Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Voids]

In the EA Ranger is stupidly good, probably the strongest class there is.

Huh? But why?

Having a summonable animal companion when the difficulty has largely revolved around overwhelming and outnumbering the player is pretty strong, imho.

 

[Sharpedge]

In the EA Ranger is stupidly good, probably the strongest class there is.

Huh? But why?

You have access to the following.
• 1d8 damage from weapon
• 1d6 damage from hunter's mark on your target.
• 1d4 damage from dipping your weapon in fire.
• +5 damage from various bonuses.
• 1 cast of web every round, from having a spider pet.
• The spider pet incidentally is also a great HP sponge if necessary, having 32 hp.

The net result is you can CC almost everything, every single round and if you choose to set the web on fire it does a lot of incidental damage. On top of this, your base damage is 8-23 each round, which is enough to 1 hit most trash enemies and takes a fair chunk out of the larger enemies.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

In the EA Ranger is stupidly good, probably the strongest class there is.

Huh? But why?

You have access to the following.
• 1d8 damage from weapon
• 1d6 damage from hunter's mark on your target.
• 1d4 damage from dipping your weapon in fire.
• +5 damage from various bonuses.
• 1 cast of web every round, from having a spider pet.
• The spider pet incidentally is also a great HP sponge if necessary, having 32 hp.

The net result is you can CC almost everything, every single round and if you choose to set the web on fire it does a lot of incidental damage. On top of this, your base damage is 8-23 each round, which is enough to 1 hit most trash enemies and takes a fair chunk out of the larger enemies.

concentration breaks anytime something looks in your general direction
most of the rest can be done by anyone sans the spidey, the only good part of ranger.
mid-tier, not top-tier

 

[Sharpedge]

In the EA Ranger is stupidly good, probably the strongest class there is.

Huh? But why?

You have access to the following.
• 1d8 damage from weapon
• 1d6 damage from hunter's mark on your target.
• 1d4 damage from dipping your weapon in fire.
• +5 damage from various bonuses.
• 1 cast of web every round, from having a spider pet.
• The spider pet incidentally is also a great HP sponge if necessary, having 32 hp.

The net result is you can CC almost everything, every single round and if you choose to set the web on fire it does a lot of incidental damage. On top of this, your base damage is 8-23 each round, which is enough to 1 hit most trash enemies and takes a fair chunk out of the larger enemies.

concentration breaks anytime something looks in your general direction
most of the rest can be done by anyone sans the spidey, the only good part of ranger.
mid-tier, not top-tier

I soloed the entire EA with ranger and only had concentration broken once or twice. For someone to break your concentration, they first need to hit you, while the spell is active on the enemy. Since Hunter's Mark is a bonus action, you can cast it and attack the enemy during the same turn. Most enemies have low enough HP so that you can 1 hit them. What I did was mark the enemy, shoot them, optionally do any necessary repositioning and then end turn. Because the mark is not actually active on an enemy because anything you hit immediately dies, your concentration never breaks.

 

[Black]

Speedrunner speedruns a game

Thanks for the news, spambot.

 

[jackofshadows]

You have access to the following.
• 1d8 damage from weapon
• 1d6 damage from hunter's mark on your target.
• 1d4 damage from dipping your weapon in fire.
• +5 damage from various bonuses.
• 1 cast of web every round, from having a spider pet.
• The spider pet incidentally is also a great HP sponge if necessary, having 32 hp.

The net result is you can CC almost everything, every single round and if you choose to set the web on fire it does a lot of incidental damage. On top of this, your base damage is 8-23 each round, which is enough to 1 hit most trash enemies and takes a fair chunk out of the larger enemies.

Hunter's mark bonus seem similiar to rogue's sneak dmg bonus for example. You have to discard dippping since any martial class can use it. Pet seems nice though, especially for solo.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Is it true that the game is the first part of a series?

I’m not sure about that but I do recall WotC saying there were plans for many D&D games incoming

No, I mean I literally remember Swen mentioning somewhere that this particular plotline will span several titles. Does any of you fine gentlemen remember where it was uttered?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

They're basically slightly weaker warlocks with less utility. Hunter's mark and hex do the same exact thing, both have pets(familiar), etc.,

 

[Voids]

Is it true that the game is the first part of a series?

I’m not sure about that but I do recall WotC saying there were plans for many D&D games incoming

No, I mean I literally remember Swen mentioning somewhere that this particular plotline will span several titles. Does any of you fine gentlemen remember where it was uttered?

kill me

 

[AwesomeButton]

143 pages but should I play this?

Not yet, not while it's in EA.

 

[Varnaan]

I'm really surprised at the amount of Choices and Consequences in the game so far, the game is really open in terms of how you do things, and it also accepts a certain degree of sequence breaking, taken into account in NPC dialogue as well, like with rescuing Halsin.

Having a summonable animal companion when the difficulty has largely revolved around overwhelming and outnumbering the player is pretty strong, imho.

From my experience the difficulty of the game isn't really reliant on outnumbering the player, I had more problems with certain boss fights where it was 3 ennemies vs a full party than a fight where I had like 25 goblins against my unrested party.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Is it true that the game is the first part of a series?

I’m not sure about that but I do recall WotC saying there were plans for many D&D games incoming

No, I mean I literally remember Swen mentioning somewhere that this particular plotline will span several titles. Does any of you fine gentlemen remember where it was uttered?

kill me

I'm asking mostly in the context of the "big reveal" that will, I guarantee, be that either:
A. We are Bhaalspawn/Godspawn.
B. Not all Bhaalspawn/Godspawn are dead.

This is probably the reason Minsc has amnesia - so he wouldn't be able to spill the beans. Now, if the series will have multiple titles, then the big reveal will probably be a cliff-hanger. If not - it will be the main event, and lead into the "true" story of the game (always remember, comrades - Larian had already confirmed the Mind Flayers/tadpole storyline is NOT the main plot).

 

[Joseph Stalin]

By the way, someone already made a mod that unlocks origin characters as starting characters.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/1?tab=description

 

[Tyranicon]

In the EA Ranger is stupidly good, probably the strongest class there is.

Huh? But why?

You have access to the following.
• 1d8 damage from weapon
• 1d6 damage from hunter's mark on your target.
• 1d4 damage from dipping your weapon in fire.
• +5 damage from various bonuses.
• 1 cast of web every round, from having a spider pet.
• The spider pet incidentally is also a great HP sponge if necessary, having 32 hp.

The net result is you can CC almost everything, every single round and if you choose to set the web on fire it does a lot of incidental damage. On top of this, your base damage is 8-23 each round, which is enough to 1 hit most trash enemies and takes a fair chunk out of the larger enemies.

Of course, ranger gets buffed by Larian's stupid changes. What spider pet? What various bonuses? Doesn't sound RAW at all (not that it's inherently a bad thing, but I don't trust Larian to not fuck it up).

Hey I want to pick weaponmaster at lvl 1, that will separate me from a complete retard!

Hey at least you didn't take dungeon delver or something.

 

[Varnaan]

I'm asking mostly in the context of the "big reveal" that will, I guarantee, be that either:
A. We are Bhaalspawn/Godspawn.
B. Not all Bhaalspawn/Godspawn are dead.

In the D&D canon all the Bhaalspawn are gone and Bhaal is back on his throne of God of Murder, this thread is pretty much closed and I doubt they'd reopen it just for a game.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

I'm asking mostly in the context of the "big reveal" that will, I guarantee, be that either:
A. We are Bhaalspawn/Godspawn.
B. Not all Bhaalspawn/Godspawn are dead.

It's pars of the D&D canon that all the Bhaalspawn are gone and Bhaal is back on his throne of God of Murder, this thread is pretty much closed and I doubt they'd reopen it just for a game.

The fact that Bhaal's description specifically mentions that all the Bhaalspawn are dead is too suspicious to me. Why mention such a minute detail in a short summary? Also, as noted before, mentioning fucking JERGAL is even stranger.

No, there's a twist incoming, I'm sure of that.

Also, the only source that says all the Bhaalspawn are dead is "A Murder in Baldur's Gate", which is a very dubious source at this point, seeing that every single source of information on this topic has been careful to ignore anything stated there. Not to mention said adventure module contradicts itself, stating that Abdel Adrian chose mortality, but also kept his essence.

 

[Sharpedge]

They're basically slightly weaker warlocks with less utility. Hunter's mark and hex do the same exact thing, both have pets(familiar), etc.,

Warlock does not have the spider animal companion, which is one of the stronger ones to have. Don't get me wrong, if you scale the classes beyond level 4, hunter will fall off hard, but during the EA with a level cap of 4 it is one of the stronger options.

 

[Tyranicon]

I'm asking mostly in the context of the "big reveal" that will, I guarantee, be that either:
A. We are Bhaalspawn/Godspawn.
B. Not all Bhaalspawn/Godspawn are dead.

In the D&D canon all the Bhaalspawn are gone and Bhaal is back on his throne of God of Murder, this thread is pretty much closed and I doubt they'd reopen it just for a game.

Why are we talking about D&D canon like it's some sanctified thing that cannot be changed except by the powers that be?

 

[Sharpedge]

In the EA Ranger is stupidly good, probably the strongest class there is.

Huh? But why?

You have access to the following.
• 1d8 damage from weapon
• 1d6 damage from hunter's mark on your target.
• 1d4 damage from dipping your weapon in fire.
• +5 damage from various bonuses.
• 1 cast of web every round, from having a spider pet.
• The spider pet incidentally is also a great HP sponge if necessary, having 32 hp.

The net result is you can CC almost everything, every single round and if you choose to set the web on fire it does a lot of incidental damage. On top of this, your base damage is 8-23 each round, which is enough to 1 hit most trash enemies and takes a fair chunk out of the larger enemies.

Of course, ranger gets buffed by Larian's stupid changes. What spider pet? What various bonuses? Doesn't sound RAW at all (not that it's inherently a bad thing, but I don't trust Larian to not fuck it up).

Hey I want to pick weaponmaster at lvl 1, that will separate me from a complete retard!

Hey at least you didn't take dungeon delver or something.

Here is the spider.

4 from attribute bonuses, 1 from enchantment bonus for a total of +5.

 

[Varnaan]

I'm asking mostly in the context of the "big reveal" that will, I guarantee, be that either:
A. We are Bhaalspawn/Godspawn.
B. Not all Bhaalspawn/Godspawn are dead.

It's pars of the D&D canon that all the Bhaalspawn are gone and Bhaal is back on his throne of God of Murder, this thread is pretty much closed and I doubt they'd reopen it just for a game.

The fact that Bhaal's description specifically mentions that all the Bhaalspawn are dead is too suspicious to me. Why mention such a minute detail in a short summary? Also, as noted before, mentioning fucking JERGAL is even stranger.

No, there's a twist incoming, I'm sure of that.

Also, the only source that says all the Bhaalspawn are dead is "A Murder in Baldur's Gate", which is a very dubious source at this point, seeing that every single source of information on this topic has been careful to ignore anything stated there. Not to mention said adventure module contradicts itself, stating that Abdel Adrian chose mortality, but also kept his essence.

The fact that Bhaal was resurected thanks to getting back all of his essence and took his throne back from Cyric is not just in "A Murder in Baldur's Gate", it's also in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.
There may be a twist linking the game to BG and BG2 but I doubt it will be related to the Bhaalswpawn, however a possible tie in would be Cyric himself, working to regain his freedom.

I'm asking mostly in the context of the "big reveal" that will, I guarantee, be that either:
A. We are Bhaalspawn/Godspawn.
B. Not all Bhaalspawn/Godspawn are dead.

In the D&D canon all the Bhaalspawn are gone and Bhaal is back on his throne of God of Murder, this thread is pretty much closed and I doubt they'd reopen it just for a game.

Why are we talking about D&D canon like it's some sanctified thing that cannot be changed except by the powers that be?

Changing some things here and there from the canon is OK but a Bhaalspawn being alive would have too many ramifications, in my opinion.
I may be wrong but the entire premise behind Bhaal being back, Cyric being imprisoned/having met an open end, etc... is tied to all the Bhaalspawn being dead.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

I'm asking mostly in the context of the "big reveal" that will, I guarantee, be that either:
A. We are Bhaalspawn/Godspawn.
B. Not all Bhaalspawn/Godspawn are dead.

In the D&D canon all the Bhaalspawn are gone and Bhaal is back on his throne of God of Murder, this thread is pretty much closed and I doubt they'd reopen it just for a game.

Why are we talking about D&D canon like it's some sanctified thing that cannot be changed except by the powers that be?

WotC have openly replied to me, less than a month ago, that there is no established canon for these events. I've posted the reply in the previous thread, if you're willing to look, but that's the gist of it.

 

[Storyfag]

I'm asking mostly in the context of the "big reveal" that will, I guarantee, be that either:
A. We are Bhaalspawn/Godspawn.
B. Not all Bhaalspawn/Godspawn are dead.

In the D&D canon all the Bhaalspawn are gone and Bhaal is back on his throne of God of Murder, this thread is pretty much closed and I doubt they'd reopen it just for a game.

So... there is nothing to stop him from siring *more* Bhaalspawn, then?

 

[Storyfag]

In the EA Ranger is stupidly good, probably the strongest class there is.

Huh? But why?

You have access to the following.
• 1d8 damage from weapon
• 1d6 damage from hunter's mark on your target.
• 1d4 damage from dipping your weapon in fire.
• +5 damage from various bonuses.
• 1 cast of web every round, from having a spider pet.
• The spider pet incidentally is also a great HP sponge if necessary, having 32 hp.

The net result is you can CC almost everything, every single round and if you choose to set the web on fire it does a lot of incidental damage. On top of this, your base damage is 8-23 each round, which is enough to 1 hit most trash enemies and takes a fair chunk out of the larger enemies.

Of course, ranger gets buffed by Larian's stupid changes. What spider pet? What various bonuses? Doesn't sound RAW at all (not that it's inherently a bad thing, but I don't trust Larian to not fuck it up).

Hey I want to pick weaponmaster at lvl 1, that will separate me from a complete retard!

Hey at least you didn't take dungeon delver or something.

Here is the spider.

4 from attribute bonuses, 1 from enchantment bonus for a total of +5.

Are all Rangers fucking Lloth worshippers now?

 

[Tyranicon]

In the EA Ranger is stupidly good, probably the strongest class there is.

Huh? But why?

You have access to the following.
• 1d8 damage from weapon
• 1d6 damage from hunter's mark on your target.
• 1d4 damage from dipping your weapon in fire.
• +5 damage from various bonuses.
• 1 cast of web every round, from having a spider pet.
• The spider pet incidentally is also a great HP sponge if necessary, having 32 hp.

The net result is you can CC almost everything, every single round and if you choose to set the web on fire it does a lot of incidental damage. On top of this, your base damage is 8-23 each round, which is enough to 1 hit most trash enemies and takes a fair chunk out of the larger enemies.

Of course, ranger gets buffed by Larian's stupid changes. What spider pet? What various bonuses? Doesn't sound RAW at all (not that it's inherently a bad thing, but I don't trust Larian to not fuck it up).

Hey I want to pick weaponmaster at lvl 1, that will separate me from a complete retard!

Hey at least you didn't take dungeon delver or something.

Here is the spider.

4 from attribute bonuses, 1 from enchantment bonus for a total of +5.

Here's why animal companions suck ass in 5e tabletop: You can get one at third level, but they cost 8 hours of work and 50gp (not cheap at 3rd level), and it's normally some crap 1/2 CR beast like a black bear that can't multiattack. If it dies, you have to spend another 8 hours and 25gp to revive it. Also giant spiders are not usually allowed unless your DM really, really likes you.

Compare this to Find Familiar, a 1st level wizard spell that costs 1 hr and 10gp, and now you got a telepathic raven that you can cast touch spells through and give it dragon's breath.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

If everything comes together (environmental interaction, AI and map design), some of the encounters can be quite magic -- and unlike anything I've seen before in an RPG.

In my first playthrough I met a couple of ogres. I tried to talk them out of whacking us, but they were hungry. This time we climbed onto the roof the broken house they are standing in, and sneaked onto a wooden platform above them (helped a bit by spell magic, heheh).

From there we started shooting arrows and casting spells -- advantage for the win. Unfortunately, that advantage turned into shock pretty quickly, as one of the Ogres attacked one of the supporting pillars (!) of the wooden platform. It actually broke (!) and down we fell. Squishy Gale was down to zero hp on arrival. Needs more environmental interactions like this.