Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Help me Choose my PC (Lore Bard, Vengeance Paladin, Gloomstalker Ranger or Fiend Warlock?)

I'm quite torn between my choice of class for my PC.
My ambivalence and indecision comes from the benefits of having a PC with high Charisma.

I have narrowed down my choice to these 4 options and I would like you guys help and thoughts.

For context, I have not played any Early Access, I'm a completionist, I do not plan on playing an Origin Character but a Custom Character instead, I plan to take a traditional good play path, I gravitate towards Rangers, Fighter/Thiefs and Fighter/Mages, I prefer range combat, I plan to play in the easiest Explorer mode and as much as I would like it to be otherwise, I will probably only play the game once due to being too busy, other games in the pipeline and having a low attention span.

I like the thought of having my PC be a Lore Bard for the dialog/RP/skill monkey options but I worry about my PC being too utility focused and not martial "active" enough.
While on the one hand, a Lore Bard would offer the greatest chance to experience a wider range of the reactivity and content that the game has to offer, specially for someone that is only planning on playing the game once, paradoxically, I'm also concerned about a Lore Bard being too successful in dialog choices leading to avoiding combat too much and therefore missing out on the fun of combat encounters.

There is also something to be said about missing dialog checks leading towards more interesting encounters.

A Vengeance Paladin on the other hand, would offer some of those face/dialog choices while being more martial "active" than a Lore Bard.

A Paladin though is also a melee combatant rather than the range combatant that I prefer.
That is not that important though as my main concern with the Vengeance Paladin or any Paladin for that matter, is that the role playing constrain of being a Paladin and keeping your Oath and specially the reactivity of the game world towards a Paladin would actually limit seeing and experiencing what the game has to offer if I were to choose a class with less role playing restrictions.

A Gloomstalker Ranger on the other hand, would offer me the class that I tend to gravitate towards and is the range combatant that I prefer.
But what holds me back and what is giving me pause in regards to the Gloomstalker Ranger, is what I perceive as the benefit and perhaps even the need to have a high Charisma character like a Bard, Paladin or Warlock be your PC for the most dialog options.

Finally, a Warlock, would offer some of the face/dialog choices and not be as limited in that regard as a Gloomstalker Ranger due to higher Charisma, be more martial than a Lore Bard, and not have the role playing or lack or range constraints of a Paladin.
Also a Warlock, specially a Pack of the Blade Warlock, offers that Fighter/Mage or Gish class that I gravitate towards with the bonus of also being a range character which I prefer.

Having said that, I'm thinking whether it is actually necessary to have the PC be a high Charisma character?

If I have an Origin Character like Wyll, respec him to have high Charisma because he's a Warlock, use him as the face of the party and always have him initiate dialog, would not doing all these offer me almost the same dialog freedom as if my PC were the face character?

If the answer is Yes then that would free me to not have my PC be the face/dialog character.

On the other hand, from what I understand, it might not be as easy to always have the same character initiate dialog.

Lastly, even if I use a high Charisma character like Wyll for all face/dialog choices, am I correct in suspecting that not having a PC with high Charisma would still limit my reaction and dialog freedom in some fashion?

Thoughts/Comments?

First: Completionist - Forget that now. For real, you'll not see a quarter of the possibilities on a single playthrough. Don;t hang yourself up on that, focus on having fun.

Then. Failing checks such as in dialogue isn't a bad thing. You get a different outcome, some of which are more fun.

If you're going Explorer mode, and want to do some talking and exploration, and do some ranged damage?

Ranger [any] combo with Rogue [any]
17 Dex, 15 Cha and go for it. 18/16 on level 4.

Edit: Yes, you can have Wyll talk for you. But again, don't worry so much. You don;t have to make every check.

Will can help, but I belive there are times where he can't face for you. Like talking with others at camp.

I'm going to pitch the Seto Kiba build. The White Dragin sorcerer.

If you go human you'll get shield and light armor, letting you get a reasonable ac.

The meat of this build comes in with the free Armour of Agathys white dragon gives you. Which can be upcasted

Meaning you end up as a great striker and blaster that will be pretty tanky and can quickly deal 15+ damage to enemies trying to attack you for free.

Avoid trying to play Paladin on first playthrough because the Paladin class is very very problematic, accidentally pick the wrong option in a conversation or accidentally attack some peaceful NPCs, or just misunderstand what a dialogue option means for gameplay and you can find yourself an oathbreaker very easily. It's just a very finnicky class with a lot of issues. I don't plan to ever play paladin. Out of those options I'd say probably go Warlock because very good face class and a lot les boring than the Bard.

My only suggestion would be to not have Wyll talk for you Except for selling to merchants. Abuse his high Cha to get better deals.

You are the MC, have the convos yourself even if you have a few points less than Wyll. All approval and relationship building only applies to the person talking, so you won't want to waste that all by letting an NPC get the credit.

At level 1 rangers actually get more skills(4-5) than Bards(3), they just aren't the talky ones. Pick up a Cha based background for persuasion or dsception and you'll be fine for the important checks. Usually the hardest checks (20+) are more RP than mechanics. Plus there is almost always another way to accomplish your goals than just "talk gud".

The hardest Cha roll in the game that I've seen is a 15 then 20 to convince Minthara that you're the boss in the romance. So far that only modifies the intimacy cuscene that follows, but nothing game changing.

Spartacii,


I would not worry too much about choosing your first character class ... just pick the one you prefer.

Larian offered many companions and hirelings to complement you, no matter what you choose...and also respec option for you to change characters without needing to start over.

besides, Baldur´s Gate became such an amazing game in terms of paths, different outcomes and companions,
that no matter what you choose for your first path, soon youtube will be full of videos showing many other possible paths.

Ignore the pressure to find the best possible path...to min/max all your choices and characters.

I mean, you will not be fired as a gamer if you do not finish the game with the best combats, or best dialogues, etc.

I share with you a personal goal in the first run - not much to excel in combat...not at all..

but to reach Baldur´s gate city with many cool stories to complete.

This seems like a cool role-playing challenge so to speak...to explore BG3´s subplots towards the big city along the way.

(maybe because I do live in a big city ...I know how it feels..)

You're pretty generous with the word "romance." But your point still stands.

I believe saving Arabella is a 15. Or was atleast.

My sorcerer tav "intimidated" the kithrak without laezel and that was like a DC 17 iirc

Pick warlock. Pact of blade your great sword, dump strength for Charisma and use the helmet of intellect for 17 intellect. This way you can destroy with eldritch blast, still do mass damage using greatsword via warcaster, and pick up 2 fighter for action surge, 2druid to face tank with the bear wildshape

I found my Woodelf wis/dex land druid with Guild Artisan background (Insight and Persuasion) did pretty well on speech checks--and checks overall. Larian does a fairly good job of providing alternative routes to passing them (e.g. a wisdom option as well as a persuade option), plus you can fairly easily boost stats with Guidance. I think it's good to have a high-Charisma trader character, particularly if you're playing a character who doesn't steal and is inclined to notice what companions are up to, but that needn't be the PC.

Vengence paladin 8/ Sword bard 4.
You get two fighting styles, bard spells of 1-2, sword manuevers which coupled with smites on crits can get your damage towards 100.

Both classes are charisma based and vicous mockery gives you a cantrip you can cast from a distance when trying to clode thr gap and not waste a turn.

If you go thr tank route, you get two fighting styles, can turn inspiration into ac and incredible saves from the 6th level paladin feature.