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

[Zayne]

Finally level 12.
Are there any good two-handed weapons in Baldur's Gate?
I have one of the gith commander's +2 greatsword on frog, and am myself using a +2 polearm that gives a bonus to perception checks from act 2's tower, but haven't found anything in act 3.
It feels like half the gear is gith specific or stupid daggers or dagger adjacent wimpy shit.

There's a Legendary +3 Trident if you manage to win "jackpot" from Djinni in circus. It's it versatile, but works with GWF when wieldied in two hands.

 

[Grunker]

Unfortunately you don't need meta knowledge for this game to be easy even on tactician, if you're an rpg veteran.

Depends on the cRPGs you played before. If you come from the MMORPG side, action RPGs or even Wizardry, tactician will feel hard because a lot of the little things that help with fights are just non-intutitive to these players. If you played P&P RPGs or D&D before this will make it easier, though even then your idea that tactician is too easy is really, wildy off the mark, for 95% of players tactician is too hard and most of those who tried it will go back to balanced.

This is the Codex tips and tricks thread. I expect people here to be of a little more refined caliber. As in, the context for my post was: if you know cRPG combat and rules. You don't even need 5E metaknowledge.

And the fact is, if you do, this game is very, very easy. For example, I just did the Steel Titan fight, and even though I had no clue about its mechanics and just took hits left and right, I didn't reload. That's my lasting impression of BG3's difficulty: that I run into fights, obviously handle them very poorly because I have no idea about their mechanics, yet I never need to reload. Another fight that was like this was:

Spoiler

the Sarevok fight

which was the hardest fight in the game except the starting cambion for me! *And I didn't even know his sentries would die when he died, so I killed those (total of 1000+ hit points) first!*

Bear in mind this is without using the surface/push down ledges system at all. It's just numbers vs. numbers.

Two most important reasons are:

1. Too many sources of easy damage mitigation
2. Copy-pasted 5E's weak "healing word"-gameplay which makes it impossible to go down - you got even 1 man still standing, you might still be in the fight

I realize this game is impossible on normal for 80% of normies. That's not because they're bad, that's just because cRPG difficulty varies wildly with metaknowledge of the genre.

But, what you're really asking me is "very easy relative to what" since the most annoying thing in RPG discussion is someone saying "this RPG is easy" and it turns out they just think all RPGs are easy. Well, relative to: WotR on Unfair, UnderRail, Icewind Dales, BGs (they are easy games once you understand them, but still offer more reloads than BG3), GoldBox games, Wizardry 8 - most RPGs, really.

Solasta is a recent exception I can think of that's easier on the "insane" difficulty. Maybe Expeditions: Viking as well. But there are not many.

 

[Grauken]

But, what you're really asking me is "very easy relative to what" since the most annoying thing in RPG discussion is someone saying "this RPG is easy" and it turns out they just think all RPGs are easy. Well, relative to: WotR on Unfair, UnderRail, Icewind Dales, BGs (they are easy games once you understand them, but still offer more reloads than BG3), GoldBox games, Wizardry 8 - most RPGs, really.

GoldBox games and Wizardry 8 are far easier than this on Tactician

 

[Grunker]

But, what you're really asking me is "very easy relative to what" since the most annoying thing in RPG discussion is someone saying "this RPG is easy" and it turns out they just think all RPGs are easy. Well, relative to: WotR on Unfair, UnderRail, Icewind Dales, BGs (they are easy games once you understand them, but still offer more reloads than BG3), GoldBox games, Wizardry 8 - most RPGs, really.

GoldBox games and Wizardry 8 are far easier than this on Tactician

I reload sometimes in those games. I hardly ever do in BG3. So it's no contest, really.

 

[Grauken]

But, what you're really asking me is "very easy relative to what" since the most annoying thing in RPG discussion is someone saying "this RPG is easy" and it turns out they just think all RPGs are easy. Well, relative to: WotR on Unfair, UnderRail, Icewind Dales, BGs (they are easy games once you understand them, but still offer more reloads than BG3), GoldBox games, Wizardry 8 - most RPGs, really.

GoldBox games and Wizardry 8 are far easier than this on Tactician

I reload sometimes in those games. I hardly ever do in BG3. So it's no contest, really.

For me its the reverse

 

[Desiderius]

A lot of it comes down to if you've played the D:OS games. This is my first time with 5E and I'm rolling on Tactician because I played a lot of DOS. I think Dungeon of Nahuelwhatever also helps because that's another game where you routinely have characters go down midfight and its no big deal.

Being able to go in to TB pre-fight is a huge advantage over D:OS games tho.

 

[Grauken]

It also doesn't help that the GUI is dogshit and not really well documented and neither are any systems

 

[Grunker]

Is this cheating, e.g. akin to spamming skull traps in bg2? Or am I doing alright?

I consider that as a hard AI abuse, it clearly suppose to run at you in this situations while it don't even try. So yeah, I hope they'll fix it so fog/darkness use will be valid. So far, I think not.

Just learned that it's possible to legitimately raise stats above 20 in this game, cool.

Spoiler

Mirror of Loss, by SH's quest

Dunno if you only mean permanently, but there’s also a diadem that lets you raise Charisma to 22

A diadem? Whut? You mean like a head item? Are you talking about Birthright?

I dunno, I sold it since my bard is using the int 17 one for skill checks. But it's a headpiece for sure

 

[Desiderius]

If you use Dash you often don't have to. Just turn off TB with the furthest character highlighted and they'll all follow it in time to getaway. There's erven some Gloves available very early that give you a free Jump with each Dash.

Basically Hide with your thief in a nearby shadow, turn on TB if it works, hit Dash on the thief and Guidance from SH to help PP/burglary roll, then take the stuff and get away as far as you can. Dash other party members and move them away then choose furthest away to turn off TB. Rest of party will follow.

Cheers! I don't steal often, but when I do, I like to get away with it.

There's definitely something weird about the theft implementation, though. I get the sweep thing on pickpocketing, sort of, but when you lift an item on the ground, while expressly hidden from anyone's perception area, and you still get a guard immediately beeline to you, it brings to mind something from way, way back... Let's just say Larian missed a trick not starting that dialogue with "Stop right there, criminal scum!"

That shouldn't happen in TB. There's some places where the game cheats a little but usually NPC only move during "Environmental turn".

 

[Grauken]

I wonder how many people killed the ogres vs getting them on their side

 

[volklore]

I wonder how many people killed the ogres vs getting them on their side

I did do the fight. Was playing top down and they were being hidden by the building they are standing in, failed the check and hadn't saved in a while. Was a really cool fight at that level, and the fight where I noticed all the CC spells are actually concentration lmao ''Why the fucks is my CC breaking right now?''

 

[Cyberarmy]

I wonder how many people killed the ogres vs getting them on their side

I got them to my side and killed them after when I summoned them for a fight, win-win-win for me

 

[Grauken]

I wonder how many people killed the ogres vs getting them on their side

I got them to my side and killed them after when I summoned them for a fight, win-win-win for me

Damn, didn't even think of that

 

[Jermu]

I ended up killing em just before leaving to act 2 since I hoarded that item until underdark and they did not want to visit that place

 

[Cyberarmy]

Best usage of them was Gith patrol for me. They tanked quite well.

 

[volklore]

Unfortunately you don't need meta knowledge for this game to be easy even on tactician, if you're an rpg veteran.

Depends on the cRPGs you played before. If you come from the MMORPG side, action RPGs or even Wizardry, tactician will feel hard because a lot of the little things that help with fights are just non-intutitive to these players. If you played P&P RPGs or D&D before this will make it easier, though even then your idea that tactician is too easy is really, wildy off the mark, for 95% of players tactician is too hard and most of those who tried it will go back to balanced.

This is the Codex tips and tricks thread. I expect people here to be of a little more refined caliber. As in, the context for my post was: if you know cRPG combat and rules. You don't even need 5E metaknowledge.

And the fact is, if you do, this game is very, very easy. For example, I just did the Steel Titan fight, and even though I had no clue about its mechanics and just took hits left and right, I didn't reload. That's my lasting impression of BG3's difficulty: that I run into fights, obviously handle them very poorly because I have no idea about their mechanics, yet I never need to reload. Another fight that was like this was:

Spoiler

the Sarevok fight

which was the hardest fight in the game except the starting cambion for me! *And I didn't even know his sentries would die when he died, so I killed those (total of 1000+ hit points) first!*

Bear in mind this is without using the surface/push down ledges system at all. It's just numbers vs. numbers.

Two most important reasons are:

1. Too many sources of easy damage mitigation
2. Copy-pasted 5E's weak "healing word"-gameplay which makes it impossible to go down - you got even 1 man still standing, you might still be in the fight

I realize this game is impossible on normal for 80% of normies. That's not because they're bad, that's just because cRPG difficulty varies wildly with metaknowledge of the genre.

But, what you're really asking me is "very easy relative to what" since the most annoying thing in RPG discussion is someone saying "this RPG is easy" and it turns out they just think all RPGs are easy. Well, relative to: WotR on Unfair, UnderRail, Icewind Dales, BGs (they are easy games once you understand them, but still offer more reloads than BG3), GoldBox games, Wizardry 8 - most RPGs, really.

Solasta is a recent exception I can think of that's easier on the "insane" difficulty. Maybe Expeditions: Viking as well. But there are not many.

I didn't know 5E before and I have to reload quite a bit in act 1 but that was before lvl 5 and extra attacks on martials. I do reload more when I purposefully try to push with no spells left but even that got reduced as I got my characters initiative up through items and feats.
I think itemization might be a bit overboard. The bless/bladeward on heal effects are big culprit imo. Larian did a good job having the AI really trying to focus on your concentration spellcasters. Everytime i concentrate on haste/bless, some archer use an aoe arrow to trigger multiple saves (1 hit + surface damage), but those items circumvent that altogether by not only making it more efficient to cast but also bypassing the concentration requirement altogether. There is also the issue with being showered with very powerful consumeables. A good scarcity mod (for reducing the supply value of every food item to 1 and reducing the amount of potions components you get for example) would go a long way. Not really viable for the way larian made some of the story play out (tying some story/companion content and quest developments to rests) but as a difficult mod it would help.

 

[Grunker]

Unfortunately you don't need meta knowledge for this game to be easy even on tactician, if you're an rpg veteran.

Depends on the cRPGs you played before. If you come from the MMORPG side, action RPGs or even Wizardry, tactician will feel hard because a lot of the little things that help with fights are just non-intutitive to these players. If you played P&P RPGs or D&D before this will make it easier, though even then your idea that tactician is too easy is really, wildy off the mark, for 95% of players tactician is too hard and most of those who tried it will go back to balanced.

This is the Codex tips and tricks thread. I expect people here to be of a little more refined caliber. As in, the context for my post was: if you know cRPG combat and rules. You don't even need 5E metaknowledge.

And the fact is, if you do, this game is very, very easy. For example, I just did the Steel Titan fight, and even though I had no clue about its mechanics and just took hits left and right, I didn't reload. That's my lasting impression of BG3's difficulty: that I run into fights, obviously handle them very poorly because I have no idea about their mechanics, yet I never need to reload. Another fight that was like this was:

Spoiler

the Sarevok fight

which was the hardest fight in the game except the starting cambion for me! *And I didn't even know his sentries would die when he died, so I killed those (total of 1000+ hit points) first!*

Bear in mind this is without using the surface/push down ledges system at all. It's just numbers vs. numbers.

Two most important reasons are:

1. Too many sources of easy damage mitigation
2. Copy-pasted 5E's weak "healing word"-gameplay which makes it impossible to go down - you got even 1 man still standing, you might still be in the fight

I realize this game is impossible on normal for 80% of normies. That's not because they're bad, that's just because cRPG difficulty varies wildly with metaknowledge of the genre.

But, what you're really asking me is "very easy relative to what" since the most annoying thing in RPG discussion is someone saying "this RPG is easy" and it turns out they just think all RPGs are easy. Well, relative to: WotR on Unfair, UnderRail, Icewind Dales, BGs (they are easy games once you understand them, but still offer more reloads than BG3), GoldBox games, Wizardry 8 - most RPGs, really.

Solasta is a recent exception I can think of that's easier on the "insane" difficulty. Maybe Expeditions: Viking as well. But there are not many.

I didn't know 5E before and I have to reload quite a bit in act 1 but that was before lvl 5 and extra attacks on martials. I do reload more when I purposefully try to push with no spells left but even that got reduced as I got my characters initiative up through items and feats.
I think itemization might be a bit overboard. The bless/bladeward on heal effects are big culprit imo. Larian did a good job having the AI really trying to focusing on your concentration spellcasters

Yes, the AI is great at this. Too bad it doesn't matter in the slightest past level 4 since items that grant advantage on Conc saving throws are so abundant, all your casters make their Conc saving throws 99,9% of the time, especially if you rush Resilient (Con) on them, which you should

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Can I dual class SH with 2 rogue levels, or is cleric 11/12 too valuable?

 

[Grunker]

Can I dual class SH with 2 rogue levels, or is cleric 11/12 too valuable?

You can, but I wonder why you'd want to.

 

[Jermu]

If I went with more than 1 level rogue dip I would probably dip 3 levels into rogue so you get subclass + cleric 10th level feature is not important.
Cleric 6th level spell is not must have I pretty much only used this which is pretty great though

 

[Grunker]

If I went with more than 1 level rogue dip I would probably dip 3 levels into rogue so you get subclass + cleric 10th level feature is not important.
Cleric 6th level spell is not must have I pretty much only used this which is pretty great though

The Planar Ally spell is bound to be underrated. It's actually quite good. The three summons each have unique abilities and they stay with you permanently (until long rest).

The only reason you wouldn't cast it, really, is if you only have one slot and you use it for Feast.

 

[Mojobeard]

Honestly, I haven't been too impressed with the highest level spells.
Now fighters getting a third attack at level 11, that is something else. Sweaty round of 7 attacks, 3 times a day.

 

[whydoibother]

Honestly, I haven't been too impressed with the highest level spells.
Now fighters getting a third attack at level 11, that is something else. Sweaty round of 7 attacks, 3 times a day.

The max level being 12, and the max spells not being outworldly broken, means that multiclassing is more viable. Also means that a Lore Bard is basically a Wizard, increasing that class' viability.

 

[Grunker]

Honestly, I haven't been too impressed with the highest level spells.
Now fighters getting a third attack at level 11, that is something else. Sweaty round of 7 attacks, 3 times a day.

Also means that a Lore Bard is basically a Wizard, increasing that class' viability

Not even close. Bard's spell list is terrible.

Of course due to multiclassing being broken, you could just take 1 level of wizard and have access to literally all wizard spells

 

[Fedora Master]

If I went with more than 1 level rogue dip I would probably dip 3 levels into rogue so you get subclass + cleric 10th level feature is not important.
Cleric 6th level spell is not must have I pretty much only used this which is pretty great though

The Planar Ally spell is bound to be underrated. It's actually quite good. The three summons each have unique abilities and they stay with you permanently (until long rest).

The only reason you wouldn't cast it, really, is if you only have one slot and you use it for Feast.

Yea, the summons are amazing. Elementals stay forever, have the same level as the caster and twice the HP and the Fire Elemental at least can teleport around willy-nilly.