Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Companion combat effectiveness (Probable spoilers)

I really don't know, how you come to the conclusion, you need a fighter in the group. Lae'zel is the most underused companion in my games, because I don't need her. I have beaten the game several times with spellcasters and rogues and never had a problem. Gale and Shadowheart are nearly always in my group (and they don't miss often) and then Wyll or Astarion. I don't normally play fighter, so I'm more often than not another spellcaster or a rogue. Works well for me. In fact BG3 might be one of the few games, where I don't feel bad about not having a fighter in the group. Different pkaystyles, I guess.

I have only one thing to say about the info of every character:
Wait until lvl5....

DnD lvl5 is the beggining for the casters. Lvl 3 spells are strong. We all know the famous Fireball, but there is so much more. Magic Missle, a SURE TO HIT spell you will have 5d5+5 in a single target or 1d4+1 for each missle. (yea 1d4 is low...but it's a sure to hit)

Also, you might not be using every thing you could, like Sleep spell or Holding person. Usability is a key for casters. With sleep and a melee warrior in BG3 I managed to deal 50+ damage in a single hit...so yea...they are "Liabilitys" as you said. but maybe, just maybe..you are not making "the best choice" if that even exists.

You don't need a fighter, you HANDICAP yourself if you don't take one, both because Frightening Attack is by far the most reliable and powerful CC in the game against bosses like Bulette, but also the sheer damage burst of action surge and the innate survivability. Same goes for rogues.

Of course, if you're using rogues, you're using a class even more broken than fighters, because dual wield surprise attack with consumables and fire dipping can down any lv5 boss in a single rotation.

But it is indisputable that in terms of output, mobility, and CC, the martial classes are far better than spellcasters currently.

And when you tell me your casters don't miss alongside Shadowheart, give me a video of your sacred flames in an entire playthrough or even just against Bulette or Githyanki patrol.

Hell, I'll even give you leeway and ask you to take screenshot of your hit percentages of Shadowheart/Casters against Githyanki compared to Lazael and Astarion backstab.

I don't feel handicapped - most fights are pretty smooth, so no need for concerns there. The most reliable attack btw is magic missile, because it never misses. So yeah, I take my spellcasters over a fighter any day. I play rpgs for over 20 years and never felt the need to play a fighter in any game, be it on computer or pen & paper. I like my characters more versatile and allrounder.


Of course, if all you care about is the highest number, well then go to your fighter. But why is it so important for you to convince people of your play style? I see those kind of posts from you all over the forums, about fighter, tiefling etc. I think it is ok to make suggestions, but telling people they play wrong, because they prefer other things, is not very productive.

I don't seek to convince anyone, if anything it is you who comes with your prepotent argument that I should care less about optimization and the balance it requires, just because you don't care as much for it.

If the differences are as trivial as you say, move on and don't bother with a conversation. I mean, what does it matter if I get balancing done on skills if the balance to you is secondary and unimportant. This shouldn't affect you in that case. It strikes me as the people who go to World of Warcraft and tell other people that worrying about class balance is silly, because every class can do the content. This obviously ignores the context for why people worry about balance, but they insist everyone share the same priorities as they do.

I agree that different classes have different roles and abilities (I do play SWTOR, but not WoW,) and are better for different contents and encounter, but my point was, that if you are used to a different pkaystyle, you use different classes and are doing well with them. Just look at all the druid threads-some are about the druid being overpowered, others are about the druid being underwhelming - this is the best exame of how people perform differently with a class because of personal preference.
And that is all I care to say about the topic.