If I got to redesign Baldur’s Gate 3 to fit my specific preferences, the first thing I’d do is get rid of the party system. My posse of Shadowheart, Astarion, and Karlach is great, but my favorite character to roleplay is the wandering ronin—the problem solver with an air of mystery who can take care of himself (Geralt of Rivia, essentially). But alas, BG3 is built with a full party of four in mind. You could try to fly solo, but difficulty doesn’t scale to smaller parties, so fights would inevitably become impossibly punishing. Unless mods can save the day.
A new mod from Nexus user Mordread256 aims to make solo play viable with buffs inspired by a perk from Larian’s previous RPG, Divinity: Original Sin 2. “Lone Wolf” attempts to even the odds in fights by giving the player character extra opportunities to attack and a quicker leveling curve.
Here’s the full list of changes:
- Double main actions, bonus actions, spell slots, and sorcery points
- Double XP gained
- Level cap raised to 20 (but you must multiclass after reaching 12 with one class)
- Increased carry capacity
- Extra feat at level 2 for all classes
OK, I’m leaning in. The extra actions would go a long way toward not getting overwhelmed by uneven fights early on, but the real kicker here is double XP. By the end of Act 1 you should, in theory, be twice the level of everything you’re fighting, which sounds overpowered to the point of unfun, but maybe that’s exactly what it takes to lone wolf entire goblin camps. Being overpowered might break immersion in new ways, but it’s all a matter of perspective: Witcher 3 shows it’s fun to play as someone who has already mastered their craft to the point that very few things can kill them.
The mod is similar to the Lone Wolf perk from Divinity 2, which also gives players more actions if you have one or zero companions with you, but also grants 30% extra HP and 60% extra armor. It also raises a bunch of your skills, which effectively boosted your level without technically raising it. The goal is the same: be more powerful as an individual, then test your mettle against ridiculous odds.
Though admittedly, Mordread hasn’t done much legwork to make sure their new lone wolf mode is balanced.
“I have not playtested this mod for more than about an hour, but it seems stable,” the mod page reads. “Although you should easily be able to remove the mod and carry on.”
Just don’t forget to backup saves before installing it, and don’t try to load an existing save once the mod is on: like many Baldur’s Gate 3 mods that concern XP, you must start a new game to activate its effects without causing issues.
