Originally Posted by 1varangian
Originally Posted by ArvGuy
Is there anything you don't hate, 1varangian?
Yes, but posting about things that are ok would be pointless.

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By the way, BG2 had some gloves of 18 dex that were wonderful on Keldorn and enough strength boosters to go around. I don't think you've really got a strong case for such items to be "stupidly OP" and part of some MMO itemization when items are in line with what we had in BG2.
Do you realize how different D&D rules are in 5th edition? An item that sets an ability score to 18 is nothing in 2nd edition. Especially in BG2 where you can roll indefinitely and edit your Dex to 18 anyway.

5e's bounded accuracy makes every +1 far more significant than in previous editions where Fighters get +1 attack bonus every single level. That and using point buy does make items like Gloves of Dexterity massively more powerful in BG3, if we want to compare to BG2 and an entirely different ruleset.

Speaking of Gloves, there was an item called Gloves of the Underdog or something that gave Advantage to melee attacks if you are threatened by two or more enemies. Again, stupidly powerful and bad design. Larian still haven't learned (after 6 years of development) that throwing advantage around like candy is not a good idea. A permanent Advantage from some gloves invalidates every other tactic that grants it in a balanced and fun way, like Faerie Fire or Invoke Duplicity (which cost resources and/or have Concentration attached to a limited duration).

Don't knock setting 18 dex on a 10-12 dex character in BG2. It made a fairly big impact on both AC and ranged attacks.

As far as BG3, setting dex to 18 is questionable for any dex character, because they're going to want the full 20 anyway. Same reasoning as why low int mages still generally suck despite the headband of 17 int.

But these items are pretty good for boosting secondary stats, though it comes at the cost of using an item slot, which means your barbarian can't use this for getting cheaply to 18 dex and also use the gloves of the Underdog.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying something that sets dex cannot be cheesed, but it isn't obvious to me how it outright breaks the game.

Last edited by ArvGuy; 18/07/23 02:54 PM.