We have no idea if Larian going to do Ritual Spells correctly in BG3 either and without Rituals, Pack of the Tome is pretty weak too.
Yea, I almost posted on another thread how this game is going to feel bland if they arbitrarily restrict all Xanthar content from it. Currently Pact of the Fiend automatically gives you unlimited distance on your familiar (this was an invocation in 5e, not built into the pact). Without the cantrips from Xanthars, Pact of the Tome is going to feel like weaksauce. there just arent enough options and they are mostly damage spells... even with the utility of ice slicks its going to be hard to ever beat agonizing blast. so the tiny fraction of other useful cantrips generally can just be covered by one other party member. Thaumaturgy is basically a weakened version of Friends, it doesnt even do any of the mechanically neat things it did from 5e (opening/closing doors from 30ft away, lighting/snuffing fires from 30ft away). The cantrips in this game are incredibly lacking
I hope they arent crippling this game just to reserve DLC options... I guess the story is cool, maybe the actual customization options are just not gonna be in this game. Maybe BG4 will have Xanthars/SCAG content. It really feels weird playing D&D for so long as PHB+1 and then just cutting it down to PHB - some stuff from PHB (theres no half-orcs and I havent seen a single NPC half-orc whereas I have seen every other race represented... not looking good for PHB even being fully included)
