Despite the rising popularity of Gunslinger subclasses in Dungeons & Dragons, Larian Studios says that it has "no plans" right now to add the class or firearms to Baldur's Gate 3.
Although firearms can be made a part of a regular Dungeons & Dragons game thanks to optional rules, they've never really had much of a place throughout most of D&D's lifetime. That was until Matthew Mercer came up with the Gunslinger homebrew subclass for Percy on Critical Role, highlighting just how much potential the class had and making it a popular unofficial choice among D&D players.
With that rising popularity in mind, you might be wondering if Baldur's Gate 3 is considering adding the subclass in any capacity, or if it's going to follow in D&D's footsteps and ignore it. Sadly, it seems like that's not going to be the case as I reached out to Larian Studios to ask about the possibility of a Gunslinger class and firearms and was met with a less-than-hopeful response.
When asked about the possibility of a Gunslinger class, Larian Studios simply said, "For now, we have no plans to add a Gunslinger class or firearms". All of you optimists out there might be looking at that "for now" part of the statement as a sign that it could come in the future, which technically it could, but the response seems pretty clear for now.
It's a bit of a shame considering how unique and popular the subclass is, but it's not too much of a surprise considering it's still not an official class in Dungeons & Dragons and is considered a homebrew. Baldur's Gate 3 might be doing a lot of its own things, but it's still set in the Dungeons & Dragons world and probably can't do too much that isn't officially part of the game.
Speaking of Dungeons & Dragons, I also asked Larian about how the current state of the tabletop scene, which is unarguably bigger than it has ever been, has shaped Baldur's Gate 3's development, even with the growing discontent in the community towards OneD&D. Thankfully, that discontent doesn't seem to have soured the studio's mood, as it's just happy to see Dungeons & Dragons getting even more popular.
"It’s about time Dungeons & Dragons became more popular, so I’m happy to see that," Larian Studios told me. "It makes me even happier to see that there are people who are discovering D&D for the first time because they’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3 in Early Access and want to see what the source material is."