Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 - tips, tricks & helpful information

[lukaszek]

Rogue isn’t (just) hiding from attacks, it’s hiding to get easy Advantage + Sneaks on things melee may not be able to easily reach in time.

front line can just throw javelins at enemies that rogue might have trouble reaching to due to los. Or throw enemy at another enemy so that los is better for poor rogue

 

[Parabalus]

Durge 1st timers, was it worth it or was Swen right?

Very good choice, murder drastically reduce the amount of bugs you encounter.

 

[Haplo]

There's a ton of items that give you the effect of war caster without having to take the feat. Apparently larian REALLY wanted to ensure nobody took any feats other than ASI.

I kinda like that Larian loaded so many passive-feat gear in the game; allows you to plan builds around those items for future runs.
Reminds me of replaying BG2 as a Kensai/Mage and remembering to go straight for Celestial Fury.

Plus build enabling uniques are

What you described is not build enabling, though. More like making builds meaningless.

They effectively buy you feat slots so you can make synergies that were otherwise too build expensive without.
This way you can make more complex builds.

But yeah I get what you're saying, if everything is put into gear the specific class abilities/feats selections become less valuable; which is true if you don't build beyond what those combinations have to offer.
There's the more direct build uniques that do things no class can do organically.

I'd actually go further and say that not even Celestial Fury is a build-enabling weapon.
Its a cool weapon, sure. That will do nasty CC and bonus damage to enemies with some frequency, given the number of attacks you're gonna reach.
But its still just "attack and kill a single target faster" - with CC it in the process if lucky.

Compare it to Deadfire: Hand Mortar and Fire in the Hole on a monk: suddenly your monk Stunning Blows/Surge stun all enemies in an aoe (twice), rather then being single target; the aoe is also a lot bigger due to your Duality: Intelligence. Similarly on a rogue: now your single-target DOTs and debilitating attacks became aoe.

Or Kitchen Stove on an Ascendant Cipher: now your Thunderous Report opening strike vs mobs will always fill your Focus and put you in Ascended state to spam-cast your best Powers on combat start (and you could further extend that state with a cleric's Salvation of Time buff).

Or Grave Calling with Skeletal summons - creating party friendly Blinding, Paralyzing and damaging zones, that also continuously fill your Focus if you're a Cipher (or party unfriendly, rapidly spreading, multiplying, graphics card melting death zones with a Confused Cold-Resistant Pale Elf Berserker).

Or a more specific, late game and limited case: Engoliero de Espirs and Deltro's Cage helmet for my Turn Based Blood Mage/Assassin - who'd nearly knock himself dead with Chain Lightning on self to get a deadly 90-120% Lightning lash, full buff with wizard Free Action buffs, recover all spell slots via Blood Sacrifice, get powerfull bonuses from low health when alpha striking... and still be at full health vs mobs instantly after killing an enemy due to Blade Feast proccing off spell kills (with frequent Blade Feast kill cascades on lower health enemies from aoe spells).

 

[Zeltak]

There's a ton of items that give you the effect of war caster without having to take the feat. Apparently larian REALLY wanted to ensure nobody took any feats other than ASI.

I kinda like that Larian loaded so many passive-feat gear in the game; allows you to plan builds around those items for future runs.
Reminds me of replaying BG2 as a Kensai/Mage and remembering to go straight for Celestial Fury.

Plus build enabling uniques are

What you described is not build enabling, though. More like making builds meaningless.

They effectively buy you feat slots so you can make synergies that were otherwise too build expensive without.
This way you can make more complex builds.

But yeah I get what you're saying, if everything is put into gear the specific class abilities/feats selections become less valuable; which is true if you don't build beyond what those combinations have to offer.
There's the more direct build uniques that do things no class can do organically.

I'd actually go further and say that not even Celestial Fury is a build-enabling weapon.
Its a cool weapon, sure. That will do nasty CC and bonus damage to enemies with some frequency, given the number of attacks you're gonna reach.
But its still just "attack and kill a single target faster" - with CC it in the process if lucky.

Compare it to Deadfire: Hand Mortar and Fire in the Hole on a monk: suddenly your monk Stunning Blows/Surge stun all enemies in an aoe (twice), rather then being single target; the aoe is also a lot bigger due to your Duality: Intelligence. Similarly on a rogue: now your single-target DOTs and debilitating attacks became aoe.

Or Kitchen Stove on an Ascendant Cipher: now your Thunderous Report opening strike vs mobs will always fill your Focus and put you in Ascended state to spam-cast your best Powers on combat start (and you could further extend that state with a cleric's Salvation of Time buff).

Or Grave Calling with Skeletal summons - creating party friendly Blinding, Paralyzing and damaging zones, that also continuously fill your Focus if you're a Cipher (or party unfriendly, rapidly spreading, multiplying, graphics card melting death zones with a Confused Cold-Resistant Pale Elf Berserker).

Or a more specific, late game and limited case: Engoliero de Espirs and Deltro's Cage helmet for my Turn Based Blood Mage/Assassin - who'd nearly knock himself dead with Chain Lightning on self to get a deadly 90-120% Lightning lash, full buff with wizard Free Action buffs, recover all spell slots via Blood Sacrifice, get powerfull bonuses from low health when alpha striking... and still be at full health vs mobs instantly after killing an enemy due to Blade Feast proccing off spell kills (with frequent Blade Feast kill cascades on lower health enemies from aoe spells).

Yeah, there is nothing close to this level of depth in BG3 when it comes to itemisation.

 

[Zeltak]

And.. you would know that it goes by current HP net of damage if you weren’t blowing off 90% of the game. The amount of HP it effects scales as you level too. No attack roll, no save AoE is worth taking the time to understand how it works.

When will you desist pretending like you know to what extent anything works in this game when you haven't even played through those parts yet? HP spells will not work against anything worth using them on in Act 2 and 3 because on tactician, the HP boost will mechanically hinder you to do so.

Imagine wasting an action on a damaged enemy to make them... blind... when the game throws out blind-effect items like candy. Or idk just fucking kill them instead.

And sleep? You don't seem to be aware that shove is a bonus action in Larian 5E which causes the AI to just immediately remove it after you wasted your turn casting it, presuming of course you have damaged them enough to even be able to cast it in the first place, and assuming they don't beat the save. This is after of course wasting levels in one of the crappiest subclasses in the game.

Rogue isn’t (just) hiding from attacks, it’s hiding to get easy Advantage + Sneaks on things melee may not be able to easily reach in time.

Again with the assoooming based on limited information.

There are rings in this game that gives you free misty step, more movement ring and Larian has implemented jump in a weird way that you can cover more area than you should be able to if it followed RAW. There is also concentration free longstrider until long rest (so basically permanent) and enhanced leap for 10 turns, both of which are ritual spells so you can just spam. You can find/make 5000 haste potions to double your movement speed and you will get a bunch of free misty step scrolls. Some subclasses like Paladin even gets misty step.

Movement is not an issue for martials in this game. The rule changes and items make sure that is the case.

Doesn’t feel underpowered, and not because game is too easy.

It is, everyone knows this. There is no challenge to solve unless you self-impose restrictions or mod the game. But that's not what we are discussing here and never have.

That doesn’t make me a snowflake

No you are right, it makes you a contrarian retard because you rather grandstand for 5 pages on shit you clearly have no idea but don't agree with because it's "popular" or "meme build" instead of just staying humble. At the very least finish the damn game before making shit up in your head.

 

[vazha]

I fully expect Zeltak and Desiderius ending up in a ghey marriage by the end of this thread.
Reign in the autism, bros or go get a room.

Re: dark urge - very gimmicky & edgy, one note, poorly written and still miles ahead of other paths, so yes, Swen was lying. Should have had Avellone to write this one, now that would be good.

 

[Zeltak]

I fully expect Zeltak and Desiderius ending up in a ghey marriage by the end of this thread.

That would be on par with the writing for this game. I don't care btw if me shitting on him goes on for another 20 pages.

 

[vazha]

I fully expect Zeltak and Desiderius ending up in a ghey marriage by the end of this thread.

That would be on par with the writing for this game. I don't care btw if me shitting on him goes on for another 20 pages.

But you should - its ungentlemanly. Leave the retard be, let him weave his theorycrafting in peace. Desiderius, in many regards, is like that patient in mental ward who claims to be Napoleon and shows a surpringly astute understanding of warfare, but at the end of a day, he is still an autistic retard in a mental ward and nobody takes him seriously. Neither should you. Humor our resident insane genius.

 

[Zeltak]

I fully expect Zeltak and Desiderius ending up in a ghey marriage by the end of this thread.

That would be on par with the writing for this game. I don't care btw if me shitting on him goes on for another 20 pages.

But you should - its ungentlemanly. Leave the retard be, let him weave his theorycrafting in peace. Desiderius, in many regards, is like that patient in mental ward who claims to be Napoleon and shows a surpringly astute understanding of warfare, but at the end of a day, he is still an autistic retard in a mental ward and nobody takes him seriously. Neither should you. Humor our resident insane genius.

I wouldn't do this if I didn't find it entertaining but fine, fine. I'll stop shitting up the thread for the rest of you.

 

[volklore]

Alert is better than increasing your main stat? Hmm dunno about that

Reliably playing first in TB games is invaluable. Especially in this one where you can take any part of turns move/bonus actions/actions, even extra attacks interchangeably switching between each as long as you land in the same initiative pool. If there was a way to delay turn then I would probably value initiative a bit lower although it would still be great. But atm, you can land devastating combos when winning on all chars (which atm happens nigh every time when picking alert), and deny many enemy turns either by straight up killing or CC, where you would get bummed by how intiatitive is setup. Especially since you cannot delay turns to fix it.
There are many, many times without alert where I thought to myself : ''This initiative order is so shit I would rather have lost it on everyone than this, so at least they could land in the same pool''. But there aren't any ways of force losing initiative, you can 't delay turn so the best bet to have fun with party combos is to just win initiative.
Not saying you need it or anything, but this is not just 5E, there is a bunch of larian stuff on top, cold/lightning/wet combos, weapon skills that land debilitating conditions that last only until the enemy takes a turn etc... All of these these things make winning initiative on everyone much more valuable.

 

[Haplo]

Alert is better than increasing your main stat? Hmm dunno about that

Reliably playing first in TB games is invaluable. Especially in this one where you can take any part of turns move/bonus actions/actions, even extra attacks interchangeably switching between characters all the time as long as you land in the same initiative pool. If there was a way to delay turn then I would probably value initiative a bit lower although it would still be great. But atm, you can land devastating combos when winning on all chars (which atm happens everytime when picking alert), and deny many enemy turns either by straight up killing or CC, where you would get bummed by how intiatitive is setup. Especially since you cannot delay turns to fix it.
There are many, many times where I though to myself : ''This initiative order is so shit I would rather have lost it on everyone than this, so at least they could land in the same pool''. But there aren't any ways of force losing intiative, you can 't delay turn so the best bet to have fun with party combos is to just win initiative.
Not saying you need it or anything, but this is not just 5E, there is a bunch of larian stuff on top, cold/lightning/wet combos, debilitating conditions that last only until the enemy takes a turn. All of these these things make winning initiative on everyone much more valuable.

Hmm, now I'm tempted to take Alert on SH, so that she can go first along the rest of the gang (somehow MC, Gale and Astarion keep winning Ini without any specific boosts... with SH going later).

 

[volklore]

It seems to me that dex chars don't need alert as far as I have noticed (Haven't taken it on my barb but gave him dex gloves, hide armor with +1 initiative and a short bow with +1 and that was enough to win reliably). I took out the dex gloves once I got to lvl7 and unlocked feral instinct.

 

[gurugeorge]

Apparently initiative is rolled by a d4 in the game. There are a few mods now that either give you options (like d10, d12) or the official 5e d20 for initiative roll. Not sure what the practical effect of changing it would be.

Full autists, comments?

 

[Jermu]

Apparently initiative is rolled by a d4 in the game. There are a few mods now that either give you options (like d10, d12) or the official 5e d20 for initiative roll. Not sure what the practical effect of changing it would be.

Full autists, comments?

with dumped dex you rarely go before enemies and with maxed dex you go first before enemies nearly always
with d4 instead of d20 variance of initiative is obviously reduced and makes increased initiative more valuable than in 5e

and since alert gives +5 initiative you pretty much always go first. I feel like it is the strongest feat in the game (in general, there are some stupid stuff like tavern brawler for some builds) but depends on how you much value you put on going first / eliminating surprise rounds

 

[volklore]

Apparently initiative is rolled by a d4 in the game. There are a few mods now that either give you options (like d10, d12) or the official 5e d20 for initiative roll. Not sure what the practical effect of changing it would be.

Full autists, comments?

Well with d20 every point of +initiative matters less than with a d4. Meaning you can dump dex more readily and dex characters don't auto go first. Makes alert worse although probably still very valuable.
I'd say it was probably intended by larian who realized with a d20 system ensuring good turn order to be able to setup combos was quite hard so they decided to make initative more easy to solve (i.e don't dump dex and pick alert/buff initiative with gear). Personally, I think just going d20 and adding ability to delay turn would be a better fix.
Edit : Other things that make me think it's intended apart from the combos stuff is that larian changed some initiative related abilities like feral instinct barb class feature who is supposed to give advantage on initiative rolls as per 5e and was changed to +3 initiative instead which makes sense in the context of a d4 roll.
I already added BG3 fixed mod (it doesn't include the initiative thing), and tactician + (with double tactician health boost and bonus stats based on enemy proficiency bonus/Challenge rating) and testing with this. I don't think I will be changing the initiative unless some mod/larian adds a way to delay turn.

 

[Yosharian]

But atm, you can land devastating combos when winning on all chars

Oh I see. When all 4 party members win, you can choose exactly who goes first?

 

[Haplo]

But atm, you can land devastating combos when winning on all chars

Oh I see. When all 4 party members win, you can choose exactly who goes first?

Not only that. They sort of get a "combined" turn - you can freely mix their actions, within their turn limits - like walking, Standard Actions, Bonus Actions....

Edit: This doesn't only apply if all 4 win. It happens whenever 2 or more have their actions back-to-back in the queue.
I guess its easiest to control by winning....

 

[Yosharian]

But atm, you can land devastating combos when winning on all chars

Oh I see. When all 4 party members win, you can choose exactly who goes first?

Not only that. They sort of get a "combined" turn - you can freely mix their actions, within their turn limits - like walking, Standard Actions, Bonus Actions....

Oh wow. Fuck, ok that's really interesting

 

[Cyberarmy]

Same goes for the enemy, if many enemies got the same initiative, they'll all move at the same time. Really nice thing to shorten huge battles.

 

[Desiderius]

To settle the matter once and for all, since I don't think anyone has reported to this thread conclusively yet: Haste/Action Surge/Whatever other source of extra actions do not allow additional sneak attacks for rogues. The ability specifically says "only usable once per turn" even if you restore your main action somehow and will not function.

So the rogue is even weaker than I thought.

Thief is good for dipping 3 levels for sneak attack and bonus actions, my thief 3 ranger 8 Astarion is dominating the field. Alpha strike as an assassin is bonkers.
But yeah, going full thief is not something I'll ever do in this edition it seems.

Well you play most of the game before full becomes an issue. No reason that Extra Bonus can’t be converted into Extra Attack (at level 3) if that’s something you feel is non-negotiable for some reason by doubling up on Hand Crossbows.

Sight cones can be manipulated with Minor Illusion (Illusion Wiz gets as Bonus Action) and Rogue isn’t the only class in base party that can benefit from Sneaking if you'd rather stabby stab than use ranged, but I like High Ground. I'd imagine Vampire Elf Astarion can make use of magical Darkness too. Sneak damage does keep ranking up to narrow the gap and Supreme Sneak is something I'm looking forward to trying out in and out of combat but I guess Invis pots are cheap so may just be for convenience in which case I'll probably multiclass on Thief too.

With Spellthief Longbow it seems like Astarion is set up for Arcane Trickster which you use on no save or utility spells early (again, Sleep and Color Spray use current hitpoints so damaged creatures will often fall within range) then Magical Ambush at lvl 9, which would require a respec or item to get his INT up, but disadvantage on saves is no joke. Haven't tried Assassin yet, but that one definitely looks like it's set up for multiclassing since you basically get nothing after lvl 3 unless I'm missing something.

or War Caster so any damage has 35% (?) chance of burning your slot.

So many great items that give adv on Con saves. Don’t ever take War Caster.

I would also add that using those items is very rarely a significant opportunity cost because a lot of the items that have it are top tier items such as amulet of greater health, SH's quest armor, etc

So it's not even like you're giving up another item that is massively superior.. usually.

Only in a few situations is it costly, for insane meta builds that need a specific necklace or chestpiece and they don't really need to concentrate on anything anyway, not long-term

And for THOSE builds, Resilient: CON is a way better pick usually

You do know that there are no endgame raids or PvP to gear up for, right? War Caster can be picked up at lvl 4 then respecced out of later once you've got an item. Resilience CON sounds like the better choice in any event since it helps solve a broader range of problems. I was planning on both to reduce variance but if items cover it then yeah you can boost caster stat instead once they show up.

 

[Parabalus]

10x animation speed would be great too.

 

[Cyberarmy]

With Spellthief Longbow it seems like Astarion

Till middle of act 3, shortbows are marginally better than longbows.
First there is the Banshee bow which applies Frightened to targets and most enemies are easly effected by this one, even some bosses. Then comes the Least Expected with +1d4 damage from shadows and Blinding shot. There is also Darkfire bow with nice resistances and inbuild Haste spell.

 

[Desiderius]

And sleep? You don't seem to be aware that shove is a bonus action in Larian 5E which causes the AI to just immediately remove it after you wasted your turn casting it, presuming of course you have damaged them enough to even be able to cast it in the first place, and assuming they don't beat the save. This is after of course wasting levels in one of the crappiest subclasses in the game.

So tell me authority on all matters in a game that's been out all of a week, what stat does the save on Sleep/Color Spray use? If the choice is between 80% success and 100% I'm going with the 100%.

I'm very happy if the next enemy in the queue skips a turn sleeping and the next one blows his turn moving over to shove it awake. Obv those are spells I'm using between level 4-9 (along with invaluable ones like Shield since he doesn't get attacked much but needs the help when he is), once I get to Magical Ambush then I can use spells that have a save with those saves taken at disadvantage. Is that an effect that's easy to generate by that point? Yeah Rituals are great, which is why its nice to cover those on other characters to free up slots for main caster spellbook.

Full Caster can upcast Sleep/Color Spray further than AT can to get more HP covered and though you've usually got better things to cast usually isn't always, and 100% is 100%. And of course you get a cast of Color Spray per fight for free from the Ring.

Again with the anger. Let it go. I know you're used to games where the trick is to figure out why the 90% of abilities that were designed to suck suck so you can get that dopamine rush from finding the one weird trick, but this isn't that kind of game.

 

[Desiderius]

With Spellthief Longbow it seems like Astarion

Till middle of act 3, shortbows are marginally better than longbows.
First there is the Banshee bow which applies Frightened to targets and most enemies are easly effected by this one, even some bosses. Then comes the Least Expected with +1d4 damage from shadows and Blinding shot. There is also Darkfire bow with nice resistances and inbuild Haste spell.

Nice. I like Brace on LB, though haven't figured out yet whether it works on things like Lightning Arrow on Wet enemy.

 

[Rhobar121]

And sleep? You don't seem to be aware that shove is a bonus action in Larian 5E which causes the AI to just immediately remove it after you wasted your turn casting it, presuming of course you have damaged them enough to even be able to cast it in the first place, and assuming they don't beat the save. This is after of course wasting levels in one of the crappiest subclasses in the game.

So tell me authority on all matters in a game that's been out all of a week, what stat does the save on Sleep/Color Spray use? If the choice is between 80% success and 100% I'm going with the 100%.

I'm very happy if the next enemy in the queue skips a turn sleeping and the next one blows his turn moving over to shove it awake. Obv those are spells I'm using between level 4-9 (along with invaluable ones like Shield since he doesn't get attacked much but needs the help when he is), once I get to Magical Ambush then I can use spells that have a save with those saves taken at disadvantage. Is that an effect that's easy to generate by that point? Yeah Rituals are great, which is why its nice to cover those on other characters to free up slots for main caster spellbook.

Full Caster can upcast Sleep/Color Spray further than AT can to get more HP covered and though you've usually got better things to cast usually isn't always, and 100% is 100%. And of course you get a cast of Color Spray per fight for free from the Ring.

Again with the anger. Let it go. I know you're used to games where the trick is to figure out why the 90% of abilities that were designed to suck suck so you can get that dopamine rush from finding the one weird trick, but this isn't that kind of game.

To be honest, grease is much more versatile.
Sleep has some uses, e.g. you can use it to put an enemy to sleep and then murder them with another character. This works quite well if the characters move after each other.
Then it becomes just waste. Honestly, I don't know if there's anything in act 2 you can use it on (except a few humanoids)