Baldur’s Gate 3runs on theDungeons & Dragons Fifth Editionsystem, adapted for CRPG by Larian Studios. Although not every tabletop rule and system has made it into the game,Baldur’s Gate 3remains largely faithful and contains many features that will be familiar toFifth Editionplayers.
The Advantage and Disadvantage system was firstintroduced toDungeons & DragonsinFifth Edition, and helped to define its new approach to dice bonuses. While many previous editions supported players gaining contextual bonuses to their dice rolls,Fifth Editionsimplified and streamlined these often complicated systems and folded them all into Advantage and Disadvantage.Baldur’s Gate 3makes use of the Advantage/Disadvantage system with almost no changes, allowing players to rely on this core Fifth Edition rule.
What Is Advantage and Disadvantage in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Just as inDungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, having Advantage and Disadvantage inBaldur’s Gate 3allows players to roll two d20s instead of one on a check, and then take the higher (with Advantage) or the lower (with Disadvantage) result. The benefit of rolling twice and picking the highest with Advantage is roughly equivalent to a +4 bonus, making each check 20% more likely to succeed. Additionally, Advantage gives players two chances to roll a Critical Success, and strong protection against Critical Failures.
On the other side of the coin, Disadvantage makes rolling a Critical Success incredibly unlikely, and rolling a Critical Failure a dangerous possibility. It’s important to note that neither Advantage nor Disadvantage can stack, and overlapping sources of each will be wasted. Additionally, any feature that allows a player to reroll a die, such asthe Lucky Feat, will only be able to reroll one of two dice rolled with Advantage.
Obviously,Baldur’s Gate 3players will want their own characters to have Advantage and their enemies to have Disadvantage as often as possible. However, achieving this goal isn’t as simple as it sounds, as there are a huge number of spells, abilities, andconditions inBaldur’s Gate 3that can add Advantage or Disadvantage to rolls.
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How to Get Advantage in Baldur’s Gate 3
There are many ways to get Advantage inBaldur’s Gate 3, but most will cost the player some kind of class resource. InFifth Editionplayers can reliably achieve Advantage through Flanking, but the Flanking system iscompletely absent inBaldur’s Gate 3. Instead, almost all classes will gain access to a few spells, abilities, or conditions that can grant Advantage, but very few of them are at will.
The only class that can have Advantage on every attack for free is the Barbarian with their Reckless Attack ability, though this comes with the downside of also granting Advantage to every enemy that attacks them before their next turn. Other martial classes will have to rely on features like theBattle Master Fighter’sTrip Maneuver, which can inflict the Prone condition and grant all melee attacks Advantage. For Spelcast, there are even more options, with spells likeFaerie Fire,Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, andHold Personall granting Advantage against the afflicted target.
Finally, it’s also possible to inflict Advantage-granting conditions through the use of environmental effects.Maps inBaldur’s Gate 3are often littered with steep slopes and long falls, and high-Strength characters can use Shove to send their foes tumbling over ledges as a Bonus Action. Any PC or NPC that falls a significant distance has a chance to end up Prone when they hit the ground, granting Advantage on all melee attacks against them until they stand up again.
How To Avoid Disadvantage in Baldur’s Gate 3
The easiest way for players to avoid Disadvantage inBaldur’s Gate 3is to verify that their characters only usearmor that they have proficiency in, that they’re never over-encumbered, and that they deal with any nasty conditions inflicted on them by enemies. All the spells and conditions that players can use to impose Disadvantage are available to enemies too, so players will want to invest in defensive magic, high Saving Throws, and make sure to rescue afflicted party members before their foes can exploit their vulnerability.
Finally, as much as players want to avoid Disadvantage themselves, they’ll also want to inflict it on their enemies. Fortunately, there are several spells and abilities that can force a target to roll with Disadvantage. These include the Blur spell for Wizards andSorcerers inBaldur’s Gate 3, as well as conditions like Blinded and Weak Grip.
Using spells and abilities to gain Advantage and impose Disadvantage, while doing the reverse to enemies, is a fundamental part of theDungeons & Dragons Fifth Editionsystem. Players will need to master the system in order to succeed inBaldur’s Gate 3’s higher difficulties, as fighting with the aid of Advantage can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.
Baldur’s Gate 3is set to release on Jul 08, 2025, for PC and June 17, 2025, for PS5.
