How To Prepare Spells in Baldur's Gate 3

Want to know how to prepare spells in Baldur’s Gate 3? Despite its exciting non-linear storyline and many familiar mechanics for D&D fans, Baldur’s Gate 3 offers players a vast library of spells for each class. Of course, this is not enough for some, and they install custom mods for homebrew spells, but before you go that far, you should learn the basic mechanics, for example, how Cantrips differ from Spells and why known Spells are not the same as Prepared Spells. So we are here to help you and tell you how to prepare spells in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Preparing Spells in Baldur’s Gate 3

How To Prepare Spells Baldur's Gate 3 — Image Source: Larian Studios via The Nerd Stash

To prepare spells in Baldur’s Gate 3, you must change your current prepared spells to whatever you like, and here’s how to do it:

Press K to open the Spellbook.
In the prepared spells bar, select the one you want to change and click on the cross as soon as it appears.
Next, select any other spell you see on the screen and move it to an empty slot to prepare.

It is worth noting that you can prepare spells at any time except for combat. If a battle has begun, you must fight using what is already in your hot bar. Also, number of prepared spells is limited, so change them in advance depending on where you are going and what kind of battle awaits you.

By leveling up or learning spell scrolls, you can learn more spells and get more spell slots of different levels. But whatever you get confused about, here is what each of these terms means:

Known Spells. These are all the spells your characters know. You can learn more as you progress through the game, but to use them, you must go to the Spellbook and place them in active slots.
Prepared Spells. These are spells you have already placed in the active slot. You can use them at any time, both in combat and during quiet travel.
Spell Slots. It is the number of spells you can cast in a row without rest. You can use more or higher-level spells depending on the number and level of spell slots.

It is also worth noting Cantrips. These are weaker versions of spells that the character knows so well that they require neither spell slots nor preparation. You can use Cantrips as many times as you like. One of the most popular Cantrips is Mage Hand.

Finally, let’s only add that the mechanics of preparing spells in Baldur’s Gate 3 are much simpler than in D&D. In classic D&D 5E, you must take a short or long rest to prepare a new set of spells. But in Baldur’s Gate 3, you can do this anytime.