Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Opinions on Items

I actually really enjoy Diablo 2's style of loot - which I think Divinity: Original Sin 2 did a good job of replicating (though the scaling in DOS2 got pretty bad toward the end, you needed to constantly upgrade or you felt massively underpowered).

That being said I agree - I see no reason for all sorts of crazy loot tiers in a game like Baldur's 3. Have regular items and magical items - simple enough!

I personally have no issue with rarity colors. They were invented back in the 90s in order to make it easier for the player to visually differentiate which items are better in terms of stats. So as far as games go it makes sense to have it, but the way BG3 does it is quite wonky because it lacks consistency since it is all over the place with rarities.

For example [Vision Of The Absolute] and [The Sparky Points] are exactly the same in terms of stats yet different rarities, but [Faithbreaker] which is a +1 weapon with a unique ability and better than both is Uncommon. Same with other items such as [Everburn Blade] being the same rarity as [Greatsword +1]. [Firestoker] being the same rarity as [Hand Crossbow +1]. [Sword Of Justice] being the same rarity as [Greatsword +2].

So for me personally my only issue is the lack of consistency which makes rarities obsolete. Unique items with unique properties that make character builds more varied should simply be unique rarity. So it should look something like this;

• Common 0
• Uncommon +1
• Rare +2
• Very Rare +3
• Unique - A unique item that has a unique property.

So all these should be the same; [Vision Of The Absolute] [Everburn Blade] [Faithbreaker] [Firestoker] etc... as they all have a unique property and only one exists in the world.

I both agree and disagree with you. I really don't think that the problem with BG3's loot is the tier approach and color-coding. I think Larian wanted to design things this way to begin with, and color-coding just followed naturally from that. I think that everything you said about the game having fewer magical items is a positive, but I think you're treating the color-coding as part of the cause, rather than a neutral feature that exists because it helps with what Larian wanted to do in the first place. If someone forced Larian to take away the color-coding...we'd have the same loot issues but harder to manage visually.


You've hit upon a point I hadn't really noticed. Things are pretty inconsistent in terms of how rarity is assigned. And also in terms of D&D pen and paper, rarity isn't purely a question of value and stats. Like, a healing potion is a common magical item in the DM's guide, it's not just a thing for weapons.

I'm on the same boat. I'm ok with the color coding. But it does feel pretty inconsistent.
And yes, it would make sense that items with a unique name and unique property should have the Unique rarity.

This seems apropriate. O_o

Since [Vision Of The Absolute] have chance on hit to Blind your enemies (wich for some unknown reason is still hidden in tooltip, unless i remember it incorectly?) ...
Plus it gives massive special damage to "enemies with more eyes" (or something like that), wich is really bugy or unfortunate description, since last time i tryed it didnt work on spiders, or ettercaps ... wich most certainly DO have more than one pair of eyes.

But [The Sparky Points] gives you +1 to hit and +1 to damage, wich can change to 1d8 instead, if you have enough charges. Wich is certainly quite different effect than "just change to blind" (or other way around, depending on your prefferences) ...
Plus and this is that important part, it have prepared synergy with other "lightning charged" items ...

I mean, it seems quite logical to me that spear that requires you to also have boots, gloves, chest, neckage, shield and helmet ... in order to unlock its full potential ...
Will be a little more rare than spear that can just poke someone's eye out.

I agree that this mace is better (obviously only if you are profficient, otherwise its completely useless ).
Not quite sure how that enchantment works tho, if only profficient person can use it ... is it even enchantment? O_o

But i wouldnt go this way in order to pick any rarity, since deciding "better" is very subjective ... there are people theese days that are still sure that [Everburn Blade] is best 2H weapon in the game. O_o

This also seems apropriate ...
Maybe im reading something wrong ...

But it allways seemed to me like [Everburn Blade] is just some kind of "standard Avernus General Weapon".
So Uncommon would be exactly what i would pick.
And +1 weapons are offered to you by first Vendor you meet ... a Blacksmith, whos workshop is (to quote the game itself) "holding together by a threat" ... so as it seems, also nothing too extra special.

Same with [Firestoker] ... i dont really know if that is supposed to be some extra special prototype weapon, but i thought its just some standard equipment of Sharan warriors.
Something that was quite common in its days, but as time goes it was less and less of those around ... but also not so little for them to become Rare.

This seems like a gues ...
As far as i know, there is only one +2 weapon in game, and that is Broken Flail we get from Flint (or how is that Gnoll pack leader named).

100% agree ...
IF they indeed are supposed to be unique in the WORLD, not just game.

I think this would be best seen with [Everburn Blade].
If Larian indeed intended to be the one-and-only [Everburn Blade] in the world, and nobody ever had any other ... then indeed, Unique it is and Unique it should be.
On the other hand, if my hypotesis is true (as i obviously presume it is) and [Everburn Blade] is just some random generic weapon Demon Generals are using ... then, logicaly it should have different rarity.

I mean, if we mark everything that isnt just generic +X as Unique ... that mark itself loose its purpose.

Yup. I mean I just used weapons as an example, but basically everything can benefit from rarity colors, including potions. Such as [Minor Healing Potion], [Greater Healing Potion], [Superior Healing Potion]. Though not sure why they made keys and quest items have the legendary rarity color.

Funnily enough DOS2 doesn't have this issue as everything is properly tagged in it. All unique items are tagged as unique, so it's quite nice and tidy in inventory. And their purpose is clear. Hopefully they will create consistency across the board for full release and make it look nice and proper, but most importantly consistent. If not then I'll just make a mod for it ^^

I don't read mass-quoting dissective replies.

So I have an items opinion that I've been thinking on for a little while. I don't think Larian should have given us that necklace that lets us cast speak with the dead, or the numerous potions of animal speaking. It's very cool that they put enough thought and craft into the game that we can use those spells to figure things out, but providing items that let any class do them feels to me like it takes away a lot of the specialness. People bring up replay value from time to time on this forum; imagine how much replay value you could get if you played a character able to cast speak with the dead and that was your only way to see the spell in action? Same with the animal speaking. Larian is doing a pretty impressive job with providing class options, but those items feel like one of the ways that Larian is kinda watering down class distinction and taking away their flavour as a result.

Hopefully maybe Larian will do what [unnamed other] game did, and only have included so many free/cheap magical items in EA for testing purposes. Not all EA parties will have Speak with Dead, but Larian wants players to test out that function -> give out a Speak with Dead Amulet, which is then *not* given out for free in the Full Release version of BG3. Maybe you can still acquire it, but it costs a significant amount of gold, and you'd effectively have to choose between it and some other important item(s).

I hope that turns out to be the case, and it would make sense since that's definitely something you'd want to test for functionality. Plus I'm willing to bet that players sharing how 'you can talk to every corpse and get cool anwers from them' is good advertising. It's a cool item and nice to have, so I'd be okay with it being hard or costly to get, same with the potions of animal speech.

I do hope that is the case. Easy of access of those items greatly reduces value of picking Speak to the Dead/Animals as part of the character build.

I am ambivalent about the Speak with Dead amulet. I like do have that one at the very beginning. If I would find it in act 2 and use it, I would ask myself all the time, what kind of reactions / information would there be in act 1. Or why do I have to rest so often again to use the spell (also clashes with the short rest / long rest problem).

On the other hand, I would then no longer have to worry about watching out for NPCs so that I don't accidentally finish them off with elemental spells, because Speak with Dead would then no longer be applicable, and I would also have to translate / read less dialogue.

Something i think needs to change is npcs if they are in full plate or any other clothes and die, half the time dont die with the equipment on, most npcs dont wear boots? Or clothes, even if the clothing is damaged from fighting, it should still be on them

It would be great if Speak with Dead would work on those killed with elemental spells as well!

While I think that creating an environment for more wide ranged testing via item placement is a reasonable one, if there's one common thread in all of Larian's design, it is blurring class distinctions.

I hate most of their items.

Not because "it doesn't feel like DnD" but because most of them tells the player how he should play. I feel very restricted in my characters builds and don't use most items.
On top of that some items are a lot too powerfull.

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 did it a lot better. At least finding magical items really felt like a reward. Here it is an overdose of items that are not even cool when you sell them... you can sell some trash items for more money...

I can't say that I hate their homebrew items but I am curious what will be removed or changed to a later act.

I'm fine with speak with animals, speak with dead etc

The items that give extra resources (eg like extra bonus actions) could be removed, or make it once per rest if they want to keep them.

The "unlocks whilst at low HP items" are interesting, glass-cannon like items but deliberately setting your health low is pure metagaming. I would prefer to see homebrew items that can be activated by using your life force in combat.
New paladin magic items coming soon!

I am ok with magic items that are different than base D&D as long as my characters strengths are still character centric and not item centric.

The one home brew I would like to see is extending the duration of all spells outside of combat. The ones that only last a few minutes. In turn based games, they are fine; however, when not in turn based mode the spells disappear way too fast to be fully usable.

I don't think they'll remove the items, but might balance them or move them elsewhere as some items are a bit too useful and gotten too early.

Such as;

• [Silver Pendant] - Grants Guidance which is free permanent + 1-4 to any skill check
• [Warped Headband of Intellect] - Sets the character's intelligence to 17
• [The Amulet of Lost Voices] - Grants Speak With Dead

[Sword Of Justice] for example got balanced because previously the player was able to constantly cast its +2 AC spell thus permanently have +2AC at all times, but now it is only once per rest. So they might just balance them properly and move them, rather than remove them. Especially the headband, it's just so good that I always wear it on my main character.

I would consider it an 'olive branch' from Larian if I could feed these stupid items to Gale.

Agreed. BG3 magic items aren't problematic in a vacuum - most aren't obviously powerful by themselves. But considering the bigger picture, you see systemic issues. When everything is special - nothing truly is. More importantly, some magic items becomes highly problematic in conjunction with Larian's excessive loot and system focus which allow for multiple powerful synergies - married with their blatant disregard for the vital 5e action economy balance.

Stuff like Helmet of Grit and Circlet of Flame allow a Zariel Tiefling Thief to dish out 9d6 damage with standard off-hands using Flame Blade attacks alone. Add Sneak Attack and combine it with Gloves and Power and you now have a 12d6 damage potential with a powerful debuff on top. When multiclassing becomes a thing, the ways to exploit it further is out of control.

This is so overpowered, especially at so low levels, that it becomes a very strong incentivise for exploitation and builds focused around such magic items. Focus on items diminish the focus on characters. The power-gamer in us thinks Larian meme-combat instead of D&D. And before you think; but BG1 had powerful magical items as well so this is part of the series! Indeed there were many powerful items, but they - even the incredible artifacts at the end - felt like a natural extension of what a character could already do on their own, rather than fundamentally changing the gameplay (and in the process overriding much of D&D) as currently in BG3.