Baldur's Gate 3! {finally Released August 3rd, 2023}

Oh, you’re talking about noncombat stuff. I was thinking, “if you’re dead and can’t reload, how are you seeing different stuff?” Makes sense.

I’m finding it hard to go back and play this game. I only finished it once, with two more playthroughs in Act 3 and a several more in Act 1.

I don’t like that Larian will never do a guide book, a la Brady Books. I know there are some unofficial ones out there but reviews are mixed. Anyone get one that they like? What sold you on it and why? I like the guide books with complicated games like this to help me play in ways I haven’t. Otherwise, I revert to my standard playstyle, make the same choices, and see the same endings. I also get annoyed when I find one piece of an intended set of gear and never find any more. A guide book would help me find them.

I know why they stopped it at twelfth level but I hope there is a mod that allows higher levels, even if it doesn’t do higher level spells, just more slots for lower level ones. One of the reasons I liked this better than Diablo 4 is that D4 kept scaling every battle. Every battle. They all ended up playing the same, which is boring to me. I much prefer when I find something hard, instead of changing the difficulty, I go do more quests, gain some levels, and do it again but at a higher level. It’s not like that matters as much in 5E compared to PF but it can make a difference.

I say all of this because I want to play it again and see different things. I don’t know if I will but I want to.

Thanks for the discussion!

There’s several “level 20” mods, some which let you get high level spell slots to cast from (if not actual level 7-9 spells) and some make you multiclass and no class can go over 12. I haven’t tried any because I found the end game easy enough that I’d think being level 15+ would just make it a kitten-kicking simulator.

Wikis have pretty much destroyed the game guide market except for people who want them as physical collectables. Find a piece of gear, look it up on the BG3 wiki and see if it has associated pieces for other slots, where they’re located, etc. I understand you might prefer a written book but the money just isn’t there in them anymore.

Guide books for the most part aren’t all that lucrative of a market since there are so many online guides these days.

Heck, GameFAQs–which probably more than anything else killed the guidebook market–is less useful these days since so many different gaming sites put out online guides these days. I’ve found that many of the more recent games on GameFAQs just have reposts of online FAQs these days, unlike the homemade FAQs that were prevalent with older games. And some games don’t even have anything under the “Guides” header anymore.

The most comprehensive online guide I’ve found is this one:

It’s a bit weirdly organized, but seems to have just about every option you can take in the game. (I haven’t been using it much since I like to play CRPGs mostly unspoilered, but I do like to read the alternate options after I’ve finished a quest.)

I’m a pretty dedicated gamer and haven’t looked at a guide book in more than a decade. They’re as obsolete as phone books and for the same exact reason.

What was your group makeup? My first run I did:

  • Ranger / fighter / rogue melee crit build (trying to remember why this vs straight fighter. Initiative from gloomstalker?)
  • Ranger / fighter / rogue ranged build
  • light cleric
  • storm sorcerer (wet + chain lighting feels like cheating)

Now I’m doing:

  • Battlemaster fighter
  • fire sorcerer (fire acuity hat means you can CC basically everything)
  • light cleric
  • hunter

If I do another run I’ll have to be do classes I haven’t played with much

  • Monk (probably open hand)
  • Druid
  • Warlock
  • Probably a summoning based wizard.

The Everburn weapon doesn’t required beating the demon. Rescue Shadowheart, make sure she has Command, then use it on the demon to Drop. Run past and pick it up.

I did a human warlock first run. That’s the only one I finished. Second was dwarf paladin. I’m not sure what my other ones were. It’s been too long. I usually took the standard NPCs found. First two, I let the game level them up. One run, I redid them completely. It makes it jarring when their story is the same even though they aren’t that class anymore.

Thanks for the conversation!

You basically have to respec Shadowheart; trickery domain is fucking awful. Light and life are soo much better. Tempest and war are great, but mostly when multiclassing. Haven’t used the others.

Yeah, changing Wyll from warlock or Gale from wizard is weird. I feel like Astarion, Laezel, and Karlach fit with basically anything. Shadowheart worships Shar sure, but not everyone that worships a god is a cleric.

I was a Bard and then Gale, Wyll, and Karlach as their base classes. Karlach was a throw-focused barbarian, but I kind of regretted it since the throwing mechanics were pretty janky and tedious to work around. For example, it seemed like I had to wait 10 seconds for the weapon to return like 80% of the time. I did the split shot / Spell DC stacking Bard thing, which was busted enough on its own that it didn’t matter what anyone else did so I just did their default classes.

I don’t think Shadowheart starts with Command. Maybe she does, but it isn’t Prepared? I didn’t know what I was doing back then.

However, in the city’s Temple of Shar, you can find a document that says Shadowheart was sent out with Shar Team Six to retreive the artefact under the dedicated role of “Healer”. Be pretty weird if she were a rogue. Thought this also supports changing her domain to Life, in my opinion – if you want a healbot on your team, might as well train her as the best healbot possible!

(I have no idea if spoilers are still a thing for a year old game but whatever)

Gak!

I downloaded and am looking at the BG3 toolkit to make something. If this is what they use internally, I feel sorry for their internal people. Several UI improvements and helpers would make this a much better interface and easier to use.

Could I figure it out and use it? Yes. It takes time, though, and that’s my limiter, so in the end, the answer is no. At best, no, not right now.

Maybe I will find it’s easier than I think for a few things but first glance and going through a tutorial, this is not intuitive or as simple as it should be.

Oh, I found my latest save is a pact blade warlock and I grabbed the Everburn weapon as my pact weapon.

If she doesn’t have it prepared, that can be changed easily enough. Command Drop becomes a great tactic on any enemy that depends on their weapon for damage. Make them drop it and pick it up before they can and they are only doing unarmed attack damage for the rest of combat.

Thanks for the discussion!

Obviously only allowed in a computer game as a DM wouldn’t allow it. Funny, though!

Infinite Action Points via Stripping