How Do Karmic Rolls Work in Baldur’s Gate 3?

If you’ve been poking around in Baldur’s Gate 3’s options menu, you might have noticed an option called Karmic Dice. Or, online, you might have seen people grumbling about how it shouldn’t be enabled by default. But what is all the fuss about? If you’re wondering how Karmic Rolls work in Baldur’s Gate 3, here’s Karmic Dice explained.

What Are Karmic Dice Rolls?

Karmic Dice used to be known as Weighted Dice, neither of which is a particularly apt description. What it actually means, as explained by developer Larian Studios as part of an Early Access update, is that “Dice rolls are now weighted to avoid streaks of success or failure.” So, the short answer is that you’re less likely to get lucky or unlucky several times in a row.

Now here’s the longer answer. If you’ve got a six-sided die, is it likely you’ll roll a 1 ten times in a row? No. Is it possible? Absolutely. So, if you were rolling to determine how much damage you did, you’d barely tickle your enemy. Or, if you rolled all sixes and fives, you could end up flattening your foes. With Karmic Dice enabled, which is the default in Baldur’s Gate 3, the game will step in if that happens. If it rolls its internal dice and you repeatedly get a 20, it may automatically reroll until it gets what it views as a ‘fairer’ result. Larian hasn’t stated precisely how it works, but it’s designed to balance the game out.

I’ve heard it compared to a human Dungeon Master who, when their players are in trouble, might fumble dice rolls to make things easier.

Do Karmic Rolls Make BG3 Easier?

No, they don’t. Why? Because Karmic Dice Rolls are applied to any action where the game rolls a virtual die. And it’s not just for the player, enemies are subject to it too. That includes speech checks during dialogs, enemy attacks, and more. So, if an enemy would, thanks to a string of low dice rolls, be on a losing streak, the game will step in there too. Likewise, enemies will be less likely to get a string of critical hits in. But you, too, should have a lower chance of repeatedly crit-ing your foe.

There’s been a lot of discussion about it, with some players saying that ‘bad’ dice roles (and good ones) are part of D&D. And if you do want to disable it, go to the Gameplay tab in settings and untick the box. You can turn it on and off whenever you like, so have a play with it and see what you prefer.

So, on the subject of how Karmic Dice Rolls work in Baldur’s Gate 3 work, that’s everything you need to know. And if you want more information on the game, take a look through our archives.