Making a statement about black representation in fantasy, and reacting to a now-banned mod that swapped the one black Baldur’s Gate 3 companion Wyll for a white guy, modder Alanté Carter has created a new mod with black versions of all the characters you can have in your party. While it doesn’t seem like this BG3 mod has been released anywhere publicly, Carter shared screenshots of his work in a Facebook post published September 20.
In the post, Carter says he views his Baldur’s Gate 3 mod as a “creative reimagining of one of my favorite games.” He praises the customisation options in Baldur’s Gate 3, which he says far surpass the limited options – “dark ashy skin and afro, braids and 2005 cornrows” – seen in other games. They allowed him to create black versions of the Baldur’s Gate 3 companions that felt unique, a “powerful affirmation to my younger self who once felt estranged from such imaginative spaces.”
In a Facebook post published September 20, Carter explains that his enthusiasm for Baldur’s Gate 3 was dampened by the disheartening appearance of a racist mod that made Wyll (the only non-white character) white. He adds that “it felt like a clear message: black people not welcome at this fantastical roundtable.”
Carter says that growing up, he “always felt a certain distance from the captivating world of Dungeons & Dragons” due to the lack of diverse representation in the game.
“The act of making Wyll white is not world-ending, but when black representation continually sparks controversy, it becomes draining,” Carter says. We’ve certainly seen a lot of that recently, with the absurd level of outcry surrounding Magic: The Gathering’s decision to make the popular hero Aragorn black.
For anyone curious, the whitewashing mod was definitely made either by someone with an unsavory agenda or a troll hoping to shock and upset people (Exhibit A: they had a username praising Adolf Hitler). It was removed by mod-sharing platform Nexus Mods earlier in the month. A Twitter user recently shared an email they received from Nexus Mods explaining that “We do not want to host mods that remove diversity from a video game”. (This was probably about Starfield, however.)
There are loads of great Baldur’s Gate 3 mods out there right now, from this one that turns you into an unstoppable demon to this, which adds a load of NPCs into the game as Hirelings. You can also make Astarion look like Handsome Squidward, if it pleases you.
Check out our guide to the remaining Baldur’s Gate 3 release dates to see when the game comes out on each platform, and if you want to talk tactics, don’t miss our Baldur’s Gate 3 builds guide.