Every TTRPG table has players who bring up outrageous backstories: "My bard was raised in the woods by a mime," "My entire family was killed by a swarm of rogue bees," "It is my goal to perform the most morbid backflips in the forgotten realms," things like that.

Baldur's Gate 3 continues this venerable tradition, giving its first fully release-ready background mod, the poetically-named "I was a goat for 10 years," a rightful place next to run-of-the-mill vanilla background options like "Urchin" and "Soldier."

Indeed, many similar mods appeared in Early Access, but this was the first mod to stand out after the game was released yesterday.

Coded into Baldur's Gate 3 by the hero NellsRelo, this background owes its existence to the UnearthedArcana subreddit, where players share homebrew content for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. User_Metabot invoked this fever dream six years ago, which was meme-ified and gained about 250 upvotes.

Under the header it says: "Until when what?" NellsRelo says we've been "A Goat. for 10 years." Goat-brain has its perks. "Having been a goat for so long, he knows how to handle animals and is more athletic. It also gains "Surefooted" and immunity to muddy and difficult terrain.

This, hilariously, makes this background ideal for muscle-based rangers. No, I'm not kidding, Animal Handling is truly a ranger-themed skill, and Athletics can swing people around if they are strong enough. Surefooted, on the other hand, gives immunity to difficult terrain, something that rangers don't get until level 8 in the game.

Since he has swapped his bow for a broadsword, it is indeed useful to ignore mud and slush and charge at enemies, freeing up bonus actions that he would otherwise use to jump over difficult terrain, cast Hunter's Mark, or drink potions. It is hard to believe that we are building a theory of the goat's origins, but this is reality.

Regrettably, there are no custom icons, background goals, horns or rectangular irises. If you keep your eyes on the tiefling, you may experience the awakened goat. Until then, you are the only one who knows the horrors of the past, and the only way to unleash the goat in your soul is to wait until the modders finish tinkering with the game.