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

[Yosharian]

Some of the regular illithid powers seem super strong btw. Psionic backlash in particular.

Most of them are insanely powerful and trivialise the game

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Some of the regular illithid powers seem super strong btw. Psionic backlash in particular.

Most of them are insanely powerful and trivialise the game

Imagine Larian providing a game mechanic that trivializes combat!

 

[Yosharian]

Some of the regular illithid powers seem super strong btw. Psionic backlash in particular.

Most of them are insanely powerful and trivialise the game

Imagine Larian providing a game mechanic that trivializes combat!

If you had to turn into an Illithid in order to use them, it would actually be a difficult choice...

Instead we get zero consequences and all the power

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Instead we get zero consequences and all the power

Completely different from the rest of Baldur's Gate 3!

 

[Haplo]

Some of the regular illithid powers seem super strong btw. Psionic backlash in particular.

Most of them are insanely powerful and trivialise the game

You need to wait till Act 3 for the really strong ones, though. The earlier are a neat addition - they hardly trivialize anything.

And in Act 3 you're either near or at the level cap and 90% of the game content is trivial regardless, so who cares?

Itemization, including much earlier itemization, is a much bigger balance concern.

 

[Barbarian]

I actually don't plan to use astral tadpole, just the basic powers.

 

[Haplo]

In this case, no worries. Psionic Backlash is pretty weak IMO?

Dominance is much better for non-casters, but you won't get it.

Favourable Beginnings and Luck of the Far Realms are always great, though.
Cull the Weak (+ stack tadpoles) is also nice.
Overload is some nice bonus damage, I guess. But often not worth the (Bonus) Action.

 

[Barbarian]

I will probably use level cap mod but house rule so that you can only take a maximum of 12 levels in a class(otherwise I'm sure higher level features will break an already unbalanced game).

Some classes really don't give themselves well to multiclass. Monk for instance, which is the class I will take. I guess take levels in Rogue after getting shadowstrike? Thief for the extra bonus action maybe. Expertise in stealth goes really well for a shadowmonk.

Shadowheart knowledge cleric and Astarion lore Bard. No idea second class for each upon level 12. Maybe arcane trickster for Astarion. Either Minthara or Laezel for 4th spot. There is a lot of gith theme gear with psychic damage.

 

[Grunker]

The modding scene seems to have taken off a bit since the modding tools were released. Here's to hoping for a polished difficulty mod that ties in with Honour Mode.

 

[Haplo]

Now wouldn't that be something.

 

[Barbarian]

First difficulty mod for consoles dropped:

https://baldursgate3.game/mods/#/m/tactician-enhanced

Options are to increase enemy HP by a fixed %, give enemies extra action(s) and give enemies extra bonus action(s). Honestly I'm divided on this. On one hand it allows you to make the game on tactician or honour much more challenging.

On the other hand increasing HP has the potential to only make fights longer/boring, and extra action and bonus action shits on the P&P rules. Suddenly you will be fighting level 3 goblins who have two actions every round or even extra bonus actions. Seems kind of silly. Wish they could restrict it to bosses or something, even though bosses already have extra "special" actions.

One argument for it is that vanilla enemies rarely ever use the haste spell or speed potions(which I assume every PC will use often on higher difficulty). I will probably try this with 25% extra hp and extra action for enemies, see how it goes. Put it together with increased level cap mod and let it run.

 

[Grunker]

Yeah difficulty mods have been sorely disappointing so far. The promising ones aren't getting the development they need.

 

[Barbarian]

Extra bonus action is a no-no to me, considering how shove is inplemented and how often enemies use it. It would make Athletics and Acrobatics the most vital skill proficiencies.

 

[Yosharian]

All you really need is Absolute Wrath and Combat Extender

 

[Rhobar121]

First difficulty mod for consoles dropped:

https://baldursgate3.game/mods/#/m/tactician-enhanced

Options are to increase enemy HP by a fixed %, give enemies extra action(s) and give enemies extra bonus action(s). Honestly I'm divided on this. On one hand it allows you to make the game on tactician or honour much more challenging.

On the other hand increasing HP has the potential to only make fights longer/boring, and extra action and bonus action shits on the P&P rules. Suddenly you will be fighting level 3 goblins who have two actions every round or even extra bonus actions. Seems kind of silly. Wish they could restrict it to bosses or something, even though bosses already have extra "special" actions.

One argument for it is that vanilla enemies rarely ever use the haste spell or speed potions(which I assume every PC will use often on higher difficulty). I will probably try this with 25% extra hp and extra action for enemies, see how it goes. Put it together with increased level cap mod and let it run.

Last time I played I used progressive HP increases for enemies based on levels (e.g. level 1 - 100% more HP, level 6 - 150%).
Eventually the game reached 350% base HP for every enemy at level 10+ and it still didn't make the fights long.

One note, all HP mods start with the base amount of HP that enemies have on Normal difficulty. Most enemies on Tactician get a 40% HP bonus, so increasing HP by 25% will cause them to have less HP than tactician.

 

[whydoibother]

Yeah difficulty mods have been sorely disappointing so far. The promising ones aren't getting the development they need.

Balancing a high difficulty in a game with dice rolls is impossible, unless you think that Save and Load are core game mechanics.

 

[Rhobar121]

Yeah difficulty mods have been sorely disappointing so far. The promising ones aren't getting the development they need.

Balancing a high difficulty in a game with dice rolls is impossible, unless you think that Save and Load are core game mechanics.

People who complained that goblins had too much hp were retarded morons. Every boss in the game has too little hp to survive even one turn once the player reaches level 5. Even increasing the value by 100% doesn't improve it much.

 

[whydoibother]

People who complained that goblins had too much hp were retarded morons. Every boss in the game has too little hp to survive even one turn once the player reaches level 5. Even increasing the value by 100% doesn't improve it much.

Only if you treat the combat encounters as puzzles, and solve them as if you are playing Into the Breach.
If you are a normie on console, playing on your TV from your couch, and you just want to cast Fireball, the combat is fine.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a Bioware game, not a custom map for HoMM3 where you have to conquer the map with 3 skeletons and the Armaggedon spell.

 

[Desiderius]

People who complained that goblins had too much hp were retarded morons. Every boss in the game has too little hp to survive even one turn once the player reaches level 5. Even increasing the value by 100% doesn't improve it much.

Only if you treat the combat encounters as puzzles, and solve them as if you are playing Into the Breach.
If you are a normie on console, playing on your TV from your couch, and you just want to cast Fireball, the combat is fine.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a Bioware game, not a custom map for HoMM3 where you have to conquer the map with 3 skeletons and the Armaggedon spell.

Anybody remember the Thief scenario in Lords of Magic? That’s got to be the hardest version of that kind of thing in a base game.

 

[Barbarian]

There are seriously a lot of hidden mechanics in this game. Stuff that the devs implemented but for some reason left out of tooltips and descriptions.

I am on my 5th playthrough and only now I find out that arrows of darkness have the special feature of not breaking stealth and invisibility.

Opens up a whole lot of strategies and gameplay loops if you are playing a rogue, shadow monk ot other stealthy character. Even more so if you have the ability to see through magical darkness.

 

[Haplo]

There are seriously a lot of hidden mechanics in this game. Stuff that the devs implemented but for some reason left out of tooltips and descriptions.

I am on my 5th playthrough and only now I find out that arrows of darkness have the special feature of not breaking stealth and invisibility.

Opens up a whole lot of strategies and gameplay loops if you are playing a rogue, shadow monk ot other stealthy character. Even more so if you have the ability to see through magical darkness.

Well, if you kill undetected (or stay Invisible with Greater Invisibility), you don't even enter the combat mode.

 

[volklore]

Thinking of a second playthough now that a bunch of patches have gone through. Honor mode (without single save) is good enough for a bit more of a challenge ? Any difficulty mod got out that reduces a bunch of resources (like alchemy stuff or food)?

 

[Grunker]

Thinking of a second playthough now that a bunch of patches have gone through. Honor mode (without single save) is good enough for a bit more of a challenge ? Any difficulty mod got out that reduces a bunch of resources (like alchemy stuff or food)?

I’ve been very disappointed with the difficulty mods so far, they’re mostly just stacking stats. It’s the sole reason I haven’t started my second playthrough yet.

Yosharian has a preferred difficulty mod setup AFAIR, maybe he could recommend it

 

[Barbarian]

Only way to legitimately increase difficulty in this game is to play honour mode and self-impose limitations. Off the top of my head some examples:

1. Don't play a Paladin or Hexblade
2. NO BARRELMANCY
3. Don't multiclass
4. Dont use particularly OP and gamechanging gear and consumables(i.e: Hellrider Gloves, Elixir of Hill Giant Strenght, etc)

Also play thematic but underpowered classes(i.e: Rogue).

Otherwise it is a feature of Larian to fill their games with cheese. You need to opt to avoid it.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Only way to legitimately increase difficulty in this game is to play honour mode and self-impose limitations. Off the top of my head some examples:

1. Don't play a Paladin or Hexblade
2. NO BARRELMANCY
3. Don't multiclass
4. Dont use particularly OP and gamechanging gear and consumables(i.e: Hellrider Gloves, Elixir of Hill Giant Strenght, etc)

Also play thematic but underpowered classes(i.e: Rogue).

Otherwise it is a feature of Larian to fill their games with cheese. You need to opt to avoid it.

I finished the game just like this in the start and it was a breeze after getting to level 5. Standar fighter, cleric, rogue and wizard setup.
Rogue Astarion was oneshotting most enemies with alpha strikes.