Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Wizards weak/underpowered?

My favourite spell is Magic Missles. I guess you know why. So very damn reliable.


Could just be my imagination but can it be that physical attacks with a high stat have a higher chance to hit, while a high stat for a certain type of spell, is not truly enhancing its quality to actually hit?
I feel that the current Meta ( for any class in general ) is to just lit something/someone on fire,
preferably a group of enemys in close promixity to each other and just throw a barrel of oil or smokegas into them and enjoy the OP damage which also always seem to hit.

Oh yeah and a rogue with two bonus actions is super powerful situationary.
Walk into a spot currently not seen by anyone, crouch down and then pushing becomes a 100% hitchance. Combine that with a ledge and things feel very satisfying.

But a spellcaster with the highground feels pretty underpowered.
Especially a higher positioning should be the goal, right?
But maybe I just have OriginalSin2 flashbacks idk.

It does not feel very satisfying though to bring my spellcaster in a desirable position just to have her favour a crossbow. :|


Wizards are not allowed to wear anything besides robes or their spells become unusable.
Warlocks are at least able to wear Lighter armor and bring some dexterity or strenght to the table, which ensures an even higher chance to evade or hit their target.
Could be just me but to think that Spellcasters use physical weapons the same as spells... it feels very wierd.

Has this always been the case in Forgotten Realms?
Back then in BG2 I just rested endlessly to reload spells - cause I was shameless.
Nowdays I feel that it is kinda immersion breaking thb.
And our group in particular is not supposed to sleep after like every second or third fight, they are supposed to be on the run from becoming Mindflayers with the least amount of rest possible.

It feels so very frustrating to have a limited amount of spells for each grade and then it just "breaks" at its target without doing anything.
And the amored Dudes can be tanky during all times at least.
While I have to sacrifice one spell slot for Magicarmor already. Not that I want more slots. Hell no. But it would be nice if the enemys stop resisting them entirely so often. Especially when I am high up. 70% hit chance is not enough.

Physical attacks based off a high stat have exactly the same chance to hit as spell attacks with the same value in the spellcasting stat. If anything, it's easier to hit with firebolt/ray of frost because these still hit the ground even if you miss. If you have a lower chance to hit with firebolt compared to a crossbow, then your ability scores are probably way suboptimal.

This is not necessarily true for ST spells, because enemies have different ST bonuses than AC bonuses. So, if by "certain type of spell" you mean "spells that affect STs," then yes these can be more difficult to hit. Especially since you don't get high ground bonuses to these spells. ST spells are weaker in BG3 than melee/range/spell attacks.

Until Larian rebalances the game so that ST spells are equally as powerful as other spells, I'd suggest sticking with spells that are attack rolls instead of ones that force STs. This will make your wizard feel more powerful (if more limited).

Mage armor gives you a higher total AC than any nonmagic light armor. Whether you're in light or no armor, you still add your Dex to your AC.
--Wizard with Dex of 14 and mage armor: AC 15
--Warlock with Dec of 14 and studded leather: AC 14

I agree that it is very immersion breaking to rest after every fight. Especially when the game and companions are urging you to find a solution.

You see the Spellcaster as my current Avatar.
Drows have crossbow profession. I guess that played its part as well.
And yeah I invested alot in dex just for inniative and evasion reasons.

At this point in time I feel that nothing can beat the Magic Missles.
You are right with groundhitting but same holds true for throwing something that can explode.
And there is ALOT of stuff in this game we can pick up on the way and just throw instead.


What I hope from a Spellcaster is to be able to inflict some kind of damage.
The fireballs is nice and cute and the Iceray makes enemys slip and fall very often, but is that all?
I feel the fact that Wizards are ranged is factored in their current power. Imagine having just the right distance to always attack and just back off from a Melee enemy.

Imagine the whole group fighting like that.
Cheesing is very ez at this point.
But if I want to make a stand with my group and my spells do just nothing, it just feels very bad.

" Hold that person in place. Or make it sleep. Or... brainwash it. "
Ah no it failed.
And now the Wizard did nothing for a whole round.
And someone has to Tank the dmg from this one enemy the Wizard couldnt keep busy.
" You had one job, guy in the robe. One job! "

Wizards are supposed to be impressive people in the Forgotten Realms.
Not so much in this Demo though.

Well the wizard in D&D is the most versatile class, he has no limit in how many spells he can learn and those spells go from illusion, mind control, damage, flying, divination, shapeshifting, and the list goes on.

The saving throws are there as check and balance, without those a lvl 3 wizard could kill anyone given initiative. At low levels it might be a bit frustrating but once you reach level 5 wizards start to shine, and after level 11-12 they become a force to be reckoned. Even after the reduction in spells and spell power that we have in 5e. A wizard is still the most powerful class at high level, because of the sheer versatility.

Arcane spellcasters like wiz/sorc/bard are going to feel "underpowered" because of the homebrew low level HP-bloat and DC dice changes. After level 5-6 arcane spellcasters will squish similar level low CR (challenge rating) mobs if they change the HP bloat or not. Magic missle does not miss regardless of terrain as long as you have LoS, it can be blocked with a low level spell shield however.

Drow have "hand crossbow" prof, light crossbow is classed as a simple weapon and all classes can use it. Hand crossbows can be dual wielded and use a bonus action to shoot twice. They however do a base 1d6 rather than 1d8 P damage. Great for high dex spellcasters for when the spells run out. Wizards and Sorcerers are amazing after level 5 wiz 6 sorc but suffer a bit lower level.

Therees a couple of things you have to take into account here i think.

1. Spellcasters seem to scale better so that at higher levels they get immensly more powerfull than meleecharacters.
2. Spellcasters fill other roles than simply doing dammage, they have tons of utility and support that benefit not only themselves .

I can defiantly see where your coming from thou as i often find my priest and mage only casting cantrips or using bows in many fights thus feeling somehow unneeded as my warrios just jump anround slaying everything
But in some encounters they are invaluable and definatly the key to sucess, i am pretty sure the latter will be more prfound when they level up more.

I laughed. Good joke post.

I would love to snark this thread but unfortunately, there is some truth mixed in with a monumental amount of whine. Magic missile is TOO good. It is so good that one of my current runs is with a mage refusing to cast magic missile, because even if you choose not to be a pyrobarrelmancer...(yes believe it or not, just because something is in the game you can actually choose NOT to use it), Gale becomes just a magic missile platform most of the time due to disadvantage and enemies obscured by shadows/darkness, etc. So it's much better to cast MM over cooler spells with more damage because you know MM will hit.

This is one of the negative side effects of Larain's choice of combat parameters that I hope is addressed in future balance changes..

1- that’s very debatable, martialists and half martialists (paladins) tends to fish higher damage against single targets due to extra attacks and feats like GWM and sharpshooter. Yes, AoE/crowd control spells can yield higher DPR when well positioned against multiple targets however their resources get depleted. Think in martial classes as a flat damage per round and casters as descending damage per round through time. That’s in DnD5e. In BG3 the gap is even worst: the ac is lower compared to RAW yet the attribute bonus remained the same. Finesse martialists and high ground archers can deal consistent hits with advantage due to the dumb positioning system while casters can use that system to rely on mostly cantrips which falls off due to the poor scaling.

2-now we’re 100% in accord. I’ve always used casters as an ace that can change the odds of the battle by changing the battlefield. Wall of force, wall of fire, tashas hideous laughter and so on. Even in that field I think the BG3 poorly translated the caster class as we’ll have to think twice before using any concentration spell due to the DOS2 surfaces.

Summing up, it’ll get even worst in full release if Larian decide to follow that lame path. But again, Larian never delivered a balanced game.

Save all your Mage Armour scrolls and use them instead of wasting a spell slot. Do not let enemies get close to you, or if they do then make it unpleasant for them.

Cantrips are unlimited and work well combined with other things, not just barrel cheese. Cast Grease near as many enemies as possible (or Web), then next turn use Fire Bolt cantrip on one of the affected enemies. Use Ray of Frost on enemies standing in blood, not Fire Bolt. Acid Splash for yet another surface effect, all of this will make the enemies reposition themselves while taking damage.

They do need to fix the lighting system, currently characters without Darkvision like Gale are a bit screwed.

Once you hit higher levels you will be able to do more, just remember sometimes utility and control is more important than blasting.

Lmao your joking right?
Dwaven and Gith wizards are the strongest classes in the game... Both get med armor (shield dwarf) and melee prof. Dump int to 8 and go 16 str and con then mad dash to ogre fight asap. Get that circlet of 18 int now you are super OP melee wizard and can easily solo the game. Learn every spell there is and thunderwave, heal, magic missle and leap behind enemies till you get to that boat in the Underdark.

Barrels not needed..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaJFP9v-ztk

If you enjoy that...cool. I think it is too cheesy for my taste. But the real question is: Take MM away and take away cheesewiz build and how is Wiz?

They are amazing in the underdark, unless your Tav is a drow its really hard to reliably kill distant targets there

I had my good run.
Had my evil run.
Am now going for the "perfect" good run...
... and what can I say, my Cleric maincharacter feels so much more useful than my Mage did. °sigh°


I gave her the absolute minimum of constitution and put everything in "dex & str" besides wisdom obviously.

With the Githyanki armor that I strapped off Lae'zels dead body, one shield in her hand and the Woodelf bonus for 2 more dexterity points, my Armorclass has now reached 19... and I can even use a spell to rise it to 21 until my concentration does not break.
But even at 19... enemys DO NOT EVEN ATTACK HER... cause they don't like their chances hitting.

Big braingame time. I reversed the problem.
Not hitting - it seems even the AI does not like it, muahahahahahahaha.
Maaaaaaaaan I am such a bully.
Skynet is sitting in its corner, hugging its legs and whimpers at the sight of such AI abuse.

One thing id definitely like to see(but for all casters) are spell foci that allow +'s to hit with various targeted spells... behaving basically like a plus to hit ranged weapon but for spells...

Seems casters are at a needless disadvantage to hit as compared to more martial counterparts... not a huge deal with only +1 currently in-game but we will be looking at +5s eventually...

What you need is Source Vamparism and.. wait, this is not DoS2 spell casters? Yeah uh, spell casting is a pia in this game. Don't get me wrong I loved BG1 and 2 like 20 yrs ago and all played with the combat rules, but then DoS combat spoiled me and now BG3 combat feels horrible by comparison. You practically never had to rest in DoS. You only needed to rest if you took damage against your health and didn't have healing spells. If you did rest, there was no camp lol. It was basically insta-health click and you are good to move forward.

And yeah that neck is not going to stay unchecked. I doubt they will nerf it but they will probably move it perhaps to a2 maybe a3. I mean maybe they can nerf it I don't know if it's like some special D&D item and it's mandatory that it stays 18 int or something.