Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Why not raise the lv cap to at least 13?

Mike "The Ranger is fine as it is youre just playing wrong" Mearls is still responsibe for the video game section of WOTC and Crawford is notoriously not any better.

so i wouldnt beholding my breath

That does worry me. Mearls isn't a name that mean anything to me.

As I see it Greenwood created the Forgotten Realms setting, R.A. Salvatore wrote the books that made it famous. And then guys in charge of 4th edition blew up Fearun. Greenwood was moved to the back office and Salvatore was told "we killed all but two of your characters -- just deal". After 4th edition crashed and burned, Greenwood and Salvatore were brought back to heal the wound WoTC inflicted upon itself .

The test of whether this is a successor to BG2 will come down to the quality of the story telling. Do the NPCs seem 'alive', is the story compelling and such. And that's where an endorsement from Salvatore, Greenwood or any of the BG2 authors would mean much more than anything Mearls has to say.

Anyway, Larian have solved the problem of DnD Martials having no options...you can throw your boots!

Now all we need is access to a stock of:
- boots of disarming
- boots of knockdown
- boots of warcry
- ...

When i talked that i don't think that arcane and martial difference is a problem, i was thinking that the unique way to solve that problem is by making casters equally boring. Converting things that people generally do eg "can i intimidate that guy" into abilities can IMO makes martial more versatile, like arcane. And when i mean arcane, i mean warlocks, not wizards which has literally unlimited versatility when they get wish(of course wish limitations is up to the DM, but theoretically, a circle 9 wizard can do anything or at least try). And even if the lv cap is raised, i don't think that demiplane, astral projection and etc will be in the game.

About auras and other supernatural elements, If high level undead warriors can get auras on previous editions, why not give auras to high level living warriors? I know that some mythic paths for Pathfinder WoTR will probably allow that but i don't have much information yet. On 2e times, Paladins was among the most popular classes.



LOL...

We don't need boots or magical items to allow martial classes to knockdown or disarm enemies.

And note that 5e has a attenument and concentration rules, so you can't cast a endless amount of buffs and wear 10+ magical items.

Yup. We can have basic magic weapons and armor but the good stuff requires attunement and each character can have only three attuned items.

At 3:25 on community update https://youtu.be/-YsT9eQ_CO4?t=205


It is serious? Underdark in a low level game? I had troubles on underdark as a high level on nwn:hotu and BG2: SoA.

So on one hand you want it to be higher level on the other hand you want lower levels to be less interresting?
Id like to point out that Descent into Avernus lts you go to literal hell at a pretty low level.

IDK about the current 5e setting, but in older Underdark Books, the thing was pretty much seperated into multiple layers. Which were different in level range, so unless you waltz into a Drow city you probably got a fighting chance

Plus you have a tadpole ( could nobody come up with a less naff name ? ) which will doubtless provide you with countless unexpected benefits, such as auto-nerfing your opponents so that you have a chance of killing more than rats and goblins.

Yeah, It´s a little weird that you could fight Underdark enemies at a low level, but to be honest, I prefer fighting Myconids, intellect devourers, demons and some than +100 kobolds and goblins. Good stuff.

5e is not as equipment-dependent, low-level characters are somewhat competent and the gap between levels is not that huge in terms of stats, armour, BAB, saves, etc as in previous editions ( I.E. In 5e your saves, base attack and skills improve with your proficiency after a set number of levels, in previous editions your saves, BAB, skills,... usually improves every level-up) so it could be done, I think.

No, my fear is that they will nerf underdark monsters to make it less harsh.

My experience playing low level D&D adapted games says that or become boring kobold slaying game or complete unfair battles where you need to min/max your build to pun pun levels. I know that on TT is different.



For me, is on mid levels when D&D shines. Low level you have no variety. High level to epic level, is only great IF the DM is pretty smart and good. As for 5e having less gap, the 3.5e gap applies to monsters too. A skeleton chieftain can kill 40+ skeletons on 3.5e.

Levels matters less on 5e but numbers matters far more.

>unfair battles
well thats larians style.
Make the battles realy hard btu give you the tools to succeed.

Thats what they do best. You can do this in a video game cause its not the TT, in the TT if you overtuned battles, you die. In a video game you can save and load, you can take your sweet time. I think its a good way to do things.
An thats what the underdark should feel like to me. Beeing heavily outgunned. I dont think you need to only get into an area when youre the right level for it. That kind of thinking coems from MMORPGs, not from CRPGs or PnP games.

also
>low level has no varierty
i beg to differ. DnD has tons of low level monsters. 5e naturally lacks character agency at low levels, but then again so did ODnD.
In the tbaletop, a lot of the low level fun comes from doing unusual things with the rules that isnt on your character sheet.
I mean thats one of the core tenants of OSR, the solution to your problems i sprobably not on your charsheet.
Thats what low level play should be

Yep; you are right. A battle vs zuggtmoy on P&P is far harder than on a computer game due the fact that you can try all day. But still, considering that descend to arvenus goes up to lv 13, i believe that a CRPG inspired on it should end on mid levels too.

Is that less believable going from beating Seravok into Siege of Dragonspear and fighting a liche, a mind flayer, an adult green dragon, a devil named Bhelefit then getting captured by Irenicus and fighting goblins in BG2?

i dont think anyone here takes siege of dragonspear seriously

I don't think that Larian should take SoD as a inspiration... Anyway, i strongly believe that Belhifet is extremely nerfed on SoD. Seriously, when i tried to solo IWD, i din't had problem with any boss, except him. Had to lower the difficulty from insane to normal and years later, when i soloed again, i had to try 12 times to beat him on insane.

Here is the average score for SoD on GoG


Maybe underdark can be interesting. Did you played Gothic 2? When you get into valley of mines, you will have a really hard time against anything on chapter 2. If you got claw of beliar, then maybe you can lure a ork and take only one of then at time, but not the strongest orks nor the strongest wild animals. On late game, when you are strong enough, it becomes so satisfying to clear a area which you could't do anything before... Maybe the underdark is a late game area which you need to be extremely careful. And maybe you can enter in the same area on a DLC or BG4 with more power.

An adventure where you need to escape from underdark avoiding combat, mainly against many foes can be interesting. But i don't wanna fight a Dracolich like Vix'thra on a low level campaign... Run from him and try to escape is ok. Defeating him, is not.

There are enemies to use for a low-level Underdark setting. Not every cave in the Underdark is filled drow Matron mothers and high-level monsters...often the upper tunnels that lead to the surface house mostly low-level cave-dwellers but there are plenty of creatures to keep it interesting.

From: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/6hswjz/dming_monsters_of_the_underdark/

Myconid CR 0,

Drow CR 1/4, Grimlock CR 1/4, Kuo-Tao CR 1/4, Vegepygmy CR 1/4,

Chitine CR 1/2, Deep Gnome (Svirfneblin) CR 1/2, Myconid Adult CR 1/2, Piercer CR 1/2, Rust Monster CR 1/2, Gazer (Beholder) CR 1/2,

Duergar CR 1, Kuo-toa Whip CR 1, Quaggoth Spore servant CR 1, Thorny CR 1,

Ettercap CR 2, Grick CR 2, Quaggoth CR 2, Vegepygmy Chief CR 2,

Hook Horror CR 3, Cave Fisher CR 3, Choldrith CR 3, Spectator CR 3

Oh, I agree. Doesn't change the fact that it happened. Besides, we don't know what level we enter the Underdark or how deep into it we go. That could be late game material when we're closer to level 8-9 and we don't go deep into it for all we know.

Hopefully we'll see more in the gameplay reveal this Thursday since Swen did mention the Underdark.

I take SoD seriously. It's a good expansion. When looking at the score you need to understand that the rating were bombed. If you haven't played it you should -- I've seen it on sale for something like 13 bucks or so.

It's not flawless -- overly linear, low replay value -- but plenty of hours of play, good loot, and some fun banters.

And WotC takes it seriously.

WotC also appears to take the stupid baldurs gate novel seriously.
Not exacrtly a high bar then.

Off topic rant...

I think SOD reviews were bashed intentionally. The expectations were too great, the intifnity engine fans and Baldur's gate fans were ruthless and unpleasable. The game was doomed to live up to the hype, nevermind the expectations. It just couldn't succeed.

And despite all that, I think it was really good for what it was. For those who haven't played it, do it. It's the last of its kind (infinity engine), and if you're a true BG fan, you have to give it a try. And for those who don't want to try it because you've heard about ''that'' plothole, and ''that'' line spoken by ''that'' character, well, get over it. If your willing to not try a game you were waiting for because of what you heard or, worse, try it but making a point not to like it because of moral issues and not taking it for what it truly is, a GAME, than maybe your not a real BG fan after all.

End off topic rant