Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Question about a build!

Hey folks - big noob here.
I need some help with my first character and I just don't know how to do it. I would be really glad, if some of you experienced people could give me some advise!:)

Short summary:

My Character is a Dragonborn that sees himself as a "true" Dragon. He is physically strong with a two-handed axe and sets enemies and the world around him on fire. (at least in the endgame :D)
He is intimidating and very selfish (after all, he's a dragon and is above the petty struggle of the plebs :D)... soooooo how can I make that happen without ending up in an utter trash-tier?

If I become an Eldritch-Knight i have a feeling that my "burn everything to the ground"-side is lacking. As far as I've read they dont really have access to "good" fire spells. Later on I would like to have aoe flame stuff, not just a little fire bolt.
Does the feat with the sorcerer spells help me there? But afaik the feat only gives me the super basic spells without that aoe potential later on.

On the other hand I could start with berserker (because I would use 2h-weapons only anyway and rage sounds like a cool addition) and then multiclass into sorcerer. (Draconic Bloodline sounds super fitting) But in order to get more interesting fire spells than just a bolt, would I not spread myself out too thin with 2 classes?
Or would be wizard the better option? I really only care about fire and want the most fire spells possible (without neglecting my 2H-weapon stuff too much)

In terms of stats, I thought of putting max points in Strength and then split the majority of points between Charisma (mainly just for intimidation) and the stat that boosts the fire damage.. Would that be intelligence? Because I've read that sorcerers have something to do with charisma?:D That was confusing me.

A lot of questions, because I only recently got into D&D, so any help is very much appreciated!
Have a nice day peeps!

the Eldritch-Knight [with two handed fire sword] works better than a barb imo + its simple which means you shouldn't have any issues picking it up

While you can do what you want, a few points.

Multiclassing a spell casting class with barbarian is poor synergy. Barbarian rage drops spell concentration and prevents spell casting. You want multiclassing synergies that compliment each other, not two classes that compete with each other.

You could go Draconic bloodline sorcerer mixed with Paladin. Both use Charisma for spell casting, and it’s a common pairing. Sorcerer specializes in throwing bigger, more powerful spells than wizard, but they have less utility. They get their power through their ancestry, in this case being the descendant of a dragon.

You will need to decide what your character mainly does though, as you won’t be equally good at both melee and spellcasting. Pick one primary class and another secondary. There are builds with more intricate breakdowns, but leave those aside until you learn the rules. Since sorcerer / Paladin is a common build, it is easy to research, and I’d recommend as much.

Also, consider what order you want to multiclass in. If you want to be mainly a sorcerer, start with one level of Paladin for the armor proficiency and then boost sorcerer until you have some descent spells. The respec is forgiving, so experiment around with a level distribution that feels good for you once you have several levels under your belt.

If you want to be mainly an axe swinging melee character, hit level 5 for multi-attack before bothering with a few levels of spell casting.

For this character’s stats, STR, CON and CHA are important. DEX, WIS, and INT can be as low as you are comfortable with.

I would try out a Paladin/ Sorcerer build, if you are comfortable with multiclassing.
Conquest Paladin would be best, but is not in the game. So I would go with vengeance.

In 5e, you do not necessarily have to get your powers from a god anymore (though you can of course be a devout follower of Tiamat, that would certainly be a way to see the world in flames). Your oath could basically be to kill everyone who tries to bring harm to a dragon or resist your conquest of inferior beings.

With the sorcerer levels, you get better spell casting, including aoe damage spells, as well as more slots for smites. As well as metamagic, which is also very strong in bg3, since there are no longer restrictions on the number of spells every turn, if you are hasted, or use quicken...

I would go with Paladin 6/ Sorcerer 6, personally, but there are different ways to optimize this. With that, you will have extra attack and smites, be a full martial, have aura of protection etc, as well as 5th level spells. So you only lose lv 6 spells compared to full spell casters




Edit:
Of course, choose Draconic Sorcerer
It is not necessarily optimal, but it is your blood heritage, and the source of your great power, in addition to what Tiamat has given to her champion (or what you believe she has)

If you want to be the most dragon possible just go full draconic sorcerer, you probably have to give up the melee build though.

You wan a Dragonborn supremacist! Cool!
You get to belch fire as a sub-racial feature.
Eldritch Knight has the Burning Hands spell - a fantastic "firethrower" spell. Good for clearing out rooms with lower level enemies.
The Good People here make a compelling argument with taking Sorcerer - as your "casting" side - to make use of your high CHA from being a scary, ugly alien.
I like the Fighter/Sorcerer path you imagine.
Strong, hawt! and dumb - (as usual in DnD) is the way to go.
STR, CHA, CON - the rest don't matter that much.

BTW - a Light Domain Cleric has "burny" spells - you could roleplay those as not being "radiant" but "firey". But here you'd need WIS of 12-14.

The important question is which part matters to you more - being physically strong and swinging a greataxe, or burning everything to the ground with fire magic?

AFAIK we still don't know the details about how multiclassing will work, but I think there's a good chance you'll get the most enjoyment out of your character if you make a choice. Nonetheless, I'm sure a hybrid build can be effective and fun too if you like that flavour, although a bit more complicated to build. Here's some options:

Barbarian (Berserker)
Pro: If you want to cleave things for massive damage with a big axe, this is your easiest option. Barbarian has the highest pool of hit points and the highest potential per-hit damage with a two-hander. It also has Unarmored Defense - Armor Class equal to 10 + DEX + CON - which evokes the feeling that you need no armor to be defensible and can only rely on your scales for protection. STR is your main ability which determines your melee damage and chance to hit, followed by CON which increases your already massive HP as well as AC. DEX is useful for extra AC and you can safely drop WIS and INT to put the remainder of your points into CHA. 12 CHA and Intimidation proficiency is enough for you to be reasonably good at menacing people.

Con: As a downside, this class brings no magic to the table and your only source of fire will be your meagre dragon breath or possibly a flaming weapon.

Sorcerer (Draconic bloodline)
Pro: A Draconic Sorcerer inherits their power from a dragon ancestor, which I think is a fantastic thematic fit for a dragonborn who fancies themself a true dragon. The Sorcerer is a pure spellcaster. You gain additional damage with fire spells if you choose the right bloodline, access to devastating spells like Fireball and dragon scales that protect you like armor. Draconic Sorcerers are also surprisingly durable compared to Wizards (or even other Sorcerers) thanks to their permanent AC equal to 13 + DEX, +1 HP per level and proficiency in CON saves. CHA is your main ability that affects the power of your spells, followed by CON and DEX which significantly improve your survivability. CHA being your highest stat also sets you up to pass even difficult Intimidation checks, so ironically you'd be more terrifying this way than as a Barbarian.

From 3rd level onward the Quickened Spell metamagic allows you to cast two spells per turn (unless this rule is changed on release). If you haste yourself to gain an extra action, you can open a fight with 3 fireballs which is something that not even an evoker Wizard can do. I can promise you one thing: it doesn't get more "burn everything to the ground" than this.

Con: The obvious downside here is you won't be swinging any big weapons and you'll be best off avoiding the front line.

Fighter (Battlemaster) 5, Sorcerer (Draconic) 7
Pro: Here's a way to be a towering juggernaut who can swing a massive weapon and throw a fireball or two as needed. You begin as a Fighter, which grants you proficiency with heavy armors and all weapons. STR and CHA should be your highest stats, followed by CON. At level 5 you gain Extra Attack (two attacks per turn instead of one) and at this point you can begin leveling in Sorcerer. By the end of the game you'll be marching into battle in full plate armour, swinging your giant sword twice and dropping a 4th level fireball on people's heads as a bonus action, all in a single turn.

Con: The problem is, it takes a while to get there. The first 4 Sorcerer levels won't do much for you, but they can still be very useful if you pick the right spells. For example, Shield is a fantastic reaction for melee characters and Scorching Ray provides a fiery ranged attack. Another problem is you'll be missing out on one ability increase/feat, which you'd normally gain at levels 4, 8 and 12. You'd best start with a 17 in both STR and CHA so that you can round them up in one go. At the end of the day, you may not be as good at either martial combat or spellcasting as a dedicated character, but you can absolutely have an effective and strong character that feels like a mesh between the two and is fun to play.

If you want to support "true dragon" part of your character, then Sorcerer would be most obvious choice. All true dragons are spellcasters (and yes, i rely on older lore, where this is actually true for 100% of all true dragons). And casting spells as sorcerer is best way to support your characters delusions about being true dragon.
Of course still wouldn't make him a true dragon.
And alas, taking how shitty polymorph spell designed for 5th edition - can't turn yourself into the dragon either... that is until level-17... which you can't get in game anyway.

paladin/sorcerer looks good.
For subclasses: draconic sorcerer with the fire element is a must have. For paladin vengeance or oathbreaker if you don´t want to be good, depending on your desired alignment.
You need high str and cha, chose which to max if you want more fighting or more casting. Con is nice for more HP. Dex is unimportend because you can use heavy armor and spells for ranged attacks.

If they do not change rules from EA (which will probably happen)
pro:
- blasting power of a sorcerer, like 3 fireballs per round (normal, haste, quickened spell, this is against official DnD rules and may change)
- use high level spell slots for smiting
- divine and arcane spells
- good defense with heavy armor + defensive arcane spells (shield, blur, mirror image) and saving throw boost
- 2 attacks per round

con:
- multi classing means delayed progression. It may take a while until you feel powerful.
- cannot cast spells when using weapon+shield or dual wielding (according to PnP, not sure how BG3 uses the rules and what the war caster feat does exactly)

Thank you all so much for your replies! What a nice community.
Coming from other games i really did not expect that.

I have to say - i never really considered a Paladin, because I normally associate them with the good bois and holy stuff. But it really makes more sense with that Tiamat background.. so thank you for that!
Now i know what i can research, so i get more of a clue what to do on release.

I also had no idea about the berserkers rage. Not being able to cast my fire stuff while raging wouldn't be the right call for my character.

As for what matters more to me.. I think the physical strength to be honest. So I can be on the front line right from the very start! Standing back as a caster (even if it would only be for the first few levels - which could mean the entire 1. act)
would not be a good look on the "mighty dragon" (yea, he's a delusional megalomaniac). :'D As long as i can set a good amount of people on fire later on, i'm happy.

If it takes a while until i feel truly powerful - i think thats alright. If i get my butt beaten at the start, it could be an interesting opportunity to roleplay with the fact that I'm not so great after all.
.. Well until i whoop some myself.

I wrote your suggestions down! Luckily (or sadly) there are still 2 weeks left to make my choice. Good amount of time to ponder about all of it.

Oathbreaker/Sorcerer - I like that idea. Dragonborn are "Very Naughty Bois" by default ...
As to your char design plans - our suggestions are based upon EA patch 9 plus what is known about 1.0. Come 3.VIII there could be changes to the game we are not aware yet, hence leave margin for "I may have to tweak it" .

Besides distance spells are various "cone" or "touch" spells - like Shocking Grasp - to be used in melee.

With Oathbreaker, I would suggest going Paladin 8/ Sorcerer 4 instead, since Aura of Hate is very strong. I would also pick up Polearm Master (depending on the weapons in the game) instead of GWM.

If you want, make Gale a necromancer, since the skeletons also benefit from the aura of hate. Maybe he is a Tiamat cultist too

If you want to refresh your Tiamat lore to roleplay properly, this video was good, I thought

Sounds like an Oath of Vengeance Paladin and Dragonic Sorcerer to me. They both use charisma as their spells, which is also the stat you need for Intimidation checks when you're in conversations

If you plan on being the only Character on the frontline Paladin 5 Sorceror 7 is a great option. If you are planning to have an ally up there with you I would do 6 and 6 instead so that you can give your ally the saving throw bonus from your aura. Either way nets you the same amount of spell slots. Though we aren't sure yet how Larian is reworking access to spells, even if you don't get the 5th level Sorcerer spells, you can just use the slots for your Paladin smites. Crushing you enemies with 'Radiant' damage, is often the alternate 'Fire' type of damage that religious classes get. Between the Paladin and Sorcerer, you'll be doing plenty damage of both types.

Definitely start as a Paladin with ability scores like the below if you want to punch as hard as you hurl fireballs. If one is more important than the other, you swap the 16/14 to Constitution to survive a little better.
STR 16
DEX 10
CON 14
IINT 8
WIS 10
CHA 16

If this sounds like something you'd like I can put together a build for you. We'd just want to identify if you would rather do first: attack twice or throw fireballs. And if you would rather be defensive up close or swing a big weapon.