Baldur's Dale, The Infinity Engine Games Thread Options

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I used the Great Weapon version of that for my paladins, fighters, and barbarians, and I usually just turned it off because the "To Hit" penalty was just to high in most cases.

Yeah, ooo, you can have your cleric (and maybe paladin?) cast Bless. This will allow you to roll a 1d4 on you attack rolls and saving throws for 10 rounds. This could potentially help with some of that.

[SubRosa]

Hang on Snoopy

The other passengers leave much to be desired

Blood Raven catches up on a good book

Giant Miniature Space Hamsters you say?

The temple of Jergal, where you find Withers (the undead guy who respecs your characters)

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Hang on Snoopy

The other passengers leave much to be desired

Blood Raven catches up on a good book

Giant Miniature Space Hamsters you say?

The temple of Jergal, where you find Withers (the undead guy who respecs your characters)

Started over! Whatcha playing this time?

[SubRosa]

I am playing Blood Raven this time. So a Sorcerer/Fighter. At first I was alternating between the two. Then I respeced and went pure Sorcerer for the first 5 levels, to get level 3 spells, like Fireball and Counterspell. Now I am working on the Fighter levels.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I am playing Blood Raven this time. So a Sorcerer/Fighter. At first I was alternating between the two. Then I respeced and went pure Sorcerer for the first 5 levels, to get level 3 spells, like Fireball and Counterspell. Now I am working on the Fighter levels.

Kewl!

[macole]

Giant Miniature Space Hamsters you say?

This is too much. Laughing so hard I about woke the house up.

[SubRosa]

So now that I am on the second time around playing I tried a different route from Act I to Act II. The first time I took the overland mountain pass route, which takes you through a smallish area with an abandoned monastery and Gith creche beneath it. From there you reached the Shadowlands.

This time I took the Underdark route, where you take an elevator up from the Grymforge area. It is a whole lot shorter. I back-tracked into this area the first time I played. It is just as small as it was that time. It is really just a tiny, couple room ruined Sharran temple with nothing really in it. Then you go straight into the Shadowlands, and it puts you very close to the Inn of Last Light.

So if you want the easy route go this way. If you don't want to miss out on more loot like the Lathandar Mace, and a pretty important part of Lae'zel's quest, go the overland route instead. You can still go back and reach these areas from the Shadowlands. But I know from previous experience that you have to do it early, before you go too far into the quests in the Shadowlands. Because at some point they will lock you out of all the lands you previously went through, including the monastery and creche, along with all of the Act I region.

I don't want to miss any of it. So I schlepped through the Shadowlands to the monastery region. I'll tackle that before going back to the Shadowlands and dealing with them. In the future, I'll just do the overland route all the time.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

In the future, I'll just do the overland route all the time.

Thanks for this advice. I feel like Saryn’s time in the Act 1 area is coming to an end, and we’ll be heading that way soon.

[SubRosa]

I have been quite pleased with my retooling of Astarion. I did him as a Rogue for the first 3 or 4 levels, enough to take the Thief Sublcass and get the extra bonus action. Then I switched him over to the Fighter (with the better Critical Hit sublcass) up to about 5th level - enough to get the first Fighter extra attack. That makes him a beast. I typically equip him with a pair of hand crossbows and use him as an archer. He is really good at that. But I also gave him the Phalar Aluve longsword and a rapier for dual-wielding in melee. He works really good either way.

I stopped Blood Raven's playthrough just before the end of Act II. The Fighter/Sorcerer multiclass just does not have the same synergy that it does in the older versions of D&D.

Ironically, I think it is because the newer rules that make armored spellcasting possible. Now in 5.0 you just need a proficiency in the armor you are wearing, and you can cast spells in it just fine. But in the older versions it was flat impossible to be an arcane spellcaster and wear armor. So the classic Fighter/Mage of D&D 2.0 and 3.x had to use their magic as buff spells to make up for their inability to wear armor. But at the same time they had all the offensive strength of being a Fighter, which was a lot in those days. So you were in essence a Fighter that used magic to improve their abilities.

But now you don't need most of the buffing spells the arcane spellcasters have. And as it turns out, the Clerics are better at it, with their Shield of Faith, Protection from Poison, Protection from Good/Evil, Freedom of Movement, etc... spells.

The Fighters themselves now feel kind of bland. They don't have the really big, splashy attacks like the Paladin and Barbarian have. Those two are the real powerhouses in melee. But the Fighter is not a wimp. They get more powerful the later you go in the game. Because they get extra attacks as they level up. In the late game, they will be making four full attacks or so. Much more than anyone else.

But to get there you need to concentrate on your Fighter levels. Not split them between another class. Likewise, the Sorcerer really gets amazing when you single class them to a high level. So you wind up missing out on the best of both worlds by going the Fighter/Mage.

Which is ironic because the Paladin/Sorcerer is probably the most powerful combo in the game. But that is because the spell slots you get as a Sorcerer can be used to power your Paladin Smite attacks, and a higher levels that normal for a straight Paladin. Sadly, there is nothing similar for the Fighter/Sorcerer.

One of the reasons I gave up on Blood Raven was I got inspired to try out Silverlight. She is a Light Domain Cleric/Sorcerer. So far it is working out really well. The Light Domain gets a lot of offensive spells, like Fireball. And the Sorcerer can bring her some more varied defense and utility spells, like Shield, Misty Step, etc... And they both use the same Spell Slots.

Silverlight likes a good book

Especially when it is about obscure arcana

This time I tried something new, doing the game without Shadowheart at all. She kind of annoys me for the first two acts, with her constant negative comments about Selune and her followers. She gets better after Act II, when she rejects Shar and becomes a Selunite (if you go that route). But since I am playing a Cleric already, it felt redundant to have her in the party.

So I got her killed in the tutorial section in the Nautiloid. I left her behind to face the two Cambions that come in to reinforce the first Devil. She did not last long against them. I read up some on this. I know you can do the game without her. With her dead in the Nautiloid, you find her dead on the beach where you normally find her alive. You get the artefect from her body there. So the game goes on as normal.

So far as I can tell you can do the Gauntlet of Shar with any character later in the game, and still free Dame Aylin there to finish Act II. I am not sure about the Shar enclave in Act III. It might be off limits, or you might still be able to go in and clear it out. If I get that far I will find out.

I also discovered something else in the final battle in the Nautiloid. You can use the Command spell on the devil Commander Zhalk, and make him drop his sword. It is a magic Greatsword called the Everburn Blade, with a fire enchantment. You can pick it up, and start out with a strong magic weapon. I got it the hard way with Blood Raven, by slugging it out with him and killing him. This was a lot easier.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I also discovered something else in the final battle in the Nautiloid. You can use the Command spell on the devil Commander Zhalk, and make him drop his sword. It is a magic Greatsword called the Everburn Blade, with a fire enchantment. You can pick it up, and start out with a strong magic weapon. I got it the hard way with Blood Raven, but by slugging it out with him and killing him. This was a lot easier.

Sorry Blood Raven didn’t work out like you wanted, but hey, new character!

Saryn, Lazzy, and Shady managed to kill Zhalk to get the sword. The Illithid became hostile because we didn’t do what it wanted but by that time, Zhalks minions were on him to keep him from coming after us as we made a mad dash for the controls. Of course, we didn’t use the sword until we met Karlach, but that sword is just so much her!

[SubRosa]

Killing Zhalk seemed impossible my first time playing. Now that I understand how to play the game, it has become pretty much standard.

While I was playing Blood Raven I was able to confirm when the Act I areas become impossible to go back to. It is at the very end of the Gauntlet of Shar. When you use the portal at the end of the Gauntlet to go to Shar's realm of Shadowfell, that is when all the Act I and Rosymorn maps become unavailable.

So when you are doing Act II, my advice is to make sure you clear out everything in Act I, including the Underdark and Grymforge, Rosymorn and the Lathander temple, and all the Act II side quests. You can leave the save Thaniel side-quest for last, I accidentally did so with January, and it still worked.

As far as the Act II main quests, rescue the Tiefling and Gnome prisoners first. Don't do the rest of Moonrise Tower and go after Ketheric yet. You can sneak around the base of the tower to the back side of it, which has a dock. Go in there and it will take you down into the dungeons. Even there, be careful. I freed the prisoners, got the message that they escaped and were safe, then went down into the Oubilette through the caves behind the cells, and found them all dead there. I have no idea why. So make a hard save before going down there.

Then once the prisoners are back in the Inn of Last Light, talk to them to wrap up their quests. Then go and do the Gauntlet of Shar, by going through the Grand Mausoleum at the north end of the destroyed town. Finish it. That sets up the final attack on Moonrise Tower and killing Ketheric.

If you go straight in after Ketheric, all the prisoners die. So its important.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I have no idea what Saryn and crew are doing. We went to the Grove after helping fight off the initial goblin attack, sold some stuff, saved the Tiefling child from that heifer Kohga, recruited Wyll, then left. We’ve since been exploring around and getting into fights with gnolls, and saving people from a burning inn. Most recently, we have explored the goblin camp, chatted with Minthara and made her think we are on her side, found the Underdark, and now we are about to start a big battle against Minthara outside of the Grove. Figured it would lighten the resistance at the goblin camp when we assault it in earnest. Will probably reload a previous save and see if we can’t find the powder kegs Minthara’s subordinate was talking about. If we can remove those from the field, the gates should last a lot longer.

[SubRosa]

I never even tried to talk to Minthara. I go into the goblin camp and take this guy's advice.

If you have a paladin the game will punish you by making you an oathbreaker for just attacking the goblins right out. Even after they regale you of how they tortured, murdered, and ate someone, and offered you leftovers. In that case you have to talk your way in, and then go through dialogue to get the Attack option. Then you won't break your oath by killing the clearly Chaotic Evil monsters.

If you don't have a paladin however, you can just start slaying. It makes for a great fight. My last time with Blood Raven I had the party sneak up around the cliffs to one side of the ruin temple. Then I attacked them from above. It was a really fun battle. Because we were high up, the goblins had to run across the courtyards and climb up after us. There was a lot of long range fighting, and movement on both sides.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I never even tried to talk to Minthara. I go into the goblin camp and take this guy's advice.

If you have a paladin the game will punish you by making you an oathbreaker for just attacking the goblins right out. Even after they regale you of how they tortured, murdered, and ate someone, and offered you leftovers. In that case you have to talk your way in, and then go through dialogue to get the Attack option. Then you won't break your oath by killing the clearly Chaotic Evil monsters.

If you don't have a paladin however, you can just start slaying. It makes for a great fight. My last time with Blood Raven I had the party sneak up around the cliffs to one side of the ruin temple. Then I attacked them from above. It was a really fun battle. Because we were high up, the goblins had to run across the courtyards and climb up after us. There was a lot of long range fighting, and movement on both sides.

I really like the verticality in this game. Really makes you think about how you want to deploy your party.

[SubRosa]

I like that the verticality makes a difference, by giving you advantage or disadvantage depending on how high you are compared to your opponent. Like you said, it adds a new element to strategy. I like games that reward you for thinking.

This time around I am focusing Wyll on the Paladin levels, rather than Warlock. I've been finding several magic items that give bonuses to Radiant damage and Paladin stuff, so he's getting kitted out pretty good. I gave him the sword Justice for example, from the people hunting Karlach. He is working out pretty good.

I have also had Lazzy in the party more too this time. With Shadowheart not in the mix, that opens up another spot. I am using a mod that allows you to have more party members. So I typically run with 6 characters, rather than four. That gives me all the Origin companions in my group at once, which works best story-wise at least. I never like leaving them at camp. I always worry that I am going to miss something without them present that might pertain to them.

This time I made Laz'ael the Battle Master subclass of Fighter. I am finally getting the hang of this. I took the Precision Strike and Menacing Attack maneuvers for her. The first gives you a bonus to hit for your next attack. Which works well to offset the penalty to hit for using the Great Weapon Fighting damage bonus. Menacing Attack adds an extra 1d8 to damage. She is using a +1 Great Axe right now, until I can get her a Githyanki Greatsword, and she reliably does about 30 points per attack. I expect that by the endgame with all of her extra attacks, she will be doing well over 100 points of damage every turn.

I am wondering something about using Dual Weapons and Sneak Attack for Astarion. Namely if I do a sneak attack it is only with the main hand. I am wondering if that is really better than making a standard two attacks instead? I should probably check out the BG3 Reddit forum, I am sure some min/maxing math nerd has run the numbers to get the exact statistical breakdown.

And someone did!

A level 5 fighter/ level 5 rogue gets 3d6 bonus for sneak attack plus extra attack. The difference between rogue 5 and rogue 10 is of 2d6 for an average of 7 extra damage.

If by level 10 you have a +2 rapier you deal with your extra attack 1d8 + 5 + 2 for an average of 11.5 extra damage. And then, you can add battlemaster maneuvers for 1d8 (avg 4.5) extra damage per attack, you have action surge for 2 extra attacks (another 23 average damage once per short rest), and you can have dueling fighting style for a +2 for each attack.

And remember we are not factoring here the chances of landing your sneak attack which is heavily increased due to battlemaster maneuvers giving you advantage. If your weapon deals extra damage, that extra damage adds to the second attack as well.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

There is a YouTuber that runs a channel called D4 Deep Dive who normally does builds for D&D 5E. Since BG3 came out, he has done a whole series devoted to fun player character builds and another series for optimizing your companions. I think his work is really interesting and that any fan of the game should check out his vids! I’ll include some links below to get you started should you choose to check them out.

Optimizing Companions
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YOgipqWEUV0&a...GdhdGUgMw%3D%3D

Builds for Player Characters
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4iw6MPxSDg&a...GdhdGUgMw%3D%3D

[SubRosa]

Wow, what he is saying about Shadowheart is exactly how I have run her in January and Blood Raven's games.

My first time playing I was unimpressed with the Trickery domain, and so I respecced her to Life Domain for the extra healing. This was before I had learned the ins and outs of the game, so my characters were taking a lot more damage more often than they usually do now, and those healing buffs mattered.

Then after the end of Act II when something spoilery happens, I respecced her to Light domain, and that just rocked.

Then in Blood Raven's game I wanted to do something different, so I went with the Storm domain, as that seemed to be the most potent of those left.

This time out playing Silverlight I went Light domain.

Speaking of which Silverlight just hit character level 5. She was an even split of Cleric level 2, and Sorcerer level 2. So I was not sure where to take the next level. I went with Cleric to get the Lesser Restoration. But I found something else out by accident. Since the Cleric and Sorcerer share spell slots, Silverlight can now cast level 3 Sorcerer spells! I am using a mod that allows Sorcerers to learn spells from scrolls, so she just learned Fireball, Counterspell, and Lightning Bolt. Technically she is a 2nd level Sorcerer, but I think since her two classes share the same spell slots, the game treats her as a Level 5 Sorcerer.

Ironically, the same does not work for her Cleric spells. As a 3rd level cleric, she only just got access to level 2 cleric spells.

I just did a Google search and this also works if you multiclass your Sorcerer with a Wizard. Just taking 1 level in Wizard allows you to learn any spell from a scroll. The example given was a Sorcerer 11/Wizard 1. It allowed them to learn spells of all levels from scrolls.

The only caveat I see is that spells learned from scrolls use your Intelligence bonus, not your Charisma. So if you are using something like the Choose Your Stats mod, be sure to make your INT and CHA the same. (From what I gather, the Spellcasting Ability only affects 2 things. You get your attribute bonus on your "To Hit" roll with a spell, and the enemy's saving throw target number is also increased by your attribute bonus.)

I also wonder what happens if I take a single level of Sorcerer for Gale? Will he be able to cast all of his spells as a Sorcerer, without having to prepare them first? Or will the ones he learned as a Wizard (through leveling up as a Wizard that is), still be restricted to the need to memorize them first?


Edit: Ok, I just did a test with Gale. I respecced him as a Wizard 4/Sorcerer 1. The only spells I could cast without preparation were those I took on leveling up as a Sorcerer. Everything I learned from leveling up as a Wizard, and everything I learned from a scroll, had to be memorized first (the standard way Wizards work).

So basically if you want to be a Wizard, don't take a single level in Sorcerer. It won't let you insta-cast all your spells.

[SubRosa]

I was just in camp, and decided to see how the Hireling system works. You do not create a new character from scratch for your hirelings, as I thought. Instead they have a list of about a dozen pre-made characters to chose from, I think one for each class. So that is disappointing. I won't be able to bring in Okami and Gadget and others in for a future playthrough.

I also noticed a magic mirror nearby Withers. I clicked on it to see what it does, and it gives you the option of changing your appearance! So yay! It is nice to have that. You can fix things you did not notice when you first created your character.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I was just in camp, and decided to see how the Hireling system works. You do not create a new character from scratch for your hirelings, as I thought. Instead they have a list of about a dozen to chose from, I think one for each class. So that is disappointing. I won't be able to bring in Okami and Gadget and others in for a future playthrough.

I also noticed a magic mirror nearby Withers. I clicked on it to see what it does, and it gives you the option of changing your appearance! So yay! It is nice to have that. You can fix things you did not notice when you first created your character.

I guess it’s nice that the hireling system is there in case you make a decision/decisions that eliminates a full companion.

Didn’t know that about the mirror. That is handy indeed!

[SubRosa]

My guess is that the mirror was added by the latest patch. So make sure your game is up to date. It was not there earlier.

I did a little experimenting and you can take control of your hirelings the same as any other companion, go to Withers, and respec their class. However, you cannot change their name, race, or appearance with the mirror. I also tried the mirror with a regular companion, and they cannot use it either.

So only the PC can use the mirror. You can change your head, hair, voice, etc... All the appearance stuff. But you cannot change your race or name.