Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Starting Equipment

So here's the deal. One of the great things about 5th Edition D&D is the ability to select starting gear for your character. Now, with some classes it doesn't matter much, like Wizards. However there are other classes where the starting equipment is very important, such as Fighter. Usually when I play a fighter, I like to play as a fighter with high Dexterity and usually a lower Strength score. But when I create a Fighter in Baldur's Gate, I'm stuck with Scale Mail and a longsword. This handicaps me right out of the gate. Longswords do not have the "finesse" quality, so my damage is impacted by not having a high strength, and I am stuck in Scale Mail, which may give me a higher AC than leather armor (even though it can't take advantage of my higher Dexterity modifier) but causes me to take disadvantage on all stealth rolls. Also, if I take the "Dueling" fighting style, I'm not able to use that with the longsword unless I can find a shield, since versatile weapons automatically go 2 handed if you don't have a shield or something in your off-hand. So ideally, a fighter would be able to choose the armor that they start with, maybe give a choice between Scale Mail and Leather armor, and get the option to choose a weapon and a sheild, or 2 weapons. And maybe make it so that you can choose to use a versatile weapon 1 handed even without something in your off-hand. Perhaps if you're wielding a versatile weapon, the "dual wield" toggle changes to "one-handed" and "two handed".

Just food for thought. There are other classes that could benefit from being able to choose between different options for starting equipment.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings!

+1

We don't necessarily need to be taken to a shop where we can spend starting wealth to buy whatever items we want, but at the very least we should be able to choose between starting armors and weapons.

Importantly, Fighters (and Clerics) should have the option of starting with chain mail. Just as Dex fighters are harmed by starting with a longsword, Str fighters are harmed by starting with scale mail.
Fighter with 8 Dex wearing scale mail: 13 AC
Fighter with 8 Dex wearing chain mail: 16 AC
3 AC is a BIG difference.

Infinite +1!

I've seen a lot of people echoing this sentiment but to be perfectly honest I can't really say starting equipment has EVER been something I worried particularly about in CRPGs.
It's not like I'm not replacing this shit 30 minutes down the line, anyway.

I am of two minds about this. I agree with the op in principle; however, we are prisoners. I wouldn’t even expect to be fully clothed as I just got out of a pod….

I mean look what Astarion is wearing. Frilly, decorative PADDED ARMOR (gives disadvantage to stealth rolls). No rogue would ever start the game with that crap.

Listen, I know a lot of people rip off Astarions clothes when they first meet him, but I do it to give him some leather armor to wear...

Point is, not everyone was preparing to go on an adventure.

Speaking of which, I would love to know what Tav's actual story is for how they ended up on the Nautaloid.

Finding weapons & armor as we explore the ship (e.g., that was taken off us/other prisoners) would provide a good tutorial of weapons & armor in 5e.
-You find a crate with one of each armor category (leather armor, scale mail, and chain mail). When you open that crate, a tutorial box pops up informing you of the merits/requirements/etc of each armor type.
-Same for weapons: finding a shortsword (finesse), longsword (versatile), greatsword (2H), and shortbow (ranged).
The game could just add your chosen starting gear to those crates.

100% agree.

It's so boring to build a specific character and to start with an equipment that doesn't match at all.
I don't know how it really works in DnD but it works perfectly well in Solasta.

I really hope Larian will do something.

Be able to select equipment at character creation could be a nice option.

But I also like the idea to start with random clothes and to be in need to find some armors / weapon into the nautiloid even if they are not a perfect match for the character's class.

Anyway if you think it’s annoying here where you are proficient with half dozen weapons out of character creation, try to make a Sword Saint in Wrath of the Righteous and be forced to use a crossbow for the first two hours or so of the game. 🤣

You do realize that you can get leather, and multiple short swords on your way out by looting corpses right? We come into this ship waking up at a disadvantage because we were captured after all. I am surprised we don't come in completely naked to tell the truth, as that would make more sense for the story-line.

I'm all for the fairly normal video game concession of coming in completely naked at the start, in a situation like this, but finding, scattered about the first room or two, equipment that happens to match what you picked as your starting equipment in character creation. It's a liiiiitle bit of an immersion needle-skip, but it's one I'm perfectly happy to accept in the context of a video game conversion.

It's clear from the opening cinematic, that once we're scooped up by the nautiloid tentacles and teleported into a tank, we're not really a threat to the mindflayers regardless of what arms or armor we had on when we were nabbed.

All the other thralls are fully clothed and armed right? Presumably holding whatever they had with them when they got slugged, with no real concern from their captors about it. If anything it probably works to the mind flayer's advantage not to disarm us and leave us naked, in case of the exact emergency contingency that goes down in the prologue when the ship is attacked and overrun. Since we're meant to be enthralled, it shouldn't be an issue for them. I mean until that dragon torches the brine pool and jacks up their whole scene, they had us basically on lock down and fully ensared.

It would be more fun I think if the "Who are you" break included starting equipment selection. It makes complete narrative sense from their opening cinematic set up, so what could it hurt?

So ... i was about to start new topic about starting gear, but when i searched those keywords i find out that there allready is this one.
So, i borrow it with your permition (or without it as the matter of fact ).

Since we are talking about "wanting option to choose starting gear" for quite some time ...
And some of us (myself certainly included) hopes that some version of this feature will come in patch 6 ...

I would like to ask you all to express what would you expect from such feature?
Lets give Larian some shape to work with. :P

So ... i start. O:)
Since i have one big (possibly too big?) dream.
I would like to see every character to have at least 3 Armor sets to choose from (including Gloves, Boots and possibly Capes and Belts, if they will be visible ... without stats, purely visual would be totally suficient for me) ...
The important part here is theme:
- one themed for his race (yes, the strongest possible type ... adequate for level 1)
- one themed for his class
- one generic that we find in game allready

So i simply dont need to steal armor from Lae'zel if i want to also play good looking Gith (especialy including gloves and boots here!).
Also ... i would really love to see my Dwarven "lady" in some proper Dwarwen armor ... at least from the start.

You know its kinda sad when you look at that beautifull Druid-themed armor ...
And then you switch to rogue to see just generic leather amor, you can loot dozen in first few minutes.
I want to believe that other classes deserve such love too. :P

//Edit:
I was trying to find any reason for not including this ... and i have found one, yup, just one.
Someone could teoreticaly argue that it would be waste of money to create 3 types of Armor, since only one will be used ...
But i disagree ... you know, when i said that i would like to see some "racial themed" armor, i dare to say that i would also like to see SOME NPCs use it ... i mean so far the best Dwarven armor i have ever seen was in Dragon Age: Origins ... but paradoxically (is that really a word?) it was not the armor named "Dwarven armor", wich looked incredibly boring (read as: Same as human armor) but "Legion of the Dead", oh that was different story. :3
What im trying to say here is that when you create "armor typical for Half-Orcs" ... you expect to see Half-Orcs wearing it.

I don't care the look of the items at the beginning. We should not look like heroes in luxurious armor with belt and gloves and beautifull boots right at the beginning imo.

Of course I'm not against racial styled armored but it's not really important to me. I guess we'll find them in the game.

At the beginning I just want to be able to choose :
- light/medium/heavy armor
- 2 or 3 basic weapons/shield

And if I don't select some of these things, the "slot" is converted into gold...

i.e I can choose 3 weapons but if I only choose 1... I have 1 weapon + 200 gold... and if I don't choose an armor I get +100 gold.

About the look... Special armor should not become common armor when you pick them (flaming fists Armor, Zevlor's armor,...). They style should remains the same and we should be able to loot EVERY armors.

This might surprise you, but i agree.
I never wanted our starting armor to look "as epic as possible", just more race, or class themed ...

I mean, look at druid.
Its perfect ... almost ... all it needs for pure perfection is those leafy gloves all druids in the grove allready have (imagine my disapointment when i find out that Nettie gloves are generic leather, instead of this ... spoiler alert: it was huge ) ... and possibly that poison ivy crown, without any stats.
But most of all it litteraly screams "i am f*cking Druid!" ...

Now, look at Rogue. :-/
It says im some dude in tight leather armor with black sleeves, wich is the only way you can distinguish me from Ranger ... he have them greened.
When i say "rogue" i imagine something like THIS ... pouches for valuables, lockpics and stuff ... all darkened, so you arent seen so easily ... that cape is odd i admit that, but i gues that is part of fantasy.

Also so i give at least one example of racial armor (except Gith one)
When you say Dwarf ... i imagine something like THIS.

I really hope so ...
I really want my Githyanki to look good. :3

This sounds good too ... i would say that some differences would be appreciated, but hey quite good.

Totally agree!!!
Except Zevlor's Armor is practicaly regular "generic" Scale Mail +1 (if im not mistaken) ... i would like to see him specificly in some Tiefling themed armor, he is hellrider for someone's sake ... let hells to be seen!

Also, about Flaming Fist Armor ... i really hope we get our hands (or claws, or w/e) on some ... i really hope we will after puting it on be concidered as members of Flaming Fist ... and i REALLY REALLY hope we get into trouble once someone from real Flaming Fist spot us wearing that armor.

This is how I think they should do it:

You are captured by mind flayers and stuffed into a pod with very little room. Therefore, only the armor you were wearing when you were kidnapped should be what you have on you. You shouldn't have a pack or dagger or anything but the armor on your back. The mind flayers magically stripped you of everything but what you were wearing.

So, when you start the game, I don't think you should even have a weapon or a shield or anything. And there really isn't a point. They could make it so that in the first two chambers you search them and find a few weapons on the dead bodies. Boom. There's your starter equipment.

As for the weird custom armor they have on the origin characters, Shadowheart's looks like custom plate armor, or at least half plate. Whatever it is, I made it so that it was typical armor except that it didn't inhibit stealth. It's armor that is custom made for a cleric of Shar who is of the trickery domain. She should have something that doesn't hinder her stealth.

The same kind of thing for Astarion. Fine. He wears Padded Armor. So I made it custom Padded Armor that doesn't inhibit stealth. It also provides him with "hidden pockets" making it so that he gets a bonus on pickpocketing and such.

Wyll should be forced to be a Warlock of the Pact of the Blade. That's the only thing that makes sense in order for him to wield a rapier. Warlocks aren't typically proficient with rapiers, and the only way he could use one is if it was his Pact weapon. This makes the most sense for his character and it should be a forced build just for him. Either that, or he should not be proficient in rapiers.

That would mean recreate every and whole cinematics ...
Bcs it dont quite make sence that everyone stay fully equipped, except you. :-/

You know if you think about it, the suggestion I made makes the most sense from a story perspective and from the cutscenes that you see. When Lae'zel drops out of the pod you don't see her wielding a longsword or having one on her back. So it would seem that she picked up the long sword sometime before you meet her. All she has is her armor when you see her for the first time.

It would not make sense for Shadowheart to start with a mace and shield. So when you first meet her she should probably be unarmed so that you have to give her weapons that you found on your way to her.

It makes sense for Astarion to begin with a couple of daggers when you first meet him because he had already escaped from the pod and had time to find weapons for himself. Same with Gale and Wyll.

Personally, I don't think this would change the game play that much either. Typically, I equip weapons to my characters that I find like crossbows and such almost immediately. There are only a few classes where this is not true like cleric, so all they'd have to do is make it so you find a mace or two right away. Basically, a weapon that would work for each class type.

It really doesn't make sense that anyone on the ship would wake up with gear at all. After searching around the ship we should find some basic stuff to get through the first fight, then in the next area we should be able to find more through scavenging or maybe a "prisoner chest". These would contain all types of generic weapons and armour so we could properly equip before the final room. Lae'zel and Shadowheart should not have custom gear at all, instead specialty gear should be able to be looted in the appropriate areas with a crafting option given as well, maybe this unlocks once we pick up a particular style.