Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Druid starting armor appearance

Hey all.
I have only recently started a new playthrough with Druid as main character.
This post is to say that I am not very convinced about the top part of Druid starting armor.
The sleevelessness, feathered shoulderpads and the colored brooch just seems to me somewhat power-rangery/zodiac knights.
I find that all the other starting gear looks great and sober and wish Druids could be there too.
Maybe something more cloaky? Following the style of the bottom half of the armor.
Cheers

Funny ...
I see it exactly other way around, Druid and Sorcerer looks awesome (partialy bcs their armor is unique) and others seem quite poor compared to them, in those generic things we get several hundert copies in first few minutes ingame. :-/
(Especialy Rogue and Ranger wich have just recollor ... and i mean recollored sleeves, not even whole armor ... of the same.)

I still hope that Larian will allow us to pick starging gear so both we who want to start subtle and "ready for action" and we who want to start spectacular and "with style" are happy. :P

I love the Druid armor!!!

Not a big fan either.

When I think "druids" I like the archetype "burly men wearing pelts and shit and being expert survivalists in a forest".
I'm not into the trope "hippies and treehuggers decorating themselves with leaves and flowers".

Incidentally i tried to google "druid outfit" to find an example to post and turns out it's incredibly hard to find one that doesn't blow unwashed asses and/or isn't some poorly disguised bedroom fetish.


EDIT - for the lack of a better example, let's say that some elements from the top half of this image would be closer to my liking:



More pelts, cloaks, bags, belts, etc.
Less decorations made out of leaves, feathers, flowers and deer horns.

Well, the last one in particular is one of my personal idiosyncrasies. Can't stand horned helms in general. No one will ever NOT look like an idiot wearing one.

Silly battle helmets with horns a la pop vikings and decorative druid headwear has massively different feels to me.

Same. I don't need a ranger's armor for a character who can shapeshift. When you can travel as a wolf, why bother dressing up in furs.

As in "different flavors of terrible"?

@Tuco you got exactly right what I would hope for as a style for Druids

Decorative should be the important word, giving enemies advantage to attack rolled when weared.

Dont want to be pessimist around here ... we have people for that allready.

But im affraid we dont get any "style for Druids" at all. :-/
So far (including datamined content) it seems like only starting gear (and only for some classes so far) will include some class style ... and after that one will be replaced by something harder/better/faster ... we shall wear that armor, no matter who will put it on.

I mean sure, there is some possibility that "some" armor will be fitting better to druid than to rogue for example ...
But i would not bet on that. :-/

When Josh Sawyer (Obsidian Entertainment) was streaming BG3 last year, he mentioned that WOTC is very particular when it comes to costume design in the games matching the art style of the current edition.

I.e. in NWN2, they were basically forced to follow the fashion rules of 3.5E. One particularly interesting rule was the requirement that all outfits be asymmetrical in some way - from the alignments of a simple belt-strap, to the pauldrons of armor, it just couldn't be symmetrical. Never really noticed it until he pointed it out.

With that said, I'm sure there's room to play within these restrictions. I'm curious as to what the core tenants of fashion 5E are.

Ever get a chance to talk with Josh Sawer ask him how the “Black Bishop” is doing. Doubt he remembers me but I knew him when he was just a gamer. May the Red Knight show you the way.

So I just finished reading the Fabric of Civilization by Virginia Postrel, which is like a broad survey of textiles from the dawn of time to the present. I found it quite well written and an interesting exploration of core technologies that are often overlooked and kind of given short shrift in the broad sweep of world history. Among other things it reframes the Stone Age as the String Age (putting the focus on how the arrowheads and axe heads where affixed), elevates the invention of the spindle as being roughly on par with that of the wheel/axel (and in fact basically the same invention), and does a big deep dive on the subject from several different angles. Some things I'd read and heard about before in different contexts but stitched together in a way that really highlighted how significant textiles were to just about everything that's ever happened in Civilization. Also how we have been so spoiled by the ubiquitousness of cheap thread in the last two centuries that we no longer realize just how important and all consuming this stuff used to be. How until modern times the need for thread was so constant and so pressing, that spinning was not like some quaint domestic activity but really the beating heart of industry and commerce across all classes for most of our history. One tidbit she dropped off the cuff which I enjoyed: the fact that the Sails of ancient naval vessels were more valuable and labor intensive to produce than the ships themselves. After reading that book, I now get the impression that something like a greatcoat or clutch pair of pantaloons just puts a suit of full platemail to shame as a feat of technology and in terms of what was actually required to produce it. Or like why a toga was such a status symbol for the Romans. I think D&D could maybe do something fun with that idea. Like we always take it for granted in these games that a suit of leather or chainmail is inherently more valuable and coveted than a well dyed outfit made of cloth. But maybe it shouldn't be? And maybe we should definitely have a tailor somewhere in the game! hehe

I actually love most of these. I could easily see a lot of druids going with the bottom right option too for the more minimalist-style. Definitely holding my fingers crossed that something like this will be available for rangers later on as I find their starting leather armor nothing short of hideous (not as bad as the blue armor in DoS2 but... Well...). :]

As for druids in general - I like variation! The classic wildman, the new era "hippie" and shaman-style are all viable archetype for druids imo, and I prefer when all of them are included. I mean, I hardly believe the Circle of the Moon, who probably would be more to the wildman/barbarian-style, would have many similarities to the Circle of Stars or Circle of the Land when it comes to looks and typical outfit of choice...

Best case scenario I'd hope for more options when it comes to gear/outfits in general in BG3, including:

1) The concept of Outfits. Allow us to use the looks of gear and simply "paste" it over our stat-gear. I strongly prefer to a separate slot for outfits rather than having a transmog/transmutation system, as it is less of a hassle.
2) Some options when it comes to the looks of the starting equipment. Preferably two or three class-related and maybe one or two racial related (i.e classical human, elven, dwarven etc).
3) I certainly wouldn't say no to armor dyes...

The problem with many outfits or armor in BG3 is that they are too costumey. Too decorated. They don't look or feel like clothes these characters would actually live or travel in. Even starter gear like the Druid Leather Armor. People who live in the wilds don't wear costumes. They wear utilitarian outfits that show a little wear and tear. Nobles in Baldur's Gate might wear costumes and fashionable decorated outfits, but in BG3 everyone does.

Some designs, like the basic Leather Armor or some stuff the NPC's are wearing look more believable. Like the Breastplate Aradin is wearing.

Overall I'd say Larian's designs lack situational awareness and tend to be too overdone and too costumey.

The best part about fantasy games is that it is fantasy and thus does not have to be realistic (I mean, come on - we're literally throwing magic around and having backpacks with as much space as an entire garage). :] I'd advocate for both realistic armor options like the basic leather armor and the breast plate for those who want it, and more elaborate and decorative armor for those who wishes for that. :] Each to their own immersive fantasy!

Sounds basicaly like Transmogrification.

In my opinion single racial, sigle class(ial? :D) and single generic(wich is what old classes have now) would be totally enough.
For example, i really like Cleric starting armor, simple chainmail ... and i would like to have it for my Fighter. :3

Anyway, we are asking for starting gear settings for quite some time ... lets hope someone in Larian noticed. ^_^

Interesting stuff ...
I asked Chubblot in one of his streams and he told me that "some" collor changes on amors in his streams, are just matter of switching few values in code ... so, i would dare to say that this is basicaly almost implemented.

'Too costumey' is definitely a complaint I can get. Some of them are fine I think-the Leather armor and ringmail (after Larian went over it and changed the color palette) look pretty utilitarian to me. Others not so much. The Padded armor (both the default and Asterion's) are really flashy (although I admit I really like the look of both of them as 'fashion')

Things get really 'fantasy armor'-ish real fast when you start taking into account enchanted armor though. Stuff that makes Lae'zel and Shadowheart's armor look subdued and functional. Even the chain shirt and scalemail, which look pretty OK-ish to start with get pretty silly with some +1/2/3 modifiers on them.

I'm not a huge fan of the druid armor, but I do like that the Druid and Sorcerer got unique starting armor that makes playing them feel a bit more immersive. I think it would be marvelous if this got extended to the starting classes as well and maybe even some races like drow and gith. I don't know how likely it would be though.

I'm also a little concerned that whether you like X or Y aesthetic, we are all going to look like clowns at endgame anyways, wearing whatever has the best stats-because the idea that all of these different 'looks' are going to keep getting upgrades over the course of the game seems unlikely. (drow is the most 'supported' look with three varieties, but even then, it's all based off the same armor set with parts added or removed/recolored, all light armor, and nothing with a +1 modifier or better)

Never understood this argument. Yes this is fantasy, yes there is magic and bags of holding and whatnot, but any fantasy world still has grounding in the real world unless otherwise specified. If the worldbuilding doesn't say otherwise, you can assume the gravity in a fantasy world is close to that of the real world, people bleed when they are stabbed, and humans think and behave in ways that make sense to us. It makes sense, for example, if a wizard wears fanciful clothing, because a wizard doesn't have to worry about defensive or practical properties of their gear – they have Mage Armor. It makes sense to have ornamentation on ceremonial, commissioned, or unique gear, but generic? Why would a regular blacksmith decorate every set of plate armor he makes with intricate ornaments? It takes time, effort, and additional skill for no gain. "Because fantasy" only works for things like magic, things that have no equivalent in the real world. For everything else, there has to be an explanation, and handwaving it away with "it's fantasy!" is, frankly, the answer of a poor writer and worldbuilder.

For the actual topic, I don't mind the base armors for the most part, but it does start to get too much with +1 and +2 versions. The design philosophy in general is a little odd. I don't understand why most armors have coats, skirts, and other dangly bits, when the models themselves are rigid. It looks silly when a coat, which should move independently with its own physics or at least canned animations, is magnetized to my character's legs and backside. If they want rigid models that's fine, but why design armors in such a way that it creates the most unflattering image when they're translated from paper?

It's a question of visual style of the game. You can't have both realistic and high fantasy style exist in the same setting. Or you can, but if the baseline is realistic like the Leather Armor, the extravagant designs look ridiculous in context and should also be called out by people living in the game world.

Then there's the fact that characters have photorealistic models, which sets the visual style of BG3 closer to realism regardless of anyones personal preferences. That's why the more high fantasy style armors feel out of place to begin with.