the dungeon for some no-commitment fun, earn some loot, and then return to the main story. 

All you need for a framework for this in Baldur’s Gate 3 is for Withers to create a portal to roguelike land, say it’s a realm of chaos magic (which is a thing in D&D), and the player needs to explore it to find out why it’s so weird. Also, it has treasure, so have at it. 

A roguelike mode could reuse bits of the world that already have been created, as well as some unfinished stuff, like the cut Avernus section. Throw in some random mobs and loot drops and boom: endless playthroughs.

You could earn unlockables as you go, making future runs easier from the get-go, such as having a higher starting level or better gear at the beginning, giving you a chance to actually finish it without mastering the game’s rules.  

For the story lovers, the DLC could have included extra moments with the party members that couldn’t fit into the main story. There are some Baldur’s Gate 3 characters who don’t get as much narrative focus as others, like Minthara and Minsc, and this would be the perfect place to put it. 

Hell, unlock Minsc straight away when you enter the roguelike bit. That way players can actually use him for once.

There’s already a popular Baldur’s Gate 3 roguelike mod

All isn’t lost for those who want to experience a Baldur’s Gate 3 roguelike, as this actually exists, albeit as an unofficial mod. Trials of Tav is available on Nexus mods, and it lets you fight enemies on randomly generated maps. 

Trials of Tav is a great way to experience roguelike content in Baldur’s Gate 3. However, being an unofficial mod, it has some issues that can screw up a run. This wouldn’t be an issue if it were an official expansion. Well, that might not be true, considering the poor state of the base game at launch.

In fact, the Enhanced Editions of the older Baldur’s Gate games had similar (though not fully) roguelike modes. These were The Black Pits and The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay. You could take on different waves of enemies and unlock exclusive gear by claiming victory. 

There are plenty of Baldur’s Gate 3 players who won’t care about the combat, nor are they interested in learning the intricacies of D&D 5E rules. They’re here for the story and the characters, so they throw the game on the easiest difficulty and never look back.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a combat-heavy game, even more so than most D&D campaigns, and it has a fantastic battle system. A roguelike DLC in the vein of the Pathfinder games would have been a perfect expression of this, letting players experience an endless variety of dungeons with the party they love. 

I still wouldn’t play it as a Monk, though.