Should I restat my Baldur's Gate character?

so maybe someone can help me with this, I haven't really played traditional DnD beyond a one shot like 8 years ago, and usually with RPGs I go with tanky characters

I tried playing a wizard to do something different, only I think I fucked up the statting because I'm dying ridiculously quick compared to the rest of my party. I think it's a matter of my constitution being too low? I can't put on better armor because I'm not proficient in anything except robes and quarterstaffs.

Anyway this is what I have. I'm still pretty early (just found Withers) so I kind of want to get ahead of it before it becomes a real problem

Wizard Tiefling - Necromancer
Lvl 3
14 HP (most of my party is 24-28)

Strength 14
Dexterity 15
Constitution 11
Intelligence 15
Wisdom 8
Charisma 13

I have also considered dropping Wizard altogether and switching to Druid, which seems a little more balanced to what I'd be going for? Although necromancy is cool (though I haven't really gotten much in the way of necromancy spells yet)

I'm not familiar with Wizard, but most D&D classes are all about mixmaxing. You put your key stats as high as you possibly can and ignore everything else. Strength on a Wizard seems like a complete waste - if you need someone to move a rock, have another party member do it. If you get into a situation where you're alone and there's a rock you can't move, then that's just how it is. No class can do everything.

Withers exists so that you do get to play around with whatever - and whomever - you want. There is absolutely no shame in paying for his services to do that; that said, strength *is* rather wasted on a wizard. If you're just going by baseline characters, you're better off having one of the ladies deal with it (none of the men have kept up with their lifting.)

As for the dying too quickly: welcome to being a low level Wizard, which also occurs in tabletop. Mage Armor (the spell) in tandem with better Constitution is your friend. If you want Strength on a Wizard, there's a spell or a magic item for that; if you absolutely must have physical stats on a Wizard, your priority order is likely going to be Con (more HP) > Dex (dictates ranged physical attacks and AC if you get caught unawares) > Str.

Wizards are pretty frail. If you want access to better armor you can take one multiclass level in Cleric to gain armor proficiency (how much you get depends on what subclass you choose, but you can literally gain everything by picking the correct ones)

EDIT: Also, at level 3 a lot of characters die pretty quickly. It's not unusual. You get MUCH more staying power once you hit around level 5+.

You have no HP because your constitution mod is +0 which means in addition to being a wizard which has the lowest HP total, you're getting no bonus points. If you're unfamiliar with D&D rules, basically every 2 points in a stat gives you a bonus to your modifier which is what matter 99% of the time. A 10 and an 11 are functionally identical for the most part. And what KP said about minmaxing is correct. So yes I would respec.

For any class you want to start with at least a 16 in your main stat, and a 14 in your secondary/tertiary stats. If you're REALLY minmaxy you can get two 16s sometimes. For a wizard your main stat is Int, your next priorities are Dexterity and then Constitution. Dex increases your armor score and makes you harder to hit, Con gives you more HP and helps you concentrate on spells with an ongoing effect. STR, WIS, CHA are all dump stats for a wizard. STR is totally useless except for carry capacity and can be dumped, WIS and CHA have passive social benefits in BG3 but since you aren't specializing, their score won't make or break anything. As you level your top priority should be getting INT to 20 asap.

also take Mage Armor and remember to cast it every day, it'll help you not get hit

Out of context of Baldur's Gate, it should be noted that there's nothing wrong with statting your character weirdly (I personally just rolled up a L10 barbarian for the new Vecna sourcebook) and the way my stats fell before bonuses I'm strangely adequate or better in everything but my absolutely hideous Charisma - leading me to the class Fantasy of an outcast-half-elf-barbarian-turned-woodsman that looks completely nonthreatening and may have a problem with chemical dependency (and can "see the spirits" because Ancestral Guardian barbarian is fun that way.)

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

A 10 and an 11 are functionally identical for the most part.

This part is crucial. Generally the only time you want odd stats is when you know you'll have a bonus that makes them even. And as you won't know that in advance, you can just respec whenever it is relevant.

This is all actually really helpful, I'm glad I made the topic.

I'm slightly considering trying to multiclass with Wizard and Druid but don't know if that might be putting myself in too deep. It's hard to resist the want to just do everything.

Definitely going to lower my strength and up the constitution though; every once in a while the strength checks are nice but I could definitely always give that to like Lae'zel (or Karlach when I find her)

I didn't have Mage Armor but I did have False Life, although I was usually too busy being dead to cast it

You should max your int as much as possible (18 I think) to ensure your spells actually hit.

Multiclassing is viable, but if this is your first foray into D&D systems sticking with one class would probably be easier.

And yeah, prioritize INT over every other stat for a Wizard. If the game lets you increase INT, then do so immediately. To give some examples for other classes: if you were a Rogue you would be doing the same for DEX, and if you were a Sorcerer you would be focusing on CHA.

D&D is a party based game. The key to success is that every member needs a niche to specialize in. And then like one secondary niche. No one character can do everything. Trying to force a character to do everything is the path to disaster.

Multiclassing spellcasting classes is a lot easier when the classes can use the same casting stat. If they don't, you have to worry about the stat for each class if you're using the spell from. Wizard being the only INT primary spellcaster makes them awkward to deal with in this way.

Guess I'll just sort of post some updates here

Respecing was a huge game-changer, now just hit lvl. 4. Not constantly dying anymore, though I am still constantly getting myself in over my head

So far I have Astarion, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Gale and Wyll. Only used the first three on my team.

Went to search for Karlach and ended up in the goblin village instead; went to the basement of the little tavern thing, Shadowheart died because I upset the magic mirror. Revived her, got past the mirror, got the cursed Necromancy book.

Went down the well, found a bunch of spiders and just barely survived the spider queen. Found the dark gemstone that goes in the Necromancy book, read the whole thing, now I have Speak with the Dead. I mean, I already had a necklace that gave it to me (and I was a necromancer anyway, although I hadn't gotten the spell yet).

Then saw the giant green pit, jumped down, and got a cutscene where I immediately died. Jumped down again using a featherfall spell scroll, and this time I didn't die! But I got immediately attacked by two minotaurs in the underdark and again just barely survived.

I feel like I'm a little unprepared for the underdark? Two minotaurs were wrecking my shit, I used like every spell and heal I had and still ended with a couple downed people and the rest hanging on by a thread. I have like a dozen active quests and none of them are down here but I also don't want to teleport out of here, since I don't have a way back down without finding another featherfall scroll

At level 4 you should be good numerically for the underdark, it's just kind of a nasty place to be. Feeling uneasy is the point! That said if you aren't feeling it just go back topside, you will get a HUGE power boost at level 5 that will make the first act of the game much easier.

Also since this topic is about respeccing: you can also respec the party members, but as much as I love to minmax I don't think this is necessary and the default builds are fine for a newbie...aside from Shadowheart whose build I think is criminal. They gave her a stealth-centric build which is cool if you like group stealth but nearly useless otherwise, either way it's just very unintuitive if you are new to the system and is a mistake. I would HIGHLY suggest respeccing her, changing her Domain (Life is a good one if you'd like a strong healer but Light and War are also strong), slapping the heaviest armor you can get on her, and pumping her Wisdom as high as you can get it, then Con and/or Strength.

Trust me on this, they did my girl so dirty

I never would've thought respeccing allies was an option!

Yeah Lae'zel and Astarion both seem fine at what they do, and really Shadowheart hasn't felt bad either but that's good to know.

I might decide what I want to do when I find Karlach though. I really want Karlach on the team (generally Barbarians are my go-to) but I also like the three I have. It probably makes most sense to switch in Karlach for Lae'zel (I feel like losing my healer or rogue would be rough), but Lae'zel is also probably my favorite character so far

I did loot a thieves stash in the underdark that had tons of stuff, so hopefully that'll come in handy, but yeah if two minotaurs wrecked me that bad it might be better to go handle some actual quests first? I was only lvl. 3 when I was fighting them, the exp. of killing them is what just put me to 4

Yeah, the other characters are fine (unless you want to experiment), but Shadowheart is kinda tragic in her base setup. At the very least changing her Cleric subclass is recommended, and refocusing her stats to be less... stupid.

I'm not saying you need to minmax everything, it's just her in particular is not great by default.

Trickery Domain is built around assisting in stealth in ways you either don't need or are given by other means. The stuff you're likely using on Shadowheart isn't subclass dependent and likely better assisted by another subclass.