Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Things BG3 needs to feel like D&D summary

As the title says,

1) Random encounters
2) Night and day cycle
3) Camping where you are, dungeon, woods etc.
4) No height advantage in combat
5) No enemy HP bloat
6) limited fast travel
7) less consumerbles for trash mobs
8) less ground effects
9) dice rolled attributes on character creation
10) food per character per day (camping requirements aka supplies)
11) More short rests
12) Traps, crafting and setting of (no limit)


That's it pretty much. All with a few threads covering each topic. Anything else? Pretty much the gist ofthe feedback I am reading.

While that would be cool for people super into D&D, I kinda just want to play it as a regular turn based game. I get that Larian Studios are trying to be true to D&D but at the same time there’s a bunch of gamers that just don’t care how true to D&D it can be. Plus I love looting everything.

I agree with 1, 10, and 11. Maybe also 2. None of the others have much to do with making it feel more like D&D, to me.

These could be summarized/reduced
1.) More Immersive World: includes your #2, 3 and 7

2.) Resource Management: your #6,10,11

3.) Balanced Combat Corrections: your #4, 5, 8

I didn't include your #12 as I haven't seen much conversation regarding it, and personally meh. 5e doesn't have a big focus on traps/crafting honestly.
I didn't include your #9 because I just assume Larian will implement it when the full game releases (and it doesn't fit easily into one of my 3 categories)

Disagree, especially 6 and 10.

Shhhh that was my way of being sneaky (12). But yeah I know some are being implemented it was just a summary of the gist I was getting.



Honestly I think people like yourself would prefer the "random encounter" side of things for loot etc. You would need to loot more for food and find uses for other currently useless stuff. Crafting interesting things like bombs and traps. The TT version of D&D is pretty involved and tonnes of loot that would be better represented in a PC game because it is a pain in the arse in the TT.

Before all that, I think the first and foremost action to make it feel more D&D is to fix the broken D&D rules: combat actions / bonus actions / interactions, sneak attack, ... but I doubt they'd do it. If that remains, I'm not sure the other points are relevant, Larian has its own vision of the game and we have to stop thinking D&D.

The "no":
1, 2: not necessary
3: yes, but I don't think they can do it anymore
4: if I'm not wrong, height is very much embedded in D&D rules, so I would certainly keep it.
5, 7: not sure what you mean?
9: hell, no! To each their own, I'd say make it an option like in Solasta, possibility to enforce in MP

The "yes":
6: yes, while I understand they want to avoid the player getting bored, those portals are perhaps a tad too much
8: definitely, that's way overdone
10: food when hunting is not possible, but since I don't expect them to change the camp, it's academic
11: well, I'd prefer, but that's really up to the DM
12: not sure what the current implementation is, it would be nice to have them
others: reaction actions

Fast travel was broken in dos2 and it is in bg3 too in its current form, I think they should limit it but only on higher difficulties, since I know a lot of casual players will want it no matter what. Being able to steal something and then instantly teleporting away should not be a thing, nor should it be possible to just teleport to safety after pissing off the entire goblin camp. It does just break a lot of systems in the game.

I don't get how random encounters would make it feel more DnD. If you're fighting something on the tabletop it is usually because your DM had that fight sequence planned in advance and set it up to appear like a random fight.

So like running into gnolls. Sure, those gnolls are scripted, but they are done in such a way that if you hadn't played the game (and thus the campaign) before it'd feel like a random encounter.

Similarly night and day don't just happen on the tabletop. Your DM tells you when night falls and when morning comes based on the time passed. Personally I am fine with the current implimentation of "when you're adventuring it is day, then it becomes night when you go to rest" because that is more or less how a DnD campaign usually goes. That said I would like an option to be able to wait for night to engage in a certain fight. Make it a strategic choice. I'd also like the game to feel more like time is actually progressing whenever I go for a long rest.

Short rests should also be more... I dunno. Maybe have the NPCs sit or lay down when you click it and have you wait 10-20 seconds? Right now short rests feel more like an instant refresher button.

The only limit on fast travel we really need is maybe one to prevent us from using it in combat. Should be simple enough. Lore-wise using the waypoint marks could be described as a short ritual rather than an instant spell.

HP bloat, surfaces, etc. have been talked about to death already.

All that said, I 100% agree that we need more options to set our own traps. There's nothing I like more than a good trap. It makes my inner kobold oh so happy.

I mean, optimally this is kind of how random encounters would work in BG3. Not actually random (the game wouldn't "roll 1d8 gnolls to fight"), but one of ~20-30 set encounters (not all combat!) that would happen.

It would feel more D&D because it would add to the world immersion. We are setting up camp, in the wilderness, in somewhat close proximity to an entire goblin army. Either we have to travel to our safe-ish location, passing multiple goblins and thus risking encounter, or goblins might be able to scout and discover us. It also helps with the resource management point: risk pushing onward or play it safe?

Random encounters - on travelling or rest the DM rolls D20 to see if one of the night time monsters that move in the area come across camp, 1-4 yes 5-20 no. Roll d4 again for encounter. Can be positive aka trader wagon or hostile - raiders, undead or angry mushrooms. These enemies like all other in D&D drop all their equiped stuff and whatever they are carrying.

In D&D TT this would be tasking for the DM to randomize gear on raiders etc. PC game? not so much.

I feel like I am playing a different game than others sometimes.
I've never noticed the AI using consumables.

1) Might make the game feel more like pokemon than D&D.

4) I agree here. I could see some height advantage, but isn't being able to snipe ogres from the roof while they're completely baffled as to why it's suddenly raining arrows advantage enough?

7) I really like how they've implemented this. It incentivizes you to take down enemies quickly, before they consume all those valuable and lootable potions. In AD&D, treasure was rolled as part of encounter building so that the DM could determine not only what the monsters had, but whether or not they knew what it was. Suddenly that bugbear with a vorpal sword and five healing potions is a lot more intimidating!

8) I agree that there are too many ground affects from low level spells. Chill Touch, Acid Splash, and Firebolt shouldn't work like this. I wonder if this effect from firebolt is an early test of what fireball (and burning hands) should be doing. Fireball affects an entire area, while firebolt affects only what it strikes and does not ignites objects that are "worn or carried." However, it does ignite unattended objects, like a slick of grease on the ground, IF it is aimed at them.

10) I've always hated tracking this in D&D. Partly because no one does it, partly because it's easy to spend your way out of it, and also because it means that when I DM I become the "bean counter" insisting that people track arrows. Worse, it sometimes feels more like Oregon Trail than D&D when everyone does this. It's challenging to make this fun at the table, let alone in a video game.

11) It would be nice if they removed the limit entirely. There's no hard limit to how many short rests you can have in a day (technically, 144 short rests would comprise an entire day, but that's hardly worth tracking).

Yes to all
+ party of 5 or 6
+ more companions
+ identify magic ítems

1) Random Encounters are often a waste of time and resources. They're difficult to balance, and are largely considered a distraction.
2) This doesn't seem likely. Larian doesn't want to a cosmetic-only night and day cycle, which is the only way that's reasonably possible.
3) They could throw some skins up for different camp locations, that would be nice, but probably not a priority at this stage of EA.
4 & 5) Agreed.
6) Maybe some limitations, but this really depends on a lot of things.
7 & 8) Agreed.
9) I believe this will be coming eventually.
10) No. That's problematic and can lead to blocks if you cannot rest without food and you can't get any.
11) Sure, 2-3.
12) That sounds like it could be complicated or abusable.

They do

I agree, tracking supplies in PnP gets super tedious. But in a video game it can be done pretty easily, just have "rations" that you can buy/find. The game automatically keeps track of their weight and how much is used each rest. Not necessarily fun, but depending on the implementation it can be worth the super slight hassle for the gain in immersion and risk/reward decision making.


Short rests are an hour, so you can have a max of 24.
Plus, if you want to gain the healing benefits from a short rest, you have to spend hit die. You only have your level worth of hit die at maximum. So realistically the limit is probably ~<5.


Take inspiration from Kingmaker and make camping free if you do it in a town (Grove)? This would obviously require a change to the fast-travel and camping system, removing the stationary in-the-middle-of-nowhere camp...
But yeah, just slapping on a resource requirement to the current camping system might cause problems.

An option to camp overnight in a dungeon with an option to set a guard who does not rest, which removes the chance for an overnight random encounter surprising those asleep, would be cool and add that "chance" element for encounters.

I'm all for the improved realism of carrying food and arrows that need replenished. I always enjoy this added bit of planning. It makes adventures feel like real time is passing, encourages trips back to the main camp or town, and encourages taking stock of supplies in camp.

I think the night time rules in BG III, having it simply be dark when you camp and sleep, is an elegant and ingenious method, and I hope they keep it intact.

Height advantages and ground effects are logical, provide much more tactical consideration, and make the world seem more real. I like it.

Optional dice rolled attributes would be cool.

Traps and crafting them, for rogues, absolutely. Tripwires for camping would be great.

In all the important ways, BG III feels right to me as far as D&D goes. I've played every incarnation of the game since '77. The most important aspects of the game to me are the ability to travel wherever you wish in whatever direction you wish for a sense of real freedom of choice, the ability to creatively approach situations/encounters in different ways and directions, having ONE character that you roleplay as you, and the feeling that npcs are living, breathing beings.

All these things Larian Studio provides in glorious detail, So looking forward to more!

Feels like D&D to me just fine - what makes a game feel like D&D is down to the individual I think

I would agree in everything except 4.

I also think that camp does not completely work, but it is so interlaced with the narrative that will be very difficult to change it. But I would love to have the camp and the long rest mechanic sepparated somehow.
It would also be nice if a short break always had a chance to be attacked by some wandering creature andt to have a warning of a great risk when you want to have a short rest with enemies nearby insted of being prevented from doing it.