Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Have you done a playthru with no magical equipment?

I have this thing in RPGs, I just prefer lower levels with mundane gear. The higher my level, the flashier the gear the less I like it. I find that especially so with this game because although the armor designs are beautiful everything's got a decidedly fancy, shiny appearance. I've found one piece, the Unwanted Masterwork Scalemail that looks nicely drab and used.

So do you think its possible, either on Balanced or Tactician to beat the game with only mundane gear? I'm not particularly good at the game, but thought my first playthru on Balanced was a bit too easy.

If I was on PC I guess I could find a mod to remove magic items but I thought what I could do is have a rule where I don't buy any plus armor or weapons or enchanted jewelry and only use what I find or take from enemies. That would add the extra benefit of finally finding something magical extra special.

I was wondering if people do that. Is that something you'd like to try? Or are you the opposite of me and just love the more epic, shiny powerful gear?

If you did have a rule where you don't buy anything, what would be a good reason from a roleplay point of view? I love roleplaying and like things to make a kind of ingame sense.

Love to hear your thoughts. Cheers everyone.

I'm very stingy with magical items. Currently doing a custom difficulty playthrough and just hit level 4. Party of 4 only (I don't swap out companions). Paladin DU, SH as Life Cleric, Astarion Rogue, Gale Wizard.

Current items equipped - DU has a +1 Maul just recv'd at level 4 - no other magical items or armor. Durge has no scrolls and I don't allow my Durge to cast scroll spells for RP purposes.
DU uses Javelin for range and currently has 1 alchemist fire. I have not used it
yet and have not collected or purchased any others
- SH currently has no nmagical or +1 items (is wearing original armor) She has a Protection from G&E scroll I only allow her to cast Cleric scrolls. SH has 1 Holy Water
(purchased) and 1 Acid vial which she has had since finding it. She used 1 HW in the Scribe fight. SH has not cast Guiding Light once so far.
- Astarion (Rogue Assasin) has the Smuggler's Ring, no other magical or +1 items. No specialty arrows allowed. Not allowed to cast scrolls. He has a ordinary longbow
- Gale has Spellspakler, and Komira's locket, no other magical or +1 items, original armor. Currently has Ice Knife, Grease, and Burning Hands, scrolls. Gale
has had them since finding them and has not been awarded any other scrolls. Saving them for an emergency (barely survived Flinn fight and completely forgot I had
these)

Typically each party member travels with 1 healing potion at all times. I generally only keep 1/3 of those found and don't buy any. I only replace used healing potions at end of day. So SH mostly heals and casts sanctuary with occasional fire bolt or sacred flame for offense. I do allow Gale to craft them but he has only made 1 so far.

I collect approx 10% of other potions found, thus far I have only used 1 potion of speed (currently have none in inventory) and have used a few poisons for Asatarion attacks. I purchased 2 invisibility potions and still have in reserve, I have found/purchased and used 4 grease but only as grease I do not explode them.

I collect all Magical Items and send to camp, I do not sell them and the vast majority will never be used, I have awarded my party the above listed items plus the Watcher's Spear which I did not equip and allowed Gale to consume. I do not collect and sell weapons or armor, but do collect and sell gems etc, and collect enough gold so that each party member has approx 100-200 gp.
With that they can purchase the odd potion.

I do not use smokepowder grenades but will be forced to collect the ones necessary for freeing Nere.

As the adventure progresses I will gradually award additional Magic items but only the less OP ones and by level 5 most characters should have at least 2 magic items or +1.


Enemies are set on "Tactician" for aggression but "Balanced" for loadout (trying to reduce the Larian arrows, smokepowder grenades etc)

Gale and SH must prepare spellbook at start of day, no changes allowed once we leave camp. No going back to camp or to a trader until end of day.

Short rests only happen after major encounters and long rests only after at least 2 short rests.

I will not purchase scrolls or magical items although purchasing +1 non-magical items is allowed.

I do not use revivify scrolls, party members who die can only be resurrected by Withers although SH will eventually learn the spell.

I will not use Illithid Powers.

Its been challenging but quite manageable thus far although the Flinn fight was near run with Gale and Astarion downed, and DU reduced to 4 hp. All spell slots for all characters were gone but as mentioned I forgot about Gale's scrolls which would have been useful. I used up all healing potions (had 5 at the start) and all 4 grease I had collected. I really hate Larian's OP gnolls with 3 archery attacks. That fight took place when the party was still at Level 3.

Whether it will be workable going further remains to be seen as you really have to plan and make careful decisions in combat. No more blasting way with guiding Light for SH as strategic use of Sanctuary becomes vital. No more endless supply of powerful found or purchased scrolls, Gale has to manage his spell slots carefully. I haven't feared the Spider Matriarch since very early in EA but she will be a difficult opponent and I have to face her next. I always do the whispering depths with only 1 short rest between the phase spider and Ettercaps/ and then Matriarch. I hope the first encounter is not too resource depleting.

Just my opinion, but the more you limit yourself with self-imposed rules, the better the game is.

I believe the game is beatable without using magic items, but if you plan to only use what you find throughout the game then fair warning, you'll still be swimming in magic gear. There's a lot even if you don't buy from vendors.

Agree on both points.

There are magical items and "magical items" in the game, similar as there exist feats and "feats". For example an item with adds your modifier to damage is different from an "item" which gives you Arcane Acuity, Radiance Orb or Reverberation. The former is a nice bonus, the latter change the game. Sharpshooter or Great Weapon Master are very strong feats, Tavern Brawler is a game breaker.

So I would not stay away from all magical items, especially if visuals are a reason for you. I'm on PC and luckily can use a Transmog mod to avoid terrible design. I would use the normal magical items which give you decent buffs and avoid overdone items.

The higher the difficulty, the less you can go without magical items. I played Honour mode (which is basically Tactician) without using Arcane Acuity or Radiance Orb or Reverberation, which was quite stupid and hard, but worked. Without any magical item it might not have been possible however, at least for me.Try it on Balanced, it should work.

Most magic items end up as ballast in my backpack. Turns in combat are so precious that I want to use only the most effective items, which means most of the stuff goes unused the entire game.

I think a real challenge would be to use only the odd items sold by Mattis - ring of infinite wishes of course, holy hand soap, spoon of saltiness, etc. I wonder if there is any synergy obtained by equipping all of them? Zero to the fourth power!

I rather like the idea of not using anything higher than uncommon (green border) magic items.

I thought this was an interesting idea so I gave it a try. In the process I searched online and found several discussions about appropriate levels of magic items for 5E

Several suggested the following mix

1 common consumable for every level from 1-5
1 uncommon consumable every level from 6-10
1 rare consumable from 11-15

1 uncommon permanent item at level 4 and a 2nd at level 7

1 rare permanent at level 10 and another at 13

So I have a campaign following this format on tactician and it is easily manageable but certainly adds a lot of interesting choices.

I don’t spam short or long term tests so generally 2-3 significant combats per long rest.

What’s interesting is making the choices of what to have equipped especially from 1-3 when all I allow myself are common consumables (items with no borders, health potions grease etc) I added an additional restriction of no more than 1 type of consumable per character (ie 1 health potion 1 grease 1 alchemist fire)

I am currently at level 7 so my characters have all just received their 2nd uncommon permanent item (green border) and can now carry 2 uncommon consumables (green border)

Not using haste potions (uncommon consumable) until level 5 makes for some interesting fights early on.

It’s been fun to pick items (and I don’t allow myself to switch out) and I have found I use spells and tactics I never had to before. The old grease potion and spell are very useful in the early levels.

Well into Act 2 and it’s all very manageable and has been a lot of fun as a change of pace.