Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Compilation of community feedback and suggestion - How to Improve combats in Baldur's Gate 3

1) DAY / NIGHT CYCLE AND METEO EFFETCS

Feedback
• D/N cycle would increase immersion and consistency of the world.
• D/N cycle would increase the variety of environment
• D/N cycle would increase gameplay possibilities (i.e stealth)

Suggestions
• Dynamic D/N (i.e night is falling while the player’s playing)
• Static D/N (i.e cutscene after a while to show that the night has fall)

2) D&D BALANCE AND EXPERIENCE IN COMBATS

Feedback
• The combats are balanced around many non-D&D mechanics
• The combats are very hard if you “stick” to D&D, very easy if you “cheese” the game
• The balance between classes is not good – some game mechanics smooth the differences between classes while others give the feeling of useless classes (i.e everyone can use magic, everyone can use powerfull action/bonus action, the “tank” role is useless, …)
• The Advantage / Disadvantage system defined every encounter. (i.e King of the hill)
• Combat mechanics are not enough tactical and too much mechanical (i.e jumping to avoid every AOO, higher to get advantage, dip to increase damages, …)
• HP Bloat / AC decrease has many consequences
The balance of the spells is strongly altered
The flow of combat is altered

Suggestions
• Scrolls shouldn’t be usable by anyone (D&D rules)
• Attack of Opportunity should work properly. Jump shoudn’t avoir AOO. Disengage shouldn’t be an action bonus
• Reactions should work like in D&D
• Advantage / Disadvantage shouldn’t be used that much. There are too powerfull and defined combats too much. Something like in exemple a +3 bonus to attack rolls if you’re higher instead of advantage could be better. It’s still a bonus to be higher but it’s not that powerfull.
• It shouldn’t be that easy to backstab. Jump shoudn’t avoid AOO or shouldn’t be possible while engaged.
• Sneak attack should work like in D&D. Maybe it shouldn’t be a specific action. It should auto apply to normal attacks when necessary (In exemple AOO).
• No more HP Bloat / AC reduction. Maybe the difficulty could be balanced around something else (number of enemies, enemies damages,…). This would lead to a more D&D experience and would remove many balance issues.
• Cantrips shouldn’t always create surfaces. There are many AoE spells at higher levels. Maybe they could create surfaces only if they player target the ground and a “normal” D&D attack when we target an enemies => tactical possibilities increased
• Action / Bonus action rework
o Disengage should be a specific action (bonus action for rogue lvl.2)
o Jump shouldn’t be an action like in D&D. It should only be related to speed/movements. It shouldn’t avoid AOO or add an acrobatics checks to avoid them.
o Jump shouldn’t allow us to move further (sometimes we can reach targets for a melee attack we wouldn’t be able to if we only move).
o Ready action should be in the game
o Shove should be 2 bonus actions (shove to push, shove to prone)
o Help should use a potion / scrolls / spells to avoid the conscious/unconscious loops (bonus action for rogue lvl.2)
o Dash should become a bonus action for rogue lvl.2 instead of a new bonus action
o Maybe a new tactical bonus action could be added to improve the too easy backstab mechanic (to use something else than the easy jump/disengage bonus action). In exemple a new bonus action like a “close combat technique” to flip our position with the opponent (with a specific animation).
o Hide should be an action for everyone instead of a bonus action (bonus action for rogue lvl.2)
o Dodge should be in the game
• Dip shouldn’t be that easy. Maybe it shouldn’t be possible in combats (candle + dip). Maybe it should require component (actually immersion breaking)
• Tone Down Enemy 'Special' Attack. Follow the MM for abilities and skills (Usual gnolls can’t attack multi times, minotaurs can't jump that far and prove everyone.…). Less surfaces arrows surfaces, potions surfaces, spells surfaces.

3) CHARACTER CREATION

Feedback
• Not enough variety to custom our characters
• Not very friendly user, especially for newcomers
• Player’s are often named “Tav”

Suggestions
• Add more options to custom our characters (more bodies, size, faces, hairs, scars,,…)
• Add dyes (short references to BG1/2)
• Add custom starting equipment
• Add a portrait builder / Stylized Party Portraits (short reference to BG1/2)
• Add background options for custom characters
• Roll dice option instead of only the point buy mechanics.
• Better tutorial / Show the evolution of the classes for newcomers
• Add at least every PHB races / classes / subclasses
• More logical order in the windows (see I.G).
• Add a name generator
• Don’t give a name to our characters (Tav). Add a message if we forget to gave him one.
• Give us the opportunity to create a full custom party.

4) USER INTERFACE

Feedback
• The UI is not very personal
• The UI is not friendly user
• Lack of information to understand the game

Suggestions
• Give the UI more of a pen and paper feel... more rustic fonts, paper/parchment backgrounds, …
• Improve the character’s sheet (proficiencies, bonuses like fighting style, AC and DD details, warlock’s invocations and effects, …)
• Better minimap
o Option to hide it
o Better understanding of the direction (N/E/S/W)
o Better markers (i.e quest markers)
o Better UI (too intrusive, not enough personal)
• Better map
o Better resolution
o Maybe path shouldn’t be that visible (secret path are obvious + we aren’t able to see the map without “utility layers”)
o Show entrance/exit
o Show maps of other levels (verticality)
o Ability to create custom markers
o …
• Inventory / Equipement UI complicated and not friendly user.
Sometimes we equip he wrong character because we have another character selected.
• Highlighting loot / interaction items (i.e perception check or exploration)
o In exemple players often look for what their perception checks just discover
o Highlight ALL objects
• Improve the “loot” UI. Probably a place holder.
• Trade screen improvement
o Why do we have an option to trade and another barter? It add no value to the game.
o Why can’t we trade with only one character?
o Why can’t we auto sell wares ?
o Why can’t we “select” items and “sell all”? (instead of double clicking on every items)
• UI of the most important menu of the game should be improved. (spells/character sheet/inventory/…)
o These actually looks more like maps filters than important menu. They should have a better place and be more visible on the UI.
• Hotbars are a mess => separate by item type (spells / items / skills / …)
o Separate items by types (spells / items / skills / Action / Bonus action / …)
o Something to do about spell levels not to have hot bar full of the same spells
o Games exemples : Baldur’s gate, Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder, Solasta, …
• Improve inventory for a better/easier management
o Sort button more visible
o Add “bags” or “specific compartments” inside the inventory to auto sort items (i.e a gem bag, scroll bag, food bags, quiver, potions,…)
o Maybe create a shared inventory ?
• Books UI rework
o Better font, better text integration
o Letters / Sheet / Books. Everything is a book when we read them.
• Spells duration in spell description, range, target effect and damage, if it does damage or save… Actually hard to understand both for newcomers and non D&D nerds.
• “Improve UI when you have to select “i.e bestow curse”. We actually have 6 times the same icons. Have to check everything all the time to find the good one.
A specific icon for each abilities could be cool and could be added elsewhere in the game (i.e for checks during dialogs)
• Weapon comparison strange in the trade UI (check IG)
• Improve the journal. Better font, ability to hide completed quests,
• The UI for characters / inventory / equipment feels redundant. This could probably be consolidated.
• Unclear status effects on spells. (“blind = blindness. Blindness =?)
• Better way to show advantages / Disadvantage (see solasta, marker + / - on the cursor when the cursor is on an enemy + popup to explain bonuses/maluses)
• Item descriptions: make item descriptions longer, more immersive and contain a fair chunk of lore, like it was in BG1 and BG2.

5) DIALOGS

Feedback
• Dialogs feels unnatural
• Dialogs could improve gameplay, spells utility and resources management
• Skills could improve party management / party buildings

Suggestions
• We should be able to choose who’s talking during dialogs.
o Everyone should be involved and we should be able to choose who’s using his/her skills and/or the most able person should use the selected skill.
• We should be able to use some spells during dialogs (i.e animal friendship, charm person, friends, …)
• Dice rolls improvement. It’s actually hard to understand how proficiencies / modifiers are important when we’re using skills. It should probably work like in D&D rather than reducing the DD.
• Spacebar shouldn’t choose an answer. It should only skip dialogs.
• Skills checks should appear in the log
• An option to hide dice rolls during dialogs should be implemented. Rolls would only appear in the log and it could auto-reroll if our characters is able to.
• No cinematics for “short/one line” dialogs (a popup with the text is ok).
• Dialogs should appear in the log

6) PARTY SIZE

Feedback
• Lack of variety in parties composition
• Less “usual” classes won’t be used that mush by many players (monk, bards, druids, barbarians,…)
• Many players are fine with 4, many aren’t (+- 55/45 according to polls / survey on reddit and Larian’s forum). Fine with something doesn’t mean they aren’t with more companions.
• Increased party size would increase the replay value (increased party size + more companions increase the possibilities)
• …

Suggestions
• The compromise: party size of 5
• A party of 6 (reference to the old BG) and a share XP system for those who don’t want to manage 6 characters. That way everyone can play how it want to and the “lone wolf” skills aren’t necessary.

7) ITEMS

Feedback
• Items and inventory management are very complicated
• Items looks not enough unique, usefull and rewarding
• It’s very hard to understand what items are usefull and what items are useless
• Loot takes too much time, the exploration / research should be easier
• Many things don’t really feel D&D and FR

Suggestions
• Reduce / Remove (the number of) “misc.” items. They don’t add any value to the game except that it’s sometimes hard to select / choose the usefull items (candles, plates, fork, plates, cup, bones, skulls, …)
• Too many scrolls in such locations (immersion)
• Reduce item types
o Too many food types. Maybe just “rations”?
o Too many misc. to sell… Maybe just gold / jewels / gemstones and common items (weapons, armor, potions,…)?
• Too many containers that are often empty
o Don’t let us open empty containers
o Don’t put so many misc. items in containers
• Items that allow us to use a spell should have a limited number of charges per rest. This would lead to more meaningful choices.
• Special items are often wtf according to D&D / FR and often useless. Many of them fit a very specific use and want to define the gameplay rather than being “better items”. There are too many of them and they do not feel really special.
Exemple :
- If you heal someone, the target has poison damages on his weapons
- If you’re on a surface, you deal more elemental damages of that type of surface
- If you wear that ring, you deal radiant damage to these targets but these others creatures deals you radiant damages
 This is not very D&D / FR
o Add usual magical items (see Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 in exemple)
• Implement identify spells + detect magic
• Nothing really interesting to buy

8) CAMP ACTIVITY

9) REST SYSTEM

10) SURFACES

Feedback
• Surfaces are great but they aren’t part of D&D and shouldn’t be such a part of BG3 (reduction rather than removal). They are actually of part of nearly every combats and altered a lot how D&D works.
• Immersion breaking, it’s not such a component of D&D nor of the reality of the FR.

Suggestion
• Reduce the number of surface items the enemies have (potions, arrows, …)
• Cantrip shouldn’t always create surface. Only AoE spells should.
o Cantrip could be use to create surface if the player target the ground or to deal damages and effects like in D&D if we target an enemy. This could increase the tactical value of the game.
• Reduce the number of barrels and/or less “obvious” barrels (in enemies feet, …)
• Rework dipping so it require component and so we can’t do it as easy in combats.
• Maybe implement surface as tactical choices instead of an automatic mechanic.
o In exemple fire could require Dext saving throw each turn to avoid a -2 AC malus.
• Saving throws for surfaces / Ability and/or skills checks on surfaces

11) CHAIN MECHANIC

Feedback
This is something nearly everyone agree : this mechanic is complicated, slow and many many mistakes are done because of it.
It’s slow when we have to chain/unchain for a single action, or when we want to create other groups, …
Companions are moving all the time, in surfaces or traps, they block the path when i.e we have to jump, …

Suggestion
• Get rid of this mechanic and use a usual CPRG party control system.

12) COMPANIONS

13) OTHER COMBATS RELATED MECHANICS

Feedback / Suggestion
- Melee attack VS prone target isn’t properly implemented.
- Game should let player to use versatile weapons 1H or 2H regardless whether their offhand is empty or not
- Longbows, shortbows, and crossbows all having the same range doesn't make sense. Longbows and crossbows should have a longer range than shortbows. Proper range attack for everything (spells included). Adjust combat ranges.
- We should be able to choose who our spells affect (i.e choose who’s the targets of bless or the targets of sleep)
- %hit and/or informations about creatures shouldn’t be visible at the first time we encounter them. Something like a growing bestiary could be cool.
- Better combat animation so it looks less static and a little bit “real”.
- Replace the word “miss” or find something to bring miss less boring. A beautiful animation could be enough.
- Better critical cutscene (camera angle, too fast at the moment, …)
- Speed up combats (“all creatures moving at the same time?”, better implementation of D&D rules? i.e Solasta’s combats looks faster).
- In combat, don’t allow us to access to other’s companions inventory
- Make Ladders / Climbing cost movement
- Food shouldn’t be an alternative to healing potions or spells. We certainly shouldn’t be able to eat food during combat and maybe we shouldn’t find so much food. HP management is too easy.

14) WORLD IMMERSION

Feedback / Suggestion
- Increase the feeling we’re in a living world with events while playing, less “static world” (i.e wolf in the goblin camp after we killed them all, random encounters while travelling to camp, …)
- Add some sort of fog of war.
- Add Random encounters, maybe at specific time or during specific travel (could be mixed with the fast travel through worldmap suggestion).
- Less obvious barrels (in enemies feet, in unappropriated locations breach, underdark, villages, old ruins, … )
- Use the worldmap for fast travel rather than TP runes and create a camp location on the worldmap. Fast travel become a travel that takes times and not a TP anymore.
- Fast travel shouldn’t be possible from everywhere
- Failed check shouldn’t be visible (perception => you know you missed something)
- Animation for normal action (jump/…) are too “Marvel-like”
- Rapiers and other 1H weapons are usually not carried on the back when sheathed, but on your side.
- Too many locations on “small” maps. Divide the maps in smaller maps to give the feeling of travel. Inconsistency due to the fact that everything is really close (goblins don’t find druids grove, they had an encounter in “the forest”, which is not really one)

15) OTHER D&D MISSING STUFF / FEEDBACK

Feedback / Suggestion
- Improve mage hand
- Missing the cleric spell Spiritual Hammer, add more D&D spells.
- Rogue need “expertise”
- Add a button to stop concentration
- Druids that shapechange should not die after shapechanging. If they take damage that reduces hp to 0, they revert to normal form and take any remaining damage to their actual hp.
- Rogue shouldn’t have “2 bonus action”. Actions should become bonus actions (related to action / bonus action changes, see chapter 2).
- Spell preparation : according to PHB, spell-preparing classes can only prepare spells during a long rest..
- Spellcasting frequency: according to PHB, casting two spells per turn should not be possible. Bonus Action Spells can only be combined with a cantrip (for instance, you cannot cast Bless and Healing Word on your turn)

16) EXPLORATION / PARTY CONTROL IMPROVEMENT

Feedback / Suggestion

- Add party formations (need to get rid of the chain mechanic)
- Add a “Sneak All” button
- Add an “Auto jump” for companions in real time mode
- Add a “Group all” / “Disband all” button
- Safe jump => we should know when we’re going to prone
- Keybind for jump / stealth

17) STORY

18) OTHER

Feedback / Suggestion
- Allow portrait targeting
- Unconscious / rez mechanic… Allow us to give a potion to unconscious companions. Death seems not really important because scrolls are cheap and we can bring many of them with us and everyone can use these scrolls. There is not enough consequences to death.
- Saved games per character
- More auto save
- Camera improvement
- Improve the pickpocket system. Too easy.
- Add an encyclopedy and / or better tutorials
- Units able to fly can’t really fly and aren’t often allowed to go to higher locations.
- Hide helmet option
- We get out of inventory when reading books.
- Add “Sell from camp storage” / “Sell all wares”
- Better party pathfinding (they actually move all the time and cross surfaces)
- Add more XP for non combat resolutions, like i.e if you success some checks or avoid combats with diplomacy.
- Backgrounds should be story-impactful, not only mechanical.
- treat familiars as enteties, not spell effects that go away on rest
- lockpicking, perception checks etc… should appear in the log.
- hide or drop altogether the % to hit indicators
- Sheathed shields should be visible on the back / Quiver and bow should also be visible / See every weapon equipped on our character. Weapons actually disappear when we’re changing them.
- Add some crafting. Artificers can craft A LOT of stuff in 5th ed. (arrows, potions, poisons, grenades, armour, etc.)
- Daggers, rapiers and shortswords are piercing weapons not slashing
- Better reaction when we discover a trap (everyone should stop moving)
- Add the cover mechanic of D&D
- Dash shouldn’t break invisibility
- Holding ALT and clicking a container in the world should open the container, not put the container in my inventory.