Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Opinions on Items

The Opinions on amount of companions has generated a lot of great talk, and another topic I'm very interested in is how people feel about Items in game
for me personally, some of the more unique "Larian" ones are to flashy for me and don't feel like DnD 5e items (imo)

The huge amount of "stuff" like apples fish salamis and litter dumped all over dungeons and maps, give me a little bit of choice anxiety, and I find my self not picking items up, or just selling everything, I wish food items just auto went to camp, if Larian insists on keeping them.

And I would like some of the more "magical" items to be less flashy and follow the rules for dnd items a little more closely, like the lightning items feel very gamey and thor land explosions , although its cool its not really how I imagine level 1 -4 items should be in Dnd (or baldur's gate)

I miss bg1/2 items a lot - how do others feel?

I like the magical items and think they are fun.😊

Agree that it would be great if the food was sent directly to camp! I would also like a keyring and bookshelf.

This subject has come up a few times previously and there are definitely people who would agree, myself included. I can only conclude such item design results from people who aren't really familiar with D&D. I'm digressing slightly but the whole game feels a bit 'too flashy' for me.

I recall with great fondness the items from previous BG games with the nice little bits of lore alongside, rather than the MMO-like colour coded items we have in BG3. Also, at least in BG1 when our PCs were low level it was pretty rare to find magical items, therefore making them more special. The overabundance of magical items in BG3 cheapens the very point of them being rare.

All of the random items, food, etc?

It is kind of Larian's style, but to me it seems like they could do a much better job of helping you organize all of that stuff. Books and food are ones that seem like they have easy fixes - your books just go into a codex and food goes right to camp storage. I also think crafting materials could be stored in a more organized manner rather than taking up inventory space. That is the type of stuff I'd focus on if I was Larian. Not removing this type of stuff from the game - but rather making it way more organized.

Magical items?

I think they are cool. It's a video game - I think stuff like that is fun to find and use so long as it doesn't go way overboard.

Yes, the Larian home-brew items are most definitely 'not D&D'. I pretend they don't exist, I used to sell them, but now I don't even pick them up. I noticed that they added an Ersatz's eye, though altered in abilities, from Xanthar's Guide. So, at least one of them looked at the 'common magic items' in that book. This item wasn't too bad, offering a positive and a negative to balance the power offered. But the rest, well, they're not even worth talking about.

I personally enjoy when games make the world full of interactable items, as it makes the world feel less like a static background and more like an actual extension of gameplay and part of the world that brings life to a place. So I like all the scattered items as their purpose is to decorate and fill the space in a way that isn't static to the player. And enjoy looting everything as it feels relaxing and fun.

As for magical items, I find it fun combining all of them and achieving different synergies with different classes. Even though not all of them are on par with others, I like using them and hunting them down. It makes characters less monotone in terms of builds.

Agreed.

I haven't played D&D in a long time - but I like that video games add flare to items like this. Some people who are more D&D purists may not like it - but I think it adds a lot to the game. Again, so long as it is within reason.

I feel that adding in specific set items that are so powerful comparatively to anything else that they functionally force your hand and define your playstyle for you - because to not use them doesn't make sense, in space, but to use them locks you into playing a certain way and tells you how you 'should' play.... actually detracts from the game as a whole, and discourages player freedom and flexibility. I wouldn't consider myself a purist by any stretch of the imagination, but there are good ways to homebrew and bad ways - and the Larian item sets are short-sighted, at least in my opinion and based on my own experiences.

Regarding the Larian items, I don't like them. They seem very complicated and annoying, and getting them piecemeal the way we do kinda keeps me from really wanting to engage with and use them. I just don't have a brain for putting together synergies and what have you, so I kinda just zone out when I see them and sell them off so I don't have to deal with them.

I just love it. :3

One of main reasons i can keep replay this game over and over and over is for myself the fact tht i can try different combinations of items, or items and spells, to find new interesting builds. :3

Yes, there are some items that basicaly turns you into single-type action character ... i dont really think i ever used any other spell with Gale than Magic Missile, when i wielded The Sapphire Spark and The Spellsparkler ... especialy in last patch where Poisoner's Robe is buged and deals poison damage not just for each Magic Arrow, but for each Psychic damage from neckage AND for each lightning damage from staff aswell.
Its was quite satisfying to fry+burn+poison+pierce to death anyone from Githyanki Patrol with single II. level spell tho, not gonna lie.

I mean come on ...
1d4(Force)+1d4(Poison)+1d4(Psychic)+1d4(Poison)+1(Lightning)+1d4(Poison)+
1d4(Force)+1d4(Poison)+1d4(Psychic)+1d4(Poison)+1(Lightning)+1d4(Poison)+
1d4(Force)+1d4(Poison)+1d4(Psychic)+1d4(Poison)+1(Lightning)+1d4(Poison)+
1d4(Force)+1d4(Poison)+1d4(Psychic)+1d4(Poison)+1d8(Lightning)+1d4(Poison)
= Death and death and totally death Beretha.
And that is exactly what she deserves for bullying my parties for last two years.

This is argument i hear a lot in context of Magical items ... and yet i dont really know what is that even supposed to mean. O_o
I get it its just internal feeling that is hard (if not impossible) to explain ... but if you would have some definition that you could provide, i would be grateful.

And i think even Larian could be, for the future items (even tho im affraid they all are basicaly done by now, since release is geting close) ...
Since you know "this feels wrong" is certainly valid point of view ... but not exactly helpfull, if you cant point your finger on what exactly feels wrong about it, and what you can do in order to make it feel less wrong.

I can give it a shot, Rag...

Basically, there is a certain level to which the magic and enchantments we have on our equipment is intended to fit into a world of magical and enchantment, yes; if you believe and buy into the world space as a real thing, then many enchantments fit smoothly into that, even when they are strange and fantastical - and they don't remind us that we're playing a video game, and draw us out of the immersed space like that.

Magic items that people complain of feeling 'too gamey' do the opposite - they rely on hammering home the reminder that we are playing a video game with tangible statistics and numbers and so on. "Sets" are particularly egregious representative of the kinds of things that do this; the 'in universe' description of them is much harder to justify without feeling like you're bending over backwards and making ad hoc convolutions specifically to justify it. Items that that generate tokens when you take specific actions that are hard game mechanical actions are another offender, as are items that rely on specific statistical thresholds for the wearer, such as hp values. Put these all together into one set of items and you have a set of equipment that stands out like a sore thumb screaming "Hey, you're in a video game!"

Outside of that, some of those same justifications don't really translate into an in-universe description that makes sense; the magic set that requires you to be almost dead before it does anything useful, and actively encourages a playstyle that brings you down to that threshold as swiftly as possible and then keeps you there is an exceptionally 'video game mechanic' thing, and is hugely immersion breaking if you are ever reminded of it or have it drawn attention to, from an in-game perspective.

Avoiding these types of video-game style mechanical effects with your magic items reduces the problem substantially, and if you look over, say, the DMg, you'll see that the list of magic items there are made with in-universe sense at least somewhat in mind; they are, for the most part, items which grant their effects consistently, or allow you to call on their power directly, independent of statistical or mechanical requirements.

Neir has the explanation really

Its mechanics on items that break you out of emersion
I have this problem with buildings too, ill give you an example, the hags hut for example.

It does not feel like a house/cottage to me, if feels like a set piece designed for fights.

Same for most builidings, I can tell what they are, but they dont give the right feeling.

I Couldnt imagine the hag living in her hut, its an exploration point you are supposed to kangroo about and find its secrets aswell as some place to fight, and it drags me out of emersion.

The flashy items with weird jump effects do the same.

OK, i believe i understand ...
It still feels like quibble to me ... but thats different matter.

Thank you.

The ridiculousness of the items break immersion.

Furthermore, these lightning charge items are everywhere throughout the realm with no background or lore tying them into anything. DOS 1&2 had "sets" of items, but at least they were explained and poorly tied to a storyline or a character to give credibility to their existence.

These were just haphazardly made and thrown around the world and they're not BALANCED.

It feels awful.

That's an interesting insight and one that tallies with my question almost 2 years ago asking whether we will experience a battlefield which is an open, flat expanse of land? I can't recall a single open space at all during the game though I last played a long time ago but the question is relevant I think because it highlights an obsession with verticality that goes beyond the realm of reason, encouraging the use of Shove and Throw as they both lend themselves to areas with verticality. The irony is somewhat that the engine can't truly handle verticality ie. no proper flying.

We need more items,weapons, armors off all sorts and a smith like Cromwell in BG 2! To round it up, for god sake make staffs versatile already!
See it's right there Versatile (1d8) http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/weapons

i mean come on i want to dual wield 2 of those with Shillelagh!

When we go the the astral realm and take a potion that gives a Buff
-The buff may stay for the entire duration of your visit to the astral realm
-Depends if the devs remember that bodies dont age and will allow us smarter players some slight cheese (

the lighting charge items do have a background. guess you didn't pay attention. they all come from the owner of the arcane tower in the Underdark and her partner.

On paper I don’t mind them - having items add more tangible effects then +1 to hit, is desirable, especially in a game that does its darnest to hide that part of the game. The items in question though, didnt do it for me. I think one element is that those electric items felt like a mini game within themselves, rather then contributing to a larger picture.

Videogame developers tend to follow trends, copying each other when they believe a feature has become "standard" or expected because some popular game used it. Although "player familiarity" is a reasonable excuse for games copying each other, I'm not always sure that doing so improves a game.

The use of colour-coded "Tiers" for magic items is a great example of this in BG3. What is the purpose of the colour-coding? Have I missed something? Does colour-coding "do" anything, or is it just there because other popular games do have a use for it? It is possible there will be some feature in the full BG3 game that uses color-coded magic items, but that would necessarily be another house rule.

Similarly, as others have mentioned, there are many BG3 magic items that seem to lean more on notions and examples from other videogames ( and other media ) than from D&D. Personally, I don't object to any particular "category" of magic item, but on an individual item level, I want there to be a reason for some sane being to have gone to the effort and expense to create the item.

Obviously, you can always invoke "Lum the Mad" or equivalent as an excuse for making stupid magic items, but for the majority of items, you would expect them to be consistently useful ( in whatever they do ) and without illogical restrictions ( such as only working if the wielder is wearing blue knickers ).

Some of the BG3 items fail those tests, without apparently being created by a known lunatic.