Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Missing Monsters: Notable Absentees BG D&D

So one of the main things I find enjoyable about a D&D game set in the Forgotten Realms is that the essential monster types are all pretty familiar. If I fight a Hook Horror or a Zombie or Skeleton in an FR campaign, I know what I'm getting into there. Since they all have archetypal forms listed in the MM with associated lore, known vulnerabilities etc. If you've fought one of these things in a D&D campaign before, then that experience and knowledge acquired has applications outside the specific game, and is generally useful for future campaigns set in the same world. People bag on the FR setting and the D&D system all the time for various reasons, but this is one thing I find very charming about Dungeons & Dragons and the Forgotten Realms. Compared to some offbrand Screaming Skeksis or Undead Wight monsters, where you have to re-learn everything you thought you knew for a 1-off, here the same tactics are usually reliable when encountering the classic monsters. Like if I know that Hook Horrors have poor vision but excellent hearing, I see one and I adapt the tried and true tactics. Maybe prep a Silence Spell and ready myself to receive hella slashing damage if things go awry.

If it's a Skeleton, we put away the swords and reach for the bludgeoning weapons. If it's a Zombie we make sure to keep our distance and prep the torches and disinfecting fire. If it's a Ghast or Ghoul, or a Mummy, we know what that all means in this context. Just in the same way that if we saw a Troll in D&D, we might do the same stuff, making sure we have some fire damage prepped or taking a second look at Acid Splash or Melf's Acid Arrow. You know what I mean, Phase Spiders being Phase Spiders and all. I like that stuff! 

On the whole I think BG3 does a pretty excellent job on this front. It primes the player and shows them the ropes with many many monsters, and quite a few that we never even saw in BG1 or BG2, which had just about everything so that's saying something! Sure, there might be a guessing game for the boss versions of whatever monsters here and there, but in general the stuff we see on display feels pretty by the book and by the numbers. Many of the familiar standouts are here in BG3, I mean they definitely have Kobolds and Goblins, so I'm pretty happy, but there were a few I found myself missing, especially for the BG1/BG2 callbacks. Thought I'd make a note while it was still top of mind.

Ankhegs:





In BG1 these things make an appearance in the area just North of the Friendly Arm Inn, where the Paladin Ajantis could be recruited. They'd come up from underground, like the hip hop remix of the raspberry Bulette in BG3. If you didn't have a spell like Command to interrupt them, they might cause a ruckus and then burrow to safety at the last second, only to reappear again on the other side of the cave! They were fun, because they hit heavy and awarded some nice XP, but mainly because their heads could be sold for 500 GP in Beregost. These could also be fashioned into a nice suit of light-weight plate armor, like the one we can find just sitting in that field in Nashkell. I think that's the main thing that made them so memorable in BG1, Viconia's optimal get-up was that Ankheg Plate in green, at least until Gauntlets of Strength were acquired hehe. I think they would have made for an entertaining Monster in the Rivington area, since that was their habitat in BG1. Perhaps a side area that connects to this hub, and giving the Druid or Ranger types something to do in a quest that was a bit more wilderness/frontier farm oriented. With all the earthquakes going on in Baldur's Gate, I could easily imagine this might disturb their normal mating rituals or drive them to the surface in greater numbers than usual. In BG1 there was a theme of not-over harvesting the Ankhegs which would risk disrupting the delicate balance of nature, so probably a good fit for Druid or Ranger types there.  

Basilisks:





"Korax - Good Dog" and the Basilisk's gaze! In BG1 these things were all over the place, but most notably in the Bone Garden area east of the Circus, which served as the defacto method for leveling up the party very quickly, like if you just wanted to rush towards the endgame and skip over the early grind. The monsters are tough, since they have a lot of magical resistances and a gaze attack that turns adventurers to stone! It's probably the first instance in BG of "oh shit, now I'm a living statue I guess" which we see a few times for a callback here. Similar to the Spectator in BG3, if we spotted a bunch of life-like statues somewhere in BG1 it was a pretty good sign that something might be up hehe. They also made an appearance beneath Candlekeep and again at Durlag's. Like other monsters, if you had the right spell, a potion of mirrored eyes, or an undead buddy as part of the crew, you could take them on at range and manage well enough. I'm not sure of the best location but they could probably go anywhere in Act III. I think there's plenty of foreshadowing, since we have the oil and the Gate, just need the monster now. In BG1 we had a Lesser Basilisk in yellow and a Greater Basilisk in Red, so definitely a go-to for an MM update there.

Wyverns:






Referenced with the Poison in BG3 early on, but we never actually see one here. In BG1 these were notable mainly because we didn't have Dragons in that game lol. Even ToSC capped out level 10 (and then only for some classes the way XP progression worked back then) so the idea that we'd be fighting Dragons at like level 8 was kinda laughable I guess. Instead there were Wyverns! Coran the Fighter/Thief directs us to the hunt, and similar to the Ankhegs their heads could be traded to the right wizard for a pretty decent chunk of change. They had young Wyverns and adult Wyverns, so two types similar to the Basilisks and a bit of a mainstay in that Cloakwood area. They could also waylay and TPK the party on area transitions. All and all probably not the most compelling monster for a game where we do actually end up fighting Dragons eventually, but might have been fun for a nod. Perhaps after the Shadowcursed lands we face some sort of Wyvern wraith maybe? hehe I could see that. It's around the same breakpoint in terms of party level if it happened right after Act II, early Act III and could allow for a similar fake-out, like 'did we just kill a Dragon?' But then Gale or whoever corrects us... "well actually." I could get into that lol. I think in each instance, it would be nice to have an interconnected dungeon where we fight monsters of these types and then some Greater version for the crescendo on it. Preferably in a discreet side dungeon like via transition for more crawler dungeon interludes. Act II is pretty perfect as is, I think Rivington and the Lower City need more zones like that though, where the monsters are obvious and where we know what's what. Like using the City or Rivington as the hub, but then detouring to face down some hallmarks like that. 

OK so those are 3 from BG1. For BG2 classic monsters again, quite a few made the cut for BG3. I mean we have Kuo-toa and Spectators and the whole campaign is pretty Gith, so I'm not really complaining hehe, but still there are a couple biggies that would have been fun to see make a comeback in BG3. Just thinking of D'Arnise Keep some standouts immediately come to mind. Trolls, Umber Hulks, Yuan-Ti. 

I just want the snake people I guess

What else?

As I always put the Ankheg Armour on Jaheira, I miss her not wearing it.

Gelatinous Cubes and Rust Monsters.

Not sure how they'd have implemented Rust Monsters, given the more static availability of equipment having stuff get destroyed could be a bit too punishing for casuals.

Cubes are simple though. Could make for interesting positioning based combat where you have to try and not get your characters stuck inside the cube.

Any of the various Giants.