Glossary and Terminologies


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Having a glossary and learning the necessary terms from DND 5e is essential to make the most out of your Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3) playthrough! Learn every DND terms that may confuse players new players and players that are new to the DND scene.

Beginner's Glossary to Baldur's Gate 3

Glossary of Terms





Understanding Ability Scores

Ability Description
Strength iconStrength
(STR)
Affects Athletics skills and effectiveness with melee weapons. This also affects how far you can jump and throw as well as how much you can carry in your inventory.
Dexterity iconDexterity
(DEX)
Affects Dexterity skills, effectiveness with ranged and some melee weapons, as well as your Initiative and Armour Class.
Constitution iconConstitution
(CON)
Affects your overall HP, Stamina, and physical endurance.
Intelligence iconIntelligence
(INT)
Affects Intelligence skills, memory and your mental power. This also improves spellcasting for wizards.
Wisdom iconWisdom
(WIS)
Affects Wisdom skills and your intuition. This also improves spellcasting for clerics, druids, and rangers.
Charisma iconCharisma
(CHA)
Affects Charisma skills and your personality. This influences how you interact with other characters and improves spellcasting for bards, sorcerers, and warlocks.

Ability Scores represent your characters stats. The higher their ability score is for a given ability (STR, DEX, etc.), the better they are at succeeding when using an action tied to that particular ability.

For example, a high ability score in Strength means your character can throw objects farther, carry more items than anyone else in your party, and is more likely to hit their melee attacks in combat.
Ability Scores Guide

Understanding HP and Hit Dice

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Max HP at Level 1
Hit Die Max Value + Constitution Modifier

Your character's HP in Baldur's Gate 3 is determined by the Hit Die of their chosen class. Some classes are naturally tanky like Barbarians and Fighters (d12 and d10), while some have an HP puddle like Sorcerers and Wizards (d6).

Simply put, the Hit Die of your class will determine your Base HP as well as how much HP you get per level up. When choosing a class, remember that classes with low Hit Die values will only start feeling tanky at higher levels.

Hit Die Determined by Class

Class Hit Die
Barbarian d12
Bard d8
Cleric d8
Druid d8
Fighter d10
Paladin d10
Ranger d10
Rogue d8
Sorcerer d6
Warlock d8
Wizard d6

A character's hit die is set depending on their starting class choice.

You can view a character's Hit Die by opening your Character Sheet, then hover over to the Hit Points tab (heart icon) on the left. The base value indicated here is your class's Hit Die.

HP and Hit Dice Guide

Understanding Dice Rolls and Proficiencies

Dungeons and Dragons and Baldur's Gate 3 (which is based on DND 5e) heavily relies on dice rolls to decide the outcome of your actions. These actions involve outcomes of certain dialogue options, interacting with the world, and even the outcomes of your attacks and spells during battle.

3d12
A sample dice roll.
3d12
3 represents the number of dice you need to roll.
3d12
12 represents the dice's number of sides you need to roll.

In this case, if you're casting a spell or using a skill that uses 3d12, the amount of damage you can deal will range between 3 to 36!

Proficiency Bonuses on Top of Dice Rolls

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Proficiency may also come into play when rolling a dice for attacks and you may encounter a dice roll with plus signs. These proficiency bonuses are added on top of your dice roll probability.

So taking the same value of 3d12 and you have a proficiency bonus of +3, that means you are now rolling a value of 3d12 + 3 and you damage output can come out between 6 to 39!

What is Proficiency Bonus?

Learning About Armor Class

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Armor Class (AC) in Baldur's Gate 3 determines whether an enemy's attack will hit your character or not. The higher your Armor Class (AC), the harder it will be for enemies to hit you.

You can increase your AC by wearing better armor (with Heavy Armor granting some of the highest values) or by equipping shields.

Note that Armor Class will not help you against spells. You can have the highest AC values in the game, but if your spell save is low, you will still get hit by magic thrown your way.

What is Armor Class?

Resistances, Immunity, and Vulnerability

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Term Explanation Indicator
Resistance Ability to take only half of an attack's intended damage. Single upward arrow: Resistance from normal attacks
Two arrows: Resistance from normal and magic-based attacks.
Immunity Ability to take zero damage from a given damage type. Gold outline on the damage type icon.
Vulnerability Doubles damage taken from a given damage type. Red downward arrow.

Resistance, immunity, and vulnerability are determinants of damage taken in combat based on damage types. These can be viewed through a character's overview menu, under the Resistances section.

In combat, players can also examine the resistances of enemies by overing over them, right clicking, and selecting Examine.

Reactions Explained

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Reactions are togglable attacks and abilities that are automatically executed upon meeting certain conditions in combat. Some reactions are done by all characters and enemies in combat like Opportunity Attack, while there are some reactions that are class-specific, like a Paladin's Divine Smite.

A character's list of active reactions can be viewed by pressing the I key to open the inventory, then proceeding to the reactions tab of the Spellbook menu. From there, you can toggle reactions you don't wish to execute them in combat.

All Glossary Guides

Glossary Guides
Proficiency Bonus Guide Advantage and Disadvantage Guide
Difficulty Class Guide Armor Class Guide
High Ground Guide HP and Hit Dice Guide
Ability Score Guides
What is Strength? What is Intelligence?
What is Dexterity? What is Constitution?
What is Charisma? What is Wisdom?
What is a Bonus Action -

Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3) Related Guides

Baldurs Gate 3 - Beginner Guide Partial

Baldur's Gate 3 Beginner's Guide

All Beginner Guides
Class Tier List DX11 vs Vulkan
Scuffed Rock Location: Hidden Cache Rewards Difficulty Setting Differences
Fall Damage Guide Guardian Explained
Where to Get the Wolf Rune All Companions and Types
All Illithid Parasite Locations Soul Coin Guide
All Infernal Iron Locations Best Adamantine Item
Noblestalk Location What to Do With the Iron Flask
Crafting Guide How to Use the Flower Key
Glossary Guides
Proficiency Bonus Guide Advantage and Disadvantage Guide
Difficulty Class Guide Armor Class Guide
High Ground Guide HP and Hit Dice Guide
Bonus Action Guide Alchemy Guide
FAQ and How-To Guides
What is Concentration? What is the Max Level?
Is BG3 Multiplayer? Is There a Split-Screen Feature?
Should You Enable Karmic Dice? What is Opportunity Attack?
How Many Party Members Can You Have? Should You Sell or Keep the Owlbear Egg?
Do Illithid Powers Have Consequences? What Does Add to Wares Do?
What is Saving Throw? How to Mod BG3
How to Pause the Game Is There a Bag of Holding?
How to Shove How to Go to the Camp
How to Highlight Objects How to Get to the Underdark
How to Solve the Silent Library Puzzle How to Multiclass and Best Class Combos
How to Jump and Increase Jump Distance How to Destroy Destructible Objects
How to Turn Off the Arcane Turrets Death Saving Throws: How to Help Incapacitated Allies
How to Use and Cast Spells How to Sneak: Stealing and Pickpocket Guide
How to Respec Your Character How to Get to Last Light Inn
How to Fix Top Down Camera View How to Use a Torch
How to Get to the Grymforge How to Recruit Hirelings
How to Buy and Sell Items from NPCs How to Get to the Shadow-Cursed Lands
How to Revive Fallen Allies How to Adjust the Camera
How to Get a Sussur Tree Bark How to Use Non-Lethal Attacks
How to Farm Gold Fast How to Get to Moonrise Towers
How to Learn New Spells How to Stack Objects
How to Infiltrate Shattered Sanctum How to Save / Quick Save
How to Find and Dig Up Dirt Mounds Should You Invite Yenna to Your Camp?
Where to Find Dammon How to Get to the Last Light Inn Basement
How to Use the Strange Chunk of Amber How to Get to Thorm Mausoleum
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