Baldur's Gate 3 player uses a single D&D spell to illustrate why the RPG's level cap has to exist

Oct. 6, 2023

Those seventh-level spells start to get a bit too useful

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ABaldur’s Gate 3player has provided a really good example of why the game’s level cap has to be set firmly at level 12.

This article contains spoilers for Karlach’s story in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Earlier this year,Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke commented on the level cap of 12. Vincke revealed that, according to traditional D&D rules, if the level cap exceeded 12 and went all the way up to 20, Larian would have to introduce spells that explored other planes of existence, which could even double the studio’s already-gigantic workload over six years.

Now, the player below has provided an intriguing case study: why can’t we just cast Regenerate on Karlach at the end of the game and heal her Infernal Heart ourselves? Jokingly, the player posits that since you’ll likely be sitting right at the top of level 12 by the end of the game, Larian should simply let them tick to level 13, giving any Druid, Bard, or Cleric characters access to the seventh-level spell, Regenerate.

Regenerate grants characters healing every turn, but it also fixes severed limbs. In previous versions of D&D, as well as in certain adaptations, it also heals damaged organs. That seems to be missing from the fifth edition version of the game that Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on, but while we’re joking around about getting tipped over to level 13, why can’t we play a little loose with the boundaries between 3.5e and 5e?

Of course, it’s really not as easy as that. “Now you see why the level cap isn’t higher,” one player points out. “With spells at 7th, 8th and 9th level, little things like the tadpole or missing major organs become too easily solved,” the player continues, easily underscoring the entire problem.

What’s crucial here is to remember that Larian confined itself to working with the 5e edition of D&D on Baldur’s Gate 3. So if the seventh level of the Regenerate spell would heal Karlach’s Infernal Heart in a D&D game, it would have to do the exact same action in Baldur’s Gate 3.

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This all comes back to Vincke’s original argument: there are simply too many overpowered variants of spells beyond level 12, so Larian capped players at level 12 for good measure. This doesn’t just create a defined sandbox for players to experiment with - it also helps Larian with its workload and project management. At the end of the day, everyone wins.

Check out ourBaldur’s Gate 3 level capguide if you’re a bit confused by the situation, or you can head over to ourBaldur’s Gate 3 Karlachguide if you haven’t found the Tiefling.

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