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

[AwesomeButton]

Yep, I play on balanced, just enough challenge for me at this point. I can barely find a 3-4 hours to play per day, go to bed super late, like in the good old days, I can't be bothered with optimizing my party for Tactician as well

 

[AwesomeButton]

I already finished that quest, went through her place completely, freed that silly blonde too.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Isn't long resting also prohibitive on Tactician due to increased supply cost?

Not really, there are lots of supplies everywhere and shops have lots of them too, mostly easy to steal.

How did you guys kill Auntie?

You can assault the red caps outside, before confronting Auntie. Then in her houses entrance she'll just go invis and run away, real fight happens a bit later.
Command, Magic Missile, Silence water bottles and fire shots are your friends in that battle.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I already finished that quest, went through her place completely, freed that silly blonde too.

Well, if you fight her where the cage is, she begs for mercy and gave you a nice boon (+1 stat of your choice) and even be persuaded to give samish boon to her captive.

 

[Grunker]

I already finished that quest, went through her place completely, freed that silly blonde too.

Yeah, so then my post does make sense. It's not really a problem "letting her teleport" because the mirror images die in one hit, so the fight is very manageable regardless. On Tactician+ I think the mirror images should just have her HP, so the fight becomes about finding the real Auntie while the action economy is stacked against you.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I already finished that quest, went through her place completely, freed that silly blonde too.

Well, if you fight her where the cage is, she begs for mercy and gave you a nice boon (+1 stat of your choice) and even be persuaded to give samish boon to her captive.

I would have still killed her for RP reasons And that woman needs more than +1 to intelligence to make a difference, Helm be my witness.

 

[volklore]

Ok I struggled a bit on that harpy fight. I thought the whole shtick of the fight was about breaking that one singing harpy concentration but you have to go through a lot of difficult terrain and she kept making concentration saves. Once Gale actually got a turn and broke her with Tasha's + portent dice, one of the other harpy started singing too. Had to restart it and ended up ignoring that harpy singing at the back and using Shadowheart concentration to buff the save of my MC, popped rage and a speed potion and killed the other harpies first. Still was a bit of a struggle with my party basically perma charmed.
Maybe I missed a good solution against that charm song.

 

[jackofshadows]

Anyway, I have a lingering feeling that I cheesed the combat by prebuffing, and I'm curious how did it go for you?

Aid is no cheese. The thing lasts until long rest (you can also upcast it). Buffing with stuff like bless I consider cheesy only if you don't suppose to know there's a fight ahead.

Tested a bit and it seems true.
Saw a dozen of new camp dialogs and scenes even before reaching the druid grove by camping 2 more times than necessary.
Nothing critical so far but lots of atmospheric stuff (companions actually distressed and scared after the crash), insights into their characters & general plot, and of course opportunities to get relationship points.
Time windows also seem ridiculous and unpredictable, a very bad design imho. You're pretty much supposed to check the night camp after any minor story development if you don't want to miss anything.
Like didn't sleep several times for no reason while exploring the completely peaceful grove hub location? Sucks to be you.

Aparantely they've planned way more stuff happening in the camp than they could actually chew. Or they just shamelessly frontloaded in this regard. In act 2 there's pretty much the usual flare "a few replies about current quest/personal quest stuff". Also, you won't be able to see every piece of content anyway, I wouldn't bother and play at your pace.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I already finished that quest, went through her place completely, freed that silly blonde too.

Yeah, so then my post does make sense. It's not really a problem "letting her teleport" because the mirror images die in one hit, so the fight is very manageable regardless. On Tactician+ I think the mirror images should just have her HP, so the fight becomes about finding the real Auntie while the action economy is stacked against you.

The redcaps were just laying my guys down in one turn (3 attacks), or leaving them barely alive, it was crazy. I was wondering if prebuffing is expected or I'm too low level. I had done everything on the map when I got to Auntie. It was in that combat that I hit lvl 5.

 

[Grunker]

I already finished that quest, went through her place completely, freed that silly blonde too.

Yeah, so then my post does make sense. It's not really a problem "letting her teleport" because the mirror images die in one hit, so the fight is very manageable regardless. On Tactician+ I think the mirror images should just have her HP, so the fight becomes about finding the real Auntie while the action economy is stacked against you.

The redcaps were just laying my guys down in one turn (3 attacks), or leaving them barely alive, it was crazy. I was wondering if prebuffing is expected or I'm too low level. I had done everything on the map when I got to Auntie. It was in that combat that I hit lvl 5.

The redcap fight was harder for me than the auntie fight. There are no redcaps in the (intended) Auntie fight.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I already finished that quest, went through her place completely, freed that silly blonde too.

Yeah, so then my post does make sense. It's not really a problem "letting her teleport" because the mirror images die in one hit, so the fight is very manageable regardless. On Tactician+ I think the mirror images should just have her HP, so the fight becomes about finding the real Auntie while the action economy is stacked against you.

The redcaps were just laying my guys down in one turn (3 attacks), or leaving them barely alive, it was crazy. I was wondering if prebuffing is expected or I'm too low level. I had done everything on the map when I got to Auntie. It was in that combat that I hit lvl 5.

They are REDcaps, ettercaps are spider buddies, know your D&D shit pls.
Red caps are really hard hitting, Commanding or Hold Person on the ones with bloodlust before killing any of them is recommended. Edit: They are also really light weight, throw them against another!
Real enemy in that swamp is the bloody frog. Don't mess with him.

 

[AwesomeButton]

They are REDcaps, ettercaps are spider buddies, know your D&D shit pls.
Red caps are really hard hitting, Commanding or Hold Person on the ones with bloodlust before killing any of them is recommended.
Real enemy in that swamp is the blood frog. Don't mess with him.

Yeah, I know the difference, I was just typing on autopilot. And I know red caps are bad news, I've met some in PKM, so when I saw four of them here I thought, shit is getting serious.

 

[Irxy]

By that time the redcaps had caught up with me and the melee ones were fucking me up due to bloodrage giving them 3 attacks.

You can kill those fuckers beforehand, they do not spawn but are wandering outside, can't join the fight if they are dead.

 

[Irxy]

Also, you won't be able to see every piece of content anyway, I wouldn't bother and play at your pace.

Missing content due to choices is fine, but this stuff you will probably never see while playing normally no matter how many times you replay, and it does help setting the early plot and improves the overall character presentation.

 

[Alex]

So about the Necronomicum I mean "Necromancy of Thay":

(...)

Don't do that. Microsoft killed her for a reason.

 

[whydoibother]

Yep, returning to Balthazar at level 8 and with a few new pieces of gear made the fight a cakewalk. Overkilled it with poison/necro resistance potions, and got the early jump on him with Lae'zel. One tough decision later, I'm going back to the tower and HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR

 

[Grunker]

Yep, returning to Balthazar at level 8 and with a few new pieces of gear made the fight a cakewalk. Overkilled it with poison/necro resistance potions, and got the early jump on him with Lae'zel. One tough decision later, I'm going back to the tower and HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR HUNGER OF HADAR

oh yes...

 

[Desiderius]

In other, other news, I finally had a moment where the game really felt like a BG game, felt worthy of the title. It's the side-quest "Search the Cellar", which is partly connected to the side-quest where you look for something for Karlach. The ambience, the music, the types of environments and creatures involved, the difficult combats (if you go that route) even the way you discover the quest (there are several ways of stumbling across it), all of it had a solid BG feeling. Very nice indeed.

There are quite a few little quests that you get just from reading the books, scribblings, etc., that you pick up in your travels, which is always a great immersive touch.

The exploration and combat in the game can be seriously good at times. I find myself polarizing more and more, in terms of loving the game side of the game and hating more and more the woke side of the game - it feels more and more like a carbuncle Larian felt obliged to include, an alien importation derived from taking the worst aspects of BioWare games and cranking them up to 11.

Ah, that Durlag’s feel. Nothing quite like it.

Euros have been reduced to redoing stuff Americans did first for centuries and they usually turn it into a massive clusterfuck:

French Revolution, Great War, Eurovision, Wokelism.

Thank God they finally got one right.

I cheesed the combat by prebuffing

Soyer? Is that you?

 

[Haplo]

Well, besides de-bloating (or as a part of it), one of the main things 5e/BG3 did right, compared with the likes of 3.5/Pathfinder/KM/WotR, is limiting and reducing the reliance on buffs and Pre-buffing.

A huge relief. If I had to list one thing I dislike the most about KM/WotR, it would be the huge swings dependant on buffing and re-buffing. Of course, it can (shall) be automated, but still I hate it.

Josh was right to limit the buffing in Deadfire, but that game, while great overall, had a poor Turn Based mode and a couple other issues.

 

[whydoibother]

Pre-buffing

You should really be able to set up buff routines.
If you have 3 buffs you always use, you should be able to save them as some pre-combat ritual, click the button, pay the respective cost in spell slots/reagents, and receive the benefits with 1 casting animation. Out of combat only, if action/time economy matters.

 

[Desiderius]

Well, besides de-bloating (or as a part of it), one of the main things 5e/BG3 did right, compared with the likes of 3.5/Pathfinder/KM/WotR, is reducing the reliance on buffs and Pre-buffing.

A huge relief. If I had to list one thing I dislike the most about KM/WotR, it would be the huge dependancy on buffing and re-buffing. Of course, it can (shall) be automated, but still I hate it.

Josh was right to limit the buffing in Deadfire, but that game, while great overall, had a poor Turn Based mode and a couple other issues.

He didn’t limit it, he nuked it altogether.

Concentration already took care of the bloat. Here you’ve got a few of the ten round pre-buffs you never quite got around to casting in P:K Wrath but most buffs require Concentration so it’s a matter of choosing right one, not spamming them all repeatedly and unlike D:OS you can start TB ahead of time to do it and position things properly.

 

[Barbarian]

Hag's lair was pretty cool.

Some event triggers seem to be bugged. The infamous ogre/bugbear sex shack for instance, I didn't get those scenes when aproaching the door. Just opened it and triggered combat. Companions didn't even comment on the situation.

I also got the wine drinking romance scene with shadowhawt during camping - that was apparently supposed to happen after killing the gobbo leaders.

 

[Barbarian]

So far for hardest fights for me were demon guy on the nautiloid and spider matriarch. Gnolls, Redcaps, Khaga and Auntie I managed just fine, still challenging enough to be entertaining though.

Playing on tactician. I convinced the ogres to fight for me. I guess I will use that horn on the fight against Minthara and company?

No idea if the Item keeps functional after chapter 1. I assume I can't summon them in Baldur's Gate for instance, no?

 

[whydoibother]

He didn’t limit it, he nuked it altogether.

no fun allowed

 

[Barbarian]

Is mage slayer feat worth it? Or too situacional? Chapter 1 not many spellcasting enemies but I assume that will change later chapters.

I also assume the hardest enemies in the game will be spellcasters(at least I hope so).