Thanks to years of tireless development and an extra batch of patches, Baldur’s Gate 3 has become one of the most feature-rich games around, with a campaign that can take over a hundred hours and enough replayability to keep players going for years. With crossplay on the horizon, the co-op will become an even larger focus, and the lineup of new subclasses coming in Patch 8 could make BG3 resemble a great D&D module more than ever. Patch 7 adding mods has already put BG3 on the path to immortality, similar to the likes of Skyrim.

With all of Baldur’s Gate 3‘s features, developer Larian Studios seems to have taken the lessons it learned from Divinity: Original Sin 2 and applied them to BG3. Divinity also added plenty of content after its release and featured a different form of mod support, with an extensive Divinity Engine modding tool but no place in-game to download custom content). Despite this, Larian did not include a version of Divinity: OS2‘s Game Master mode in Baldur’s Gate 3, which seems ironic in light of the Dungeon Master’s central role in D&D.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Would Have Benefitted From Divinity’s Game Master Mode

It Could Have Been The Perfect Entry Point To Play D&D

Divinity: Original Sin 2 had a Game Master mode in which a player could host a game using Divinity‘s ruleset and resources, similar to other digital tabletops. The massive advantage DOS2 had was that it was a fully fledged game, with animations, effects, and a wealth of enemies, so it was immediately higher quality than many digital tabletops. It was just limited by the game it was used for. While successful, Divinity has been eclipsed by Baldur’s Gate 3, and its player numbers are but a fraction of 2023’s Game of the Year.

Like running a tabletop game, using the Game Master mode was a lot of hard work. Divinity didn’t quite have the accessibility to get the masses playing it, even if it is one of the best CRPGs around. While a Dungeon Master mode in Baldur’s Gate 3 would still have a steep learning curve, it would have been massively beneficial for several reasons. One would be the possibility for BG3 to double as the definitive digital tabletop for Dungeons & Dragons, keeping its popularity ensured for years to come even if players get tired of the main story.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on D&D‘s fifth edition, which was released back in 2014 and received a recent set of 2024 rules revisions.

Thanks to Baldur’s Gate 3‘s popularity, a Dungeon Master mode would have been the perfect way for D&D players to introduce their BG3 friends to the tabletop, and the fluid, intuitive gameplay of BG3 could provide a streamlined experience. It has enough character creation options and subclasses to at least get people started, and with its online co-op infrastructure, the title already has the resources to get players together. A Dungeon Master mode could have been a great way to keep players in the world of BG3 without them having to replay the campaign over again.

BG3 Could Have Been The Definitive Digital Tabletop For D&D

Most Don’t Make It To Level 20 Anyway

There aren’t many 3D digital tabletops around, and practically none feature BG3‘s level of polish. Talespire and Tabletop Simulator both come to mind, but Talespire isn’t the most feature-rich (largely due to being early access), and Tabletop Simulator tends to be better for traditional board games than for TTRPGs. BG3 already uses a modified version of D&D‘s ruleset and looks better than any digital tabletop could hope for thanks to being an actual game. It has already proved to be an effective gateway into D&D for many players.

BG3‘s improved graphical fidelity over Divinity: OS2 can be attributed to its newer, propriety engine, Divinity 4.0.

It’s no secret that online play tends to be more difficult to have fun compared to playing D&D in person. Although there are plenty of programs and websites to help with D&D, nothing beats playing in person with models and friends around a table. Not even a BG3 DM Mode could probably top this, but it would be better than staring at a 2D map and grid on something like Roll20. While BG3‘s hypothetical DM mode would have restrictions due to its roots as a video game, as a tool to get people started with D&D, it would be unmatched.

One issue arises from BG3‘s level cap, which only goes to level 12, although there are mods that allow players to multi-class up to level 20. Another would be the lack of character class options compared to actual D&D 5e, but this is something that is also solved by mods, since the community has ported many subclasses to BG3. In fact, mods could have been a great way to port adventure modules from D&D to BG3, with DMs able to install something like the popular Curse of Strahd module or a resource pack to run that specific adventure.

Larian Had Many Reasons Not To Make A DM Mode For BG3

It Doesn’t Work With What Wizards Of The Coast Wants To Do With D&D

Custom Image by Diana Acuña

Baldur’s Gate 3 took a long time to develop, especially with the effect the Covid-19 virus and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had on the world. With Larian pushing up the release window for fear of competing with Starfield (which likely benefited Bethesda in hindsight), there was a lot to accomplish within the time frame and resources available to the studio. Realistically, there wasn’t time to work on a DM mode, and there probably still isn’t, if Larian wants to fully focus on a new IP after Patch 8’s release.

By the time BG3 came out, D&D 2024, a revised ruleset for the TTRPG, wasn’t far off, and having a tool that let players use 5e wouldn’t have helped the new version’s release. Wizards of the Coast even has its own 3D tabletop coming soon using D&D 2024‘s rules, currently known as Project Sigil. Given BG3‘s popularity, a Dungeon Master mode would likely have hampered this effort. Pair this with BG3 using some homebrewed modifications to D&D 5e rules, and it does seem like a potential BG3 DM mode will never come to be.

Still, a DM mode for Baldur’s Gate 3 would have been such a relief to those struggling to make online D&D sessions feel as fun as their in-person counterparts. The foundations are there with a character creator perfect for making NPCs, a mod toolkit that could have seen use for importing models, a wealth of enemies already built into the game, and a solid co-op infrastructure. Larian has already proved it can do it with Divinity: Original Sin 2, and it is a shame that these lessons couldn’t be applied to BG3.