Playing a fantasy race in Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the best feelings. Players become familiar with the customs and tendencies among people of different shapes, sizes, and colors. The odds are great that most gamers will enjoy at least some elements of each.
Within each race, there is also a great deal of diversity. Some of Baldur's Gate 3's best moments come from having a character stand up to the tyranny of their heritage and go against the grain. But all of these moments start with creating a character with a race of their own to contend with.
Elf
- High Elf - Life Domain Cleric
- Wood Elf - Assassin Rogue
The best Cleric builds for almost every domain of Cleric might consider using a High Elf for the extra cantrip and the improved weaponry. Most Clerics don't get access to great melee or ranged weapons, so the proficiencies from the Elves are hard to beat.
The Wood Elf has astonishing speed and the same amazing proficiencies as the High Elf. The Rogue class badly needs better weaponry to dispense great damage from and the Wood Elf has it. Plus, the darkvision allows the Wood Elf to use both melee and ranged weapons.
Tiefling
- Asmodeus Tiefling - Berserker Barbarian
- Mephistopheles Tiefling - Circle of the Land Druid
- Zariel Tiefling - College of Valour Bard
The Berserker Barbarian has benefits to throwing things as a bonus action and the Asmodeus Tiefling has a cantrip, Produce Flame, to throw; when it comes to the best Barbarian build, it's hard to beat that combo. The Mephistopheles Tiefling can cast Mage Hand which almost every caster can summon except for Druids so this rounds out the class much better.
With the Thaumaturgy cantrip, a Zariel Tiefling can play a College of Valour very well. This school usually suffers from needing to invest in combat abilities instead of interaction skills but Thaumaturgy takes care of Intimidation and Persuasion checks.
Drow
- Beast Master Ranger
When making the best Ranger build, anything that is ranged should seriously consider Superior Darkvision. The Drow have this innately. There are two subclasses of Drow but they are for role-playing purposes only. The Lolth-Sworn and the Seldarine Drow have differences in the lore but the classes perform the same way.
Human
- The Fiend Warlock
The extra skill that Humans get can greatly help a Warlock spellcaster select Insight; by doing so, the class is then ready to step in and become the face of the party without any reservations. The extra carrying capacity doesn't hurt either. The Human proficiencies also allow the Warlock to use a shield, competing to be the race for the best Warlock build.
Githyanki
- Divination School Wizard
The Githyanki are excellent spellcasters since they can give any of these lightweight classes medium armor. Since Githyanki can become proficient in every Charisma skill with their Astral Knowledge, they can lead the party as a Wizard. Players may debate about what the ideal school for the best Wizard build is but the Githyanki have an incentive to select Divination; since they're getting hit less, they can save their middle-range portent dice for attacking.
Dwarf
- Gold Dwarf - Circle of the Moon Druid
- Shield Dwarf - Thief Rogue
- Duergar - Oath of the Ancients Paladin
When using Wild Shape, the Druid gains the Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution of the beast and doesn't benefit from weapon proficiencies, vision, or spells from races. The subclass does, however, gain the toughness from the Gold Dwarf, making it the go-to race for one of the best Druid builds.
The Shield Dwarf gives a melee Rogue medium armor which is critical for a class constantly in melee combat. An Oath of the Ancients Paladin is a great match for the Duergar as it can cast its spells and attack in the dark with superior darkvision.
Half-Elf
- High Half-Elf - Evocation Wizard
- Wood Half-Elf - Gloom Stalker Ranger
- Drow Half-Elf - Hunter Ranger
Because of the proficiencies in light armor and shields, the High Half-Elf can step into a class like the Evocation Wizard and strengthen its defenses. Evocation, in particular, fits this well since the Wizard has several high-damage spells with limited range.
The Wood Half-Elf is tied for the fastest movement in the game, so the Gloom Stalker Ranger, which boosts speed, becomes that much stronger. The Drow Half-Elf doesn't have Superior Darvision but can cast the Dancing Lights cantrip which will expose opponents far away and make shooting and casting from a distance easier for the Hunter Ranger and the rest of the party.
Halfling
- Lightfoot Halfling - Way of the Open Hand Monk
- Strongheart Halfling - Battle Master Fighter
Halflings get to reroll dice that land on a 1 so they have a natural affinity for any class that makes multiple attacks or rolls lots of damage dice. The Way of the Open Hand Monk and the Lightfoot Halfling is a perfect match since the class with be using many four-sided dice to strike; it would be hard to argue that this isn't part of the best Monk build.
Fighters are the only class that gets a third standard attack by the end of the game and the Strongheart Halfling can play a frontliner well with extra resilience against poison, a very common element used against anybody rushing toward enemies.
Gnome
- Rock Gnome - College of Lore Bard
- Forest Gnome - Oath of Devotion Paladin
- Deep Gnome - Arcane Trickster Rogue
College of Lore Bards are called on to be the face of the party and know everything and the Rock Gnome can help with one of those skills. It makes the best Bard build flow nicely. For the Paladin to function as the face of the party, it needs the Speak with Animals spell, something that the Forest Gnome has innately.
The Deep Gnome is a great pick for any ranged class that relies on the Stealth skill but the Arcane Trickster Rogue is hard to pass up. When it hits level nine, the Arcane Trickster gets advantage against any enemy they are hidden from. With the Deep Gnome's Stealth boost, this caster can deal preposterous damage without missing.
Dragonborn
- Way of the Four Elements Monk
The Dragonborn are in a rough place for most classes with no darkvision, weapon or armor proficiencies, and a cone-shaped spell that gets outclassed by spells and melee weapons eventually. However, the Way of the Four Elements Monk counts on using elements that enemies are weak against and the Dragonborn's breath weapon is a big help, especially with a class that has almost no ability to damage groups of opponents.
Half-Orc
- Champion Fighter
The Half-Orc gets to deal more damage for every critical strike. The Champion Fighter gets more attacks and has its critical strike range extended. Gamers quarrel over what the best Fighter build actually is but if players are using a Champion, it would be hard to argue for any race besides the Half-Orc.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available now for PC. The PlayStation 5 version will be available on September 6th, 2023. A version for Xbox Series X/S is still in development.