Baldur’s Gate 3 – Patch 8 is Now Available; Adds New Spells, Bard Class, Revamped Lighting, and More

Larian Studios’ latest patch for Baldur’s Gate 3 is live for PC and Google Stadia. As noted during yesterday’s chaotic Panel from Hell, it adds a new class in the Bard with the College of Lore and College of Valor sub-classes. Gnomes are also available with three sub-races – Rock Gnomes, Deep Gnomes and Forest Gnomes.

The full patch notes are now available with dozens of changes and fixes. New spells like Calm Emotions, Cutting Words, Song of Rest, Vicious Mockery and Heroism are now available. There’s also new Swarm AI which sees little creatures moving together, resulting in “smoother and faster” combat. Players also get a shovel for digging up secrets and treasures throughout Act 1, which now has revamped lighting.

Check out some of the patch notes below and the full notes here. Baldur’s Gate 3 is currently in early access with the full release planned for 2023. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Patch #8

Patch notes related to community-reported issues and feedback are indicated with an asterisk. Like this.*

HIGHLIGHTS

• Bard class with College of Lore and College of Valour subclasses.
• Musical instruments, usable by any class with the Performer feat at Level 4.
• Playable gnomes with three subraces: rock gnomes, forest gnomes, and deep gnomes. Gnomes start with Gnome Cunning and +2 Intelligence. Added gnome reactivity to dialogues and situations.
• Ranged critical hits now have combat cameras!
• Baldur’s Gate 3 is now playable in Brazilian Portuguese – vamo nessa!
• New spells: Calm Emotions, Enthral, Heroism, Phantasmal Force, and Vicious Mockery. Bards, try out Cutting Words, Song of Rest, and a new tadpole power.
• New hair-shading model, upgraded hairstyles, and all 66 hairstyles are now available to every race and body type.*
• Added hair highlights.
• Added grey hair.
• Swarm AI, which bands together minor creatures so that they move at the same time and take quick turns to attack. Fighting numerous enemies should now be smoother and faster.*
• Rogues can access Expertise at Level 1.*
• Use a shovel to dig up treasures and secrets throughout Act 1.
• Sustained emotion acting in cinematics. New facial animations allow characters to continue emoting realistically while you make decisions in dialogue.
• Cinematic acting for background characters, who now react to the drama unfolding in dialogues.
• Elves are now a uniquely animated race.
• Detect Thoughts rework – cast it from within dialogues!
• Committing crimes now triggers a new type of cinematic dialogue.
• Sunlight through clouds has a bigger effect on shadows and lighting, and gameplay now more closely aligns with the in-game light and dark areas.
• Revamped lighting across Act 1.
• Implemented sound occlusion to simulate the behaviour of sounds coming from other rooms and behind doors.
• Introduced auditory attenuation. Dynamic audio-mixing features enhance immersion by focusing on your actions and selecting the most important elements of the soundscape.
• Added 10 new skin colours to character creation.
• Updated Gale’s face and hair.
• Displayed class passive features in the Character Sheet.*
• Redesigned the movement bar.
• Implemented the first phase of our networking improvements: players with slower and less reliable internet connections should see improvements to stability and lag in multiplayer.
• Implemented support for Nvidia DLAA as an anti-aliasing alternative.
• Extensive UI updates.
• Low-spec PCs no longer become unresponsive and fail to load assets when loading save files.
• You can now cast Mage Hand with an active summoned familiar.*
• Short Rest can now heal Ranger’s Companions and familiars.
• Creatures summoned with Ranger’s Companion and Find Familiar now remain with the party after a Long Rest.*

CHANGES AND FIXES

Crashes, Freezes, and Blockers

• Can now Long Rest at camp if a companion is dead.
• Fixed crash when spam-clicking ‘Go to Camp’ button and Trade window.
• Fixed crash when choosing to ‘do nothing’ about Astarion holding blade to your throat.
• Fixed crash when readying Throw action and hovering cursor over dismissed summon.
• Fixed crash when killing summons holding Concentration.
• Fixed crash when drinking Auntie Ethel’s potion.
• Fixed crash when opening a spell container from a hotbar filter after removing that spell from the main hotbar.
• Fixed black screen triggered after committing a crime and telling Zevlor you’d like to celebrate at camp.
• Fixed character getting stuck if Shoved while Sleeping.
• Fixed launcher entering offline mode.
• Fixed crash related to Inventory UI.
• Fixed crash related to having multiple Examine windows open and closing one.
• Fixed crash related to FSR and Ultra Quality graphical settings.
• Fixed crash related to sending weapons in the same filter slots to other characters.
• Fixed bug related to controlling Us at Crash Site.
• Fixed bug preventing you from starting dialogues.

Multiplayer

• Fixed loading screen getting stuck after disconnecting.
• Fixed crash during character selection.
• Fixed crash when starting in lobby.
• Fixed issue preventing clients from rejoining session after crash.*
• Fixed blocker and black screen caused by Long Rest.
• Fixed crash when switching companions during dialogue.
• Fixed Direct Connections checkbox deselecting due to NatPunch error.
• You no longer get stuck in the lobby if you join the host via invite before you’ve made a profile and if your game folder is in Documents.