Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks I can't spellcast or level up NPCs correctly

I took a long break before patch but its clear now that I am missing something and its not obvious where I would learn more about how to choose spells as I level up. Whether its Tav or NPC I select spells and then when the next encounter starts the spell I wanted isnt there and something I would not choose and didnt recall seeing anywhere is active. I have sought out guides for things like Bard performace or how to weigh one class' path vs another but its not easy within Larian's space or third party sites but it may exist and I am soliciting suggestions for BG3 specific game mechanics implementation. I know this is also mostly due to the early access content still being new and subject to change or that I am just kinda of clueless but it has meant re-rolling or dropping characters after ending up with characters with missing abilities or murkiness about how to play these otherwise interesting charcters because I once again have spells i dont want in place of the ones I thought I chose.

The differences between how each class learns and uses arcane spells in combat can be unintuitive or at least not to me. I want to know how to learn, prepare and properly employ for every class but they all vary quite a bit. In the past I have always avoided mages but I think how its shaping up is really fun to play. There are so many cool ways to play wizard, sorc or Bard then mix in race and background abilties and you end up with a lot to consider. Maybe there needs to be a roll-back feature? Like some kind of "ROOKIE" mode for players who have not kept abrest of 5e rules which makes it easier to fx mistakes. As much as i love D&D rules, manuals and having other people explain this stuff for me I am also 100% sure this will be a Larian game too. This head scratching happened early and often playing DOS1 when it released. Eventually I was able to learn enough to really enjoy playing without simply following a guide and allowing surprises to happen. My favorite moments are the ones totally unexpected so relying on third parties to explain the game risks spoilers or frustrating moments with wrong kind of surprises. Could be bugs too. Gales' spells and who chooses the ones he has a great example of me never getting it all together as intended. I like reading text based stuff but the places I recall using in the past are way too commercial now as well.

Is there a "back-end" console players can access in game to review events where the toons pass perception check and sees something but never noticed anything on screen and cant find anything in dialoge window. In place of a patient DM I find myself wishing I could review rolls whiile exploring after scripted event is triggered. That said its been great exploring patch 9 and I am very keen to campaign with my Drow character and still havent nailed down which class I like best. I am also terrible at being evil, chatoic yes but then I seem to break promises or change allegiances unintentionally. These are high quality problems. I really like all the Arcane magic using classes and didn't think I would ever play Warlock or Sorcerer. Is it true that a Drow Druid cant use a hand crossbow? If that is the case maybe Drow should only play Moon druid. A half Drow might be able to choose an earthly deity or source but the interactions between all the differents or similar classes alongside racial allegiences are going to be fun to explore. It is a complex storyline to follow and I expect stuff to be broken but I am still looking for better breakdowns in text or video form. Casual Veteran Gamer's YT channel has been the best source for me as he understands the numbers, the core princiles and explains both how it supposed to work and whatever is working now. His playthroughs are often more informative than the explicit guide episodes. He shares same optimism and willingness to trust Larian is perhaps the only deveoper who could the franchise justice today and patient optimism it can and will be fixed is a theme. I am re-rolling tonight but I re-installed DOS1 and then wait for gold. I really want the "whole game experience" at least once. Before then i will read the 5e rules also to help have firmer grasp.

Please advise me if I am missing anything obvious that happens.

Okay, on the spells it depends what class you’re playing. My apologies if this is something you already know, but bards, sorcerers and warlocks, for example, don’t need to prepare spells so should be able to cast anything you pick at level up. Wizards (like Gale) and clerics (like Shadowheart) however know more spells than they can cast in any one encounter, and need to prepare them. This can be done in the Spellbook tab of the character sheet (second tab). Gale, as a wizard, can also learn some spells from scrolls, after which they can also be prepared.

There are some bugs related to prepared spells, so if all that is old news to you and doesn’t help, perhaps if you share more details of what you’re trying and what is actually happening then someone might be able to give more useful advice.

For Wizards, Druids, and Clerics, hit 'K' to bring up the spellbook then click on the spells you want to prepare. You can prepare a number of spells equal to your level plus you spell-casting ability modifier. So, a 1st level Wizard with 16 Intelligence (i.e. a +3 modifier from their spell-casting ability) can prepare 4 spells. The other casters have 'spells known', so they don't need to prepare spells.