What is the level cap in Baldur’s Gate 3?

By Jesse Lennox August 4, 2023

One of the most satisfying things about deep CRPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3 is creating your character. You can tweak their features, choose their race and class, and develop them to be just how you like. Each level obviously increases your total power and abilities, but also unlocks new skills and options to pick from. Even if you decide not to multi-class and focus just on your main build, you won’t be able to create an all-powerful character. There’s a limit before you won’t be able to gain any more levels, so knowing just how much room you have left could impact your decisions on what to invest in. If you’re curious just how many levels you have left to gain in Baldur’s Gate 3, here’s the final level cap for your character.

What is the level cap in Baldur’s Gate 3?

A knight standing on a roof above a village. — Larian Entertainment

While developer Larian originally planned for the level cap in the full release to be 10, just before launch it announced that the cap had been moved up to 12. Early access players were only able to reach level 5, meaning even those who played the game before launch still have more than double the amount of levels to gain on their new characters. The message that came with the announcement stated: “While we originally planned for Level 10 to be the highest character level in the game, too many rad high-level spells would have been left just out of reach had we done so. Instead, Baldur’s Gate 3 players will be able to reach Level 12, unlocking Planar Allies, Otto’s Irresistible Dance, and Chain Lightning.”

It is possible that the level cap could be increased again in the future should the game receive any DLC or expansions, as the version of Dungeons and Dragons the game is based on allows for characters to reach a maximum of level 20, but for now, there are no confirmed plans for extra content. The team is still working on getting the game functional on Xbox consoles as well, which likely won’t happen this year.

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Gaming

How long is Baldur’s Gate 3?

A party of heroes stands on a cliff in Baldur's Gate 3.

CRPGs are notorious for being very lengthy investments, and Baldur's Gate 3 is no exception. Even in its early access days, players were spending hundreds of hours on just the first act of the game, though just doing the main story would be significantly less. Some people may spend hours just in the character creator choosing their race and speccing out their class, while others may dive in and only do the main quests. In a game this large, your playtime will vary quite a bit, but no matter how much, or little, of a completionist you are, we can give you a good idea of just how long Baldur's Gate 3 will take to beat.
How long is Baldur's Gate 3?
Oh boy, this is going to be a somewhat complicated and intimidating answer. Baldur's Gate 3 is a massive CRPG that is all about giving you a unique and tailored experience. Everything from your race, stats, and skills to choices, dialogue choices, and successful or failed skill checks can alter your playtime in some way. There's also the vast number of optional activities and objectives you can choose to engage with or ignore, as well as your difficulty level, to consider. Prior to launch, Larian Studios developer Swen Vincke said that an average playthrough of the game would take "between 75 to 100 hours, that's what we're seeing. That's not doing everything, that is just going to be a playthrough. There will be people who will be way over that, the ones who want to do everything. They will probably hit 200 hours, I think. On average, we're seeing people who are going through take about 75 to 100 hours."

From our experience, we would say that figure is accurate if you're playing on the normal difficulty and taking time to do some sidequests and diversions to explore and engage in a decent amount of the optional content. Normally, a 25-hour range would be a bit wide as an average, but when you consider how your class comes into play, how much combat you encounter, to what degree you are role-playing, and whether or not you're playing alone or in co-op, it starts to make more sense.

Gaming

Do you need to play the first two Baldur’s Gate games before playing 3?

A female adventurer with scales on her face.

Baldur's Gate 3 is officially out of early access and first impressions imply that it could be one of the best games of 2023. While there aren't many scored reviews out (critics only had a few days with the game before launch), several "reviews in progress" have shared some glowing thoughts on the massive computer role-playing game (CRPG). We've published our own early thoughts, which align with the critical consensus, noting that it could very well be the best Dungeons & Dragons video game ever.

With so much hype around the release, there's a question that might spring to mind: Do you have to play Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 before playing 3? That would involve going back to play two enormous games from over 20 years ago, which seems like an overwhelming task. If that's stressing you out, don't worry: There's great news for newcomers.
Do you have to play Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 before playing Baldur's Gate 3?

Gaming

Is Baldur’s Gate 3 cross-platform?

A Baldur's Gate 3 character lights the way.

The biggest CRPG of the year, if not ever, promises a huge adventure that you are encouraged to play cooperatively with up to four friends. While online play is expected in the modern era, Baldur's Gate 3 surprisingly also supports split-screen co-op on every PC and PS5 as well, meaning you can run an entire campaign with a friend side-by-side. As great as all that is, the vast majority of people will likely want to play with a friend in the comfort of their own homes, which might mean a PC player and a PS5 player will want to team up. Is that possible in Baldur's Gate 3? Here's a quick rundown of this game's cross-platform support.
Is Baldur's Gate 3 cross-platform?

In short, no, Baldur's Gate 3 will not allow for cross-platform play. If you are playing on PC, then anyone you want to play online with will also need to be on PC, and the same is true for PS5. While this is true for now, it is possible that Larian Studios may add cross-platform play in a future update, but for now, it is safer to assume it won't come and make your purchasing decision accordingly.