Baldur's Gate 3's default class was originally going to be the Paladin, but a conundrum with Lae'zel sort of ruined the entire idea.
In a new interview with IGN, Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke and lead writer Adam Smith comment on the Paladin class. Vincke reveals that the Paladin was originally going to be the "default class" for the player character, but then the game's developers started hitting "narrative problems."
