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[Baldur's Gate 3] Four Halfing Barbarians Walk Into A Tavern...
Zavian
universal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered User regular
universal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered User regular
https://youtu.be/C2ca6paV7i0Release Date: August 3rd, 2023 (PC), Sept. 6 (PS5)
Platforms: PC (Steam, GOG), PS5
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. Gather your party, and return to the Forgotten Realms in a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Mysterious abilities are awakening inside you, drawn from a Mind Flayer parasite planted in your brain. Resist, and turn darkness against itself. Or embrace corruption, and become ultimate evil. From the creators of Divinity: Original Sin 2 comes a next-generation RPG, set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons.
The Forgotten Realms are a vast, detailed and diverse world, and there are secrets to be discovered all around you -- verticality is a vital part of exploration. Sneak, dip, shove, climb, and jump as you journey from the depths of the Underdark to the glittering rooftops of the Upper City. How you survive, and the mark you leave on the world, is up to you.
Online multiplayer for up to four players
allows you to combine your forces in combat, and split your party to follow your own quests and agendas. Concoct the perfect plan together… or introduce an element of chaos when your friends least expect it.
Origin characters
offer a hand-crafted experience, each with their own unique traits, agenda, and outlook on the world. Their stories intersect with the entire narrative, and your choices will determine whether those stories end in redemption, salvation, domination, or many other outcomes.
Evolved turn-based combat
based on the D&D 5e ruleset. Team-based initiative, advantage & disadvantage, and roll modifiers join combat cameras, expanded environmental interactions, and a new fluidity in combat that rewards strategy and foresight.
Define the future of the Forgotten Realms
through your choices, and the roll of the dice. No matter who you play, or what you roll, the world and its inhabitants will react to your story.
Player initiated turn-based mode
allows you to pause the world around you at any time even outside of combat. Whether you see an opportunity for a tactical advantage before combat begins, want to pull off a heist with pin-point precision, or need to escape a fiendish trap. Split your party, prepare ambushes, sneak in the darkness -- create your own luck!
Difficulty Levels & Rules
In D&D, picking the right DM is key to defining the journey you want to embark on. In Baldur’s Gate 3, we’ve created three modes of play that essentially act as different types of DM: the forgiving, narrative driven DM, or the DM that isn’t afraid to let you die if your glass-cannon wizard decides to tickle an owlbear.
At launch, in addition to ‘Normal mode’ (which can be considered our default), players may avail of the following:
In Story mode, combat has been made more forgiving so players can fully immerse themselves in the narrative layer of this adventure. In this mode, friendly NPCs are harder to kill, trader prices are at a 20 percent discount, and you'll begin the game with a +2 starting proficiency bonus.
Hardcore mode, then, is where to test your mettle. In this mode, enemy lethality is cranked up to Brutal, ensuring that enemy AI are stronger, will prioritise squishier targets with low AC, and will seize opportunities to go in for the kill. Additionally, many adjustments have been made to the fights themselves specifically for Hardcore mode, with certain enemies receiving additional support through reinforcements, spells, or consumable items.
Changes Made From Tabletop 5E To BG3:
https://old.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/15jgdf2/heres_a_list_of_all_the_changes_made_to_5e/
LAUNCH CLASSES/SUB-CLASSES:
LAUNCH RACES/SUB-RACES:
STATS:
https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/StatsStrength - A Strength check can model any attempt to lift, push, pull, or break something, to force your body through a space, or to otherwise apply brute force to a situation. The Athletics skill reflects aptitude in certain kinds of Strength checks. You add your Strength modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a melee weapon such as a mace, a battleaxe, or a javelin. You use melee weapons to make melee attacks in hand-to-hand combat, and some of them can be thrown to make a ranged attack. Your Strength score determines the amount of weight you can bear.
Dexterity - A Dexterity check can model any attempt to move nimbly, quickly, or quietly, or to keep from falling on tricky footing. The Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Dexterity checks. You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon, such as a sling or a longbow. You can also add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a melee weapon that has the finesse property, such as a dagger or a rapier. At the beginning of every combat, you roll initiative by making a Dexterity check. Initiative determines the order of creatures’ turns in combat.
Constitution - Your character’s hit points define how tough your character is in combat and other dangerous situations. Your hit points are determined by your Hit Dice (short for Hit Point Dice). Your Constitution modifier contributes to your hit points. Typically, you add your Constitution modifier to each Hit Die you roll for your hit points
Intelligence - An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning. The Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Intelligence checks. Wizards use Intelligence as their spellcasting ability, which helps determine the saving throw DCs of spells they cast
Wisdom - A Wisdom check might reflect an effort to read body language, understand someone’s feelings, notice things about the environment, or care for an injured person. The Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Perception, and Survival skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Wisdom checks. Clerics, druids, and rangers use Wisdom as their spellcasting ability, which helps determine the saving throw DCs of spells they cast
Charisma - A Charisma check might arise when you try to influence or entertain others, when you try to make an impression or tell a convincing lie, or when you are navigating a tricky social situation. The Deception, Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Charisma checks. Bards, paladins, sorcerers, and warlocks use Charisma as their spellcasting ability, which helps determine the saving throw DCs of spells they cast.
EARLY ACCESS : Early access was available on PC, and comprised Act I. 'Early Access purchasers will receive a free upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition upon full release.' - Larian
INCLUDED IN BALDUR'S GATE 3 - DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION:
- Baldur's Gate 3 - Base Game
- Bard Song Pack - Astound audiences by performing this special set of new songs
- Exclusive Dice Theme - Roll checks with style
- Paintings from Rivellon - Discover a new collection of paintings across the Forgotten Realms
- Adventurer's Pouch - Receive a collection of camp supplies and potions to help get your journey started
- Digital OST* - Enjoy the music of Baldur's Gate 3 from composer Borislav Slavov
- Digital Artbook* - Explore the art and design of Baldur's Gate 3 in this digital artbook, written by Larian
- Digital Character Sheets* - Peruse a set of four-page D&D character sheets for each Baldur's Gate 3 origin character
AND AN ITEM PACK FROM THE WORLD OF DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN!
- Mask of the Shapeshifter - Headgear that allows you to change race and appearance on the fly, inspired by Fane of Divinity: Original Sin II
- Cape of the Red Prince - Cloak inspired by the Red Prince of Divinity: Original Sin II
- Lute of the Merryweather Bard - Playable instrument inspired by Lohse of Divinity: Original Sin II
- Needle of the Outlaw Rogue - Dagger inspired by Sebille of Divinity: Original Sin II
- Bicorne of the Sea Beast - Headgear inspired by Beast of Divinity: Original Sin II
*credit to korodullin for the prior BG thread which I've copied the following from!
http://www.baldursgate.com/ - Home of the BGEE
http://www.baldursgateii.com/ - Home of the BG2EE
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition on Steam
Baldur's Gate I and II at GOG
Baldur's Gate I and II at Gamersgate
Zavian on
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It absolutely works and in certain time-constrained instances it's a godsend.
Edit: click the spell, click where you want the first gate in the world, click where you want the second gate. The gates can be placed in a fairly large sphere around the character, so if the goal is to cover the most ground as quickly as possible, position the caster between where you want the two gates.
I found a music store and had a bardly conversation with the proprietor. Now I get a discount on all their rare instruments. Sometimes I go into large crowds and perform. When I finish, they all clap and throw me money. If there are other performer NPCs near by, they'll stop what they're playing to come join me and play the same tune. It's possible to have a whole band playing all the instruments!
I've also used perform to distract guards so that I can sneak into certain places (like the stupid Baldur's Mouth broadsheet company).
That took me like 3 tries.
I have never gotten far in these kinds of games, I get stuck trying to figure out what the game wants from me or get stuck in seemingly unwinnable combat and just end up quiting. I don't think I ever got much past the tutorial island in divinity original sin 2.
I don't want it to go down that way this time, I'd love to at least actually eventually make it to the titular city.
So I'm playing it on easy / story mode, and uh if this is easy I don't want to know how hard normal is. I've had to save scum so much just to get this far it's embarrassing.
Just take your time exploring.
act 1 spoiler
Tip on where to go
There's a boat you can use to get to a new area
If you're only level 4 though there's probably more stuff you haven't done yet.
Should probably be level 5 before taking the boat or going to the mountain pass
If you're desperate to find the way
When you feel your high enough level you can either enter moonrise by going through the Gith Creche, there's a tough fight with some Undead, or take the boats in the underdark to that duergar camp. There's a tough fight on the boat and after that I'd recommend turning back and resting then come back because there's a penalty to resting there, but not game breaking.
After you clear them out there should be an elevator leading to the cursed lands map, which has moonrise tower.
The main thing though, is keeping exploring and keep leveling up.
The Bonus Urge.
My character only feels alive when he can buff and attack in the same turn.
I've spent the entire game with my character explicitly being in a romance with Shadowheart, and participating in a revolving door of hard-rejecting everyone else who wants to ride this train. And now in act 3 it feels like the game is begging me to fuck around.
edit: like, this isn't any criticism of polycules or anything, they're totally legit relationships. Just, Halsin. You've been in my camp since act 1 buddy. Read the room.
ok i see why this was not working. There is no visual indicator that the spell has accepted the first gate command. You click and nothing happens. Which led to me clicking again, which put both gates right on top of each other. There are so many things in the UI that don't respond to the first click, like your portrait to change control etc., that it never occurred to me that the spell was accepting a command. Especially since the wall spells all show the exact path of the spell.
It's the classic open world RPG problem. And there are times when there is an invisible clock running, but thankfully they aren't too common. The difficulty means you do need levels and just powering your way through isn't going to work well unless you've figured out the gaps in the game system and decided to exploit them or otherwise break the combat mechanics over your knee.
Savescumming and strategic conversations can make a lot of fights easier, thankfully. But not all of them.
Is that just a d&d thing? I've played lots of tabletop, but basically no d&d, which means I don't get half the references in this game and have essentially no nostalgia for it past the basic concept of rolling dice.
It's not like numerical levels come up that much in table top games, the dm isn't exactly going to hand you the stats sheet for the enemies or anything, so it could be that tabletop levels are just alway big and I never noticed.
Edit : I guess the key for me is to just not let myself get frustrated. It's a single player game, I can just not play it for a day or two and come back with fresh energy. I think as long as I can keep making some kind of progress I can keep chipping away at it until it opens up a bit.
I think the fact that I want so much to see what happens and how the characters develop and everything, despite having literally zero nostalgia for either the baldurs gate series or d&d in general, just tells you how good this game is.
They just need to add a Very Easy mode lol.
that is how D&D 5e levels work, yeah. Level increases are almost always huge power spikes, some more massive than others, like 5.
I messed with this once (and boy am I sick of cutscenes throwing you into a fight - like there is zero buildup that is coming) and can't wait to get back to it (decided I wasn't ready to advance the story and had some stuff still to do on Act 1 maps).
. . .also having SH in the party during this was hilarious. I'm like "Hey! Can we not antagonize my 'bosom buddie' - I'm the one that has to deal with this later!"
Since I've been exclusive and 100% loved by Shadowheart this whole game, I was wondering why the one big romance scene wasn't triggering. Apparently I bugged something somewhere.
Turns out the easy solution is to take your potential-but-not-triggering romantic partner somewhere. Then FUCKING MURDER THEM IN COLD BLOOD. And then ask Withers to revive them for a handfull of gold. Boom, romantic triggers reset, time to get romantic!
There is also a lot of item support for bards. I think a lot of is just so that PC's have things to use if they make an "off brand" class. Plus you can hire new companions for cheap plus you can respec any of the main companions to any class.
1: The towers hurt a ton and they they have both Sturdy (Only take damage if you get hit for more than 10 damage) and Resistance to or Immunity to many damage types. The best bet is electricity, but if you don't have that Force from Wyll also works. If he rolls above average on a damage roll on his cantrip he does damage.
2. You can disable the turrets and empower the facility by putting a magic power in the machine in the basement. This also enables the elevator.
Still in some ways it is a dead end, there's some loot there and some lore but I don't think there's much mission critical stuff.
Moon Tower Location Spoilers
Mage tower spoiler
*if you use turn based mode and a rogue you can probably get them the entire length of the turrets attack range in a single turn based turn.
General Combat tips
Level 4 and level 5 are big power spikes. But you gotta well... know what to do
Sanctuary is a bonus action and has no save. So if you have a glass cannon you can have them do glass cannony stuff then bonus action make them immune to attack after the end of their turn with a cleric.
Pushing enemies over cliffs is super powerful. As is setting up ambushes and using explosives. Unless its a big named enemy don't worry about their loot. It probably doesn't matter.
Throw all the things. Do not worry about running out of consumables. You will not. They're easy to make (mess around with alchemy as an example). I ended up with like 10+ potions of speed at the end of act 1. Which trades 1 bonus action for 3 rounds of +1 action. Which is super huge. Use elixir's you will get plenty of them in the course of the game.
Particularly powerful feats:
Tavern Brawler (+str to attack and damage... and its a half feat. So if you start with 17 str and get tavern brawler you're attacking at +8+prof for 1d4+8 dmg(more if you're using a better weapon) the accuracy increase here is just super good.
Heavy Armor Master: -3 dmg per attack for non-magical damage. Most enemies have non-magical damage.
Polearm Master: This is generally 1 to 2 extra attacks/round. You lose on +1 to hit/dmg but like.. You will increase your number of attacks with your full strength mod while still having a two handed weapon.
Shapshooter/Heavy Weapon Master; If you have high accuracy and the right weapons this is very good
Level 5 is a huge power spike for everyone but rogues. Fireball is OP. Its just hella strong. 2 attacks is huge. Your two attacks can be split between throwing things as well. Haste is super huge. At level 5 your fighter might go from 1 attack to 4 attacks/round...
Had to turn him down three times before he finally got the message.
"No! Bad horny vampire!"
No wonder all the companions are attacted to the main character
Because of the implication
mage tower spoiler
EDIT whoops saw that was already mentioned!
also
also the magic giant stool can be broken, and you can then loot a magical giant's club!
I had Lae'zel be all like, "I see you're a gith. I, too, am gith. Let's gith nasty."
I said I was down to clown because while she seems like she might be tsundere and I'm not normally into that, she is the only other gith I've met so far.
the BG3 characters have so far taken it WAY better
Lae'zel coming onto me is on more often than it's happened to me IRL lol
Halsin is outwardly very wise druid nature hippie energy but give him like 5 seconds and that philosophy goes into some real Bloodhound Gang territory.
(Act 1 spoilers)
That being said, I kind of want to pickpocket and murder them for the XP, but one of them says something about working with the Zhentarim again in Baldur's Gate now that we're friends. If that's the case, I don't want to murder a potential quest giver.
You can ABSOLUTELY miss out on stuff as consequences.
I'm in act 3 and kicking myself for missing out on particular items I heard I could have gotten if I allied with them.
God damn it, I haven't thought about the Bloodhound Gang in like... decades, and now I have "Bad Touch" stuck in my head. Thanks for that.
Yeah but I'll be honest, his persistence makes me wanna give it a shot. He really wants me - but I'm shooting for Lae'zel on the new playthrough.