Current Events > Gonna start Baldur's Gate 3 this weekend. Any tips or advice?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've kept myself largely in the dark about the game and the only thing I really know is that it's turn-based but involves dice like DnD. (I know absolutely nothing about DnD)

I'm not really into challenging myself when it comes to games and just want to experience the story and world. So any tips that would make combat easier would be appreciated.

Save scum constantly

If you only care about the story and world, and have no previous D&D exposure, turn the difficulty all the way down to avoid frustration.
And save constantly.
Enjoy!

I'd recommend making your character a Charisma based class like Bard, Sorcerer, or Paladin.

Have them learn your conversation skills and be the party "face" for Persuade and whatnot, especially as a Bard.

That helps you not have to worry about party composition as much.

you get exp. for discovering new areas and some successful dialogue encounters, so make sure to explore the world and don't feel like you've always got to get into fights, since there are multiple ways to succeed.

or get into as many fights as you want; it's all up to you.

also, return to camp to rest from time to time, since there's no real penalty (unless a quest is on a timer), and you often progress the story and character relationships in that way.

Don't try to fight the goblin leaders and the hag until you're level 4. The power jump from 3 to 5 is massive.

If your ally gets downed, use the bonus action healing word to bring them back up. You still get to keep your main action and don't have to risk your ally dying.

Right click enemies and examine them. It's basically the scan function in other games that you can use for free. Look at their resistances and conditions.

Squall28 posted...

The power jump from 3 to 5 is massive.

To piggyback onto this, level 5 in particular is huge because lots of classes unlock important things like a second attack at that level.

Romance Gale asap for all the best buffs.

-Merchants restock whenever a character levels up, and you can level companions indivually, so you can use this to get a bunch of camping supplies. As a result you can long rest fairly often which can let you go all out frequently in encounters

-Bless is really good early on since stuff isn't super accurate yet.

-Generally avoid fighting encounters above your level. One level in general can be tough, but some levels like Level 5 are big power-spikes and fighting that underlevelled could be a blowout.

-If you're planning to savescum, quicksave often. The autosave isn't super reliable

-If a conversation starts sounding like you'll be getting into a fight, you can switch to your companions and move them wherever you want, including hiding them so that you can get some free sneak attacks.

UnholyMudcrab posted...

To piggyback onto this, level 5 in particular is huge because lots of classes unlock important things like a second attack at that level.

That's true, but the reason I specify 4 as well is because two of the hardest encounters in the game is available at lvl 3, and getting that 4th level makes a massive difference. Getting to 5 before then requires some out of path grinding. Getting to 4 just means you got your opinions and the intro side quests.

your companions can die permanently, but they'll stay where they died, so you can come back with a resurrection scroll later on.

there are some other ways to revive them, but the scrolls are the earliest option.

Play how you want, save often, and get creative. Combat is very versatile, and if there's something in the environment that looks like you can use it to your advantage, you probably can.

Also don't stress too much about class choice or ability scores, as you can redo your levels for a fairly small price (on any character, including party members, though changing their classes might make their social and story interactions feel less fitting, so keep that in mind)

Point being? It's a wide open game with tons and tons of choices that happen very often, and big or small things can have significant impacts for how things play out.

I got through a bunch of early fights by just running away from the enemies and then firing cantrips and bows on them when they chased me. Kiting mobs is a classic for a reason.

Longstrider and Guidance are OP as fuck. You can activate them as many times as you want so there's no reason not to cast Longstrider on everyone after every long rest and use Guidance for every skill check, it's just a free +1d4. Extremely annoying in tabletop D&D but free here.

You should respec all the companions fairly early on since their default attributes and subclasses are mostly shit. And then when you get later in the game and have picked your best baes you can respec again to balance out the party or adjust spell choices, it effectively costs nothing because you can pickpocket the money back.

Also, pickpocketing vendors is op, you should have an Arcane Trickster Rogue in your party even if you never use them for combat.

play durge

Alternate take: DON'T save scum. That's not the point of it. I've made it a point to let my dice rolls happen. It dynamically changes how the intended path I want happens and it's much more interesting.

There's so many options, save anything else for another character or play through

BewmHedshot posted...

use Guidance for every skill check

One small thing to note, though, is that Guidance is a concentration spell. If that character is concentrating on something else, like bless, then using guidance will remove bless.

You can't fail unless you see a game over screen. Keep going no matter what bad things happen.

Pick up every explosive barrel and send them to camp or use them as needed.

Gobstoppers12 posted...

One small thing to note, though, is that Guidance is a concentration spell. If that character is concentrating on something else, like bless, then using guidance will remove bless.

Bless is probably not a good example since it only lasts 10 turns but yeah true, make sure you're not concentrating on something important.

BewmHedshot posted...

Bless is probably not a good example since it only lasts 10 turns but yeah true, make sure you're not concentrating on something important.

I only use that as an example since one of the things you can add from the roll menu is bless, but it overlaps guidance and still uses the spell slot.

Gobstoppers12 posted...

I only use that as an example since one of the things you can add from the roll menu is bless, but it overlaps guidance and still uses the spell slot.

I screwed up with that during a conversation that swapped between rolling ability rolls and saving throws but I don't remember the details.

Here's a pretty big tip for a late Act 1 area if you're planning on using Lae'zel, specifically the Githyanki Creche she keeps badgering you about. When she volunteers to go in the machine first, take her place. The machine will give her -2 in three different stats if she fails them (and they were all pretty difficult saves IIRC). If you pass the saves (which are more lenient for you I believe), you get a permanent buff in the form of your illithid abilities being bonus actions. Unfortunately, I planned on using her for most of the game, and had to re-plan my team since I didn't realize what happened until well into Act 2.

MorganTJ posted...

Here's a pretty big tip for a late Act 1 area if you're planning on using Lae'zel, specifically the Githyanki Creche she keeps badgering you about. When she volunteers to go in the machine first, take her place. The machine will give her -2 in three different stats if she fails them (and they were all pretty difficult saves IIRC). If you pass the saves (which are more lenient for you I believe), you get a permanent buff in the form of your illithid abilities being bonus actions. Unfortunately, I planned on using her for most of the game, and had to re-plan my team since I didn't realize what happened until well into Act 2.

You still get the buff if you make the final save regardless of if it's you or her.

The difference is if you go in you roll saving throws, if she goes in you roll Persuade and it maxes out at like 30.

Can you be a total whore in this game? Like, I want to sleep with every character. Will they get jealous or break up and be unavailable for future trysts?

Do I need to plan my romance before I do it, or can I just get it anywhere and everywhere without anybody or anything getting blocked off?

jumi posted...

Will they get jealous or break up and be unavailable for future trysts?

Some will, some won't. I never got involved in the romance stuff since I mostly played in a 4-person player group with my gf and a couple of our D&D friends.

Thanks to everyone who posted. It's much appreciated.

Slap the hand