Races

There are a great variety of Races that can be found in the Forgotten Realms setting and played in Baldur's Gate 3.

Note: Baldur's Gate 3 does not use the term "race" the way it's used in common English. Races in the game are more akin to species.

A creature's race determines its lineage and innate powers and abilities. All races have their own strengths and many possess unique abilities and powers. Sometimes creatures can even cast spells as a result of their racial heritage. Race affects NPC reactions and available interactions during conversations. Each race also has unique attack animations (while spellcasting animations are based on class).

• 

  Human

• 

  Elf

• 

  Drow

• 

  Half-Elf

• 

  Half-Orc

• 

  Halfling

• 

  Dwarf

• 

  Gnome

• 

  Tiefling

• 

  Githyanki

• 

  Dragonborn

Overview of playable races

There are 11 playable races in Baldur's Gate 3. Many playable races are divided into subraces, which further defines a character's strengths, abilities, and appearance.

Refer to individual Race pages for further details.

Unless otherwise noted, spells gained from race may only be cast once per Long Rest.

In D&D 5e, races tend to receive fixed ability score bonuses as racial bonuses. Baldur's Gate 3 instead awards each race the following ability score bonuses for the player to freely allocate:

• +2 to any Ability Score
• +1 to any other Ability Score

Race and Subraces		Base Speed	Proficiencies		Features
			From Race	From Subrace	From Race	From Subrace
Human		Standard 9 m / 30 ft	Weapons Spears Pikes Halberds Glaives Armour Light armour Shields Skills One Skill of choice		Human Versatility Increased Carrying Capacity by 25%
Elf	High Elf	Standard 9 m / 30 ft	Weapons  Shortswords  Longswords  Shortbows  Longbows Skills  Perception	-	Fey Ancestry Advantage against being  Charmed Immune to magical  Sleep  Darkvision	*One Cantrip of choice from the Wizard spell list
	Wood Elf	Fast 10.5 m / 35 ft		Skills  Stealth		Fleet of Foot Increases base movement speed by 1.5 m / 5 ft
Drow	Lolth-Sworn Drow	Standard 9 m / 30 ft	Weapons  Rapiers  Shortswords  Hand Crossbows Skills  Perception		Fey Ancestry Advantage against being  Charmed Immune to magical  Sleep  Superior Darkvision Can see in the dark up to 24 m / 80 ft. Drow Magic  Dancing Lights,  Faerie Fire, and  Darkness Spells at levels 1, 3, and 5	The only difference between Drow subraces lies in their available dialogue options and deity selection as clerics
	Seldarine Drow
Half-Elf	High Half-Elf	Standard 9 m / 30 ft	Weapons  Spears  Pikes  Halberds  Glaives Armour Light armour Shields	-	Fey Ancestry Advantage against being  Charmed Immune to magical  Sleep  Darkvision Can see in the dark up to 12 m / 40 ft.	One Cantrip of choice from the Wizard spell list
	Wood Half-Elf	Fast 10.5 m / 35 ft		Skills  Stealth		Fleet of Foot Increases base movement speed by 1.5 m / 5 ft
	Drow Half-Elf	Standard 9 m / 30 ft		-		Drow Magic  Dancing Lights,  Faerie Fire, and  Darkness Spells at levels 1, 3, and 5
Half-Orc		Standard 9 m / 30 ft	Skills  Intimidation		Darkvision Can see in the dark up to 12 m / 40 ft.  Savage Attacks Add one additional dice of damage when scoring a critical hit with a melee weapon  Relentless Endurance Drop to 1 hit point instead of being downed, once per long rest
Halfling	Lightfoot Halfling	Slow 7.5 m / 25 ft	-		Halfling Luck Single reroll on a 1 for an Attack Roll, Ability Check, or Saving Throw.  Brave Advantage against being  Frightened	Naturally Stealthy Advantage on  Stealth checks
	Strongheart Halfling					Strongheart Resilience Advantage against being  Poisoned and Resistance to Poison damage
Dwarf	Gold Dwarf	Slow 7.5 m / 25 ft	Weapons  Battleaxes  Handaxes  Light Hammers  Warhammers	-	Dwarven Resilience Advantage against being  Poisoned and Resistance to Poison damage  Darkvision Can see in the dark up to 12 m / 40 ft.	Dwarven Toughness Maximum Hit Point increased by 1 per level
	Shield Dwarf			Armour Light armour (Dwarven Armour Training) Medium armour (Dwarven Armour Training)		-
	Duergar			-		Duergar Resilience Advantage on Saving throws against Illusions and against being  Charmed or  Paralysed  Superior Darkvision Can see in the dark up to 24 m / 80 ft. Duergar Magic  Enlarge and  Invisibility Spells at levels 3 and 5
Gnome	Forest Gnome	Slow 7.5 m / 25 ft	-	-	Gnome Cunning Advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma Saving throws  Darkvision Can see in the dark up to 12 m / 40 ft.	Additional Spell  Speak with Animals (at will)
	Deep Gnome			-		Superior Darkvision Can see in the dark up to 24 m / 80 ft.  Stone Camouflage Advantage on  Stealth checks
	Rock Gnome			Skills Expertise in  History (Artificer's Lore)		-
Tiefling	Asmodeus Tiefling	Standard 9 m / 30 ft	-		Hellish Resistance Resistance to Fire damage  Darkvision Can see in the dark up to 12 m / 40 ft.	Tiefling Magic  Produce Flame,  Hellish Rebuke, and  Darkness Spells at levels 1, 3, and 5
	Mephistopheles Tiefling					Tiefling Magic  Mage Hand,  Burning Hands, and  Flame Blade Spells at levels 1, 3, and 5
	Zariel Tiefling					Tiefling Magic  Thaumaturgy,  Searing Smite, and  Branding Smite Spells at levels 1, 3, and 5
Githyanki		Standard 9 m / 30 ft	Weapons  Shortswords  Longswords  Greatswords Armour Light armour Medium armour		Astral Knowledge Gain Proficiency in all Skills corresponding to a chosen Ability each Long Rest Githyanki Psionics  Mage Hand,  Enhance Leap, and  Misty Step Spells at levels 1, 3, and 5
Dragonborn	Black Dragonborn	Standard 9 m / 30 ft	-		-	Draconic Ancestry (Acid) Resistance to Acid damage  Acid Breath AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Line) of Acid damage
	Blue Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry (Lightning) Resistance to Lightning damage  Lightning Breath AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Line) of Lightning damage
	Brass Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry (Fire) Resistance to Fire damage  Fire Breath (Line) AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Line) of Fire damage
	Bronze Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry (Lightning) Resistance to Lightning damage  Lightning Breath AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Line) of Lightning damage
	Copper Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry Resistance to Acid damage  Acid Breath AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Line) of Acid damage
	Gold Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry Resistance to Fire damage  Fire Breath (Cone) AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Cone) of Fire damage
	Green Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry (Poison) Resistance to Poison damage  Poison Breath AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Cone) of Poison damage
	Red Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry (Fire) Resistance to Fire damage  Fire Breath (Cone) AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Cone) of Fire damage
	Silver Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry (Cold) Resistance to Cold damage  Frost Breath AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Cone) of Cold damage
	White Dragonborn					Draconic Ancestry (Cold) Resistance to Cold damage  Frost Breath AoE: 5 m / 17 ft (Cone) of Cold damage

Non-playable races

There are many more non-playable races in the game. See below for a list of all non-playable races and their abilities.

• List of all Non-Playable Races

See also

• D&D 5e Race Changes for a summary of all changes to races in Baldur's Gate 3 from the 5e ruleset.