Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General How do I create Bilbo from LotR?

Pampered, scholarly Hobbit landlord:
Lightfoot Hobbit
Proficiency in Stealth, Lucky

Background - Noble - Proficiency in History and Persuasion


Bard
Strength 8
Dexterity 16
Constitution 11
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 12
Charisma 16

I'm open to suggestions as to his other Skills.
Later, as College of Lore,
Gain Proficiency in Arcana, Intimidation and Sleight of Hand.

Can pick Expertise (thats Proficiency x2) in two of the below
Arcana
Deception
Insight
Intimidation
Performance
Persuasion
Religion
Sleight of Hand

I suggest Sleigh of Hand - for Burglary and Deception - for Lying to Dragons

No Hobbits were harmed in cooking up this possible Bilbo
Another possibility I see is Rogue, later Thief, thus avoiding the "pesky" magic issue. The "crowd control", "social skills" etc. can be recreated by choice of Skills and/or Feats. Maybe "Skilled" for Proficiency for another 3 Skills at 4lvl?

Brilliant, thank you so much! If I did go down the rogue route, can they be supportive, or will I have to start actually killing things haha? 🤔

Unleashing Bilbo's inner murderhobo upon Faeurun is up to you, regardless of class.
Even as Baabarian you need not drape yourself in intenstines of irritating unhygenic dwarves, elves and wizards vanquished foes.

Haha brilliant! 😆 Can I actually play rogue and not kill anything, or is it pointless? I'm guessing bard is my best option whilst retaining that innocent hobbit feeling! 😂

Don't mean to be rude, but you'be asked it three times already. I'll try to be as clear as day - you can kill, but you are not forced to kill anyone.

Sorry, I didn't mean to ask the same question. 😅 I think what I was trying to ask is, a bard seems actually helpful without killing anyone as they support the rest of the team; if I was a rogue, have they got supportive abilities, or are they mainly combat oriented?

Sorry for being so annoying haha, DnD is very overwhelming, seems like another language haha! 😅

D&D is a combat-oriented game. If you aren't killing someone directly, you are helping someone else to do it.

Yeah I like that, it's just I'm a bit confused on how classes work haha! 😅 As I don't want to directly kill using my character, and just support the group, is playing a rogue pointless? Do they have supportive abilities, or am I better off playing a bard? 😊

Rogues don't have supporting abilities, but they have an opportunity to quickly hide, dash and run from enemies using less resources, while bard is a little bit more exposed to threats.

Bard spell: Protection from Normal Vegetables.

The build I put up earlier is a bard build

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=857332#Post857332

Ohhh yeah, thank you so much! 😊

Sorry for all the questions everyone, my brain's turned to soup trying to learn this game haha! I wish I could just play EA now to test things and practice, but I've only got a PS5! 😆

I think I'm starting to understand things, I'm probably thinking too much about this! 😂

I think I've been sold on a bard more than a rogue, just seems more hobbity haha! I've always liked my characters to be more supportive and away from danger!

Halfling = Hobbit, Halflings are Hobbits, the name Halfling is just the legal friendly way to say Hobbit so D&D wouldn't get sued by Tolkien.

I'm so happy I get to play as one! 😊

So as everyone has noted, you really have a choice whether you want to play Bilbo as how he was at the start of his adventure, probably as a Hermit Bard, or towards the end of his adventure, as he was marketed to the Dwarves by Gandalf, a Thief.

EDIT:
You can multiclass. Perhaps start as a bard and multiclass into thief.

That sounds absolutely perfect, thank you so so so much! 😊 Please feel free to decline, I've been so annoying on these forums with all my questions haha! But if you have the time (please don't feel like you have to), could you create a build for me please? Starting as a bard and then becoming a thief (is that a rogue?). This community is wonderful!

Why not both? Build a pure bard and play four a few hours, say until level 3. Then build a pure rogue and play the same again, and see what feels more Bilbo to you.

I think very many of your questions are best answered with "try it and see" rather than trying to nail everything down in advance.

Especially if you're new to the game, I think it's probably best to expect some false stats, playing for a bit, realizing a major flaw, and then starting fresh

Haha I wish I could instead of annoying everyone on here, but unfortunately I've only got a PS5! 😭

No one is annoyed, I assure you. Sorry you've got the long wait

If multi-classing works like it does in the books, then a lore-bard mixed with rogue nets you a ton of skills, 4 of which would have expertise, which means you get double bonus points* when using them. And since you are bard, you get half-bonus points on all your other skills too.

If you are looking to be non-combat support, it might be worth taking some points out of constitution and putting them in intelligence or wisdom instead. A rule of thumb when picking stats is to always aim for even numbers, because odd numbers don't boost your bonuses.**

*bonus-points meaning proficiency which starts at +2 and gets higher as you hit higher levels

**Unless you are planning to take a half-feat when you would get an ASI (every 4 levels in a single class) Half-feat is a term used to mean a feat that gives you +1 to a single stat, but also gets you some additional bonuses. Here is a list from the books, though not all of them with be in BG3: https://assortedmeeples.com/5e-half-feat-list-guide