All playable Baldur’s Gate 3 races: Best classes & abilities explained

Baldur’s Gate 3’s character creation grants players the freedom to choose which race they want to play as. We’ll break down all of the available races in Baldur’s Gate 3 along with their best classes and abilities.

After a long early access period, Baldur’s Gate 3 has finally arrived, and you can now check out the game’s lengthy campaign, but you’ll first need to create your own character. The character creation in the game grants you plenty of flexibility.

One of the most important decisions that you’ll make in Baldur’s Gate 3’s character creation is assigning a race to your custom character. With an array of available races, each conferring unique abilities, your chosen race can profoundly influence the efficiency of your class.

We’ll go over all of the playable races in Baldur’s Gate 3 to help you choose the best option for your playstyle.

All races available in Baldur’s Gate 3, abilities & best class

Baldur’s Gate 3 features a total of 11 different races that players can choose from while in the character creation process. The race you pick will boast its own unique set of perks, abilities, and features.

Here are all the races along with their best classes and abilities in Baldur’s Gate 3:

Drow

• Ability: +1 Charisma and +2 Dexterity
• Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed, Fey Ancestry, Superior Darkvision, Proficiency in Rapier, Shortsword, and Hand Crossbow
• Best Class: Rogue, Warlock, Sorcerer, Bard

Dragonborn

• Ability: +2 Strength and +1 Charisma
• Racial Feature: Draconic Ancestry and Base Racial Speed
• Best Class: Paladin, Fighter, Warlock

Dwarf

• Ability: +2 Constitution
• Racial Feature: Darkvision, Dwarven Resilience, Proficiency in Battleaxe, Handaxe, Light Hammer, and Warhammer
• Best Class: Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin

Elf

• Ability: +2 Dexterity
• Racial Feature: Darkvision, Keen Senses, Fey Ancestry, Proficiency in Longsword, Shortsword, Longbow, and Shortbow
• Best Class: Ranger, Fighter, Rogue

Githyanki

• Ability: +1 Intelligence and + 2 Strength
• Racial Feature: Githyanki Psionics: Mage Hand Conjuration Cantrip, Choice of skill proficiency, Base Racial Speed, Proficiency in Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shortsword, Longsword, and Greatsword
• Best Class: Wizard, Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin

Gnome

• Ability: +2 Intelligence
• Racial Feature: Gnome Cunning
• Best Class: Wizard

Halfling

• Ability: +2 Dexterity
• Racial Feature: Lucky
• Best Class: Rogue

Half-Elf

• Ability: +2 Charisma and +2 Ability to one other ability of your choice
• Racial Feature: Fey Ancestry and Darkvision
• Best Class: Warlock, Sorcerer, Bard, Paladin

Human

• Ability: +1 Strength, + 1 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, and +1 Charisma
• Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed
• Best Class: Any

Half-Orc

• Ability: +2 Strength and +1 Constitution
• Racial Feature: Base Racial Speed, Darkvision, Relentless Endurance, Menacing, Savage Attacks
• Best Class: Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Cleric

Tiefling

• Ability: Depends on Subrace
  • Asmodeus Tiefling: +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma 
  • Mephistopheles Tiefling: +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma 
  • Zariel Tiefling: +1 Strength and +2 Charisma
• Racial Feature: Darkvision and Hellish Resistance
• Best Class: Bard, Warlock, Wizard, Paladin

That covers all of the available races that you can select in Baldur’s Gate 3.

For more on Baldur’s Gate 3, check out our guides below:

Baldur’s Gate 3 romance | Is Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam Deck compatible? | Does Baldur’s Gate 3 have microtransactions? | Is there DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3? | How long is Baldur’s Gate 3? | Is Baldur’s Gate 3 coming to Nintendo Switch? | Is Baldur’s Gate 3 coming to Xbox? | What is the max level in Baldur’s Gate 3?