Suggestions for Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Creation

[Red]

These are just suggestions; thoughts I had that I wanted to share. Also, please understand I’ve only played the trial on PlayStation as I don’t have the money to buy the game just yet (never played the previous games, either). I’m also new to Dungeons & Dragons itself. I’ve done some research into the game (DnD) before trying out BG3.

Don’t get me wrong. Love the game; can’t wait to play it for real. I just think the character customization, while not bad in any way, could’ve had a bit more to it. Like eyebrow color, for instance.

This is for Larian (or modders). I have a lot of ideas that I think could be implemented that would make customization even more fun and creative. Just suggestions.
Note: I have no choice but to play on PlayStation.

Just hear me out: Add one additional Background - Fey Lost.

Backgrounds:

I think adding the “Fey Lost” background would really allow for a lot of very creative customizations, if done right.
Here’s information for Fey Lost.

http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/background:feylost

(Hope that link is okay)


It’d be nice to choose the options provided, like the type of instrument here, the language, and equipment. Not just for this background, but others as well. Maybe include some trinkets, too.

(You’ll have to refer to the article to understand what I’m talking about, if you don’t already.).

The Fey Wild Connection might be cool if implemented. Not necessary, though. Up to you.

Character Creation:

Here’s how the background affects character creation.
Players can pick a Fey Mark.
Now, let’s not do the “roll for it” thing, or maybe give players that option if they so wish, but also let other players choose freely. Also, I’m gonna suggest a few things that aren’t listed here. (Refer to linked article).

Obviously, have all these options (unless if they’re too hard to implement, like the flowers blooming/wilting in your presence). Just the appearance options will do. And while I think in DnD you get only one, for this game, let’s let people choose at least 2-3 options. There can be some that can’t coexist if they clash, obviously.

How about this? Have a “type” or whatever term you want to use. And players have to choose traits within that type; and can only pick one type. Since they’re called Fey Marks, maybe we’ll call them “Marks” for now (can be changed later).

(The names are just suggestions/placeholders. Call them whatever.)

*If Fey Lost background is chosen, obviously a Mark must be chosen, as well. And you must have at least one physical trait related to that Mark. Minimum of 1 trait. Max of 2-3. Only one “Mark” [Fauna, Flora, Fae] can be chosen.


Fauna Mark:
- If this Mark is chosen, then you have to choose to have at least one physical trait. Up to 2-3.
- Choose one or the other, or Both:
* Tail of an Animal
* Animal Ears (on top of head)
- Animals: Wolf, Cat, Fox, Deer, Dog, etc. (Deer can have Antlers option; Dogs and wolves are not the same).
- Customizable. Let players change the color of fur, ear shape, and maybe even fur length of the tail/ears. Maybe even have some patterns for the fur. Also, changing the position of ears just slightly would be nice. Tail length and thickness, and ear size are really good customization options to have, as well.
- Rules: If choosing both, they must match. If you have wolf ears, you have to pick the wolf tail, or no tail at all. And vice versa.
- Have option to remove human ears (‘cause two sets of ears is kinda dumb).
- This does NOT give the character body hair/fur. (Unless the player wants that.)
- Characters can have sharp canines for teeth. Either Optional, or maybe they just come with the territory.
- Other options: (Optional) Tufts of fur on original ears, if no animal ears were chosen; whiskers; any other animal-like features you can think of. Customizable.

Flora Mark:
- Just like above, you must have at least one physical trait. Up to 2-3.
- Vines or Bramble Hair.
- Customization: thickness, length, color, thorns or not. Can have leaves or flowers attached. Size.
- It can be all of your hair or just interweaved into it. Either a little or a lot.
- Can have flowers growing out of your head. Customizable.
- Can have flowers, vines, or other plant life growing out of your body. Such as moss or tree bark on your skin. Customizable.
- Branches coming out of your head.
- Other Options: can’t really think of any more for physical. Feel free to add on. There’s the “sweet scent” and the “flowers blooming/wilting where you walk”, but they’re not physical and might be complicated to implement into gameplay.


Faerie/Other Mark
- Must choose at least one physical trait. Up to 2-3.
- Eyes swirl with iridescent colors. Can choose the colors. Eyes can be “glittery”. Can choose pattern.
- Skin sparkles in moonlight. Or any kind of light. Will probably look like you’re wearing glitter on your skin. Maybe you glow.
- Fae wings
* Butterfly/Fairy wings (can choose between different shapes and change colors). Maybe they could be small. Be glittery or not.
- Horns. Not like tiefling horns, but those tiny little sharp nubs on the top of the head.
- Antennae, maybe. I don’t know.
- Can’t pair horns and fairy wings. Maybe.
- Add whatever you want. Remove what you want.


Remember, these are just suggestions. They can definitely be tweaked a bit. I really like the fauna one. It’d be easier to just make a demi-human race where they have just animal ears and tails; but can’t just make up races in an already established universe, unless the creators themselves wish to.


Other Customization Options:

Here are some other customization options you could add to actually make characters more diverse/unique.

* Choose different facial features: Let us choose our eyes, eyebrows, noses, mouths, and even ears separately from face shape (there are different kinds of elf ears, you know?). Also, have more face shapes, and don’t let complexion or anything like it be included.
- A size and position slider would be nice, too. Maybe a slider for parts of the face, if possible.
- Color. A lot of people have been pointing out that they can’t change the color of eyebrows. It might seem trivial, but to a lot of people, dark eyebrows with a light haired character really sticks out and looks ridiculous. Let us change eyebrow color (and shape). Please.
- Perhaps eyelash length, while I’m at it.
- Complexions. From flawless skin to not-so-flawless. Let it happen. Shouldn’t be determined by which face is chosen and should be it’s own thing.
* More Body Customizations
- Height. Let us adjust our height. It doesn’t have to be drastic or anything. I wanted to be short, but without choosing one of the short races. Just a little.
- Size. Thickness. Some people want to be thick, others thin. Again, it doesn’t have to be drastic. (I could do without this, but I know others have been asking for it).
- Muscle size and definition. Some people want their characters to be muscular. Some only a little, others a lot.
- Breast size. Nothing too drastic. Just slightly bigger or smaller. Maybe some other breast related customizations. Like their shape, or what the nips look like. Why not? We can change our genitals. (This isn’t too important, but I still wanted to mention it).
* More Hairstyles. Please. There needs to be more variety. Like, more kinds of braids, for example. To be honest, it seemed like there were a lot of choices, but I felt like a lot of them looked very similar. I even remember one of them being exactly the same as another, except it was ever so slightly longer in the back. And I didn’t really care for a lot of the bangs. Most didn’t even have bangs.
- Here’s what I wish more games would do. And I have seen it done before. Have the bangs and the back of the hair be separate options. Let us choose our bangs, then let us choose our actual hairstyle, or vice versa. It can be two completely separate tables to choose from, or each hairstyle can come with it’s own selection of different styles of bangs; at least 4 or more. Also, maybe give some hairstyles and some bang styles length options; so we’re not repeating hairstyles that look the same but are slightly longer.
- Maybe some hair accessories. Just small stuff. I know it can’t interfere with any armor for the head (if that’s in the game. I don’t know). Just like clips, small flowers (not the kind that grow out of your hair), shiny stuff I don’t know the name of. That kind of thing.

Non-Physical Customizations

Remember, these are just suggestions. Just some minor things I might as well throw out there.

* At the end, maybe let us choose the clothing we wear. Obviously, it’s all determined by class, I think. But maybe give some variations of each one. Like, if one chooses rogue, then let us choose from 3 or more different variations of whatever Rogues start off with wearing.
* Let us choose the gear/equipment we would normally be able to choose in a game of DnD. Like weapons, instruments, and Packs. For example, let us choose to start with an Explorer’s Pack, Dungeoneer’s pack, etc. and have all the gear associated with them. And if they involve more options between gear that’s inside, let us choose those, too. Oh, and Trinkets. Don’t forget the trinkets. I want to choose some trinkets. Those seem really cool and interesting.

Also, wouldn’t it be cool if, at the end, the game shows us which alignment we ended up falling under due to our choices? That would be cool.

I just really like customization and having many options. The more, the better. It’s honestly my favorite part of a lot of games, because I like seeing what kinds of different characters I can make. So, it’d be great if there were more to this one.

Thank You!

[Red]

Just bookmarking this with a comment. (I hope).

[EricHVela]

BG3 is heavily based on D&D 5e. You can look up 5e rules to see why many of the things you are requesting are not and will not be in BG3. WotC wanted a 5e-like experience, races and classes included.

Such as Tieflings being marked with Infernal and Abyssal influence in their bloodlines (originally only Infernal in 5e) by the sudden appearance of horns, skin-tones, and tails in a child, possibly many generations after someone had any dealings with an Infernal or Abyssal (and doesn't necessarily mean sex is the reason for this blood-curse since mortal and Fiendish copulation would almost guarantee specific kinds of Fiends, which a Tiefling is not a Fiend). There's a whole, established 5e lore surrounding why Tieflings are how they are and why it's only Tieflings. In essence, it's just luck and not the fault of the Tiefling, and stigmas take over afterward.

While 5e hasn't really considered custom appearances of armor, it does have guidelines for starting equipment for different classes.

There are mods that will allow players to alter the appearance of armor to other armor and camp clothing that the player has in the inventory (including the appearance of appearance-modified armor). Costuming is an oft-requested feature.

We'll see what Larian does with their supposedly final update.

[Red]

Originally posted by EricHVela:

BG3 is heavily based on D&D 5e. You can look up 5e rules to see why many of the things you are requesting are not and will not be in BG3. WotC wanted a 5e-like experience, races and classes included.

Not sure what the rules have to do with the physical appearance part, but okay. Thank you for being nice and explaining things.
Think I might remove some things and keep just the appearance related stuff.

[The Gunsmith]

having 5 preset faces to choose from but being able to go into gender politics with your character is 2 steps forward one giant leap for mankind back.

what happened to the days of a character creator that could cause you to overrun the steam refund window? i thought rpg character creators were about getting your jaw to protrude in EXACTLY the right drooling mongoloid fasion using a myriad of sliders?

I'm munted ugly, all the preset faces are vaguely presentable, i don't feel represented.

[jonnin]

This is a lot to implement (graphics and such) for not much added to the game. Fun and cool and all, but worth it? All the weird animalistic races that have been added to D&D seem out of place in BG's setting, as does the fey marks and some of the others (elemental marked, for example). There is too much of this stuff that works great in table top (you just have to say a few words to describe it) for computer games to support it all, and in a long existing world like BG area that long predates these additions to the game, they also feel a little weird popping up out of nowhere to me.

I find the character creation pretty good. I wish you could control height and weight a little better, but its as good or better than most similar games. Of course it could be better, but it could be a lot worse too.

[Red]

Originally posted by jonnin:

This is a lot to implement (graphics and such) for not much added to the game. Fun and cool and all, but worth it? All the weird animalistic races that have been added to D&D seem out of place in BG's setting, as does the fey marks and some of the others (elemental marked, for example). There is too much of this stuff that works great in table top (you just have to say a few words to describe it) for computer games to support it all, and in a long existing world like BG area that long predates these additions to the game, they also feel a little weird popping up out of nowhere to me.

I find the character creation pretty good. I wish you could control height and weight a little better, but its as good or better than most similar games. Of course it could be better, but it could be a lot worse too.

Personally, a simple tail and animal ears isn’t that much to implement. Just a simple cosmetic would be good enough. Something like that wouldn’t be too out of place in BG, considering all the races and creatures that do exist in it. But of course, I respect your opinion. They at least could’ve let us change eyebrow color, though. It just seems like a simple little thing that wouldn’t be hard to do. Yet the absence of it has a bigger impact than one would think. My very light haired character looks ridiculous with dark eyebrows. I’d prefer her hair color to look natural, and not like she dyes it on the regular. Thanks for your input.

[Konahrik]

One of the things that doesn't convince me about the game is that the backgrounds don't have any tangible impact on the game, with the only exception of the dark urge. I think the game would benefit a lot from improving them at least a little, perhaps with unique characters or some quests of its own. For example, if we choose to be a noble, why can't we go to our house and meet our servants? Maybe we could even have a quest to rescue a relative.

[Red]

Originally posted by Konahrik:

One of the things that doesn't convince me about the game is that the backgrounds don't have any tangible impact on the game, with the only exception of the dark urge. I think the game would benefit a lot from improving them at least a little, perhaps with unique characters or some quests of its own. For example, if we choose to be a noble, why can't we go to our house and meet our servants? Maybe we could even have a quest to rescue a relative.

Honestly, I mostly just want these for cosmetics/aesthetic purposes, but I do agree, it would have been cool if the backgrounds had a little more impact. I mean, I think they give you certain proficiencies, which is great, but that’s all there is, as far as I know.

Also - just so some die hard fan doesn’t take me the wrong way and get offended - by no means am I, or anyone else for that matter, saying the game is bad or unplayable. It is perfectly fine the way it is, but that doesn’t mean people can’t make suggestions or hope for or want a little more here and there. There’s always room for improvement, and there are always things that could’ve been added or done differently.

[Konahrik]

Originally posted by Red:

Honestly, I mostly just want these for cosmetics/aesthetic purposes, but I do agree, it would have been cool if the backgrounds had a little more impact. I mean, I think they give you certain proficiencies, which is great, but that’s all there is, as far as I know.

I could be wrong, but I think you are also given some unique dialogues, but I think they are very situational, assuming I'm remembering correctly. Still, the game would benefit greatly from improving this area, perhaps it would help players give their characters a more interesting backstory, instead of just choosing what is most convenient.

Originally posted by Red:

Also - just so some die hard fan doesn’t take me the wrong way and get offended - by no means am I, or anyone else for that matter, saying the game is bad or unplayable. It is perfectly fine the way it is, but that doesn’t mean people can’t make suggestions or hope for or want a little more here and there. There’s always room for improvement, and there are always things that could’ve been added or done differently.

???.
If this warning is really necessary, then they are not fans, they are toxic people who take the game too seriously and are a serious problem for having a healthy community.

[Red]

Originally posted by Konahrik:

I could be wrong, but I think you are also given some unique dialogues, but I think they are very situational, assuming I'm remembering correctly. Still, the game would benefit greatly from improving this area, perhaps it would help players give their characters a more interesting backstory, instead of just choosing what is most convenient.

I see, thank you. That might be the case, as well. Also, I agree 100%.

Originally posted by Red:

Also - just so some die hard fan doesn’t take me the wrong way and get offended - by no means am I, or anyone else for that matter, saying the game is bad or unplayable. It is perfectly fine the way it is, but that doesn’t mean people can’t make suggestions or hope for or want a little more here and there. There’s always room for improvement, and there are always things that could’ve been added or done differently.

Originally posted by Konahrik:

???.
If this warning is really necessary, then they are not fans, they are toxic people who take the game too seriously and are a serious problem for having a healthy community.

Let’s just say, I put this (the main post) on Reddit (which I don’t usually post to Reddit), and people were extremely hostile about it. And the people that were hostile got the upvotes, too. The entire Baldur’s Gate 3 community, the Reddit side of it, is apparently very toxic. Someone even accused me of being full of myself and “thinking I know more than the devs”. They said this the second I posted, so I know they didn’t even read. *sigh* Fandom spaces these days.

[EricHVela]

This is more of a mod request than a developer request, but don't hesitate to see if a modding community is willing to take a stab at it.

There are mods after mods that expand the game into sources beyond what was used (and beyond what was homebrewed).

[Red]

Originally posted by EricHVela:

This is more of a mod request than a developer request, but don't hesitate to see if a modding community is willing to take a stab at it.

There are mods after mods that expand the game into sources beyond what was used (and beyond what was homebrewed).

Yeah, I found out sometime after making this that they [Larian] don’t plan on having any dlc or future Baldur’s Gate games; for now, at least. It’s definitely too late for them to do any of this, but I still figured I’d at least throw it out there. And of course, like you said, maybe some modders could try their hand, and do what they will with it.

[iamenmity]

Sounds like a race, or maybe a sorcerous origin. (at least the fey lost thing). although i would like Larian to impliment the background mechanic from d&d more deeply, such as in conversations.