Summary

  • The Dark Urge in Baldur's Gate 3 offers a unique blend of customization and a specific narrative, allowing players to build their own character while still having a backstory.
  • However, playing the Dark Urge limits gameplay by forcing the character towards violent impulses, making it frustrating for players who want to make morally good choices.
  • While the Dark Urge is an interesting option, it's not universally recommended and may be more suited for players who want to explore murderous impulses or specific roleplaying focuses.

The Dark Urge is an interesting option provided by Baldur's Gate 3's character customization, and the pros and cons of taking this route can send a playthrough in unexpected directions. As an official Dungeons & Dragons video game, Baldur's Gate 3 allows characters to be designed from the ground-up, with a wide variety of classes, races, and stats to choose from. On the other hand, Origin characters offer a way to play the game with a pre-designed hero. The Dark Urge offers an intriguing midpoint between these two directions, but its effects can be surprisingly specific.

Although the Dark Urge is included among the Origin heroes in Baldur's Gate 3 character creation, this particular option is the only one among the lot that offers full customization. The default appearance for a Dark Urge protagonist is a white dragonborn, with the pre-selected class of sorcerer and subclass Storm Sorcery. It's fully possible, however, to make a gnome bard or a tiefling barbarian to fill the Dark Urge role. The only selection that can't be altered is the background, which has to be Haunted One for any Dark Urge character.

Pros Of Playing The Dark Urge In Baldur's Gate 3

Character creation screen showing the default White Dragonborn appearance for the Dark Urge option.

The biggest benefit of the Dark Urge is the ability to play a custom character with a specific story in Baldur's Gate 3. Since other Origin heroes can't be tweaked without deciding to later respec in Baldur's Gate 3, choosing the Dark Urge is the only way to have a specific narrative surrounding the protagonist while getting to build a character from the ground-up. This is the best way to achieve the sensation of a Dungeon Master incorporating a Dungeons & Dragons character's backstory into a campaign without giving up on the tabletop ideal of deg a hero to begin with.

Cons Of Playing The Dark Urge In Baldur's Gate 3

A reptilian player character in Baldur's Gate 3, representing the Dark Urge Origin character.

Allowing the game to dictate a specific backstory does, of course, create certain limitations outside of character creation that wouldn't arise with other Baldur's Gate 3 custom characters. The most important one is that the Dark Urge imposes itself on gameplay by forcing the character toward violent impulses, making it a frustrating option for a playthrough centered around making morally good choices. This loss of autonomy can be even more restrictive than playing another Origin character in certain respects, and the full Dungeons & Dragons experience of creating a new backstory can't be achieved with the Dark Urge.

The Dark Urge is a great way to combine some of the best features of both custom and Origin characters in Baldur's Gate 3, but the way that this backstory interacts with the game makes it impossible to unilaterally recommend. The Dark Urge is ideal for playthroughs that grapple with murderous impulses or give into them entirely, while other Origin characters or fully custom options can be better for different roleplaying focuses. Although the Dark Urge is one of the most novel things that Baldur's Gate 3 brings to the table, its pros and cons balance it as just another option for character creation among several solid avenues.