Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Attributes in character creation

Just bringing this up quick, but what are some good helmets? So far the only one I've found that seems to be any good is that circlet of fire thing.

I guess it comes down to whether you like item-centric, of character-centric builds then. I prefer items to boost a character build, but not be a build around thing. I don't like that a simple item like a Headband of Intellect can completely reverse the fact that High Elves or Githyanki should make good EK's. Or that intelligent characters in general should make the best hybrid Int spellcasters.

5e also tried to downplay the impact of magic items. Odd that they would simultaneously design a magic item that overrides ability scores rather than enhances them, but there it is. Personally, I like reducing the impact of magic items a lot. Nothing more silly than a very high level DnD 3.5 character losing all their magic items (prison breaks are fun) and suddenly being demolished by low level enemies with that 12 AC. Back to BG3, dumping Int as an Intelligence spellcaster seems like something that should never be rewarded so generously.

This is why magical items are rare in D&D, and why systems that promote mix/maxing are contra to the freedoms of roleplaying.

I don’t understand what you mean by “nope.” The situation with evocation not being optimal for EK is directly what I was referring to. Unless I’m missing something that reads like you said nope and then proceeded to agree with me.

For Wizards the bonus action one is probably the best, because spellcasting is off-book. I like the scorching ray circlet too.
Most of my wizards these days are using the lightning charge equipment though, which means I'll park Tav or Gale in a pool of water and let the charges and life tic over every turn.

I usually put the circlet of intellect on Shadowheart, figuring she benefits the most from better int saves, but then you get the trade-off of all the actual helmets she can use. Having a cleric who is a hard target is nice, since they're usually concentrating on things.

Combat is also more rare in table top because it takes so much longer. Most sessions I play in have at most 2 encounters.

But this isn’t table top, so things need to be changed up a bit. More combat and more magical items. I’m okay with this.

The "point of a class" is not to figure out that half their spells are a bad idea, and only using the other half. Hence, I am not missing the point of Eldritch Knight, I am pointing out what is flawed and not really working in it's design.

My point was that EK isn’t really a spell casting class so this:


Simply isn’t a big deal.

Sorry that didn’t come across clearly.

I think that 1varangian's point is that Wizards of the Coast should not have given EK evocation as one of its two schools, given that it was unlikely to be very good at offensive spell casting. Two buff schools would be better... I think that this is something I agree with.

That being said, I do not think that it is a problem to design a fun build around knowledge of magical items for a second run through. With the circlet an EK will be "decent" but not (I think) OP.

EK and magic missile for $500 please!

I like EK as a "War" type caster and Evocation fits well. It's pretty awesome to wipe out minions with a Fireball, and then take down their boss with a Greatsword. The game should not steer you away from Evocation spells after making them a core part of the class.

I think requiring and rewarding a higher Intelligence for an Arcane spellcaster hybrid class should be a thing.

I think Intelligence should affect the potency of all spells, not just offensive spells.

I think it's clear that EK is meant to be a hybrid warrior-spellcaster who uses both offensive and defensive combat spells, but lacks the utility/CC repertoire or versatility of a dedicated spellcaster. They can still pick any spell at certain levels and an 8th level EK can do stuff like Hold Person > GWM crits combo. So Intelligence can and should be a big deal with this subclass. Which leads us back to the Headband/Int dump being pretty stupid in a video game.

I think it’s pretty clear that EK is not meant to be equally hybrid as a caster and warrior. They don’t get 3rd level spell slots until level 13, at which point a wizard has a level 7 spell slot. Any fireballs cast by an EK are going to do paltry damage against the enemies you are facing by that point.

The EK is first and foremost a fighter but had a bit of magic up their sleeve, but they aren’t designed to be proper casting class or even an equal warrior-casting hybrid.

An Eldritch Knight is a ... knight ... whose prowess is empowered by the magic of an Elder God. They are not a spell caster wearing armor. They are not a warrior casting spells. They are a knight with the ability to embue themselves with magic fury. Their power comes from their access to buffs, debuffs, touch range spells, etc.

These kinds of hybrid classes tend to weaken the class overall, but I get the RP value of it. For what you sacrifice you don't get an equivalent level of power and you end up with a weaker class overall.

I was going to say a Githyanki Battle Mage would make more sense with high str and int - you never get the multi-attack options of warriors, but you do get all the wizard power and a strong melee attack if you run out of spells, plus the high AC and crit protection of a proper metal helmet.


BUT - looking over the EK it has some cool shit. Transposition, can't be disarmed, War Magic. Eldritch Strike basically makes you a demon killer since the higher ups all have spell resistance - although would be better if it was disadvantage against ANY spell.

Fighter sublasses have a lot of weight because the base fighter is kind of - well - basic.

With reasonable rolled (rerolled) stats, an EK can come out stronger IMO than a Battle Master if you can pick up the Martial Adept trait. With the current point method that’s less likely.

INT can be valuable if you are Wizard or subclass that needs it. I know that also Rogue in DND5 have one subclass that needs at least ok/good INT so can not be dump for that subclass. Well then there is Eldritch Knight perhaps for RP reasons and fairly good subclass.

However wrong saying INT is needed for all spell casting. In DND 5 both Wisdom and Charisma affect some classes spellcasting ability so I would still rank INT as most favored stat to dump in DND 5. It was not so that INT sucks in DnD 3.5 and I guess Pathfinder that is developed from DND 3.5 where INT affect the amount of skill points you get etc.

Wisdom you could dump, but that is dangerous because so many spells require Wisdom save so Wisdom say 8 sounds bad unless extreme buypoint system like BG3 27 points and you need to get some stat up but 10 at least on Wisdom sounds wise. At full release I hope they have one can rolls stats and then I will roll stats up to KINGDOM COME high but even when rolling INT will likely be my number one dump stat.

In modern real life INT is not something you want to dumb because much Office work careers benefit from INT, but of course a sport athlete or construction worker hard labor does not need good INT in real life. However DND 5 Forgotten Realms reminds more of early medieval times in technology.

I didn't say anything about equal. Obviously not. The difference between being a hybrid or not is casting spells or not casting spells. This is just getting into arguing for argument's sake now. It started with you stating that if I use Evocation spells on an EK, I'm not "getting the point" of the sub-class while Evocation is factually 50% of their magic. No need to continue I think.