Baldur's Gate 3 has a lot going for it, and that applies to character classes and subclasses as well. Especially when making the wrong choice could lead to an unfortunate (or straight-up bad) ending after 40 hours. The good news for such people is that the developer, Larian Studios, has admitted that players can resek their characters if they so desire.

"It's a very heavy narrative experience, so we didn't want players to have to restart the entire game," Larian's Nick Pechenin said in a livestream today." There are characters you may meet - you will most likely meet - you can reset your classes and reinvest all your levels."

And we wanted to avoid players having to restart the entire game.

And it's not just about recovering from mistakes in character creation; Baldur's Gate 3 supports multi-classing, allowing players to combine classes however they like. Multiclassed characters can be very powerful, but they can also be the exact opposite; according to Pechenin, the support for respeccing allows players to get really creative with their builds.

"There are a lot of really cool combinations in multiclassing, and there are also combinations that don't work," he says. And Respec really helps with that." [Personally, I don't think that respec belongs in Dungeons & Dragons. Think about who you want to be, what you want to be, and carry the consequences of that choice through to the end, no matter how bitter it may be. However, some say that six classes - fighter, mage, thief, cleric, monk, and bard - are enough. I mean, he's just another fighter who forgot where he put his sword, right?

But I guess this is the new D&D, and I must admit that it is a bit more complicated than it was when I was following Gorion through the woods outside Candlekeep in 1998.

The question of whether Baldur's Gate 3 allows or should allow respeccing has been debated among fans for quite some time. A Reddit thread from three years ago, for example, delves deeply into the topic, and while the OP is generally opposed to the idea, they are indeed thoughtful in their opinions, and the ensuing discussion is mostly in favor of the respeccing option.

"I grew up playing BG1 when it was released on CD (so I admit to being biased)," writes Maz437.

"I play the characters I created, both in that game and on the tabletop. Personally, I think BG3 should be the same way. Personally, I think BG3 should be the same way.

"There is a beautiful simplicity to that decision. The characters are set and you can get into the mind of each character you play. If you play as a fighter, you take a different companion than if you play as a wizard. If you play as a wicked, you would not have Minsk as a companion. Fixing characters increases the replay value of the game. A party that emphasizes melee attacks and a party that emphasizes magic will have a very different game. If you can respec your characters and companions during the game, you will never have that experience."

Redditor FlamingoBasher refuted this point with a fairly convincing reply that I have to admit. This is not 'DnD' and I think the option to respec in video games is a must in 2021. One of the great advantages of Divinity: Original Sin 2 was the re-spec mirrors accessible early in the game. The game encourages you to get everything out of your build, gameplay, and partying.

"[Tabletop] is more forgiving and DMs can get around shitty builds with certain encounters, support rolls, etc. If I want to tank my stats and turn Gail into a glass cannon, I should be able to do that."

That settles the matter. It's going to take some effort to find the relevant NPCs, but aside from that, there's a respec. And, my own reservations notwithstanding, it's probably a good thing. Baldur's Gate 3 will be released for PC on August 3.