Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Shadowheart with twohanded spear?

I quite like Shadowheart's stats. These are almost certain to change with no Half-Elven bonuses, right?
As to spear two-handed - I agree with the opinion that she needs the shield. She too dainty to facetank it.

I didn’t make a secret of not being a fan of the ability to respec companions from level 1, since I think this will make them empty husks of characters where everything about them will be changed by the player at will.

That said, since the option will be there in the end, Shadowheart domain may actually be the only case where I take advantage of the feature.
I was considering turning her in a War or Tempest domain cleric.

Trickery blows.

No one is forced to use respec. It's there if needed, and largely intended as a way to fix mistakes.

But if you want to be consistent with lore, the only other option for a cleric of Shar that is in the game is the Knowledge domain.

I didn’t ask if someone is forced.

Viable in terms of mechanics? Sure, at start her STR bonus is one less than her DEX bonus, and since she is a cleric, you're not gonna use ASIs to bump anything but her WIS (or give a Feat). A +1 on a d20 is not a big deal spaced out over dozens or 100s of rolls. And if you want her to go melee, I think her only finesse option is a dagger. In EA, if I don't use Lae'zel (which is often because she's a jerk, like they all are, but she's an ugly jerk) I often have Shadowheart up front after having her cast Shield of Faith. When I get that spear from the crypt early on, I give to her, albeit with a shield rather than two-handed, because if I'm gonna have her tank, I'm going to give her a shield.

Amusingly that's exactly how I equipped and used her.

Clerics are mostly casters in my view and especially important for me is the concentration slot because there are fantastic spells available. A cleric without a shield for me is wasted potential, given how difficult it is in the game to keep concentration. That would be also the case if you went Tempest or War domain and gave them heavy armor proficiency. In my EA Shadowheart carried, in addition to a shield, a spear which gave her advantage against the target when missing, until I got the mace which casts Fairy Fire on the target when missing. And she missed a lot, thankfully, but using profane weaponry is not her task anyway. For simpler fights she was very good with the crossbow.

I'm tempted to change her subclass to Tempest domain, as lightning (and cold) is by far the most effective magic in the game. Is it absolutely impossible from the lore to justify the Tempest domain when bowing before Shar? In that case ...

It's "impossible" only if you decide it is. But whether or not we can do it to Shadowheart, I dunno. Will we be able to do that sort of thing (change her domain)?

I'm pretty sure they said Shadowheart domain will be one of the two instances in which respect is not going to be possible.

It will allegedly be possible after you meet a certain person who's name starts with a W. Which was early in EA, I was usually lvl 2 at that moment. Don't know how expensive respeccing will be. As far as I know respeccing is confirmed with the exception of changing appearance. They may block certain changes because of story reasons. However it would be very strange if you could change Wyll into a Rogue or Gale into a Fighter but couldn't change a cleric subclass. It would be better to be not able at all to change companion stuff, then.

I don't want to violate the lore too much. So I'm interested in reasons about in what you could change her why, as I'm not a DnD player and lack the necessary knowledge. Trickery domain is not my favorite Cleric domain, but you can play with it (the lvl 5 domain spell is great), so it is not mandatory to change her.

The link between cleric and deities is only a suggestion in 5e, not a hard rule (although it's certainly a house rule when I DM in the Forgotten Realms). Talos and Unberee would be pretty peeved if clerics of Shar started tossing lighting around.

PHB, Shar gets Knowledge and Trickery. You could make a case for Death, Arcana and Twilight from expansions.

Either you and I have a different PHBs or you are muddling up Selune's and Shar's domains. Selune is Knowledge and Life, Shar is Death and Trickery (in my PHB).

Rules as written, Death is an NPC-only domain, as it appears in the DMG, not in the PHB (and not in Tasha's or Xanathar's).

If the long ventured funny theory would be true that Shadowheart could be a prior devotee of Selune (?) turned around by brainwashing, what would Selune say to lightning damage? As I understand it, the gods play an important role for Clerics because the latter's power comes more directly from the gods than say, those of Wizards or Sorcerers or Paladins.

Quite right, I can't read in a straight line! Death and Trickery, not Knowledge and Trickery. Where is the Taxes domain?

I would have liked the Death domain, it's much more fun than Trickery.

It's more a case of "what do the other gods say about having their schtick purloined?"

If I can read in a straight line this time, Selune gets Knowledge and Life. Plus Twilight, which is pretty ubiquitous these days on account of being so overpowered. Selune is a powergamer!

Surely included in Trickery?

Here's something you *are* asking for:
Just take it easy for once. No one's attacking you. Agree where you do, disagree where you don't. Plain and simple.


It's not your typical healing off-tank for sure; and if you expect to use her as one of those, you'll be thoroughly dissapointed.

But once you *know* that, and play it to her strenghts, She's actually really, really cool , allowing for some creative gameplay. The Tricksy Cleric allows the whole party to join in the sneaky aspects with Pass without Trace. She can engage a few enemies with a Silence aura, not alerting nearby others - She can use disguise self to open up new types conversations - make her a Drow in the Underdark for instance. The Tricksy Cleric combined with say, thief makes for an *amazing* scout/utility cannon.


Actually, I believe you may have misinterpreted that. I think, what they said is - that certain Origin Characters have their subclass locked at start - so if you pick them as the Player Character. But, that you can still respec later, but that the game didn't adjust the story for it.

I'd prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around.

This.
I see her as Thief/Cleric.
Cheat, Lie, Steal your way through life.
She is good in that
Paladin or Barbarian spotted
Ugluk/Lothar SMASH!

That's exactly how I use her in certain party make-ups, and I am not even slightly disappointed. I don't get why people think Shadowheart is sub-par (mechanically; personality-wise, she most definitely is sub-par). And let me head you off at the pass and say I am not saying you used the term "sub-par" to describe her. If you put her in Lae'zel's armor with a shield (and if I'm using Shadowheart as a tank, that means Lae'zel is not in my party), she has an unbuffed AC of 19, which is not too bad for a level 2 character.