Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback "Dice rolled again", "Reroll" and other mess in Combat Log.

We gathered here once again to once again complain about that horrible mess that is called combat log.

Let me show you few screenshots in single picture to make it even more confusing.
(Just kidding, it was not my intention, i was just too lazy to upload everything separately, but now looking at it, i realized it may have that effect. :-/ )


So ... first of all, i completely realize that all of this may be just my fault, bcs i either missunderstood, or didnt understand something at all ... so please, if possible, leave your rocks at ease ... at least for now.
And think with me about following questions:

1) Top left screenshot ...
"Dice rolled again!"
What is meaning of this information?
Bcs if you mouseover this message in your combat log ... it does litteraly nothing.

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2) Top right screenshot ...
First of all ... in what universe 8+1+2=10 ?

Second ... what is DC? And yes, i know you know, this question is rhetorical ...
Maybe i should more ask: Why our combat log dont explain us what, or why is even calculated?

Note that this is allready expanded window, meaning for people who really wish to see under the hood. :-/

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3) Bottom left screenshot ...
What i source of that +1 ... and why make it secret?

Also, while we are here ...
Why exactly sucesfull Saving Throw gets all that extra information (armour class, attack roll) ... but failed (top right corner) dont?

Also, while we are here ...
And please feel free to tell me if you really know, but how are Armour Class or Attack Roll even related to Saving Throws?
I mean it ... im completely confused here ...

Also, while we are here ...
Can you tell me who is rolling what?
Bcs i dont really know, and i was there!

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4) Bottom right screenshots ...
"Reroll"
I must admit that right now, when i write this i allready figured (i gues?) out that those are rolls from that Disadvantage ...

My attacker was a Halfling, so at first i thought that all theese Rerolls were just her "lucky" racial ... wich seemed odd, since there is not even single 1 and she allways picked lower number.
Then it hit me, she had Disadvantage from Poisoned ...

Now i just wonder if it wouldnt be much and i mean MUCH clearer if that dicerolls would be hidden under that word "Disadvantage" (ideally with written source of that Disadvantage) ... rather than adding something else. :-/

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So ... any thoughts?

My thoughts

Rag has just posted an epic takedown that should make the developers blush.

It really is a mess and useless anytime there is NPC conversation nearby (which is surprisingly often)

Is this still a thing? The auto-scrolling down? I've stopped looking at the logs because of that. Please, do remove the auto-scroll. Cause yes, it's a pain and renders the logs useless.
Every time I try to check previous entries (banters or combat logs), I can't because a new entry is added (NPCs talking, bards singing...) and it scrolls to it.


I also agree that the combat logs are a bit of a mess. It feels like trying to figure out a secret code. Not ideal.

Speculations time :
Possibly, they might have decided to improve the logs last. A reason could be that it's a feature that need everything else to be done before being polished? Or at least, it would be more convenient for them to do that after most other features are done.
And since, right now, it just screams "Work in progress!" (to me at least), I'm willing to bet we will see it improved on full release (so not necessarily during EA).

Good illustrations of a lot of the combat log mess, Rag. As always, my support for the need for much improvement in this area.

This is not just for people who want to look under the hood like you said. THis is basic Info that any player needs if they want to play the game effectively.

All this things should be explained to the player at some point and clearly visible in log. It's not, because of it players lacks the info they need to play and then you see complaining that the game is too hard and they die or do weird things where in reality is anything but.

If you decipher all the info it's easy, at least if you have prior dnd knowledge even then it takes a minit.

Imagine if you seen Dnd for the first time? I bet that log would be a mystery.
Info is just not there. THe new tool tips are cool and all, now we just need the same thing for combat log.

Over the last 2 years i seen new players playing with bane all the time and they had no clue why! They missed the gloves description and the log didn't say anything where that bane was coming from. All it said was: received condition:Bane.

You have more examples as well for all sorts of combat events. THe first time i used Heat Metal spell i was stuck in log for a minute. THere were two DC rolls in there no clue why, both were the same probably just a bug.
In the end it turned out that i want the target to Succeed at saving throw!?! IF i want them to keep the weapon. I was like ok wtf.
The UI % chance to hit needs to be low instead of high, changes the whole spell if you know what to do.

Anyway, alot of info and brake downs are still missing or are wrong or buged. Last but not least the log should be scalable in size. Some of us play on high resolutions and npc chat should not be in the same tab at all.

+1 to log being poop (it’s a poop log!)

The sequence of events seems to be this: Trynn fires a Lightning Arrow at Wyll, which triggers a bunch of simultaneous rolls. The arrow misses, but its area of effect still happens, as per the rules of BG3: saving throws all around.

This doesn’t answer all your questions, like why roll attacks on every one in AoE range when Wyll was the arrow’s only target? What do the rerolls do? Why is 11=10?

Other oddities: why does Trynn target Wyll with Hunter’s Mark after shooting an arrow at him? And what’s the story with Nazara becoming stunned out of nowhere just before attacking, and becomming unstunned right after?

I was going to post a very similar thing on this confusing combat log.

It feels like this is the sort of thing that should of been sorted and done during the first year of EA. We are talking about the basics of the game here. The inner workings. How do you <test> your game if the basic info is so confusing or even wrong? Let alone allow worldwide players to game test it.

Is Larian working on this game through dozens of different offices worldwide? A lot of aspects feels disjointed.

A very good question/point.

Because the way they are working on the game is first they're implementing lots of features in a raw fashion, then they will optimize them once everything is implemented and the code is stable. Because there is no point in optimizing features when the code is constantly shifting and things are being implemented. Otherwise you'd optimize it and then break it immediately afterwards by adding more things... like so many things have after Patch 8. So you'd be doing twice the amount of work for absolutely nothing.

As many are aware we can't even use keyboard numbers anymore to activate spells and abilities since Patch 8 and this was a thing of the game since it launched. It's not because they are not testing the game or because they are not aware, but because it would be a waste of resources and time to make sure everything works 100% when so many things are being added.

So simply think of it as cooking. They're first adding ingredients for their meal, before they put it in the oven and cook it. Right now we're just seeing the ingredients.

I find this especially annoying standing around in Waukeen's rest, and listening to that FF merc droning on, and on, and on with the same chant for Helm. Tried to read what that guy you can save from the fire told me earlier... and it was just full of "chanty spam".

People focus ...
There is several other topics made to complain about chat in combat log ... not this one. :-/

I get it pisses you off, i get its not offtopic, bcs technicaly its still "mess in combat log" ...

But please.
This topic was created to provide an example of information that are supposed to be in combat log, and are in combat log, but in such form so they are quite messy and hard to understand.
So ... lets stick to that shall we?

Thank you.

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Yes ... that would be my presumption for "what should have happen" aswell ...
But the problem there is that Armour Class or Attack Roll i was talking about was from Astarion.

And that confuses me, bcs yes he was supposed to make Saving Throw against the arrow AoE effect ... but for some unknown reason game also counted his AC and some Attack Roll.
Same goes for Shadowheart ...
The only one who were spared couting some Attack Roll and AC, was Lae'zel, who failed her Saving Throw.

And i wonder what should that mean.
Bcs right now from accessible data it seems to me that sequence of events actualy was:
Trynn fired Lightning Arrow at Wyll ... her attack missed ... Wyll also made Saving Throw ... so he gets nothing.
Lae'zel failed her Saving Throw ... so she get hit by the AoE Lightning damage.
Shadowheart and Astarion suceed their Saving Throw ... so the game also calculated if they couldnt be also hit by that arrow.

As if the game was creating new homebrews on the run, just to maximalize chances that we will get hit by something. :-/

Yes, this.

Stupid AI, nothing new here ...
They possibly have written to use Action before Bonus Action. (Just guessing)

This one i can answer ...
She is wearing Light of Creation ... tooltip dont specify for how long you will be stunned, but since this allways worked this way it seems to be just to the end of your turn ... basicaly therefore just ending your turn prematurely.

Thanks for the extra feedback! Much appreciated.

I agree. I have my own thread about the combat log.

It's hard to navigate, inaccurate, and messy.

Well, you want specific feedback i had a random modifier the other day that was like +63431 or something on to hit roll with scroll spell ... but of coursei still missed hehe no mods btw..

Anyway, things like that and others happen all the time all sorts sorry i can't be bothered to post everysingle one of those with screens.

Thank you OP.
I have not played for some time and the mess you posted is much worse than what I remember ( maybe I just managed to forget that horror somehow).

Your log shows also something that I have complained a lot about already.
The game is obsessed with AoE effects and trying to as many things as possible as often as possible, even when it makes no sense.
If you attack one target (no matter if you use weapon, spell or item) and the attack misses there should be no effect.
No saving throws, no rolls from other creatures ( no attack roll because you attacked something else, no saving throw because there should be no effect when the initial attack missed) and no damage.

If something causes damage (single target or AoE) or a surface even on a failed attack this should be written in the description.
example: "Fire Arrow: You shoot an arrow at one target with a ranged weapon you have equipped. If it hits the target takes weapon damage as piercing damage plus 1d4 fire damage and it creates a fire surface that causes 1d4 fire damage to everyone in the area and gives them the burning status which causes 1d4 fire damage per round for 3 rounds. If the attack misses the target does not get damage from the arrow, but the fire surface and all of its effects are created anyway."

If the devs want to change the effects of many items or spells compared to the PnP rules, thats fine. But they should at least write what their items or abilities are doing.
I have not played for some time, so sorry if they actually did change the descriptions that way.