Most players expect crafting in Baldur’s Gate 3. There are plenty of useless items to pick up. One would think these would be broken down into materials to make useful potions, weapons, armor, or spell scrolls. Crafting is in practically every open-world RPG, so how do you do it in BG3?
Baldur’s Gate 3 is in early access, so the information below may change as development continues. We’ll cover crafting in BG3 as of the initial early access release and update this guide as the situation dictates.
Is there crafting in Baldur’s Gate 3?
It seems like every game that releases these days has some form of crafting. Breaking down items into materials, mining and gathering are all ubiquitous throughout gaming. From RPGs to shooters and survival horror, players must gather basic elements to craft weapons, armor, items, and other things to help them on their journey.
In fact, crafting is so widespread throughout modern game design that its almost complete absence in Baldur’s Gate 3 is somewhat startling. Players won’t deconstruct nicknacks into piles of scrap metal and string to make some fabled weapon. Instead, anything one finds is usually immediately useable or is just junk to sell for gold.
There is one item we’ve found in BG3 that does require players to craft it technically. The Visions of the Absolute is a two-handed weapon that can be crafted by finding the Shaft of a Broken Spear and Head of a Broken Spear. However, this process is straightforward and just requires players to combine the two items in their inventories.
That’s not to say crafting won’t make its way into Baldur’s Gate 3. The D&D 5e has rules pertaining to crafting, and these may be adapted into BG3 in a future update. However, for now, it’s refreshing not to have to worry about gathering scraps so we can use crafting to min/max our builds.