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Joined: Feb 2020
Location: Belgium
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Joined: Feb 2020
Location: Belgium
Hello,

Things have changed so much since the beginning of the Early Access.
It's time to update the list I made a few monthes ago.

I'm not going to focus good things obviously but on issues I have with the game and on things that could be improved (and how) in my opinion.
It was a hard job to write this and I have probably forgot many things... Reading this forum is very inspiring so I'll probably edit it later.

Feel free to ask for details, to correct me, to add your thoughts. We're all here for a better BG3.

First of all : here's a summary of the 76 suggestions without any comments.
Feel free to read below if you want details.


1- COMBATS
1.1 Shove has to become an action
1.2 Hide has to become an action
1.3 The ready action should be implemented
1.4 The dodge action should be implemented
1.5 A charge action should be implemented
1.6 Remove dipping
1.7 Add one free actions per character and per turn in combats
1.8 Jumping should be a free action that consumme speed correctly
1.9 The reactions should work as intended in DnD. See the megathread.
1.10 Weapons attack should be reworked.
1.11 Swap weapons should not be possible anymore after you made an action, a bonus action or a free action during your turn.
1.12 Weapons slots should be fully customisable ( >< 1 melee slot and 1 range slot)
1.13 Weapons range should not be the same for long/short bow/crossbow
1.14 Add the "thrown" properties for weapons.

2- EXPLORATION / LOOT
2.1 Remove the tedious chain system
2.2 Real time with pause outside combats
2.3 Highlight containers outlines, but with different colors.
2.4 Remove item names when we click tab.
2.5 Rationalise the loot inside containers. Improve looting.

3- SURFACE
3.1 Remove healing surfaces.
3.2 Surfaces should always trigger a saving throw at every turn to avoid damages (not to insta break concentration and insta deal damages).
3.3 Tone down surface consumables and features.
3.4 Surface items (arrows, potions), features (spider spitting poison) and spells should never create a surface if the character dodge the attack.
3.5 Less blood on the ground, please.
3.6 Spells should never create a surface and deal direct damage at the same time (chromatic orb like cantrips at the beginning of the EA).
3.7 Pay attention with higher level spells like fireball please.

4--MAGIC
4.1 Ritual spells should definitely be in the game.
4.2 Classes should have a proper spell list. It makes classes unique.
4.3 Everyone should not be able to use scrolls, only (sub)classes that are proficient with magic.
4.4 Divine spell scrolls should only be available for use by divine spellcasters. The same goes for profane magic (not sure it's the name)
4.5 We should not be able to change our prepared spells whenever we want. It should be a camp activity. It would increase the value of long resting and thinking about our next day.

5- DAY/NIGHT CYCLE
5.1 Add day/night cycle that follows the short and long rests.

6- RESTING
6.1 Short rest improvement.
6.2 Long rests and food supply improvement.
6.3 More camp cinematic during a long rest.
6.4 Tone down the urgency in the story
6.5 Temporal rift - camps should be somewhere

7- ITEMS
7.1 More rewarding items.
7.2 More DnD items please.

8- USER INTERFACE
8.1 Rationalize the main UI element.
8.2 Remove useless icons to rationalize the hotbar
8.3 Create category buttons to rationalize the hotbar
8.4 The minimap and the area map should not spoil us.
8.5 Allow us to hide the minimap
8.6 Decouple the minimap with the most important buttons of the game (character sheet, map, inventory, spells,...)
8.7 Character sheet should show us our character's proficiencies.
8.8 Improve the map. Sorry to say, but the map is ugly.
8.9 Fast travel via the worldmap rather than via a list of convenient magical portals.
8.10 Add tabs in the inventory.
8.11 Create beautifull portrait rather than generic one.

9- CONDITIONS
9.1 Don't add too much conditions.

10- COMPANIONS
10.1 Gale should not eat magical items.
10.2 Non-origin companions
10.3 Custom (origin) characters when they're companions

11- SNEAKING / HIDING
11.1 Hearing radius in addition to the vision cone
11.2 Better reaction when the ennemies are attacked by hidden characters.

12- MISC
12.1 Auto jump outside combats, if possible
12.2 No cimematics for dialogs that are not dialogs
12.3 Sneak attack should be automatic
12.4 Rogue should have their expertise feature
12.5 Aradin should not say "form a line"
12.6 Remove the yellow ! when a character want to talk to you.
12.7 Increase the party size to 5
12.8 Allow us to custom a main and a secondary color for all our characters.
12.9 Don't allow us to choose a quest reward, especially when we're in the middle of nowhere and when we're not helping rich people

13- STORY
13.1 Everyone should make dreams, even if you don't use the tadpole.
13.2 Every players should have dream powers. Different powers for tadpole user and for players that don't use it.
13.3 The main character should be the only one to have dreams and powers.
13.4 Reasons to side with Minthara when you meet her looks very uninterresting.
13.5 Hide the grove.
13.6 Goblins at the grove gate should see us and become "hostile" in the cinematic.
13.7 We should not be able to cast 2 level 1+ spells during the same turn.

14- WORLD
14.1 New creature should appear after a while.
14.2 Create "close" combat area (>< wide arena)
14.3 Important area should not be too complicated to reach.
14.4 Encounters/meeting at camp.


1- COMBATS


1.1 Shove has to become an action
The ennemy use it way too much because it is a bonus action. You can experience unexpected game over if you're unlucky. Playing melee characters can be boring because you'll often have to walk a lot to come back in melee. Shove can be used to disengage by the player and the AI. Shove can be use to replace help, in exemple to wake a sleeping character up. Shove is way too powerfull considering the verticality of the game to be a bonus action. A lot of players have said it better than I in other threads

1.2 Hide has to become an action
It's way too easy to have an advantage in melee. It reduce the uniqueness of the rogue class, the only one that should be able to hide as a bonus action. As a bonus action, hiding does not have any trade off. It's not an interresting tactical choice, it's an easy choice. Hiding should not be so easy in combats and on top of that, the AI can't really deal with it. As an action it would be less a thing in combat. It would be a real choice. Here again, a lot of threads are talking about it.

1.3 The ready action should be implemented
1.4 The dodge action should be implemented
1.5 A charge action should be implemented
Charge with any melee weapon : attack with a +2 bonus to attack roll but -1 AC until next round.
Not a charge with the animation, the visual effects and the "rush" mechanic. Just a charge : a character running toward his target then attacking him... As if you were clicking on a target not engaged to attack him in melee (character move and attack right after), but a bit faster.

1.6 Remove dipping.
I thought a lot about it but I can't see anything interresting to do with that. It does not work both visually and mechanically. It's OP, it's boring and it reduce the appeal of +1D4 "elemental damage" weapons.
Guess that's why there are only one in the EA. Cool items are better than dipping.

1.7 Add one free actions per character and per turn in combats
- Take something in someone else's inventory
- Drop an item on the ground
- Equip another item
- Interract with something (lever, door, ladder, ...)
- Jumping
This would be interresting in a tactical game and would create rules, in exemple to prevent using a shortsword in the second hand to attack as a bonus action then equip back a shield or to prevent players to use the best two handed sword with every characters at each turns.

1.8 Jumping should be a free action that consumme speed correctly
Jumping should only cost speed : the good amount of speed depending the distance you jump!
At the moment jumping + moving allow you to move further than if you only move.
This is wierd and boring when you know it because it's the optimal thing to do when you cannot reach a target.
There's a lot of verticality in the game wich is very good, but playing with this verticality should not prevent us to use "reguler" bonus actions.

1.9 The reactions should work as intended in DnD. See the megathread.

1.10 Weapons attack should be reworked.
It's absolutely awesome that we can have more options like we would have in a tabletop session to describe our action. But keep it simple, there are already enough spells and skills and items and rules and conditions (…) to think about or remember when we’re playing a DnD based game.

- Let us use those action as much as we want.
- Those actions should not be more powerfull than basic actions. Let's make them tools rather than "things to use until next time".
- Don't create unnecessary new conditions. It's not required to create great synergies. It's harder to remember and it's not always easy to understand what the effects are usefull for.
- Don't ever make them bonus action

It clearly does not work. Creating a very limited number of new bonus action only have 1 consequence : players (and the AI) have to use them if they want to make optimal moves.
Not using them is like keeping action points for the next turn but loosing them. And no one like this. As a result, we have to use them over and over again or loose our action points.
It would make sense if we had to choose between tons of new homebrew actions but this won't happen.
So please allow us to have a lot of balanced actions and let D&D do what D&D does for action bonuses.
This has too much influence on the uniqueness of the classes, on their balance and on the general balance of resources to use in combats.

- Don't make them specific to a single weapon but to a group of weapon.

It would make more sense, the weapon choice would still really matter but it would allow us to use a larger variety of weapon to do actions we like to play with.
It would be a bit less class dependent and it would be easier to remember them.
In exemple topple for all weapons with the "reach" property, flourish for all the weapons with the "finesse" property... Something like that.

Here are some ideas to rework what we have in the game.
- Topple - inflict prone (no damages)
- Pommel strike - inflict stunned 1 turn (no damages)
- Flourish - Feint an attack to distract the ennemy. The next ally attacking this target have an advantage. (no damages)
- Cleave - attack 3 targets at full damage but you gain 1 level of exhaustion. Normal damages (exhaustion still to implement)
- Weakening Strike: Target an enemy's hands with a non-lethal attack to give disadvantage on its Attack Rolls. Normal damages divided by 2.
- Harmstring shot - Possibly reduce the ennemy's speed by 2. Normal damages divided by 2.

These are choices that are balanced compared to a normal attack, it's may be a lot more possibilities for the players and it does not require any limitations.

1.11 Swap weapons should not be possible anymore after you made an action, a bonus action or a free action during your turn.
Tactical games should have rules, in exemple to prevent players to always take their shield back before they click the "end turn" button.

1.12 Weapons slots should be fully customisable ( >< 1 melee slot and 1 range slot)

1.13 Weapons range should not be the same for long/short bow/crossbow
1.14 Add the "thrown" properties for weapons.


2- EXPLORATION / LOOT

2.1 Remove the tedious chain system
See the mega thread. No one like this system and everyone agree that it does not work well. Characters always have unexpected movement, it's tedious to explore, to ambush, to create group... Nothing is easy nor intuitive with this system.
Changing this would improve BG3 and Larian's next games. Other games have proven that the chain system is not better neither on PC, neither on console.

2.2 Real time with pause outside combats
I said "the words"... Allow us to pause the game outside combat. It would help us to plan, to synchronize, to ambush, to handle a private urgency,... Disable it in multiplayer if you will or make the pause ON only if every player clicked the pause button. Should be possible.

2.3 Highlight containers outlines, but with different colors.
We should be able to highlight all containers with loots inside. At the moment it's really wierd and sometimes boring because despite highlighting : you have to move your mouse on every items that looks like containers to see if it's one or not.
Many players complaints that there are too many containers in the game but the issue raised is more that it takes too much time to open everything.
Highlighting the outline of all containers with different colors would be a great QoL improvement.
- Nothing : nothing inside
- Yellow : items inside
- Red : you'll have trouble but there's something inside

2.4 Remove item names when we click tab.
It's perfectly fine for specific containers names and creatures names in my opinion.
But it's really wierd when you're right next to a table and when a wall of text covering the entire screen appear. And it's even wierder if you move your camera.
I suggest not to write the name of items used as "decorations". Just highlight them with the good color (yellow or red in my previous exemple) and add a popup with the item description if the player point his mouse on the item.

2.5 Rationalise the loot inside containers. Improve looting.
There are too much containers with nothing interresting inside. It's fine to have sometimes a container with a bone or with 3 gold inside it... But it happen way too much in BG3.

Regroup loot in less containers and/or add more interresting things to loot.

My biggest dissapointment is always when I open the goblins treasure...There are 7 chests.
In my last playtrough I got : [4 gold], [9 gold + 1 junk necklace], [112 gold + Selune's amulet], [27 gold + a magical helmet], [empty], [12 gold], [102 gold].
3 of them are perfectly fine... But 4 of them are absolutely not necessary. Remove 3 chests or mark them as empty when highlighted and make one of them with [3 cheap gems + 1 junk necklace + 25 gold].

Right now, I have often have the feeling to loose my time and I don't feel often rewarded when I'm opening containers.
Jewels, gems, luxurious tableware are interresting junk loots because they shout "money".
Anything else is usually a dissapointment. I don't think many of us enjoy to move our mouse on every items inside containers to read the popup and see their value before choosing to take them or not (or being full of junk items).
Looting could definitely be better.


3- SURFACE

3.1 Remove healing surfaces.
It does not make any sense and it makes everyone a better healer than healer (AOE + more items to heal than spellslots). It does not add anything to the game.
3.2 Surfaces should always trigger a saving throw at every turn to avoid damages (not to insta break concentration and insta deal damages).

3.3 Tone down surface consumables and features.
In combats ennemies that can create surfaces do it too often. it happens with poison a lot. And sometimes spiders are just spitting poison for turns without moving (or kiting you) because they think poison is cool. It's not,especially when it's the last spider.
Same with consumables. Every ennemies don't have to have a ranged attack. Keep them for specific ennemies (body guards, bosses,...).

3.4 Surface items (arrows, potions), features (spider spitting poison) and spells should never create a surface if the character dodge the attack.

3.5 Less blood on the ground, please.

3.6 Spells should never create a surface and deal direct damage at the same time (chromatic orb like cantrips at the beginning of the EA).
Chromatic orb is interresting because it deals 3D8 damages. In exemple against ennemies resistant to anything but fire or vulnerable to fire, chromatic Orb won't ever deal 3D8 direct damage in its current implementation.
For such spells, let us choose to target the ground to create a surface (AOE size + duration depending the spell level) or to target the ennemy.
This could work for all DnD spells without area of effect.
For others, see 3.7

3.7 Pay attention with higher level spells like fireball please.
Surfaces in DoS and BG3 never consider what is flamable and what is not. That's fine but a fireball in DnD is not supposed to ignite what is not flamable in his area of effect.
Many players like surfaces but many players don't/won't enjoy playing BG3 with surfaces everywhere. Please consider this, as you did with cantrips.
The best solution would probably be to allow us to use the spells as intended in DnD AND an alternative version that allows us to play with surfaces. In exemple it could be a toggle like metamagic or a choice between two new buttons (ground/targets) when you first clicked the "fireball" button.

Combining both at the same time may be unpleasant for many players, especially when higher levels will be available.


4--MAGIC

4.1 Ritual spells should definitely be in the game.
Not everyone of them, identify and detect magic wouldn't be usefull in BG3. But some spells should not consume any spellslot outside combats like speak with animals.
Playing the druid just make me realize how much content I missed because using spellslots to speak with animals was boring.
It should be possible even for some spells that are not ritual in DnD, like speak with the dead. Prayer of healing would be cool too, but probably OP without any limitation.

4.2 Classes should have a proper spell list. It makes classes unique.

4.3 Everyone should not be able to use scrolls, only (sub)classes that are proficient with magic.

4.4 Divine spell scrolls should only be available for use by divine spellcasters. The same goes for profane magic (not sure it's the name)

4.5 We should not be able to change our prepared spells whenever we want. It should be a camp activity. It would increase the value of long resting and thinking about our next day.


5- DAY/NIGHT CYCLE

Day and Night cycle is a MUST HAVE in such a game and it does not have to be over complicated to add a lot of flavor to the experience.
The resting system already implemented in the game could work very well with a D/N cycle (2 short rest + 1 long rest).

5.1 Add day/night cycle that follows the short and long rests.

A- At the beginning of the journey it's the morning.
B- After you click on the short rest button for the first time it's noon.
C- After you click on the short rest button for the second time it's the evening.
D- After you click the long rest button you're at camp during the night to sleep. Then you start again at 1)

Three differents atmospheres and between them : a short cinematic like a time lapse or a "time lapse" in the game's engine.
Ofc you can take your long rest even if you haven't click on the short rest button. The cinematic is just a bit longer (from morning to midnight).

* This would add something that is really missing in BG3 : a notion of time. It would increase the feeling that the world is living a lot.
* But this feeling of a living world could also be improved with other (optionnal) features :
- Every NPCs does not have to be somewhere else if the cycle has changed, but some could do different things.
- Some ennemies could appear only during a specific cycle. In exemple the first time you cross the wood during the evening, there could be a combat against a few wolves. Some bandits could appear in the blighted village in the morning if you killed the goblins,... It opens the game to many possibilities.
- Meteo effects could also be a thing with an easy transition (1 “random” effect / cycle)
* It would also improve the short rest mechanic, giving it a real meaning without breaking the flow of the game.
* It could also add variation in the gameplay mechanics (light / hide - easier to hide during the evening, to steal a sleeping character,...) and a lot more gameplay variation for players.

There are enough potential to make the D/N cycle something really awesome.

That said, even the most basic D/N cycle (without any changes to NPCs, without any changes to light,..) would greatly improve the game just by adding a concept of time.
I'm not playing multiplayer but if players have to long/short rest at the same time, there's no issue with this system.


6- RESTING

6.1 Short rest improvement.

Short rests are 100% wierd and should be more than a button to regain a few HP.
As I said just above, a D/N cycle triggered by resting would improve the sequence but it should mechanics to play with.
That's how it works in DnD and that's definitely how it should work in BG3.

First of all, let's see what the DnD rebalancing mod have done...
Quote
- Short Rest puts the characters in a standby mode and provides them with 2 new spells
Regain Hit Points: spend 1 Hit Die to recover its value plus the character's Constitution Modifier
End Short Rest: Ends the Short Rest standby mode
- Long Rest recharges half the character's level worth of Hit Dice (rounded up)

It's a mod so probably not "the best" but you get the idea.
Think about Solasta to have another idea. It works very well, it's tactically interresting and it's a part of the gameplay.

A- When you click the short rest button, the characters enter in a standby mode, sitting on the ground in circle or whatever you want.
B- When you select a character, a new short rest window appear with clickable hit dices and with clickable classes features usables during short rests (in exemple arcane recovery)
C- You select what you want to use for every characters.
D- You click the "stop resting button"
E- (The D/N cycle cinematic or time lapse trigger)

You recover all your hit dices during long rest. It's not necessary to implement RAW about hit dice recovery in my opinion. Keep it simple.


6.2 Long rests and food supply improvement.

Long/short rest are a core mechanic of DnD. It's based on time and the restriction is : 1 long rest / day.
Without any restriction, the spellslot system is broken and features you recover while resting don’t have any sense. The differences between classes or their uniqueness are toned down a lot.

Just like in DnD, the game should have rules to determine when we can rest and when we cannot.
Managing our features and spellslots wisely should matter in a tactical game like BG3.

Patch 5 introduced the supply system.
The rule is : "you need enough food to long rest", but in the game it works like this : "you can rest when you want because you'll find tons of supply".

The best solution I can think of would be an option to change the supply value of food to 0.
I did not try not to use any food yet, but I think it would be pretty well balanced if we were only able to use supply bags (not too hard, not too easy).
Of course supply bags should be well distributed in the world and they should be easy to find (i.e don't put them in a hidden container).

With such an option, players could tune their experience for a more challenging one or "unlimited" long rest.
With a few supply bags and food available at merchants, whetever our options we would never be stucked and planning our adventure and our days would matter with the option to turn food off enabled.

6.3 More camp cinematic during a long rest.
Dreams, Raphael, Companions cinematics... The system itself require the player to rest not to miss content. It does not work well with a system builded to be restrictive.
We should be able to experience all unlocked cinematics uduring a single long rest. This would prevent "spamming long rest not to miss content". I think patch 6 has changed things a bit. Not 100% sure.

6.4 Tone down the urgency in the story
The story is telling way too much like "resting = turning into a Mindlflayer". It create some kind of duality opposing the story and the mechanics.
It's absolutely fine to create a feeling of urgency, but not if the fake doesn't look real. I think it would be better to learn faster that the tadpole does not have the expected effects on the party member.
Hearing more people saying "we should have changed, why haven't we ?" or "This guy had a tadpole but never changed" would create a better synergy between the story and the mechanic than hearing constantly "hurry, we're going to turn into mindflayer if we rest".
If resting too much doesn't have any consequences, it should be obvious in the story.

6.5 Temporal rift - camps should be somewhere
When we click the long rest button we’re teleported somewhere… nowhere to be correct.
The camp should definitely be somewhere on the map. It’s really weird at the moment.
It should be "easy" for the main camp and the underdark camp but it's something else for other mini camps. I guess it would be better if all camps were somewhere but I think it would already be better if we had a camp on the surface and a camp in the underdark.


7- ITEMS

7.1 More rewarding items.
JandK summarize well my thought about many items in another thread. It's gonna be easier to quote him than explaining myself.
Itemization is not really good in my opinion whatever we're talking about armors (gloves,...) and weapons. I'm always glad to find a magical items but most of them are just items I'll never use or have any pleasure to use.

Originally Posted by JandK
There are a lot of disappointing weapons and armor, in my opinion. Here are a few that come to mind:

1. Phalar Aluve: this is a named sword stuck in stone that you can get by engaging in a blood ritual. It turns out to be a +1 sword, same as what the blacksmith Dammon offers (who, I might add, scoffs at his own inventory, insisting he could do better in a more stable environment).

2. Mourning Frost: this is listed as a "legendary" item. It's a staff that was broken into three parts, each held by a rival drow. What does it do? Nothing, unless you happen to be holding it while you cast a cold spell, and then it adds a single point of damage. This qualifies as legendary?

3. Adamantine Armor and Weapons: surely all the world would know of the great Adamantine Forge if it were active again, for surely such a forge would upset the balance of all the known realms... wait, what? You mean Dammon the refugee blacksmith makes better stuff? Oh, okay, hmm. (Please, please, pretty please fix this.)

4. Sorrow: sure, it's neat for story purposes, but taking a point of damage yourself every time you use it to damage an opponent? While I appreciate the story aspect and the feeling of it, who is actually using this thing? That's the point. No one wants to use a weapon like this, not without a benefit that makes the drawback worthwhile. A point of damage is a lot of damage to worry about when you're navigating combats and healing potions. I'm trying to avoid damage while dealing damage, not hurt myself. So the cool weapon that used to be owned by the paladin of Shar goes unused. (I know I can't be the only one who really wants to use this for the flavor.)

5. Ritual Axe & Loviatar's Scourge: again, I appreciate the flavor, and I can accept it with these two weapons. But I wish the benefit of using them was balanced a little better... something to tempt me into using them despite the heavy drawback.

6. Githyanki weapons: these swords that do psychic damage seem interesting at first, but they only work when the target is at less than 50% health? I'd rather have something consistent. Really, I don't want to be calculating current hit points in the middle of a fight to figure out which weapon is best to use. I like the flavor of the weapons, and I'd at least like to be able to give one of them to Lae'zel (especially since the combat to get them is so difficult, it would feel like a real prize). But there's no benefit for Lae'zel to carry one, at least at the moment. She already has better options in either the Everburn Blade or the Sword of Justice.

7. Shortsword of First Blood: I actually like this sword a lot, but I wish it had a +1 enchantment. It's a sword that's best used in the primary hand so that it gets the first strike, but it lacks that +1, making it less likely to hit, and thus not as useful in the primary hand. This always leaves me feeling a little disappointed, and I inevitably decide not to use it.

8. Blooded Greataxe: meh, another one of those weapons that only works when the target has less than 50% of their hit points. Things like this are better in theory than they actually turn out being in practice.

9. Ritual Staff: you get this from goblins, and it looks cool. But it's just a cool looking quarterstaff with a cool name. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, it's just that it gets your hopes up when you first see it, and then you're quickly disappointed because it doesn't live up to your expectation.

10. Dragon's Grasp: it deals extra damage to targets that are already burning. Kind of neat, I guess, but it's such a rare thing to be able to take advantage of. I suppose you could work it into some sort of strategy, but all of that seems like more effort than it's worth.

11. Sword of Screams: I love Nere as a villain, and I love the look of this sword, and the name of it is ... wow, what a great name, and then I get it, and... it's not terrible. It doesn't say so in the listing, but it does an extra 1d4 in psychic damage, and that's okay. But... a part of me was hoping this sword was what gave Nere the "Shield of Screams" ability he displays in combat.

12. Shields, any of them: not a single shield with a +1 anywhere? You'd think there'd be at least one somewhere; in fact, Minthara's Iron Banded Shield is listed as a +1 on the overall wiki page, but it's not. It's just a standard shield.

13. Simple Robes: so many of these NPCs look good, and then you take their loot and get simple robes that look like generic simple robes. I'd like some more interesting looks, and I keep feeling disappointed. I get that this is early access, but there's a lot to be said for how the outfits look.

14. Dark Justiciar Helm: I was hoping this would look like the helmet of Shar that's found in the Blighted Village, only that it would have enhanced properties (and maybe a dark jewel embedded within). So I was disappointed in the look of it, to start. But I was also disappointed when I realized that it only gave a +1 to saves in limited circumstances. Which I guess is better than nothing, and it also protects against crits, which is great. Still. I don't know. I guess I want Shadowheart to wear it, for flavor, which means I want it to look great *and* I want the benefit to clearly outweigh other potential choices for her, like Wapira's Crown, for instance.

15. Dark Justiciar Mask: this is another item I really want to consider for Shadowheart, but a +1 to intimidate isn't enticing enough for a piece of head gear. I can understand how some players might mix and match items depending on the circumstances in the game. Like, a player might put the mask on if they know an "intimidation" role is coming, but that's not really how I enjoy playing. I'd much rather find a stable and consistent outfit.

Anyway, I'm sure there are more items, but these are ones that immediately come to mind.

And it's worth mentioning, there are plenty of pieces of armor and weapons that I *do* like. This is just a list of ones I particularly found disappointing for one reason or another.

ETA: Oh, I almost forgot one. Also:

16. Light of Creation: awesome weapon, but it has the chance to stun the wielder? C'mon, isn't that a little harsh? I guess it would be understandable if the chance was something like 5-10%, but from what I gather, it's not. It's more like 25-30%, meaning you're getting stunned every 3 to 4 times you use the weapon. That's a lot. It basically makes this weapon unusable, removing it from any reasonable consideration. But consider, if it only had a chance to stun the wielder every 10 to 20 hits, well, I could see someone being more likely to take that chance and enjoy the flavor of the weapon.

7.2 More DnD items please. There is a huge list of items in the DMG that really looks interresting.
More than the homebrew items, to be honnest.

8- USER INTERFACE

8.1 Rationalize the main UI element.
The user interface takes too much place on the screen and/or is not well organized.
This is a picture of the UI in BG3. The area on the screen without any UI is too small and/or too divided.

Just check other games like Pathfinder, Wasteland 2, Solasta... Some informations only appear when your put your mouse on an ennemy and/or click tab in exemple.
It works really well and the big "shadowheart/health bar/level/(de)buff things easily" window would not be necessary anymore.
If the log was really on the bottom of the screen (with reactions somewhere else) it would also improve what we see.

Rationalize please and offer us a better overview of the battlefield.

8.2 Remove useless icons to rationalize the hotbar
See GM4's thread : https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=796188&page=1

8.3 Create category buttons to rationalize the hotbar
The hotbar is a mess and it's gonna be worse at higher levels. Create buttons that opens a "category" of "items".
Consumables, Ammo, Scrolls, Features, Spell level 1, Spell level 2, Actions, Bonus actions,...
Click the "consummables button" would open a small window "like when you use hex or chromatic orb" with all items you have in your inventory.
This is just exemples but I guess you'll have the idea.

This suggestion consider that you'll keep a hotbar. I personnaly don't think a hotbar is the best in such a game but anyway.

8.4 The minimap and the area map should not spoil us.
See Flooter's thread : https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=798761#Post798761

8.5 Allow us to hide the minimap
8.6 Decouple the minimap with the most important buttons of the game (character sheet, map, inventory, spells,...)

8.7 Character sheet should show us our character's proficiencies.
8.8 Improve the map. Sorry to say, but the map is ugly.
8.9 Fast travel via the worldmap rather than via a list of convenient magical portals.
See the thread I made monthes ago to understand what I'm talking about : https://forums.larian.com/ubbthread...ords=worldmap&Search=true#Post727461
A worldmap for the surface and for the underdark would solve the issue I was talking about.

8.10 Add tabs in the inventory.
Sort things is good, but only see what you want to see is also interresting, especially in a game that has a lot of junk items.

8.11 Create beautifull portrait rather than generic one.
It's easy for origin characters and monsters. A bit harder for custom characters. It would add a lot of flavor to the game.

9- CONDITIONS

9.1 Don't add too much conditions.
I won't go into details but there are too much conditions in my opinion. It's just impossible to remember what conditions is usefull for.
Best exemple is the new weapons actions conditions. Keep it te most simple as possible please.

10- COMPANIONS

10.1 Gale should not eat magical items.
It's wierd and boring.

10.2 Non-origin companions
Such a game deserve variety in companions choices.

Every companion does not have to be an origin companions with a tadpole met during act 1 and everyone of them does not have to have a side quest all along the game.

Halsin or Nettie would make great companions. Aradin's company is dead. Why shouldn't he join us to find Nightsong and walk with us to Baldur's Gate ?
This is just exemples but there are plenty of NPC that could have a valid reason to side with us in the world without being origin companions.
It would be awesome to have a lot more choices an to meet people all along the game.

10.3 Custom (origin) characters when they're companions
Being able to custom origin characters when they are companions would be awesome.
Everything cannot be custom of course... Races, classes, models... But some subclasses could, skill proficiencies, abilities, cantrips or spells learned definitely could.
It would be cool to give us as much control as possible to custom our party.

11- SNEAKING / HIDING

11.1 Hearing radius in addition to the vision cone

Hiding and sneaking are really not interresting mechanics in BG3 because there's almost 0 challenge.
Bonus action + turn based mode outside combats + check only if you're in front of an ennemy makes it way too easy and unbalanced.
The stealth skill is useless and a heavy armored fighter can easily sneak whatever it's goal.

A 360 hearing radius, eventually with a lower DC than when you're in the vision cone would really help to make this mechanic better.
On top of that, it would really increase the value of characters builded to sneak (dexterity, stealth proficiency, armors,...) compared to other for players that like sneaking and hiding.

11.2 Better reaction when the ennemies are attacked by hidden characters.
Ennemies attacked bu hidden characters should always come closer and look all arround.
It make sense... When an arrow comes in your back, the archer is behind... When it comes on your right, the archer is obviously on your right.

As a result, depending your position you'll have one or two hidden turn then you'll enter the vision cone or the hearing area. Stealth check would then determine if you're still hidden or not.
On top of that, players could in exemple use 2 archers, one on the left and one on the right to disrupt ennemies and really play with a coherent stealth mechanic.

This would make more sense and would be funnier that "if they don't see you, they recover their health".

12- MISC

12.1 Auto jump outside combats, if possible
12.2 No cimematics for dialogs that are not dialogs
If we cannot answer anything, we don't have to see a cinematic. A text popup upon their head would be better and would not break the flow of the game without any reason.

12.3 Sneak attack should be automatic
12.4 Rogue should have their expertise feature
12.5 Aradin should not say "form a line"
12.6 Remove the yellow ! when a character want to talk to you.
Characters should say something if they want to talk, or they should come to talk... This yellow ! is really awefull.

12.7 Increase the party size to 5
Many players in the megathread, in survey, reddit, discord or other forums talked about this. A lot of players are saying that 4 is not enough but 6 is too much. Why not 5 ?

12.8 Allow us to custom a main and a secondary color for all our characters.

12.9 Don't allow us to choose a quest reward, especially when we're in the middle of nowhere and when we're not helping rich people.
It smells mmorpg too much and it doesn't make sense. With a better itemization, it would not be necessary.


13- STORY

13.1 Everyone should make dreams, even if you don't use the tadpole.
You miss too much story content if you don't use the tadpole and dreams are a great way to make the story engaging.

13.2 Every players should have dream powers. Different powers for tadpole user and for players that don't use it.
Great reference to the old games and the game does not reward you more if you play a certain way than another.

13.3 The main character should be the only one to have dreams and powers.
The main character is going to be special at some point. The main character has to have it's own story and it should not happen after 30+ hours.
Once again, origin characters are way more interresting than Tav because Tav is just an origin character without anything special. Tav should be special.
Of course if your main character is an origin character (not available yet), he should have the same special story with dreams and powers.
Players have to feel that their character is not just the same as everyone else.

13.4 Reasons to side with Minthara when you meet her looks very uninterresting.
At this point you don't know much about the Absolute and the "evil side" and Minthara only offer you to become her minion and to kill the druids for an artefact you have in your pocket...

13.5 Hide the grove.
We already talked about this a lot but it looks ridiculous that the goblins don't find the grove, especially because there is a massive door and a "lever" to open it. Nothing is hidden.
The hidden door look coherent. The big castle gate doesn't.

13.6 Goblins at the grove gate should see us and become "hostile" in the cinematic.
It doesn't make sense that we can only side with the druids/tieffelin in this battle especially considering that becoming friend with the goblins is a big part of act 1.
Ofc it shouldn't be possible to side with them at this point, so it would be more coherent if they were shown as hostile right in the cinematic.

13.7 We should not be able to cast 2 level 1+ spells during the same turn.
Casters / sorcerer will be way too OP with higher spell levels.


14- WORLD


14.1 New creature should appear after a while.
In exemple, in the forest after 2 or 3 long rests. Or in the blighted village a few long rest after you kill the goblins.
The world feel way too frozen at the moment.

14.2 Create "close" combat area (>< wide arena)
Arena are particularly interresting for ranged classes but martial classes are much more interresting to play in closed area.
The game should contain both kind of environment in my opinion, both inside or outside.

14.3 Important area should not be too complicated to reach.
Obviously thinking about the forge in grymforge. It was a pain to go there and without the good strenght to jump or the good spells/items to mysti step, not sure there's a path.
I had to Mysti step then cheat the TP runes with other characters, which is terrible.
It's fine for small secret area (a chest or something), but not for so importnt area. Everyone should be able to reach such area.

14.4 Encounters/meeting at camp
We’re not sleeping in a temporal rift accessible only by players or in a fortress : Resting in the wild should not always be totally free of meetings.
Encounters at camp could be combats but they could also be dialogs leading to a combat, a peacefull or an unexpected outcome/
Let's say something enter the camp to rob us, someone see him... dialogs with a few checks - you gave money / peacefull solution / combat.

Encounters at camp would add a tension to the game, would make the world more alive / dangerous and would increase the need to manage our ressources.
In act 1 an average player is resting what... 10 to 15 times ? A few "encounters/dialogs" would add flavor to the game and to long rest.

That's it for now.

Last edited by Maximuuus; 08/11/21 02:32 PM.

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I agree with almost all of these, and I could live with the ones I don't fully agree with. If they were to implement this entire list, the game would be so much better.

The main one I disagree with is party size 5. But people can read the megathread for the reasons why I pushed for a party of six and I know that one is still in heavy debate.

One of the only things I can think of to add would be the ability to create more custom characters for your party that you can switch in and out. What I mean is right now I can create a party of four custom characters using multiplayer work around. It would be nice to have the ability in single player mode to create our own custom characters and add or remove them from the adventuring party as we want. The functionality is already there for multiplayer oh, so why not just let us have the ability in single player?

Oh, and an option for proper D&D monster stats. I didn't see that one listed.

Anyway, serious congratulations and kudos to you for putting this together. If they just took your list and ran with this, I think it would shut a lot of people up.

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Then explain what quicken spell metamagic should do, if not let you cast additional spells? You're limited as it is.

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Originally Posted by Imora DalSyn
Then explain what quicken spell metamagic should do, if not let you cast additional spells? You're limited as it is.

In DnD you cannot cast 2 level 1+ spells in the same turn.
Quicken spell allow you to cast a level 1+ spell and a cantrip. Or a fireball as a bonus action then a regular action... but not 2 fireballs / turn, which would be pretty OP smile

Last edited by Maximuuus; 08/11/21 02:40 PM.

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They must have changed it along the courses then because I played older versions and it works as I mentioned. Guess that metamagic is completely useless then. Cantrips suck.

But I get your concerns. 4 round time stop plus quicken spell plus delayed blast fireball in one of my old tabletop sessions was 1200 damage upfront lol.

Still. Makes the metamagic useless when I can just twin spell the fireball for the same effect.

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They probably won't let you twin Fireball, but we'll see. I know that they won't let you twin certain spells like Magic Missile, which I can do in Solasta. So, it'll be interesting to see what they allow you to do and what they won't.

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I wholeheartedly agree with the spirit of this list.

Details...

Pommel Strike can't inflict Stun, or we will have very OP and easily achieved stunlocks on our hands.

Dipping would be fine and make sense if it required a consumable instead of being a "no-brainer always do".

I would rather not throw an exhaustion mechanic on top of everything for weapon abilities or generic combat moves. An AC penalty could work well enough if you attempt something special like Cleave or Topple. It makes sense you have to lower your guard to do special moves. A more controversial option could be a HP cost. HP are an abstract that include stamina after all.

Special mention for healing surfaces and healing clouds from potions. Remove without delay, please. This is not Diablo 3 where healing balls are collected from the battlefield. This is not how potions work in the Forgotten Realms and is non-negotiable.

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Fully agree with the OP.

I'm not sure if I missed it above, but Prone should not make you lose concentration and your next turn...

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Originally Posted by Imora DalSyn
Still. Makes the metamagic useless when I can just twin spell the fireball for the same effect.
RAW, you can't twin fireball. You can only twin spells that have a single target. Twin is still more powerful than Quicken, but not so much more powerful that quicken is useless. Honestly the ~best use for Quicken is to be able to cast a spell and then take a normal action (hide, disengage, dodge). [For more conversation about this - whether it is a good or bad rule - let's move to the dedicated Quicken Metamagic thread here]

I'll post later about these suggestions Maximuuus. Most I agree with, but there are some I either strongly disagree with (e.g., Stun as a weapon action - don't mess with the action economy) or think aren't worth the effort. But good job compiling all this; thanks for all the effort you put in!

Last edited by mrfuji3; 08/11/21 04:16 PM.
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14.1 New creature should appear after a while.
In exemple, in the forest after 2 or 3 long rests. Or in the blighted village a few long rest after you kill the goblins.
The world feel way too frozen at the moment.

14.4 Encounters/meeting at camp
We’re not sleeping in a temporal rift accessible only by players or in a fortress : Resting in the wild should not always be totally free of meetings.
Encounters at camp could be combats but they could also be dialogs leading to a combat, a peacefull or an unexpected outcome/
Let's say something enter the camp to rob us, someone see him... dialogs with a few checks - you gave money / peacefull solution / combat.

Encounters at camp would add a tension to the game, would make the world more alive / dangerous and would increase the need to manage our ressources.
In act 1 an average player is resting what... 10 to 15 times ? A few "encounters/dialogs" would add flavor to the game and to long rest.


This would be what I was looking for with my suggestion for Random Encounters. You kill goblins in Bogrot, return a day later and get attacked by giant spiders or SOMETHING else that may have taken residence since the last time you were there... Or maybe 2 days after you cleared it out. Something.

Last edited by GM4Him; 08/11/21 04:19 PM.
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Thought of another one. Dialogues tied to short rest camps and not just long rest. Obviously some are going to still need to be tied to long rest, but not a good majority of them. Gale's Go to Hell and Mirror, are just 2 examples.

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Your list is amazing, I have absolutely nothing to add, it's perfect. Congratulations.

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Quote
10.1 Gale should not eat magical items.
It's wierd and boring.

Weird, sure. But boring? Could you explain why you feel that way?


Larian, please make accessibility a priority for upcoming patches.
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Originally Posted by Flooter
Quote
10.1 Gale should not eat magical items.
It's wierd and boring.

Weird, sure. But boring? Could you explain why you feel that way?

Because I don't like to loose my best items for such reasons. Annoying may be a better word than boring ?


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1- COMBATS - I suggest modifications to 1.5 (charge action) and 1.10 (weapon actions)
1.5 A charge action should be implemented
1.10 Weapons attack should be reworked.
A "charge" action should only be a weapon ability, not a generic ability. Which I think it already is with the spear...? But it should still provoke Attack of Opportunities, possibly at advantage. Don't give out free disengage.

I agree that weapon abilities should not be limited usage and importantly should have significant drawbacks. I disagree with all of your examples except for Weakening and Hamstring. Topple and Flourish should just be the Shove Prone and Help action respectively, and Pommel Strike is OP and steps on the toes of the monk class. Don't mess with the (enemy) action economy.

Cleave is okay, but only if Larian implements other sources of exhaustion in BG3 (e.g., adventuring for too long without resting) but also discourages frequent long resting. Otherwise it's a fairly weak penalty. I suggest that all of the cleave attacks are made at disadvantage.

3 - SURFACE - I emphasize 3.6 (deal direct damage to single target OR creature surface, never both)..
Being able to target a creature for direct damage or the ground for more widespread, but less damage is the best of both worlds. The most important aspects are:
- There should never be guaranteed damage from these types of spells (that RAW do no damage on a miss). If you target a character, a miss does 0 damage. If you target the ground, characters should get a ST to entirely avoid surface damage.
- There should rarely be multiple instances of damage (except for specific spells like Magic Missile and Acid Arrow)

6- RESTING - I emphasize 6.1 (short rest improvement) and 6.5 (Camp should have a physical location)
6.1 Short rest improvement. I strongly agree that short rests should be more than the click of a button. Certain cutscenes/companion dialogue should be available during short rests, and you should be able to choose what resources to regain (hit dice, arcane recovery, etc)
6.5 Temporal rift - camps should be somewhere - yes

10- COMPANIONS - I disagree with 10.1 (Gale & magical items). It's fine for Gale to eat a few magical items; we are given many. But we should have a choice in what items to feed him. I.e., he shouldn't ask for a specific item, and if we don't feed him that one he (spoiler). We should be able to say "No" and he'll ask for a different one.

11- SNEAKING / HIDING - I emphasize 11.1 (hearing radius in addition to sight cone)

12- MISC - I disagree with 12.3 (Sneak Attack should be automatic). It should be a toggle.

Edit: I'll again say that this is a great summary and compilation of issues. Thanks Maximuuus!

Last edited by mrfuji3; 08/11/21 05:23 PM.
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Thanks for the write-up Maximuuus. Great summary smile

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Agree with pretty much on the list. Great work Maximuuus!

Just wanted to add something to 2.3 . Objects should not be red when highlighted unless you succeed on a perception check, ie find traps. Same goes for hidden objects not being highlighted without perception.

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1. Shove IS a bonus action BUT has conditions applied.

1) You need to be bigger or of the same size as the "object"
2) You need a shield and be proficient at using them
3) Goblins = small, Human = medium = Goblins cannot push humans even with a shield.....Unless a goblin is thrown at you by an Ogre or something.
4) Even if the creature is of the same size a saving throw must be passed to resist and/or dodge said shove.

Goblins weigh 40lbs/18kg on average, the size of a small child. A half Orc barbarian with 19 ST could pick two goblins up by the feet and dual wield them as clubs.

Otherwise I pretty much agree.

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From your list I especially hope they add nonorigin companions and ritual casting.😊

Disagree with not being able to cast 2 spells. I love casting Misty Step + another spell or a healing spell + another spell!

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Originally Posted by Icelyn
From your list I especially hope they add nonorigin companions and ritual casting.😊

Disagree with not being able to cast 2 spells. I love casting Misty Step + another spell or a healing spell + another spell!

Can't speak for everyone but I think most people have no issues with misty step + another spell since Misty Step is a bonus action spell.

The main problem with Larians implementation of Quicken, is that it turns every spell into a bonus action spell, as it should(that's the point of Quicken after all smile ) but at the same time removed the prohibition to cast another leveled spell during the same turn making it OP(ie, able to cast two fireballs for example) and also lessened the value of Twin Spell.

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