Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Guidance

Was this already mentioned?



The spell is supposed to have a verbal component and for a good reason, both thematically and mechanically. Thematically because you have, of course, "to guide" yourself or someone else (with a speech presumably); mechanically beacause it shouldn't allow a character to perma-add 1d4 to his/her check during social interaction, at least without repercussions.

I honestly think Guidance should trigger some hostile reaction if used in rolls against NPCs you are actively engaged with and, if this is too complicated to implement, remove the option at all and leave it for the other interactions requiring ability checks.

Otherwise, you are just going to have a permanent +1d4 to your ability checks, which is really too strong in my opinion ^^'


Am I the only one thinking it?

I think NPCs should become hostile if you use some magic on them ...
If you are casting some spells on your friends, its between you two to figure consequences out. :-/

Meh, Guidance is exactly like this in tabletop as well, as long as you can see the person and aren't silenced - its usable. In a tabletop game you could use it every single interaction, but you probably wouldn't.
To me, this is the same case. You have the OPTION to use it whenever you're able to, but you don't have to. It's strong but its really just reminding you that you have it.
Personally I don't mind how it works, yeah its "strong" but its a singleplayer game (mostly) so the only person you're affecting is yourself. I think it should just be up to the player to decide if they use it or not.
(Also, some people would just save and reload until they pass checks so this makes them have to do that less often since it helps them pass)

My problem is casting it on yourself in front of the NPC ^^ You are basically making obvious your intent to magically influence the outcome of the conversation. I would be really pissed off if someone do that to me xD

Before the patch from what I remember, people complained that using guidance was inconvenient.
It is more of a QoL change, thanks to which you do not have to know where the check will be difficult, then cast it and make a conversation before the end of the spell.

I understand ...

It depeds on situation ... for pickpocketing it certainly could have some consequences.
But if we are talking here about dialogue options ... the other person are just helping our speaker to find the right words ...
Example with [Persuation]: Why would you be mad about the fact, that Shadowheart was praying in the back that you will hear reason in Tav speech? :P

After all, if Tav's attempt will be sucessfull ... you WILL hear reason in his words, and understands that he was actualy right. Therefore, you should be glad that Shadowheart said her prayer.

On the other hand, if Tav fails ... it would make sence that some superstitious primitive would start yelling "they tryed to hex me!"

Guidance and especially Friends are way too convenient to use in BG3. To the point where they should just auto apply both to every roll you ever make because you're always going to use them anyway. There's no downside or requirement of any kind. It's not a meaningful choice to cast them, it's just the tedium of having to click a few times more before rolling the actual check.

And with Friends and Guidance, social skill checks are largely trivial now.

You mean "you" are going to use them all the time? I have never used them, choosing instead to "let the dice fall where they may". How many times do you reload when you use it and it fails anyway? I reload party wipes, but since I'm not playing perma-death, that's to be expected. Dialog choices though? Nope, let the scenario play out however it's rolled.

I don’t use guidance all the time because it wipes your current concentration spell.

Couldn't you give the Harper's hideout necklace to a non-spellcaster to get around this?

The most wierd situation I have with guidance is when I tried to persuade Shadowheart to talk about his past. She guidance me to increase my persuasion skills on her...

Save scumming has nothing to do with a bad mechanic that gives you free bonuses from clicking a button.

I would just axe Guidance from the game entirely. It's impact is actually bigger than being proficient in a skill which is asinine. Friends should go too unless they make the other person become hostile afterwards when they realize they were enchanted and manipulated.

It actually has everything to do with it. Just reading your posts, I get the sense that you struggle with this. Meanwhile, I've never even used it. I also never turned on the loaded dice feature. I'm not adverse to it being there, however, because in the game's SP environment, it has absolutely no bearing on anything I do, or try to do. Since this is the case, I've not been at any of the bonfires, pitchfork in hand, to dictate how others might play their SP campaign. I'm all for more stringent rules in MP, however, and have made that as plain as I possibly can. Just as I never get all that fussed when I read about players that pickpocket merchants, or other NPCs while they're in dialog. Why not? Because I've actually played tabletop, and remember players passing notes to the GM, indicating their intent to do just that, and rolling their checks. So yeah, my curiosity about whether you're save scumming when this tactic doesn't work is very relevant, and very revealing.

You don't understand. I don't save scum. I think Guidance makes success too easy while having no drawbacks or limitations in its use which makes it a no brainer to use every time. It shouldn't be up to the player to choose to play sub-optimally if the game is too easy.

Guidance is a bad mechanic. Save scumming is a choice to ignore the dice and make sure you get the desired result. Those are two different things.

It's on by default, as far as I know.

Except it's not a "no brainer to use every time", because I don't use it at all. This tells me a lot though. You believe that playing the game like I do is playing in a "fail state", meaning that I'm not taking advantage of every possible exploit in a given situation, and so, I'm doing it wrong. I believe that, if a mechanic can be completely ignored, then it's fine. I also believe that anyone that claims to ignore it, but finds it offensive, or a "bad mechanic" is only concerned about what other players might do in their SP environment. My advice? If you think it's bad, don't use it. I never abused Long Rests, and so, missed out on a lot of companion dialog/story advancement. I'm more concerned about adding even a quest marker to a comp when they have something they want to discuss with me, even if it's just on their portrait, than worrying that Joe Casual might use a spell for what it's intended to do, add a bonus to a skill check.


After reading this, I checked, and it is, and so, I turned it off.

Using guidance by itself is not an exploit; it's baked in to the rules of 5e. If you know a check is about to mb made, it's ~expected that you'll cast guidance. The only somewhat exploitative part is that, by casting guidance, you're clearly casting a spell on yourself which NPCs should react to. However, most of them probably won't know what spell you cast; all they'll know is that you cast something.

BG3 would be more interesting if spellcaster NPCs recognized guidance cast during a conversation and reacted to it. Maybe they have a similar reaction as you casting Charm Person on them - loss in approval and/or becoming hostile.

Maybe non-spellcaster NPCs could accusatorily ask you what spell you just cast, and you'd have pass a deception or persuasion check that it was nothing important or else they'd become more hostile to you.

However, implementing the above could be too much work for too little gain. At the very least, it'd be sensible and a simple fix to prevent guidance from being cast while talking to party companions (e.g., SH giving guidance for Tav to persuade her of something).

If I lived in a world where people cast Guidance on themselves, I would think of it as a small prayer that people said before they did certain things. It would feel normal after a while.

It's an odd one because, due to the visible components of the spell, using it right in the middle of conversation should cause issues... especially if it's someone else reaching over to put a hand on you and shouting "Guidance!" (looking at you Jester ^.^)

At the same time... It's very easy to see someone in the middle of a converstion, or example: Throwing up their hands for a moment in exasperation and saying "Oh, for the love of Bahamut would you please listen to me... We need to [etc.,]" that kind of thing wouldn't even raise eyebrows in OUR world (aside the the deity of choice mentioned), and seems like an every-day enough kind of thing.

It is definitely strange getting guided by the very person you're trying to persuade, however...