Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion YOU DON'T NEED HIGH CHARISMA!

Yeah, nat1 is auto-failure no matter what, that's the same as in D&D, not a house rule...generally if a task is deemed to need a roll in the first place a nat1 will fail it. A difficulty of 0 generally means it's super easy but will still require a dice roll if the DM still wants you to have a chance to fail it as it might be a minimal challenge but still a challenge. But I don't know about nat20s...if that is consistent with D&D then in the event that difficulties higher than 20 exist in the game(which we don't know if they do), a nat20 may not succeed...depending on what bonuses you have.

I can't tell if you messing with me on purpose...

RAW 5e nat 1 and 20 are only for combat and death saves. Everything else is just a straight roll with bonuses.

If your DMs played it like that then that's house rules. Nat1 is guaranteed failure for everything, no exceptions.

In 5e RAW, nat 20s and 1s only matter for attack rolls. https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#Rolling1or20

Natural 20s and 1s mean nothing for Saving Throws and Ability Checks. There's no specific text about Nat 20s & 1s here https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#AbilityChecks

I WANT to trust him, but I also have seen straight up "oh you don't get this roll, well now you just have to fight a crazy hard fight" or "roll 4 times in a row to get SH to share a single thing with you. If you fail a single roll she tells you to eff off."

High elf can grab friends as their cantrip. That and guidance from Shadowheart should be enough to get you through most interactions with charisma as dump stat.

Friends isn't really any good anymore as it turns targets hostile after it ends.

Personally, I'm fine with some crazy hard fights if I fail to talk my way out of trouble (well, unless I get TPK-ed and then it would be a reload!). And indeed being told to eff off if I keep pestering someone to share something they're not ready to, if I'm not quite charming enough about it! Playing and replaying early access has made me a convert to just going with what happens and that becoming the story of my character, with all its ups and downs, so I do believe Swen that we can feel (relatively) safe in surrendering control to the dice.

Of course, I have yet to prove that will stick once a whole playthrough is at stake, but I hope so. I've found it engages my imagination more, thinking about how the party and my character will feel about and react to failing something they really wanted to succeed on. Something like, for instance, failing to save Arabella, could potentially resonate through the whole game for some characters. I actually think I'd find passing all the checks boring, now.

But of course, there's no right and wrong way to play. But with all the zeal of the converted, I'd just recommend people give rolling with the dice a try to see how it feels once they get past the initial discomfort!

I'm playing tactician mode and I have yet to see anybody turn hostile after using friends on them. Not saying that it will never happen, but so far not once. I've used it plenty.

Huh I haven’t noticed because whenever I use friends, I run the fuck away and wait until the next day before going back.

So far my 8 Charisma druid has succeeded on something like 80% of his Charisma checks through a combination of Guidance, Enhance Skill, and careful use of Inspiration Points. The times he did fail didn't end in brutal combat or life-and-death situations because I've been selective about where and to what end I use the charisma options to try and get a better outcome. I'm about 30 hours in right now.

Guidance is honestly so good. It automatically compensates for your deficit -1 no matter what and can be the equivalent of a +3 in CHA if you get a max roll.

Yeah if you're selective to try to avoid the tough rolls and with some bonuses you can kind of make do. But there are critical instances in the game where charisma and/or wisdom are absolutely critical. Depending on your choices there ARE forced 25 or 30 DC rolls that you must pass or lose a companion on the spot where the only alternative is giving in to their demands. So low charisma will force to either go down certain paths or lose companions.