Karmic Dice in Baldur’s Gate 3 quietly tweak your fate behind the scenes, smoothing out streaks of bad luck without breaking the thrill of chance. But how exactly does this hidden mechanic shape your rolls-and should you trust it?
Karmic Dice can be confusing, as Larian Studios has only provided a single line of in-game text explaining the feature. (“Karmic Dice avoid failure or success streaks, while keeping the results mostly random.”) Our Baldur’s Gate 3 guide breaks down how Karmic Dice work, and if you should have it enabled at all.
What is Karmic Dice in Baldur’s Gate 3
Karmic Dice is an optional setting in Baldur’s Gate 3 that adjusts dice rolls for attacks, saving throws, and skill checks to curb long streaks of failure or success while preserving overall randomness. Larian Studios added it after early access feedback on an earlier Weighted Dice feature, aiming to favor the rolling character and create fairer outcomes for players and enemies alike. Players debate its use, as it can boost weak rolls but may hinder strong ones, with some analyses showing higher enemy hit rates on tougher difficulties.
Karmic Dice is a feature used to help balance out “good” and “bad” dice rolls. “Good” dice rolls are determined by a check passing, an attack hitting, or even getting a critical hit, whereas “bad” dice rolls are the inverse. Having this option enabled means that the game will attempt to balance out the “good” and “bad” dice rolls to make it more even, which means that if you continue to fail rolls – be it in combat or just Perception checks and the like – the odds will eventually shift in your favor. Karmic Dice is automatically checked on.
To turn off Karmic Dice, you need to navigate to your systems menu and go to the “User Options” section. There, you can disable or enable this option.
Should you use Karmic Dice in Baldur’s Gate 3?
Karmic Dice smooths out extreme luck swings in Baldur’s Gate 3 by adjusting roll probabilities behind the scenes. Turn it on for steady progression through tough fights and skill checks, especially on higher difficulties where bad streaks frustrate most. Skip it if you crave the raw chaos of pure RNG, as it removes those rare triumphant highs from insane rolls. Players split on the feature-many prefer it for reliable fun, while purists argue it dilutes the D&D spirit. Test both in a new game to match your playstyle.
Based on personal experience, it’s best to have Karmic Dice turned off in Baldur’s Gate 3. Karmic Dice increases the damage you receive from enemies and increase the hit chance for everyone, which can mean a full party wipe in some cases. (Though the exact math remains shrouded, some calculations conducted in the early access period illustrate how Karmic Dice could work. In early 2023, Reddit user axdavidxy crunched the numbers on more than 1,300 rolls, ultimately calculating that you can receive up to 400% more damage when Karmic Dice is activated. akdavidxy’s research was conducted during Baldur Gate 3‘s early access period. Larian Studios has since stated the backend math was the result of a since-fixed bug, but didn’t publicly share specifics.)
You’re better off save-scumming (i.e., reloading the game after a failed Perception check, or if a conversation didn’t pan out the way you wanted) as opposed to casting your luck with a roll of the dice.
However, if you are entirely new to the experience of Baldur’s Gate 3 – or with extremely TTRPG-inspired systems in games, in general – you may want to leave Karmic Dice on. While it has the chance to increase the damage you receive, the system sometimes becomes predictable, which can make combat boring or even a chore if you’re sitting around waiting for the “right” roll to fall into your lap.
That said, I felt like my experience with Baldur’s Gate 3 was better without Karmic Dice. This could be because of my familiarity with the game, having played it throughout its lengthy early access period, or having been deeply entrenched in the previous games when they were released in the late ’90s/early ’00s. Either way, having the option on or off felt negligible. I kept it off. For the most part, you’ll want to rely on your proficiencies to really carry through when it matters.
How does Karmic Dice affect enemy versus player rolls
Karmic Dice affects both enemy and player rolls equally in Baldur’s Gate 3, applying the same streak-reducing adjustments to prevent prolonged failures or successes for anyone. It nudges rolls toward the middle of the distribution after extremes, raising averages slightly (e.g., from 10.5 to ~12.5 on a d20) and reducing low rolls below ~9.
Impact on Combat
Enemies benefit similarly to players, leading to higher hit rates and more frequent successes against high-AC targets, which some analyses show as more crits and fewer misses. This makes fights faster and tougher on higher difficulties like Tactician, as enemies avoid long failure streaks. Damage rolls also shift to a normal distribution, lowering variance and favoring average outcomes.
Player vs. Enemy Balance
Since enemies often outnumber players, the feature can feel tilted against the party despite symmetry, amplifying enemy advantages during key moments. Community tests confirm it boosts enemy averages without favoring players specifically, prompting many to disable it for pure randomness.
Does Karmic Dice change crit and miss rates differently for enemies
Karmic Dice applies the same adjustments to crit and miss rates for both enemies and players in Baldur’s Gate 3, without differentiating between them. It reduces extreme streaks by nudging rolls toward the average (around 10.5 to 12.5 on a d20), which lowers overall miss rates (fewer rolls below ~9) and slightly boosts crit rates across the board.
Crit Rate Effects
Analyses show Karmic Dice increases crit frequency for all parties-e.g., 7-10% for enemies vs. lower AC targets, jumping higher against AC 23-though some data suggests anomalies occur in both Karmic and non-Karmic sets. This effect scales with AC, making high-defense builds take more crits (up to 15% vs. expected 5%), but players see similar boosts on their attacks.
Miss Rate Effects
Misses drop symmetrically since low rolls are suppressed equally for enemies and players, leading to more consistent hits in combat. Damage rolls also shift to a normal distribution, reducing variance without side-specific changes, though enemies’ numerical advantage can amplify the feel of tougher fights.
