Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Build Discussion Single Class Challenge

How would you build Tav and the companions using only single classes?

The rules are you may only respec a character when either Withers is first available or when the companion is acquired. No multiclassing. No substitutions. When you swap out a companion (or hireling) that character is unusable for the rest of the game.

What choices would you make and when?

I didn't want to do any multiclassing in my latest playthrough. My Durge was a Collage of Swords Bard with Astarion, (Tief Rouge), Karlach (Berserker Barbarian), and Lae'zel (Battlemaster). My only conscious choice was to pick up counterspell and banishing smite at level 10 for my bard. They were a surprisingly effective team throughout the entire game.

I did my first play through all single class. My "Tav" was a Bard, I has Shadowheart, Gale, Wyll and Karlach as the companions I used and all just stayed their default setup.

I've done plenty of monoclass runs to be honest.

Barbarian, Fighter, Druid, Cleric, Warlock, Sorcerer, Wizard and Bard are all able to be very strong as monoclass builds. Paladin, Monk, Rogue, Ranger can work but tend to benefit from multiclassing.

There's plenty of options there for parties. Even if you try to stick with companions having their original classes, you've got:

Shadowheart as a Cleric (Light Domain or Tempest Domain are both strong)
Lae'zel as Fighter (Battlemaster is solid, Eldritch Knight Tosser build is very strong)
Karlach as Barbarian (Tiger + Tiger Wildheart is good. Berserker Tosser build is decent)
Gale as Wizard (Evoker, Diviner, Abjurer, Necromancer are all strong)
Wyll as Warlock (Pact of the Chain and Pact of the Blade are both viable)
Astarian suffers as a Rogue, but you can work with Thief or Arcane Trickster.

Then if you're not wanting to double up on classes, you've options for Tav;

Moon, Land and Spores Druid are good.
Draconic and Storm Sorcerer is good.
Lore and Swords Bard are great.

The only real thing you have to think about, is making sure to have access to Longstrider (And to a lesser extent, Leap) as you can't get this from an item like you can Feather Fall (From the boots in the Arcane Tower) and Guidance (From the Harper amulet near the Grove) and is very nice to have (Yes, there's the Ring of Jumping, but it's self cast only and once per long rest)

That's the tough part. If I had to do this challenge, I suppose I would start by making Tav a draconic sorcerer, white dragon. 17 Cha, 16 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Wis, dump Str, dump Int. Hag's hair, dual wielder, ability increase (Cha). I'd pick the third feat based on how I was feeling. Maybe Alert, maybe elemental adept or spell sniper.

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Then I make a hard decision. Instead of swapping out characters to get Wyll or Karlach's storyline material, I just don't pick them up. I lose the infernal rapier, unfortunately, but challenge rules are challenge rules. And I don't want to lose the other characters by swapping them out.

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So, of the four left, I have to get down to three. i think I'm ignoring Gale. Again, I hate to do it, but rules.

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Shadowheart stays Trickery because I want to stay narrative consistent. I will use the respec to change her stats.

12 Str
14 Dex
16 Con
8 Int
16 Wis
8 Cha

Feats: ability increase (Wis x2), Alert

She'll end up using Luminous Armor and radiant gear.

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Lae'zel will go Battlemaster.

16 Str
16 Dex
14 Con
8 Int
12 Wis
8 Cha

Feats: ability increase (Str x2), gwm, alert
Special: potion of everlasting vigour
Fighting style: great weapon fighting

heavy armor, two handed weapon

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I respec Astarion into a Bard, which will subsequently take the swords subclass. There's something about the bard that fits Astarion better than the rogue, at least to me. I imagine him playing sad and haunting music on his violin. And there are bard spells that feel thematically appropriate to a vampire, in my estimation. Normally, for example, I wouldn't bother taking Speak with Animals, but in this case, i would. It feels right that a vampire would be able to speak with beasts. I'd also take Dissonant Whispers, Sleep, and in general, keep my spell selection to things I imagine a dark vampire might be able to do.

8 Str
16 Dex
14 Con
8 int
12 Wis
16 Cha

Feats: ability increase (Dex x2), ability increase (Cha)
Fighting style: two weapon fighting

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I can't really list all the gear I'd use as it would change somewhat throughout the game.

Me : Bard or Open hand monk or sorcerer;
Karlach as herself, I’d make her thrown berserker
Laezel as herself , Figher
Wyll as himself , warlock.

Would be more than good enough

All summoning / charming party:

Tav: Necro Wizard (Animate/Create undead, Conjure elementals, Us, Shovel, Scroll of Bestial Communion, Dance Macabre)
Sheart: Circle of Spores Druid (animate dead, conjure elementals, conjure woodland beings, spore zombies)
Astarion: Beast Master Ranger (Find Fam + Beast companion)
Gale: Lore Bard (Crown of Madness, Magical Secrets: animate dead, Confusion, Dominate Person, Conj elemental, Mag Secrets: Spiritual Weapon)

What is this respec you speak of?

Tav would be a light cleric, which is enough to beat the game with, and I'd bring Tiger Hearlach / Evogale / Assastarion

Well Just Play on Easy and yu will have to do this guys..
yu Cant Multi on Easy.

and the Main Builds that all of then Come its actually pretty ok for me..
i just Reset there Stats becouse i Hate not have even Numbers.
(something that bothers me since my times as Table Top player..)
i Cannot See a 13, 15 in any Build that its like been Stabed in a Face for me.
i Only Tolarete 11 becouse most of Times its the Last Point and i dont Have anymore to alocate hin..haha
(Even Shadowheart that Nobody actually Like her School i dont Bother becouse i know how to Make her Strong using that..)
and if yu go in Sharran Path with Her.. she becomes even strong in her Main Build, just Get all unique Shar Gear and go nuts.

The only one i Dont Like and i Belave that Larian Made Wrong.. was Astarion.
i Used a Similar Build to what they Planned for hin in this Game..
but i Always Made Thief/Mage in my Table Top.
so i Just Made the Same with Hin Here.. haha
(Thief 3/ Mage 9)
but if i only could use 1 on hin.. i would go with Trickery.

(But 1 Note .. i actually Hate been locked in one Class Only even in my Table Top Times i Hate it.)
the only Build i ever did in my entire Life when i was only 1 Thing.. was The Hexablade.
i Never Need anything else.. Maybe just 2 lvl of Warrior when yu are strong enought to get action Surge.. yu dont need anything else as Hexa.

BTW all there Main Build like i Said are actually the Best for then in most Cases..
Like Gale the Best Schools for Magic in my opinion in this Game its his and Necro.. the rest its just for Show i really never need or bother after trying.
Lock the Best One for me its the Same as Will i always Go with my Fighter/lock build as Tav using the Same as Hin. and So on..
The only 2 i never bother to use its Halsin and Karlach.. i always felt they Weak in my Games and never seen to Fit in my playstyle.
(And if i Really Need a Barbarian i Just Made Minsc One. 3 hunter/3 barbarian/6 fighter works pretty well as melee and ranged much better then Her.)

Just a Tip wanna Brake the Game as 1 single Class Only ?!
the Best option its the Pala. he is Broken by itself. no joke.
Just Make a Dex Pala and Smithe the hell out of evrybody..

I don't really see how this is a challenge. Single class characters are pretty good.
Btw if you can't decide which companion to put in your group I recommend playing Lae'zel or Astarion as origin and failing the skill check to pull Gale out of the portal. When I played as Astarion (Thief) my camp ended up pretty empty with just Lae'zel (Eldritch Knight), Shadowheart (Trickery Cleric) and Minthara (Vengeance Paladin) as possible companions.

Man yu just Get the Best Ones.. yu dont Need any of the Rest
Trust me. after 1200 hrs i can say it for Sure..
they are Just there for people to Have a Bigger Party. haha

(and BTW. yu talked about something that i Really wished they Had Made Better.. the Open spaces in Camp..)
if they inted for yu to Only Have a 4 Man Party.. they should never Had wasted Time with a Big Camp like they Did..
they should Have Made in a Way that yu would only Have 4 at Time.. this would even increase the Replay of the Game
Becouse it would Force you to Make different Runs to See all of then get it ?!

Becouse like yu Said.. yu dont Need all of the 9 companions yu can Have.. most of Times yu will only use the 4 that are in your Party
The Rest just Get in a Way and Made yu Waste Time Switching then when needed.. something i Hate.
(in all my last 5 runs i never get Gale, Wyll, Karlach or even waste my Time saving Halsing when i Play Hero. he is Useless to me besides his Quest.)

BTW yu can indeed only Save the Thieflings in Grove quest.. Deal with the Shadow Druids..
Go there Save hin, make hin tell yu the direction to act 2.
Time Stop, Gank the Dude and Get the quest and 150 xp for killing the useless halsin.
(this way yu will Only Save the Thieflings and the Grove will not Close. already Tried a Bunch of times this and always Works..)
BTW: if yu Kill Hin yu can go and Explore the Underdark Asap too.. becouse he will Not Get Bugged in the After Party conversation ..
if yu go there and explore the entire Thing.. Before talking with hin in the After Party he will went Crazy. the game will Bug pretty hard.

But yu Have to Time Stop before Gank Hin.. or The Game will Make he run away when yu start to atack..

I guess I read this wrong...thought OP meant all 4 character's had to be the same class...4 fighters or 4 bards, etc.

No multiclassing isn't a challenge. Any 4 random classes can pulverize this game

If all 4 characters have to be the same class, I certainly would go bard. I'll take the companions, I like to use the most, maybe Karlach, Shadowheart and Wyll or Gale.

If it is 4 characters with a single class, my Tav/Durge would be bard with high Dex, so that they can be the party rogue, then Karlach as bearbarian, Shadowheart as her usual cleric self ( subclass might change after a certain story part), Gale as our nuker with evocation.
I might change out Karlach for Lae'zel since she is more important for the main story - I like them both and they are both good. I also might change Gale for Wyll, since he, too, has more ties to the main story. Lae would be battlemaster fighter and Wyll bladelock.

Most of the companions stay single class in my game, I like Shadow and Gale to have their full caster levels. Wyll, I often level up as a paladin of vengeance midgame, because that fits him. Astarion is a character, I often respec, if I use him, since I like to have thieve skills on my main. And since he is not defined by his class, I just pick, what I need.

Oh, if we're going 4-of-the-same-class, well...

It's not so much for challenge, I mean, single classes are absolutely fine. I can't really think of one class that couldn't do it. But for *fun* then, I'd pick....

Four Sorcerers; they will nuke the everlasting crap out of everything.

Edit: Oh Hang on, I think four druids will have a tough time at it.

If we're to think about 4 of the same class...

4 Wizards would be able to make a balanced team: Abjurer as your Tank, Diviner as your Support and a couple of Evokers to blow everything up (Or 1 Evoker and 1 Necromancer if you wanted to have a summoner).

4 Druids can also make a balanced team: 1 Moon as a tank in Bear, 1 Moon as melee damage in Saber-tooth, 1 Land for spell damage, 1 Spore for support.

4 Cleric would be interesting. Early Act 1 would be kind of tough, but Act 2 would be a breeze with quad Spirit Guardian obliterating everything.

4 Assassins would be interesting. Try and nuke down as much as you can in the first round!

The 4 Cleric has some real potential. I can also see 4 Rogue and do one as an Arcane trickster to get more spell power.

I really dont get the "challenge" part of playing pure classes. Its my default playstyle and there is nothing challenging about it.

I totally agree. This is a personal choice/preference. Not a challenge per se.


The first 3 companions that my Tav can see/recruit are (Note: Gale may be considered available prior to Lae'zel, but I can't see him until after I have made him recruitable):

- Shadowheart
- Astarion
- Lae'zel


With

1) one class per character,
2) no respecing and
3) no party member swapping
(read: don't ever touch Withers' coffin!!!),

the above 3 companions are more than enough to kill all or almost all enemies on behalf of Tav - without help from Tav - on Tactician difficulty at least.


So,

this one-class-per-character party work on Tactician mode:

- Tav: whatever class - doesn't matter - the only thing that matters is that the player has to be able to stand it for up to 100s of hours
- Shadowheart - Trickery Cleric (perfect!)
- Astarion - Thief (or Arcane Trickster if Tav can't cast arcane spells) (or Assassin if the player prefers to fight/kill first, talk later)
- Lae'zel - Battle Master if Tav is not a warrior class (or Eldritch Knight if Tav is a warrior class)


The only challenge here is: don't be rude to these 3 companions. Make sure they don't leave or die.

On Honour mode, getting to keep both Lae'Zel and Shadowheart is the tricky part, here. Best to keep backup in camp.

I rarely multi-class, and i've found that a good group makeup is:

Fighter (Battlemaster)
Rogue (Thief - dual wield, dex based, and make sure to use two hand-crossbows)
Cleric (any - to be honest, they all work just as well as any other if you play to their strengths)

The fourth can be literally anything.

Battlemaster, Thief, and 2 Priests is very powerful (twice the healing potential and twice the spirit guardians stacked atop each other is amazing).