If there’s one disappointment about the phenomenal Baldur’s Gate 3, for many it would be the restriction of only being able to play one custom character and build the rest of your party from companions or hirelings. Fortunately, there is a trick that can be done to achieve an entire custom party of four, so follow along below if you’re looking to set this up in your own game.
How to Play With Party of 4 Custom Characters in BG3
If you’re looking to establish a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 using a party of 4 custom characters, this is more than possible – and without the need for any mods, too. Note that this only works on the PC version of the game.
First of all, make sure you have Steam running but do not launch the game through Steam. Instead, you’ll need to navigate to the local BG3 Steam folder on your PC and find the bg3.exe file.
- The folder path for this file can usually be found in SteamLibrary<Steamapps<common<Baldurs Gate 3< bin
Right-click bg3.exe and then select Run As Administrator to launch the game. Once the game is launched, you’ll need to head into your video settings in Baldur’s Gate 3, change everything to low preset, and make sure the game is set to run in Windowed Mode. This is a step to ensure you’re able to get through the entire process with no risk of a crash, as the following sections may put a slight strain on your PC unless you have very powerful specs.
Now that this has been done, tab out of the game and return to the local BG3 steam folder. Launch Baldur’s Gate 3 from the bg3.exe file one by one, three more times. Once this is done and launched, you should now have four different windows of Baldur’s Gate 3 running.
Open the first Baldur’s Gate 3 window, and follow the instructions below:
- On your first window, click Multiplayer from the main menu.
- When the Multiplayer menu opens, click ‘Create‘
- This will bring you to a Lobby with yourself and three empty spots. On the right side of the screen, check the box for Direct Connect.
- This will open a box with a code. Copy the code, as you’ll need it later. If you’re worried about losing it, you can quickly use the Notepad app to keep track of it.
- Once you’ve copied the code, click Launch, and skip through the cutscene that follows.
You will now load into the create your character screen. From here, tab out of this window and open the second window of BG3 that you have been running.
On this window, follow the instructions below:
- Select Multiplayer from the main menu.
- On the right-hand options in the multiplayer menu, check the box that says ‘Direct Connet’
- Paste the code that you copied earlier on in window 1 of BG3, and proceed.
- You will now load into the character creation screen, with this window being recognized as as a separate player, enabling you to create a second custom character.
Repeat these steps on windows 3 and 4 of BG3, and you will now have 4 characters in the character creation screen. Go ahead and customize your party members, pick out some names, and then click confirm on each separate character window. Once this has been done, the game will begin to load each window into the game and kick off the story.
Return to BG3 window 1, as this is the ‘host’ character. After you have successfully loaded into the game, you will begin on the Mind Flayer ship, so after any cutscenes are complete, you will now need to save your game immediately. Ensure that you do a manual save, not an autosave, just to be safe.
Once the save has been completed, you will need to close windows 2, 3, and 4. As you do this, these characters will become disconnected and will fall into the control of your ‘host’, which is BG3 window 1. Save your game again, and then close BG3 window 1.
Head over to Steam, and launch Baldur’s Gate 3 with your Steam library. Once the game has been loaded, select Load Game from the menu, and your recent save will be synched under the name of the character created on BG3 window 1. Click this save and load it up – once your game has loaded in, you’ll have permanent control of all four custom characters, enabling you to play with a fully custom party.
Can I Recruit Companions With 4 Custom Party Members in BG3? Answered
Yes, the game will still function as a normal multiplayer game, the only difference is you have control over every character. All companions such as Astarion, Lae’zel, and Shadowheart can still be recruited to your camp, where you will be able to speak with them and progress quests. However, if you wish to switch them into your party in place of any of the four custom Tavs you have made, this is more than doable, thanks to Wither’s Wardrobe of Wayward Friends.
To switch a custom party member out for a companion, click on the character you wish to swap out to speak to them. Upon doing so, the narrator will remark “a once familiar ally, now apparently not all there.”
In response, select Dismiss them to your camp. Doing so will place them in Withers’ Wardrobe of Wayward Friends, which will appear at your camp near Withers.
This will free up a spot to add a companion to your active party, and then if you later wish to switch back to your custom character, you can simply dismiss the companion, and then drag the custom character from Withers’ Wardrobe into your camp for them to respawn as a member of your party.
If you wish to have both four custom characters plus additional companions in your party all at once, this too is also a possibility, though only through mods. For this, you’ll need to follow our guide for setting up mods with BG3. Once you’re set, the mod you’ll need to install is Party Limit Begone, which will extend your party up to eight active members at once (as this is technically a multiplayer file) or sixteen members at once within a single-player run.
That’s it for setting up your own Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough using a party of four custom characters. For more helpful guides, check out our content here at Twinfinite. We have plenty of different topics to assist you on your adventure through Faerun, such as our Gloomstalker Assassin Multiclass build guide. This is one of the most deadly multiclasses in the game when done right, so if you’re looking to give it a shot, then feel free to take a peek.
