Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Confused with spells system

Hi there,

I'm new to the game and there is something frustrating to me. Why i can't use my spells as i want ? I mean, with shadowheart, i can't use heal, but i don't know why.

I'm pretty sure there is an action pool point or something like that but i can't find it and tutorial didn't explain this (or i missed it)

Additionnaly, is there a way to know what is modifying a hit rate on a situation ?

Thank you for answers

To cast a spell you need 'spell slots' - so in D&D 5e, you can learn a certain number of spells per day, of certain level like level 1, 2 3 etc. That will be something you see when you open your spellbook.

But these are just spells you can potentially cast that day - to actually cast them, you need a spell slot of the correct level. NOTE: you can cast a lower level spell using a higher level slot - that usually gives benefits, like more damage (or extra creatures you can target, with say, hold person).

You can see little blue squares on the tool bar which show how many slots you have left for the day. For some classes, a 'short rest' replenishes those slots. For clerics, wizards etc you need a 'full rest' or a potion that simulates that like a potion of angelic slumber.

Also, note that if you are not proficient in armor, and you put it on, you may no longer be able to cast spells - so check under 'armor proficiencies' on your character sheet what armor you can use,. Shadowheart can use light and medium armor by default.

You can look at the message box on bottom right (pop it out) and mouse over the rolls info to see what bonuses/penalties were applied. If you hold the mouse over your to hit/damage on your character weapons, you will see how the bonuses are computed (not always correct!)

For spells, if you need to roll an attack to use them - like ray of sickness - you will find the bonus applied to your dice roll (without an special modifiers) at the top of spell book, along with the spell DC (save target) that creatures need to roll to avoid/reduce affects of your spell. Note that there can be additional modifiers to these from temporary affects, and these are not always well indicated...

There's restrictions on spells in D&D, becuase they're more powerful than a sword swing.

a) You have to memorize spells, i.e. decide which spells you have available. In tabletop this is done once per day and then you have those spells available the entire day, and can't switch. In BG3 you can change them whenever

b) You have to have spell slots available. You can cast only a certain amount of spells of each level. You can always cast a lower level spell in a higher spell slot, sometimes with benefits. When you're out of spell slots, you have to rest.

The answers to all these questions and more will be found by using a search engine and watching or reading guides. Far better than posting here and waiting for someone to turn up and talk broken biscuits.

Ok so i have a limited number of spells per day (depending the spell). I just didn't get it on the messy UI / Lack of tutorial. Thanks for answers

There's a set of boxes that have little blue boxes in them, just above your toolbar. They have between 1 and 4 blue boxes in them: Those are the spell slots that you have at your disposal. The "empty" blue box is for cantrips; you got infinite those. Mousing over a spell will let you know what level it is by default, and most can be upcasted at a benefit (when attempting to cast, it will give you a description of what you get for upcasting, if anything). Can't upcast cantrips.

Probably worth saying if you’re on mouse and keyboard or controller, as the UI is completely different.

Either way, you should be able inspect every spell and ability to see exactly what it does, what resources it uses, how long it lasts, etc.

Spend a little time just looking around the interface, checking out what spells and abilities are available. You’ll get it before long.

No the number of spell slots per spelllevel depends upon your spellcaster level.

Every Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard level counts as one spellcaster level.

Every second Paladin and Ranger level counts as one spellcaster level.

And every third Eldritch Knight (Fighter subclass) or Arcane Trickster (Rogue subclass) level countrs as one spellcaster level.

But then its always the same list:

Caster Level 1: 2 Level 1 Slots
Caster Level 2: 3 Level 1 Slots
Caster Level 3: 4 Level 1 Slots, 2 Level 2 Slots
Caster Level 4: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots
Caster Level 5: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 2 Level 3 Slots
Caster Level 6: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots
Caster Level 7: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 1 Level 4 Slot
Caster Level 8: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 2 Level 4 Slots
Caster Level 9: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 3 Level 4 Slots, 1 Level 5 Slot
Caster Level 10: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 3 Level 4 Slots, 2 Level 5 Slot
Caster Level 11: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 3 Level 4 Slots, 2 Level 5 Slot, 1 Level 6 Slot
Caster Level 12: (No Change)

Obviously a pure Paladin or Ranger will only reach spellcaster level 6, and an Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster wont get higher than level 4.

In what these classes differ is how they prepare spells, i.e. on what spells specifically they can spend these slots.

Also, Warlock is not within this logic, they are treated completlely separately.

i'm not a D&D player, so i don't understand most things, as well...

i'm really confused by the spell UI. i'm playing a druid.


i seem to remember casting thunder-whack a few times as i wandered around the tutorial. (maybe i hit one of the regen things in between?) but it seems to me i walk a little further, then thunder-whack is greyed out.

i tried casting a few more spells, like animal understanding, goodberry, the shileighliegh thing (i know that's a cantrip). then suddenly, heal was greyed out.
see: https://prnt.sc/VYx-7nZV1f37

if i hover over it, it says ! action level 1 spell slot. and the square on the left under the roman I turns red. same for thunder-whack. but animal understanding is still castable?

i don't understand what the interface is trying to tell me. (and how come the right level 1 spell square never turns red?)


then i switched to the spell view...
see: https://prnt.sc/vK6qGbTjQtbc

i can apparently cast animal understanding at least 3 times. (though i see that is a 'ritual' not a spell, so... that means something?) why is it on there twice?



i'm not understanding the limits of what is going on. i "get" 2 level 1 spells, so... i only get to cast 2 spells each day/rest/turn/something? or i can cast each one two times?? or...?

are those squares supposed to turn red when i use one, and then if both are red, i'm out? i guess that wouldn't work when you can use dozens of spells at once.


MOST IMPORTANT!!! where can i go to learn this stuff? i went to 3 5e druid tutorial web pages, and they told me what a druid is, what the spells are, what stats, etc etc... but not how things like spells (and what's a ritual??) get put into play.

@Bloodsong

I recommend the BG3 wiki for the best & most up-to-date information about BG3. https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Spells is the link to the page on spellcasting.

Specifically, Speak with Animals is a Ritual Spell, which when "cast outside of combat, they do not consume spell slots and are effectively free to cast."

The interface is telling you that casting Cure Wounds (or Thunderwave) would cost a 1st level slot, but you are out of them for the day (until you long rest).

When you start the day, all of those squares will be blue. The number of squares tells you how many of that level of spells you can cast that day. 2 spells TOTAL each day. E.g., one Cure Wounds and one Thunderwave, or two Thunderwaves.

Each time you cast a 1st level spell, one of those boxes will turn grey (indicating you've used it up). If you try to cast a spell for which you're out of slots, then the box will highlight red indicating that you don't have any of that resource.

When you attack with anything that says "Attack Roll" in the description:



You need a dice roll that matches or exceeds the target enemy's armor class (AC). Right-click on the enemy to see its AC:



If enemy's AC is 14, you only have 35% hit chance. That's because only 7 out of the 20 numbers can win the dice throw: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 29, 20.

Your Strength raises your hit chance with melee attacks. If you have 18 STR, you add +4 to your dice roll. If you roll a 7, it becomes 11, and so on. 16 STR = +3 to dice roll. 14 STR = +2. 12 STR = +1. 10 STR = 0. 8 STR = -1. 6 STR = -2.

If you are "proficient" with your melee weapon, you add another +2 to the dice roll. Your proficient weapons are listed in your character sheet:



With +5 to dice roll, your hit chance is raised from 35% to 60%. That's because you only need a 9 to match the enemy AC of 14. And 12 out of the 20 numbers match or exceed 9, hence 60%.

60% is still not exactly a good percentage, many D&D fans would agree. So let's take this up a notch.

If you have an "advantage", you raise your hit chance further to 84%:



The above picture shows the word "Advantage" next to you, with the reason of the advantage ("Hiding") next to the enemy's health bar above.

An "advantage" gives a massive boost to your dice roll, because you get to throw the dice twice and take the higher value.

If you only a 9 to win, you can only lose if the two dice rolls are both less than 9. That's a much lower probability to lose (see below for exact math), and that's why your hit chance jumps to 84%. This is basically the single biggest key to winning this game: advantage, advantage, advantage. Try to put yourself in advantage and your enemies in disadvantage.

The exact math for advantage is here:

If you need a 9 to win, you have 60% chance to win and 40% chance to lose. If you have advantage and make two dice throws, the probability of BOTH throws losing is 40% x 40% = 16%. So your chance of winning is 100% - 16% = 84%.

The combat log shows you how each dice roll went down. You show the combat log by clicking on the round button at the bottom right of the screen. You see dice roll detail by mouse-hovering each entry:



Note the two entries: attack roll, and damage roll. All the logic I mentioned above is about winning the "attack roll," which only determines whether or not you succeed in hitting the enemy. If you succeed, then you make a SECOND dice throw to determine the actual damage, and that's a "damage roll." TWO DICE THROWS, remember. You can have 99% hit chance and ending up dealing only 1 damage. Vice versa, you can have only 35% hit chance and deal massive damage. That's just the way it is. It can be tough, but your enemies get the same deal.

My best tip is, play the game, be observant and read everything especially the combat log and investigate skills and gear. There are ingame explanations for almost everything. Seems daunting at first, but you get into it pretty quick.