Baldur’s Gate 3: All playable races & their abilities

One of the best elements of Baldur’s Gate 3 is its character creation, allowing players the chance to explore different classes, looks, and of course, races. So, here are all the playable races in Baldur’s Gate 3 and their abilities.

Sure, creating a character is pretty fun in a game like Baldur’s Gate 3. You get to choose a name, stats, a class, and ultimately design your character to perfection. However, when implementing the likes of classes and more specifically races, some pretty tricky decisions can come up.

This is primarily due to the fact that each race comes with its own abilities, making them either a bad or good fit for your chosen class. So, to help you figure out which race to choose, here are all the available choices and what abilities they grant you.

All races available in Baldur’s Gate 3, abilities & best class

Altogether, there are 11 different races to choose from in Baldur’s Gate 3. Each race comes with its own perks, abilities, and features, meaning your choice certainly matters in comparison to your class.

Here are all the races and their abilities so you can choose wisely:

Drow

• Ability: +1 Charisma and +2 Dexterity
• Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed, Fey Ancestry, Superior Darkvision, Proficiency in Rapier, Shortsword, and Hand Crossbow
• Best Class: Rogue, Warlock, Sorcerer, Bard

Dragonborn

• Ability: +2 Strength and +1 Charisma
• Racial Feature: Draconic Ancestry and Base Racial Speed
• Best Class: Paladin, Fighter, Warlock

Dwarf

• Ability: +2 Constitution
• Racial Feature: Darkvision, Dwarven Resilience, Proficiency in Battleaxe, Handaxe, Light Hammer, and Warhammer
• Best Class: Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin

Elf

• Ability: +2 Dexterity
• Racial Feature: Darkvision, Keen Senses, Fey Ancestry, Proficiency in Longsword, Shortsword, Longbow, and Shortbow
• Best Class: Ranger, Fighter, Rogue

Githyanki

• Ability: +1 Intelligence and + 2 Strength
• Racial Feature: Githyanki Psionics: Mage Hand Conjuration Cantrip, Choice of skill proficiency, Base Racial Speed, Proficiency in Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shortsword, Longsword, and Greatsword
• Best Class: Wizard, Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin

Gnome

• Ability: +2 Intelligence
• Racial Feature: Gnome Cunning
• Best Class: Wizard

Halfling

• Ability: +2 Dexterity
• Racial Feature: Lucky
• Best Class: Rogue

Half-Elf

• Ability: +2 Charisma and +2 Ability to one other ability of your choice
• Racial Feature: Fey Ancestry and Darkvision
• Best Class: Warlock, Sorcerer, Bard, Paladin

Human

• Ability: +1 Strength, + 1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, and +1 Charisma
• Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed
• Best Class: Any

Half-Orc

• Ability: +2 Strength and +1 Constitution
• Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed, Darkvision, Relentless Endurance, Menacing, Savage Attacks
• Best Class: Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Cleric

Tiefling

• Ability: Depends on Subrace
  • Asmodeus Tiefling: +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma 
  • Mephistopheles Tiefling: +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma 
  • Zariel Tiefling: +1 Strength and +2 Charisma
• Racial Feature: Darkvision and Hellish Resistance
• Best Class: Bard, Warlock, Wizard, Paladin

There you have it, those are all the available races in Baldur’s Gate 3 and what abilities they give you. While choosing your next character, take a look at some of our other handy Baldur’s Gate 3 guides and content:

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