What are Baldur’s Gate 3 traits? As it’s set in the Forbidden Realms and uses an interpretation of the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition ruleset, Baldur’s Gate 3 has many of the passive traits available to its roster. Each trait gives your character a distinct advantage. Whether it’s making them history buffs or walking ever-so-slightly faster than their companions, they’re desirable all the same.
As if there weren’t already hard enough deliberating between your favorite Baldur’s Gate 3 classes and races, BG3 traits add yet another spanner in the works, with some races offering additional, unique gameplay mechanics to your character. Pick a Dragonborn, for example, and you must choose your draconic heritage, the dragon half of you determining some important factors. You might even find that some of these Baldur’s Gate 3 features can could impact your chance of finding romance, with advantage on certain skill checks.
Best Baldur’s Gate 3 traits
The best Baldur’s Gate 3 traits are:
- Relentless Endurance
- Gnome Cunning
- Draconic Ancestry
Most traits are limited to and determined by your chosen race, so you have little to no choice once you’ve already created your character. However, if you’re still deliberating over which race to choose and think the best trait might sway you, then you might consider the Half-Orc, thanks to their incredible Relentless Endurance trait. The Gnome is another great choice based on traits, as you can see below.
Relentless Endurance
Relentless Endurance leaves you with 1 HP when you would otherwise be rendered unconscious, which prevents you from having to carry out death saving throws and potentially, well, dying. This might sound OP, but don’t forget you can only use it once per long rest, and you’ll go down on your next hit, so make sure you’ve got healer around.
Gnome Cunning
Alternatively, the Gnome’s Cunning trait grants you advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma throws by default. Having advantage on anything is better than a proficiency, as you roll twice and use the best roll, meaning you have double the chance of rolling well. Of course, this still doesn’t guarantee success, but doubling the chance of success on three BG3 abilities can only be a good thing.
Draconic Ancestry
While you can’t choose between traits for your level one Dragonborn, the default Draconic Ancestry trait offers a choice of its own, and this versatility makes the Dragonborn a pretty cool choice of race. Choosing your draconic heritage from black, blue, brass, bronze, copper, gold, green, red, silver, white decides which effect you can have resistance from, such as cold or fire, and which breath weapon you receive.
Baldur’s Gate 3 trait list
So far, we know of the following Baldur’s Gate 3 traits, each requiring you to pick a specific race. Here is a list of what the Baldur’s Gate 3 traits do:
| Trait name | Trait description | Trait requirement |
| Artificer’s Lore | Add twice your proficiency bonus to History checks. | Rock Gnome Level 1 |
| Base Racial Speed | The distance you can move per turn depends on your race. The default is 9 meters and applies to most races. Gold Dwarves, Shield Dwarves, Lightfoot Halflings, and Strongheart Halflings only move 7.5 meters per turn, while Wood Elves move 10.5 meters per turn. | Any Level 1 character |
| Draconic Ancestry | You have draconic ancestry. Choose one type of dragon from the Draconic Ancestry table. Your breath weapon and damage resistance are determined by the dragon type. | Dragonborn |
| Dwarven Toughness | Your maximum hit point total increases by one and increases by one every time you would gain a level. | Gold Dwarf Level 1 |
| Fleet of Foot | Your base walking speed is 10.5 meters. | Wood Elf Level 1 |
| Gnome Cunning | You have advantage on any Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma Saving Throws by default. | Deep Gnome Level 1 Forest Gnome Level 1 Rock Gnome Level 1 |
| Mask of the Wild | You gain proficiency in Stealth. | Wood Elf Level 1 Wood Half-Elf Level 1 |
| Menacing | You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill. | Half-Orc |
| Naturally Stealthy | You have proficiency in Stealth checks. | Lightfoot Halfling Level 1 |
| Psionic Fortitude | You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed or stunned condition on yourself. | Duergar Gnome |
| Relentless Endurance | When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest. | Half-Orc |
| Savage Attacks | When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit. | Half-Orcs |
| Stone Camouflage | You have advantage on stealth checks. | Deep Gnome Level 1 |
| Strongheart Resilience | You have advantage on any saving throws against poison, and are resistant to poison damage. | Strongheart Halfling Level 1 |
Those are all the Baldur’s Gate 3 traits we know of so far. We also have some handy tips on Baldur’s Gate 3 skills and how they relate to proficiency. There are also lots of Baldur’s Gate 3 feats, which work similarly to traits, as well as the status effects your skills can affect enemies with.