Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion Any way to use Wis/Int/Cha for weapon modifiers/rolls?

Has anyone found spells/abilities or feats or class traits or weapon types that allow your character to use Wisdom/Intelligence/Charisma instead of Strength/Dexterity for weapon modifiers/rolls (damage & hit)?

Pact of the blade class feature for warlocks allows Cha.
Shillelagh cantrip for druids allows Wis.
Wyll can get a weapon, the Infernal Rapier, as part of his personal quest that attacks based whatever the spellcasting modifier of the wielder is.

Clerics with Nature Domain can also use Shilelagh, but its hard to pass up on life domain for me.

Not any class can do this...just proficiency with a weapon type isn't enough. Warlocks have the Pact of the Blade which allows them to use their charisma modifier instead of strength, and there are some weapons that naturally allow any character to choose to use their dexterity modifier instead of strength if they wish. But options for this kind of stuff is very limited, the same as in D&D. Wizards are just not made to be swinging greatswords and I don't believe there is any way for any class to apply the intelligence modifier to weapon attacks that I can think of.

That's a unique weapon...it's not something that allows you to use even all rapiers or anything like that. And you still need the relevant weapon proficiency to use it which wizards typically don't have as it's not a simple weapon. You might try to go for a specific race just to get that proficiency to nick that weapon off Wyll but really it's not worth it...if your plan is to have your wizard in melee range of enemies you're screwing up.

That’s all true but also besides the point.

Jaheira comes equipped with a dagger with the skill.

Most common race for Wizards / Sorcerers in BG3 is various forms of elf, most if not all of them grant rapier proficiency.

Melee Wizards were quite incredible in BG2 and most other DnD games, another thing that BG3 handles poorly. It wouldn't be anything different to using wyll as melee while hes a warlock, all you needed was polymorph self or tensers transformation.

Eldritch Knight in previous DnD editions was a wizard prestige that allowed the use of INT for attack rolls and damage while having the same amount of spellslots as a normal Wizard, but Archmage and Pale Master remained better for actually casting spells.

But regardless of that, that rapier raises spell save DC, its good to nick just for that.

Only Drow get Rapier proficiency. And Shortsword and Hand Crossbow.

Elves get Shortsword, Longsword, Shortbow, Longbow.

Shillelagh cantrip actually allows any spellcasting ability to be used. The cantrip's tooltip will always indicate that it's being cast with WIS, but the spell itself says it uses your spellcasting ability. For rogue and fighter, that's INT, while for barbs it's CHA. The rest of the classes have an obvious spellcasting ability. Ran a quick test Tav to illustrate below. Note that this Tav has a 10 STR and DEX. Only one place for that +5 modifier to be coming from.

I love this goofy build!

Pretty sure it's just "whatever is highest" for Shillelagh between Int, Cha and Wis. Got any screenshots from your testing where as an example a Rogue has Int being used despite having a higher Cha? Your Tav for example has a 20 Int, so Int is highest.

Edit: Also FWIW any class can snag Magic Initiate: Druid and grab the Cantrip if they don't want to dip into Druid or Nature Cleric to snag it, not that it's typically the optimal feat choice but it's certainly an option.

Problem with Shillelagh is the class has all these other weapon proficiencies including scimitars and polearms, but Shillelagh will ONLY work with staves/clubs, not even maces.

Ha, this one was just to test, but it can get pretty fun with Eldritch Knight 7/Wizard 4. You still get 3 feats and you count as a 6th-level spellcaster, letting you scribe 3rd level wizard spells. You can take Dueling fighting style and go torch/shield with Shillelagh super-charging your torch - with 20 INT, it's dealing 1d8+7 bludgeoning + 1d4 fire. You might consider dual wielding, but Shillelagh only works on your main hand weapon unfortunately. You can cast a cantrip and still attack with your bonus action, so in tough fights you might consider True Strike or Blade Ward, depending on if you need to hit or take less damage. You have extra attack, so you can swing twice if you'd rather.

If you take your last level in Eldritch Knight, you get one more feat - I like War Caster since you'll be able to get use from both the concentration advantage and Shocking Grasp OA. If you take your last level in Wizard, you count as a 7th-level spellcaster and can scribe 4th level wizard spells. Either way, it's a pretty decent gish build with a lot of flexibility.
Sure, I tested that real quick. Here's a 4th level fighter with higher CHA and WIS than INT, but Shillelagh still uses INT.
If you multiclass, then it will use the highest spellcasting ability from your multiclass. For example, I added one level of barbarian (which has CHA spellcasting ability) to this, and Shillelagh then used CHA as the modifier.

I think Magic Initiate: Druid is the one of the best feats you can grab for building a gish. You can grab both Shillelagh and Guidance or Resistance as useful cantrips, and for your once-per-long-rest spell, you can take Longstrider or Speak with Animals, both of which only need to be cast once per long rest anyway. If you're multiclassing just for a dip, it's usually a choice between the dip and a feat anyway. I generally prefer taking the feat so that abilities that scale off of class level can continue to gain benefit.

Thanks for testing, that's great info!

The reason I was saying that it's generally not the "optimal" choice for melee characters is just because generally getting a bonus which is otherwise unavailable (like Tavern Brawler) or additional options for your actions / reactions (like Great Weapon Master, Polearm Master or Sentinel) or one of the massive damage increases (Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter) is more powerful than just replacing one stat for another, especially in a game where you can dump Str and still have a score higher than if you poured all your efforts into it by using a single item. That being said I 100% agree it's an awesome feat and great in a Gish build not to mention packed with flavor, a choice doesn't need to be the most powerful one around to be a great option and a ton of fun.