Baldur’s Gate 3’s interface is delightfully easy to use, especially for seasoned players of Larian Studios’ titles, including Divinity Original Sin 2. However, it’s not without its faults, and one issue that players may encounter in their playthrough occurs when trying to equip spells to their hotbar.
Some players are discovering that not all of their learned spells are showing up in their spellbook, and they are unable to locate and drag these spells to their hotbar. Here’s what players need to do in order to find missing spellbook spells and assign them to their hotbar in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Equipping Spells via the Spellbook in BG3
The flexibility and arsenal of spells offered to many spellcasters in BG3 make for some great experimentation opportunities. However, it can be a bit challenging to keep track of readied spells and to keep the hotbar updated with their latest configuration. The player may find themselves switching up their hotbars on the regular to accommodate new spells. While this process is relatively simple, things may not always go according to plan.
Players have reported that certain spells they have learned, especially Cantrips learned via Feats, including Ritual Caster, Magic Initiate, and Spell Sniper, are not showing up in their spellbook after they have been obtained. This issue is extremely frustrating when the player removes one of these spells from their hotbar but is then unable to locate and rebind that spell from the spellbook as intended.
This bug can be especially annoying for Wizards, who are unique in Baldur’s Gate 3 in that they have access to many more spells than other spellcasters due to their ability to learn spells from scrolls they obtain in their adventure. This outfits Wizards with an incredible arsenal of spells to choose from at any given time. As a result, many players will find themselves switching up their readied spells fairly regularly, with some spells seemingly disappearing once removed from the hotbar.
How to Locate Missing Spells in BG3
For players who are experiencing spells going missing from their spellbook and cannot drag them to their hotbar, there is a relatively simple solution.
To locate missing spells, follow these steps:
- Open the Spellbook of the affected character.
- Check all tabs to locate the spell.
- If the Spell is not present, click on the Magnifying Glass icon located in the top right corner of class and Common tabs.
- Type in the name of the missing spell.
The spell, if learned, should appear in the search results, and the player can then click on its icon and drag it to their hotbar.
If it still doesn’t show up, the player may wish to use the available filters by clicking within the search bar, selecting either “School of Magic” or “Damage Type” from the dropdown menu, and filtering from there. The player may wish to toggle the hotbar lock to avoid having this happen in the future.
This annoyance will hopefully be fixed in a future patch, as Larian Studios has been actively monitoring players’ reports and has made some rather substantial updates since BG3’s launch. In the meantime, however, this method should help players who are faced with this frustrating bug regain the missing spells and continue their Baldur’s Gate 3 adventure as intended.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available now for PC and PlayStation 5. A version for Xbox Series X/S is still in development.