Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback [ACTUAL FEEDBACK] 42 Change Requests, 23 Feature Addition Requests, and 24 Bug Reports

Facing is not an issue just because it has to be tracked on top of everything else. Though that *does* mean it adds jank for no real gain.

For reiteration and for everyone else reading, here is what the rule, as written in the DMG, does specifically:

- Each creature has its sight divided into front arc, side arcs, and rear arc (the DM may rule that certain creatures, such as oozes, do have only some or none of these)
- A creature determines which way its facing at the end of its own turn
- A creature can additionally change its facing as a reaction when another creature moves
- A creature can only target what is in the front or side arcs, additionally attacks from its rear arc have advantage against it
- A shield only applies its AC bonus against attacks from its specific side arc and the front arc

Apart from the aforementioned tracking issues, this once again inflates the system with globally accessible advantage, which is bad for the same reason that backstab and height are in BG3. Unless very tight quarters prohibit this, both PCs and medium or smaller monsters will basically circle around to each other's butts all the time to gain advantage, even in situations where the combatants are in a one-on-one situation. Please take a moment to imagine in your mind's eye how silly that would look.

You may argue that the defender can turn around as a reaction. But this doesn't actually work for two reasons. One, turning can only be done as a reaction to movement, which can be split up, so the attacker can simply keep circling after the reaction is expended. Two, a reaction is a very valuable resource depending on the character, which may already be expended on other features. The base system and character classes and subclasses are not designed with the existence of Facing in mind, so its implementation inevitably creates problems.

Additionally, Facing diminishes opportunity attacks massively. Either the currently active creature moves to the butt of something it's currently engaged with and leaves its reach from there, because it cannot be targeted OR the engaging creature turns as a reaction and can then no longer use its reaction to opportunity attack. This can only be prevented if multiple creatures are engaged to the active one AND have their reactions still available.

Finally, the larger a creature (read: monster) is, the less likely it is to be able to take advantage of this rule. This is because it simultaneously needs the available space for something of its size and the necessary mobility to reach the rear arc of its targets while likely being engaged with multiple creatures. Effectively, this makes big solo encounters even easier to fight for a party than they already are.

In summation, you add busywork and gain nothing in return. No balance. No meaningful player options. No verisimilitude.

When a DM considers homebrewing or implementing available optional rules, it behooves them to consider the consequences.

Larian needs to get better at that. For while I understand their basic design goals (greater option wealth for low level players and more reliable to-hit chances), the ways they've tried to achieve those have caused rippling negative effects that they evidently did not consider.