Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer Launches on D&D Beyond
Free digital supplement for D&D 5e offers an in-depth guide to the City of Blood
Wizards of the Coast has just revealed a surprising new product that’s available free to D&D Beyond subscribers. The Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer offers an in-depth overview of the legendary city, including history, lore, places of interest, as well as character backgrounds. Notably, the material isn’t entirely original, having first been published in the Descent into Avernus campaign book that was released back in September 2019.
That being said, it’s still a great resource and is clearly released to coincide with the buzz that new Baldur’s Gate 3 video game has picked up. You can download the Gazetteer now on D&D Beyond. Below we break out all the details in terms of what’s included.
What’s include in the Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer?
As noted above, the Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer actually comes from Descent into Avernus, a previously published DnD 5e book from 2019. It was then – and still is – a great resource for both players and Dungeon Masters alike. In fact, the supplement is is pretty hefty, coming in at over 50 pages and, as with all D&D Beyond materials, it’s pretty easy to navigate using the table of contents on your desktop or your mobile device.
In terms of the content itself, much of the material is focused on the lore of Baldur’s Gate, including a run down of the history, the government, trade, religion and notable city landmarks. It’s also chocked full of detailed maps and a number of illustrations of notable buildings. All of it really works to bring the setting to life, and there’s enough info in here to fuel an entire campaign (not to mention scratching the itch of Baldur’s Gate 3 players looking for another fix).
What’s more, each section of the city contains it’s own kind of mini-gazette, breaking out the various locations of interest and NPCs which inhabit the area. Each of these also offers more than enough material to build out a ton of adventures and there’s a ton of content that DMs could cut and paste into just about D&D city or fantasy campaign.
DMs will also likely appreciate the many random encounter tables that are broken out for specific parts of the city (including encounters that happen on the road outside the city). And even if you aren’t planning on using these tables, they’re also great for generating ideas or building out adventure hooks.
Players will likely enjoy the inclusion of 13 character backgrounds, including the new “Faceless” background which is exclusive to the Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer. This option is focused on the player disguising their past, offering some unique roleplaying potential.
Final Thoughts
While the Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer isn’t original material, it will likely be appreciated by anyone who hasn’t picked up Descent into Avernus. It’s also great to see Wizards of the Cast offering up content like this for free to D&D Beyond subscribers. And with interest in Baldur’s Gate itself at an all-time high, the City of Blood is once again getting the attention it deserves. You can download the Gazetteer now on D&D Beyond.
Below is also a video from Wizards of the Coast with more details on what’s included.
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Ollie Delano is a Staff Writer who lives in Chicago, Illinois where he majored in Journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He’s been playing Dungeons & Dragons for over 10 years and currently plays in a weekly game group where he rolls way too many natural 1s and chugs way too much Mountain Dew. His favorite D&D campaign setting is Eberron and his favorite character to play was a Tiefling rogue named Draxiss who enjoys both literal and figurative backstabbing.
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