Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback A discussion on how the game's current combat mechanics design heavily restricts tactical options

I was really looking forward to that mode but right the first time I tried it out my characters started to push each other around like ice hockey pucks, messing up all of my plans about positioning in combat.
I reported this issue right on the first day the beta went public but nothing ever happened.

This is a great post I noticed a few days ago. I was just waiting to have more time to answer.

Your title is well chosen, and your post is well written.
I'll be glad to hear arguments against your suggestions and observations, but once again I guess none will come...

What you wrote is facts... And whatever we like those "concepts" or not, because of a few custom rules / bad rules implementation the game has a poor tactical value.

- Remove the advantage / disadvantage trough highround and rework bonuses (+x to AC or +x to Attack Roll, I don't care)
- Remove the advantage from backstab and implement flanking
- Disengage as an action
- Jump as a part of your movement
- The implementation of ready and dodge as action
- Proper reactions
- A complete rework of the rest system (this is anorher thread but it's related)

These are necessary changes for a better tactical TB game. At the moment combats are poor.
Synergies between characters are close to 0, dozens of spells and features are useless, combats are repetitive and combats become very easy way too quickly.

We could have so much more choices and viable solutions in a D&D setting.

But there are many other things to change according to me.

- All interractions with items in inventory in combats should be bonus action (to throw the torch on the ground)
- Dipping should be an action (so even with a candle in your inventory you can dip during 1 turn...)
- Less consumables everywhere
- No more food during combats
-...

On the other hand, I fear that all these changes would lead to slower combats.
I think this is something we should also consider even if there are easy solutions.

I always thought that BG3 has an incredible potential but I really hope all those saying "the game is awesome" without answering/considering any of those facts won't destroy this huge potential.

I completely agree with the OP and as he shows the 'small' 'fun' changes that Larian made affect the game extremely. Add to that the encounter design based on it and watching Swen playing during the panel and you see how broken their game design is. To the point that i honestly have to say its bad gameplay design that I would not expect from experienced professionals.

Sadly, watching Swen during their show, I don't see them changing anything in this regard because its 'fun' for him.

+ 1

Exactly, there's still room for barrelmancy and sand-box mechanics. The game will have even more of a sand-box feel if the player has more viable strategies.

Again there’s a reason I deliberately avoided going after Barrelmancy, it is another tactical option at the end of the day, and hardly a problem to prioritize over literally everything else questionable about the combat design.

I am actually a girl, but on a practical level as Nenio from Pathfinder WotR would say, ‘that information is irrelevant’ (the rest of the phrase being ‘and thus I’ve decided to forget it’. She’s a legit hilarious character by the way). So I don’t really care what you all call me, I’m generally used to it since I usually prefer playing male characters in RPGs anyway. :P

I had a certain thought. What if some of these are already being addressed in the upcoming patch, they just deliberately avoided mentioning it because they didn’t want a fight breaking out in stream chat or people crying about perceived nerfs? Having spent years in the DOS fan base myself, there’s a certain... Devotion to them.

I don’t mean to give anyone false hope, but the adjustment to field effects being once per turn instead of being distance based was something they left out of the patch notes last time, even though it was a major balance change.

I'm hopeful changes are in the pipeline as well. There were a lot of miscellaneous bugs in patch 3 that weren't game-breaking. So I've speculated if Larian was busy on bugs and cutscenes, or even discussions on backstab. Backstab has a lot of viable solutions so it can be easy to imagine backstab meetings can take time choosing which option would be best.

Either way. thanks for putting this thread together. I had debated putting a similar thread together. I'm glad I waited, as you're a way better writer than I am.

It's good to have one concise thread to talk about how combat mechanics interact and influence tactical options.

I dont think even inventory management should require a bonus action.. it is just smth that makes gameplay more tedious, like u could just gave that potion or wep to that character before getting in combat. I dont get why people wanna sacrifice that much really..

Half of those given examples are not the way people claim, at least check 5th edition players handbook before giving a lecture about those stuff..yes u can eat during combat. Those are free actions in DnD btw not even bonus actions.

So you think its logical to eat a side of ROAST DWARF, in combat and heal a bunch?

Dnd is a game too afterall so you dont need to expect everything to make sense..but yes you can officially stuff some food in your mouth as a free action.

What page has the total healing per food eaten? All I can find is its relation to exhaustion...

See, that's a bit of a cop out. Just because it's a game doesn't mean everything is acceptable or anything should be possible. Surely, the game mechanics need to be grounded in reality somewhere. The ability to eat and heal HP in the middle of combat breaks the suspension of disbelief a bit too much.

All those less necessary stuff is usually in GM guide, I remember a part for drinks not sure about the food. So its at DM's discression as usual I suppose.




And I partially agree those but not all..sometimes we go too far, it totally makes sense not being able to eat during combat but there it is on the book. You loose some and win some while going from table top to digital game so thats one of those. Showing is an action in PnP but again it can also knock your enemy prone. We dont have that..we also dont have grapple which if u succeed u can keep moving half ur speed and ttack aswell..its just complicated stuff.

From all the discussion above I would only agree with high grounds shouldn't give advantage.. it should provide half cover (+2 AC) for ranged.. and backstab being available if u r higher than your enemy is out of nowhere..Although again in PHB if your enemy has 1 melee target u r entitled to use it where as in game it requires 2melees other than you.

Sure, I've taken a drink of ale mid-combat. But that's never healed my character in tabletop.

I'm open-minded about food having some benefits, but it needs to be something that keeps the player engaged. There are so many healing potions in the game alone, food-healing just becomes excessive.

All-in-all food-healing isn't the biggest issue from the bunch. But I would like to have points in the game where it's worthwhile to consider using healing spells, handing out food and potions before every fight isn't really that strategic. (compounded with being able to long rest everywhere, the issue isn't eating food alone).

I'd rather only be able to rest at safe zones and use food for contextual flavor. (I'm okay with the character earing in combat if it's there to play an animation for humor, with no other benefit). So that I can consider when to use healing word or cure wounds in combat.

See now this is what I thought, but what does free in combat healing do?

It ruins the balance of healing spells.

Like there are consequences to all of these choices. Eating should not heal in combat.

Don't know how eating during combat is handled but maybe Larian could find a compromise by limiting healing from food to once per combat and if you eat more you will throw up. It would fit their quirky sense of humor at least.

I think the biggest issue with food in combat is the healing factor. It cheapens the abilities of the cleric and reduces the threat of the monsters. What ends up happening is, combat balance will start ASSUMING healing by food which ultimately will affect monster durability. As you said, it's complicated stuff. Let's not make it more complicated.

Backstab isn't just higher ground. You literally can move behind your foe and you gain advantage. No high ground needed. Also backstab is in the realm of rogues only. There is optional flanking but what BG3 is doing is beyond flanking.

I'm pretty sure this too can be removed with modding, but I'll have to check again to confirm. I noticed High Ground modifier can be removed for sure.

Perhaps Larian will throw some of a bone and include options so we can customize the difficulty in this game. I'm just not a huge fan of mods until the game is completely done with development.

Sorry, but you're mixing two different terms: "eat" and "stuff some food". The first one contains stuffing some food, chewing it and swalowing, then if it's something that can't be eaten in one bite you'll need to repeat. That "stuff some food" more likely exists to say, that if you were eating before the fight started you can put the last one piece in your mouth along with starting the fight, not that you can take out of your backpack a plate with dinner and eat it in the middle of a fight.