Baldur's Gate 3

[neatfeatguy]

My fights are a struggle, and I was kinda decent in DOS2. IDK, even though I like the game really much, and I play with friend(s) on lan, the spells, spell slots level bs and everything related to fights I suck so hard at. Still can't figure the game mechanics properly. And I wanted to play something without thoroughly planning a playtrough... Guess I'm not giving it enough play hours, as I work away from home. I mostly like to play mage RPG characters in my games.

Playing with my brother makes it difficult. He controls Karlach and a warlock. Karlach is a beast, even at only level 5. She leaps into the fray, smashing the crap out of anything that is in her range and he found out that he loves using Eldritch Blast with his warlock. Then there's me. I've got a mage and cleric. Cleric is okay, she's more support spells and melee while the mage is ranged death.

After any support spells, I move my cleric into melee range and while I'm trying to do that, my brother blasts the crap out of the bad guys near my cleric with Eldritch Blast and the bad guys go flying back half a dozen meters or knocking them off a ledge, now my cleric isn't close enough to attack....wasted round.

Next time I'm up next to a bad guy, attack, my round ends. He blasts them with Eldritch Blast and they go flying out of my range thus giving them the opportunity to run for cover or find higher ground to send their ranged attack at me. Or he blasts them with Eldritch Blast and knocks them right into me even though I had just disengaged and ran because I was being swarmed or in a really bad position..... Now the bad guy is right next to me again! Argh!

The other irritating thing he does is he won't maneuver the camera to get a proper angle on a bad guy, he just clicks his attack and 95% of the time if one of my summons or characters is next to the bad guy, my brother is attacking his own team. If I could reach through the computer and slap him, I would.

 

[Space Lynx]

Sorc/Warlock. Just anything with Charisma and 2 levels of Warlock is basic caster heaven - Bard works too. And yes that requires some knowledge of mechanics to figure out. The reasoning for spellcasters is this; Class levels allow you to obtain spell slots of higher levels and # casts per level. But Character levels feed the scaling of skills. This principle also applies to Cantrips! So with just a small splash of Warlock and the skill to scale your Eldritch Blast with Charisma, you can then move to Sorcerer and enjoy 10 levels of it while getting a maxed out Eldritch Blast on top (*and some warlock spell like the cold damage armor, its great). This allows you to throw more utility in your low amount of Sorc spell choices, which generally enable other classes to go crazy too (Like Haste, crowd control, etc). And for this reason the Sorcerer also always is better than the Wizard. Charisma is just a fantastic ability; it also mixes well with your main character being the party leader and doing the talking. If you also want mobility, roll this combo on a Githyanki for Misty Step and a better jump and if you want to get even more silly, spec your Sorc into a Storm Sorcerer so you can teleport across the battlefield and hit anything you like.

Other than that, the game relies somewhat more (than regular D&D or a game like Baldurs Gate 2) on environmental and situational effects to make fights bearable, or easy, depending on your current progress. A real perk if you are challenged is to include a Ranger/Thief(optional Fighter splash) to get first hits in from Stealth. They have great synergy especially with a Stalker / Assassin- or Hunter (if ranged) spec combo. This way you can always initiate fights. Keep in mind party members must be manually drawn into the turn-based fight in that case, more often than not.

But yeah, if you want to get stronk in combat, get deep into multiclassing. Use Withers as much as you like and roll through several setups or check the wiki for important key skills in each class/specialization to find synergies. There's a lot to be found, and the next step is molding those findings into a party that can just tackle everything.

this still sounds complicated to me, when it comes time for me to play this game, what class do you recommend I play? i have no DnD knowledge. I guess what I am asking is, what is the easiest/most enjoyable class to play for a newbie?

 

[neatfeatguy]

this still sounds complicated to me, when it comes time for me to play this game, what class do you recommend I play? i have no DnD knowledge. I guess what I am asking is, what is the easiest/most enjoyable class to play for a newbie?

Probably something that gets you up close and personal, a warrior type class. Look at Fighter or Barbarian. If you want something that plays kind of like a fighter, but has some healing/support type abilities then you try a Paladin.

Once you get the hang of the basics with them it should become easier to understand how combat plays out and then you can look at branching out from there.

 

[unwind-protect]

My fighter allows me to whack things without studying the skills too much.

 

[Mussels]

My fights are a struggle, and I was kinda decent in DOS2. IDK, even though I like the game really much, and I play with friend(s) on lan, the spells, spell slots level bs and everything related to fights I suck so hard at. Still can't figure the game mechanics properly. And I wanted to play something without thoroughly planning a playtrough... Guess I'm not giving it enough play hours, as I work away from home. I mostly like to play mage RPG characters in my games.

Play on explorer?

You gotta plan ahead, make sure you've long rested for spell slots, save potions/spells so you have spares when you need em (dont waste em to get 100% health and fart about with traders before resting and waste the healing etc)

Then it's usually about what spells and weapons you have equipped, and possibly respeccing for the equipment you have/want to use.

You can spend one level in fighter and get access to most weapons and medium/light armour and shields, and the rest in the regular classes and get all the magical buffs from the gear for the main class you're running

Then you can really, really change things with area of effect spells and weapons - explosive barrels/smokepowder bombs, cloud of daggers etc

Arrows that stop healing or spellcasting are huge buffs in fights against mages, and easy to forget about.

Bonus actions can be used for jump and dash, but they're also what's used for offhand attacks when dual wielding - so you can cast a spell or throw something, and still get 1-3 stabs in if you have bonus points from the class you are (rogues tend to get a few). Sticking a sussur dagger on astarion means his secondary attacks have silence, so he's an amazing mage killer now.

He controls Karlach and a warlock. Karlach is a beast, even at only level 5. She leaps into the fray, smashing the crap out of anything that is in her range and he found out that he loves using Eldritch Blast with his warlock. Then there's me. I've got a mage and cleric. Cleric is okay, she's more support spells and melee while the mage is ranged death.

Respec only costs 100g, and you can steal it back from withers consequence free
Cleric is OP and mandatory in act 2, sharts default is weak in combat - and don't use that useles sacred flame ability, it never hits anything

You can change the spells in use at any time out of combat in your inventory spellbook, people often don't realise that. Shart starts at lvl1 with command that you can use to make teh big boss on the nautiloid drop his everflame blade and steal it from the start, and then his fight becomes a joke.

 

[Vayra86]

this still sounds complicated to me, when it comes time for me to play this game, what class do you recommend I play? i have no DnD knowledge. I guess what I am asking is, what is the easiest/most enjoyable class to play for a newbie?

Easy is Fighter, Barbarian. The next good step forward is Ranger because it adds some spellcasting but still is primarily a frontline fighter that can also do ranged combat. It'll teach you the perks of being more versatile. For casters, a Sorcerer is perfectly fine, you get low amounts of spell choices and the class is straightforward: use spells, run out of spell slots: no longer able to use spells. This will give you a feel for resource management but also for positioning: not provoking attacks of opportunity for example (which basically is: don't walk out of melee combat, you get punished with a free attack).

But honestly its much better to just take the time to understand and experience things, there isn't a class more or less complicated in the end, its just where you choose to invest time, you will learn stuff. Much like how Magic The Gathering works. There are dozens of archetypes, focus on one and get good in it and you'll figure out the rest as you go along.

That said there are definitely more complicated classes to 'play well': Bard, Paladin, Druid I think are top of that list, closely followed by Cleric. They're all the 'hybrid' classes really, where all parts of their class truly come into play (a cleric without spellcasting is pointless; but a Ranger can easily skip it).

You can change the spells in use at any time out of combat in your inventory spellbook, people often don't realise that. Shart starts at lvl1 with command that you can use to make teh big boss on the nautiloid drop his everflame blade and steal it from the start, and then his fight becomes a joke.

Hah! And here I was swinging away at that guy's 18 AC or something with level 1 characters to kill him every time. Nice

 

[Space Lynx]

I actually was leaning toward Ranger before I even knew anything about the game, its just a class I have always wanted to play as but never seem to get around to doing.

going to skip fighter and barbarian and just do ranger class. thanks mate

is this like dragon age origins where i can control my entire party if im playing single player only? or set it to AI as i choose?

 

[Mussels]

Remember that classes have subclasses

I've got two ranger builds that are nothing alike - one can fire off two AEO attacks that don't harm friendlies, while another has a shrapnel effect that does more damage, but also gets a free shot at the start of each fight (not each turn) as an ambusher - you can fire off 5 attacks at level 6 dual wielding light crossbows, ending some fights before they really begin


The non-damage spells are how to take out the big boys - polymorph, hideous laughter, the one that banishes them to another dimension - take some out of the fight to make the whole thing easier to deal with

 

[Rock N Roll Rebel]

I'm not sure where to ask but I would like to play bg3 but it keeps getting hard crashing my computer
CPU Ryzen 5950
mobo asus crosshair viii hero
graphics card MSI 3080
mem 64gb 3200mrz
2 tb gen 4 m.2

 

[sam_86314]

Mods are fun...

Which is the real Shart?

Spoiler

There's a mod that adds a changeling race, and once you reach level 2, you can change into all of the origin characters.

Whispers of the Fey - Changelings Race

Embark in an adventure of Fey proportions with over 80 forms to change into! Never be caught off-guard as you grab Faerun by the short hairs!

www.nexusmods.com

 

[evernessince]

I'm not sure where to ask but I would like to play bg3 but it keeps getting hard crashing my computer
CPU Ryzen 5950
mobo asus crosshair viii hero
graphics card MSI 3080
mem 64gb 3200mrz
2 tb gen 4 m.2

Try switching the graphics API.

 

[Rock N Roll Rebel]

Try switching the graphics API.

sorry if i sound dum but what is API? after all I'm just a cat

 

[evernessince]

sorry if i sound dum but what is API? after all I'm just a cat

It's the layer that translates game instructions into something your graphics card driver can use. It can impact performance and stability. BG3 supports both DirectX 11 and Vulcan. It couldn't hurt to switch API to see if it makes an impact.

 

[Rock N Roll Rebel]

ah I see well I tried both and it didn't make a difference I still hard crashed I read on Reddit that a lot of people were having the same problem there were even a few that said it damaged their hardware but I don't know about that. if you have any ideas that would be grate thanks

 

[AndyGawg]

I mean I think this tuned turn based combat system is really nice. I don't like the Pillars one as much since it tries to straddle the line between strategy and ARPG -- you could see it when the Baldur's Gate: Dark alliance games got released -- switching them to full ARPG really spiked their popularity and they were some GREAT games on the console.

The DOS:2 combat really shines when you learn how to layer combat effects, statuses etc. Initially, when you're just trying to smack people repeatedly with basic abilities, it feels slow and meh, but if you take your time and look at it like the puzzle it is: "instead of slapping him with my sword, i can throw this barrel of oil at 3 of them, and then my mage can light them all up... ah but theres' one guys between me and him... WE'RE DOING IT, SEND THE BARREL"

It really feels closer to the tabletop versions and adds alot of fun and variety to the game.

Great post for people like me. I bought it soon after release, but now I want to enjoy it so much, and "get into it," within a few hours, that I haven't even started yet. After buying I checked some guides for control etc. Instead found huge volumes of very well put together, often in depth, guides - just for one aspect.

I've played turn based games before of course, like Civ 5 & 6. Also Total war games if they count as turn based. I know nothing of the table top Dungeons and Dragons.

Your post gave me a better overall, understanding.

One question. I really enjoyed greatly the Civ games for background info. In my case (knowing nothing about D& D - except something about a 21 sided dice!?!) Will it require a commitment of time before getting into it and just enjoying it, and do the kind of strategic thinking you use? Is patience neccesary for total nubes of D & D. I admit I lack patience - well a bit, - and only sometimes.

More generally, any other kind of overall tips, Of course that is something I hope a fair few players, who have a good understanding of the game.

Oh my....I think I better read more posts in this whole thread first.

 

[Vayra86]

D&D is an acquired taste for sure. Knowing more of it, makes it better. Knowing too little makes it pretty mysterious, and when you fail... pretty annoying.

A few basics about the D&D implementation in Baldurs Gate 3:
- Roleplaying aspects, skill checks: to emulate the tabletop idea of a party interacting with the environment almost everything in D&D is a skill check. Specialization of characters in your party therefore matters. Having a single member good at a small set of skills is important, and covering a majority of them within your party is equally useful. This opens up new ways to avoid or adjust combat encounters too.

- Positioning. Indeed battles are to be approached as tactical puzzles. Beyond positioning, stealth can play a role, allowing you to get the first strike / ambush the enemy. Moving characters out of melee combat provokes an attack, so be careful with that.

- Party and character setup. This is the deep end of the rabbit hole. D&D allows you to build characters any way you like and BG3 likewise. You can mix and match different classes, a thing called Multiclassing. Want a Thief/Mage? Go for it. You can get special feats that open up new combinations of playstyles. There is a class for every combat role, and lots of hybrids. Every class you go into starts with picking Ability Scores - and almost every rule in the game is somehow tied to these scores. Invest time in learning what these six abilities do and where they matter, and you'll quickly start to grasp how the game goes about scaling of damage and most other things as you progress. Powerful classes/characters are generally highly specialized and focused. Jacks of all trades are generally weaker, but versatility can help in the adventure.

If you focus on these basics and just play, the rest will probably come to you as you go. The beauty of this game is that you really can't go wrong - except for plain party wipes - and every choice is consequential. They all lead you forward.

 

[AndyGawg]

D&D is an acquired taste for sure. Knowing more of it, makes it better. Knowing too little makes it pretty mysterious, and when you fail... pretty annoying.

A few basics about the D&D implementation in Baldurs Gate 3:
- Roleplaying aspects, skill checks: to emulate the tabletop idea of a party interacting with the environment almost everything in D&D is a skill check. Specialization of characters in your party therefore matters. Having a single member good at a small set of skills is important, and covering a majority of them within your party is equally useful. This opens up new ways to avoid or adjust combat encounters too.

- Positioning. Indeed battles are to be approached as tactical puzzles. Beyond positioning, stealth can play a role, allowing you to get the first strike / ambush the enemy. Moving characters out of melee combat provokes an attack, so be careful with that.

- Party and character setup. This is the deep end of the rabbit hole. D&D allows you to build characters any way you like and BG3 likewise. You can mix and match different classes, a thing called Multiclassing. Want a Thief/Mage? Go for it. You can get special feats that open up new combinations of playstyles. There is a class for every combat role, and lots of hybrids. Every class you go into starts with picking Ability Scores - and almost every rule in the game is somehow tied to these scores. Invest time in learning what these six abilities do and where they matter, and you'll quickly start to grasp how the game goes about scaling of damage and most other things as you progress. Powerful classes/characters are generally highly specialized and focused. Jacks of all trades are generally weaker, but versatility can help in the adventure.

If you focus on these basics and just play, the rest will probably come to you as you go. The beauty of this game is that you really can't go wrong - except for plain party wipes - and every choice is consequential. They all lead you forward.

Much appreciatted. That helps a lot. I now realize that at time of purchase I didn't imagine such a deep system. It's going to be tough for me for, quite a few hours it seems. Need to find the time.

Your last sentence, "If you focus....." is an encouraging thing to say.
I think I'll just have to jump in, give it fair bit time, or as much as possible, and if still not having fun due to confusion I'll just stop. I guess that first few hours, as in at least, say, 10 to 15 hours is going to be a potentially frustrating time.

But then again, your last sentence adds great persective.
Thank you.

 

[evernessince]

ah I see well I tried both and it didn't make a difference I still hard crashed I read on Reddit that a lot of people were having the same problem there were even a few that said it damaged their hardware but I don't know about that. if you have any ideas that would be grate thanks

BG3 cannot cause damage to end hardware. At the end of the day it's just a piece of software with several layers of abstraction in place between it and the actual hardware. The API, in this case DX 11 or Vulcan, would have to be capable of issuing dangerous commands to your graphics driver which in turn would have to issue dangerous commands to your graphics card which in turn would have to override it's own internal safety mechanisms. There are several layers between the game and the hardware they'd have to exploit in order to cause damage. What's infinitely more likely is that those people had issues that the game just happened to bring forth. A good comparison might be New World, wherein an uncapped menu screen brought fourth existing issues.

In regards to fixing your issue, if you haven't already update your driver via a clean install. That is run a program called DDU (display driver unisntaller) first then update to the latest drive version supported for your graphics card. In addition, you are going to want to take a peak at the event viewer. You can find this in windows 10 and later simply by hitting the windows key and typing in it's name. You are going to want to click custom views and then administrative events. You are looking for critical events and anything that may have immediately preceded them. You can also try locking the FPS to 60 (or less if your device can't get 60 FPS) in game and setting all the graphics settings to low to see if that changes anything. It may be that you are crashing on a specific configuration or that your device has hardware issues that manifest under heavy load and lowering and capping the game may help alleviate that.

 

[Rock N Roll Rebel]

BG3 cannot cause damage to end hardware. At the end of the day it's just a piece of software with several layers of abstraction in place between it and the actual hardware. The API, in this case DX 11 or Vulcan, would have to be capable of issuing dangerous commands to your graphics driver which in turn would have to issue dangerous commands to your graphics card which in turn would have to override it's own internal safety mechanisms. There are several layers between the game and the hardware they'd have to exploit in order to cause damage. What's infinitely more likely is that those people had issues that the game just happened to bring forth. A good comparison might be New World, wherein an uncapped menu screen brought fourth existing issues.

In regards to fixing your issue, if you haven't already update your driver via a clean install. That is run a program called DDU (display driver unisntaller) first then update to the latest drive version supported for your graphics card. In addition, you are going to want to take a peak at the event viewer. You can find this in windows 10 and later simply by hitting the windows key and typing in it's name. You are going to want to click custom views and then administrative events. You are looking for critical events and anything that may have immediately preceded them. You can also try locking the FPS to 60 (or less if your device can't get 60 FPS) in game and setting all the graphics settings to low to see if that changes anything. It may be that you are crashing on a specific configuration or that your device has hardware issues that manifest under heavy load and lowering and capping the game may help alleviate that.

thanks for all this I'll take another look in Event Viewer and see if I tried most of what you said even did a fresh install of Windows and got the latest drivers another thing I did was upgrade my CPU from a Ryzen 9 3950x to a Ryzen 9 5950x I wonder if the game just doesn't like 16 cores maybe if I experiment and disable a few cores if that would help any other ideas would be a help thank you for helping an old man out

 

[evernessince]

thanks for all this I'll take another look in Event Viewer and see if I tried most of what you said even did a fresh install of Windows and got the latest drivers another thing I did was upgrade my CPU from a Ryzen 9 3950x to a Ryzen 9 5950x I wonder if the game just doesn't like 16 cores maybe if I experiment and disable a few cores if that would help any other ideas would be a help thank you for helping an old man out

If you completely re-installed windows you can rule out software or drivers as the source of your issue. Plenty of people on 16-core CPUs playing this game so I don't think it's your CPU either.

Have you tried running MemTest86? That would at least rule out memory. Maybe even try installing the game on a different SSD. Aside from that you could do CPU or GPU specific testing to try to isolate and further rule out components. For example, Furmark for the GPU and Y-Cruncher for the CPU. I tend to run those at least a few hours to ensure stability.

 

[neatfeatguy]

thanks for all this I'll take another look in Event Viewer and see if I tried most of what you said even did a fresh install of Windows and got the latest drivers another thing I did was upgrade my CPU from a Ryzen 9 3950x to a Ryzen 9 5950x I wonder if the game just doesn't like 16 cores maybe if I experiment and disable a few cores if that would help any other ideas would be a help thank you for helping an old man out

You update the BIOS on your MB?

I remember when I got my 5900x the AGESA version wasn't optimal for my CPU. Windows and normal day stuff worked fine, but when I launched games they would crash on me, sometimes to the desktop and other times system BSOD. Thankfully right at that time I got my 5900x a new AGESA was released, so I updated the BIOS and all my crashing issues vanished.

 

[Vayra86]

thanks for all this I'll take another look in Event Viewer and see if I tried most of what you said even did a fresh install of Windows and got the latest drivers another thing I did was upgrade my CPU from a Ryzen 9 3950x to a Ryzen 9 5950x I wonder if the game just doesn't like 16 cores maybe if I experiment and disable a few cores if that would help any other ideas would be a help thank you for helping an old man out

Run everything at stock, install the necessary chipset drivers and up to date agesa as mentioned above.
Windows OS + a game should be simply foolproof these days. If its failing at stock settings in your rig, you're simply missing a piece of code.

Much appreciatted. That helps a lot. I now realize that at time of purchase I didn't imagine such a deep system. It's going to be tough for me for, quite a few hours it seems. Need to find the time.

Your last sentence, "If you focus....." is an encouraging thing to say.
I think I'll just have to jump in, give it fair bit time, or as much as possible, and if still not having fun due to confusion I'll just stop. I guess that first few hours, as in at least, say, 10 to 15 hours is going to be a potentially frustrating time.

But then again, your last sentence adds great persective.
Thank you.

If you are going to play and you want some more direction on specifics, like say, character creation or other mechanical tidbits... don't hesitate.

Its a great game to invest some time into. Very rewarding

 

[AMF]

Found another game-breaking bug that's been around for years.

Act 1 spoilers below:

I started a chaotic evil durge playthrough, and I'm trying to raid the grove. I killed Kahga the moment I met her after letting her kill Arabella, and I stole the idol without doing any quests. I went to the goblin camp and started the raid. Now I'm doing the raid, and Minthara is stuck saying that there are more people to kill, even though there aren't.

Starting to get a little disappointed, as this is the second severe old bug I've found. It's still a phenomenal game, but ugh.

EDIT: I ended up just killing everyone, since it fits the style of this playthrough, that pretty much bypasses the issue. No Minthara for me, and who knows how many side quests I'm locked out of now.

I'm also learning how powerful monks are. I have a party of 3 darkness monks (unarmored and unarmed) and 1 elemental monk (unarmored with a weapon), and I'm surprised at how viable the team is.

when i play d&d i always wantes toplay a monk /psionist

 

[Rock N Roll Rebel]

If you completely re-installed windows you can rule out software or drivers as the source of your issue. Plenty of people on 16-core CPUs playing this game so I don't think it's your CPU either.

Have you tried running MemTest86? That would at least rule out memory. Maybe even try installing the game on a different SSD. Aside from that you could do CPU or GPU specific testing to try to isolate and further rule out components. For example, Furmark for the GPU and Y-Cruncher for the CPU. I tend to run those at least a few hours to ensure stability.

thank you I'll give those things a try

You update the BIOS on your MB?

I remember when I got my 5900x the AGESA version wasn't optimal for my CPU. Windows and normal day stuff worked fine, but when I launched games they would crash on me, sometimes to the desktop and other times system BSOD. Thankfully right at that time I got my 5900x a new AGESA was released, so I updated the BIOS and all my crashing issues vanished.

I have the latest bios

 

[Fizban]

thanks for all this I'll take another look in Event Viewer and see if I tried most of what you said even did a fresh install of Windows and got the latest drivers another thing I did was upgrade my CPU from a Ryzen 9 3950x to a Ryzen 9 5950x I wonder if the game just doesn't like 16 cores maybe if I experiment and disable a few cores if that would help any other ideas would be a help thank you for helping an old man out

It certainly shouldn't be an issue relating to the CPU. At least not the CPU model, might be an issue/defect with your CPU specifically, but 16-core cpu's are certainly fine. I have played the game around 650 hours and never had it crash my system and I have a 24-core cpu.