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Baldur’s Gate 3 is heavily based on the 5th edition rules for Dungeons & Dragons, and as a result, the game loves a good stat. Everything is tracked and accounted for, and it all falls away into a vague grey blur that you assume is working correctly. The bigger the number, the better is a safe bet, right?
Well, yes, but knowing what each stat does can help you finetune your own custom builds and understand what governs what. Is it worth pumping a little bit of Strength into your Wizard? You won’t know until you’ve dabbled in the deeper stat interactions, and that’s where this guide comes in.
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Strength
Strength is all about how much raw power you have under the hood. If you want to be athletic, swole, and hit like an absolute truck, then Strength is your go-to stat. The biggest draw to Strength is in its combat capabilities. Your Strength Modifier gets added not only to your Attack Dice, but also your Damage Dice. What does this mean? The stronger you are the more accurate and deadly your melee attacks are.
Outside of that, Strength also increases your encumbrance and helps with Athletics-based skill checks. Any burly front-line character loves a dabble in strength if they are using a proper killy weapon (and not a piddly finesse weapon).
Dexterity
Speaking of finesse, Dexterity is all about being at the height of it. Everything from reflexes to balance is dictated here. Dexterity operates in a similar manner to Strength as it is primarily a combat stat that has extra bits on the side. Your modifier directly increases your accuracy and damage, although this time, it will work with things like ranged and finesse weapons.
For added flair, Dexterity also increases a characters AC, at secondary stat the determines how hard you are to hit in combat. This makes Dexterity one of the most versatile stats in the game, and that’s before we talk about Initiative and Dexterity Checks (Stealth, Sleight Of Hand, and Acrobatics).
Constitution
If Strength and Dexterity are heavily leaned towards buffing your combat effectiveness, Constitution is all about making sure your goofs don’t end in death. Constitutions most obvious effect is on your HP, with your modifier actively (and retroactively) increasing your HP gains per level.
Just about every class can do with a bit of Constitution to keep them healthy, although some classes (any frontliner) prefer it over others. Constitution also has a myriad of skill checks associated with it, but they don’t tend to pop up quite as often as other stats. You really do take this for the beef.
Intelligence
Intelligence is all about brain power. This stat dictates how smart you are across the board, with a higher Intelliegence directly increasing your knowledge of the world, its religions, nature, and the arcane. All of this makes it a very useful stat when it comes to exploring and interacting with the world.
Of course, Intelligence also has a major effect on Wizards as they use Intelligence to enhance their spellcasting. Then higher your Intelligence, the harder it is for enemies to resist your magic.
Wisdom
If intelligence is all about raw knowledge, Wisdom is about intuition and the ability parse the world and its inhabitants. With Wisdom, a character will be far more attuned with the world, allowing them to be effective survivalists, animal handers, and healers. Not only that, but high Wisdom makes a character more perceptive and insightful, allowing you to see things others can’t, and even pick up on subtle social cues that may reveal hidden intentions.
In terms of combat, Wisdom works like Intelligence – as in it increases the potency of spells cast. However, Wisdom only effects Clerics, Druids, and Rangers.
Charisma
Charisma is dictates how suave you are. The more charismatic your character, the better you are at communicating with people, persuading them to your cause, or even flat-out deceiving them. Charisma also helps with intimidation and even Performance. Anything communication based is made substantially better if you are rocking a high Charisma.
Finally, Charisma also helps with spellcasting – but only if you are a Bard, Paladin, Sorcerer, or Warlock. It is also functionally identical to Intelligence and Wisdom for their respective classes.
That’s all we have for Baldur’s Gate 3 for now. Be sure to check out our other guides and lists for more Baldur’s Gate content.
