Baldur's Gate 3 by Larian Games

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Caliane

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most op will depend heavily on how resting is implemented. as I said earlier, if paladins are allowed full rests with no time restrictions, they are broken op.
what feats and how they are implimented with matter for some.

Same with spells. wizards primary power, in the form of huge spell lists, and things like teleport, fly, etc, are often not implemented, hugely reducing their value.
bards will have fly. but its more likely 100% of the bards spell list is in the game, while only 40% at best of the wizards spell list will be in the game.

if unlimited resting, ritual casting for wizards will likely also not be as important. is arcana checks being used for identify?
bardic skills, etc. very likely bards will straight up be better then wizards in this.

if charm person/friends etc is allowed/heavily used in dialogue, the sociopath sorc(charm spells, and silent spell) might be strong.. if not, largely the same as wizard. bard is probably better.

no bard companion. bards are skill monkeys, high cha for dialogue. powerful in 5e as full casters, powerful offhealers, and capable melee. I would say that makes a Bard for PC a solid choice.
 
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Szeth

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I’m going sword bard. Had one die at level 5 in tabletop (still under protest the way the DM ruled a mechanic) so I wanna bring him back.
 

Tuco

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Re: class/party choice,

from: https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Companions

is

All Companions, including Mercenaries and Companions with Origin or not, can be respecced in the game to any other class, the only thing that can't be changed is Race (and Sub-race for 2 characters). If a character like Wyll is changed into a different class, the character will still be, story-wise an Warlock in their head. so absolutely nothing is changed for their story, origin or lore if they are respecced in any way to any other class in the game.

True? So I could reroll Minsc into a bard or sorcerer?
 
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Burns

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Re: class/party choice,

from: https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Companions

is



True? So I could reroll Minsc into a bard or sorcerer?
Correct, according to Sven in one of his recent interviews, it wont affect the game, whatever class you turn companions into. So say Minsc has a bunch of ranger quest and dialog referring to him as a ranger, that wont change if you make him a druid. It also wont lock out any quests even if it's a bit wonky, if you respec them, which is the best way to do it, imo.

The respec feature is adding to my indecisions. I kinda want to play one of the origins instead of a fully custom character, but would need to respec them.

For my first play though I generally try to keep the class as default, or at least close. Maybe Shadowheart could be a Pally or Minsc could be a druid, but I'm not going to make Minsc a Warlock or Shadowheart a Wizard.
 

Nola

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So happy this will be optimized for the Steamdeck. It will definitely make those slow nights at work go by much faster.
 

TJT

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So I guess the question then is if the story is driven by the Player Character. Rather than the Origin Characters. Like in DOS2 if you did a custom character the various storylines just ignored you because you weren't an origin character.

Will that be the case here?
 

Tuco

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Thank god. They went the DOS2 route them them.

BG2 Minsc was technically a Ranger but he had all the fighter stats and feats... I never understood it. He also had a ton of STR.
Yeah I played through BG about 6 times and the last few I went full respec on all of them. I've made Minsc a monk, a fighter/mage/thief, a cleric/ranger, all kinds of nonsense. Minsc is one of the (depressingly) rare party members in RPGs that is genuinely having fun. Most party members are either just trying to exude their personal story or interests to enjoy the game with you. Or if they are enjoying it, it's only within the context of some quest you did for them. But Minsc? You rescue Dynaheir and he's ready to ride or die and have fun doing it for all eternity.

Full plate and packing steel!
Live by the sword, live a good long time!
 
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Tuco

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So I guess the question then is if the story is driven by the Player Character. Rather than the Origin Characters. Like in DOS2 if you did a custom character the various storylines just ignored you because you weren't an origin character.

Will that be the case here?
I can't help but think that, knowing really nothing about BG3 since I've strategically ignored it for years, my character's backstory is that he's in the reincarnated child of bhaal.


https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/The+Dark+Urge seems to fit that pretty well on the surface but I'm sure some lore will come up to derail that and give context to their past. Considering it's the only character you can't make a companion and you can chose the race/class/gender for, seems like it's sort of a hybrid of origin/custom character.
 

Caliane

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Thank god. They went the DOS2 route them them.

BG2 Minsc was technically a Ranger but he had all the fighter stats and feats... I never understood it. He also had a ton of STR.
rangers back in the day were dual wield specialists or bowmen. but more melee rangers.
 

Burns

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So I guess the question then is if the story is driven by the Player Character. Rather than the Origin Characters. Like in DOS2 if you did a custom character the various storylines just ignored you because you weren't an origin character.

Will that be the case here?
That's my concern too. Sven, in one of the recent interviews, said that in his first play through he would play a custom character so all the origins are from an outside perspective, then replay the character you liked to get the story from that character's point of view. He also said the Dark Urge changes a bunch of things, but you wont notice that if it's your first play through.

Following that advice means you plan on replaying it at least 3 or 4 times. Which might be ok, since according to them, they made content to be exclusive with some outcomes, to make a highly repayable game, but still.
 

Tuco

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Importantly, there is one option that Vincke advises against choosing for your first outing: The Dark Urge. Unlike other origins, this one is fully customisable, though plagued with dark thoughts that urge them to commit acts of violence and cruelty. "As much as I hate to say it, I wouldn't actually recommend it for people that play the first time," says Vincke.

"Because you get different versions of the story, and there's a variety of things that are going to happen where you could have had something completely different if you weren't Dark Urge." According to the developer, knowing how events normally play out "works better" as it gives you a "completely different perspective".

boo. I probably won't replay this shit and the dark urge sounds interesting to me.
 
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Ridas

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I hope the Story is alright. I think I finished dos1, but couldn't give a shit about the story and just enjoyed the combat. Dos2 I never finished. Got annoyed eventually by the main story. Always liked the BG story. Bhaal stuff was fun.
 

Caliane

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Bard also has arguable the best offensive spell in the game. Dissonant Whispers - DND 5th Edition and can use Vicious Mockery - DND 5th Edition every round as a fall back.
yeah, and should be noted for those not up to date with 5e. Cantrips scale with character level. character, not class.

vicious mockery there
At Higher Levels. This spell’s damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4).

that doesnt mean upcasting, that just means when you hit lvl 5. vicious mockery outright does 2d4 pyschic damage all the time.

Another thing is the 2 spells in one turn rule. its pretty misunderstood.
If you wish to cast a spell as a bonus action, and and also cast a spell as an action, the action can only be a cantrip.

this is most relevant for bards, clerics and sorcs, occasionally paladin.
Example, bards healing word. 1 bonus action. if you wish to cast healing word, then your action can be an attack, grapple, etc, or if you cast a spell, only a cantrip. casting a level 1 spell or higher as your action, prevents you from casting a bonus action.
 
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Randin

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Thank god. They went the DOS2 route them them.

BG2 Minsc was technically a Ranger but he had all the fighter stats and feats... I never understood it. He also had a ton of STR.
Minsc was essentially a Barbarian back before DnD had Barbs as a standard class, so Black Isle basically cobbled him together as a Ranger with a special berserk ability.
 
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TJT

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Minsc was essentially a Barbarian back before DnD had Barbs as a standard class, so Black Isle basically cobbled him together as a Ranger with a special berserk ability.
BG had Barbarians though.
 
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TJT

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Most likely going Sword Bard then.

Storm Sorcerer looks cool though as well. Will be reclassing my companions.
 

Seananigans

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yeah, and should be noted for those not up to date with 5e. Cantrips scale with character level. character, not class.

vicious mockery there
At Higher Levels. This spell’s damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4).

that doesnt mean upcasting, that just means when you hit lvl 5. vicious mockery outright does 2d4 pyschic damage all the time.

Another thing is the 2 spells in one turn rule. its pretty misunderstood.
If you wish to cast a spell as a bonus action, and and also cast a spell as an action, the action can only be a cantrip.

this is most relevant for bards, clerics and sorcs, occasionally paladin.
Example, bards healing word. 1 bonus action. if you wish to cast healing word, then your action can be an attack, grapple, etc, or if you cast a spell, only a cantrip. casting a level 1 spell or higher as your action, prevents you from casting a bonus action.

I think the actual rule is one of the spells has to be a cantrip? There are bonus action cantrips, I think if you use a bonus cantrip you can still cast a normal action spell of any level.

I always house-ruled this to be "you can't use more than your highest available spell level in total spell slots per round." Meaning if you're level 9 with access to L5 spells, you could cast a L2 bonus action spell and a L3 spell as your regular action. Upcasting counts against it, so if you use Fireball as the L3 in that example, it can't be upcasted to a L4 or L5 slot. Similarly, if you cast a Magic Missile but using a L5 slot, the only other thing you would be able to cast is a cantrip (L0).