Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Core DnD Rules combat is garbage.

That's true enough. When playing games where I get (for example) three shots and each one has a 75% chance of hitting, I am frustrated that none of them hit. After all, 3 x 75% is 225%, isn't it? ...

Pseudo-random is bad in my opinion. If anything, that should be a skill on a weapon or a piece of equipment that incrementally provides you with higher chance to hit until you do, then resets. I do understand what you are getting at though, making people feel good puts a lot of complaints away.

I feel like we should be mature enough to just accept things and not ask to be patronized, but I guess some people like being treated special.

@ CMF
Pseudo-random chance is reflective of reality. Video games and D&D are simulations of reality(I have already sourced this proof from the introduction of the PHB mind you before but I am happy to do it again) and therefor that which is a better reflection of how mechanical issues work in reality is superior and better for the efficacy of the simulation.

I don't have much to say about your second point as I haven't read anything but evidence is kind.

One of the groups that I play with also has a player like that with a simular problem but its her first ttrpg and we havent been playing for even a year yet. We also play abit unregulary so that isent helping either. If shes still doing it after 3 years though il start to ask questions xD

One of my players that I DM for is a poor planner as well. He only starts to think about his actions until its his turn, and then often reads the spells description rather then the spell itself. It infuriates the other players (and myself) but hes also autistic so I dont think to much of it. Luckily he generally is only slow the first 1 or 2 turns of combat in a session and then knows what the wants to do.

Point is, if you at least put some effort into understanding the rules AT ALL its not hard to make combat go faster. When other players or enemy monsters are taking their turns, think what you want to do. Unless you suddenly go down or something happens in the action right before yours you probably wont have to change your plan. The OP just saying 'combat is garbage' without taking a look why it is garbage to you is not a very helpfull stance and makes you look like you just dont like the system. 5th ed is very streamlined, if youve played 1 character for any length of time and know how your damage is calculated you know it for other classes as well, just that they use a different statline.

Bg3 does explain things poorly and if you dont have tabletlop knowledge I can understand things beeing confusing.

Not sure if troll or not? 👀

Thats not how calculating the odds of hitting or missing 3 times works...

Actually currently food and potions are way too homebrew due the abundance of the source scattered all over the map of the first act. I’d say that the interpretation of the rules would be ok if the resource was scarce.
Now, we can use that bonus action in every single turn (when not shoving or disengaging) to use a reliable source of healing. There’s potions and food enough to do it every single round. Have you ever wondered why? Because the resource balance is non existent. Have you ever wondered the impact of that in the long run?

Clerics/Bards/Paladins have healing spells - limited by spell slots - which makes you decide whether to heal or to buff, attack and so on. Spells slots are unreliable source of healing because the DnD rules forces you to make hard decisions (and that’s what I call being tactical). With food system on the loop, abundant as it is, the game takes that decision away. I wouldn’t have to think twice when deciding whether to buff or to heal because the game took away that decision of my control.

My argument can be replied by: well, simply don’t use food or potions, and play how you like to play. And I would say: the game was balanced over the assumption that resources are abundant and that you can spam healing stuff every single bonus action.

Can I beat the game in its current state without using it? Yes
Is it fun? No

I clicked the link and read a bit of that wiki for dota, I didn't notice the passage that explained how it is reflective of reality when it is manipulating chance by reducing the odds you will fail. Reality does not have a hidden system that will assist us in getting a result with pseudo-random chance. I do see how this would make for a more enjoyable game experience for some players though who don't like to see "miss miss miss".

How to calculate statistical probability


simulation
/sɪmjuːˈleɪʃ(ə)n/
Learn to pronounce
noun
imitation of a situation or process.
"simulation of blood flowing through arteries and veins"
the action of pretending; deception.
"clever simulation that's good enough to trick you"
the production of a computer model of something, especially for the purpose of study.
"the method was tested by computer simulation"

I phrased that poorly so my bad on that one. I didn't mean all simulations have to be reflective of reality in their entirety, I said mechanical functions. What this means is that things from which we can draw from reality are simulated that way. Dota has physics and it's physics use real life mathematics and scientific principles to simulate. Everything that is pretend is simulation. It is also why, for example, Hammer is presented as being a very bulky and strong dude whereas mage slayer has a more agile aesthetic.

I think it is a fair point that the abundance of food is the problem. The actual mechanic is fine. If anything, what if it was reverted back to taking an action instead of a bonus action and that would limit it even more while keeping the resource available.

I dont think the amount of food is a problem considering we have only 1 short rest per day. Food allows us some chance to regain it out of combat.

Is it true to dnd? No. But out of the issues that the game currently has I dont rate it very high as a problem...

Just agreeing that our brains do funny things when we look at odds.

I'm aware of the way odds work, I was pretending otherwise for comic effect. It didn't work.

Dont' worry, I got the humor ;p

Humor or sarcasm can be hard to get across with just text 😂

But for anyone whos interested your odds of 3 missing 3 attacks with 75% chance to hit each is 1.56%. So yes. Very unlikely. But not impossible.

Anyone who played tabletop probably has plenty of stories to share of such unlikely bad luck with the dice 🤣

-edit-
Made a booboo with the odds of hitting. But youve got 1.56 chance to miss all 3 attacks in a row. A 42.18% to hit all 3 in a row. a 14,06x3=42.18 chance to hit with 2 attacks and a 4.68x3=14.04 chance to hit with only 1 attack.

We have two extremes: true randomness and total predictability. If we have lets say 50% to hit and dealing 1-2 damage and the target has 4 HP, we will need about 5 attacks (ranging from 2 to lets say 30) to kill the target. Based on this, we are able to design totally predictable system, when you hit everytime, dealing 1 damage while your target has 5 HP. What system will be more fun? If neither, then pseudo-randomness is solid compromise.

I'm the guy who can roll 6 sets of stats and get nothing above a 12. I can also miss the important saving throws every. single. time.

But yes, any TT gamer probably has a wealth of such stories to tell.

75% chance to hit is needing a 6 and up on a D20 to hit. Adds are in your favour because 15 results hit but still 5 results on that die miss. And sometimes the die simply decide that fun isent allowed

Which, incidentily make things are guarranteed to hit very powerfull. Specially at early levels. You cant miss the dieroll if you dont have to roll it

That system breaks when you start to introduce additional effects to damage. Like stuns and other non damaging conditions. And 5e rules are filled with these.
When i played DoS2 a lot of fights were over the moment initiative was shown. Enemies just never got their turn. Doesn't metter that they had a ton of HP. They just were perma-stuned.

GURPS (and other systems) use 3d6 for all skills and combat. It gives a more reliable result and means that a person with a reasonable amount of training and experience can be relied upon to hit a target more often than not. Combat becomes less random.

D&D is probably stuck with the d20, though, especially as the whole 'd20 system' thing seems very popular. It means that the die you roll has a more random spread than rolling several dice together. This is just something you have to live with unless you want to design a completely different system.

Then they shouldn't of made baldurs gate then. I like dnd combat

Exalted uses dice pools if I recall correctly which is a good way to expend and manage resources, though I guess you have that with battlemaster's superiority die.

D20 is probably an aspect of table top D&D but not necessarily D&D (lol DDO, Deadly Alliance, books? etc.)