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Baldur's Gate 3's next big patch out 13th July

Roll with it.

Baldur's Gate 3's next big patch comes out Tuesday 13th July, developer Larian has announced.

During a Panel From Hell live show, below, Larian detailed Patch 5 for the early access Dungeons & Dragons PC role-playing game.

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Patch 5 has combat and AI improvements, visual upgrades to weapons and cinematics and a bigger focus on roleplaying, Larian said.

"Also expect to take a tantalizing step toward unearthing Shadowheart's mysteries in this update," reads the official blurb.

Patch 5 adds the active roll system, which gives players the ability to apply spells and bonuses to their rolls in order to swing the odds in their favour. You can also see modifiers and status effects happen directly within the user interface, rather than being calculated in the background.

The patch also adds a series of secret miniquests based on each character's background. These are called Background Goals. "So, whenever a Folk Hero does something Folksy and Heroic or an Urchin does something Urchiny, they'll be rewarded," Larian explained. The idea is to encourage role-playing, with players benefiting from acting as their character would.

Another new feature is Camp Resources. Now in order to make camp, you first need supplies, obtained from all the food and scraps you find in the game. That hoard of dead fish is finally useful.

Mini Camps are new context-dependent environments that offer an alternative to returning to your headquarters by the river. "From the Chapel near the Ravaged Beach to the Underdark, we've recreated every landmark as its own isolated location that can be accessed when you're ready to hunker down for your Long Rest," Larian said.

Larian said it's given the AI a "serious tune-up", so enemies should be more intelligent and resourceful than before. For example, unarmed enemies pick up discarded weapons. Another example is enemies will toss health potions to each other. Your NPC companions should make smarter decisions, too.

Elsewhere, there's a non-lethal attack mode, old-school point and click dialogue and "some very intriguing new story content around a certain party member..."

Expect the full patch notes on Tuesday 13th.

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