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

[Mortmal]

Astarion and gale were downed very fast and contributed nothing.

I brought these two fuckers as well, and in my game they took turns dying on turn 1.
Looks like I need to rework the party, maybe respec and requip people for more durability. Stealth is useless in that encounter, range is also hard to keep, and there's nowhere to Misty Step to. Lots of immune to poison, lots of resistant to piercing. Just not how I've been fighting so far.
I also don't know what blood of lathander is, I'm guessing some weapon (no spoilers pls). I'll explore the map to see if I can get to 8, maybe get some better weapons, maybe put a shield on Shadowheart again.

Well you neeed to explore the monastery more its before the shadow lands , no shit you are underleveled you missed a whole area.

 

[Mortmal]

That said astarion is only good at lockpicking, i respecced him as assasin , but if you cant enter the fight stealthed he's bringing nothing. Gale ? waste one turn or two to buff, too bad in this fight he wont have the luxury to do so. that's why people say martials are superior, not only you get the best gear, i have yet to find something making gale more powerful, but i am drowning under magic weapons.

 

[jackofshadows]

lmao the first legendary item I (and everyone else I presume) found is fucking bugged

Spoiler

see where SH lies and then they'll down her

enemies were healed too as you see :D

oh and by the way you can go to passives and try to turn off its passive light but it doesn't work as well so it's doubly bugged

 

[Desiderius]

That said astarion is only good at lockpicking, i respecced him as assasin , but if you cant enter the fight stealthed he's bringing nothing. Gale ? waste one turn or two to buff, too bad in this fight he wont have the luxury to do so. that's why people say martials are superior, not only you get the best gear, i have yet to find something making gale more powerful, but i am drowning under magic weapons.

Why are you wasting a turn or two to buff? Are you trying to gish with him?

Evoker gets selective on all its nukes upfront and eventually adds INT to dam, which likely pales in comparison to simple barrelmancy with surfaces. You’ve got unique things from the other schools too that change the way he plays, which one did you choose?

My guess on Asstarion is using his Expertise to rob everything blind then load up on Elemental Arrows to set off surfaces, that’s what my Archer did in D:OS II. Easier to re-hide at range. Haven’t gotten very far yet on his playthrough so will see.

 

[Space Satan]

You can summon ghouls and throw them at the enemy.

 

[Mortmal]

That said astarion is only good at lockpicking, i respecced him as assasin , but if you cant enter the fight stealthed he's bringing nothing. Gale ? waste one turn or two to buff, too bad in this fight he wont have the luxury to do so. that's why people say martials are superior, not only you get the best gear, i have yet to find something making gale more powerful, but i am drowning under magic weapons.

Why are you wasting a turn or two to buff? Are you trying to gish with him?

Evoker gets selective on all its nukes upfront and eventually adds INT to dam, which likely pales in comparison to simple barrelmancy with surfaces. You’ve got unique things from the other schools too that change the way he plays, which one did you choose?

My guess on Asstarion is using his Expertise to rob everything blind then load up on Elemental Arrows to set off surfaces, that’s what my Archer did in D:OS II. Easier to re-hide at range. Haven’t gotten very far yet on his playthrough so will see.

Because without Mirror Image or Blur, he's just a pincushion. Enemies definitely target him first or even rush him. His nukes, which I've left as evocation, aren't really worth it when enemies are so spread out. The paladin can simply smite twice or more if hasted per round, benefiting from the awesome weapons you find along the way and already equipped with magic armor. Larian is far more generous than it should be compared to 5E rules, so equipment-dependent characters will shine.

Later on, I discovered that Greater Invisibility is bugged and breaks after casting a spell or attacking. It really kills the mood to keep him around when you need him only to counterspell, that you can do later with tadpole power too. Astarion is salvageable; you can re-hide, but rogues have never been the top damage dealers in 5E. I'm keeping him because it would be too annoying to reform the party each time you have a lock to pick.

 

[Jermu]

So Im 10% off from level 10 and soon going to baldur's gate
also every shield I have found so far has been +2 AC, 1h+shield does not look too tempting for melee compared to 2h options
act 2 think I had to retry fight only once, act 1 was closer to 10

Item rarities don't make much sense to me some epic/legendary items are pretty trash but then there are magic items that I doubt Im going to replace

I have tested most of classes now and so far pala is probably my favorite, respecced into classical pala+sorc combo and it is great vs bosses

 

[Voids]

I'm playing fighter rogue but have never played 5e before. Any tips on how to build it? R6/f6? Medium armor mastery or go just straight ability score increases for feats? I'm running r4/f2 currently and he's decent so far.

You should really get that extra attack at Fighter level 5 ASAP IMO.
I'd even consider respeccing?

Also what subclasses? I guess Thief gets an extra Bonus Action, so can make +1 offhand attack at least.

I went with assassin. i basically get 2 sneak attacks at the beginning of combat. for fighter not sure yet, maybe battle master.

BM is awesome. Loving Riposte. Short Rest refreshing abilities are very good fit for the amount of combat there is. Suggests that Warlock should be good too.

Start out with the attack that gives disadvantage if target attacks anything but the BM, the Riposte triggers when it attacks you and misses.

What's your take on a fighter rogue build? 6/6? Wasting my time?

 

[Jermu]

6/6, 8/4 or something fighter rogue should definitely work but then is it better than 12 fighter I would doubt it but obviously cant say for certain without testing
tomorrow I should be max level so going to play around with max level builds then

 

[notpl]

I intend to make Astarion a thief/ranger and see no reason why it won't be excellent. Ranger 5/Thief 7 gets four attacks per round when dual-wielding, adding full attribute bonus and +1d6 hunter's mark damage on all of them and +4d6 sneak attack on the first. With short swords it's 12d6+20 per round (or +28 vs a favored enemy) before any magic item bonuses - nothing to sneeze at. A pure thief 12 would be doing 9d6+5. With Fighter you get action surge but lose Hunter's Mark plus all the ranger's other utility spells and abilities, which seems strictly inferior as a rogue multi. Plus the gloom stalker subclass gives a ton of other little advantages to a stealthy stabman.

 

[Haplo]

Made Gale a Diviner - Portent dice are a very interesting mechanic and he can just use throwable consumables to supplement early action econ until his casts come in.

(Shield spell also really good reaction).

Yeah, me too. Portent dice are a very cool mechanic.
Although I've been going back and forth between the Diviner and Conjurer specs. I think those are the best, at least for my playstyle. Edit: Though I guess Abjurer also has its uses if you want to have an exceptionally durable wizard. Evo is ok-ish, I guess - but then why aren't you playing a Sorc instead?

And now, particularly after reading the spell resource Yosh linked in his guide - and also witnessing the effect of upscaled Armor or Agathys on my melee lock against wet enemies - I kinda regret not going with Conjuration.
3x Create Water per Long Rest could have been really handy (and then you can dedicate the lvl 1 slots to Shock/Frost Chromatic Orbs, Sleeps and such).

Can you respec companions?


Btw. for my playstyle, the Cleric's Warding Bond is sick. Halves damage (although the avoided damage goes to cleric - she can mitigate/heal it without wasting actions needed for offensive), boosts, AC and saves. Lasts untill Long Rest. And its NOT Concentration based. Absolutely great with Armor of Agathys damage Shield + temp HP.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Can you respec companions?

Yes, just go talk the respec guy with the party member you want respec.

I kinda like every class and want to play all, WTF man. Paladins are OP, rangers too. Throwing build with barbarian is bonkers, then we got warlocks, clerics, fighters with pointy sticks. And this is before all multiclass shenanigans.
Oh my...

 

[Haplo]

I intend to make Astarion a thief/ranger and see no reason why it won't be excellent. Ranger 5/Thief 7 gets four attacks per round when dual-wielding, adding full attribute bonus and +1d6 hunter's mark damage on all of them and +4d6 sneak attack on the first. With short swords it's 12d6+20 per round (or +28 vs a favored enemy) before any magic item bonuses - nothing to sneeze at. A pure thief 12 would be doing 9d6+5. With Fighter you get action surge but lose Hunter's Mark plus all the ranger's other utility spells and abilities, which seems strictly inferior as a rogue multi. Plus the gloom stalker subclass gives a ton of other little advantages to a stealthy stabman.

I like this idea. Might steal it.

Although I am wondering who to mostly take along in my "core" party (alongside Shadowheart and Gale): Astarion with ranged spec or maybe Battlemaster Lae'Zal melee.
On one hand, ranged fire support would be very handy to eliminate the annoyingly spread ranged adds.

On the other hand, having a melee reliably push enemies off ledges and into (or back into) my Clouds of Darkness or Daggers (plus other persistant aoe niceties), as well as simply dominate simple enemies, would also be great.

Decisions, decisions. Guess I will split the game time between them.

 

[Grunker]

Astarion and gale were downed very fast and contributed nothing.

I brought these two fuckers as well, and in my game they took turns dying on turn 1.
Looks like I need to rework the party, maybe respec and requip people for more durability. Stealth is useless in that encounter, range is also hard to keep, and there's nowhere to Misty Step to. Lots of immune to poison, lots of resistant to piercing. Just not how I've been fighting so far.
I also don't know what blood of lathander is, I'm guessing some weapon (no spoilers pls). I'll explore the map to see if I can get to 8, maybe get some better weapons, maybe put a shield on Shadowheart again.

Well you neeed to explore the monastery more its before the shadow lands , no shit you are underleveled you missed a whole area.

You can explore the monastery and still miss Blood of Lathander easily if you don't use a guide. I knew there was something there, but I didn't figure it out, so I don't have it

 

[Grunker]

I intend to make Astarion a thief/ranger and see no reason why it won't be excellent. Ranger 5/Thief 7 gets four attacks per round when dual-wielding, adding full attribute bonus and +1d6 hunter's mark damage on all of them and +4d6 sneak attack on the first. With short swords it's 12d6+20 per round (or +28 vs a favored enemy) before any magic item bonuses - nothing to sneeze at. A pure thief 12 would be doing 9d6+5. With Fighter you get action surge but lose Hunter's Mark plus all the ranger's other utility spells and abilities, which seems strictly inferior as a rogue multi. Plus the gloom stalker subclass gives a ton of other little advantages to a stealthy stabman.

I like this idea. Might steal it.

Although I am wondering who to mostly take along in my "core" party (alongside Shadowheart and Gale): Astarion with ranged spec or maybe Battlemaster Lae'Zal melee.
On one hand, ranged fire support would be very handy to eliminate the annoyingly spread ranged adds.

On the other hand, having a melee reliably push enemies off ledges and into (or back into) my Clouds of Darkness or Daggers (plus other persistant aoe niceties), as well as simply dominate simple enemies, would also be great.

Decisions, decisions. Guess I will split the game time between them.

don't sweat it too much my man, for guys like us, this game is faceroll for the time being unfortunately. so bring what you find fun

 

[Grunker]

Can you respec companions?

The respec feature is *super* solid. I found one bug with it (Halsin had a few spells on his ranger spell list he shouldn't have, probably leftovers from Druid), other than that it's been totally glitch free and it's really fast and with easy usability.

I also kind of doubt Larian's own stuff that it would make companions lose story stuff. I don't really see why it would now, having played it.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I intend to make Astarion a thief/ranger and see no reason why it won't be excellent. Ranger 5/Thief 7 gets four attacks per round when dual-wielding, adding full attribute bonus and +1d6 hunter's mark damage on all of them and +4d6 sneak attack on the first. With short swords it's 12d6+20 per round (or +28 vs a favored enemy) before any magic item bonuses - nothing to sneeze at. A pure thief 12 would be doing 9d6+5. With Fighter you get action surge but lose Hunter's Mark plus all the ranger's other utility spells and abilities, which seems strictly inferior as a rogue multi. Plus the gloom stalker subclass gives a ton of other little advantages to a stealthy stabman.

I like this idea. Might steal it.

Although I am wondering who to mostly take along in my "core" party (alongside Shadowheart and Gale): Astarion with ranged spec or maybe Battlemaster Lae'Zal melee.
On one hand, ranged fire support would be very handy to eliminate the annoyingly spread ranged adds.

On the other hand, having a melee reliably push enemies off ledges and into (or back into) my Clouds of Darkness or Daggers (plus other persistant aoe niceties), as well as simply dominate simple enemies, would also be great.

Decisions, decisions. Guess I will split the game time between them.

Ranged combat is really powerful, especially with a ranger thief or warlock(or throwing barbarian lol) but melee being so powerful is kinda overwhelming. And only having 4 party members not really helping.
But as Grunker said game is kinda easy except some boss fights (which can be approached and cheesable in many ways)

 

[jackofshadows]

You can explore the monastery and still miss Blood of Lathander easily if you don't use a guide. I knew there was something there, but I didn't figure it out, so I don't have it

You mean you didn't get the quest? Because I chuckled at "we hid 9 legendary items in the game... so well that we've made (apparently) a quest for every one!". I don't remember now but pretty sure it was from reading some book or plate at the temple.

 

[whydoibother]

Well you neeed to explore the monastery more its before the shadow lands , no shit you are underleveled you missed a whole area.

You can explore the monastery and still miss Blood of Lathander easily if you don't use a guide. I knew there was something there, but I didn't figure it out, so I don't have it

I did skip the monastery. I thought you have to pick a way to advance from Act I to Act II: either overground through the mountain pass, or underground through the Underdark.
I didn't think I can visit both zones, and never tried. I also missed the quest to help a certain child reunite with his, uh, lost brother, which led to me getting another option for my party. When I am done with the monastery, hopefully I hit level 8 and I'll try the Balthazar fight again.

 

[jackofshadows]

Ranged combat is really powerful, especially with a ranger thief or warlock(or throwing barbarian lol) but melee being so powerful is kinda overwhelming.

I'm really tempted to try full range party but so far I think it's harder to offset sharpshooter penalty than from GWM. Not to mention extra attacks from the latter really counts. Also from what I've seen, barbarians are too insane to compete with either way in terms of damage. It's a shame that in-game companion turned out so annoying, I probably will take a barb merc at some point or even play barb myself

Spoiler

I couldn't recruit her either way after slaugthering tieflings which well, make sense. Wonder whether it'll be possible to turn her head in to the original client since I disposed of "paladins" as well.

 

[Grunker]

I thought you have to pick a way to advance from Act I to Act II

This is the most poorly made part of the entire game in my opinion. 90% of people are going to think that from the way it's communicated, but it's the exact opposite: the game *fully* expects you to clear both areas.

 

[Grunker]

You can explore the monastery and still miss Blood of Lathander easily if you don't use a guide. I knew there was something there, but I didn't figure it out, so I don't have it

You mean you didn't get the quest? Because I chuckled at "we hid 9 legendary items in the game... so well that we've made (apparently) a quest for every one!". I don't remember now but pretty sure it was from reading some book or plate at the temple.

I got the quest, I just didn't figure it out. I never use guides as you know, and I never found out what to do with the open-hand guy (I thought he just should have nothing on his altar).

 

[whydoibother]

I thought you have to pick a way to advance from Act I to Act II

This is the most poorly made part of the entire game in my opinion. 90% of people are going to think that from the way it's communicated, but it's the exact opposite: the game *fully* expects you to clear both areas.

The way I saw it, it was set up like a continuation of the conflict between Shadowheart and Lae'zel, one wishing we go under, the other wishing we go over. This affected the way I build my party, and who I brought with me on adventures, and whom I purchased equipment for.
If I didn't think I have to choose one of the two routes, I might've brought Lae'zel with me more often, and equipped her better, gotten more interactions with her.
I got punked.

 

[Desiderius]

I intend to make Astarion a thief/ranger and see no reason why it won't be excellent. Ranger 5/Thief 7 gets four attacks per round when dual-wielding, adding full attribute bonus and +1d6 hunter's mark damage on all of them and +4d6 sneak attack on the first. With short swords it's 12d6+20 per round (or +28 vs a favored enemy) before any magic item bonuses - nothing to sneeze at. A pure thief 12 would be doing 9d6+5. With Fighter you get action surge but lose Hunter's Mark plus all the ranger's other utility spells and abilities, which seems strictly inferior as a rogue multi. Plus the gloom stalker subclass gives a ton of other little advantages to a stealthy stabman.

You get a Bow early that has Hunter's Mark built in. Thief 9 turns his Sneak into Invis and he takes ten (or more) on all proficient skill checks at Thief 10. You don't need multiple attax if you're using Elemental Arrows to apply surfaces for your other characters to exploit, but the Sneak damage is nice to break Concentration. Give him Triple Jump and let him use the extra bonus action (and Rogue turning Hide/Jump/Dash into Bonuses) to either get up high to shoot or up close to slice on casters and enemy Archers. You've got other sources for big damage on hard targets where needed.

Pass without Trace from SH is already sick for just keeping Asstarion in constant Stealth as he loots an entire area, can't imagine what it will be like when he's perma invis and taking ten on everything.

Jesus you guys all just want to play 3.5 until you die. This game is way more D:OS III than BG 2.1. Let the classes play out and use their unique features so at least you'll know what you're missing when you multi.

In other news EK is pretty nice to give the Gith something to concentrate on (and Shield spell etc). The buffs free up slots for the casters.

 

[Cyberarmy]

In other news EK is pretty nice to give the Gith something to concentrate on (and Shield spell etc). The buffs free up slots for the casters.

Yeah, I'm pretty satisfied with EK on frog lady too, to my suprise. Gave her 17 int headband from ogres for extra "umph" but even without it she was very effective.

BTW, you guys found any good shields in act 1? I mean any other than +2 AC but with a different flavour? Game is really don't want me to play my standart axe&board dwarf fighter

Edit: Oh, and here is a helpful trick. If you leave a provision bag in your camp stash most of the food you take will automatically teleport to there. Also if you rest with all alcohols, there is an dwarven achievement.


Edit 2: Locking doors with Reverse Knock spell(or just blocking it with heavy stuff) is fun. AI couldn't handle that stuff and start to travel half of the map.