The 14 best Baldur’s Gate 3 quality-of-life and style mods

Though Baldur’s Gate 3 is a multi-award-winning and highly regarded fantasy RPG, you can always download some mods to add even more individuality and customization to your playthrough (if you’re playing on PC, that is). Do you wish Astarion was femme? There’s a mod for that. Do you want more character customization options? There are lots of mods for that. And if the actual gameplay isn’t exactly what you want, there are dozens of mods for that, too.

Combing through available mods for Baldur’s Gate 3 can be time-consuming, especially when some mods may be similar-looking, even if they function in clearly different ways. That’s why we’ve compiled the following list of the best BG3 mods to enhance your gameplay experience.

Before downloading any of the mods below, you need to download LaughingLeader’s BG3 Mod Manager. Check out LaughingLeader’s guide for setup or, if you want a further breakdown for setting up mods without breaking your game, check out Reddit user lilpidgeons’ quick and easy tutorial to get started. For non-cosmetic mods, you’ll also need Norbyte’s Baldur’s Gate 3 Script Extender, which comes with an installation guide. With the latter, beware: Every time Larian Studios patches BG3, you’ll have to wait for the script extender to be updated before loading your save file. If you don’t, you run the risk of breaking the entire thing and having to start over from scratch. Although Larian is being very generous with post-release patches based on player feedback — introducing new epilogues and kissing animations, for example — these updates will create havoc for modded games.

Last but not least, if you want to install mods from the pre-release era, check out Chance Santana-Wees’ Baldur’s Gate 3 Mod Fixer to force the story to recompile and make those mods work with the full game. If you’re having problems loading the game after Patch 5 due to mods installed before the update, try this temporary fix by blightedmods. Now that you’re equipped to start modding your Baldur’s Gate 3 experience, here are the best mods to enhance your game.

Mods that improve quality of life in Baldur’s Gate 3

ImprovedUI ReleaseReady

Image: AlanaSP, ShinyHobo, Djmr, Zee/Nexus Mods

This mechanics mod alters the UI to enhance modified games for a smoother, better experience overall. In addition to enhancing character creation options, ImprovedUI ReleaseReady also removes in-game warnings and provides optional files based on player feedback to replace other UI elements. At the time of writing, the creator has released a Patch 5-compliant update, so it will work with the current version of the game.

WASD Character Movement

Image: Ch4nKyy/Nexus Mods

In vanilla Baldur’s Gate 3, players move characters around by clicking the mouse around the map, which may feel clunky or hard to manage for PC players who are used to using the WASD keys on their keyboards. If you’d rather use keyboard controls, Ch4nKyy’s WASD Character Movement mod is a must-have. At the time of writing, this mod has been updated for compatibility with Patch 5.

Achievement Enabler

If you’re playing a modded version of Baldur’s Gate 3 on Steam or GOG, you may notice that you’re not unlocking achievements, which is a problem for PC gamers who both want to tailor their play experience and still unlock those shiny badges. Rest assured: DK’s Achievement Enabler reinstates the ability to unlock Steam and GOG achievements in modded games. At the time of writing, this mod has been updated for Patch 5.

Camp Event Notifications

Image: Kvalyr/Nexus Mods

If you’re grinding hard through BG3 and not stopping for long rests often enough, you may miss camp-specific events and dialogue scenes that are only available at certain points during the story. To avoid losing rich character and story moments, you can enable Camp Event Notifications, a mod that adds visual notifications for when you should opt for long rest nights at camp. The original mod by Kvalyr is in English, and there is a Korean-language version by bk0n9.

Show Approval Ratings in Dialogue Choices

Image: Knapper234/Nexus Mods

Dialogue options in Baldur’s Gate 3 are determined by class and skills, and each creates a different outcome in conversations with NPCs. If you’re concerned about maintaining or deteriorating certain relationships, it’s worth downloading Knapper234’s Approval Ratings mod, which lays out exactly how what you say will lift you up or knock you down in the eyes of your companions. This allows you to make more informed decisions in the dialogue wheel, which may prevent the need to save scum for every cutscene.

Mods that customize appearance and clothing in Baldur’s Gate 3

Unique Tav Custom Appearance

If you want your Tav to have a completely unique look as you make your way through Faerûn, look no further than this mod by kartoffel, which adds new and unique face makeup and tattoo textures, body textures and models, and optional, upscaled body tattoos. There is a plethora of additional mods you can add to this one for an even more catered look. Watch the discussion topics for bugs as Larian releases patch updates: This mod is great, but sometimes requires extra patience.

Customizer’s Compendium - NPC Options Unlocker

Image: AlanaSP/Nexus Mods

The NPCs in Baldur’s Gate 3 are hot, and if you wish your Tav could share certain physical traits with their companions, you aren’t alone. If you want your Tav to have Astarion’s curly locks or even Mystra’s smooth, pushed-back hair, you can unlock NPC customization options with this mod by AlanaSP. You may have some awkward moments at camp if you’re coiffed the same as your romantic interest, but rest assured they won’t notice.

Strong Female Heads

Image: Dufresne/Nexus Mods

If you’re playing a femme Tav, you may have discovered that most of the face presets and heads don’t look right on the “strong” body type, which doesn’t feel great considering how limited these body types are in the first place. The Strong Female Heads mod by Dufresne helps curb this frustration, which can be immense depending on how you want your Tav to look. Adding two new face presets for body type 3 to the game, this mod works for tieflings, humans, drow, elves, and half-elves, and it makes your Tav look significantly better in every part of the game, from the character creator to cutscenes.

Vessnelle’s Hair Collection

Image: Vessnelle/Nexus Mods

This hair collection mod adds tons of new hair options for humans, elves, half-elves, tieflings, drow, and githyanki (mostly femme). We also recommend Tav’s Hair Salon by Toarie, which adds new hairstyles for body types 1 and 2. Unfortunately, Toarie’s hair mods show up without icons in the character creator, which will force you to click on each one to get a feel for how it looks. You can correct this issue by downloading Icon and Race Patches for Tav’s Hair Salon by perseidipity.

Horns of Faerun

Image: Aloija/Nexus Mods

Much like the vanilla hair options in Baldur’s Gate 3, the horn options can feel limited for players creating tieflings. That’s where this expansion mod by Aloija comes in, adding several new horn options pulled from various NPCs throughout Faerûn to the character creator. You can go as fancy or as simple as you desire, with color options for further customization.

CovenElf’s Tattoo and Makeup Collection

Image: CovenElf/Nexus Mods

For this customization mod, CovenElf has gathered a collection of their original tattoo and makeup designs, as well as tattoo and makeup designs inspired by media like World of Warcraft. Although there is a small number of options available right now, CovenElf intends to grow the collection to at least 44 different designs.

Basket Equipment to Camp Clothing

Image: AnteMaxx/Nexus Mods

If you don’t care about how stylish your Tav is, don’t worry about downloading this mod. If you really care about how stylish your Tav is, check out AnteMaxx’s Basket Equipment to Camp Clothing mod immediately. This allows you to replace your equipment slots and boots to camp clothing and shoes, but retain bonuses when you’re traveling and fighting. Alternatively, you can have your Tav and companions show a lot of skin with AnteMaxx’s Basket Full of Equipment (NSFW Version), which adds nearly 1,000 pieces of equipment and armor for humanlike races that may include topless, skimpy, or nude components.

Cloaks of Faerun

There simply aren’t enough cloaks available in vanilla Baldur’s Gate 3! If you’re feeling a severe lack of options for your majestic style, Araelynn’s Cloaks of Faerun mod offers more cloak and cape options to spice up your look. These items can be found in certain chests throughout Faerûn, adding additional flavor to the game’s base looting system. Note: If you’ve already looted chests before downloading this mod, the chests will not respawn. It’s best to install this on a new save file so you don’t miss anything.

Noble Trickster’s Garments

Image: ArthurRevan/Nexus Mods

Are you playing a roguish female character and want to spice up her look? ArthurRevan has created perhaps the best look for this class in Baldur’s Gate 3 with the Noble Trickster’s Garments mod. While it’s only available for female drow, tieflings, humans, elves, and half-elves with non-strong body types, it’s got customization options including color and skirt length, making for a particularly excellent look.