Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Mega-threads and Guides Reactions like Solasta!

I'm fine with what Larian has done except that disengage still doesn't work well. Tried to disengage, hit the button, picked my location, game made my character move first, got Critically Hit, and lost most of my HP because my character didn't properly disengage.

So Reactions in BG3 for me only stink cause they either don't work well with Disengage or because I think I can move past an enemy only two provoke an attack somehow by accident. Vwe need something more substantial than a red arrow you can barely see on the ground at character's feet.

I've also noticed characters don't always trigger reactions when they should. I put Lae'zel right next to an enemy. They didn't disengage but she didn't hit them with her axe.

It's not "by accident". You should never be able to move close to an ennemy without triggering an AOO or being able to disengage as a bonus action jumping like a kangaroo.

What's the point of AOO ?
A bonus attack only for the player because it's so cool ? No... AOO are supposed to give melee character the control of a zone on the battlefield. At the moment AOO doesn't give any control the the ennemy because of this disengage + exploit turning arround.

Anyway I'm also +- ok with AOO as auto reaction even if it may not be the best. It's not like if they were a lot of melee ennemies so usually you're engaged with only 1 or 2 at the same time.

As DragonSnooz said it becomes a real problem when it cost a spellslot and use a powerfull spell like hellishrebuke on... bad luck, the goblin that have 2HP left... Warding flare is another exemple to understand how bad the toggle on/off is for reactions.

It will be +- ok for smite even if this toggle is something tedious to manage at each turn.

Oh I agree about AOO. I meant simply that it isn't easy to determine how close is too close right now, and sometimes the game has your character get too close when you don't want it to. And I REALLY want them to fix Disengage so it isn't jump. That's why my character got criticalled. Moved away from the enemy to jump but I hit disengage. If I hit disengage, I shouldn't get hit by AOO. Ever.

That make sense.

I also agree with you and Dragonsnooz.

I think there is no need to change things from Solasta and we should have the Solasta combat rules in BG3.
Its a turn based game with tons of abilities so you have to click lots of stuff anyway.
Reaction means that you can do something when enemies have their turn, so it becomes more engaging and you do not just watch when enemies act.

Bet it's hard to manage, though, with multi-player from an IT perspective. Auto-Reactions are more IT friendly. Allowing users to interrupt an enemy's turn in multi-player has got to be tough to not have it be buggy.

maybe we could get an option to turn automatic reactions on or off? then everybody can decide and play the way they like.

And, you know, I was giving it more thought too. Not sure why it might be more difficult for multi-player now that I think about it. It's turn based. You COULD allow players to pick their reactions similarly to Solasta. Enemy attacks with magic missiles, game pops up a window asking if you want to cast Shield. You click Yes or No. Game resumes. Enemy casts the spell. If you hit Yes, missiles hit you and nothing happens. If you hit No, missiles hit you and do normal damage. Wouldn't drag the game pace down that much. It works for Solasta. I actually like that feature in that game.

Same with deciding if you WANT to use your reaction on a particular enemy as AOO. Sometimes you are surrounded by more than one enemy. You may want to use your Reaction to hit an almost dead enemy who tries to flee, but one who has more health moves first. In BG3 now, you would auto-react to hit the bigger enemy and thus the little one gets away and shoots you without even triggering AOO. However, if I was given a choice, I might not use my Reaction to hit the first guy but to hit the second.

But you are right. Making it another Option in the Options menu would allow players to play whatever way they like. The only issue that might come up from that, though, is that Larian has to do a lot more coding to implement manual reactions just so people have the option to do it. If we keep making them add more features as options just so everyone can play the game the way they want, the game might wind up being 300 gb in size before we're all done. Not saying they shouldn't and that it wouldn't be good. Just saying that I could see that as an issue with the idea of making it an option.

I personally think manual reactions would be awesome. I'd love to see it.

A proper Reaction system is essential to a host of class abilities, spells, and feats. Asking this of modders is really beyond the pale. Larian should keep in mind that at least some players will want a functioning mechanical system in lieu of whatever it's that they are trying to make. Even if that functioning system has to be modded in.

I'm actually waiting for Realms-Beyond. If I remember correctly it's suppose to come with a mod tool as well, looking forward to it.

I have another Solasta demonstration, part of a new sidequest from the patch two days ago. Even something as simple as implementing reactions makes even level 3 combat look dynamic and highly tactical. You get to make decisions even during the enemy turn, which is why I chose to disengage with my Wizard towards the end thinking it'd result in the enemy risking a triple opportunity attack - and it's exactly what they did.

(Also my Wizard got X-COM'd. He had shield up and guess what happened. >_>)

EXACTLY! Part of why I love their implementation of a reaction system is that you get to do things even doing enemy turns, that you can CONTROL and make decisions about! Love it!

Reactions are pretty important in 5e so the fact that we don’t see it in BG3 makes me think the DOS engine isn’t capable of such actions. Or it can at the cost of major resources.

Larian just prefers to use their resources on things like voice acting and what hairstyle each origin character will have.

I am pretty sure their engine can handle implementing a proper reaction system. I am sure it can even be made with mods.

I haven’t seen any but I could be wrong or forgot something. Even attacks of opportunity isn’t a real reaction system. It’s a toggle.

They probably can, the real question is exactly how. There's no prior precedence for a proper reaction system in DOS2. The closest thing DOS2 had to ready actions was the skill Reactive Shot, and it just allowed you to fire up to 3 arrows at enemies entering or moving within a specified area without a movement skill (which are also the prior precedence for the jump/disengage bonus action that exists in BG3).

If it's ultimately left up to mods like I suspect it will, it's not going to be as easy as you'd think. It's the kind of undertaking that would probably take a year or longer to figure out an elegant solution for, especially since it appears that this engine lacks any form of proper pausing. That's going to be the biggest hurdle to overcome, forcing the game to recognize when you can use a reaction other than a non-controllable opportunity attack, recognize if you even have the resources to use it (for reactions that require spell slots like Shield), and then interrupt an enemy turn so you can take that reaction.

Really enjoying the Solasta spring patch and I really hope that BG3 has a similar system. As @madscientist says it's a turn based system and that already involves involves clicking and decision making.

The paladin class really comes alive with the reactions. I had previously thought that paladins were weaker than weapons masters but Solasta changed my mind. My paladin with lightbringer sword, divine favor, and smite is doing serious damage. And I'm able to avoid being hit by casting shield.

I want to be able to make the decisions on when to cast smite -- if I waste it on a monster with 4 hit points left I won't be able cast shield the next turn. Resource management is just an important part of RPGs -- the decisions are part of the fun.

Yeah, some here would argue that reactions would interrupt the flow of combat too much... But the alternative is not being able to do anything during the enemy turn at all, which is an even bigger downside and leads to a huge lack of tactical consideration.

The reaction system is really the one major thing that separates DnD and other tabletop systems from a standard turn based game.

I don't understand the argument that reactions interrupt the flow in a turn based combat system. If it was RTwP, then I get it but turn based is methodical by nature.