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

[volklore]

Yeah portent dice are good although the way they implemented the lvl 6 upgrade to recover them after short rest is annoying as shit. Sometimes it's as easy as just casting Friends, sometime you have to equip a dagger and hit an enemy in combat.
Though there are times where you can get really shitty portent dices. Typically dice in the mid range that are not good enough to make enemies miss, fail saves and are just good enough to turn some miss into a hit for you.
Conjuration has 3 uses of create water which is really good if you like to do lightning/cold damage combos (probably gonna be the focus of my next playthrough as storm cleric). And I like the transmutation stone too, get 3m extra movement on a martial can really increase battlefield control. Thing is game is easy enough that anything you pick will be good. They'd need to double the tactician bonuses, severely increase scarcity of everything (supplies/consumes) and probably lower xp rewards to make build choice matter in the grand scheme of things.

Hopefully easy enough to mod it if Larian doesn't do it themselves because the game has the encounter variety/design pretty square, all that is needed is tweaking some numbers.

 

[whydoibother]

It's much easier to Git Gud at positioning than at making the computer roll the dice you want.

Not in co-op, and I speak from experience.
Actually already had a hilarious misadventure. We both tried to loot a gunpowder sack at the same time, and the game decided to drop it between out characters, in the fire, and it exploded., which also exploded a barrel. Fun times.

 

[PapaPetro]

Divination Wizard has cheat codes activated.

Just for the Portent Dice? Is that even more useful than the no-friendly-fire for AOE spells for Evokers?
Baldur's Gate 3 has a lot more enemies than your average tabletop module. 2 dice is weaker for that reason, where as big fireballs are stronger.

It's much easier to Git Gud at positioning than at making the computer roll the dice you want.

Cheat code opportunity cost then.
Either pick Divination to get rid of RNG or use Evocation to get rid of pesky positioning/FF mechanics.
Whichever annoyance annoys you more throughout the game.


There is also Careful Spell metamagic.

Many such ways to kheat a kat.

You can get it @ lvl 3 for Sorcs.

 

[PapaPetro]

It's much easier to Git Gud at positioning than at making the computer roll the dice you want.

Not in co-op, and I speak from experience.
Actually already had a hilarious misadventure. We both tried to look a gunpowder sack at the same time, and the game decided to drop it between out characters, in the fire, and it exploded., which also exploded a barrel. Fun times.

After looking under the hood of the game, I'm gonna tell you straight up the modding scene is gonna be bonkers fun.
I can already envision a mod for a custom runepowder/grenadier class that can spawn and lob exploding sachels & barrels.

Also a telekinetic class that just flings shit/people around and into bottomless chasms*.
Super fun. Try it.





*Protip: it's very easy to shove NPCs off ledges. It's the new "Save or Die" spells in 5e.

 

[jackofshadows]

Just for the Portent Dice?

Yeah it's very, very strong. The only downside are big battles where you sometimes have to cancel its reaction for like 15 times in a row.

 

[whydoibother]

After looking under the hood of the game, I'm gonna tell you straight up the modding scene is gonna be bonkers fun.

I hope that modders introduce blacksmithing. The game already drops some metals, but there's nothing to do with them.
Same with gems dropping, but can't make them into rings? Would it be too broken to combine a Scroll of Colour Spray + 5 gems + basis silver ring, to get a Ring of Colour Spray 1x day? I think not. And it would be very convenient to make a ring of Talk to Animals, for example.

 

[volklore]

Though I thought it odd they had two "shrew" characters paralleling each other the whole game (Shadowheart being the other "I can change her" girl).

And they both have a mid point where you can take them one way or another; both can feel deceived by a higher power, both are themed around medium armor and melee attacks. Both are essentially young people for the first time on their own, in the deep and full of unfounded arrogance and being too sure of something they can't possibly know. Both tied to the main quest and plot. One wants to go the underground way from Act I to Act II, the other wants to go the overground way.
At least one is about jumping far, the other about sneaking? But neither is actually good at it. And also one puts out 3 days after meeting you, the other is the slowest burn romance.

The more I type this out, the more it looks like they should've been differentiated. We didn't need both of them fulfilling this social role.

My game really bugged out with this. Lae'zel and shadowheart stopped arguing at all at lvl 3 for me, for some odd reason. Never heard them comment on which route to take to moonrise. Maybe it's linked to the fact that somehow my ''Free Halsin'' quest is stuck at ''talk to zevlor'' despite having fully completed it and halsin already chilling at the camp, and has nothing to say.
I cleared the creche and the mountain pass, creche and underdark and suddenly I get a scene where shadowheart and laezel fight in the camp over the artefact. And after this I get some party banter where lae'zel ask shadowheart why the dragon rider at the risen road was interested in her artefact. All the triggers were completely fucked. Sad, because them fighting all the time was pretty enjoyable, I am a simple man.
I have the feeling you have to spam long rests in act1 to get all the story content, and even though I didn't tryhard to avoid them, I still managed to fuck up a lot of story content.

 

[Desiderius]

I'm playing as Gale in the co-op campaign I recently stated, and I'm not actually sure how to play a generic human wizard.
Big AC and throw fire at people? Seems to be what works best from the spell selection we have. Of course, some mobility, some Hold Person, etc.
And just as I am writing this, it occured to me that a human wizard can wear a shield. I think this works with Mage Armor?

There are no generic Wizards. Your action econ will be dictated in part by your school but the other part of your strength is your flexibility so you can load out your book to take advantage of the unique features of each fight. Usually those are elements or weak saves.

Gale is Human so has Shield Prof, but Hag has Staff for sale that gives +2 to saves while Unarmored and there’s another with Create Water built in. Shield spell and Mage Armor has been enough so far.

If Shield spell in eating your casts you’ve got consumables to fall back on. Witch Bolt (especially upcast/Wet target/standing in water) is nice to conserve casts (vs Owlbear for instance).

Wiz can also handle Rituals you might be missing but that eats slots in your book so want to offload (to Bard, Ranger, EK, AT, for example) where you can. Gale can also face reasonably well with Detect Thoughts up.

 

[Longes]

Wiz can also handle Rituals you might be missing but that eats slots in your book so want to offload

Just swap them out when necessary? You can re-memorize spells whenever.

 

[Desiderius]

I'm playing as Gale in the co-op campaign I recently stated, and I'm not actually sure how to play a generic human wizard.
Big AC and throw fire at people? Seems to be what works best from the spell selection we have. Of course, some mobility, some Hold Person, etc.
And just as I am writing this, it occured to me that a human wizard can wear a shield. I think this works with Mage Armor?

Yeah as long as you have Civil Militia background feat for humans & half-elves.
(They completely gutted out the <5e armor arcane spell failure mechanics in 5e)

Either that or go multiclass and splash a level of fighter for all the proficiencies.

This game is gr8 4 gishes.

Or you could, you know, cast spells, which is what you’re good at.

Just swap them out when necessary? You can re-memorize spells whenever.

They have to stay in your book to take effect. Longstrider for instance is until Long Rest, as is Detect Secrets, but they go off if you unslot.

If you've got Find Familiar, Mage Armor, and Shield slotted already things can get tight.

 

[PapaPetro]

*Protip: it's very easy to shove NPCs off ledges. It's the new "Save or Die" spells in 5e.

*Pro-Protip: you can also use the Mage Hand cantrip to conveniently shove people/things.

 

[Desiderius]

Though I thought it odd they had two "shrew" characters paralleling each other the whole game (Shadowheart being the other "I can change her" girl).

And they both have a mid point where you can take them one way or another; both can feel deceived by a higher power, both are themed around medium armor and melee attacks. Both are essentially young people for the first time on their own, in the deep and full of unfounded arrogance and being too sure of something they can't possibly know. Both tied to the main quest and plot. One wants to go the underground way from Act I to Act II, the other wants to go the overground way.
At least one is about jumping far, the other about sneaking? But neither is actually good at it. And also one puts out 3 days after meeting you, the other is the slowest burn romance.

The more I type this out, the more it looks like they should've been differentiated. We didn't need both of them fulfilling this social role.

SH isn't themed around melee attax, Fighter can wear Heavy. Gith arrogance is founded, SH isn't particularly arrogant. Champ Gith is *very* good at jumping, with inherent way to triple it, SH can sneak ok I guess? More about helping other Sneakers sneak better when needed and using Mirror Image to tank (maintain Concentration) better, Invoke Duplicate/Bless to help team fight better, but I also end up using Guided Bolt from high ground a good bit or simply set surfaces on fire with her Cantrip. Bonus ranged Heal with Bless gloves as needed.

It's much easier to Git Gud at positioning than at making the computer roll the dice you want.

And no such thing as selective surfaces. I've got him on Illusionist this playthrough but still figuring out Investigation mechanics on Bonus Action Minor Illusion.

 

[whydoibother]

SH isn't themed around melee attax

Starts with a melee weapon, starts with high DEX, her personal quest rewards a melee weapon, etc.

Fighter can wear Heavy

Starts with medium armor, has high DEX, other gith wear and drop medium armor, etc.

I am not talking about optimizing them, I'm talking about how the game presents them.

 

[Desiderius]

SH has 13 STR and DEX. 17 WIS.

Gith has 13 DEX. No big loss to go Heavy if you find a good one to wear.

I do attack with SH sometimes because I have non-companion ranged MC so she ends up getting some good weapons if I bring her, Gale, and Astarion/Wyll, which is usual line-up, but she's not particularly good at it without Oil of Accuracy/Giant potion.

Gith with Champ, Sorrow, and Sentinel should be pretty busted but not there yet. Wyll with Armor of Agathys and damage resist using Hexes and pactbound attax (CHR-bonus to hit/damage, Rapier for bonus action debuffs) has been fine tank/off tank and good face.

 

[whydoibother]

SH has 13 STR and DEX. 17 WIS.

Gith has 13 DEX. No big loss to go Heavy if you find a good one to wear.

Yes, but that's not how they are presented to the lay player. That's not how they are in trailers, that's not how they are portrayed in dialogue, etc.
Clearly they are intended, as characters, to both be medium armor wearing melee fighters. I know you can change that and optimize it. I also have the game install and play it.

 

[Desiderius]

13 is not high DEX. Roll them all you want. Use what your dudes are good at to suck less. Not complicated.

 

[Desiderius]

I know you can change that and optimize it.

What are you talking about? I'm not changing anything. Use high stat is not advanced play. Who else is using the Heavy Armor you find?

 

[whydoibother]

Roll them all you want. Use what your dudes are good at to suck less. Not complicated.

Can't tell if you are failing a perception check, or intentionally pretending not to understand what is being said.

 

[Desiderius]

Roll them all you want. Use what your dudes are good at to suck less. Not complicated.

Can't tell if you are failing a perception check, or intentionally pretending not to understand what is being said.

I understand fine. You're wrong.

 

[whydoibother]

I understand fine. You're wrong.

Am I wrong that both the characters are presented as medium armor wearing melee fighters arrogant women who trust in some absolute truth that is revealed to not be so true in Act II when they have a change of heart and turn their personalities around?
That's just what the trailers, pictures, fanart, and drops associated with them are and show. And yeah, I equip heavy armor on Frog. Yeah, I change Shadow's stats. But this changes them away from how they are shown, into a more mechanical version of themselves. The way they are written and portrayed is similar, and we could've done with only one of them, and the other having a different character and a different arc. The party setup lacks a bitter cynical old guy, who's just tired of it all, for example. Source of endless banter.

 

[PapaPetro]

After looking under the hood of the game, I'm gonna tell you straight up the modding scene is gonna be bonkers fun.

I hope that modders introduce blacksmithing. The game already drops some metals, but there's nothing to do with them.
Same with gems dropping, but can't make them into rings? Would it be too broken to combine a Scroll of Colour Spray + 5 gems + basis silver ring, to get a Ring of Colour Spray 1x day? I think not. And it would be very convenient to make a ring of Talk to Animals, for example.

There was some crafting UI stuff that didn't make the cut.
Actually there was A LOT of stuff you can tell didn't make the pushed up deadline (Divination/Identifying objects/comprehend languages, more summoning stuff, some companions (like Helia & Sylvira), overland map flight/teleport, more AoE projectile effects, gargantuan monsters, many spells, skills, abilities, passives, flags, tags, endings etc.)
Very ambitious game.

If you wanna learn how to check out the guts

 

[Haplo]

Conjuration has 3 uses of create water which is really good if you like to do lightning/cold damage combos (probably gonna be the focus of my next playthrough as storm cleric).

Well, only untill you realize you could lob a flask of water instead. Much further too - from much safer distance.

 

[Raghar]

ITT "tactician" should have been normal mode. Can't imagine the popamole that lower difficulties must be.

Are you playing ironman?

 

[Shrimp]

It's much easier to Git Gud at positioning than at making the computer roll the dice you want.

Not in co-op, and I speak from experience.
Actually already had a hilarious misadventure. We both tried to look a gunpowder sack at the same time, and the game decided to drop it between out characters, in the fire, and it exploded., which also exploded a barrel. Fun times.

After looking under the hood of the game, I'm gonna tell you straight up the modding scene is gonna be bonkers fun.
I can already envision a mod for a custom runepowder/grenadier class that can spawn and lob exploding sachels & barrels.

Also a telekinetic class that just flings shit/people around and into bottomless chasms*.
Super fun. Try it.





*Protip: it's very easy to shove NPCs off ledges. It's the new "Save or Die" spells in 5e.

How moddable is the game actually going to be?
I know D:OS2 had a couple of mods, but I think those were mostly just QOL stuff or custom classes with 'fireball but blue' type spells.
Any chance that we'll see fully fledged campaign overhauls and different maps?

 

[Grauken]

It's much easier to Git Gud at positioning than at making the computer roll the dice you want.

Not in co-op, and I speak from experience.
Actually already had a hilarious misadventure. We both tried to look a gunpowder sack at the same time, and the game decided to drop it between out characters, in the fire, and it exploded., which also exploded a barrel. Fun times.

After looking under the hood of the game, I'm gonna tell you straight up the modding scene is gonna be bonkers fun.
I can already envision a mod for a custom runepowder/grenadier class that can spawn and lob exploding sachels & barrels.

Also a telekinetic class that just flings shit/people around and into bottomless chasms*.
Super fun. Try it.





*Protip: it's very easy to shove NPCs off ledges. It's the new "Save or Die" spells in 5e.

How moddable is the game actually going to be?
I know D:OS2 had a couple of mods, but I think those were mostly just QOL stuff or custom classes with 'fireball but blue' type spells.
Any chance that we'll see fully fledged campaign overhauls and different maps?

Without proper tools that's very unlikely