Hey Everyone,

I think that the way the ability selection in BG3 works right now has some major problems that are going to become even more apparent once more classes are added and the level cap is increased. Basically, the way ability selection works now is just about every spell/ability can be put onto the hotbar and then you can't really customize it when you use it after that. For example, casting a spell at a higher level is actually a completely separate ability from the spell itself. The one exception to this that I can think of is hex, which forces you to pick an attribute to debuff every time you cast it.

The big picture problem with this design is that 5E has a recurring theme of letting players "modify" certain abilities when they use them. Some examples of this are:

1. Great weapon master attacks.
2. Spells that have options you have to pick when you cast them.
3. Sorcerer metamagic (not implemented yet obviously).
4. Casting spells at a higher level.

As of right now, BG3 implements all of these in completely different ways.

Spells cast at higher level are completely separate abilities. This is pretty cumbersome and bogs down the spellbook and hotbar with lots of garbage.

Spell options must be selected every single time. This is an annoying extra step that must be taken every time you cast the spell, even if you would pick the same option every time.

Great weapon master is a toggle that must be turned on or off. This isn't horrible, but I think it could get cumbersome when you start to add more and more toggles.

The biggest problem with all this is that the game UI has multiple implementations for things which are essentially the same, just using an ability with some kind of modification. This seems unintuitive and clunky to me.

I think it kind of works now because we're only seeing low levels and limited classes. But when we start seeing higher levels and more classes, this could become a big problem.

For example, say you have a sorcerer that wants to cast Suggestion, to make a monster flee, at level 3, with quickened spell metamagic. This is three modifiers on one spell. I feel that the way the system is now, that would be incredibly clunky to do.

Instead, here is what I propose....

1. Only have one single selectable action for each spell or ability. No separate abilities for level 2 magic missile etc.

2. When the user clicks and holds on any ability, pop up a radial meu where they can select modifiers for that ability. The radial menu can be categories as well, and categories would open another radial menu.
Example -
A. Sorcerer holds mouse1 on magic missile, radial menu pops up with choices of "spell level" and "metamagic"
B. Sorcerer selects metamagic, radial menu pops up with choices of level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Sorcerer picks level 5. Ability now becomes level 5 magic missile on hotbar.
C. Sorcerer holds mouse1 on level 5 magic missile. Once again, radial menu pops up with "spell level" and "metamagic."
D. Sorcerer selects "metamagic." Another radial menu pops up with "quickened spell" and "empowered spell." Sorcerer selects "quickened spell." Ability now becomes Quickened level 5 magic missile on hotbar.

3. The key point here is that the ability on your hotbar REMEMBERS what modifiers you put on it. So that slot will always be Quickened level 5 magic missile until you change/replace the ability. You could even have multiple entries for the same spell with different modifiers on your hotbar for easy access.


The things I like about this are:

1. It eliminates the tedium of having to choose "strength hex" every single time you cast it.

2. It provides one single way for literally all ability modifiers to be used. No more toggle for great weapon master, separate abilities for up-leveled spells, and context menu for hex.

3. It's extensible and could handle basically any number of modifiers being on a single ability. So be crazy and multi-class all you want, this should be able to handle anything.

4. It's both controller and keyboard/mouse friendly.

Let me know what you guys think.