Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Phalar Aluve

Okay, so I am confused, first of all, why can't my Seldarine Drow, Eilistraee, Cleric not use the weapon with any proficiency, or put differently why can't I choose War domain so that I can use the weapon with any degree of usefulness.

Second why is it so bad? it is literally a sword in the stone, I thought it was going to have all kinds of miraculous abilities, at least Faerie Fire or dancing lights, considering the description including "I will dance forever in Eilistraee's light" I mean the faithbreaker, Ragzlin drops even has a powerful activated ability.

The Phalar Aluve a Gods Champion weapon and supposedly a powerful magical artifact weapon is quite literally a +1 longsword.

Am I missing something?

I haven't ever received it in a table top game so I am not sure what effects if any it is suppose to come with but I really don't believe a god forged weapon is suppose to just be a plus one weapon.

I can go get that from the shop.

I don't need to travel to the underdark and shed blood for that trash.

Yeah, I agree. It had so much build up and drama, it being just a+1 sword was honestly a bit of a let down. I'd love for someone to sell me on it, personally. Or for Larian to buff it once 1.0 comes around.

The same goes for the Adamant Crafts...
I'm surprised by the lack of proportionality compared to +1 weapons and armor, measured against the in-game statements. Adamant is presented as an extremely rare and valuable resource. Adamant should be at least equivalent to +2 weapons and armor, if not much higher.

Narrator: *Your eyes find the source of the glitter: a small piece of metal. Adamant.
Narrator: *You remember that blacksmiths speak of the substance with the greatest respect - the hardest there is.
....
Herdmaster Skarjall: This stuff is incredible. Harder than steel. Rarer than mithral. And it's forged.

See this is what I thought, it seems the only weapons Larian cares about are their stupid absolute weapons, which from what I have seen are all quite remarkable, they also give some strength to Everburn at the beginning of the game as well as Githyanki weapons at least the greatsword seem to be alright, but most of the other weapons seem sub par, just random loot drops, even though they aren't the Phalar Aluve is literally like Excalibur the way it was presented, then it's just "a sword"

I really don't understand what Larian was going for here. just goofin I guess?

I have been thinking about it and I would really appreciate if the weapon did radiant damage, it would make sense being a weapon of Lolth's antithesis, the lady of light Eilistraee.

I believe this sword "epic presentation" is just a joke from Larian.

If thats the case then I thinknmy respect for Larian has dropped even lower, because I can't read that joke as anything other than being an insult to the player for daring to take the moment and presentation seriously.

I'm also not convinced it's a joke. I feel like if it were then the sword would have some kind of downside or the engraving would be different. Larian are not subtle.

Phalar Aluve should always have the spell light on its blade imo.
Mostly sure they'll change it at release.

Maybe ...
On the other hand tho, it was ectremely easy to obtain ... i mean we only need to pass one check ... there is few of them and failure in one dont prevent another atempt.
Thats not a lot of effort for some supercool loot ... is it?

Even when you try to get that dagger in Goblin villaga, it can snap when you fail.

I like Maximuuus idea with permanent light tho!

I don't consider it funny, I am trying to RP a cleric of Eilistraee who was on a crusade against the Lolth sworn before being captured by the Ilithid.

I found the sword and thought perfect.

It isn't even a funny joke if it is one.

I mean role playing is the entire point of d&d and now I can't take it seriously because apparently what I want to do is a joke to Larian.

In terms of numbers, it's not a lot of effort, no. But this isn't a game about pure numbers. The setup and presentation of the scene told a story, and that story built an expectation. If the sword was just held by a corpse we found, then I think it would feel less... special. But this? There are items we can just buy from a shop that are more impressive statistically. I don't think any weapon has this much gravitas and weight put into its presentation either. Even the speak of faith or sword of Tyr are never made to really feel important

Gormak is right, if it is a joke then it's not an especially funny one. Haha, we took them seriously. I'm still gonna use the sword for my Drow Paladin, but I may just have to drop the difficulty down to story mode.

Yeah, it's a bit weird that a named item didn't have a single special attribute of any kind.

It didn't even need to be a particularly good one. Just a distinctive trait.

Im sory, you confused me ...
This feels kinda contradictionary.

Hey, i never said there cant be something special about the sword ...
And i really like that perma-light idea Maximuuus presented ...
I just think that when we concider how much effrot we invested ... and how many people around here keep repeating that +1 are basicaly best weapons in EA ...

I just cant help but feel like this reward is prefectly adequate.

And i find it funny ... not that "fell from the chair and cracked floor" kind of funny ... more like "smiled and thinked, ok you got me there" kind of funny ... but still funny, since nobody can seriously expect to find Excalibur (defacto best sword that didnt even existed) so early in game.

I don't think it is that early, you have to pass a lot of potential danger, solve a moon puzzle, shutdown selune moon rays, and possibly fight minotaurs if you aren't careful and at the very least you have to save scum.

Contrast that to getting heat metal as my bard and burning the devils hands right at the beginning of the game to get everburn, an absurdly powerful starting greatsword for doing almost nothing except for maybe save scuming to get the role I need for heat metal to land.

Yeah I am not following the logic.

I also don't expect it to be Excalibur powerful, a 1d4 radiant damage or a light enchant would be more than enough.

I agree that it is a bit underwhelming because a +1 weapon isn't all that special, but I think some of you are blowing things out of proportions by saying Larian are trying to make a joke at your expense. The sword resembling Excalibur is more of an easter egg or a hint to the tale rather than a joke.


You can't do this without mods, heat metal is a level 2 spell, so using the means the game gives you naturally, killing Zhalk to get his sword is considerably harder.

Yeah that isn't true, you can get to level two before him to get heat metal I have done it no mods no cheats.

I also just said you don't need to beat him he had full health, I used heat metal and he dropped the sword, I picked it up and left, I never had to beat him.

Kind of wild a devil which I thought was supposed to be resistant to heat at least to a degree, and who is already holding a burning sword can't handle heat metal but whatever, that is Larians deal.

Heat metal is a level 2 spell, that means that you need to be caster level 3 to learn it, so you're saying you can reach level 3 with your character before reaching the fight with Zhalk. Is that right? Please explain how.

Even if you cheese extensively, I don't think there's a way for you to reach level 3 at the point you're claiming, and even if that was possible, cheesing your way through the prologue surely requires more effort than pulling Phalar Aluve from the stone.

The only actual way that i know of getting Zhalk to drop his sword without mods or cheating is by using the spell "command (drop)" with your main character, but that's not what you're saying here, so unless you offer a reasonable explanation to how you're using heat metal on him, I'm just going to assume you're lying.

EDIT: I guess we'll never know.

That really depends on your gameplay tho ...
I also rarely ends up inside Underdark, while i still have business on the Surface, but POTENTIALY ...

If you just run there you can:

See? Its not that far.
Sure, you can go around ... but that is different story.
You can also fly from Berlin to Paris, over New York or Moscow ... but that dont make it travel for several days, you just picked ineffective route.

Quite honestly? Me neither.
All Everburning Sword does is that is saves single Bonus Action to dip ... once per 4 rounds.
How is that absurdly powerfull?
I have no idea.

Especialy if you put on other side of scales facts that you cant hide in shadows while holding it, since it counts as source of light (ok, that can also be benefit) and that its blade on the contrary to regular Iron, non-magical Greatsword cant be poisoned, when you are killing Fire-Resistant enemies (like Tieflings).

And in order to obtain this item, you need to kill an enemy that is totally able to one-shot each and every member of your group, and have more than double amount of HP than your WHOLE party counted together.
I say this loot is well deserved.

Sounds reasonable ...

You know what i would like? Mash it together!

1d4 radiant damage, when Light enchant is active ...
I wouldnt even mind if it would provide Light Spell.

Yes i know people around here are alergic to conditional effects, but im addicted to them.

I want to think that the equipment in EA are "placeholders". I mean, we have plenty of food, but only one model of tunic (in a couple of colors but that you can't change). A few armor designs. A few +1 weapons and a few that have minor magic effects. Not so many boots, gloves, or helmets/hats. Are there even capes? Can't even remember. But I hope the finished game has more variety. Since they have listen to other feedback, I want to think that equipment would be added and that special weapons with flavor would get different bonuses.

I would personally like that this weapon started as a plain vanilla +1 weapon but that can be upgraded by doing things that would agree with Eillistrae. For example: a ritual of dancing naked under starlight gives temporary bonuses (or permanent). You can introduce this with a scene.

There was a Selune amulet that also should have a similar treatment. Weak enchantment when you find it, but that can be improved if you take it to the Selune temple, perform a ritual, etc.

And not just the part about divine enchantments, but you can do this with the book of the Death, the other books that Astarion wants, the flask that is consumed by Gale and any other object that is special.

Anyway, since there was interesting magic objects in Divinity, I'm going to assume that we would find interesting objects here too.

I stumbled upon this sword today.
My Half-drow Champion of Eilistraee (Cleric, War Domain 1, Fighter, Champion 4) is delighted. I don't think that he'll be using anything else.
I'd had loved if the sword had some small perk for Seldarine Drow, Half-Drow or Eilistraee worshipers, but I can live without that.

I use the sword on my halfling bard - it is the ideal weapon for a bard with the song attacks and the buffing of charisma skills.

People seem to be missing the point about what makes this weapon special. I mean, some posts are recent, but appear not in the know.

Phalar Aluve is a Longsword +1 that comes with a baked-in "Singing Sword" ability (Singing or Shrieking) you can use on every short rest.
That alone would be decent for a weapon you'd get around level 3-4 fairly easily. People make endgame builds around the "Singing Sword" power, even.

But Phalar Aluve is a long sword that also happens to be a Finesse weapon. Meaning, you can use Dexterity rather than Strength as your primary stat modifier to use this weapon.
That makes it a great weapon for a Sword Bard, a Dex-based fighter, an elven rogue that happens to have longsword proficiency (though it's not a light weapon, so, you won't be able to dual wield), etc...

The only other longsword I remember that is also a finesse weapon is Larethian's Wrath, which you have to buy from a Githyanki merchant in the Mountain Pass - so you're unlikely to gain access to it before levels 5-6 and its not necessarily better (though it's themed after the elven deity Corellon Larethian so it might appeal to those elven characters more).
It comes baked in with a whirlwind-attack-like weapon power.

I love the finesse aspect of Phalar Aluve.

I feel like that makes it go well with the description of it being a drow blade. It always bothered me in early access when I couldn't have a drow wield it without resorting to strength. (in early access, drow still had plus two to dex with no bonus to strength. so a drow fighter naturally tended to be dex based.)

This! It's also worth mentioning that You can use Sneak Attack only with Finnese weapon which means most rogues will have to use smaller daggers or shortswords, but(!) with Phalar Aluve You can bypass this and also the light weapon requirement for dual wielding with the right build.
My favourite party consisted of two multiclassing rogues(my Tav and Astarion), Karlach(full barb) and Shadowheart(her original cleric domain) or Halsin(full druid) on occasions. From the moment I've got my eyes on this drow sword it's final destination were Astarion's hands. He would have him for all the rest of the game I played even thought I almost never used its singing ability. But thanks to this sword(plus second longsword) and half on half multiclassing Assasin rogue with Battle Master fighter and Two-weapon fighting style, adding also Dual Wielder feat my Astarion often could do sneak attack from hiding, then starting initiative he would do another like five attacks including sneak attack and then next from hiding came my rogue Tav... Thanks to that only +1 longsword any rogue could be a real monster in combat!

Althought I admit that since the sword had a cool cinematic intro, we could get something more from it, like we could meet some Eilistraee cleric or something later who after a nice talk could recognise it and on example give it another small boost. That would've been a nice addition to the story I think.

As someone who commented in this thread when it was first created, back in early access it was just a +1 longsword, none of those singing abilities. I am very happy with how the sword has turned out in full release and have had no issue taking it to endgame with my drow paladin. Also I'll admit that I never even really noticed that all longswords weren't finesse weapons. I assumed that was just a thing true of all of them.