Larian Studios smashed all expectations with their August 2023 release of Baldur's Gate 3, with gamers coming in their droves to try out this D&D-inspired masterpiece. In fact, Baldur's Gate 3 is literally based on the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing system, integrating familiar classes, races, monsters, items, spells and much more into a huge gaming experience.
While there is an extraordinary amount of different dialogue options and paths coded into Baldur's Gate 3 to allow for serious replayability, the fights and the foes are one of many standouts that players have fallen in love with. Most of Baldur's Gate 3's monsters have come from standard D&D, but there is nothing quite like seeing some of the best and coolest enemies brought to life.
10 Mind Flayer
Illithids are monstrous beings to behold in any D&D campaign, but in Baldur's Gate 3, mind flayers are a common presence across the story. From the wobbling tentacles, to their deadened dull complexion, mind flayers have a commanding and ominous aura about them, making them perfect in taking up this seemingly villainous role throughout the game.
The presumed risk and consequence of the tadpole in the player's head teases a later turn to becoming a mind flayer, and for many players this is motivation enough to seek a cure. Others are tickled by the curiosity of this monster however, as mind flayers do generally have some serious power at their disposal, namely the Illithid Tadpole Powers themselves.
9 Gnoll
Gnolls are feral and ferocious hyena-like humanoids that players can encounter early on in Baldur's Gate 3. They are found on the Risen Road, with a steady trail of them eventually leading to a gnoll warlord. Gnolls are often found in packs, and this is where they are at their most dangerous. Their pack mentality and teamwork pushes players to work together, or to have strategies up their sleeves.
Gnolls have a standard move-set with bite and options between melee and ranged attacks, but it is in their aggression that they are feared and approached with respectful caution. D&D's databases have many different kinds of gnoll, from a gnoll pack lord to a gnoll vampire, each of them bringing a different twist to this maniacal creature.
8 Spectator
Beholders are easily among the most popular yet feared monsters in D&D, which could stem from their monstrous design as a horrifying sphere with numerous eye-stalks and one central eye, or it could be because of its disruptive offense and anti-magic protection. Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't have a classic beholder to satisfying the D&D diehards out there, but players instead get their relative, the spectator, on multiple occasions.
Spectators generally have fewer eye-stalks, but they still command a fight with their unsettling presence. Spectators in Baldur's Gate 3 can be deceptively resourceful in their movements and offensive capabilities, leaving players thankful that they aren't facing a classic beholder instead.
7 Drider
When looking at creepy D&D monsters that appear in Baldur's Gate 3, they don't get much more horrifying than the drider. At face value, a drider is the stuff of nightmares as a humanoid upper half and then the spider body with long spindly legs. However, the lore behind the drider makes them a much more tragic and darker monster than their already-spooky aesthetic would suggest.
Driders are drow who were punished for failing a test of Lolth, the Queen of Spiders, in the form of experimentation, resulting in this monstrous form. Driders make formidable foes, as they can multi attack with potentially devastating damage, whether that comes from bite or slashing attacks, or a mixture. Facing a drider in the Shadow-Cursed Lands near Moonrise Towers of Baldur's Gate 3 is a serious test of a player's strength and resolve, and sets the precedent for one of the game's more horror-inspired locations.
6 Harpy
The concept of luring people to their demise through song is dreadful to imagine, as a false sense of security and illusion of serenity could easily be anyone's undoing. This is what the harpy brings to the table, as a mixture of a humanoid physique, reptilian lower body and angelic bird-like wings.
The song of a harpy charms those up to 300 feet, those who fail a saving throw anyway. If they don't have the will to resist, then they lose control for the time being. Harpies are especially dangerous because of this, as seen early on in Baldur's Gate 3, when a child named Mirkon is lured by the melodic tones of four harpies at the Secluded Cove. One harpy is dangerous, multiple at once is an absolute nightmare to contend with.
5 Redcap
Redcaps may be small in stature as goblin-like Fey creatures, but meeting them early on in a Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough, in the Putrid Bog, can be especially tough. Redcaps ooze malicious and murderous intent, and are perfectly adept with weaponry, usually a large sickle.
Redcaps are not to be underestimated and can hit hard. In D&D, they can found in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, and present an exciting and different challenge for players to have a go in defeating.
4 Cambion
Cambion are the first real challenge that players can face in Baldur's Gate 3. While they are supposed to leave the fighting to the mind flayers and escape the Nautiloid, they can instead choose to stand their ground and fight, against the incoming cambion.
Cambion are the offspring result of fiends fraternizing with humans, and they certainly look the part. They have a generally evil and malicious aura about them that can be tough to shake, especially with characters like Raphael being evil in every sense of the word. Cambion are armed with various resistances and plenty of bulk, making them especially tough.
3 Hag
Hags are witches with wicked intent and extraordinary power, usually at the expense of conventional good looks, which can fuel their evil nature with such bitterness. Hags are an impactful monster whenever they are featured, no matter the game or circumstance.
Hags never disappoint in their treacherous bargaining, clever schemes and normally with a grand monstrous reveal that sheds a human disguise. Baldur's Gate 3 delivers with the reveal of Auntie Ethel's true form, but hags are generally a great help to telling horrific stories in D&D, or simply in presenting a fearsome enemy for the players to fight off.
2 Displacer Beast
Normally found in the Feywild, the displacer beast is one of the most fearsome and tough D&D monsters for novices to comprehend. While the displacer beast may look like an extra-fierce panther in its body type, the imposing flexible tentacles would suggest that this is no ordinary big cat.
Displacer beasts look scary enough, but they have a habit of toying with their prey, especially with their illusionary tricks. Baldur's Gate 3 players can run into a displacer beast as they run around completing the Gauntlet of Shar, and as expected, this is a tough little distraction that needs taking care of.
1 Elder Brain
The Elder Brain is large aberration found in both Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse and Volo's Guide to Monsters. An elder brain generally possesses intellect of godlike proportions, as is ultimately shown across Baldur's Gate 3. Mind flayers in particular usually work in servitude to an elder brain.
Intellect devourers may be bizarre monsters based on the brain, that can make a lot of people feel uneasy due to their creepy aesthetic and movements, but an elder brain is something else entirely. They are a huge presence in the world of D&D, whether directly or through their influence over others.