[Gaming] Baldur's Gate 3

GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Dave said:
If you have Gale in the party, make sure he learns Longstrider. It gives +3 meters movement ALWAYS. And if you cast it outside of combat since it's a ritual it takes no spell slots. Oh, and the effect lasts until the next long rest.
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We literally kicked Gale back to camp the instant we got him and didn't bring him back out until we needed his arcane/int rolls to talk to the librarian in Act 3... so he basically sat at level 1 forever until suddenly he was level 12.

And because Snuffles is a sorcerer and isn't familiar with D&D he didn't realize wizards were different and had to pick what spells they wanted to "ready," combat was "interesting" when we accidentally got into combat.

But our party composition has basically been:

Snuffles, Evocation Sorcerer
who is also controlling Astarion, Thief Rogue, who is just there to pick locks and disarm traps
And maybe who is controlling whoever is plot relevant and needs to be in conversation but generally Snuffles does all the talking because CHA 20

GasBandit, Open hand monk/Thief Rogue
who might be also controlling Karlach, Berserker Barbarian, if we aren't doing anything companion-quest related
or who would be controlling Shadowheart if we are, because somehow (bug) she convinced herself she's my lover even though I've never given her any indication I was interested much less actually slept with her but what the heck let's keep her happy I guess

So basically Karlach is our default 4th member unless we specifically need to advance somebody's sidequest.



On a side note, I am so grumpy they found a bullshit reason to nerf the Chest of the Mundane.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

GasBandit said:
We literally kicked Gale back to camp the instant we got him and didn't bring him back out until we needed his arcane/int rolls to talk to the librarian in Act 3... so he basically sat at level 1 forever until suddenly he was level 12.

And because Snuffles is a sorcerer and isn't familiar with D&D he didn't realize wizards were different and had to pick what spells they wanted to "ready," combat was "interesting" when we accidentally got into combat.

But our party composition has basically been:

Snuffles, Evocation Sorcerer
who is also controlling Astarion, Thief Rogue, who is just there to pick locks and disarm traps
And maybe who is controlling whoever is plot relevant and needs to be in conversation but generally Snuffles does all the talking because CHA 20

GasBandit, Open hand monk/Thief Rogue
who might be also controlling Karlach, Berserker Barbarian, if we aren't doing anything companion-quest related
or who would be controlling Shadowheart if we are, because somehow (bug) she convinced herself she's my lover even though I've never given her any indication I was interested much less actually slept with her but what the heck let's keep her happy I guess

So basically Karlach is our default 4th member unless we specifically need to advance somebody's sidequest.



On a side note, I am so grumpy they found a bullshit reason to nerf the Chest of the Mundane.
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Is snuffles dual classed into a sorcerer/evocation wizard? Because if he wants to wizard dip it's usually better to just take one level of wizard and forego getting a specialization. Wearing the circlet of intelligence from act 1 will give him enough spell slots to prepare any level wizard spell copied from a scroll he wants, for a little greater spell spread
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Ravenpoe said:
Is snuffles dual classed into a sorcerer/evocation wizard? Because if he wants to wizard dip it's usually better to just take one level of wizard and forego getting a specialization. Wearing the circlet of intelligence from act 1 will give him enough spell slots to prepare any level wizard spell copied from a scroll he wants, for a little greater spell spread
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Nope, he is pure sorc all the way down, just likes to blow shit up. His favorite spell seems to be scorching ray, with fireball a close second. Oh yeah and he's the fire dragonkin thing. I'm just a boring vanilla human.

We are both monstrously disappointed in what has been done to magic missile. It's so trash now.
 
Far

Far

GasBandit said:
On a side note, I am so grumpy they found a bullshit reason to nerf the Chest of the Mundane.
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Mine broke when I went into Act 3 pre-patch anyway and everything that was in it turned into it's in chest mundane item. Didn't notice until I was too far and didn't have anything that mattered to lose but still.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

GasBandit said:
We are both monstrously disappointed in what has been done to magic missile. It's so trash now.
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I haven't played BG3, obviously, so can't comment on what they did here exactly, but... Mm kind of is supposed to suck at higher levels. If you want an easy cast direct damage spell that stays relevant, become an EB focused warlock. Some interpretations keep MM "great" because it's iconic, but that just ends up turning a Warlock into a less versatile wizard. Wizards (and sorcerors) have a thousand other uses. Ranged single target DPS isn't really supposed to be their specialty.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Bubble181 said:
I haven't played BG3, obviously, so can't comment on what they did here exactly, but... Mm kind of is supposed to suck at higher levels. If you want an easy cast direct damage spell that stays relevant, become an EB focused warlock. Some interpretations keep MM "great" because it's iconic, but that just ends up turning a Warlock into a less versatile wizard. Wizards (and sorcerors) have a thousand other uses. Ranged single target DPS isn't really supposed to be their specialty.
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I can definitely confirm that EB Warlocks are stupid fun.

But in BG1, Magic Missile was deliriously overpowered. But I guess that's 2nd edition for you.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

GasBandit said:
We are both monstrously disappointed in what has been done to magic missile. It's so trash now.
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Magic Missile is amazing. On a sorcerer, probably not that great, sorcs are all about throwing three fireballs a turn, but magic missile is still amazing. It's great on wizards, especially evocation wizards, and it's great on other mixed spellcasters who might have a low attack modifier on their spell cast.

But here's why magic missile is so busted: each individual missile counts as its own spell, and they -always- hit. Always. You don't even need line of sight, they'll whip around corners to hone in on their target.

Each missile being it's own individual spell is good for things like attacking an enemy that's concentrating on a spell, each missile is a chance to break concentration. But also any affect that adds damage to a spell will add it to -each missile-. Evocation wizards, for example, get to add their intelligence modifier as extra damage to each spell at level 10, that's a huge power spike for magic missile. Lightning charges from something like the spellsparkler staff apply to each missile, allowing tons of extra damage there and building up lightning charges super fast. The spellmight gloves you can get in act 3 add a whopping TEN WHOLE DAMAGE to each of your spells, at the cost of having a -5 to hit, but magic missile always hits. There's an amulet you can get in the underdark myconid colony that also adds an addition missile each time you cast magic missile. Even ignoring lightning charges, the evocation bonus, spellmight gloves and magic missile amulet will mean a level ONE magic missile is going to do at minimum 60 bonus damage, before it even gets to rolling its base damage. FOR A LEVEL ONE SPELL SLOT. And it only goes up from there.

Magic missile is still op.

Edit: quick dirty math. Assuming you are an evocation wizard with the amulet and the gloves (and just them, there's lots more items that add to spell damage) one cast of a level 6 magic missile would produce ten missiles and do on average 18 damage per missile, so 180 damage directed around as you choose. Even disintegrate only does on average 80 damage.
 
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Frank

Frank

Huh, each instance of MM shouldn't be it's own separate spell, but Larian is playing fast and loose with the rules anyway.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Frank said:
Huh, each instance of MM shouldn't be it's own separate spell, but Larian is playing fast and loose with the rules anyway.
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Jeremy Crawford has been clear that things that add bonus damage to spells adds it individually to each missile. He's waffled back and forth on whether each missile is rolled individually or whether you roll one number and use it for all the darts, and whether or not each dart has its own concentration roll.

I see this damage scenario as well within established official rules. The concentration is not so clear, so to me it's a matter of DM interpretation. One check for each roll is going to be lots of rolls that are easier to make (due to the lowered damage of each missile). The alternative is one check that's a higher DC. I haven't done the math on which is more likely to break concentration.

I've always been a huge fan of magic missile. There's a window where other spells take the spotlight, but then MM comes back hard at later levels. That said, there are lots of ways to avoid MM, including the ever popular shield spell. High level opponents should fight smart if they're going against high level spellcasters.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Also the amount of XP going straight into the ether is PAINFUL to me. Killed two Spectators at the same time. 2000xp, fired into the fucking sun.

Yes, I know there are level 20 mods, but I'm playing multiplayer >_<
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
HCGLNS said:
Single player and 4 player are safe, but in two or three player...who romances Karlach?
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Wyll.

I will say that I agree that Karlach is best girl, though.

I seemingly got gaslit into being in a relationship with Shadowheart in the playthrough I have going with Snuffles, though.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

GasBandit said:
Wyll.

I will say that I agree that Karlach is best girl, though.

I seemingly got gaslit into being in a relationship with Shadowheart in the playthrough I have going with Snuffles, though.
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I used to think Karlach was best girl, but then on my Durge run I was like, let's try Lae'zel.

I was very surprised
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Dei said:
I think all the romances do that.
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Lae'zel romance spoiler:

Lae'zel wakes me up in the middle of the night and tells me she loves me too much so we have to fight. She wants me to prove to her I'm worthy of her obsession. I'm like cool, I'm min-maxed to the extreme, I'll show you.

So we duel in our underwear, and I go to fill her with a million crossbow bolts, but she uses her reaction to cast shield and block them all. Oh no, I forgot I had multiclassed her into an Eldritch Knight/Wizard.

Her turn, she casts hold person on me, I fail the save. She absolutely obliterates me...

She then picks me up, cuddles me sweetly, and tells me she wants to protect me. ... I can work with this.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

Ravenpoe said:
Lae'zel romance spoiler:

Lae'zel wakes me up in the middle of the night and tells me she loves me too much so we have to fight. She wants me to prove to her I'm worthy of her obsession. I'm like cool, I'm min-maxed to the extreme, I'll show you.

So we duel in our underwear, and I go to fill her with a million crossbow bolts, but she uses her reaction to cast shield and block them all. Oh no, I forgot I had multiclassed her into an Eldritch Knight/Wizard.

Her turn, she casts hold person on me, I fail the save. She absolutely obliterates me...

She then picks me up, cuddles me sweetly, and tells me she wants to protect me. ... I can work with this.
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I am fully committed to Lae'zel and her story arc. We are well past the not kissing in public phase. It's glorious sun rises now.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

Patch 2 is good news for Karlach, which is good news for everyone!


I forgot to loot a sub boss and thus did not get the key to the big boss. I sit in a box for two minutes and feel shame.
 
Adam

Adam

Are there any game/plot-related issues with taking as many Long Rests as you want? The first long rest I took was part of advancing the plot (Astarion et al.) but it's made me hesitate to take any long rests as a result. I almost avoid them as much as possible which makes the game a bit of a resource scarcity slog as a result.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Adam said:
Are there any game/plot-related issues with taking as many Long Rests as you want? The first long rest I took was part of advancing the plot (Astarion et al.) but it's made me hesitate to take any long rests as a result. I almost avoid them as much as possible which makes the game a bit of a resource scarcity slog as a result.
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HCGLNS said:
Yes. Some quests are time limited to long rests. Rescue the guys behind the tunnel collapse for example.
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This, but also if you let the "I need a long rest to advance the plot" things (especially romance) wait, they tend to stack up and one might "happen" without being shown, which I think is why apparently Shadowheart thinks my monk is banging her when we definitely have not - the night she was supposed to initiate that got overridden by some other plot cutscene and the game just glitched and made the assumption that we fuckin'.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

The long rest cut scenes are the most D&D part of the game.

PCs "We're going to camp here and rest for the night."

2 hours into the rest...

DM "Roll for initiative bitches!"
 
Adam

Adam

So to clarify the answer is: It dependts.

But I'm also hearing that there's not a definitive Long Rest Countdown clock that we at 31 Long Rests, the plot advances to a new Act or anything like that.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

No you need to make a conscious decision to leave the acts. As doing so can end several quests. You get a message asking if you are sure you want leave or do you want to finish up some quests.
 
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