Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion Advice requested: Spider theme build

Hi everyone,

I am building a concept character. I don't need to min/max their power.

My only goal is maximum spideriness.

My plan is to have spider pets, spider abilities and be as spirdery as possible.

They're a . They start as a ranger (beast master) and get to level 3 to summon a spider companion.

1. Lolth-Sworn drow because Lolth is spidery
2. Start as ranger (beast master) to level 3 for a spider companion
3. Druid to level 2 for spider wild shape (thanks Beotheric for the suggestion)
4. Wizard to level 3. This gives Find Familiar (spider) at level 1 and Web at level 3.
5. Acquire Spiderstep boots (and maybe Spider's Lyre and Poisoner's Robe for costume. Thanks Staunton)

Then, without any other ideas my plan was to go cleric, either Trickery or War domain to be closer to Lolth.

Druid has a spider wild-shape at level 2, can't get much more spidery than that.

Ooo of course. Good idea. I'll go for that as well.

Maybe a level of Bard to play the Spyders Lyre and equip Spiderstep Boots and Spidersilk Armor or Poisoners Robe for style (all gear in Act 1)

Nice! All good stuff.

there's also the spider egg up by the guidance necklace to give yourself some small spider followers. they might not last long in combat, but they'll help fill out your arachne theme.

Another alternative to Wiz 3 is to take Beast Tamer as your Natural Explorer option at Ranger 1 for Find Familiar and then Circle of Land Druid 3 and take Underdark for Web.

Note that both your Beast Master companion and your Wildshape get stronger as you level those specific classes. If you take a bunch of extra Ranger levels, your companion will be more capable in combat, but your Wildshape will just make you weaker when you use it. Similarly, if you take a bunch of Druid, your Wildshape will be okay, but your companion will die to a hard glance and a stiff wind. If you do neither like you say, neither your companion or Wildshape will have much combat utility, but at least you can look spidery outside of combat.

This is very cool. It appears to be a single use consumable, though. Any way to create these or replenish my supply?


It seems like I get the same number of spiders by just having half ranger half druid. If I stick to leveling those two, do you think the companion and the wild shape will be useful? Or are these really only good if you single class?

Yup, it'll be the same number of spiders.

For the Beast Master companion, level 5 is a pretty important milestone - it gives your companion an additional bonus to AC, damage, and attack rolls equal to your proficiency bonus. This is a bonus that can increase even if your multiclass, so I'd suggest at least level 5 on Ranger. However, the companion will continue to get stronger and get additional abilities all the way up to level 11. The companion upgrades are at levels 5, 7, 8, and 11.

For the druid Wildshape, your spider form will get an HP increase every 2 levels. At levels 4 and 8, it will also get a damage die increase. At levels 5 and 10, you get additional attacks while Wildshaped.

With a 6/6 build, your Beast Master companion Spider will have 24 HP, 19 AC, and one attack per turn. Your Spider Wildshape will have 39 HP, 14 AC, and two attacks per turn. However, outside of Wildshape, your human form will have at least 69 HP (+ 12*CON modifier) and be able to use all of your armor and weapon magical properties along with having two attacks per turn. In my opinion, one of the two spiders (either companion Spider or Wildshape Spider) can be made effective, but probably not both.

Good advice. Thank you. Since it's a concept build I'll probably try a few versions to see how spidery I can be and still survive. He might need to get carried by the rest of the party.

Really hoping they implement a full custom party in the future.

War domain stacks with druid wildshape reactions and actions don't stack while in that form. only thing i can think of off the top of my head that would help. have fun.

Edit* also be careful on some of the passives they don't all work well with wildshape, like barb passive armor gets a negative and a positive. there was a feat also that was suppose to give a bonus to attack and dmg but only applies to attack, i can't think of it atm. you would have to watch combat log to see.

Thanks for the heads up. Looks like some advanced advice to me. I'll investigate and see what works.

a robe that adds poision damage = sorcerer not Wizard because that adds scale armour, posion resist and a poison spit
a long sword that adds posion damage if the target is held i.e, web or tangle
a ring that heals you whatever you deal posion damage to the target
there are many options for hats, immune to crit or heal being two good options
another ring that adds posion to your weapon when ever you heal i.e, if someone/ thing heals you then whatever weapon you have is now a posion weapon

now as someone that also plays a posion build you will need a back up plan because a LOT of targets will ignore all this posion

What do you want in customizing the party you can't do now (other than appearances)?

I rebuilt nearly every companion to match my needs. I made Gale a charisma based tempest cleric/storm sorcerer for instance, made shadowheart a paladin, etc...

I'm not sure what you want them to implement (from a character build perspective)

A custom party would be nice for selecting race/backgrounds for each member. These are things that can't be Wither'ed away.

Mechanically you're absolutely right of course. I'm only speaking from a thematic perspective. If I can customize the whole party I can turn them all into versions of the same theme. I can give them the spider builds anyway, though, and I might...

The minmaxer in me died a little when you mentioned multiclassing after 3rd lvl ... as at 4th you get a Feat
Then again, let him who be without sin cast the first stone, I did exactly that with my Bard of Lore - as I had NO IDEA what Feat to give him I multiclassed him to Cleric Knowledge Domain as to put off the issue for later
I do plan to switch back ASAP, though ...

Yeah this is definitely not my min max build. The game is only as challenging a we let it be as players. I see lots of people min maxing and then complaining that the game is too easy!

I find the game challenging and it's probably because I sit in my own little thematic world which makes silly, redundant choices...

This thread has inspired me to build the Raven Queen.

I'll do it for a "solo" run where the rest of the party are dire raven moon druids with dire raven beast master companions and raven familiars. I'll have a flock following my anti-heroine around but they will all stay in bird form all the time.