Baldur's Gate 3 patch three is here to make companions kinder and fires fewer

Baldur's Gate 3 is continuing along its merry way through early access with patch three called "Inspiration, Freedom & Pacifism" that will address feedback from players like an overabundance of fire and nitpicky companions. This is the first of the early access patches that will break your save compatibility after you update, as Larian have warned. Here's what's new and changed in patch three.

There are quite a few changes and adjustments, a big one being that Larian have chosen to tone down the prevalence of fire surfaces. I tend to have a laugh about all the fire in Larian's chaotic combat but I admit it's been a while since I played Divinity: Original Sin 2. I might be less enthused if I'd more recently suffered accidental immolation. Larian say that in just the past week, players have died 78,293 times by fire. Yeah, that's a lot. They've toned down cantrip spells like Fire Bolt which can still ignite flammable surfaces but won't create a surface of its own upon impact.

Larian say they've tweaked companions a bit too so they feel a bit less negative. Apparently Shadowheart had a tendency to harass players over small disagreements. Larian say they've made "assorted tweaks to companion approval ratings". As one example, they say that Shadowheart will no longer disapprove of players allowing Astarion the vampire to feed on them. That's just between the two of you.

There's a heck of a lot more in Larian's patch three notes. Party members will automatically join you when you use acrobatics to jump across a gap instead of all having to individually perform the feat too. For every long rest you take at camp you'll now be able to use two short rests out in the field. You'll also now be rewarded with experience for passing skill checks to avoid combat encounters so you don't wind up underleveled just for being a pacifist. Critical failures by rolling a one on a skill check can be re-attempted because that's something a real dungeon master would likely allow. Oh and they've added an option to hide your helmet. That's quite important when you're playing the most interesting Baldur's Gate 3 character.

I wonder if those clever speedrunners will still be able to beat the game in 7 minutes after this new update.

Baldur's Gate 3 launched in early access on October 6th and Larian have estimated that it will likely be at least a year before the full launch.