Summary
- Despite Baldur's Gate 3 impressing in nearly every other respect, its character creation options are surprisingly limited.
- Without sliders or any other means to alter individual characteristics, BG3 Tavs and Dark Urges must be made by utilizing a series of preset options.
- Modders have taken up the slack, introducing new face options, hairstyles, eye colors, and more.
Baldur's Gate 3 is exceptional in a lot of ways, from combat to NPCs and the depth of their stories. However, the game has a surprising letdown early on when using Tav, the default name for a custom character, as the protagonist rather than an Origin character - excluding the Dark Urge. The options for character creation are limited, making customizing Tav fall flat compared to the rest of the game, meaning that the best choice could be looking for mods to supplement existing creation options.
The modding community has, as always, acted quickly to begin pumping out content for Baldur's Gate 3. While modders generally post a way to support them with donations, downloading and using mods is almost always free. As such, below are some of the best, free mods that can be used to create the perfect Tav, remedying the lackluster character creation options included in BG3. Remember to make save files as back-ups before modding in case conflicts happen in order to avoid losing progress.
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10 Tav's Hair Salon
Adds New Hairstyle Options
Of all the character customization options available in BG3, hairstyles might be the most abundant. However, a lot of the default styles are fairly similar, and the long hair options are pretty lackluster without as many choices for hair tied back or hair that's longer than shoulder-length. While Tav's Hair Salon, uploaded to Nexus Mods by Toarie, adds dozens of new hair options, the downside is it's mostly for elves, human, and tiefling characters using body types 1 and 2.
9 Faces Of Faerûn
Provides More Default Faces
Unlike hairstyles, there are far fewer options for faces in character creation. Each race only has eight default choices for faces, and this is particularly limiting in design since it's not possible to change individual facial features like eyes or nose, which is commonly seen in character creation systems for other games. Nexus mods user Aloija created Faces of Faerûn, which helps to an extent by adding more face options, but it doesn't add the ability to edit singular facial features.
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8 Horns Of Faerûn
More Horns For Tieflings & Other BG3 Races
Another mod created by Nexus Mods user Aloija, Horns of Faerûn adds only a few new horn options, but they're much more elaborate than the default options available in BG3. It also allows characters to have horns without being a tiefling, although this mod isn't compatible with dragonborn. Aside from providing extra options to tieflings, the antlers are particularly great for a druid character.
7 Eyes Of The Beholder
Greatly Increases Eye Customization
BG3 allows a bit of selection for eye color and includes the option to have heterochromia on Tav, but Eyes of the Beholder by labotor on Nexus Mods takes eye customization even further. This mod adds glowing effects, more colored sclera options, and even various pupil shapes to choose from. There's also the choice to give Tav a blind eye, which could fit their background and add to immersion, or act as a reminder to not trust Volo's eye removal surgery in Baldur's Gate 3.
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6 P4 Custom Tattoo & Makeup Colours
Additional Color Options
Sometimes, simply adding more color options can make a huge difference in character customization. In BG3, color options are rather abundant compared to other customizations, but Padme4000's P4 Custom Tattoo and Makeup Colours (via Nexus Mods) adds even more colors for tattoos, makeup, and lips. This mod specifically adds colors options such as bright green, gold, red violet, and temptress red. As such, there's certain to be the colors needed to create anybody's perfect Tav as far as colorful additions go.
5 Warpaint Tattoos Galore
Swaps BG3's Tattoos For Skyrim's
Skyrim meets BG3 with Warpaint Tattoos Galore from Nexus Mods user Elle which ports over body art options to be used on Tav. This mod has a replacer and non-replacer version. The replacer version, which is linked, exchanges tattoos in-game for the Skyrim ports, and that may affect NPCs such as Lae'zel and Halsin. Although it doesn't seem like it has a lot of additions, the bloody mouth and chin option present a great choice for Tavs who become a Vampire Spawn, or for the Dark Urge.
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4 All Beards For Drow, Elves, & HalfOrc
Facial Hair For All Characters
A lot of customization mods are geared towards female characters, but TurnDaPage's All Beards for Drow Elves and HalfOrc on Nexus Mods opens up facial hair options for both male and female characters. This mod isn't just for Tav, however, as it can be used to change or add facial hair to Origin characters that can lead to hilarious results. After all, maybe Minthara just needs the classic handlebar mustache to take her villainy to the next level.
3 Vessnelle's Hair Collection
Even More New Hairstyles
Another hair mod that adds more options, Vessnelle's Hair Collection via Nexus Mods doesn't add as many hairstyles as Tav's Hair Salon. However, the hairstyles it does include feel more varied and unique, and some of them are ported from other games like Cyberpunk 2077. Overall these hairs for BG3 include a good variety for both male and female options without being too overwhelming through flooding the hair selection portion of character creation.
2 Basket Full Of Equipment
New Armor & Clothes For Tav
Basket Full Of Equipment from Nexus Mods user AnteMaxx adds a massive amount of armor and equipment for Tav to wear. Over 800 pieces, to be exact. These range from NPC gear that's otherwise unavailable, like Orin's outfit, Gortash's gear, and even the Oathbreaker Knight's armor. While this is a mod for outfits and not part of character creation, the customization options it brings earn it a mention since a character's outfit is part of their identity as much as any other part of them. The linked version of this mod is "SFW" (safe for work), but there's another version that isn't for less modest Tavs.
1 New Character Creation Presets WIP
Brand New Presets For Character Customization
Compared to the mods above, New Character Creation Presets WIP, another mod by Toarie on Nexus Mods, adds the most character presets to begin creating Tav with. This mod adds dozens of both male and female presets. And perhaps the most impressive feat is that none of these presets are replacers, meaning this mod won't change the appearance of any NPCs by replacing their preset design with a replacer one that can then be used on Tav, since Tav can use Origin character presets. These presets are full additions that stand on their own, and the "WIP" in the name means it's still being worked on, so even more options could be added in the future.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a massive game that excels in several ways, from combat to storytelling. However, its character creation options for Tav and the Dark Urge feel rather plain, especially with other games including incredibly extensive creation features in comparison. The modding community, however, has taken up the task of adding more variety and options, so Tav can slay their way through Faerûn in Baldur's Gate 3.
Sources: Toarie/Nexus Mods (1, 2), Aloija/Nexus Mods (1, 2), labotor/Nexus Mods, Padme4000/Nexus Mods, Elle/Nexus Mods, TurnDaPage/Nexus Mods, Vessnelle/Nexus Mods, AnteMaxx/Nexus Mods
