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

Barbarian

Arcane
Joined
Jun 7, 2015
Messages
7,440
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/3657534571564424475

Community Update #21: Forging Your Legacy
A malevolent new Origin character. A disembowelled video game producer. A night of passion with a bear.

What a way to go out!

Thank you so much for joining us last week at Panel From Hell: Release Showcase, our final big show before launch.

As you saw for yourself, Baldur’s Gate 3 is going to be a truly deep, systemic RPG with a story and world that is yours to mould. No two playthroughs will be the same, and that even goes for those of you who have clocked a few hundred hours in Early Access.

Act 1 makes up less than a quarter of the total content that will be available at launch. And compared to the start of Early Access, even Act 1 has roughly 33% more content in it. Much has changed, a lot has been added, and we’re finally at a place where we’re happy with the fidelity and performance of the game.

Today’s update will explore those new features:
fresh Character Creation
options,
Multiclassing
, a malevolent
new playable Origin
character, crowds who gossip and react to your deeds, the introduction of
Alchemy
, and much more. If you’re here, we’re assuming you’ve played Early Access. If you’re new to the game and you’re looking for a broader overview of what Baldur’s Gate 3 will be at launch, we’re working on a separate video. Stay tuned for that later in the month.

Your Character Creation Toolbox Is Getting Bigger
Our Character Creator has evolved in many ways since we first launched in Early Access, but our philosophy behind it has always remained the same.

To forge a legacy, you need an identity. Character identity is at the centre of Baldur’s Gate 3, and making a character is about more than aesthetic choices. You are defining your identity, making decisions about your protagonist that will impact your experience in the game.

Whether your protagonist be hero, villain, or Ed Sharran, a simple bard travelling the roads of Faerûn with his trusty lute and a barely-concealed inner darkness that gnaws and festers, demanding release – the Character Creator provides a lot of room for expression.

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Our Character Creator has been updated over the course of development to include a robust selection of hairstyles, highlights, skin tones, and faces. But at launch, you’ll have the chance to experiment with even more ways to create diverse, personalised characters.

New skin options like
freckles
and
vitiligo
will soon be available, alongside
new tattoo designs, scars, lip makeup customisation
, accessories like
piercings
, and
horn colour customisation
for Tieflings. In 1.0, we’re also introducing
heterochromia
, letting you create David Bowie – uh, characters with different-coloured eyes.

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And at long last, we are very happy to announce we are introducing an
age slider
and – for those wanting to know if they can have a Halsin-sized buff Barbarian –
strong body types
, allowing for larger body sizes across all genders.

Craft Your Destiny: Forge A Bespoke Class With Multiclassing
Whether you are an experimenter at heart who forges class hybrids through careful consideration or you just can't decide between a warrior and a mage, we’re excited to finally announce that
Multiclassing
will be coming to Baldur's Gate 3.


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Multiclassing really changes the game – literally – because it allows you to fully customise the theme of your character. It has both a roleplay and a practical function, leading to all sorts of chaotic combinations and experimentations.

In order to allow all your wildest dream class combinations, we've removed Ability Score Prerequisites. So there's no more need to get your Charisma up to a pesky 13 if you decide to make a soul pact with a playful archfey or dangerous fiend. You can Multiclass into anything your roleplay and build desires demand. In short, this means warriors will be able to wield arcane spells, rogues can master divine magic, spellcasters may dabble in martial prowess, and you’ll have the freedom to build the exact class that you want.


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Each level, you'll have the option to choose a different class to spend points on and begin building a bespoke Multiclass character. Given the possible combinations, we recommend you have previous experience as a D&D player to fully leverage this feature. But should you decide to evenly spread all your points into every class for no strategic reason whatsoever, there’s naturally an achievement for that too.

Respeccing Classes
Controversial? Maybe. But a person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. We want to facilitate your experiments! With 12 classes, 46 subclasses, and now Multiclassing, when it comes to your character build, both veterans and novices of D&D are sure to make a few mistakes along the way. We want to encourage you to try new things, find fun combinations, and ultimately discover the playstyle that suits you best as you adventure across the Sword Coast and beyond.

Very early in your adventure, you’ll find that one particular NPC who was already helpful in Early Access has suddenly become even more useful. When you find him in the early stages of Act 1, he’ll have a few extra helpful abilities to help you in this arena – giving you the opportunity to restart your build from Level 1 with new starting proficiencies, attributes, spells, and cantrips.

Mercenaries At Your Service – Recruit Lethal Assistance With Hirelings


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“But what if I want to create a party that is made up entirely of giant druidic badgers?”

We hear you loud and clear, community. Should you so choose, you’ll be able to create a custom party without any Origins, opting instead to have Hirelings join you on the road – mercenaries who can be hired to join your team temporarily.

In Baldur’s Gate 3, there are 12 Hirelings available for you to recruit – one for each class. Each has their own name, visuals, and race, and can be respecced at any time.

Experience Baldur’s Gate 3 Through New Eyes As A Playable Pre-Authored Origin Character

So what is an Origin character exactly? They’re playable heroes, each with their own stories, desires, and attitudes towards the world around you. If you choose to create your own customised character instead, these Origin characters become your companions, who you may (or may not) recruit throughout your journey.

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You may have already met Shadowheart, Wyll, Gale, Astarion, Lae’zel, and Karlach – heroes each with their own tale to tell and secrets to reveal, driven by your choices as the player. Today, however, we’re looking at an entirely new way to play Baldur’s Gate 3. The Dark Urge.

Become The Dark Urge – Your Final Playable Origin


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Over the past three weeks, we’ve been leaving a breadcrumb trail of clues leading to the reveal of the final playable Origin character. The community-driven murder mystery Blood in Baldur’s Gate saw players investigate a series of vicious murders across the Lower City and attempt to track down their perpetrator. While y’all were ultimately brutally murdered at the killer’s hand, in your last waking moments, you saw your executioner: the Dark Urge, an imposing dragonborn with alabaster skin and the piercing gaze of a predator in the wild.

Unlike Baldur’s Gate 3’s other playable protagonists, the Dark Urge is a fully customisable character. Should you prefer that this darkness take the shape of a doe-eyed gnome instead, or think true evil is a half-orc armed with a bongo, the choice is yours: from your class and species, to your gender and overall appearance, and even your name.

Who is the Dark Urge, then? That’s a good question, and it’s one that players will answer for themselves as they journey down this dark path. As the Dark Urge, you begin Baldur’s Gate 3 with your memory lost after an unfortunate encounter between a parasitic tadpole and your brain. Now all that’s left is an insatiable urge – an urge that makes itself known in your subconscious, through your deepest thoughts and in your dialogue options.


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Guiding the Dark Urge in their time of need is Sceleritas Fel, voiced by Brian Bowles (narrator in Divinity: Original Sin 2). A vile and loyal servant, Fel lives only to see the Dark Urge return to their rightful, bloodstained path and urges them to commit some of the most lurid acts of violence that you'll encounter in the game. But whether you indulge your most depraved impulses or attempt to resist them in this role is entirely up to you.

Because despite the darkness lurking within this character, how you choose to play the Dark Urge is for you to decide. In Baldur’s Gate 3, there is no clear-cut “Evil path” and no path that is plainly Good. There are simply choices, ramifications, and a personal evolution that will ensure who you play is as complex and multifaceted as you are.

The Dark Urge can even form a romantic relationship just like any other Origin character. Of course, relationships with those who harbour dark secrets are often complicated, and this is one that will require a patient paramour capable of tempering and restraining their partner's most primal and untamed desires – and hopefully one with more than a passing interest in bondage.

Love In The Time Of Tentacles

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In Baldur’s Gate 3, we wanted romantic relationships to possess the same complexity and depth as any other part of our narrative.

Every relationship you forge is different, reflecting the personality and personal arc of that character over the course of the game. Some may begin with a steamy Wild Shape transformation, others start cautiously and require more attention to foster a deeper connection. Relationships change over time, and neither you nor your partner will be the same person in Act 1 as you are by the game’s end.

This includes in your relationship to your Guardian – the character you create at the start of the game who represents all that you desire. The Guardian has changed significantly since you first encountered them in your dreams throughout Early Access. We’ve worked to thematically deepen this narrative thread, going beyond the realm of physical desire to encompass the full spectrum of complex emotions that must be navigated in order for you to truly trust another. (We hope you enjoyed the previous maddeningly vague sentence, because you’ll have to play for yourself to find out what any of it means.)

The path to intimacy also varies greatly for each relationship along the course of the game. A companion like Lae’zel who exudes sexual energy at the beginning of a relationship can take time to let her guard down, making the act of holding her hand all the more intimate.

On the other hand, a relationship that begins with a night of post-goblin-slaughtering passion could also blossom into something vulnerable and sweet, given proper care. No two relationships follow the same formula.

It was important to us to portray sex as more than a trophy for complying with a companion's quest line. In Baldur’s Gate 3, you are encouraged to navigate your relationship – to argue with your partner and challenge their way of thinking. After all, if you just go along with whatever they want to do, you may find yourself sacrificed in an evil god's sex rite, turned into a vampire, or – worst of all, warns Senior Origin Narrative Designer Baudelaire Welch – you might even end up getting
married.


From Cauldron To Vial: Mastering The Art Of Alchemy

A new crafting feature comes to Baldur’s Gate. The domain of magic-wielders, conjurers, and anyone with a passing interest in mysterious fumes, Alchemy allows you to turn your collection of herbs, wild mushrooms, crystals, and monster limbs into useful items you can prepare ahead of a fight.

In Baldur’s Gate 3, you can use ingredients found in the wilderness to create a variety of extracts, then combine extracts to create potions, poisons, and oils to imbibe or coat your weapons with.


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Meet The Third Major Villain Of Baldur’s Gate 3 – Orin The Red


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Completing the trinity of villains in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Orin, a practitioner in the art of inflicting pain and a grandmaster of murder. Orin has killed for many years, but has yet to be caught, thanks in part to her shapeshifting abilities, which enable her to take the form of anyone – perhaps even someone in your camp.

She hides her cravings to commit murder beneath these numerous masks, disguising her intentions and herself to lure unsuspecting victims. It’s during the act of murder that she is her truest self. At that moment she is murder.

Orin is voiced by the incredible Maggie Robertson, known to many as the voice of Lady Dimitrescu (
Resident Evil Village
) and Skjóthendi the Unerring (
God of War Ragnarök
).

Split-Screen Co-Op Multiplayer


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In addition to having online multiplayer for four players, in Baldur’s Gate 3, two of you can grab controllers and jump straight into two-player split-screen couch co-op.

Baldur's Gate 3 comes to life in multiplayer, empowered by all those extra fingers poised to tip the dominoes and unleash a cascading chain of events upon the Forgotten Realms. Players can join a party before the start of a playthrough, during Character Creation, or during an ongoing game. Each of the playable Origin characters can be chosen only once, or, should you prefer, you can mould a creation of your own.

Players will share most of the information that the game provides them, like Journal notes about ongoing adventures, minimap discoveries, and alchemical recipes. Player inventories are also shared by default in multiplayer, but there is an option to lock your inventory from your thieving pals.

Players also share Inspiration points that they gain when fulfilling goals defined by their chosen Background. These points can be used to reroll checks in dialogue. In multiplayer, you can listen in on conversations started by another player and vote on which dialogue option you want them to take. Some select scenes are private by default in your options, however, including romance scenes. But players can make all secret scenes public to their party should they wish.

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A Cinematic Kaleidoscope – Showcasing The Breadth And Depth Of Your Choices

Baldur’s Gate 3’s 174 hours of cinematic content is a reflection of all the possible choices players can make in the game, and the narrative permutations that will come out of each of those decisions.

With more than 2000 characters for you to interact with, different reactivities based on your chosen species and class, and a golden path that takes over 80 hours to complete, you can expect to discover a staggering amount of previously unseen content in your second or even third playthrough.

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If you caught Panel From Hell last week, you'll have seen just how those decisions affect your experience once you set foot into Act 2. Trek through the mountain pass as Shadowheart then explore the Sharran territory of the Shadow-Cursed Lands safely as a cleric of Shar. Or you might instead choose to traverse the Underdark, then find safety within a hamlet of Harpers – led by the long-standing series icon herself: Jaheira, #mommy.

Whispers And Headlines - The Echoes Of Your Deeds On The City’s Gossip Mill

Upon reaching Baldur’s Gate, your choices will begin to express themselves throughout the world in other ways. Crowds in the city will systematically gossip and talk about your escapades and failures, and can even be influenced through you directly modifying the paper and printing the most favourable headlines.

Don’t Worry, You Can Stream BG3

As we near release, we thought it prudent to remind anyone looking to stream Baldur's Gate 3 of some useful tools designed to create a better experience for you and your audience.

Some of you have shown concern about mature content that could potentially become flagged by your chosen streaming platform. For those of you who want complete peace of mind, you will find two new user options within the Options menu: “Show Cinematic Nudity” and “Show Genitals”. From here, you can enable or disable this content at your convenience.

We’d also like to remind you that there is a really cool Twitch Integration that, once enabled and connected to, lets your viewers see your Party View, track your quests, and vote on dialogue options.

The Road Ahead


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We’ve updated our Steam page to better reflect the content of the game and bring the Early Access section up to date, as well as the specifications. On that page, we’re recommending that players don’t buy the Early Access version of Baldur's Gate 3 with a view to play through that content, partly because it’s out of date but mostly because we’re so close to launch and want to make it very clear that
saves in the Early Access version will not transfer into the final game
. This is due to technical reasons.

Essentially, the game is so vastly different that it’s not possible to make those save files compatible. Early Access will, of course, remain playable up to launch.

A purchase of Early Access is essentially a pre-order, and will still grant you access to the Digital Deluxe content for Baldur's Gate 3 on PC, granting you access to: an exclusive in-game dice skin, the Divinity Bard Song Pack, Treasures of Rivellon Pack, Adventurer’s Pouch, Digital OST, Digital Artbook, and Digital Character Sheets for D&D IRL.

The PC Digital Deluxe Edition does not include a 72 hour head start
, which would have essentially made the game’s release date July 31st. Shifting the release date – and thus communication around the Digital Deluxe Editions across PS5 and PC – came with a few complexities that we didn’t manage to communicate very well, so we thought it best to clarify it here, given that a 72 hour head start on PC wouldn't have been plausible.

But isn’t it wild? Our PC launch is just a few weeks away! Baldur's Gate 3 is set to release to PC on
August 3rd
, followed by its PlayStation 5 release just a few weeks later on
September 6th
– or
September 3rd
if you pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe Edition for PS5.

For those of you who have been with us throughout Early Access, we want to thank you for all your support over the years. One of the reasons we chose to release Baldur's Gate 3 in Early Access is because it would give us an opportunity to listen to your feedback and make meaningful changes in return. As a result, your participation has been instrumental in helping us bring the Forgotten Realms to life. Everything you play – be it Act 2 & 3, or a return to Act 1 – will reflect how we’ve gotten better at making the game, thanks in no small part to all of your feedback, comments, and love over the years.

We also want to send out a very special thank you to everyone who’s been sending us hyperrealistic Halsin fan art. It inspires us, it sustains us, it frightens us to our core. The meme game has been real.

We still have some work to do, but we’re thrilled to learn that those who played the game at our recent press event really enjoyed what they experienced, and we can’t wait for you to experience it yourselves.
"Act 1 makes up less than a quarter of the content that will be available at launch"

Weren't the divinity games standalone games? Meaning actually "finished" games?

I hope this doesn't mean they changed their release policy and this is one of those "pretty much still early access" releases.
 

Nerevar

N'wah
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Joined
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Make the Codex Great Again! Pathfinder: Wrath
I'm thinking Bard will be strong they get secret spell and 2nd attack never fail skillcheck, can heal, disable cutting words for a -1d12 to everything.
 

jaekl

Learned
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Joined
May 1, 2023
Messages
1,107
Location
Canada
Waiiiiit a minute. I need info on these hirelings, are they the no-nonsense adventurer guys I've been ranting and raving about the game needing? Are they just a bunch of homos like everyone else we've seen? Are they blank, empty automatons that might as well not exist?
 

Saravan

Savant
Joined
Jul 11, 2019
Messages
926
They are being deliberately vague on that shit. Says you can re-spec them, but unclear if you can fully re-spec them including name, race, etc. I mean it would be completely retarded if you couldn't but then again you have seen what they have done just this month so...
 
Joined
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I'm thinking Bard will be strong they get secret spell and 2nd attack never fail skillcheck, can heal, disable cutting words for a -1d12 to everything.
Bards are very good in 5e, though I can't say any of the basic classes are truly bad. Lore Bard will have a lot of thunder stolen by Wizards who can now scribe divine spells.
 

perfectslumbers

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 24, 2021
Messages
1,198
A sorcerer focused on utility spells instead of damaging ones....is it possible? Worthless? Asking the experts in the field.
Unless BG3 adds lots of blaster focused magic items or new subclasses, damage sorcerers are terrible in 5e. Just make a utility sorcerer that uses twin spell on haste and throws a fireball in a pinch.
 
Joined
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Milan, Italy
Waiiiiit a minute. I need info on these hirelings, are they the no-nonsense adventurer guys I've been ranting and raving about the game needing? Are they just a bunch of homos like everyone else we've seen? Are they blank, empty automatons that might as well not exist?
The latter, in theory. But who knows if they didn't throw in at least a bunch of voice lines for each one.

They are being deliberately vague on that shit. Says you can re-spec them, but unclear if you can fully re-spec them including name, race, etc. I mean it would be completely retarded if you couldn't but then again you have seen what they have done just this month so...
It's also a weird way to go about it, regardless. Let's say you can change everything about these hirelings too... Why not just add the ability to create one (or more) from zero rather than claiming "They are 12 in total, one per class, each with one name and set appearance"... And then you can undo each one of them.
 

Takamori

Learned
Joined
Apr 17, 2020
Messages
886
Waiiiiit a minute. I need info on these hirelings, are they the no-nonsense adventurer guys I've been ranting and raving about the game needing? Are they just a bunch of homos like everyone else we've seen? Are they blank, empty automatons that might as well not exist?
The latter, in theory. But who knows if they didn't throw in at least a bunch of voice lines for each one.

They are being deliberately vague on that shit. Says you can re-spec them, but unclear if you can fully re-spec them including name, race, etc. I mean it would be completely retarded if you couldn't but then again you have seen what they have done just this month so...
It's also a weird way to go about it, regardless. Let's say you can change everything about these hirelings too... Why not just add the ability to create one (or more) from zero rather than claiming "They are 12 in total, one per class, each with one name and set appearance"... And then you can undo each one of them.
At this point they are either just shitposting or whoever is responsible for implementing this stuff is high on sniffing their own farts and want to reinvent the wheel because the prima donna refuse to follow a single recipe in his life even if is something already tested thoroughly.
 

La vie sexuelle

Learned
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Messages
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Location
La Rochelle

Jesus Christ, if it doesn't annoy me to listen to two inept bragging that "Sorcerer with metamagic breaks literally the game because two fireball in one turn".
You are the morons that implemented it in this INCORRECT way into the game, because that's just not supposed to be possible.


And that is a reason why I don't engage in discussions about D&D mechanics - from Basic times it always worked on tape and glue. Every iteration bring something weird, especially in CRPG realm. D&D works only in tabletop and only because GM can change this for particular play.

With D&D mechanic or not, Larian always try made another Ultima 7.

Look at all those disgusting abomination creatures. It's like a trip to the zoo!
Looks like she's still mad about not getting laid since Chapter 1 in BG1.

Why? She was my waifu.
 

Jermu

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Aug 13, 2017
Messages
1,439
HD95HoU.png

In Baldur’s Gate 3, there are 12 Hirelings available for you to recruit – one for each class. Each has their own name, visuals, and race, and can be respecced at any time.
Hope you can change look / race / starting class of these, dwarf might be missing (what a bunch of abominations)
 

Orud

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Messages
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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
Also Paladin is known to drop off quite hard AFTER level 12 so it's not fortunate that the game ends there for people who want to do multiclass shenanigans with that class
Where do you get that from? If you are talking about munchkin builds... maybe, but then you'd multiclass away from Paladin way earlier. From 12th level onwards in 5E Paladins get:
  • 4th and 5th level spells, allowing your smites to destroy most threats often in 1 turn (gods like Tiamat might survive 1-2 turns extra). This is where the entire concept of 'nova' Paladins comes from.
  • Excellent high level Oath abilities like: Invincible Conqueror (Conquest), Undying Sentinel (Ancients), Elder Champion (Ancients), Soul of Vengeance (Vengeance), Supernatural Resistance (Oathbreaker), Dread Lord (Oathbreaker).
Paladin is regarded as one of the best and well rounded classes in 5E. They do not become trash after 12th level.
 
Last edited:

jaekl

Learned
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Joined
May 1, 2023
Messages
1,107
Location
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Waiiiiit a minute. I need info on these hirelings, are they the no-nonsense adventurer guys I've been ranting and raving about the game needing? Are they just a bunch of homos like everyone else we've seen? Are they blank, empty automatons that might as well not exist?
The latter, in theory. But who knows if they didn't throw in at least a bunch of voice lines for each one.

They are being deliberately vague on that shit. Says you can re-spec them, but unclear if you can fully re-spec them including name, race, etc. I mean it would be completely retarded if you couldn't but then again you have seen what they have done just this month so...
It's also a weird way to go about it, regardless. Let's say you can change everything about these hirelings too... Why not just add the ability to create one (or more) from zero rather than claiming "They are 12 in total, one per class, each with one name and set appearance"... And then you can undo each one of them.

I mean, I'm not down to play yet another RPG where I have to write and design the whole cast and then they silently follow you around like zombies. But if the mercs were normal looking dudes and had a personality that wasn't annoyingly quirky and reacted to things, I would consider murdering my way through this fantasy realm. Likely wishful thinking on my part.

EDIT: Nevermind, the hirelings look to all be clowns too lmao
 

Rhobar121

Scholar
Joined
Sep 22, 2022
Messages
1,261
Isn't the ranger the worst class (as usual) ?
Gloom ranger is pretty fucking broken in the right situation, actually.
And not incidentally the most popular ranger subclass by a landslide.

Also, the real stinker remains arguably the monk, if we go by PHB material.
Gloom stalker is not PHB.
 

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