Baldur's Gate 3 Community Update #16: Patch 8 - Of Valour and Lore
Baldur's Gate 3 Community Update #16: Patch 8 - Of Valour and Lore
Game News - posted by Infinitron on Fri 8 July 2022, 18:48:12
Tags: Baldur's Gate 3; David Walgrave; Farhang Namdar; Larian Studios; Nick Pechenin; Swen VinckeThe eighth major patch for Baldur's Gate 3 was released yesterday following its introduction at the latest Panel From Hell event. This time, Larian have added the Bard class to the game as well as Gnomes as a playable race. As with previously revealed classes, bards in Baldur's Gate 3 come in two flavors: the melee-oriented College of Valour and the spellcasting-oriented College of Lore. As for gnomes, they come in Forest, Deep and Rock varieties. Other changes included in the new patch include a "swarm AI" feature which allows trash mob enemies such as goblins to move simultaneously during certain battles, improved dialogue cinematics, the option to cast the Detect Thoughts spell during dialogue, updated models for certain companions, new hairstyles for character creation, a new set of animations for elven characters, and shovels with which you can dig for treasure.
As for the panel itself, it was presented in the form of an extremely silly bardic rock contest and was shorter than Larian's previous streams. Instead of an extended gameplay session, Swen only demonstrated some of the bard's new abilities and fought a single battle against some vicious harpies. Here's the trailer for the new patch and an excerpt from the accompanying community update:
Trebel Makers: A new Bard class comes to Baldur’s Gate 3
Bards are a versatile class who inspire their party with words or music. Their signature move, Bardic Inspiration, positions them as a robust support class, allowing them to boost an ally’s effectiveness in combat and emboldens them to hit harder and faster. But whether your Bard’s other strengths lie more in spellcasting or in combat will depend on which of their two subclasses you choose once they reach Level 3.
Bards of the College of Valour are deadly with simple weapons, using the proficiencies and skills of their subclass to deal devastating attacks. Their signature ability - Combat Inspiration - makes them a powerful addition to any team, allowing them to inspire allies with their valour, boost weapon damage and Armour Class, or add a +1d6 bonus to the next Attack Roll, Ability Check, or Saving throw.
Bards of the College of Lore, on the other hand, are capable spellcasters who seek out knowledge anywhere it lives, and use deft wordplay and magical abilities to confuse and debuff foes. As a Bard of the College of Lore, you’ll be able to unleash a string of insults that sap the confidence of your enemies – dealing out a 1d6 penalty to Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, and damage dealt until their next turn.
Their signature ability - Cutting Words - allows them to unleash a string of insults to sap the confidence of their enemies, dealing out a 1d6 penalty to Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, and damage dealt until their next turn. Inspired by this power, Patch 8 features 97 bespoke insults, each meticulously crafted by our team of talented writers who have spent years honing their wordsmithing skills in the Rude Arts.
Playable Gnomes come to Baldur’s Gate 3
In Patch 8, we are adding our first new playable race since launching in Early Access. They are curious. They are adventurous. They can make for an impressively compact projectile should you ever feel the urge to throw one.
They’re Gnomes!
Gnomes are one of Faerun’s brighter races, starting things out with +1 intelligence and Gnome Cunning - which grants them an advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma-based Saving Throws against magic.
Should you choose to play as the reclusive Forest Gnome, you’ll receive +1 Dexterity on top of that, as well as Darkvision to see better through the shadows. Deep Gnomes of the Underdark receive Superior Darkvision by comparison – allowing them to see even further in the dark - and can hide in rocky terrain using their subrace trait Stone Camouflage.
The third playable Gnome subrace is the Rock Gnome, not to be confused with my Angus Young tribute band of the same name. Rock Gnomes receive +1 Concentration, Darkvision and Artificer’s Lore, giving you a double Proficiency bonus on History checks.
The full patch notes for the update are available here. According the Swen, the game is now in the final stretch of development. Perhaps they're saving Paladins for last?
As for the panel itself, it was presented in the form of an extremely silly bardic rock contest and was shorter than Larian's previous streams. Instead of an extended gameplay session, Swen only demonstrated some of the bard's new abilities and fought a single battle against some vicious harpies. Here's the trailer for the new patch and an excerpt from the accompanying community update:
Trebel Makers: A new Bard class comes to Baldur’s Gate 3
Bards are a versatile class who inspire their party with words or music. Their signature move, Bardic Inspiration, positions them as a robust support class, allowing them to boost an ally’s effectiveness in combat and emboldens them to hit harder and faster. But whether your Bard’s other strengths lie more in spellcasting or in combat will depend on which of their two subclasses you choose once they reach Level 3.
Bards of the College of Valour are deadly with simple weapons, using the proficiencies and skills of their subclass to deal devastating attacks. Their signature ability - Combat Inspiration - makes them a powerful addition to any team, allowing them to inspire allies with their valour, boost weapon damage and Armour Class, or add a +1d6 bonus to the next Attack Roll, Ability Check, or Saving throw.
Bards of the College of Lore, on the other hand, are capable spellcasters who seek out knowledge anywhere it lives, and use deft wordplay and magical abilities to confuse and debuff foes. As a Bard of the College of Lore, you’ll be able to unleash a string of insults that sap the confidence of your enemies – dealing out a 1d6 penalty to Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, and damage dealt until their next turn.
Their signature ability - Cutting Words - allows them to unleash a string of insults to sap the confidence of their enemies, dealing out a 1d6 penalty to Attack Rolls, Ability Checks, and damage dealt until their next turn. Inspired by this power, Patch 8 features 97 bespoke insults, each meticulously crafted by our team of talented writers who have spent years honing their wordsmithing skills in the Rude Arts.
Playable Gnomes come to Baldur’s Gate 3
In Patch 8, we are adding our first new playable race since launching in Early Access. They are curious. They are adventurous. They can make for an impressively compact projectile should you ever feel the urge to throw one.
They’re Gnomes!
Gnomes are one of Faerun’s brighter races, starting things out with +1 intelligence and Gnome Cunning - which grants them an advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma-based Saving Throws against magic.
Should you choose to play as the reclusive Forest Gnome, you’ll receive +1 Dexterity on top of that, as well as Darkvision to see better through the shadows. Deep Gnomes of the Underdark receive Superior Darkvision by comparison – allowing them to see even further in the dark - and can hide in rocky terrain using their subrace trait Stone Camouflage.
The third playable Gnome subrace is the Rock Gnome, not to be confused with my Angus Young tribute band of the same name. Rock Gnomes receive +1 Concentration, Darkvision and Artificer’s Lore, giving you a double Proficiency bonus on History checks.
The full patch notes for the update are available here. According the Swen, the game is now in the final stretch of development. Perhaps they're saving Paladins for last?
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