Baldur’s Gate 3 – Patch 3 is Live, Rewards Pacifism, Rebalances Dialogue Skill Checks

The latest patch for Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 is now live for PC and Stadia, adding a ton of new features and quality of life changes. Chief among them is that pacifism is more rewarding – avoiding certain combat situations will now confer experience points. Furthermore, your companions have been made less abrasive and “tolerant.”

As the developer explains in its Steam post, “We’ve taken steps to move away from frequent nitpicking, so that they’ll start focusing more on the bigger picture. Companions will now be more tolerant. Not nitpicking about every single little thing they don’t like but rather focusing on the things they do like while still maintaining their personality and having strong beliefs about certain things. In short, they’ll feel a little more like companions.”

Dialogue skill checks have also seen some rebalancing. Now the more challenging skill checks will provide a higher innate chance of being successful at the dice roll instead of failing it. This change was made to keep players from being locked out of content. You also won’t need to have your entire party jumping across gaps, one by one, at key moments. Now, when you make a jump, the party will automatically follow you.

Other noteworthy changes include two short rests following a long rest to allow for more adventuring. Cantrips are also less impactful than actual spells and spells like Fire Bolt, Ray of Frost and Acid Splash no longer create surfaces. They can still be used for ignition, freezing and whatnot though. Check out the Community Update video below for more details on the changes.