Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback We need a Bestiary.

I had suggested this in another thread and a few people seem to reply positively. I believe their really should be a Bestiary of sorts like they do with many other games. Their is such a wide breadth of creatures and lore inherent to the forgotten realms setting that could be better be taken advantage of.

What is a Bestiary?
The Bestiary is a collection of all creatures, both from the mundane to the fantastical which provides you with game statistics (AC/HP,etc) and lore.

How could it work?
This Bestiary would unlock new creatures when you first find them or hear of them, such as from an NPC. Their stats would be revealed via various methods, examples include.

• As you explore, finding books containing lore about the creature.
• When you first encounter them, a automatic skill check (Arcana, History, Nature or Religion) may reveal some information to you.
• After you kill a creature and examine its remains. (Skills as above or perhaps skills such as Medicine, Investigation, Perception, Survival and or Insight)
• Talking to an NPC who knows of the creature or has seen it them self. This could be the quest NPC or a witness to the creature in question
• Another example when you ask an NPC about monster X terrorizing the town. The dialogue could give you the option to roll a (Arcana, History, Nature or Religion). On success some of the lore or stats of the creature is revealed.

Taking a page from older dnd editions, the skills used could be tied to certain creature types as below.

Now their could be some overlap on the creatures depending on the situation, or if say your a necromancer you may be able to use Arcana instead of Religion for undead.

How would it effect the Current state of the game going forward?
We may not know what Larian has in the works for Baldur's Gate 3, but here are some things I can see would be improved or changed based on access to a Bestiary.

• Any components for crafting that creatures drop could be tracked though the Bestiary, likewise any notable recurring loot.
• Since with the examine option you can already view all creatures the groundwork for the Bestiary is already in place. It would involve changing how it functions but I believe overall it would be a more fulfilling experience. Likewise, lower difficulties could bypass the need to learn creature stats and simple have them available for newer players which would give access to the percent to hit.
• Since the Bestiary lists keeps track of all creatures you have seen.When polymorph/summon spells become accessible I believe a Bestiary would allow for the need discover a creatures you want to summon/turn into before you can do so. Likewise once you summon said creature all of its stats (except lore perhaps) would be unlocked.
• The current system uses a percentage to hit display. I believe if it was changed to the suggestion requested by some where it would just display the bonus to hit, advantage, etc. The current percentage system would be only unlocked once you discover a creatures AC, Saving throw, etc. You could then turn off the option to display the percent to hit if you so choose. Or have it automatically show percentages in earlier difficulty's for newer players.
  
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  End Note:
  Would love to hear others feedback or suggestions. While their may be some things I have overlooked I believe this really could add a lot of depth to an otherwise promising game.
  
  Thank you