Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 RELEASE THREAD

[Cryomancer]

but requires it at higher difficulties.

Nope. I finished PF:KM as a Thassilonian especialist without multiclassing, in unfair difficulty ( PFKM UNFAIR run as Thassilonian necromancer, with videos thread )

One of the most OP builds for unfair is to have 5 merc sorcerers with animal companions + a druid with animal companion to heal as MC. In WoTR, I without multiclassing, played in hard and only had toruble in the end game, where you need to fight hordes of demons after hordes of demons with no place to rest. In BG3, I never fell the need to save the best spells for later, except in the end of act 3.

 

[Barbarian]

I was legitimately positively surprised by oathbreaker class and presentation. I know it isn't much and the oathbreaker undead entity is mostly there as a means for butthurt and regretful players to renew their oaths at the cost of gold, but still. His whole short presentation and exposition is probably some of the best written stuff in the game.

Also a nice touch that he has meaningful dark urge interactions.

I'm pretty sure the whole thing is a heavy reinterpretation of WOTC lore btw. Isn't the oathbreaker supposed to be the "Blackguard" of older editions? I know 5e went ahead with making evil paladins a thing, but having anti-paladins being good is a whole other ballgame.

There was going to be a bard but it's unrelated to Halsin.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGat...ompanion_that_got_scrapped_because_of_halsin/

Would have been the only little person in the roster as well.

But off course they went for the horny and playersexual muscular bear druid.

 

[rojay]

Multiclassing has been a mistake. Pathfinder just takes it to the absolute extreme and all but requires it at higher difficulties. Luckily you can finish BG3 without a Paladin/Necromancer/Monk/Warlock.

nah bro, i'm just gonna dip this one level, i swear, it's not like i have a problem or anything. i can quit any time i want

All jonesing for that sweet monk dip. "Look man, I got some kushigo stuff to do don't hassle me now. I'm done after I get tavern brawler, I shit you not."

 

[Haplo]

Life domain is op. At least with the itemization in this game. Burst healing and buffing the entire party at will as both action or bonus action is very powerful(free bless + blade ward for two rounds every time you do it without concentration involved). I respec'd shadowheart both this and the first playthrough. No real reason not to.

If you want the class to make more sense plotwise respect her after she rejects Shar(unless off course you prefer to keep her as a bpd weirdo with non-conventional haircut who goes on to murder her parents).

Its not like much healing is needed here. Killing enemies first > trying to outheal incoming damage.
Healing pots are cheap and abundant.

Wasted Domain IMO (though handy very early game, I guess).
Pretty much only Tempest and Light are solid IMO.

Nature is also semi-decent for a different kind of cleric... but then you could be a druid instead.

I don't even share the popular sentiment for War. Redundant spell list, couple of Bonus Action attacks per Long Rest - where Bonus Action attacks are usually trivial to weaponize anyway. IMO they should have gotten Extra Attack instead. But whatever.

 

[Haplo]

Multiclassing has been a mistake. Pathfinder just takes it to the absolute extreme and all but requires it at higher difficulties. Luckily you can finish BG3 without a Paladin/Necromancer/Monk/Warlock.

nah bro, i'm just gonna dip this one level, i swear, it's not like i have a problem or anything. i can quit any time i want

All jonesing for that sweet monk dip. "Look man, I got some kushigo stuff to do don't hassle me now. I'm done after I get tavern brawler, I shit you not."

That at least no longer makes much sense for most builds, with the monk AC not stacking and versatile one-handed weapons being generally inferior. Unless you REALLY want to hit stuff with your fists.

 

[Haplo]

Still haven't figured out what exactly Invisibility does in contrast to just Stealth but if you can figure out a way to make it relevant it's there from the second Channel Divinity slot at lvl 6.

With Invisibility you can ignore enemy sight radiuses. Not sure if you still need some Stealth to avoid making noise, but in principle you can effortlessly approach enemies to steal / stab / always start a Surprise round.

Greater Invisibility even lets you repeatedly stab enemies while staying undetected - but you need increasingly difficult skillchecks to avoid detection after attacking (so you need heavy Stealth focus to use it reliably, preferably Expertise + Advantage; Pass Without Trace wouldn't hurt).

Anyway, if you like/want the stealthy playstyle, there are better/easier/more spammable ways. The main one being a level 5+ duergar, who gets to freely spam Invisibility outside combat (limited to 1 use in combat). This one will always break on interacting with environment/stealing/picking stuff or attacking. Durge Cloak, which self-buffs Invisibility for 3 round on kill. Then there is Gloomstalker, who can Invisible 1/per fight when obscured - and Shadow Monk - who can unlimited Invisible when obscured.

Trickery Cleric's limited use Invisibility is very humble next to those.

 

[Modron]

There was going to be a bard but it's unrelated to Halsin.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGat...ompanion_that_got_scrapped_because_of_halsin/

MerchantKing

 

[MerchantKing]

There was going to be a bard but it's unrelated to Halsin.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGat...ompanion_that_got_scrapped_because_of_halsin/

MerchantKing

Looks like a halfling. But if it's a bard, I don't think it matters because you can turn every character into a bard thanks to Larian's respec system.

 

[DemonKing]

A true survivor I guess. I can remember playing White Plume Mountain back in the day:

https://www.eurogamer.net/from-crea...rs-gate-3-meet-the-man-who-coined-the-term-xp

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

There was a rumored Helia or some shit, which was supposed to be a bard halfling affected by lycanthropy.

Too bad they sacked the concept entirely for unknown reasons. In part probably because they listened to the feedback about making minor NPCs that appeared in EA companions.
In part because the user base on their forum at some point made them realize what a risk it was to allow the player to have canonically sex with a child-sized lady.

 

[Rhobar121]

There was a rumored Helia or some shit, which was supposed to be a bard halfling affected by lycanthropy.

Too bad they sacked the concept entirely for unknown reasons. In part probably because they listened to the feedback about making minor NPCs that appeared in EA companions.
In part because the user base on their forum at some point made them realize what a risk it was to allow the player to have canonically sex with a child-sized lady.

The concept of this character has changed at least 3 times. Initially, she played the role of Halsin.

 

[Desiderius]

Still haven't figured out what exactly Invisibility does in contrast to just Stealth but if you can figure out a way to make it relevant it's there from the second Channel Divinity slot at lvl 6.

With Invisibility you can ignore enemy sight radiuses. Not sure if you still need some Stealth to avoid making noise, but in principle you can effortlessly approach enemies to steal / stab / always start a Surprise round.

Greater Invisibility even lets you repeatedly stab enemies while staying undetected - but you need increasingly difficult skillchecks to avoid detection after attacking (so you need heavy Stealth focus to use it reliably, preferably Expertise + Advantage; Pass Without Trace wouldn't hurt).

Anyway, if you like/want the stealthy playstyle, there are better/easier/more spammable ways. The main one being a level 5+ duergar, who gets to freely spam Invisibility outside combat (limited to 1 use in combat). This one will always break on interacting with environment/stealing/picking stuff or attacking. Durge Cloak, which self-buffs Invisibility for 3 round on kill. Then there is Gloomstalker, who can Invisible 1/per fight when obscured - and Shadow Monk - who can unlimited Invisible when obscured.

Trickery Cleric's limited use Invisibility is very humble next to those.

It's a lot less limited than Warlock's!

I'm not dicking around with making a Duergar lol. I've only got 4 slots, if I'm going to get the companion content in that means being limited to companions, but I can respec for variety. Trickery Domain is redundant with Cleric of Shar maybe?

Can't remember. Maybe Cleric duplicates Human Shield Prof and Asstarion brings more to the table as an Elf? Anyway the Domain isn't uber but you don't need uber and it adds some unique options while still giving you the usual fast spell progression of Cleric.

 

[Haplo]

Maybe go with a Darkness themed party, then? Shadow Monks and Gloomstalkers benefit from being obscured. Assassins fit obviously as well (and like Invisibility). Warlocks can see trough the Darkness.

 

[Yuber]

How is this game treating the established world and lore of Faerûn?
I read you go with low level inside the underdark which is one of the most dangerous places and in the old games you are like LV 13-15 before you go down there.

 

[Cyberarmy]

How is this game treating the established world and lore of Faerûn?
I read you go with low level inside the underdark which is one of the most dangerous places and in the old games you are like LV 13-15 before you go down there.

It mostly shits on it on most fronts. As locations and background lore it is fantastic but you can head down Underdark like level 3-4 and survive, while killing some minatours and other powerful enemies.
But still there are some nice places and stuff with good amount of exploration.

 

[Daidre]

How is this game treating the established world and lore of Faerûn?

Like a rainbow circus fountaining with woke at every corner.

Same way as wotc treats it, tbh.

 

[Lacrymas]

How is this game treating the established world and lore of Faerûn?

Like a rainbow circus fountaining with woke at every corner.

Same way as wotc treats it, tbh.

Just how Ed Greenwood designed it. Outside of that, though, it's a mess in terms of lore. Almost nothing makes sense and Larian just did whatever they wanted with no regard to established concepts.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

How is this game treating the established world and lore of Faerûn?

Baldur's Gate 3 is exceedingly faithful to Ed Greenwood's vision of his Magical Realm, Faerûn:

Legally Wizards of the coast cannot contradict any lore Ed Greenwood states as part of the deal for the sale of forgotten realms, so let me remind you that the following is canon.

• Bi-sexuality is normal (and yes, this means the men as well as the women).
• "Revels" (sex orgies) are normal.
• "Festhalls" (brothels) are in every small village and visiting them is normal way to spend evening.
• Prostitution is the main industry of Forgotten Realms, "sex workers" are everywhere and there are about 100 different names for different kinds of prostitutes.
• Incest is normal way for families to "indulge feelings of mutual affection".
• Public city-wide orgies are the way to celebrate major holidays.

All of this is confirmed by Ed Greenwood himself, from Ed's responses to fan queries on the Candlekeep forum.

Sources:

http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/sse/so_saith_ed.htm

https://pastebin.com/hEVadYsN

https://pastebin.com/1MuQ6wFt

The above were typical for the Forgotten Realms at the time TSR adopted it for its own use, but Ed Greenwood's fetishes have expanded over the decades and always contained some less-frequently expressed quirks. Although TSR heavily sanitized the setting in its published material from 1987 through 1996, bits of Greenwood's version sneaked through; for example, FR11 Dwarves Deep, written by Greenwood himself, has dwarves kidnapping human women to keep as sex slaves. Since the demise of TSR, the Forgotten Realms has gradually reverted to its true self, while being updated for Current Year mores.

 

[Lacrymas]

Going into Tali sweat analysis territory there.

 

[Yosharian]

How is this game treating the established world and lore of Faerûn?

Baldur's Gate 3 is exceedingly faithful to Ed Greenwood's vision of his Magical Realm, Faerûn:

Legally Wizards of the coast cannot contradict any lore Ed Greenwood states as part of the deal for the sale of forgotten realms, so let me remind you that the following is canon.

• Bi-sexuality is normal (and yes, this means the men as well as the women).
• "Revels" (sex orgies) are normal.
• "Festhalls" (brothels) are in every small village and visiting them is normal way to spend evening.
• Prostitution is the main industry of Forgotten Realms, "sex workers" are everywhere and there are about 100 different names for different kinds of prostitutes.
• Incest is normal way for families to "indulge feelings of mutual affection".
• Public city-wide orgies are the way to celebrate major holidays.

All of this is confirmed by Ed Greenwood himself, from Ed's responses to fan queries on the Candlekeep forum.

Sources:

http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/sse/so_saith_ed.htm

https://pastebin.com/hEVadYsN

https://pastebin.com/1MuQ6wFt

The above were typical for the Forgotten Realms at the time TSR adopted it for its own use, but Ed Greenwood's fetishes have expanded over the decades and always contained some less-frequently expressed quirks. Although TSR heavily sanitized the setting in its published material from 1987 through 1996, bits of Greenwood's version sneaked through; for example, FR11 Dwarves Deep, written by Greenwood himself, has dwarves kidnapping human women to keep as sex slaves. Since the demise of TSR, the Forgotten Realms has gradually reverted to its true self, while being updated for Current Year mores.

Ok I am the world's worst FR apologist but this (the breastmilk stuff) is disgusting.

 

[Modron]

Ok I am the world's worst FR apologist but this (the breastmilk stuff) is disgusting.

BSN is back baby.

 

[whydoibother]

Baldur's Gate 3 lore is now US presidential race material

 

[Modron]

How do you do fellow kids.jpg

 

[Infinitron]

May 19-21:

 

[Larianshill]

Here's a good question for you, Swen - at the last Panel from Hell, you've said that this game's central themes are about power, the corrupting nature of it, and how far would you go to achieve it. Something of that nature. Where is that in the game?