Baldur's Gate 3 Playthrough Discussion

[Kaamos_Llama]

Regarding that gem that fits into something, I suspect it's the book on dentistry that I posted a few months ago.

It is, I found the book but not the gem the first time through.

Playing on Tactician vs normal isnt as hard as I thought it would be so long as I'm exploring everything and gearing up properly. Seems if you make use of all the items and potions available as well as being levelled up its balanced pretty well. I wonder if they adjusted the difficulty or I'm just better prepared this time, some of the fights I remember having to think about are much easier than the first time around on 'normal' difficulty.

Spoiler: Act One Spoilers

Found an interesting little note in the swamp regarding Kagha and solved the Druids circle/Tiefling problem differently than before. Having a high charisma character with Persuasion and all we convinced her she was in the wrong and the Shadow Druids went down very easily. For some reason theres a time limit on picking up the loot after the fight, after about a minute if I tried to loot the corpses it would aggro Kagha and she just attacks without any option to talk, which is really weird considering how thankful she was for us to save her. None of the loot piles were red text and I tried multiple times.

Auntie Ethel was the toughest fight so far but not too bad with Speed potions, I had my Sorcerer knock down the mirror images with Magic Missiles and Karlach as a Berserker hits hard and several times a turn with the potion. I left the Mayrina quest unfinished this time, Zombie husband probably isnt the best kind of long term solution for a relationship, I wonder how that will play out later in Baldurs Gate.

Next session I'm going to save scum and drink some of the potions in Ethels lair and see if they do anything.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Its funny becaus

It is, I found the book but not the gem the first time through.

Playing on Tactician vs normal isnt as hard as I thought it would be so long as I'm exploring everything and gearing up properly. Seems if you make use of all the items and potions available as well as being levelled up its balanced pretty well. I wonder if they adjusted the difficulty or I'm just better prepared this time, some of the fights I remember having to think about are much easier than the first time around on 'normal' difficulty.

Spoiler: Act One Spoilers

Found an interesting little note in the swamp regarding Kagha and solved the Druids circle/Tiefling problem differently than before. Having a high charisma character with Persuasion and all we convinced her she was in the wrong and the Shadow Druids went down very easily. For some reason theres a time limit on picking up the loot after the fight, after about a minute if I tried to loot the corpses it would aggro Kagha and she just attacks without any option to talk, which is really weird considering how thankful she was for us to save her. None of the loot piles were red text and I tried multiple times.

Auntie Ethel was the toughest fight so far but not too bad with Speed potions, I had my Sorcerer knock down the mirror images with Magic Missiles and Karlach as a Berserker hits hard and several times a turn with the potion. I left the Mayrina quest unfinished this time, Zombie husband probably isnt the best kind of long term solution for a relationship, I wonder how that will play out later in Baldurs Gate.

Next session I'm going to save scum and drink some of the potions in Ethels lair and see if they do anything.

I love Karlach's character. Her voice actor does an amazing job. Unfortunately, I haven't tried playing her much because I'm not sure how to use a barbarian. It feels like the fighter class, with all its extra attacks, just does the melee a lot better, and I'm not exactly sure what to do with her.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I love Karlach's character. Her voice actor does an amazing job. Unfortunately, I haven't tried playing her much because I'm not sure how to use a barbarian. It feels like the fighter class, with all its extra attacks, just does the melee a lot better, and I'm not exactly sure what to do with her.

You might be right that fighter is better overall, I havent used Laezel very much, I just prefer Karlachs character and I dont feel like having 2 pure melee characters in a party of 4 at the moment.

Where I'm at the Barbarian Berserker sub-class gets an option to use the bonus action as an extra attack when shes in Frenzy, so she hits twice in one turn as a base. Using a 2 handed weapon combined with the Great Weapon Master feat which gives you an extra attack every time you kill or hit a critical, the single target damage output is pretty good.

The GWM feat also gives you a toggleable passive skill option to hit for 10 extra damage but with a -5 chance to hit. With Reckless attack theres advantage to hit and it mitigates the reduced chance to hit from the feat debuff, although it also gives disadvantage to defence.

Its working quite well in act 1, not sure how it progresses later on and what other skills there are to unlock yet.

 

[Pifanjr]

Playing on Tactician vs normal isnt as hard as I thought it would be so long as I'm exploring everything and gearing up properly. Seems if you make use of all the items and potions available

You use consumables? In act 1? I could never, I need to hoard them. I only used a couple of healing potions. Maybe one or two special arrows to test them out.

Only now that I'm in Act 2 do I occasionally throw an alchemist fire. Though I did drink one of the elixirs I had multiple of, but it did feel like I kind of wasted it.

 

[Zed Clampet]

You use consumables? In act 1? I could never, I need to hoard them. I only used a couple of healing potions. Maybe one or two special arrows to test them out.

Only now that I'm in Act 2 do I occasionally throw an alchemist fire. Though I did drink one of the elixirs I had multiple of, but it did feel like I kind of wasted it.

This seems a little neurotic to me

But we aren't playing Tactician, so it doesn't matter for us, I guess.

After I finish my solo game, I may start another game in Tactician. Probably will wait awhile before doing that, though.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

You use consumables? In act 1? I could never, I need to hoard them. I only used a couple of healing potions. Maybe one or two special arrows to test them out.

Only now that I'm in Act 2 do I occasionally throw an alchemist fire. Though I did drink one of the elixirs I had multiple of, but it did feel like I kind of wasted it.

I have 3 or 4 speed potions on each character still, there were I think 3 in Auntie Ethels house alone. To be fair I'll only use them in a fight Ive lost once or twice already. I went to the Zhentarim cave with the Gnolls a bit too early and used one there and it was enough to get through.

 

[Zloth]

I think @Kaamos_Llama has the right idea. If you're going to be thinking a lot about your character builds, doing most every quest, poking around to find the hidden areas, and so on then you're going to need tactician difficulty to make the fights at all challenging.

I've been staying away from those speed potions. I should really start using them at the end of the bigger battles, but I worry that the end won't really be the end and I'll be staring down two bosses with half my characters in "lethargic" state.

There are a few items in the game that radiate effects. For instance, some flower things down in the Underdark turn off magic. They seem like something that could prove exceedingly useful later on, but I sure don't want to keep them around, so I sent them back to camp. Now, whenever characters/pets happen to walk by certain camp chests, they get the 'anti-magic' glow and effect! I've never seen a game do that before!

 

[Frindis]

Playing on Tactician vs normal isnt as hard as I thought it would be so long as I'm exploring everything and gearing up properly. Seems if you make use of all the items and potions available as well as being levelled up its balanced pretty well. I wonder if they adjusted the difficulty or I'm just better prepared this time, some of the fights I remember having to think about are much easier than the first time around on 'normal' difficulty.

There are differences like camp supply, enemy HP, enemies being more strategic and more mechanics with bosses, but for the most part it is basically normal +. If normal was cut out, I don't really think it would have mattered that much for new players. I could remember wrong here though, it is a long time since I played on normal. I do know that the difficulty spike from Tactical to Honor mode (or tactical + one could say) is much higher, but also here the experience from tactical helps immensely with the preparation. So I guess the normal mob fights in honor mode is not that much harder, the bosses are, but it is really the permadeath that is the small inconvenience.

I have 3 or 4 speed potions on each character still, there were I think 3 in Auntie Ethels house alone. To be fair I'll only use them in a fight Ive lost once or twice already. I went to the Zhentarim cave with the Gnolls a bit too early and used one there and it was enough to get through.

Whaaaat!? You have been stealing potions from Auntie Ethel? She's just a sweet old lady! You would think living in a tiny, tiny moldy house would be enough, but oh no. In comes @Kaamos_Llama and steals stuff from her poor wooden shelves. Ethel is probably in great despair now, ripping locks of her hair and cursing you.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

There are differences like camp supply, enemy HP, enemies being more strategic and more mechanics with bosses, but for the most part it is basically normal +. If normal was cut out, I don't really think it would have mattered that much for new players. I could remember wrong here though, it is a long time since I played on normal. I do know that the difficulty spike from Tactical to Honor mode (or tactical + one could say) is much higher, but also here the experience from tactical helps immensely with the preparation. So I guess the normal mob fights in honor mode is not that much harder, the bosses are, but it is really the permadeath that is the small inconvenience.

Yea the permadeath is the thing that scares me about Honor mode, could try thinking of it like a 100 hour run based game I guess.

Whaaaat!? You have been stealing potions from Auntie Ethel? She's just a sweet old lady! You would think living in a tiny, tiny moldy house would be enough, but oh no. In comes @Kaamos_Llama and steals stuff from her poor wooden shelves. Ethel is probably in great despair now, ripping locks of her hair and cursing you.

Sweet old lady with strength of 18. Hmm!

 

[Frindis]

Yea the permadeath is the thing that scares me about Honor mode, could try thinking of it like a 100 hour run based game I guess.

Jupp, it's definitely scary at times, but that is also why it is such an epic journey aka as you put it: "100 hour run based game". Think of that Act 2 fight, how you have to prepare for it, think about tactics beforehand and then you finally go down to the fight. It is nerve wrecking, but MAN do you feel like a fighter when you get through it! I had so many near deaths on my journey, so many stories to remember and when I was at the final fight, the whole thing felt like I had been playing a different game.

For me particularly it is the sweaty palms and that rush you feel when in a real tight squeeze that puts the cherry on top. The longer you journey with your group, the harder it is to acknowledge that this might just be the last time you see them, but that also means you are going to fight with all you have before taking the last breath.

There is also those close encounters with mechanics you have forgotten about in the earlier runs that makes for some hilarious encounters. When you get into that "oh, nooooooooo" situation and just have to wing it because you made a giant kakapo.

 

[Pifanjr]

Yea the permadeath is the thing that scares me about Honor mode, could try thinking of it like a 100 hour run based game I guess.

I like the idea of doing a honour run after I finish my current game, but I suspect it'll end with my character being knocked into a chasm (possibly from friendly fire).

Also, I'll probably will have forgotten half the game by the time I'm done with the current run, at the current pace I don't expect to be done before the end of the year...

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Jupp, it's definitely scary at times, but that is also why it is such an epic journey aka as you put it: "100 hour run based game". Think of that Act 2 fight, how you have to prepare for it, think about tactics beforehand and then you finally go down to the fight. It is nerve wrecking, but MAN do you feel like a fighter when you get through it! I had so many near deaths on my journey, so many stories to remember and when I was at the final fight, the whole thing felt like I had been playing a different game.

For me particularly it is the sweaty palms and that rush you feel when in a real tight squeeze that puts the cherry on top. The longer you journey with your group, the harder it is to acknowledge that this might just be the last time you see them, but that also means you are going to fight with all you have before taking the last breath.

There is also those close encounters with mechanics you have forgotten about in the earlier runs that makes for some hilarious encounters. When you get into that "oh, nooooooooo" situation and just have to wing it because you made a giant kakapo.

Thats all the stuff I like about playing other games on Iron Man, but I'm conditioned to basically save CRPG's every 15 seconds and it would be weird as well as tense. Respect for getting there though, bet that feels good.

I like the idea of doing a honour run after I finish my current game, but I suspect it'll end with my character being knocked into a chasm (possibly from friendly fire).

Also, I'll probably will have forgotten half the game by the time I'm done with the current run, at the current pace I don't expect to be done before the end of the year...

I feel like I would want to plan every big fight before and write it all down. Almost to the point of mapping out an exact route through the game along with character classes and level ups and equipment pick ups.

I dont think I'll get there, I'd probably either have to follow some guide or play the game through who knows how many times to learn it well enough.

 

[Frindis]

Thats all the stuff I like about playing other games on Iron Man, but I'm conditioned to basically save CRPG's every 15 seconds and it would be weird as well as tense. Respect for getting there though, bet that feels good.

The saving part missing did feel a bit weird at first., but the camp became much more important, so it kind of made up for it and I could "save" there.

I feel like I would want to plan every big fight before and write it all down. Almost to the point of mapping out an exact route through the game along with character classes and level ups and equipment pick ups.

It can also have a downside and that is making you to overconfident. I happened to me against one of the Act 3 bosses, feeling like I had a firm grip on the situation, but then it completely backfired and I started to panic. Thankfully I managed to escape with one character.

Even at the last boss fight I felt like I had complete control before going in, but then parts of my plan crumbled because of a couple mechanism I had no idea would happen. Some boss fights might also be completely different depending on choices you do and even with a lot of planning, you don't necessarily know that something will happen if that makes sense. That is also something that happened with the Act 2 boss fight, as I had done a major blunder earlier and it bit me in the ass and almost wiped my party. The only reason I survived was because I got my shait together.

Another time I was super confident I could wipe out some mobs I had never seen before in seconds. Yeah, I know, real smart to do in honor mode! Then I noticed that these creatures could jump very long and could basically frighten the whole group. Yeeeeeah, obviously super impulsive to the point of being dumb and I managed to survive because I started to use my brain a bit.

Oh, and you know those harder bosses in normal/tactical that you could do but was skippable? For example the one that gives you that very, very good sword?Yeeeah, do you REALLY want to do that fight? I thought about it and then I went: Naaaah, my legs been acting up, better go to camp instead.

 

[Pifanjr]

The saving part missing did feel a bit weird at first., but the camp became much more important, so it kind of made up for it and I could "save" there.

It can also have a downside and that is making you to overconfident. I happened to me against one of the Act 3 bosses, feeling like I had a firm grip on the situation, but then it completely backfired and I started to panic. Thankfully I managed to escape with one character.

Even at the last boss fight I felt like I had complete control before going in, but then parts of my plan crumbled because of a couple mechanism I had no idea would happen. Some boss fights might also be completely different depending on choices you do and even with a lot of planning, you don't necessarily know that something will happen if that makes sense. That is also something that happened with the Act 2 boss fight, as I had done a major blunder earlier and it bit me in the ass and almost wiped my party. The only reason I survived was because I got my shait together.

What have been some of the worst or dumbest screwups from everyone here?

I'll start:

Spoiler: Act 2 beginning spoilers

When I entered the Underdark in Act 2 I discovered I had no characters with the light cantrip and only a single torch in my entire party (the many torches lying at the entrance should have been a clue).
So I gave my main character, a Druid, the Daylight spell, which you can enchant onto a weapon which makes it shed light in a large radius until the next long rest, with no concentration. Seems like a perfect solution, right?

The only problem is that your weapon disappears if you wildshape, meaning the daylight effect disappears for the duration of the wildshape as well. Which is something I kept forgetting, both every time I cast Daylight (should have just cast it on a different character) and every time I entered combat and immediately wildshaped.

Another time I was super confident I could wipe out some mobs I had never seen before in seconds. Yeah, I know, real smart to do in honor mode! Then I noticed that these creatures could jump very long and could basically frighten the whole group. Yeeeeeah, obviously super impulsive to the point of being dumb and I managed to survive because I started to use my brain a bit.

I think I just encountered those. They bunched up quite nicely and mostly got taken out by a couple AoE spells.

 

[Zed Clampet]

What have been some of the worst or dumbest screwups from everyone here?

You obviously weren't intending this question for me. It would be like asking a painter to describe the times they used paint. I'm sick of receiving those little "Gamer of the Year" nomination notifications from The Darwin Awards, and if I were playing Honor Mode, I'd be the first player to get "Game Over" while selecting freckle intensity in the character creator.

That said, the time I mentioned before about killing everyone (my team) with a spell does stand out.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The saving part missing did feel a bit weird at first., but the camp became much more important, so it kind of made up for it and I could "save" there.

It can also have a downside and that is making you to overconfident. I happened to me against one of the Act 3 bosses, feeling like I had a firm grip on the situation, but then it completely backfired and I started to panic. Thankfully I managed to escape with one character.

Even at the last boss fight I felt like I had complete control before going in, but then parts of my plan crumbled because of a couple mechanism I had no idea would happen. Some boss fights might also be completely different depending on choices you do and even with a lot of planning, you don't necessarily know that something will happen if that makes sense. That is also something that happened with the Act 2 boss fight, as I had done a major blunder earlier and it bit me in the ass and almost wiped my party. The only reason I survived was because I got my shait together.

Another time I was super confident I could wipe out some mobs I had never seen before in seconds. Yeah, I know, real smart to do in honor mode! Then I noticed that these creatures could jump very long and could basically frighten the whole group. Yeeeeeah, obviously super impulsive to the point of being dumb and I managed to survive because I started to use my brain a bit.

Oh, and you know those harder bosses in normal/tactical that you could do but was skippable? For example the one that gives you that very, very good sword?Yeeeah, do you REALLY want to do that fight? I thought about it and then I went: Naaaah, my legs been acting up, better go to camp instead.

Its fun that they put stuff in there to catch people out. I would definitely be planning a route around doing as little of the optional tough fights as possible. Theres a huge amount amount of combinations based around party composition and class or weapon preference that would lead to loads of different paths.

In actuality the route would be in my head and I'd forget to do stuff in the right order and probably wipe.

What have been some of the worst or dumbest screwups from everyone here?

Not too much yet as I kind of know where things are and roughly whats coming still. Plenty of blindly running into traps because I forgot to go slowly and wait for the perception checks. The worst one was probably stopping to long rest in a cave to restore some spell slots and coming out surrounded by the enemies I was preparing to go into and dying.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Its fun that they put stuff in there to catch people out. I would definitely be planning a route around doing as little of the optional tough fights as possible. Theres a huge amount amount of combinations based around party composition and class or weapon preference that would lead to loads of different paths.

In actuality the route would be in my head and I'd forget to do stuff in the right order and probably wipe.


Not too much yet as I kind of know where things are and roughly whats coming still. Plenty of blindly running into traps because I forgot to go slowly and wait for the perception checks. The worst one was probably stopping to long rest in a cave to restore some spell slots and coming out surrounded by the enemies I was preparing to go into and dying.

Does sneaking give you a perception bonus? We don't have a rogue or ranger, so we are terrible at it.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Does sneaking give you a perception bonus? We don't have a rogue or ranger, so we are terrible at it.

Perception - bg3.wiki

Perception is a Wisdom-based skill. The higher a creature's Wisdom Score, the more likely they will succeed on Perception Checks to spot hidden objects or creatures.

bg3.wiki

Not for traps, but theres a bonus chance to discover other hidden characters if I'm reading this right.

Actually I dont think there is any bonus to perception for being in stealth.

 

[Frindis]

What have been some of the worst or dumbest screwups from everyone here?

One of the worst is definitely the Act 2 roof top fight in honor mode that started one of the toughest fights in the game. Here is a bit more details:

Spoiler: Roof Top Fight

Because of killing Ketheric Thorms daughter, Isobel, I got into a bit of a pickle. I killed her because of the Dark Urge path and did not think more about it. I knew Moonrise Tower would be angry, but I did not know how far out. So when I got to the roof top fight with Ketheric Thorn, to my suprise, Kar'niss the drider (the nasty spider looking guy with a lantern) was also there.

So, I had to fight several more mobs, try to avoid a very dangerous debuff from him called Drider's Curse that weakens defenses and makes you more vulnerable to attacks and battle against Ketheric Thorn. My jaw instantly dropped when I saw Kar'niss. I mean, seriously, I just thought it was game over! The only thing that made me survive that absolute hell hole of a fight, was the Globe of Invulnerability. I had a couple of those in my backpack that I had thankfully bought from Moonrise Vendor and without those, there would be little to no chance in surviving the massive attack from all sides. Not to mention I completely panicked in the beginning of the fight and made some stupid mistakes, so that also did not help me.

One of the dumbest: In Act 3 I almost wiped the whole party because of setting of a firework trap. I almost did the same from a firetrap very early in Act 1 at the area you meet a special someone undead.

 

[Zloth]

I've had 3 or 4 times when I select a chest to open it and, on the way to the chest, I get "Watch out, there's a trap!" It explodes before I can cancel. Killed my poor dog last night.

Sweet old lady with strength of 18. Hmm!

So, you find sweet old ladies that work out to keep in shape threatening?

P.S. I knocked her out and still have all those funny little potions in a camp chest somewhere.

P.P.S. I had to look up a guide regarding Yenna. She was killing me. Not in battle - emotionally. What if she's a doppleganger? But her cat vouched for her. But the cat has similar hair - can a high level doppleganger emulate two beings at once as long as they stay close? Yeah, she's got to be a doppleganger, the way she just happened to be there when I walked into town was WAY too convenient. But... what if she isn't!? I can't turn the poor kid out into the street! I just murdered a convoy escort so a family could stay in a home, now I won't even risk this!? I mean, if a doppleganger wants into my camp, it'll just turn into a squirrel or something. But then, these things DELIGHT in fooling you, and they don't get that by squirreling in. Aaaargh! So, I looked her up.