Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Alert Feat Grossly Overpowered

Result of d4 is explanation enough for me; party tends to group in initiative with player swapping between characters to do various combos. When we play splitscreen, often tell each other to wait up for some buff of sorts.

D20 results in more an independent spread - also with fast characters occasionally being slow.

I think a more independent spread is better from an encounter standpoint and makes combat more nail-biting.

I'm only speculating ofc. but I could imagine a computer game might benefit from being a bit more consistent in difficulty. It's easier for a live DM to tailor the encounters to the players' skill level and party composition, while a game dev has to create more of one size fits all solution. With the large number of players, even statistically unlikely scenarios such as all PCs ending up at either the top or the bottom of the initiative order are bound to happen for some people. And though some might enjoy the extra randomness, others might think it unfair if for example the enemies burst down half your party before you get a chance to do anything.

But if you're into modding, I'm pretty sure I saw a D20 initiative mod. Though it would be nice if it was at least available as a custom game option.

I use it (True Initiative) and it works great. It's seamless, stable and there were no problems adding to an existing file, or when patches come out.

I would like to see it as a custom option as well, if nothing else for the console folks.

I disagree. Alert should stay as it is. The game obviously has some party combos in mind which only work if the chars roll close together. A party spread widely over the whole row in my experience is terrible, and not going first on highest difficulty can often be a death sentence.

I desperately try to avoid taking Alert because there are so many other important feats, but for some builds it is necessary. Then getting only +2 initiative from it however would make the feat useless. Or, if you take out Alert as viable feat, then also remove Ethel's hair and all of the insane Strength potions from the game as well as the "Wet" condition, tone down the dump Haste even more and remove the mirror.

I would agree with the OP - restore it to its original power and purpose. Going first almost all the time is a huge and unbalancing advantage. What Larian should have done was provide a 'core settings' option,. like other BG (and D&D games) before it. That way they could have a default config that is suitable for people who don't know (or like 5e) and setting (or multiple ones) for those who want that RAW experience. Or have a series of toggles (again, like several other D&D games) where you can disable the rule options you don't like. All that money compared to an Indie studio, and they couldn't get that right.

Completely agree, going first is too much of an advantage, and would even go so far as to say the Alert Feat is OP.

It’s definitely powerful. Started using it after reading this thread but probably wouldn’t pick it again as it does give a big advantage especially in certain fights when combined with “luck of the far realms” or “haste”.

Agreed, it removes alot of the difficulty from most fights, especially when paired with haste.