When Larian said it was ready to "move on" from Baldur's Gate 3 back in March, rather than continue to work on an expansion that had started to morph into Baldur's Gate 4, I assumed that meant it would be winding down the updates, too. But since then we've seen a bunch of substantial patches, and we've just learned that another one is on its way. Yep, Larian just decided to chuck another 12 subclasses into the game, as well as some more treats.
"Before we bid Faerûn adieu in search of stranger shores," the new community update reads, "we have one more major patch waiting around the corner. Arriving next year, this update will introduce some of the most eagerly awaited features to BG3: crossplay, and photo mode, along with 12 new subclasses."
New subclasses
The subclasses are absolutely the highlight here, introducing a different way to play each class. That's a pretty hefty addition. Here's what you can expect:
- Bard - College of Glamour: A support subclass that heals allies and commands enemies.
- Barbarian - Path of Giants: Become a burly beefcake that uses their rage to grow in both size and strength.
- Cleric - Death Domain: One for the goths, this subclass focuses on spells that cause necrotic damage, and you can make corpses explode. Fun!
- Druid - Circle of Stars: This celestial-themed Druid subclass gives you three 'Starry' forms with different flavours.
- Paladin - Oath of the Crown: A righteous Paladin subclass, you'll be able to heal your pals by soaking up damage and disrupt your enemies with divine taunts.
- Fighter - Arcane Archer: This magical ranged subclass can banish enemies to the Feywild and batter foes with psychic damage.
- Monk - Drunken Master: Get all boozed up before a fight for the ultimate bar brawl, or intoxicate your foes before aggressively sobering them up.
- Ranger - Swarmkeeper: A Ranger subclass for fans of bees! Not just bees, though: you'll be able to summon swarms of moths and jellyfish too. Why not?
- Rogue - Swashbuckler: BG3 doesn't have enough pirates, but that's about to change thanks to this dirty, skullduggerous subclass that lets you blind and disarm enemies.
- Sorcerer - Shadow Magic: With this subclass you can Shadow Walk between dim places, see better in the dark, or summon a spooky dog.
- Warlock - Hexblade: This Warlock has made a pact with an entity that takes the shape of various magical weapons, and you'll be able to summon the spirits of fallen foes.
- Wizard - Blade Singing: A martial Wizard subclass, Blade Singing splices spells with swordplay and lets you get properly stuck into the melee scrum.
Boy, that's a lot of new stuff. I'm going to be playing this game forever, I reckon. Oh well! I could think of a worse fate. While a lot of these new additions come directly from D&D, Larian's thrown some fun homebrew stuff in there too, and the subclasses also come with new animations, VFX and voice lines for Oathbreaker Paladins.
Photo mode and crossplay
The subclasses alone would make the update the biggest Larian's put together, but the photo mode and crossplay features give us even more to look forward to.
Crossplay means you'll be able to hang out with pals playing on their PS5, joining them in the crossplay lobby. The photo mode, meanwhile, will let you set up your shot with a bunch of options, and then you can edit it to make everything look just right. Camera settings, lens settings, scene settings, post processing effects, frames and stickers mean that there should be a lot to tinker with.
The patch doesn't have a release date yet, but Larian's going to start stress testing it in January. If you can't wait until release, you'll be able to find out how you can participate in the test in the next community update.
I'm incredibly excited, even if this does mean I'm probably going to have to pause my latest playthrough because what's the point in playing BG3 unless you can murder goblins with bees? I can't wait.
