Baldur’s Gate 3 Beginner’s Guide 2026: The 3 Best Classes, All 6 Companions and the Act 1 Choices You Can’t Undo

Verified for Patch 8 (April 2026). Values and mechanics may change with future updates.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has sold over 20 million copies and won Game of the Year at every major ceremony in 2023 — the first game in history to achieve that — and yet, most people who buy it quit within the first three hours. Not because the game is bad. Because nobody told them which class to pick, how combat actually works, or that some Act 1 choices quietly close off entire storylines.

This guide fixes that. By the end, you’ll know exactly which class to play, how to recruit all six companions before Act 1 ends, and which decisions you genuinely cannot reverse. This hub covers the essentials for every new BG3 player — linked spoke guides below go deeper on builds, companions, and Act 2.

BG3 Quick Start — 10 Things to Do Before Anything Else

1. Pick Fighter, Paladin, or Cleric on your first run
2. Set difficulty to Balanced (or Explorer if you want story focus)
3. Recruit all 6 companions in Act 1 — miss them here and you may miss them for the entire run
4. Save manually every 20–30 minutes. Autosave triggers on major events only, not on a timer.
5. Learn Action / Bonus Action / Reaction before your first big fight
6. Take high ground in every combat encounter (+2 to attack rolls at 2.5 m elevation)
7. Complete the Druid Grove quest — do not side with the goblins on a first run
8. Explore both the Underdark AND Mountain Pass before leaving Act 1 — you can do both
9. Talk to every NPC and exhaust every dialogue option. Your class unlocks unique responses.
10. Respeccing costs 100 gold via Withers at camp. If you hate your class, just respec.

What Is Baldur’s Gate 3? (For Complete Newcomers)

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a computer role-playing game (CRPG) developed by Larian Studios, released on PC in August 2023. It adapts the rules of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition into a fully voiced, 80–100-hour campaign set in the Forgotten Realms.

This is not like most RPGs you’ve played. Combat is entirely turn-based. Every dialogue choice has story consequences. The game tracks what you’ve done and adjusts the world around it — side with the wrong faction and companions leave permanently. Miss a recruitment window and a companion is gone for the entire run.

BG3 won Game of the Year at all five major awards ceremonies in 2023, holding a Metacritic score of 96–99 across platforms with 98% of critics recommending it. That praise is warranted, but BG3 expects you to engage with its systems rather than handhold you through them. This guide handles the learning curve so the game can get straight to being excellent.

If you enjoy BG3’s dense, story-rich CRPG format, the Gothic 1 Remake (2025) explores similar themes of player agency in a reactive world and rewards the same approach to exploration and NPC dialogue.

Which Class Should You Pick? The 3 Best for Beginners

The Fighter is the best first-time class, and it’s not a close call. If you’re new to D&D systems or CRPGs, pick Fighter and focus on learning BG3’s exploration, companion management, and story systems — without the overhead of spell-slot tracking.

Fighter — The Safest Starting Class

The Fighter gets proficiency with every weapon and armour type in the game. You never need to check whether you can equip a piece of gear. Your health pool is the largest of any martial class. At level 5, you gain Extra Attack — making two attacks per Action instead of one, which is when Fighter combat becomes noticeably stronger than earlier levels.

The Battle Master subclass, available at level 3, adds Manoeuvres: tactical options that let you push enemies prone, disarm them, deal extra damage on specific hits, or disengage without provoking opportunity attacks. These give genuine strategic depth without requiring spell management.

What you give up: Charisma-based dialogue options. Fighters don’t naturally invest in Charisma, so persuasion and deception checks are harder unless you consciously allocate those stats during character creation.

Paladin — The Best All-Rounder

Paladin combines martial power with limited spellcasting and the highest natural Charisma of the three recommended classes. The core mechanic is Divine Smite: spend spell slots to add burst damage to any weapon hit. Landing a critical hit and then spending a slot to maximise Smite damage is one of the most satisfying moments BG3 offers — and it’s available from level 1.

Heavy armour keeps your Paladin alive even when you make positioning mistakes. Paladin Auras, unlocked at level 6, passively boost your whole party’s saving throws — you improve your entire team’s durability simply by being present in fights.

One complexity to understand upfront: Paladins have Oaths. Act against your oath — killing surrendered enemies, letting preventable innocents die — and you may become an Oathbreaker with different abilities and a story consequence. On a first run following the Save the Grove path, this is easy to avoid.

Cleric — Best Healing, Higher Upfront Complexity

Cleric has the most powerful healing spells in the game and strong offensive options through Spellcasting. The Life Domain subclass maximises healing output, making your party substantially more durable in extended fights. The War Domain is the pick if you want healing available while still dealing meaningful damage in the same turns.

The complexity is front-loaded: at character creation you choose a deity and a domain, and these shape your spell list and some roleplay options. Once past that decision, Clerics are manageable — Life Domain healers specifically have one primary job and excel at it.

Note: Shadowheart, one of the first companions you meet, is also a Cleric. You can delegate healing duties to her entirely and play a different class — and having two Clerics is not a problem in BG3. The class is strong enough that redundancy rarely hurts.

The respec safety net: Withers — a skeletal figure found inside the Dank Crypt near Emerald Grove — joins your camp and offers full respeccing for 100 gold. You can change class, subclass, and ability score distribution at any time outside combat. Your gear and story progress are unaffected.

All 6 Act 1 Companions — Recruit Them Now or Lose Them

BG3 has six main companions, all recruitable in Act 1. Miss any of them and several are unavailable until Act 2 or later — some are effectively gone. Recruit all six before the Druid Grove storyline concludes.

Lae’zel warning: She’s caged by two tieflings south of the Emerald Grove. Free her — don’t agree to the tieflings’ offer to kill her. Certain dialogue choices in her questline, particularly when her Githyanki loyalty conflicts with your decisions, can result in her death. When those moments arise, choose options that express respect for her goals even if you don’t share them.

Karlach warning: She’s the companion players most commonly miss because she’s off the main path. Follow the Risen Road south past the Toll House. If Wyll has given you a contract to hunt a devil — she’s not the threat he believes her to be. Resolving this without violence keeps both companions and unlocks both their intertwined questlines.

Each companion’s questline runs through all three acts and branches based on your decisions across the game. You don’t need maximum approval with all six simultaneously — but losing a companion to a wrong dialogue choice early removes dozens of hours of unique content from your run.

Approval also drives each companion’s romance path — with thresholds ranging from 10 (Wyll’s first flirt) to 40 (Astarion’s Act 1 proposition). See our BG3 companion romance guide for every threshold, key choices by act, and the scenes you cannot miss.

Turn-Based Combat — The Action Economy Explained

The biggest skill jump in BG3 comes from understanding action economy. Every character gets three resources per turn: one Action, one Bonus Action, and one Reaction. Wasting any of these consistently is the primary reason fights become frustrating.

Action — the main resource. Use it to attack, cast most spells, use class abilities, or take utility actions like Help (revive a downed ally at 1 HP without a spell).

Bonus Action — the secondary resource for lighter abilities. Rogues use it for Hide. Fighters use it for Second Wind (self-heal without a spell slot). Clerics can cast Healing Word as a Bonus Action — meaning they cast a main offensive spell AND heal a dying ally in the same turn. Check your Bonus Action bar every single turn without exception. If you’re only attacking and ignoring the orange triangle, you’re wasting half your turn’s potential.

Reaction — triggered by conditions, even on other creatures’ turns. The most common is Opportunity Attack: when an enemy tries to move away from you without disengaging, your character attacks them automatically. Mages can use Shield (reaction) to raise their AC against a specific incoming attack. Manage which reactions auto-trigger from the Reactions tab in your spellbook — some are worth saving for specific threats.

The +2 High Ground Rule

Standing at least 2.5 metres (8 feet) above your target adds a flat +2 bonus to every attack roll. Attacking from below applies a -2 penalty. That 4-point swing in either direction is significant at any difficulty level, and decisive on Tactician where enemy AC is higher and every miss costs more.

In every combat encounter, spend movement to reach a crate, ledge, or elevated surface before attacking. Ranged attackers particularly benefit — ranged attacks gain extended reach when firing downward, and the +2 applies to all attack types. The Sharpshooter feat removes the low-ground penalty for ranged attacks if you want to ignore positioning as a deliberate build choice.

Advantage — Roll Twice, Take the Higher Result

Beyond the flat +2 bonus, BG3 uses D&D’s Advantage system: certain conditions let you roll a d20 twice and take the higher result. An attacker with Advantage and a +5 modifier hits more often than one with a +9 modifier and no Advantage, because rolling twice dramatically skews results toward the high end of the range.

Generate Advantage by: shoving enemies prone (Shove is a Bonus Action), casting area-control spells like Grease or Web, attacking from a hidden position as a Rogue (backstab), or combining high ground with a Rogue’s Sneak Attack eligibility. Systematically building Advantage into your combat routine — rather than just attacking straight — separates early Act 1 difficulty from manageable fights.

Throw Healing Potions — They’re Area of Effect

One mechanic almost every beginner guide buries: healing potions deal full healing to every ally in the splash radius when thrown as a Bonus Action. Three injured party members grouped nearby? One thrown potion heals all three for the full amount. Keep your party loosely clustered in fights and throw potions rather than drinking them individually — you multiply the efficiency of each potion by the number of allies in range.

Act 1 Priorities — The Choices That Lock Forever

Act 1 is BG3’s largest act and contains its most consequential decisions. The game creates a sense of urgency — you have a Mind Flayer parasite that should be transforming you rapidly. It won’t. Nothing in Act 1 expires on a real-time timer. Explore fully before advancing.

The Druid Grove — Your Most Important Quest

The Druid Grove (Emerald Grove) is the hub of Act 1. The central conflict: a goblin army threatens the grove and its tiefling refugees. This is the decision you can’t take back on your current run.

Defend the Grove (recommended for first run): Wyll and Gale remain in your party. You unlock the tiefling party celebration — one of the best story moments in Act 1. Halsin becomes recruitable as a companion later in the game.

Side with the Goblins: Wyll leaves permanently or cannot be recruited at all. Gale leaves unless you pass a Charisma check. Halsin is not available as a companion. You get a romance scene with Minthara. Not recommended on a first run — you lose two companions and their full questlines in exchange for a single story branch.

Ignore the conflict: All tieflings die. Wyll and Gale are lost. The consequences carry into Act 2.

The decision tree:

• Save the Grove → keep Wyll and Gale, unlock Halsin later → standard full-companion playthrough
• Side with Goblins → lose Wyll, risk losing Gale → Minthara available, save for a dedicated evil run
• Ignore conflict → lose all three, hardest Act 2 start
• BG3 Save File Location Guide
• BG3 Spell List: Every Spell by Class and Level
• 7 BG3 Quest Mods That Add New Endings, Extended Companion Arcs and Story Branches Larian Left Unfinished
• BG3 Character Builds 2026: 5 Best Builds and the ASI vs Feats Rule
• https://www.switchbladegaming.com/baldurs-gate-3/spells-guide/
• Is Baldur's Gate 3 Worth It in 2026? The Data-Backed Verdict
• BG3 Wins Co-op, DOS2 Wins Tactics: Which CRPG to Buy in 2026
• BG3 on PC, PS5, or Steam Deck: Unlimited Mods, Couch Co-op, or 40fps Handheld — Choose Your Platform

Underdark vs Mountain Pass — You Can Do Both

Most guides present this as an either-or choice. It isn’t. You can explore both the Underdark and the Mountain Pass fully before the event that advances Act 2. Do both.

The Mountain Pass is faster and contains the Rosymorn Monastery, which holds the Blood of Lathander — one of the strongest weapons available before Act 2. It also advances Lae’zel’s questline through the githyanki crèche. The Underdark takes longer but contains the Adamantine Forge (for crafting powerful armour and weapons), unique faction storylines, and substantially more loot. Clearing the Goblin Camp first, then running both areas, means you arrive at Act 2 better equipped and at a higher level.

Long Rest Timing

Long Rest restores all spell slots, class abilities, and hit points. It also triggers companion conversations and some story events at camp — these are almost always worth watching. Short Rest restores some hit dice and is used by Warlocks specifically to regain their spell slots (Warlocks don’t recover spell slots on Long Rest).

When to Long Rest: any time more than two party members are below 50% health, or any time your primary spellcaster is out of meaningful spell slots. Don’t push through back-to-back fights on empty resources. The cost of resting is time, not story — Act 1 is not timed.

Exploration — Why You Should Talk to and Investigate Everything

BG3 rewards curiosity with concrete mechanical benefits, not just narrative ones. Passive Perception checks — rolled automatically based on your party’s Wisdom scores — reveal hidden containers, traps, and concealed passages without any action required. The character with the highest Perception in your party detects things the others miss. Keeping a high-Wisdom character (Cleric, Druid, or Ranger) in rotation specifically for this reason is worth it.

Lockpicking opens containers and doors holding unique equipment. Astarion, with his high Dexterity and Rogue class, handles most locks efficiently. Keep Thieves’ Tools in your inventory — they’re consumed on each lockpicking attempt. Don’t try to force-break chests and containers that can be picked; forcing a locked container often destroys the contents.

Talk to every NPC you encounter and exhaust every dialogue branch. Your character’s class, race, and background unlock unique responses unavailable to other character builds — a Cleric gets different dialogue discussing Shar with Shadowheart than a Fighter does. These aren’t just flavour text: some bypass combat encounters entirely, unlock hidden quests, or grant access to rare items. The game is, in many ways, won through conversation as much as combat.

For PC performance optimisation — frame rates, settings recommendations, and graphics configuration for BG3 on mid-range hardware — see our BG3 Best PC Settings guide.

Difficulty Settings — Which One Should You Choose?

Start on Balanced. If you find a specific Act 1 encounter frustrating after two or three genuine attempts, switch to Explorer without guilt — the full story, all companion questlines, and all endings are available on every non-Honour setting. Difficulty only affects combat, not story.

Don’t underestimate Tactician on a first run. The goblin attack on Emerald Grove in Tactician is a real skill check — enemies coordinate, target your spellcasters preferentially, and apply more status effects. Save Tactician for a second playthrough after you’ve built an intentional party composition and understand the full action economy.

8 Common Mistakes First-Time Players Make

1. Not saving manually. BG3’s autosave triggers on story events, not on a timer. Before any important conversation or serious combat, press F5. One missed save can lose two hours of progress to a bad roll on a critical dialogue check.
2. Missing Karlach. She’s off the main path along the Risen Road. If Wyll mentioned hunting a devil, she’s your target. Find her before the Grove storyline concludes — she’s easy to skip entirely if you follow only the main quest markers.
3. Burning all spell slots before a hard fight. Using Fireball on weak goblin groups and then facing the goblin bosses on empty resources is the source of most “this is too hard” complaints. Save powerful spells for fights that genuinely require them.
4. Forgetting Bonus Actions every turn. Fighters have Second Wind. Rogues can Hide for Advantage. Paladins can sub-action weaker spells. A turn where you attack and skip your Bonus Action wastes significant potential. Check that orange triangle icon every single turn.
5. Ignoring elevation. The +2 / -2 swing from height changes hit probability noticeably over a full fight. Ignoring high ground is equivalent to reducing your party’s effective attack bonus. Position first, then attack.
6. Siding with the goblins on a first run. Losing Wyll and Gale removes a Warlock, a Wizard, and hours of companion content from your run. The Minthara storyline is compelling — save it for a dedicated second run specifically built around the evil path.
7. Rushing Act 1 because the parasite creates urgency. The urgency is narrative misdirection. No quest in Act 1 expires on a timer. The more you explore before advancing, the better prepared you’ll be for Act 2’s difficulty increase.
8. Skipping Alchemy. The Alchemy tab in your inventory lets you craft potions, grenades, and weapon coatings. Alchemist’s Fire creates burning surfaces dealing ongoing damage. Smokepowder Bombs deal area blast damage. The system takes five minutes to understand and can turn fights that feel impossible into manageable encounters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I change my class after starting?

Yes — at any point outside combat, for 100 gold. Withers, found inside the Dank Crypt near Emerald Grove, joins your camp and offers full respeccing: class, subclass, and ability score distribution can all be changed. Your gear, story progress, and companion relationships are unaffected.

Is BG3 hard for someone who has never played D&D?

Balanced difficulty is calibrated for non-D&D players — rules are explained as they become relevant. Fighter and Paladin remove spell management entirely, leaving you to focus on positioning and resource tracking. The steeper part of the learning curve isn’t the ruleset but the understanding that every choice carries weight. That’s not a difficulty problem; it’s the game working as intended.

How long is Act 1?

With thorough exploration — Emerald Grove, the Underdark, and the Mountain Pass — expect 20–30 hours. Rushing the main questline is possible in 10–12 hours, but you’ll miss companion questlines and most of the best equipment available before Act 2. Act 1 is the most content-dense section of the game.

Do difficulty settings affect the story or endings?

No. All story content, companion questlines, and endings are identical on Explorer, Balanced, and Tactician. Honour Mode adds one unique ending cutscene for a successful run, but the story itself is unchanged across all four settings.

If BG3 won’t launch on your PC — or crashes at startup — our BG3 won’t launch fix guide covers 12 fixes ranked by community success rate, starting with the DirectX 11 switch that resolves ~40% of cases.

Ready to go deeper on class builds? Our BG3 Best Class Tier List 2026 ranks all 12 classes with the best subclass per class and the five picks that work at any experience level.

Sources

1. bg3.wiki — High Ground Rules (https://bg3.wiki/wiki/High_ground_rules)
2. bg3.wiki — Actions (https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Actions)
3. bg3.wiki — Companions (https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Companions)
4. Wikipedia — Baldur’s Gate 3
5. Hack the Minotaur — Best Classes for BG3 Beginners (https://hacktheminotaur.com/baldurs-gate-3/best-classes-for-beginners/)
6. Screen Rant — Mountain Pass or Underdark in BG3?

Ready to put those class choices into practice? Our BG3 Best Builds guide covers four optimized multiclass combinations — including exact level splits and ability scores — for Balanced, Tactician, and Honour Mode.

Ready to split classes and go beyond single builds? Our BG3 Multiclass Guide 2026 covers 8 combinations worth building — Lockadin, Sorcadin, Hexadin, Bardadin and four more — plus the 4 traps that waste your 12 levels.

Before you commit to a class or companion path, check which quests have time limits — some fail permanently the moment you enter Mountain Pass. Our BG3 time-sensitive quests guide lists every missable quest with exact trigger conditions and a 5-point pre-gate checklist.

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.