Paladins are a staple ofDungeons & Dragons, powerful in the frontline, and can become dangerous damage dealers or tanks, and it’s no different inBaldur’s Gate 3.And they can even dish out the occasional support in case your actual healer got knocked out of the fight, although smiting things will be more worth your time.
Regardless, there are many choices you may make to fully optimize your religious warrior, and one of them is picking an appropriate race for them. Sure, you can choose whatever you want to roleplay, but there’s nothing stopping you from making a mechanically strong character, too.
7Half-Orc
Speaking of frontline, damage dealers, and tanks, Half-Orcs are effective in all those criteria. For starters, you get 12m ofDarkvision, which is just enough to get into some melee combat while in dark areas, and you get Intimidation for free, which will stack nicely with your high Charisma score, ensuring all will fear you, as they should.
Then they get Savage Attacks and Relentless Endurance. The first one will give you an extra damage die whenever you do a critical hit with a melee weapon — which is usually thetype of weaponPaladins go with. Stacking that up with Smite, you can easily kill powerful enemies. We recommend usingHold Personto ensure critical strikes or Oath of Vengeance’s Vow of Enmity to give you an advantage, increasing your critical strikes chance.
Relentless Endurance, on the other hand, will make you a better tank. If your health drops to zero, you’ll instead stay awake with one hit point, giving you a fighting chance so you can heal yourself or fight until your last breath. Whatever the case, resisting damage is always good.
6Strongheart Halfling
We confess: Adding Halflings here is cheating. After all, they’re not just great Paladins but great everything. First and not very relevant, they’re small, meaning you get some extra exploration options as you play. But now, to the essential parts.
They’re resistant to being frightened, which is fantastic for a frontline character, especially since you’re able to’t move while frightened, and most Paladins won’t work at a distance. They also get Lucky, which makes them good at every class, allowing you to re-roll any Ability Check, Saving Throw, or Attack Roll if you roll a one — essentially every roll that involves a d20. You’ll only get a natural one if you roll two ones in sequence, and that’s really hard to happen.
Halflings get two subraces, Strongheart and Lightfoot. Lightfoot is a good option for stealth classes — which is not the case here — so we recommend Strongheart, which gives you resistance against poison damage and its Saving Throws. Since poison is a common damage type, this can come in handy often.
5Duergar
Dwarves, in general, are good options here — except for Shield Dwarf, which will give you proficiencies your class already provides you — but the Dwarves from down under are a fascinating choice. All Dwarves get 12m of Darkvision, weapon proficiencies that you won’t need, and poison resistance, just like the Halfling. What sets the Duergars apart, though, is their superior Darkvision of 24m and, more importantly, resistance against being charmed or paralyzed — a condition that can often happen, and it can destroy your character.
You’ll eventually be able to cast Enlarge or Invisibility on yourself, with Enlarge increasing your damage andInvisibilitybeing an excellent counter to your terrible stealth. Alternatively, Gold Dwarves are another exciting option if you want to focus on the tank side of things. They’ll get an extra hit point at every level, making your overall health bar beefier. Combine that with the Tough Feat, and you’re good to go. Still, the Duergar benefits are more attractive overall.
4High Elf
A fun option with Darkvision, resistance against being charmed — no paralysis this time, but you can’t be put to sleep, which is pretty useful early game — and a free Perception proficiency. All Elves get that, along with weapon proficiencies that, again, don’t matter because your class will provide them anyway.
Any Elf is fun just for these options, but we’ll recommend the High Elf thanks to the free cantrip you’ll get — something Paladins don’t tend to have. They will rely on your Intelligence to be effective, an ability score you usually don’t need. However, you can circumvent a low Intelligence score with theWarped Headband Of Intellect, an item from Act 1 that increases your Intelligence to 17. Or, you can get a cantrip that doesn’t rely on hitting, such asMinor Illusionor Light.
Alternatively, Wood Elves are an exciting option since they have extra movement, which is useful for a class that needs to get close to everyone they want to beat. The Drows will give youDancing Lights, Faery Fire, and Darkness later on, which can occasionally be helpful — especially Faery Firefor advantage— but they won’t be available often.
3Dragonborn
We’ve talked about all the great options already, but there are still some good options worth mentioning. The first ones are the Dragonborn, with a cone area attack and a resistance based on your color.
While a good concept thanks to its area of effect attack, the breath weapon has pretty low damage output. We’re mostly adding Dragonborn here due to the free resistance, which is always a good thing for tanks, and you have a lot of freedom as to which one you’ll get, as they have plenty of colors. For instance, fire and poison are common damage types, so resistance is welcome.
2Githyanki
One word: Mobility. Though this race won’t make you hit harder or resist stuff, the Githyanki are an option worth mentioning because they’ll fix a common problem among melee characters: getting around the map.
Along with weapon proficiencies and Astral Knowledge — the latter of which can actually be helpful when you need to use skills for an ability score you dumped — you get freeMage Hand;Githyanki Psionics: Jump, which will let you jump further and higher, traversing maps with ease, and Misty Step, allowing you to teleport. You’ll only be able to use each of them once per long rest, but it’ll help traversal nonetheless.
1Mephistopheles Tiefling
Tieflings get fire resistance, which is just good — you can be the bait for your Wizard’s Fireball — and you also get Darkvision. This is the basic for every Tiefling, with each subrace changing the spells you’ll get in the long run.
We recommend Mephistopheles, as they’ll give you Burning Hands — a good AoE option — and Flame Blade, which you’re able to use with your off-hand weapon to cause extra fire damage. Getting this spell from the Tiefling will let you use your Charisma for the Attack rolls, something you’re good at. Keep in mind you can’t Smite with Flame Blade, though, which is why we recommend it as your off-hand weapon when used.
Baldur’s Gate 3
WHERE TO PLAY
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
