New to Baldur's Gate 3 and Playing a Rogue — What Should I Know?

A few quick tips for your Rogue: your ability bonuses only improve on even numbers — for example, Dexterity at 12 and 13 both give you +1, but 14 bumps it up to +2. So try to avoid odd stats if you can. Play at a comfortable difficulty like ‘balanced’ or ‘explorer’ to avoid frustration during combat while you learn. Exploring thoroughly and interacting with everything is key — lots of hidden stuff and cutscenes everywhere! And save often because you’ll probably want to retry encounters. Don’t stress too much about failed dice rolls or checks; those are part of the game’s charm. Also, if you get bored with Rogue, you can respec later to easier classes like Warlock or Bard once you find Withers in the game.

Expect to mess up sometimes and that’s totally okay because you can respec your character later on. Save often and if you ever get stuck, come back with specific questions. Trial and error is all part of the fun, so no stress!

Honestly, just jump in and play! Take your time exploring everything — talk to every NPC and interact with all the stuff around you. The game is super rich, and you’ll discover neat stuff by being curious. Also, save your progress frequently, so you don’t lose much if things go sideways.

You’ll definitely have an imperfect run and that’s perfectly fine — you might accidentally kill potential or current companions, or fail fights multiple times. Reloading to an earlier save and tackling easier areas is just learning how the game works. Listen carefully to the game’s messages — if it warns that progressing somewhere changes quest outcomes, or explains how spells and rogue sneak attacks work, trust it. For example, sneak attack applies only if you have advantage or an ally nearby, not just because you think you’re hidden. Oh, and a heads up: if you want a smoother experience, maybe avoid choosing the arcane trickster subclass for your first rogue run.