Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Do you self-impose rules?

I'm curious how many folks play with a set of rules that they impose on themselves.

Personally, I do the following:

1. No reloads,
2. Permadeath, if a character dies, they're dead
3. No revivify scrolls, no withers bringing anyone back,
4. One initial respec for companions only,
5. No transferring items between companions during combat,
6. No fast travel unless standing in front of ancient sigil (clicking on it),
7. May only go to camp if standing in front of ancient sigil (clicking on it),
8. No using "send to camp" unless already in camp,
9. No using strength elixirs,
10. Scrolls only useable by classes that can cast the spell in question

I've found that playing this way makes the game more interesting for me.

Are there any particular rules you follow? I'm always looking for new ideas to incorporate into my own games.

Why should I nerf myself in such a way? Especially on my first run? I can kinda understand it to make consequent playthroughs more challenging. But I'd rater do something like the salami run than ignore game mechanics.

Yes.

Mostly about dialogue skill checks, like persuading Ketheric, I allow myself save scumming but I mustn't save scumming in any way for the entire Act 2.

You dont get a choice about that after a party wipe.

I use save scumming whenever I feel like it.



Thats just one rule, not two. Also, a stupid one. Resurrection is an established part of D&D.



So ?

Since respec is a PITA thats probably what most people will do anyway.



That just wastes time.



That means you'll run out of storage space very quickly and cannot collect heavy items at all.



I am the kind of player who doesnt want to cast spells, only Cantrips, and I have to force myself to even use healing potions.

Its not really a self-imposed rule though.

I find it really hard to do this, as opposed to selecting a general difficulty or some sort of specific settings option provided by the game. This is an issue with modding the game as well because it's sorta pandora's box for me going too far under the hood in that way.

I did find myself doing something sort of curious in this game though, which I guess relates to the looting question too. By not selling any named enchanted equipment or messing around with merchant rep, the game economy actually felt pretty tight for most of the first and second Act. The real 'game money' there, then turned into camp supplies, lockpicks, disarm trap kits which felt about right, since they're fairly pricey. I was able to keep it right around 1000-2000 gp for a big portion of the game and had a lot of stuff to admire in the camp chest.

The other thing I found myself doing sort of naturally was not going too ocd in my inventory or hotbars for the consumables like I usually would, and so not preplanning those too much. Trying to push at least one or two fights where I just burn through as much as I can of those all at once to charge ahead, instead of resting, that was fun. I managed that once or twice in each Act.

I can't help myself from edgepanning fireballs and such though. That's too classic for BG to deny myself that satisfaction hehe.

Of all the enemy chunk animations, seeing the foes get burnt to a crisp, or electricuted, or crushed by falling ice, is most satisfying. I guess the only one they're really missing is the actual chunk out or maybe getting smashed into a puddle, but otherwise opening with a bang like that, I always return to. Though in this game I do find myself waiting till the second or third reload to play that way. Similar to the first BG in that respect for me I think.

Not sure if I'd call this my rule, but actively going out of my own way to let encounters play out as they're intended through dialogue/cutscenes is what I actively do.

For example with the Blighted Village gobo ambush; in any other game I'd just sneak around and stab them in the back completely unnoticed. But in BG3 I intentionally walk into encounters fully knowing I'll be at a disadvantage, because I really love dialogue/cutscenes in the game so skipping them feels like heresy to me

Same with the gobos under the Grove; I could just push the gobo from above down into the group and save myself some trouble, but instead I intentionally walk into them to trigger the cutscene. So for me it's always content first and worry about danger later.

Oh and I don't shove, at all. Shoving means losing loot, which is even worse

Uh yeah, it's called "Delete Campaign". Ironman rules. Used to be called Honour Mode in DOS1/2




I have no idea why you felt the need to critique HIS rules for himself...like, did you feel personally attacked that someone else plays to a higher standard?

My biggest thing is trying to stick to Core rules until we get a mod. No shoving, no exploits, multiclassing needs to follow the PHB, etc...

The best way to make it harder is to play like an npc in bg3.
Rule no1. No resurrecting npc cannot be Ressed
Rule no2. No magic items you can only use those items that you get at the begging of a new game start.
That mean no potions no armors no weapons just starter equipment.

No3. All spellcasters can slot only 1 spell /spell lvl and the maximum number what you can have is 4.
That's mean lvl 1 spells for lvl 1 spellslots lvl 2 1 spellslots and so on.

No 4. Durids can only shape into the lower lvl forms the best form what they can have is panther.

No 5. Summons are allowed.

No 6. Trading is forbidden.
No 7. Maximum 1 parasite power.

I call it npc run. (sadly all npc are designed like this)

A good question, OP.

Obviously my response is not specific to BG3 as I'm not playing this game, but generally, and especially in my playthroughs of the old DnD games, I've had only two self-restraining rules:

1) I will never harm an innocent, even if this results in me losing out on in-game benefits and outcomes (though I will rail against losing out on those things).

2) I won't steal from poor NPCs, even if this results in me losing out on some super-awesome item.

But on the other side, I hate the process of healing up my party after a fight, and will use, even abuse, whatever cheats/save-scumming I have to use to help me fully heal up my party.

I have always been a bit of a hard core role player for CRPGs. I also like to run games in Ironman style playthroughs.

I would suggest that someone doing a first play through NOT go this route, explore the game and have fun. On replays putting in limitations will increase the difficulty of the game and create some interesting options.

I am right now doing an "old school" Paladin play through. Much tougher than I thought it would be. For example I cannot use Shadowheart as she is the Cleric of an Evil God. I had to kill Astarion when I found out he was a vampire. I took the word of the Paladin of Tyr and Wyll so killed Karlach. I cannot work with Lae'zel so she is gone. Gale is with my party as he is basically a Good guy that did something stupid. I also kept Wyll, his is a story of redemptions. he chose a bad path to go a great good. I now work with him to find a way to free him from this contract, a quest to save him.

I will not use the worm powers at all and will not use Hirelings. (They are basically enslaved undead) I had my wife create a Cleric of Selune for my game so I now have a full party. I will not "appease" evil creatures, often walking straight into a fight.

All of this has meant I am more limited on my party composition and many fights that my Bard avoided I am not taking head on.

For equipment I usually choose whatever looks better and makes more sense for a particular class and character, instead of what gives better stats. I.e. I won’t use dual wielding xbows, hammers and axes for Laezel, any armor on sorcerers and wizards

I do not reload fights, no matter how badly they go, unless it’s a party wipe (never happened tho)

I do not reload failed checks, unless I really FEEL that i want a particular outcome in dialogue (happened with persuading shadowheart, ketheric, couple others). Will absolutely 100% avoid reloading any failed rolls in my second playthru.

No cheesy tactics, mechanics abuse or ridiculous OP multiclass builds.

I refused to embrace any illithid powers on my first play through because it seemed so out of character, even though I knew there as no mechanical detriment associated with it.

I try to react to situations the way I think my character would and not the way I know will give the best outcome. So on my githyanki playthrough I romanced Lae'zel and shadowheart got rude and we killed her before she even joined the party. On my drow play through I'm a bit colder and meaner than when I did my halfling, etc...

It leads to very interesting and diverse stories which take place in the same locales but branch off in completely and in sometimes unexpected ways.

I do that, too, for the same reason, however you CAN shove in some places when its not into the abyss, and in such instances I shove very happily.



I said how I'd feel about following those rules. *shrug*

I don't impose rules on myself, but I seldom use barrels or shove.

I may do that on a future playthrough, but right now on my second playthrough, I'm "following" the story arcs of completely different companions, and I don't want to miss any of that, so I have reloaded a couple times.

Somebody else said this upthread, that's not even D&D canon. Revivify and Resurrection are part of how the tabletop game operates. So I don't know why you would do that? That said, I never had Withers bring anyone back, and only used a Revivify scroll once so far in my two playthroughs.

Yup, I didn't think about it as imposing a rule on myself, but that's just how I've operated.

I mean, it depends on what you're talking about, I've floated potions and throw-ables between party members in combat, but that's something that I've seen happen at the tabletop too. If a character has potions in a pouch on their belt, or a bandolier or something, taking one out and handing or tossing it to a companion in battle is perfectly viable as an action. I'm guessing what you meant was transferring inventory items and then still taking your whole portion of actions/bonus actions. I probably have done that not even realizing it. Now that you pointed it out, I might try and "End Turn" if I ever have to transfer an inventory item moving forward. We'll see.

I don't know why you'd martyr your time like that? Even at the tabletop sometimes travel is just hand-waved. The game allows traveling quickly between vital areas because actually taking the time to travel there through clicking in the environment is a time suck. I'm not playing "Let's travel Faerun for fun." I don't know why anyone would want to.

I only ever do this for provisions, which is a necessity in this game. At the tabletop there are things like Goodberry, Create Food and Water, and other methods to make sure players don't have to collect fish heads and potatoes all over the place. I'd MUCH prefer that was how BG3 operated. The whole: "what stew am I cooking tonight so I can get all my spell slots back" is annoying. Even more annoying is having to right click on every vegetable, fish corpse, and bottle of liquor I happen upon, so I know that I won't run out of provisions in the late game. If there wasn't a "send to camp" option for that, I don't know if I'd even play the game any more. The inventory management is already an unholy nightmare.

Strength potions are part of the tabletop game, so I don't see a reason not to use them? I realize that the elixers are far more powerful than their PnP equivalents, but so is a lot of the rest of the game.

This is definitely my tabletop experience coming through. I just always put scrolls into the inventories of the characters that I know can cast them. So divine magic scrolls go in the cleric's pack, arcane in the wizards, bard's, or eldritch knight's pack, depending. That said, I have, on very rare occasion, had a character that had no business casting a scroll use it, but on the, two that I can think of, occasions where I did that, they were fly scrolls, and it was entirely because if I were at the tabletop, a rope and grapple would have allowed me to do what the game only allowed me to do with fly scrolls. Absolute bananas!



Here's one that I try to follow, though I'll admit that on occasion I've overlooked it. Only one bonus action spell and one cantrip per round, which is RAW.

Another? Characters with crossbows that don't have the Crossbow Expert Feat only get to make one attack with that weapon per round, which, again, is RAW.

Those are the kinds of things I'm hoping we'll get one day as a toggle-able setting. Right now Zerd's RAW is the closest equivalent, but I'm not going to run any mods on the game until there hasn't been a patch or hotfix for at least 6 consecutive months.

I meant this to be more of a thread about sharing self-imposed rules that people use more than critiquing the ones I use. I listed mine as examples of what I was talking about. In general, I don't expect people to want to use the same rules I do. Don't get me wrong, I don't care if anyone critiques my rules. I can't imagine why I would care if anyone likes the way I play solo, right?

But since it's been brought up a couple of times now, if anyone's interested in why I elect to use some of those rules:

1. I basically don't care about tabletop rules at all. I've seen all the edition changes throughout my lifetime. None of them are sacred in my opinion. As such, I don't care if strength potions are a thing or not. I think they undermine character builds, especially in the quantity presented.

2. The game's more fun without having characters come back to life. It lessens the challenge when death is a temporary setback. I prefer consequences that I have to live with. It also inspires me to be more careful and approach situations knowing that I might permanently lose characters or even an entire campaign.

3. Traveling to arcane sigils before using them is more immersive, in my opinion. It also impacts playstyle. I'm forced to visit camp more often to offload weight, which is more realistic and helps me gage time spent between long rests. And there are times where I have to be super careful about getting to a waypoint if I want to travel or long rest. For instance, let's say I just took out the goblin bosses and I happen to be low on resources and health. I want to leave so that I can long rest. I could click long rest right there. I could travel to the grove to sell off my items immediately. But if I impose a rule on myself, suddenly, I have to consider going outside where there are still plenty of goblins between me and safety. Another example is if I get stuck in the spider pit in the goblin camp. I have to get through the locked gate somehow without fast travel teleporting. The point is, there are tons of little areas where this rule makes the game more interesting, challenging, and rewarding for me. Simply put, it's more immersive.

So, hopefully that explains where I'm coming from with some of my self-imposed rules.

I do wish the game handled crossbows differently. I may have to incorporate something into my playstyle regarding them.

So I guess just by going from my first play so far I'd say:

No instant killing via push
barrels are to be picked up and used as decorations at camp
Stick to core class for companions
initiate dialog with party for encounters even if you know its going to go south (pretty sure this has been mentioned a couple times here)

those are my top so far

edit* I'll mention my second play but I haven't really got that far for it

Its a two pc and two npc party but just solo play. Both are brainwashed followers of some cult (haven't figured it out yet) and the cult is against any creature from another plane (no aliens). Its a evil play through and still debating on the rule set. Any ideas feel free to throw them my way.

Instead of "no reloads" my self-imposed rule is to explore interesting tracks, even if I think they may not be the best thing to do. And return to my preferred track after finding out..... or not when the "bad" choice turns out to be not so bad after all.
So yes I explore these options with saves, even though I know how I want to proceed. ButI'm curious what happens on the other paths.
So, why deprive yourself of fun and surprises ?

I dont understand why people are so harsh on the OP for posting what they impose on their OWN playthrough of the game. That would be like me talking down on everyone who plays with their party in underwear because they like to look at pixel boobs all day. Hey you do you.

I would like to play with the base 5e character creation rules but I cant because Larian took away the original attribute bonuses after release. Which flat out sucks.

I have an ironman playthrough where I have no quick saves, one active save and if they die and I have no scrolls to rez them they stay dead, on tactician difficulty.

More guidelines than strict rules: scrolls are for wizards to learn spells, reload/retry after deadly encounters (no resurrection), accept dice rolls during conversations, change companion classes just once and as early in the game as possible, don't use shields alongside ranged two handed weapons.