I started playing through patch 4 today to document dice rolls to see what weighted dice distribution looks like.
However, I noticed I was having more fun in combat. Things felt more free, more fluid. I noticed something different with high ground on the stairs of the deck of the nautiloid. So I chose to test out what I was seeing, once I got to a location with more verticality.
Here are the findings
For a baseline of understanding. Here is how backstab appears and is documented in game.
Backstab UIBackstab in the Combat LogNotice that Advantage is clearly displayed with the roll.
Now notice the UI when shooting an arrow from low ground
Smallest of Low GroundNow look at the attack roll in the combat log
Disadvantage was not applied.
The Combat LogComparing this to higher verticality for a sanity check. Higher verticality is working as expected.
Low Ground UIResult in the Combat LogIt's really cool, it looks like the issue with the smallest inflection of low ground causing disadvantage has been not part of the game's long term design. There is the start to a fix in Patch 4, but the UI isn't ready yet. I'm ecstatic, I'm now looking forward to future combat. So I chose to do even more testing to see if the change is consistent.
Where disadvantage is applied
Verticality Test 1Where the player gets a normal attack roll
Verticality Test 2I then went on to test if some changes to the UI were already in the game
Testing with right-clicking off the spell to reset the UINote where I am standing for this attack preview, and compare to Verticality Test 2
EDIT: Forgot to add this to the original postThe attack in Verticality Test 2 is performed at a lower area from where I am standing.
this last section that came up in the testing is an indication, that high ground was always intended to have a verticality threshold to apply Disadvantage/Advantage.
I'm now keeping an open mind as I play through patch 4. Combat has been more enjoyable and fluid without being forced to avoid disadvantage on ranged attacks every battle. I'm going to use patch 4 to reset my opinion on how I feel about High/Low Ground Advantage/Disadvantage in Baldur's Gate 3.
This change may seem small, but is has made a good change to combat. This is a step in the right direction and I hope the UI will be patched soon to reflect these changes!
Edit: I've chosen to do a thorough review of distributions for rolls shown in the UI as Low Ground, but get rolled at normal. And rolls shown as normal that the combat log rolls as high ground.
Here is the data for "UI lowground & Combat Log Normal":
I used the bugbear assassin and scorching ray to test.
UI for Scorching Ray, Gale's position relative to bugbearScorching Ray 1Scorching Ray 2Scorching Ray 3I did use different sections of the bugbear, stomach, head, shoulders, etc. The UI and Combat Log were consistent in what they showed.
Here is the data after 156 scorching rays on the bugbearAverage: 7.8
Standard Deviation: 2.5
All frequencies were within two standard deviations.
The important takeaway is the shape of the histogram, it doesn't match what we would expect for disadvantage, it is a lot closer to what we would expect with normal attacks.
The surprises are how low 6, 7, 15, and 18 are but it would also make sense to weight the dice against four outcomes, to increase the change of 10 and 11. (Their frequencies were still within a normal distribution.)
***
Here is the review of attack rolls where "UI doesn't not show High Ground or any advantage, but the combat log has awarded advantage on the attack roll".
The frequency is in line with what we would expect to see with attacks rolled with advantage.(This was done at the save file back at the Dank Crypt, N=42)
The combat log is showing what is actually happening in game.
