Karmic Dice is a primary gameplay mechanic in Baldur’s Gate 3. Fans of D&D will be quite familiar with this system, but for newcomers, the dice could prove confusing. In essence, the dice puts each real-time interaction through a game of chance, the outcome of which is randomly generated as with real dice. Although, like with real dice, there is a probability factor, which is something to go nuts over for those of you who like to do the math.
What is the Karmic Dice in Baldur’s Gate 3?
The basic principle is the same as d20 by Wizards of the Coast developed for D&D 3e. The Karmic Dice system on the surface is quite simple to start with. You click the roll button and the game rolls the dice for you. BG3 foregoes the dungeon master approach and instead has a predetermined roll or a preset class (in combat) on behalf of the other party as well. This is usually given as a difficulty class.
The outcome of your roll though is randomly generated with a seemingly logical probability factor. This is where the Karmic system comes in though. Larian Studios designed the Karmic Dice system to ensure that there aren’t too many successive rolls with the same outcome. So, if you are having a winning streak with the dice, the Karmic system kicks in to disrupt that. The same is true of unsuccessful rolls.
Real-Time Karmic Dice
Although the concept seems quite solid with obvious benefits to players, there is much ambiguity surrounding the execution of the system.
For starters, there is no pattern to follow when it comes to the Karmic dice in real-time events. The success and failure rate still seems pretty random. In fact, sometimes for actions like lock picking, multiple efforts fail no matter how many times you roll. Even reloading saves often tend to be unfruitful. The unpredictable randomness sometimes beats the entire purpose of the Karmic Dice system.
Before rolling the dice during a real-time event, the difficulty class is displayed on top and any bonuses you might have are displayed on the bottom. There are many factors that determine the bonus points, from ability scores to features and perks, which all provide a great advantage even if you roll a smaller number.
There is also a major boost when you start using Illithid powers where the difficulty class is often set to zero, taking the game of chance and by definition the Karmic system out of the equation.
Karmic Dice in Battle
Turn-based combat seems to be the place where Karmic Dice system has some semblance of logic. The turn-based battles in Baldur’s Gate 3 are quite similar to D&D 5e and the outcomes are calculated the same way. Of course, there is no dungeon master controlling the enemy.Instead, the AI manages the rolls itself.
In combat, the rolls are not displayed as obviously as they are during real-time events. Instead, you can access a window tucked away to the left of your screen during battles. This windows offers a great deal of information on your current turn, including how you performed in your rolls.
While on the surface this may seem quite ambiguous, there is a system to track this. All your weapons come with a dice assigned to it, usually denoted as 1d10, 1d5, 1d8, 2d10 etc. much like in real time. You cannot control the outcome of the roll, but understanding the rolling possibilities of each dice can help you determine the outcome.
Another screen that you can check during battle is that of your opponent’s stats. Long pressing the right mouse button (for PC) on any enemy character reveals plenty of information. What you need to note is the armor rating. The armor of your opponent is the difficulty class in combat. This way you can figure out what you need to get in your next roll.
There are other concepts as well in play during combat, such as armor rolls, damage rolls, ability modifiers, etc. which are discussed in detail in our combat guide.
Other factors that determine success with the Karmic Dice in Baldur’s Gate 3
Since the Karmic Dice is designed to create an even playing field for both the player and the AI, success is not always a guarantee no matter how many times you try. Beyond the obvious probability factor/luck, the other determining factors are your abilities scores. Each Karmic Dice play is actually a cleverly designed abilities/skills check which takes into account one or more of your attributes.
In the Karmic Dice system, an Abilities score of 10 is considered a neutral point or 0 (zero). Anything above and below this number can become a bonus or a penalty. For example, in a Strength check, if you roll a 15 on the dice and your strength score is 9, the total result is 14.
Apart from abilities scores, there are other factors that determine success rate, which includes the extended skill tree and your level of the skill in question. Other aspects such as situational advantages and perks also seem to play a role in determining the final result of the roll. In battles, having higher ground can add a bonus to your roll and, conversely, on lower ground there is a penalty.
There are also passive rolls which occur in real-time but work like the combat rolls. These passive checks are purely based on certain stats such as perception, which will trigger when approaching an ambush or such actions.
How to boost your chances with the Karmic Dice?
Larian Studios understands that not everyone who is going to play the game is a D&D expert. Even experts will find the system to be complicated enough without the use of a contrived Karma system. So, they have generously added a checkbox to turnoff the Karmic Dice for a more convenient gameplay experience.
Turning off the Karmic Dice is only effective in turn based combat where both the player’s and AI’s rolls are no longer affected by the system, and randomness is in effect. While this is not recommended for players new to the system, a recent glitch during early access suggests the Karmic Dice is still not fully optimized.
We are yet to observe any real effect on real-time events from the Karmic dice though, probably because these are pre-determined skill checks. So, ‘save-scumming’ would be a great idea to surpass certain difficult checks. Additionally, you can also make use of perks and boosts.
One early game boost is the guidance spell equipped by Shadowheart, which grants you a 1d4 to your throw. In fact, anything that helps you stack points and bonuses to your rolls is a great way to get the odds in your favor. This is yet another reason to focus equally on both specialized builds and multiclass builds.
