Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback +1 weapon/armor

Please remove them from Act 1.
It ruins almost every other weapon/armor magic items outside of wizard/sorcerer specific items and the Sussur weapons or Sword of Justice.
Especially considering how easy they are to get since they are vendor items.

It's not like +2 is almost everywhere...

I agree. In 3rd edition magic weapons and armor was supposed to have a minimum of a +1 enhancement bonus *before* you started adding special properties to it. It was a good idea. Despite having unique bonuses, most of the magic weapons in act I are worse than their humble 'generic' +1 equivalent.

I for one like it this way ...

One gives you static bonus, the other flashy effect, and another chance for something epic ... and its up to you wich suits you best.
If items would get +1 on top of their effects, regular +1 would lost any meaning. Since there is no reason to buy/wear things that do less.

I disagree as +1 weapons mostly are the only interresting weapons to me. But I would not mind if they reworked all other items... I just don't want to be forced to play with their boring and goofy items.

Reworked how?

The goofy magical equipment grew on me.
Even if one part of mind yearns for the simple +1, another is appreciative of the A+B nature of the items.

I'm ok with +1 wpns or extra effects.
Then higher level +1 with extras
Part of vid games is comparing old equipment with new loot to see what's better for your character.


Larian may well add, remove and change alot of items in EA. Plus add more for diff classes (eg magical brass knuckles for monk).

At this rate by act 2 -3 we will be swimming in magic items. I'm hoping they add alot of dnd items and more homebrew items. They could remove the "extra BA" type items though, gotta check action economy!

Well... considering that most of their creativity for magical items rely on "IF" (if you do a specific action like dash, if you are on a specific surface, if you have less than 50% HP, if the target is a plant, if the target is burning,...) and on "Trade off" (a chance to fall asleep, deal damage to wielder,...), I guess there are a lot of possibilities to improve most items.

Won't make you a list but in exemple I'd rather like to find a sword that deal +1 damage on each attack or a shield that unlock a spell that deal 1D6 damage once/long rest than a sword that deal +1d4 IF I'm doing what Larian wants me to do.

This is where I’m at, too. The volume and variety of magical items in the game so far feels a bit experimental to me, which is what you’d expect from EA, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them simplified and pruned for full release. But while I definitely agree that there are too many weird and wonderful items at the moment, and I definitely found some of the conditional items too much and too difficult to compare to begin with when I was struggling even to get to grips with the basic 5e rules, I have actually warmed to many of them as I’ve got my head round the game, freed up mental space for the more complicated calculation of pros and cons of these items, and found decent use cases for many of them. I even started to like the lightning items a bit once we got more of Yrre’s story, though I still am not a big fan.

In short, I quite enjoy having to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of different effects that might be situational against each other and straightforward +1 items, and hope that this will be retained in the full release, while not having quite so many magical items available early on.

Example is perfectly fine ...

So, you just want permanent magical effects, just as there is with Everburning Blade ...
I wonder how many people see that one as "trade off" with "it dont need to be dipped in fire, but cant be diped in fire, nor poisoned".

How about Staff of Crones?
Unlocking quite usefull spell, trade off for some self inflicted damage?

Yes, I want magical items with permanent magical effects because that's what makes them appealing.

I'm mostly sure Everburning Blade is one of the most beloved weapon in the game (for players that know its existance ofc) because it doesn't required wierd actions and boring analysis to use it. Sure, +1 weapons are somewhat "boring" but at least they are always usefull and doesn't require to do actions that have no other goal than to make the item you have equipped work.

I'm not against cursed items if it's something very rare but trade off needs to worth it. About staff of Crones only LUCK will define if the positive effects worth the negative one... which doesn't feel interresting to me at all.
I like better when I have to define what worth it or not by myself.

This is probably just me bc I like crafting and extra side quests. But say the lightning glaive (chance to stun the user), how about a small side quest where we can learn how to remove the negative effect.
About the staff of crones I suspect they have (or had) plans to change how it works.

+1 weapons are boring but useful. but should magic weapons be boring? I certainly don't think so. I certainly don't like the idea of 'generic' +1 weapons. On the other hand, weapons and armor unique and imaginative effects seem pretty wasted to when they are overshadowed by aforementioned +1 weapons. When they aren't, they tend to be part of one of those synergy items that nudge you towards a gimmicky build based around building up 'momentum' charges or somesuch.

I can't remember where, but I think one of the weapons with a drawback has in its description a reference to being 'unfinished'. I was hoping that meant at some point we might take it to our version of Cromwell/Caspenar and get a better version of it. It would be very BG to do so.

As far as I understand it in D&D 5th ed they reworked HP, AC, and To Hit mechanics so that characters don't have to rely on magic weapons and armor as much as they did in 3.5. Now +1 weapons and armor are no longer considered magic but Mastercraft, or some-such, and are much more common. Actual magic items are supposed to be rarer. Oddly enough though Larian is happy to break other D&D conventions and RAW (I'm pointing to the broken Shove and the stupid potion AOE poodoo) they have chosen this particular one to follow. Personally I think magic should be rare but powerful and 5th ed does a pretty good job of it so I'm happy with the equipment as is and imagine we'll see more items at release.

you could cast +1 on Everburning Blade and yes that is a thing... personally i think having magic effects that only work against left handed Orcs or Gnomes from Waterdeep because it adds story

+1 Equipment is very definitely still 'magic' in 5e, and it's not 'common' - it's uncommon for weapons and rare for armour (Masterwork equipment is Pathfinder thing). A +1 with bonus extra effect as well usually jumps up a rarity grade - so a +2 weapon with a strong bonus damage component might end up falling into the very rare or even legendary category, depending on the extra effect, for example.

What is worth mentioning is that there are some more common magic weapon enchantments that are in the 'common' bracket - and they're quite nice because despite being effectively a "+0" weapon, they still count as magical for the purposes of cutting through damage resistance and so on. A weapon of Warning is a good example of a very useful common magic weapon. A lot of DMs that run high magic worlds with magic smiths and arcanists in major locations often offer basic magical enchantments at a cheap price not much higher than silvering; making a non magic weapon into a magic one, such that it doesn't get any bonuses of buffs, but not is enchanted and is magical for damage purposes. To be clear - the Sword Coast is generally considered a high magic setting, and while world building depends on individual DMs, such would not be uncommon in major locations, like Waterdeep or Neverwinter, etc.

The other thing that I feel is worthwhile pointing to for this discussion is the DMG's guide for creating and placing magic items into your game; yes, you might have rolled a +1 weapon on the loot table, but that doesn't mean it has to be boring. the DMG has a few lists and tables designed specifically to add flavour and minor properties to magic items to make them unique and fun, even if the base weight of their value is in a simple, generic enchantment. These tables contain story and rp hooks, such as the make and original crafters of the item, aesthetic flavour elements for character, but also traits and oddities - such as needing blood to activate, fast attunement, morphic shape or appearance, maybe it helps you swim better, or grants a small bonus to initiative, sheds light under certain circumstances, or always shows you where north is... and these tables are just suggestions for the sorts of things that you can characterise a 'bland' +1 weapon with to make it more interesting, or even to tie it into the setting.

One example: I once had a cloak of protection roll up as the reward for a bard player... Now I could have given them this:


I gave them this instead:


It's the same item, it's just had some minor properties and details thrown onto it, some of which can serve as rp hooks, some of which could lead to story exploration if the player gets invested in it, and some of which simply add flavour and character - its design and crafting origin, and so on. The properties were all derived (with slight tweaking) from the customisation tables in the DMG, to liven up a mundane magic item.

I'd like a decent scattering of interesting and unique equipment - even if its core effect is just a +1 or something otherwise mundane.

For people who purposefully avoid dipping ...
Probably, almost certainly.

For everyone else, who dont have any use for Bonus Action in first round of combat (so ... Fighters, or Paladins that save spellslots, not sure if anyone else) ... its just regular 2H Sword with litteraly no benefit.
And it cant be poisoned ... quite anoying when you are trying to kill Tieflings.
And it cant be sheated ... wich may loot a bit more realistic at first glance, until you realize that your character is holding it by its burning blade.

Eh ... what?
Are we talking about the same Staff of Crones?

The staff that acts just like any other regular Quarterstaff with no effect at all ...
Except it allows you to infinitely use Ray of Sickness ... but when you do, you receive 1d4 Posion damage every-single-cast ... ?

Where is that luck? O_o

I honestly thought this would be perfect item to your liking, it just unlocks you a spell ... and its drawback works every time ... there is no if, no condition, no forced playstyle, no ... nothing you are complaining about with other items. :-/

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I certainly hope we dont get such thing ...
Bcs then it would become straight forward best meele weapon in game! Or at least among those we allready know.

I mean just look: https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Light+of+Creation

Its +1 weapon ...
It gives 1d10 Slashing + 1d6 Lightning
And it have extra reach (as all Halberds do)!

Yes, it can stun you ...
Wich only means ending your turn permaturely, bcs that stun dissapears in next round ... sure it can ruin your extra attack, or bonus action attack ... not sure how it works with Smites.
IMHO ... since attacking is last thing i do in combat, its no biggy.

If you compare this with any other +1 Two-Handed weapon (meaning either 1d12, or 2d6), since this gives its own elemental damage AND still can be dipped, posioned or all other stuff ...
How is any Two-Handed weapon better?
Hint: Its not.
This Halberd can give 3-17 dmg ... Axes gives 2-13 ... Swords and Mauls gives 3-13 ... and they still dont have extra reach ... Glaives have extra reach, but they give only 2-11 dmg.

What would be the reason to use anything else than this weapon, if there would be no risk of stun?
Hint: There is none.

Sure, some people could teoreticly still use 50% HP Weapons, since they technically seem better ...
Except still nope, since they only add 1d4 and as far as i know none of them is +1, so even in maximum potential you still have less damage, minus extra reach AND minus half of your health.

No, im sorry ... the stun is needed there, so everthing else even have a chance to copete.

Well, i certainly hope they fix it so Poisoner's Robe dont incerase your self-inflicted damage ...
Seems really weird that anyone would use his own artefact power to hurt themselves. xD

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The fun part is that they arent overshadowed at all ...
People who are very vocal about items just like them more bcs they are simplier, or closer to their own taste.

See Maximuuus up there in first coment ... he seems to be sure that many people concider regular Two-Handed Sword that is permanently diped to be one of best items.
(Yes, i know he said "most beloved".)

This isnt matter of that Sword power ... so, it dont really overshadow anything.
(Yes, i know you are talking about "+1" wich this one isnt ... the point is still same.)

It only may seem like theese "boring" powers as Everburning, or +1 are overshadowing other magical weapons ...
Bcs most people that are vocal about it around here simply dislike something in this game, since it dont fit their taste ... and logical acting ones of them therefore refuses to use it.
(And it dont really matter if its dipping, 50%hp, Lightning Charge, Momentum, or something entirely different.)

Yes, I said most beloved which is very different from best.
Haven't seen much let's play in which people often dip their weapons as this mechanic is just tedious but sure, if you are in love with dipping to the point that it is something you ise at thr beginning of most combat, the sword may not be appealing.
About sheating and holding the weapons by its burning blade... it is exactly the same when you dip your weapons so I don't think you had a point.

As I said I never used Staff of Crones but it is said in fextralife that if ray of sickness hit, both the wielder and the target takes an additonnal 2d8 damages. The 2d8 damages you take may or may not worth the additonnal damages the ennemy will take. It is only about luck.