Patch 5 for Baldur’s Gate 3 added two new options for players to choose when starting out a new run of the game: Honour Mode and Custom Mode. Baldur’s Gate 3 Custom Mode lets players tweak their experience to their liking with tons of different options.
Best Baldur’s Gate 3 Custom Mode options for newcomers
Baldur’s Gate 3 Custom Mode has many different settings and options, so it can be a bit overwhelming to use it at first. I am going to break down the settings I like to recommend for newcomers starting their first run. The key here is to make the enemies a bit weaker but not too easy and also to make dice rolls less random.
Here are the best Custom Mode settings for new players playing BG3 for the first time:
- Single Save: Off
- Enemy Aggression: Explorer
- Character Power: Explorer
- Enemy Loadouts: Balanced
- Addition Combat Mechanics: Balanced
- Proficiency Bonus: 2
- Enemy Critical Hits: Off
- No Death Saving Throws: Off
- Disable Free First Strikes: Off
- Camp Cost Multiplier: 1
- Short Rest Full Heal: On
- Trader Price Modifier: 2.5
- Multiclassing: On
- Always Prompt Reactions: Off
- Hide NPC Health: Off
- Hide Failed Perception Rolls: Off
- Also Hide Passive Rolls in Dialogues: Off
- Preview Dialogue Check Difficult Before Rolling: On
- Hide Difficulty Class During Rolls: Off
Best options for players looking for a unique challenge
These are the custom settings I recommend for players who might be on their second, third, or even fourth run. This makes the game challenging but not necessarily as difficult as Honour Mode. It also turns off multiclassing and some other features for a unique type of difficulty.
- Single Save: Off
- Enemy Aggression: Tactician
- Character Power: Balanced
- Enemy Loadouts: Tactician
- Addition Combat Mechanics: Tactician
- Proficiency Bonus: 0
- Enemy Critical Hits: On
- No Death Saving Throws: Off
- Disable Free First Strikes: Off
- Camp Cost Multiplier: 1
- Short Rest Full Heal: On
- Trader Price Modifier: 2.5
- Multiclassing: Off
- Always Prompt Reactions: Off
- Hide NPC Health: On
- Hide Failed Perception Rolls: Off
- Also Hide Passive Rolls in Dialogues: Off
- Preview Dialogue Check Difficult Before Rolling: Off
- Hide Difficulty Class During Rolls: Off
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available for PS5 and PC. It will also be released for Xbox in 2023.