There are four Charisma-based classes in Baldur’s Gate 3 that like to pump their points into Charisma to power up their spells and abilities as much as possible. Charisma is perhaps the best stat to have for ‘face characters’ or characters that will be engaging NPCs in dialogue, as most conversation checks get a bonus to the dice roll based solely on how high your Charisma Stat is.
Although utility spells like Guidance can help you boost the score of your conversation rolls, they are a stopgap solution at best, and you’ll have a much higher success rate with conversations if your character’s main stat is Charisma. Having a 20 Charisma character will net you a successful roll in all but the most impossible conversation checks.
Updated by Hamza Haq on August 26, 2023: The article has been updated with fresh links to align with the latest articles on Baldur’s Gate 3.
4 Sorcerer
Sorcerers are incredibly powerful spellcasters that gain access to a lot of powerful spells they can use to optimize their builds to deal a lot of damage. What makes Sorcerers different from Wizards is their access to Metamagic, a powerful subcategory of magic that adds modifiers to any spell your Sorcerer casts. Metamagic is available to all subclasses of Sorcerers and alters the way their spells work in specific ways.
In Baldur’s Gate 3, there are a few different Metamagics players can take advantage of. Twinned spell double casts the same spell twice in one turn, doubling its effects and damage. The quickened spell allows you to use your bonus action to cast a spell that would otherwise only be cast as an action. The distant spell allows your spell to travel 50% farther than it normally would, giving you options to position yourself in hard-to-reach places.
3 Paladin
Paladins take an oath when they take up their mantle, and breaking that oath has consequences that Baldur’s Gate 3 tries its best to incorporate into the game. As a Paladin, you can either keep the oath of your subclass, forcing you to think about your choices at every step or break it, giving you the Oathbreaker status. If role-playing is important to you, this can help you get immersed in your role and encourage you to interact with the game from the perspective of the character itself.
Paladins are also incredibly powerful front liners in combat thanks to their AC and Heavy Armor proficiency. They can also dish out an insane amount of damage with Divine Smite and heal with their class-specific spell, Lay on Hands. And with their main stat being Charisma, they will rarely fail a dialogue check in the game, thanks to the natural progression of their stat spread.
2 Warlock
Although Warlocks are spellcasters, they are significantly simpler to play than Wizards or Sorcerers as they don’t need to prepare their spells. If you’re overwhelmed with the choices of spells you need to juggle on every rest, Warlock might be the class for you. These Charisma-based spellcasters pick and choose limited spells from their spell list and keep that spell in perpetuity. Each Warlock also needs to choose a patron to serve, which determines their subclass, giving you lots of opportunities to dip into the role-play aspect of the game. If you’ve seen Wyll and his interactions with Mizora, you know how immersive this can be.
A key feature of the Warlock class that sets them apart from other classes is the Cantrip ‘Eldritch Blast’ -- an extremely powerful spell that can be used as a bonus action straight from the start of the game. As you progress through the game, you’ll be able to power up this cantrip to deal even more damage, giving you a permanent spell that doesn’t expend a spell slot no matter how much of it you use.
1 Bard
The musicians of the Forgotten Realms, Bards, get a lot of love in Baldur’s Gate 3. Charisma-based classes are extremely proficient at dialogue checks and succeeding in dice rolls. Bards go one step further. Their ability, Jack of All Trades (available to all Bard subclasses), gives them a bonus on every dice roll in skills they are not proficient in. If you’ve played D&D, you know how broken this can be. Bards can use this ability to take up any role your party needs. Need a frontline? Have your Bard pick up a sword and join in.
Need a Support character? Bardic Inspiration is perhaps the most powerful support spell in the game. Need a healer in a pinch? Bards can learn healing spells that can revive downed characters from a distance. On top of that, as you progress through the game and level up, Bards get the ability to double the modifiers on dice for rolls they are proficient in, effectively giving them bonuses on every single type of roll in the game. Bards are perhaps the best class in the game to choose for your main character on your first playthrough during character creation simply because you won’t have to worry about not being ready for a situation.