Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General The One D&D project. Thoughts?

monsters aren't designed the way players are to begin with, its never a symmetrical fight. 5e is already very unpredictable due to use of the d20 dice.

Also, with crits limited to weapon attacks, it becomes difficult to determine which monster skills/dice could even crit. Really this isn't about putting fluffy mittens on monsters, in reality they drastically lowered player max damage with the critical changes, if monsters were still rolling crits like before, they would be comparitively stronger than previously. In fact, they are probably still stronger.

biggest player crit in New system is like +1d12. monsters biggest crits on attacks are like +5d10+9


they may change it back, or tweak it more before final, but keep in mind many things are changing, so you can't look at one change in a vacuum.

Yes, Firebolt and such scale with level, but so do class abilities like Sneak Attack. When you consider that, 2d10 on a CRIT is nothing compared to a Rogue CRIT with Sneak Attack 3d6. Think about it. Rogue wields a Rapier. 1d8 +3d6 with Sneak Attack. CRIT. 2d8+6d6. Yeah. Slightly more powerful than 2d10.

That said, it is relative to a higher power wizard spell or a cleric Guiding Bolt, etc. But again, that's the point. Mages not able to crit nerfs them. And remember, most powerful wizard spells don't make you roll to hit. They make targets roll save throws for half damage, so Crits aren't possible for spells like lightning bolt or fireball. They're only possible for spells like Firebolt where you roll to hit.

the new healer feat let's you reroll +1s in addition to the first effect, the first effect isn't limited to once per long rest. So essentially, you can use the heal a number of times per day, equal to the players level (how many die they have)

so, old heal was 6-30 hp once per day, new heal is 6-(20*d8+20*proficiency bonus per day or 200hp) per day

but let's say you don't want to count their healing die, since before they could use it themselves. but if you do it, you add proficiency bonus per die use, and reroll 1s on their proficiency die.

with 20 die, and 6 proficiency, thats a difference of at least 120 more healing. and it makes hit die more generally useful, and not requiring short rests.

for the alert mechanic, you can effectively always go first due to the swap mechanic. Immersion wise the swap could represent you being alert to your fellow players reactions, not just the enemy 'alert bard notices the thief turn his head, and acts instead of him, or you rouse some one who wouldn't have been paying attention.

its a straight up better feat at controlling the parties initiative, or going first.

The more I read 5e lingo, the more the system comes off as an MMORPG (not as much as 4e, of course :), but, even so...it's a bit much).

sneak attack and banish etc don't work with the new system, you only roll 'weapon die' again, (and probably only once if its like before) basically they are trying to reduce damage swings a lot more.

new system crit = +d12 max. old system crit for some builds = +12d6+d8+d4


game design wise it makes a lot of sense, reduces crit fishing, monster fights are less likely to be one shot by luck, less variation in dmg from build to build


but the problem is, psychologically, some players live for that crazy synergy, and the big feeling on crits. they might be giving that up for more stable encounters/battles

as far as 'nerfing' mages, not really. much more consistent access to forcing disadvantage on saving throws increases mage damage. (every 'crit') gives inspiration now.

anyhow the crit stuff is a test and will probably be iterated, maybe they'll buff crits in a different way or reverse it, but I'm of the opinion the changes are probably fairly well balanced, more than the game was previously. However game design isn't all about balance. its also about fun, the question is, will this stuff make the game more fun? I dunno

mmorpgs are basically based of tabletop game design. So its not surprising

Crit fishing in 5e was already a fool's errand. It wasn't worth the effort even before this change.

vis-à-vis the influx of extra races, all the people who want to play in a setting where Tieflings, Catfolk, Aasimar, all the other planetouced are commonplace and where more standard fantasy tropes are subverted, should just be given a sourcebook for Sigil, and it probably should have happened years ago. The more cosmopolitan attitude, and fantasy tropes that the new D&Der seems to like would fit right in there.

I think Wizards recently released something like a less dysfunctional Sigil setting, as well as announcing that Spelljammers is coming back, no doubt a lot of this playtest will be affected by that.

Where do you see in the document that sneak attack and banish etc. Don't work with the new system? Is it because it says Damage Dice are rolled a second time?

Either way, that's SERIOUSLY lame, and it still means wizards get the raw end of the deal. Barbarian hits with greataxe and Crits. 4d6 damage plus strength bonus. Mage hits by rolling nat 20 with Firebolt. Normal damage is 2d10. Nat 20 doesn't increase his damage. It's still 2d10.

ardlings are a new race, what they look like is irrelevant to their in game culture/origin. Also from real human legends/myths, animal/human hybrids as gods is far from unheard of. Egypt, Africa, india, heck even greek/roman half of zeus' offspring have animal traits.


far as alert, its a buff, you can literally always go first in party now. (swap with highest roller) since you can switch, on average, you will have access to a higher roll more often. Its a hugely better feat.

lets say you are an assassin rogue, its way more likely you can attack enemies first.


I mentioned the crit system in other posts, its a more usable/balanced game mechanic with the changes. The variation in player/monster crit damage in builds severely limited a lot of other design elements. That said, it doesnt matter if its better balance, if overall the game doesnt feel more fun.
However the nerf to crit stacking, and multi die crit rolls is a large boost to monsters relative power. A meta type player's max damage potential is roughly halved now. Monsters don't need crits now, they get to survive longer.

Don't forget Brutal Criticals... That and the Champion subclass are the two class abilities I can think of that directly work with critical hits. I'm wondering how this will change them.

It's the Assassin that probably has it the roughest, but that ability is already pretty lame. Critical attacks just aren't great

Can I play as a Thri-Kreen yet?
Seems most everything else is becoming possible.
Yes I know they are more/kinda exclusive to Dark Sun & Spelljammer(and imo HAVE to have their leaping ability or are not proper).

All I know is my players would hate this crit change.

Rolls Nat 20. YEAH! CRIT!

ROLLS SNAKEYES. Lame.

well. it would be helpful if they clarify, but the wording they use now is similar to brutal critical's wording. which only applies to the weapon dice.

you roll the dice of the weapon or unarmed strike, not you roll your damage dice.

also you likely don't use 2d6 with brutal crit since its only 1 extra d6 so the d12 is the best use case.


and yeah brutal crit is nicer by comparison, however brutal crit is a class feature, and a 1/20 chance to roll an extra 1-3 d12 is far below other class features, like an extra d6-to d8 once per turn, or more dice on cantrips

quick math with. https://anydice.com/

, 3d12 averages to +19.5 damage. lets say its 1/10 attacks that hit(since low rolls miss) that's an average of +1.9 damage


1d12+5+(1.9 on average from t3 brutal crit) or, 13.5 average damage at 20


meanwhile firebolt is a 4d10 every time.

which means the damage is going from 5.5 on average to 22 on average.

so basically, mathematically firebolt with no crit beats the best critical damage booster with best possible crit weapon. The big dif is extra attacks, but mages can cast cantrip and spells in one turn, sorcerers can double spells, or make cantrips bonus actions, etc


this is why they had to remove spell attacks from critical. before bonuses to attacks balanced the difference, but now those are gone.

Sure, allowing you to swap with one of your 3-4 fellow party members' initiatives *might* still enable you to go first, assuming one of them beats the enemy initiatives.

However, you have to pay a pretty large penalty in that the person you swap with now has a lower initiative. What if your CC wizard/cleric was going to go first, and now has to lose out on casting some important AoE battlefield control spell in order for you to go first? I don't think that'd be worth it. Especially with the new critical hit rules; an Assassin going first just gains them advantage and +1d6 damage on a hit, since Sneak Attack is currently no longer doubled on a crit.

The new Alert feat is definitely not a strict buff over the old one, if even a net buff at all.

Edit:
But # of extra attacks also scale with level, which balances everything out (for cantrips at least).

A 5th level fighter gets 2 attacks for (let's say) 1d8+4 damage on each attack. A single crit only grants you an extra 1d8 damage, but with 2 attacks you're a little over twice as likely to crit.
A 5th level wizard gets 1 cantrip for (let's say) 2d10 fire damage. A crit grants you an extra 2d10 damage.
It's roughly equal.

I thought those were already considered celestials? By beasts, I was referring to the ones already referred to as such.

Moving it to background would definitely make sense, but unless I overlooked it, I couldn't see it specifically listed anywhere in that section. Weapon proficiency only from class is really bad.

You dont know that ...
Shouldnt we wait until class UA will be released before we jump intp judgements about how will class systems work? O_o

Wait ... isnt this allready possible? O_o

the extra attack feature is a feature, spellcasters also get features that alter their damage, like twinspell. also martial charachters extra attacks are supposed to be balances for their lack of scaling damage skills and spells with higher damage or utility.

by level 5 wizard has access to scorching ray, haste, etc.

the level 5 wizard has two hastes, which is essentially extra attack for two encounters, if they choose, they can summon shadow blade and throw 2d8 daggers twice a turn.

1d8+4 averages to 8.5 damage
2d8+1(whatever your dex modifier on wiz is) averages to 10 damage.(and its a weapon so it crits)


mages are fine, they have tons of options, choices, features.


mages get big damage from spell use and basic damage from cantrips. casting 1 cantrip per turn is not how mages will realistically play except maybe eldritch blast warlocks. whereas attacking twice for a fighter or barbarian is basically peak play at level 5.

part of the trouble is we only have level 4 to play so far, a Wizard with 14 str and a staff hits for the same damage as a Fighter with 14 str and a staff... if that character happens to allow armour then its even less difference so why would anyone take the Fighter right?

one D&D is a test, EA is also a test so assume 'we don't know yet' and you will not be too upset when things change later on

Ok. Let me put it another way.

I cast Firebolt. I aim for a dragon's head and hit it in the eye. CRIT! Right? Nope. It's magic. No Crit for me.

Johnny fighter uses a heavy crossbow and aims for the same dragon's head. He hits in the eye. CRIT! Right? Yep it's not magic. So crit for Johnny fighter.

Both hit the eye. Why does 1 do more damage than the other? Or is it that magic can't hit heads, eyes or faces anymore?