Okay so yesterday I finally sat down to make a proper character for Baldur’s Gate 3 using that BG3 Builder tool everyone keeps talking about. Gotta be honest, I wasted hours before figuring this thing out properly. It wasn’t smooth sailing, but I finally got it done! Here’s how it went down, step-by-step.
Fumbling Around at First
First things first, I grabbed my laptop, fired up the browser, and searched for BG3 Builder. Found it easy enough. Clicked in, saw a kinda plain screen with a big “New Character” button. Sweet. Clicked that. Bam! Dumped onto a character sheet that looked, well, complicated. Stats on the left, spells in the middle, equipment on the right… and a bunch of dropdown menus everywhere. Classic “where do I even start?” feeling washed over me.
Step 1: Picking the Obvious Stuff (Easy Peasy… Mostly)
Okay, gotta start simple. First dropdown – race. Scrolled through the list: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Tiefling… You know, the usual suspects. Spent a silly amount of time debating Elf vs. Half-Elf for my Sorcerer idea. Settled on Half-Elf (High), mainly ’cause they looked cool. Next dropdown – Class. Clicked Sorcerer. Now I needed the Subclass. Draconic Bloodline? Wild Magic? Classic choices. Draconic felt more stable for my first go, picked Bronze Dragon ’cause blue lightning sounds awesome. Level 1? Obviously. Name? Spent like 10 minutes typing and deleting names before settling on “Kaelen”. Good enough!
Step 2: Stats – Where I Nearly Gave Up
This part felt like doing taxes. You can either manually assign numbers like a caveman using “Manual” mode, or pick “Standard Array” which gives you fixed numbers to plug into Strength, Dexterity, etc. I chose Standard Array because my brain wasn’t ready for hardcore optimization yet. Seeing the little dots under each ability score, I clicked Dexterity until it hit 14. Clicked Intelligence? Nah, Sorcerers use Charisma! Dumped points from Wisdom and Strength into CHA until it glowed a happy 17. Felt like a small victory, getting my main stat high. Constitution needed to be okay for hit points, so I stuck a 14 there. The rest? Barely looked at ’em.
Step 3: Skills and Proficiencies – The “What Do I Really Need?” Phase
Okay, back to the sheet. Scrolled down. Skills section. Little checkboxes. My Half-Elf background gave me two freebies. So I grabbed Persuasion (gotta talk my way outta trouble) and Deception (same deal, honestly). My Draconic Sorcerer origin gave me Perception and Intimidation. Perception seems useful for spotting traps, so I took it. Intimidation? Meh, but it was free! Then came Background selection. This affects skills too. Scanned: Charlatan? Urchin? Sage? Sage sounded book-smart, gave me Arcana and History skills. I clicked it. Suddenly my skills list looked kinda long. Not sure I needed all this, but hey, options.
Step 4: Spells – The Fun (but Overwhelming) Part
Now we’re cooking! The Spells tab lit up. For Level 1 Sorcerers, you pick 4 Cantrips and 2 Level 1 Spells permanently. Oh boy. Dozens of cantrips. I recognized Fire Bolt and Ray of Frost from the game itself – solid damage dealers. Grabbed those. Then for utility, Mage Hand (always fun for messing with things) and Prestidigitation (because making little sparks is cool). Level 1 spells… such choices! Magic Missile? Reliable. Chromatic Orb? Flexible elements? Nice! Took them both. The builder even shows you how many spell slots you have left – super helpful to see that little 2/2 for Level 1. Felt good, like assembling a magical toolkit.
Step 5: Gear Up and Double-Check (The Home Stretch)
Nearly there! Scrolled over to Equipment. It had starter gear filled in based on my class: a simple dagger, an arcane focus pouch, some clothes. Seemed reasonable. Didn’t mess with it much. Maybe swapped the background image for something more blue to match my lightning theme. Then I went back through the whole sheet. Race? Check. Class? Check. Stats assigned? Done. Skills selected? Yeah. Spells picked? Absolutely. Gear? It’s basic, but it’ll do. Hit that “Save Character” button, gave it a filename like “Kaelen_Draconic_*”, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally: Done! (Lessons Learned)
Holy hell, I did it! Building my first character using BG3 Builder wasn’t exactly quick, especially that stats bit. But following those basic steps – Pick Race/Class, Assign Stats, Choose Skills & Background, Pick Spells, Gear Up & Check – kept me from getting completely lost. It’s way more flexible and clearer than trying to plan in your head or scribble notes. You can totally see how your choices fit together. Took longer than expected? For sure. But next time? I’ll probably fly through it, maybe even try something crazier than a lightning sorcerer! Definitely recommend giving this builder a shot if you wanna plan builds properly.