Baldur's Gate 3's most popular class was originally going to be its default one, but Lae'zel kind of ruined it

(Image credit: Larian)

Baldur's Gate 3's default class was originally going to be the Paladin, but a conundrum with Lae'zel sort of ruined the entire idea.

In a new interview with IGN, Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke and lead writer Adam Smith comment on the Paladin class. Vincke reveals that the Paladin was originally going to be the "default class" for the player character, but then the game's developers started hitting "narrative problems."

Due to these issues, Vincke and the team decided to let players just choose their class, instead of making them take the Paladin road. Smith alludes to one of the "narrative problems" with the Paladin class being a scene very early on in Baldur's Gate 3, where a group of Tieflings have Lae'zel trapped in a cage.

"At the beginning, someone said they're Paladin kryptonite because if you kill them, you break your oath even though they're threatening somebody in a cage," Smith says of the Tieflings. "So Paladins often get into that and go, 'Oh, I'm going to rescue this companion, recruit.' It's like, 'Oathbreaker.' And they're like, 'Oh no,'" Smith continues.

Keeping the 'oath' is central to the Paladin class - break it, and you can potentially be stripped of abilities, leaving your character vastly underpowered, which is exactly what will happen should you kill the Tieflings that have caged Lae'zel. "It's also very hard to keep your oath if you're the Dark Urge," Smith adds, and we can't help but agree with him.

It's worth noting that Baldur's Gate 3 Paladin is the RPG's single most popular class. A Paladin combined with either a Barbarian, Fighter, or Cleric were all some of the most popular Baldur's Gate 3 multi-class options in the entire game.

Smith and Vincke also shut down speculation surrounding The Emperor in Baldur's Gate 3 in the same interview. It turns out datamined information was pointing players in the wrong direction, and The Emperor was always going to be a squid and a very important character in the world of Faerun.

Check out our Baldur's Gate 3 epilogue guide if you haven't been back to check on your companions after the grand adventure.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.