Summary

• One race may be an unpopular race choice in Baldur's Gate 3, but they have advantages that outweigh other races' benefits.
• Special skills and unique equipment make them overpowered and versatile in the game.
• A key origin character may not be initially liked but has a compelling narrative arc worth exploring.

One playable race in Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't seem to get the same love as the others, but it could actually be the best choice in most campaigns. Baldur's Gate 3 features a wide variety of fantasy races to pick from in character creation, with a total of 11 options further divisible into 31 subraces. Although it's no surprise that some classic picks like humans or elves attract a high percentage of players, opening up to something less traditional offers perks that outweigh the minor racial benefits of most of the available options.

The Player's Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons 5E, which serves as the basis for Baldur's Gate 3, features 9 playable races, a number expanded upon in various supplements to the game. Baldur's Gate features these standard 9 with the addition of drow and githyanki, both of which are categorized as evil in the traditional alignment system. As is generally beneficial to roleplaying, Baldur's Gate 3 allows players to go in different directions with these races, but githyanki, in particular, still don't appear in many campaigns of any inclination.

Githyanki Are Actually Overpowered In Baldur's Gate 3

The proof of the githyanki's unpopular status in Baldur's Gate 3 was made available through a post from Larian on a Steam community update after the game's release, which revealed launch weekend statistics that included the last place showing of githyanki among race choices. Although numbers have no doubt shifted some since launch, it's safe to say that githyanki are still close to the bottom at best. Anyone who has chosen to play one, however, may have discovered by now that doing so actually offers a host of advantages that arguably put most of the fantasy races in the game to shame.

Astral Knowledge offers a huge boon to any Baldur's Gate 3 githyanki campaign, an action that offers proficiency with any one ability that can be swapped out at every long rest. Githyanki psionics allows access to a couple of highly versatile spells for free, with jump tripling in leap distance and mage hand allowing for a spectral hand to be cast for various uses. Giths also receive misty step once per long rest after level 5, further increasing mobility, and Martial Prodigy offers proficiency with light and medium armor as well as shortswords, longswords, and greatswords.

Baldur's Gate 3 Makes Githyanki Better Than In D&D

Although Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't fundamentally change githyanki, they do end up being more overpowered in the game than in the average DnD campaign. Jump and misty step gain an enormous amount of utility from Baldur's Gate's unusual focus on verticality, which takes advantage of 3D environments to set up plenty of interesting platforms that are harder to find in the often 2D grids used for tabletop layouts. From reaching secluded treasure chests to gaining a height advantage in combat, the major benefit that both of these psionic abilities offer shouldn't be underestimated.

It's also easy to get more use out of Astral Knowledge in Baldur's Gate 3 than in DnD, thanks to the way the game handles long rests. Each long rest consumes 40 camp supplies, but they can be taken at any time in any place outside of some key narrative moments and threatening situations, and an abundance of camp supplies makes the cost negligible for anyone who spends enough time looting. Consequently, it's easy to pop into camp to switch out the proficiency granted by Astral Knowledge for a specific task that requires it, a recourse that isn't as easy to take in most DnD campaigns.

Another huge benefit of playing a githyanki in Baldur's Gate 3 comes from githyanki equipment, which offers unique features that only activate when used by a githyanki character. With a variety of available armor options and swords that benefit from a githyanki bearer, it's easy to end up with a surplus of great choices that can't be used to their full potential by any other races. Martial classes especially can make great use of these throughout the majority of the campaign, including the githyanki fighter Origin character Lae'zel.

Lae'zel Is A Great Baldur's Gate 3 Origin Character

In line with the unpopularity of Githyanki as a playable race in Baldur's Gate 3, Lae'zel hasn't received quite the same love as some of the other Origin characters in the game. It's understandable that players might not immediately take a shine to her, as she's uniquely hostile in Act 1 in a way that far outdoes any snippy remarks that other companions might occasionally make. Keeping her in the party, however, is well worth it, especially for anyone who doesn't want to make a githyanki custom character but sees the value in having a character with the race's benefits around.

Seeing the value of Lae'zel's narrative arcin Baldur's Gate 3 is also something that just takes a little bit of patience, as some of the later content in Act 1 and material in Act 2 can start to reveal her more complex side. Although she may never lose some of her more brusque tendencies, Lae'zel can be guided through a crisis of faith that shows her resilience and willingness to follow the path that she believes is right. Lae'zel is perfect proof of the disservice in reducing any DnD race to a basic alignment, and missing out on her arc wastes an interesting facet of Baldur's Gate 3's story.

There's no wrong way to play Baldur's Gate 3, and running through a campaign without any githyanki party is a perfectly valid approach. Dismissing githyanki based on first impressions, however, can easily do a disservice to a uniquely powerful and interesting group in the game. Githyanki might receive the least love of any Baldur's Gate 3 race, but there's plenty of proof that these warriors have plenty to offer any campaign.

Source: Larian Studios/Steam