Baldur's Gate 3 director says Larian had "all the freedom we needed" to make the D&D RPG but adapting the tabletop format provided its own "limitations"

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Baldur's Gate 3 director says Larian had "all the freedom we needed" to make the D&D RPG but adapting the tabletop format provided its own "limitations" News By George Young published 9 January 2026

Wizards of the Coast was apparently not precious with its legendary tabletop game

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CEO of Larian Studios and director of Baldur's Gate 3 Swen Vincke claims that Wizards of the Coasts gave the team "all the freedom we needed" to develop a game based on the Dungeons & Dragons IP, but did feel some limitations when it came to adapting the tabletop game system for the video game format.

In a Reddit AMA that includes 11 lead developers from Larian, the team answers numerous questions about the studio's upcoming game Divinity. One of the questions comes from a user curious as to whether the developers were held back by Wizards of the Coast as the owner of the Dungeons & Dragons moniker, and if being Divinity's license owner will allow Larian to do anything differently.

However, Vincke claims that the team were completely free to use the Dungeons & Dragons IP exactly how they saw fit. "We had all the freedom we needed on BG3," Vincke says. While Wizards of the Coast gave the devs the freedom to create the game they wanted to, not everything went smoothly with the adaptation from tabletop to video game.

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• "Baldur's Gate 3 and D:OS2 are the blueprint for Divinity": Larian's next RPG is the studio's "natural evolution"

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"The game was based on 5e," Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition rule set, "which is a system that was made for tabletop, not for video games. Most of the limitations came from that," Vincke says. No one from the studio explains what these limitations are, but players in the comments believe they include the restricted level-ups.

With complete freedom over the upcoming game, Divinity, we wonder what Larian is cooking up for us.

Baldur's Gate 3 wins Steam's Labor of Love award following 2 years of updates and community support: "Pretty f***ing good way to start 2026."

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. CATEGORIES PS5 Xbox Series X PC Gaming Platforms PlayStation Xbox George YoungFreelance News Writer

Freelance writer, full-time PlayStation Vita enthusiast, and speaker of some languages. I break up my days by watching people I don't know play Pokemon pretty fast.

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Logout Read more Fallout co-creator Tim Cain's long list of "nitpicky" D&D questions for Wizards of the Coast in 2002 might help explain why Larian wanted to move on from the tabletop license after Baldur's Gate 3    We're getting Divinity over more Baldur's Gate 3 because Larian devs weren't enjoying "doing the D&D thing"    "Baldur's Gate 3 and D:OS2 are the blueprint for Divinity": Larian's next RPG is the studio's "natural evolution"    Baldur's Gate 3 devs didn't want to include a core D&D rule in their RPG, but players proved them wrong    Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke is "happy" Larian devs talk about "what they did wrong" with their RPGs, but says "they should just chill out" and remember the good things too    Facing AI backlash, Baldur's Gate 3 director says "it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies"    Latest in Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 wins Steam's Labor of Love award following 2 years of updates and community support    Facing AI backlash, Baldur's Gate 3 director says "it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies"    Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 lead leaps to Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity devs' defense amid AI controversy    Former Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity devs claim Larian heads are "lying about people being okay" with using AI    Divinity publishing lead says "I'm not entirely sure we are the ideal target for the level of scorn" over AI stance    Baldur's Gate 3 devs didn't want to include a core D&D rule in their RPG, but players proved them wrong    Latest in News Baldur's Gate 3 devs had "all the freedom we needed" to make the RPG, aside from tabletop "limitations"    Stranger Things documentary director suggests season 5 theory is "wishful thinking," and no secret episode 9 is coming    Divinity will have co-op at launch, but the number of possible players depends on "the final party size" and mods    Baldur's Gate 3 director u-turns on the use of AI art in Divinity, will no longer use tech for concept art development    The Marvels director Nia DaCosta would "love" to direct a live-action Invincible    After Helldivers 2 boss teased chaos in upcoming update, new Illuminate structures appear in Super Earth media    GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS

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