Introduction
Baldur’s Gate 3’s elves include an interesting mix of traits that appeal to nearly every class in the game. A High Elf with the Friends cantrip is an easy choice for your main character, giving you proficiency in a crucial skill and an easy crutch for handling most social situations. If you’re at a loss for what race to pick, that’s a great default.
Both Astarion and Shadowheart are High Elves, so there is no shortage of elven representation within the party. However, they’re both locked into Fire Bolt as their starting cantrip, and there’s no way to change that, so it’s useful for little more than destroying objects or igniting flammable surfaces.
Table of Contents
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses a color coding scheme to rate individual character options.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
RPGBOT is fan content published under Larian’s Fan Content Policy. This is not official content, and RPGBOT has no official relationship with Larian.
Elf Traits
- : Standard.
- : Every class gets proficiency in light crossbows (yes, even wizards), and without the reload limitations in the tabletop rules, a light crossbow is as good as a longbow. Access to magic longbows can be useful for martial classes that don’t get proficiency in martial weapons, but the only class to which that applies is the Rogue.
- : Helpful during certain parts of the game, but easily replaced by light sources or by camp casting the Darkvision spell.
- : Situationally useful. Charm effects aren’t common, but they can take you out of a fight entirely.
- : One of the most important skills in the game.
In addition, you must select a subrace which grants additional traits. While the Drow is a subrace of elf in the tabletop rules, they’re presented as a separate race in Baldur’s Gate 3.
High elf Traits
- : A single wizard cantrip can be
hugely impactful. It’s easy to go straight for offensive options, but
remember that it will be Intelligence-based, so it will only be useful if
you’re already an Intelligence-based spellcaster. Instead, strongly consider
Friends to help you with social situations.
Tragically, the elf NPC companions both get saddled with Fire Bolt, which is borderline useless for them, and you can’t change your race or any race-based decisions when you re-spec.
Wood Elf Traits
- : More speed is always nice, especially in melee, but it’s not massively impactful, and fights usually take place within a fairly small area where being incredibly fast won’t do much for you.
- : Another great skill. Between Perception and Stealth, the Wood Elf is in a great spot to support the Ranger, the Rogue, and other Scout builds.
Classes
Barbarian
Barbarians get the default total of 4 skills (2 from class, 2 from background), so getting one or two more can make your character much more impactful outside of combat. The High Elf’s cantrip can’t be cast while raging, so Wood Elf is definitely the way to go. Between the Barbarian’s Fast Movement and the Wood Elf’s Fleet of Foot you have a speed of 13.5 m / 45 ft, which is fully 50% faster than the norm.
Bard
Either variety of elf is a good fit. High Elf gets you an extra cantrip, allowing you to diversify your spellcasting a bit without multiclassing (though, again, avoid the offensive spells). Wood Elf gets you an extra skill, expanding the Bard’s already great skills.
Cleric
High Elf offers access to both Friends and Mage Hand, neither of which are on the Cleric’s spell list. Wood Elf gets proficiency in Stealth, which might make a Trickery Cleric actually sneaky without resorting to Pass Without Trace.
Druid
High Elf offers access to both Friends and Mage Hand, neither of which are on the Druid’s spell list. The extra proficiency(ies) are nice, too.
Fighter
High Elf is only useful for Friends for most fighters, and it won’t solve your lack of Face skills or Charisma, but the Wood Elf’s extra skill and bonus speed can be great, especially on a Dexterity-based fighter build.
For the Eldritch Knight, High Elf is a great choice. One more cantrip is a huge increase to the 2 that you get by default, diversifying your combat options quite a bit.
Monk
High Elf is only useful for Friends for the Monk, and it won’t solve your lack of Face skills or Charisma. Wood Elf monks will enjoy the additional skills, allowing them to much more easily fill the Scout role typically help by the Ranger and the Rogue.
Paladin
High Elf is only useful for Friends for the Paladin, but between Friends and the Paladin’s decent Charisma, that sets you up to be a great Face. Wood Elf’s extra skill is nice, and you can absolutely build Dexterity-based paladins to take advantage of Stealth.
Ranger
High Elf is only useful for Friends for the Ranger, and it won’t solve your lack of Face skills or Charisma. Wood Elf is a naturally choice for the Ranger, adding another skill that you’ll want anyway, plus some extra movement.
Rogue
Either option works great. High Elf for Friends is a huge buff for rogues serving as your party’s Face. The combination of Expertise and Friends can easily make up for relatively low Charisma compared to classes like the Sorcerer. Wood Elf’s additional speed and extra skill nicely complement the Rogue’s existing capabilities, allowing you to diversify our capabilities.
Sorcerer
High Elf to get Friends is a great way to free up space for other cantrips from your class. Wood Elf doesn’t get you anything that you really need, but an extra skill never hurts.
Warlock
High Elf to get Friends is a great way to free up space for other cantrips from your class. Wood Elf doesn’t get you anything that you really need, but an extra skill never hurts.
Wizard
High Elf Wizard is easy, simple, and effective.
