Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Spellcasting?

I've noticed in the gameplay videos, that Shadowheart casts Guiding Bolt often. She usually has a weapon and shield equipped when doing so. Guiding Bolt requires a Verbal and Somatic components, how can she cast it without the Warcaster feat? I'm not complaining, just trying to figure out Larians spellcasting system. It makes a huge difference for my planned spellcaster builds.

Maybe they haven't added in "holster weapon to cast, then redraw weapon" animations yet. Feats certainly aren't in yet.

Well the party in the gameplays were level 3 tops, so I do not think they have it ready (feats are at lvl 4 minimum)

I think they didn´t show the UI for character level-up. A pity I wanted to take a peek to see what subclasses you can pick.



Shadowheart is a cleric, and clerics(and paladins) could bear the holy symbol in his shield. And as RAW, you can use the hand where you have your holy symbol or druidic/arcane focus or bard instrument/weapon focus to make the somatic components of a spell. So she can cast spells with somatic components with weapon and shield.

Sc:
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/01/04/holy-symbol-on-shield/


That said, I do not think they are going to implement fully all the spellcasting rules: the components in the component pouch, holy symbols, etc

Warcaster is still useful for bards or to use spells as your AoO reaction.

Also advantage on Concentration checks when taking damage, which is really the big benefit of Warcaster.

There's a list out there for subclasses, that are going to be available at the start of early access.






That only applies if there is a material component, which Guiding Bolt doesn't have. That's what the Warcaster feat is for.




I hope they don't. With only 2 ASI/ Feats (except the Variant Human if that makes it in), it makes most other feats less attractive, if you go weapon and shield. Warcaster is a must then. Five of my nine builds, that are primary Wizards, use weapon and shield. It would definitely still be a useful feat, just not the 4th level automatic choice. More variety in builds, gives more replay value. And I'm going to play this game to death.

I think Swen announced in the first gameplay reveal that they aren't requiring the material components or basic ammo for basic stuff. I think he said we'll need components for higher end spells but the basic stuff at the beginning won't.

I suppose we can just say we've got an arcane focus and call it good.

You still need components that are consumed by the spell for some rituals and spells (ruby, quicksilver, etc) in 5e but there´s no rituals in BG3 and you usually can go with a focus 90% of the time.


I respectfully disagree. In the sage advice of the link the D&D developer Jeremy Crawford states literally:



And that´s what warcaster (amongst other things) do: You can perform the SOMATIC components of spells even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands. Clerics and Pallys could do that without the feat if their shield is his/her holy focus.

Pallys and Clerics can imprint a holy symbol in their shields. So, the shield in your hand is effectively a Holy symbol. It would also be a substitute for the material components because that´s what holy symbols are for: they substitute any (non-consumable) component of a spell. And as stated above, you can use your shield hand to also perform the "somatic" components of a spell because



So you can cast any spell with a weapon and shield as a cleric or paladin because your shield is your Holy symbol (Unless you´re silenced and the spell requires verbal)

Of course, that does not apply to wizards because they need a spellcasting focus, not a holy symbol, like a staff. But Shadowheart is a Trickery cleric of Shar.


Please do not take it the wrong way, but I think you have some misunderstanding about some basic terms on how spellcasting works in D&D and what the warcaster feat does. You can take a look here

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/spellcasting

http://dnd5ed.wikidot.com/feat:war-caster

As @Stabbey pointed out, Warcaster is still very useful for clerics because of the advantage in concentration checks and the AoO with spells. It´s one of the top tier feats of D&D5e for any caster.

More disturbing than all of that, magic missiles is now red instead of purple/blue. I know no one cares, I'm still looking for the right support group

@_Vic_
I won't take it the wrong way. I didn't know anything about 5e rules, until that trailer with Nautiloid dropped. My tabletop group stop playing over 20 years ago. Since then I bought digital copies of the PHB, XGtE, SCAG, the Artificer and several races from other official sources.

Treantmonk's Temple on YouTube, which is in my opinion the best YT builder, it was his interpretation. He goes level by level, with his builds. He said the RAW was tricky but that was his interpretation. That with weapon and shield, a somatic and material component; that you could cast spells with the emblem on the shield, or a holy symbol. But with no material, you needed a hand free. He even has a video on the Warcaster feat. Those Cleric builds and Wizard builds are around 9 months old. When did Jeremy Crawford post that? Anyway I DMed AD&D and 2e for about 15 years. I had to deal a lot of stupid rules, like THAC0 and it's reverse AC and the combat round yeesh. I just thought one of those stupid rules.

Thanks for the update. 9 of my current 30 builds on D&D Beyond, have at least a dip in Cleric. And I have 5 Paladins as well. Now I get to rework some of those that took Warcaster. It passes the time, waiting for ea. And is the closest I can come to playing until then. lol

Edited: If an arcane caster has a spellcasting focus, can they use that hand to perform the somatic component?

As an avid NWN & NWN2 player, I noticed.

Hey, you Dm`d AD&D and 2e? That was playing in hard mode times, at least everybody told me so. Yeah, I know reverse AC and Thaco and saves vs polymorph because of IE games like BG or IWD...
Only people who loved D&D were brave (and crazy) enough. Mate, my hat`s off to you.

Now we have digital support, updates in a minute, dowloadable maps and a 176 page manual and there are a lot of people still saying that DM-ing is hard ha ha (well, still is but you have apps )

Uh, about the Jeremy Crawford`s sage advice, I´m not sure but the sage advices are official material of WOTC so since they have D&D consultants in Larian helping with the game I assume that they already implemented that rule into the game (and some others). Happy to help a fellow crazy guy!

Warcaster is still a very useful feat, maybe still could have a place in your builds.


If they colour "melf´s acid arrow" in pink I´m sorry but I´m out...




Yes, of course, you need a free hand, but you can use the same hand that holds the spellcasting focus to perform the somatic component. And wizards and Sorcerers can use a staff as spellcasting focus, for example.
Bards use his favourite instrument as a spellcasting focus (Some subclasses the weapon too), like drums, a Lyre, or a horn.

And if you have the warcaster feat you can you can perform the SOMATIC components of spells even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands. You still need a hand free to have access to your materials or your spellcasting focus if the spell requires MATERIAL.
But as stated, you can have a shield in one hand and a staff-spellcasting focus in the other hand and cast all spells (somatic and material) using that hand.

Honestly I do not think that allowing characters who can cast spells to cast spells without needing to perform the cumbersome actions of putting away or dropping their weapons/shield every time is a game breaker. If you leave it in, people will complain about excessively long animations, and they wouldn't be wrong.

D&D is designed to be flexible and the DM can put in house rules for all sorts of things to suit the tastes of that particular table.

Yeah, I said before that I do not think they´re going to use the full rules of spellcasting in a videogame. I have to add that I do not think they´re going to force casters to pick components like fleece or feathers to be able to cast spells.
There are subclasses that do not have access to arcane/druidic focus like rangers, Eldrich knights or Arcane tricksters, etc. so in PNP will have to get components and to have access to your component pouch you need a free hand... Something I do not think we´re going to see in BG3.

Red always means evil, like Darth Vader's lightsaber. For multiple magic missiles, maybe it would be better to have each a different color, like a stream of Skittles flying through the air.

Yeah I'm that old Back then, we only found out about new material from Dragon Magazine, or when a new source book showed up at the local hobby store.



Warcaster would definitely still be useful. Advantage on Concentration Saves alone makes it worth taking, if you can fit it in. But now I'd prefer Resilient: Constitution, except for Sorcerers or casters that start as Fighters of course.

I agree of course. But I was going with what I thought was the RAW. As Larian is suppose to stick closely to the rules.



When I DMed 2e, I added in a lot of house rules. For instance the 1e Assassin, 21st - 36th levels, Unearth Arcana, Oriental Adventures, Dragon Lance, 1e DMG Artifacts and Relics, and a segment (6 seconds) combat system with speed factor, weapon reach, and casting times. I even made a combat round board.

I'm new to 5e, so there are likely to be many differences to get used to.

But for many games each damage type has a particular colour (e.g. I think magic damage was purple in NWN, so magic missiles were purple ). In other games I think each spell school was coloured differently.

It would certainly be helpful for some players if there is some consistency in colours that can act as visual cues, but I guess it doesn't matter that much if Larian ( or 5e canon ) don't choose that path.

I... don´t think that there are colour code rules in the manual.
The books usually say that you can choose the colour when you use dancing lights, faerie fire, etc.

Right, I simply meant to point out that in some video games, colour coding is used as a practical convenience to help you identify one thing from another.

It's probably less helpful in TB that RT gameplay, and might give you an advantage that you wouldn't have in the PnP game, so it's not necessarily the right thing to do.

But, it's worth remembering that even the "simplified" 5e rules are a great deal more complex for the player than most video games; helpful features that do not significantly contradict canon can increase the appeal of the game, and how it reviews.

Yeah, sure. What I meant is that there´s no canon colour in the manual, usually, so ingame any colour will fit.