Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems Free Weapon Set Switching / Shield AC

Is it correct that characters can switch between weapon sets for free at any time?

This currently imposes a few unthematic consequences.

1. Never any reason not to start or end a turn with a melee weapon for opportunity attack possibilities
2. Never any reason not to start or end a turn with a shield for AC bonuses
3. Always able to move for melee commitment to picking off others at range with no opportunity cost

Now, I note that #2 isn't currently a thing because shield AC seems to apply no matter what you have equipped, but I can only assume this is a bug of some sort?

Would a character with the dual weapon feat recieve both an AC bonus and a shield bonus when having two weapons equipped and a shield in their second weapon set?

Yes, characters can freely switch between weapon sets. And shields also apply AC even if they're not currently equipped weapon set.

It's not a bug in itself, but rather a convenience feature as it would only add trivial tediousness and annoying micro-management by having to pay constant attention to what the party members are holding in their hands.

As for the shield thing... the game does not visually show other weapon sets equipped, but in reality the shield would be hanging from the back and as such offer protection even if not equipped. So it makes sense to provide protection even if not currently held.

If the game still had backstabs as it previously did, then they could have made the shield protect you from the back when not held in hand and protect you from the front when held. But they removed backstabs, so it just applies general protection.

That doesn't make sense.. at all. If I've got two weapons in hand and get +1 AC from that, and a shield on my back I never use that I also get +AC from there's no opportunity cost about dual wielding aside from ranged weapons.

And no, a shield on your back doesn't provide the same protection as a wielded shield, that's just nonsense.

Likewise there's no reason ever to start or end a round of combat with a ranged weapon in hand, so you're actually incentivise to micro manage this by constantly switching back to melee weapons - this does the opposite of what you say and adds inconvenience.

The question I had is this 5e rules, or. Larian homebrew take on it.

It's Larian mess, as it almost always is.

In 5e, you can only benefit from the Ac bonus of a shield if you are actively wielding it, and equipping a shield to wield properly takes an action, unless you have a feat to make it easier (shield master lets you don and doff your shield as a bonus action).

Larian's take on it most definitely.

It was not said that it provides "the same" protection ...
Just that it still provides protection. O_o

I mean, when you think about it, having AC from shield dissapearing is just the same nonsence.
Barbarian who is wearing no armor at all, is protected exactly the same as Barbarian who is wearing no armor at all AND have shield hanging on his back?

Its a misstake of DnD system that it never take in concideration the direction you are attacked from. :-/
And that AC is basicaly just sumarised amount of all armor you have on yourself. :-/

We were talking about this with Maximuuus i think, in the past, and i believe we come to conclusion that it seem kinda reasonable to change Shields to give +1 To AC when equipped ... and another +2 to AC when wielded.

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As for the free change from Ranged to Meele ...
I believe this is something that will stay in the game since Swen really wants it this way ... but there is topic i would like to open in this matter:

Do you think that characters should lost AOO just bcs you didnt change your weapons back to meele at end of your turn? (NPCs included ofc)
Or do you think that since this switch is completely free, that characters should switch their weapons automaticly and swing against the enemies in case they would trigger AOO?

Personaly i admit i would like second option, bcs otherwise curently i have litteraly no reason to wear meele weapons on my Archery Ranger ... and keep switching it, just so enemies can run around me like drunken mouses without any consequence is unnecesary tedious. :-/

Drawing or sheathing a weapon or changing once is considered free during movement in the rulebook. On the other hand, performing two such things costs one action.

As for the OP's idea of 'always dual-wielding' for extra 1 AC - you can't have two sets of melee weapons in this game. So what you said is not possible.

The way it currently works in the game is that you are free to switch weapons back and forth until you make your attack and NOT after it.
So no, you can't do a range attack and then switch to melee to get a free AoO on top.

Which would be a reasonable compromise as far as I'm concerned, if not for the bullshit of the shield giving you a +2 even when you are equipping a ranged weapon, currently, which is fairly stupid.