Baldur's Gate 3 by Larian Games

there isn't one. closest would be gloves of missile snaring or the monk ability deflect missiles.

I'm gonna have to dig through the abjuration stuff. Blur was totally useless

If thats, what you were asking. Mirror image is the by far the best "don't hit me bro" mage spell early game.

Mage armor is also, of course a given. but not very strong.


Blur. It has its place. Advantage/disadvantage is very strong. And blur probably most powerful to cancel out Advantage. A rogue in melee range with you, and has an ally? well that rogue has advantage and is going to be backstabbing you to death. Blur would cancel that out. Making rogues require 2 sources of Advantage to sneak attack you.
This would also be very effective with a DM or game using "cover" correctly. Especially again, for a mage.

So thats more pnp assertions, not sure how they are manifest in game exactly.

Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding of advantage and disadvantage is that 3 forms of advantage vs 1 form of disadvantage simply cancel each other out. It's not like you are left with advantage in that situation.

Advantage / Disadvantage is the most numerically troublesome mechanic in D&D since the removal of Magic Resistance. When you combine that with the ways in which someone can relatively easily increase their AC and you end up with situations where the caster types are essentially immune to melee damage while the professional fighters are getting kicked in the nuts every other round.

Mirror image! I frogot about that one thanks!

Ome said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding of advantage and disadvantage is that 3 forms of advantage vs 1 form of disadvantage simply cancel each other out. It's not like you are left with advantage in that situation.

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yeah, you're right. they don't stack. got confused for a second.

I was actually sort of wrong on sneak attack as well...
you get sneak attacks, if you have advantage.. and yes, blur would cancel it then...

But, you can also get then from flanking, "You don't need advantage on the Attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't Incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the Attack roll."
so, flanking, does not actually give advantage by default. (its an optional rule). now, if flanking is not giving advantage, AND the rogue is not getting advantage from some other source, then in the case, Blur then would give disadvantage, and then still cancel sneak attacks.
But, if advantage/disadvantage canceled each other out, the rogue would get sneak attacks from the flanking.

I've been playing this multiplayer, using a ranger, my friend playing a cleric, and astarion+lae'zel.
Astarion's ability at level 1 to so easily backstab, and then use two offhand attacks in the same round makes him so strong to begin with. Lae'zel after levelling into a battlemaster is also great. We started the fight with the hag by backstabbing her with Astarion, then Lae'zel frightened her with a double menacing attack, then the hag tried to flee and got attack of opportunitied to death.. all too easy.

Just encountered the bulette, luckily it seems to 'run away' when you get it to around half life which is about the best we could manage!

I've opted to wait for the game to get a closer to release before playing even though I purchased but I am following along and I must give these guys credit....this is the best communication strategy i've seen in a non-MMO. Very clearly laid out communication and best of all such advanced metrics to really quantify the relevance of various issues or oppurtunities for improvement. Its very refreshing to see and also allows them to better defend certain directions or design changes. Nothing worse then the 5% minority who also are the loudest crying bloody murder about an issue and saying it ruins a game etc when the overall stats suggest that 85% of the player base behavior is completely counter to the minorty's opinion.

Probably will give in over xmas and try it, just bought a brand new computer that is arriving soon so should be a good 1st game!

Decided to give this a whirl beyond the intro bit that I had done a bunch of times already. Enjoying the story and open-ended nature of the different options / approaches to the content but my primary issue continues to be the Companions.

I dislike the Githyanki but she fills a 'fighter' niche whereas I don't mind Wyll but he is horrible in combat. Asterion would be better if I had a magic weapon he could use and if they actually used the Sneak Attack rules correctly. Gale is about the only character I actually like and feel is useful, which is unfortunate as I'd rather play the Wizard (or Sorc or Warlock) myself but can't afford the role duplication. As it is I am using a Cleric as the main because I wanted a proper healing cleric and can't stand anything about Shadowheart.

Rajaah said:

After ignoring CRPGs for years, I got Torment: Tides and Pillars of Eternity on PS4 and like 'em so far. What else is worth getting from the genre? There's a Baldur's Gate duo-gy, and an Icewind Dale + Planescape Torment two-fer. Thinking about grabbing 'em both.

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If you like Pillars, then pick up Tyranny at some point. It's on the shorter side, as RPGs go, but the setting's great, and so is the magic system. The shorter length is also tied to trying to make more distinct narrative paths through the game, which is good if you want to do multiple playthroughs.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is also a good one. First RPG I've played in who knows how long where your character actually feels like just a guy, rather than some flavor of chosen one. However, in the opposite of Tyranny, it's fucking long; even playing on a lower difficulty level, my single playthrough still crossed the hundred-hour mark, so be ready to devote some time to it.

Rajaah said:

After ignoring CRPGs for years, I got Torment: Tides and Pillars of Eternity on PS4 and like 'em so far. What else is worth getting from the genre? There's a Baldur's Gate duo-gy, and an Icewind Dale + Planescape Torment two-fer. Thinking about grabbing 'em both.

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It's hard to say if you will like the old games, as I don't think Torment: Tides of Numeria or Pillars really capture the classic feel. I liked the Pillars games well enough, but it's like something is missing. The modern game most like the classics is Pathfinder: Kingmaker (which is my favorite RPG of the last 15 years).

Old games:

Planescape: Torment is my favorite game of all time, and I don't think there has ever been anything like it since. There is a lot of reading, and you need to read all the quests to really get into the game. I have not played the enhanced edition, so don't know what they did to it to comment.

Baulder's Gate 1 and 2 are going to be more similar (and superior) to what your playing in Pillars of Eternity (as opposed to whatever Tides of Numeria was). The Enhanced editions are fairly well done, and I would recommend combining both games into the BG2 engine and playing it as one long game. How to: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Trilogy

Icewind Dale is its own thing, and not quite as good as the others, but still worth playing.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is often talked about in the same group; it is going to be a bit different, as it has it's own rulebook and combat system. The combat isn't great, but the story and atmosphere are.

Temple of Elemental Evil is worth looking at, if you get through the others and are happy with them. It it much more combat based and they kinda ran out of time for making a great story.

Slight Edit:
Modern games:

I agree with Randin and Chanur that both Tyranny and D:OS are in high standing and capture those CRPG feels in their own way. Tyranny is more like the isometric classics (with an evil-ish twist), whereas D:OS goes it's own way and shows what turn based combat can achieve.

D:OS is one of the best games ever.

Every game mentioned in this thread is worthy of the praise they've been given, but personally I can't say enough good things about Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

It was a buggy mess at release, but it's been patched in to a truly great experience. And as already said, it's a loooooong game. It took me 150 hours to finish it.