All Baldur’s Gate 3 Origin characters explained: Dark Urge, Astarion, Shadowheart & more

Origin characters are an interesting option to use in Baldur’s Gate 3 that bring an exciting twist to the game with their own unique benefits, but who are these intriguing heroes, and what do they provide for players?

Larian Studios’ latest RPG, the Dungeons and Dragons-inspired Baldur’s Gate 3 features an extensive character creation tool with players able to select their class and subclass, race, and spells. Some may find the sheer amount of options overwhelming, however, and prefer to use a premade character.

Thankfully, Origin characters serve that exact purpose, and they provide unique benefits to your Baldur’s Gate 3 experience if you decide to use them such as additional quests and lore.

So, here’s everything you need to know about Origin characters in the game.

What are Origin characters in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Baldur’s Gate 3’s Origin characters are essentially pre-designed builds you can choose when you’re in character creation. Instead of making one from scratch, you simply step into the shoes of these Origin characters and begin, using their stats, backstories, quests, motivations, and more.

What makes Origin characters so wonderful is that you get exclusive quests, and are able to learn more about that character’s backstory, making it a perfect way to understand those companions a little better.

On top of this, if your Origin character is recruited as a companion, their previous experiences will influence their opinion of your exploits and your relationship with said companions.

All Baldur’s Gate 3 Origin characters

Currently, there are seven Origin characters, with most of them comprising of the companions, as well as the highly anticipated Dark Urge.

We’ve listed all the companions and their classes below:

• Astarion: a High-Elf Rogue with the Charlatan background. He’s good at deception, sleight of hand, stealth, acrobatics, perception, performance, and persuasion.
• Lae’zel: a Githyanki Fighter with the Soldier background. She is good at atheltics, acrobatics, survival, and intimidation. Lae’zel can handle light, medium and heavy armor without trouble.
• Gale: a Human Wizard with the Sage background. He’s good at Arcana history, investigation, insight, and persuasion.
• Shadowheart: a High-Elf Cleric with the Acolyte background and Trickery subclass. She’s good at history, insight, medicine and religion.
• Wyll: a Human Warlock with the Folk Hero background and the Fiend subclass. He’s good at animal handling, arcana, intimidation, persuasion and survival.
• Karlach: a Zariel Tiefling Barbarian with the Outlander background. She’s good at athletics, intimidation, perception and survival.
• The Dark Urge: this is the player’s choice. Can be whatever race, subrace, class or subclass you want, and even their look is customizable. However, the background will always be Haunted, which makes them good at intimidation and medicine.

So there you have it! Those are all the Origin characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 as well as what they are all about. While choosing your next character, take a look at some of our other handy Baldur’s Gate 3 guides and content:

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