I would also like to add, you also never have any zone of control against enemies too, besides hiding behind many layers of cheese. For the most part, the amount of complexity that BG3's combat could have had was ripped out by the homebrew mechanics that are rather shallow at the end of the day, replacing that complexity with cheese that can end a fight in 1-2 turns if set up correctly rather than make a player think and react tactically.
I mean, there's a reason why ambush strategies are incredibly popular in this game, and that a common observation is just how difficult some fights end up being if said ambush strategies outright fail, largely because the proactive defensive mechanics that exist in tabletop do not exist in BG3. The lead developer experienced it first hand on their very own stream, after all. And all signs are currently pointing to them never being implemented due to engine limitations because anything remotely similar to the mechanics I speak of did not exist in D:OS2 either.
The proactive defensive mechanics are mostly referring to the dodge action, player-based reactions, and ready actions - all three of them equally important, the first allowing you to buy time by imposing disadvantage on everything that tries to attack you for a turn, the second allowing you to utilize defensive or offensive options with absolute precision, and the last enables you to more effectively utilize or create chokepoints by punishing enemies as they come to you. The lack of them means BG3's current combat philosophy is essentially 'everyone gets to move, gets an action, and gets a bonus action, and if you can't do anything with them, then your turn is more or less completely wasted'. And the cynical side of me recognizes that Larian gives the humanoid enemies so many throwable grenades and special arrows precisely as a flashy attempt to distract the playerbase from noticing the tactical shortcomings of BG3. Take them away, and what do we really have left?
Going back to the topic of the stream, it's obvious the lead developer had no strategy beyond a mix of ambush mechanics and repeated shove attempts, and when that failed, there was nothing they could realistically do to salvage the situation. It's rather concerning that people somehow think this is cute and endearing because it's a realistic showcase of what a normal player can go through when things go bad. To that, I say, they need to re-read the second half of that previous sentence again, and again, until they finally get the point. Justifying something like that is basically the ultimate admission that there is something deeply flawed with this game's combat design.
Posts like this really make me wish this forum had some kind of thumb button. +1 for sure.
