And who’s out here making my Gok Wan fantasy a reality? None other than astralities, a beloved and incredibly talented modder for Baldur’s Gate 3. Astra first stepped onto the scene as Faerûn’s resident hairdresser, creating Astralities' Hair Color Supplement, a must-have mod that added more hair colours to the game. Today, Astra has evolved, now creating subclasses, spells, and loads more.
Alas, I could wax poetic for hours about the joy of customising my Tav, but let's get into the good stuff.
Thank you so much for agreeing to an interview! Would you be able to tell us a little bit about yourself? How did you get into Baldur's Gate 3, and why did you decide to start making mods for it?
Hey, thank you so much for having me - it's a very surreal experience to be asked for an interview like this! My name's Astra, and I'm really just a very regular person with a variety of interests and many, many thoughts in my head at all times.
The way I stumbled into BG3 is equally as chaotic as my brain is, really. I was made aware of the game by seeing people lose their minds about Astarion on social media, shortly after Baldur's Gate 3 was released, and was intrigued because aside from gaming, I'm also very into D&D. I'm not typically someone who reaches for new releases, as I'm incredibly picky with games, so it's very out of the ordinary for me to purchase games so close to release, let alone be absorbed by them to this degree. RPGs aren't typically something I gravitate to either, and I spent almost two weeks contemplating whether I should actually take the risk or not. Ultimately, it was very much worth it, as I've not only learned a lot but also met a lot of wonderful people, such as the folks over in the BG3 Modding Community discord server, and my wonderful partner, Kaz, who's a fellow BG3 modder.
Baldur's Gate 3 is also the first game I've ever created mods for. Partway through Act 2, a friend of mine mentioned that they'd seen people re-create their D&D characters in-game, and of course, I was immediately interested in doing so myself. However, the character I was looking to bring into BG3 is a Bloodline of Fierna Tiefling, and that subrace is not included in vanilla BG3. While I had a look at what mods were available on Nexus at the time, I stumbled upon Tieflings of the Nine, an Early Access mod that added many of the additional Tiefling subraces - but unfortunately, it was no longer functional. This is, ultimately, what inspired me to start modding - the desire to re-create my beloved D&D character, and the coincidence of an existing mod no longer being functional (technically my Tiefling Compendium is not my first mod to release on Nexus, as I struggled greatly while getting started, but it is what kickstarted BG3 modding for me).
Can you talk me through your typical workflow?
It's a strong combination of chaos and organization, depending entirely on what exactly I'm working on.
For my cosmetic mods, I typically play it almost entirely by ear. Taking my color mods as an example - I typically start by having a look at what's currently available to get an idea of which areas might be lacking in diversity. Initially, this was primarily vanilla content, but nowadays, this also includes my own existing work, as well as other modders' projects. I try my best to avoid creating content that strongly overlaps with other creators' projects, as I don't like stepping on people's toes. I'll usually take some notes at this point, although they're typically very loose and might just be something along the lines of "there's few light yellows" or "need more warm-toned pinks". Once I've done that, I generally just go for it and play around with color values and other parameters, enjoy the ride, and see where I arrive. For colors, this includes a lot of minuscule tweaks as they're entirely code-based, and a lot of game reboots.
For something a little bit more gameplay-focused, like subraces, spells, and (sub)classes, I work in a slightly more structured way. Using a class mod as an example, as that's something I've been working on for about 8 months now - Generally, my more structured projects will start with a strong, relatively clear idea of the vibe I'd like to aim for with said project. That is typically undocumented and something I mull over entirely in my own head for a while, until I've got some more concrete ideas of how that vibe might translate into gameplay, design elements, or other things.
At that point, I'll typically start some sort of write-up. I have some experience with creative writing, and exploring concepts via that avenue generally helps me narrow down things like subclasses, class features, spells, aesthetics, etc. In the case of said ominous, work-in-progress class mod I've mentioned, I have written a number of shorter bursts of text, including, for example, what the life of a character of this class might look like, how they might've obtained their powers, or how they might behave in a combat encounter (e.g. what kind of abilities they'd rely on). I also tend to enjoy bouncing ideas back and forth with other modders, most commonly my partner, as that also typically really helps me further narrow things down.
(Mid-development testing chaos)
Once I've done a bit of that, I will generally move on to more concrete planning. In the case of this project, that included things such as overarching class features, subclasses (names, numbers, vibes), what their starting gear might look like visually, and what spells their spell list may contain. At this point, I generally go for whichever ideas seem appealing without necessarily double-checking whether every single planned concept is feasible within the constraints of BG3 or not (as there might be some limitations that are difficult to circumvent, e.g. nested spell containers) - thus I inevitably am forced to rework ideas down the line once I discover things might not work out the way I'd imagined, but that's some of the fun for me.
When that's done, I finally start implementing things. Using this class mod as an example again, I initially started by laying down the groundwork, or the "skeleton" of the class; in practice, that meant implementing a class with 8 subclasses without any actual features in place up to a point where one could technically select and play this class. Once that skeleton stands, I'm able to start fleshing things out without needing to worry about baseline functionality, and that's about where structure is overtaken by chaos, as I generally work on whatever my brain's currently most interested in. For me, this more chaotic approach is generally more fun, as it's incredibly varied, and almost like a strangely addicting, very messy puzzle.
What would be your dream mod to make?
I'm the type of person who doesn't necessarily let dreams be dreams, at least when it comes to modding - if there's something I'm itching to make, I usually, at the very least, give it a shot as soon as possible. Because of that, there isn't currently really anything larger-scale that I've wanted to make but have yet to explore. There are some smaller things I'd love to pick up, though, such as learning more about creating and editing meshes, working with animations, and editing and adding to dialogue. Many of those things are closely related to things I'd love to improve in some of my existing mods (e.g. Tiefling wings, claw attack animations) or things I'd love to add to existing projects (e.g. custom dialogue options for my subraces and (sub)class(es)).
You and your partner have recently released Kazstra's Virtual Tav x Tattoo Makeup and Scar Extender, which is totally game-changing for modders. Would you be able to tell us a little more about how this mod came to be?
KAVT actually started out as a shader-focused project! When playing around with the toolkit all the way back in mid 2024, Kaz, Volno and I had been brainstorming some shader ideas as actual, proper shader editing was something new and exciting we'd not previously been able to do that was now possible with the toolkit's material editor. We had made quite some progress, but ultimately these ideas had to eventually be put on ice due to the material editor not being functional for quite a few months, as well as both Kaz and I taking a little bit of a hiatus from modding for a while for personal reasons.
Eventually, we decided to return to the concept once the material editor was finally fixed (which in part is down to Kaz and Volnos direct and persistent feedback). Partway on working on our shader edits (which included the larger Tattoo, Makeup and Scar atlases), we eventually made the decision to merge these things into Kaz' original Virtual Texture version of Unique Tav, Kaz Virtual Tav, for usability reasons - Shader edits are not the most compatibility friendly things, and Kaz had plans to include some shader edits in Virtual Tav from the get-go. So, in order to avoid messy compatibility patches, which can add a lot of extra work when it comes to maintaining mods and aren't a favorite of users either, we decided to merge the two ideas.
Virtual Tav was Kaz's pet project even before KAVT was ever being worked on, and I can't understate just how important their contributions were to this project. KAVT would never have worked out the way it has if it had only been me working on this project. Kaz has gathered a lot of experience when it comes to working with the Baldur's Gate 3 shaders and the material editor, and even aside from that, has a lot of experience working with similar things outside of our modding community, and their work forms KAVT's backbone. There has been a lot of focus on my contributions to KAVT, as it is uploaded on my account, and I created a lot of the outright visible visual assets for our project, which I personally feel is not at all fair to Kaz. Their part in our project is the sole reason we made it this far, and in my opinion, they deserve just as much credit for KAVT as I have received, if not more.
Since Baldur's Gate 3 released, Kaz has made quite a few important contributions, but since many of them took place behind the scenes, users (and even other modders) have not necessarily been aware of the things they discovered and made possible (such as custom race support for Guardians/Daisy). I'm eternally grateful to have found such a wonderful partner, both in a modding context and otherwise, by joining the Baldur's Gate 3 modding scene. :)
We're still actively working on updating KAVT and ironing out some kinks that have sprung up since release. A lot of things implemented here haven't really been done before, and thus, a bunch of issues have arisen that have never really been a problem before. For example, we've discovered that a lot of texture-related issues primarily affect DX11 users, whereas Vulkan users rarely, if ever, experience these same issues. I have put a lot of time into making sure things are compatible still, as well as fixing issues more visible to the average user, such as Tattoos appearing where they really shouldn't be, whereas Kaz has really been pushing the boundaries in regards to shaders, working around the inherent limitations of Baldur's Gate 3 shaders (such as hard limits on how many individual textures a shader can support) and making things like glowing face tattoos and transparency possible. :) Please look forward to their additional shader work, as well as our overall updates to KAVT!
I will leave you with some beautiful KAVT development outtakes, featuring highlights such as "Who allowed Gale to get tattoos?", the Shadow Body tm, and dubious glow experiments. ❤︎
Do you have any mods coming up, and can you share any teasers?
There are quite a few things currently in the pipeline! The biggest one is the previously mentioned class mod that I've been working on for about 8 months now (although on and off) and have been keeping relatively close to the vest due to unfortunately experiencing a number of instances of content "borrowing" in the past year or so (including from this specific project, as I started out sharing about it quite liberally). But I'll share some snippets regardless!
It's a fully homebrew caster class that fits nicely into its own niche and doesn't overlap too heavily with any of the other full caster classes we currently have available in vanilla BG3. It's highly customizable even beyond subclass selection, particularly in regards to where your character might originate from, how they might have gained their abilities, and how they use them. There's quite a lot of content to this class, as (as things tend to go) the scope has expanded decently as I've put more work into this project, and even more so since my partner started working on this mod alongside me. Currently, we've got 8 distinct subclasses, custom equipment, many custom spells and class features, a lot of fun and interesting ways to truly incorporate this class into the world of BG3, and many, many, many little guys (and ways to collect them all).
Other than this large-scale project, I've also been working on a number of other things. I've unfortunately been quite busy these last few months, but I've steadily been chipping away at other projects, including things like heads, a slightly feral Barbarian subclass, Dragonborn skin tones, horn colors, and a number of collaborations with my partner. Hopefully, we'll be able to push some of these things to release soon!
Do you have anything else you’d like to share with the community or shoutouts you’d like to make?
First off, thank you, Modsetti and Nexus, for giving me the chance for this interview!
Other than that, I'd love to give a big shoutout to the BG3 Modding Community Discord and especially so our Admins - NellsRelo, Kaz, Jerinski, and Khbsd - who did a wonderful job creating this space last year and gave many BG3 modders a comfortable and safe space to work, share, collaborate, ask for help, and learn. If you're at all interested in modding, whether you're decently experienced or a beginner, please feel free to join us there! We'd be happy to have you.
Some exciting things are on the horizon for Astra, Kaz and the Baldur's Gate 3 community! Huge thanks for your amazing work and for taking the time to chat with us, it’s been a pleasure. It’s been a few months since finishing the game, but I can already feel the pull of Baldur’s Gate 3 again… down by the river is calling me.
You know the drill, modders! Know a creator who deserves a shoutout? Or maybe you’re working on something incredible that the world needs to see? Drop a DM to SlugGirl!
13 comments
Thanks for the interview, SlugGirl!
Astralities' mods are a staple for both of us, though ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ ♡
Hey, does this make our modding community kinda like the Avengers?!