Building an effective adventuring party in Baldur‘s Gate 3 requires understanding the unique combat capabilities of each available class. Especially for newer players, choosing your own player character‘s class can seem daunting given how much they differ in playstyle.
In this expanded guide, we‘ll compare the Barbarian, Fighter, and Monk in detail – from their abilities and attribute builds to party synergies. You‘ll understand clearly what makes each class shine so you can pick the one best matched to your playstyle.
Barbarian
Raging Bruiser Playstyle
More than any other class, barbarians thrive when directly in the thick of melee. Their signature Rage empowers them to play hyper-aggressively – rampaging at enemies with heavy weapons to unleash carnage while shrugging off otherwise fatal blows.
A typical barbarian gameplan is to charge straight at the largest clusters of enemies, trusting sheer brute force to overwhelm them. Skirmishing around the edges of combat tends to dilute a barbarian‘s potential as they rely on sustaining rage by keep attacking or taking hits each turn.
Barbarians tend to favor giant two-handed weapons or a weapon and shield combo to maximize damage and survivability. Their limited armor and weapon options make Dexterity less useful, so most builds invest heavily in Strength instead.
Key Barbarian Traits and Abilities
- Rage – Temporary hp, bonus damage, and resistance to certain types of damage. Requires attacking or taking damage each turn to sustain
- Reckless Attack – Gain advantage on Strength melee attacks by giving enemies advantage against you. High risk, high reward
- Danger Sense – Advantage on Dexterity saves, useful given low Dexterity typical of Barbarian builds
- Brutal Critical – Extra weapon dice on critical hits scales with Barbarian levels
- Relentless Rage – Can make saving throws to avoid being knocked unconscious while raging
Barbarians also move faster than other classes thanks to their Fast Movement feature, further enabling their head-on aggression.
Defensively, barbarians possess the highest hit point totals of any class to offset their constant close quarters brawling. Their d12 hit die grants them significantly more health per level compared to the d10 Fighters get and d8 Monks receive.
Several Barbarian spells like Beast Barbarian‘s Bestial Soul also temprarily further bolster their resilience in combat at the cost of concentration.
Barbarian Class Builds and Attributes
Most barbarian builds minimize mental attributes to max out Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity in that order. However, certain subclasses allow more varied builds:
| Build | Primary Attributes | Playstyle |
|---|---|---|
| Berserker | Strength > Constitution | Two-handed weapons, maximize damage |
| Wildhunt Shifter | Strength + Charisma / Wisdom | partial spellcaster with animal forms |
| Dexterity Finesse | Strength + Dexterity | Finesse weapons, higher AC |
For newer players, focusing purely on Strength and Constitution generally works best to amplify the Barbarian‘s tanky brawler capabilities that set them apart from other classes. Dexterity and mental attributes can be largely neglected to double down on their brute force niche.
Barbarian Subclasses
Barbarian‘s specialization options meaningfully change their combat capabilities:
Berserker receives an extra attack as a bonus action while raging, substantially increasing their damage output per turn. However, they also suffer from harmful fatigue when rage ends that requires resource expenditure to remove. Overall, Berserkers epitomize the high risk, high reward barbarian playstyle.
Wildhunt Shifters partially abandon raw martial power for more mystical qualities with a limited spellcasting progression. They also gain Beast spells for additional temporary hit points to sustain their rage, along with Wild Shape options to take bestial forms – effectively doubling as off-tank druids. The mix of martial and primal magic abilities make Wildhunt Shifters more versatile.
Fighter
Adaptable Weapon Master Playstyle
Fighters distinguish themselves as highly adaptable weapon specialists, capable of learning any fighting style or wielding any armament required for the situation at hand. This versatility also extends to their attributes – fighters function effectively with high Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution making them the most flexible class to build.
In combat, fighters tend to stick to mid-range on the frontline, willing and able to shift between leading the charge and holding the line as required. Their balanced capabilities also make them great for filling gaps – providing off-healing if no cleric is present or lending ranged support.Combined with frequently faster leveling than spellcasters, fighters often serve as the party backbone throughout a campaign.
Key Fighter Traits and Abilities
- Fighting Style – Specialization in one style of fighting such as Archery or Great Weapon Fighting
- Second Wind – Self heal to withstand tough combats
- Action Surge – Take an additional action on your turn for explosive turns
- Extra Attack – Make additional attacks each Attack action at level 5, 11, and 20
- Indomitable – Reroll failed saving throws to avoid status effects
Action Surge combined with Extra Attacks gives Fighters the highest damage per turn potential in the game. Carefully coordinating these limited use offensive boosts with ally buffs and enemy debuffs can enable fighters to single-turn eliminate threats.
Meanwhile, their adaptability with all weapons, armor, and abilities makes them the easiest class to tweak to fit specific party needs or handle new threats.
Fighter Class Builds and Attributes
Fighters have vastly open-ended build variety due to their flexibility with weapons, armor, and attributes. Viable fighter builds span ranged and melee options in light or heavy armor.
| Build | Primary Attributes | Playstyle |
|---|---|---|
| Great Weapon Master | Strength > Constitution | Hard hitting two-handed weapons |
| Dueling Sword and Board | Strength + Dexterity | One handed weapon with shield |
| Crossbow Sniper | Dexterity > Constitution | Keep away ranged playstyle |
| Polearm Sentinel | Strength + Constitution | Opportunity attack controller |
With fighter‘s extra Attribute Score Improvements, they can more easily raise both their weapon attack stat and Constitution. This makes strength-based fighter builds much tankier than equivalents in other classes.
Higher level fighters can also augment key saves or lower priority abilities like Charisma or Intelligence to round out the build.
Fighter Subclasses
Fighter subclasses provide further specialization options:
Champions see improved odds of landing Critical Hits, their key source of spikes in damage. Champions dole out damage the most consistently turn to turn.
Battle Masters gain access to a wide variety of Combat Maneuver options to creatively trip, distract, and corral enemies. This vastly increases a fighter‘s party utility through battlefield control effects.
Eldritch Knights fuse elements of wizardry into their kit with a limited spell progression and Intelligence as their spellcasting modifier. This allows melee fighters to gain access utility and buffing magics.
Monk
Mysterious Hit and Run Artist Playstyle
Monks double down on mobility – dashing around combat utilizing flurries of blows enhanced by supernatural ki power. Their fast repositioning facilitates getting off just enough attacks to build ki points between short rests while avoiding getting bogged down in multi-turn slogs.
Defensively, their Patient Defense, Deflect Missiles, high base speed, and Evasion provide strong reactive tools for avoiding damage entirely. Combined with their lack of armor, monks play best as glass cannon skirmishers – not trading blows blow-for-blow but controlling encounters through their disruption capabilities.
Key Monk Traits and Abilities
- Martial Arts – Can make unarmed strikes as bonus actions
- Ki Points – Mystical energy to power Monk abilities like Flurry of Blows and Stunning Strike
- Unarmored Defense – Use Wisdom modifier, not armor, to calculate AC
- Stunning Strike – Spend ki point to stun enemies on hit
- Evasion – Reflexively dodge and reduce effect of Dexterity saves
- Deflect Missiles – Reduce ranged attack damage; spend ki to throw it back!
Monks accrue ki points rapidly with enough attacks, then utilize them to unleash their burst potential – stunning enemies with Flurry of Blows to set up allies or finishing blows. Their arsenal of control and mobility options expands greatly once ki is flowing regularly.
Monk Class Builds and Attributes
Lacking access to armor or all but the simplest weapons, monks rely heavily on boosting Dexterity for offense and Wisdom for defense/stuns. Constitution is also crucial for concentrating amidst constant repositioning.
| Build | Primary Attributes | Playstyle |
|---|---|---|
| Way of the Open Hand | Dexterity + Wisdom | Crowd control focused |
| Way of Shadow | Dexterity + Wisdom | Stealth assassinations |
| Way of the Astral Self | Dexterity/Strength + Wisdom | Spirit martial artist |
Because monks only utilize Dex/Wisdom for combat, they can optionally invest into mental stats for skills/roleplay. Magic Initiate feats are also great to expand mystical martial prowess.
Monk Subclasses
Monk‘s specialization choice greatly influences their hit and run tactics:
Open Hand monks specialize in controlling enemy movement and actions – knocking them prone and pushing them away from allies to isolate threats. This facilitates focusing down disabled enemies.
Shadow monks enhance subterfuge capabilities for stealth takedowns and teleporting through magical darkness. Their guerrilla tactics pair perfectly with rogues.
Long Death monks drain health from enemies to sustain themselves while Astral Self monks manifest spiritual energy into arms and visages that empower their strikes at range.
Party Roles and Class Synergies
Now let‘s examine how these classes can combine together in an adventuring party by highlighting key synergies between their abilities and party roles.
Crowd Control and Damage Enablers
A common combo is utilizing control effects to isolate enemies and set up burst damage:
- Barbarian reckless attacks granting advantage enables…
- Monk to more easily land Flurry of Blows and Stunning Strikes to disable enemies for…
- Fighter action surging with advantage for devastating alpha strikes against stunned targets.
Monks and Battlemaster Fighters also amplify each others‘ capabilities controlling enemy positioning, granting Rogues and Paladins prime sneaks attack openings.
Spike Healing Synergies
Barbarians, Fighters, and Monks all lack consistent self-healing options mid-combat outside consumables. However, classes with healing word or bonus action healing excell at quickly patching them up:
- Clerics can instantly restore a huge chunk of a Barbarian‘s hit points while they rage on attacks.
- Paladins can similarly enable Fighters with Lay on Hands between weapon attacks
- Druids Healing Word keeps evasive Monks up and enables more riskier mobile Strikes
Careful ability timing and positioning enables these classes to amplifier each other‘s strengths and offset core weaknesses.
Tanking and Pulling Together
The Barbarian‘s sheer beefiness makes them ideal vanguards to initiate fights and draw enemy focus due to Reckless Attack practically taunting them.
Meanwhile, Monks and Fighters utilize mobile tactics and defensive buffs like Shield and Patient Defense to harass enemies while avoiding getting stun-locked in return. This pulls some heat off the barbarian frontline tank to control larger encounter sizes.
As the team‘s primary damage dealers hold the line, spellcasters like Wizards and Clerics can operate safely flinging AoEs or heals to sway the battle tide.
Conclusion – Picking Your Playstyle
As shown by their distinct mechanics and synergies, Barbarians, Fighters, and Monks all fill quite unique party roles and enable different playstyles.
Barbarians appeal to players seeking visceral blitzing into mobs of enemies with raw power and relentlessness. The core rage mechanic amplifies physicality-focused gameplay rich with risk and reward.
Fighters draw those desiring unmatched versatility – with customization possible for nearly any weapons-focused concepts you envision thanks supreme stat flexibility. This jack-of-all-trades martial mastery creates very replayable foundations to build upon.
Monks cater to cunning strategists who enjoy creative hit and run tactics mixing mystical martial prowess, burst damage, and disruption tools. Their high skill caps reward mixing ki abilities for peak battlefield control.
Hopefully this extensive detail on attributes, abilities, and party synergies for Baldur‘s Gate 3‘s premiere martial classes assists you in picking the one best aligned with your personal playstyle! Let us know if you have any other questions – happy adventuring!