On Difficulty. I don;t *really* like Tactical, because of the increased AC and Saves on enemies. Casting spells three rounds in a row none of them doing what you hope they do, is just annoying. Same as wasting your attacks on misses. It really locks you into obilgatory ASI improvements, where Feat Selections are quite rare on anyone but a straight fighter. At the same time, things like 'All In' on a Great Weapon Master will jsut never land until you've boosted your Strength score to ludicrous levels. And it's teh feats and class combos that set the characters apart, or make them work really well together. So that's not it, for me.
It's really much worse than you think. The best way to play any sort of melee character is with STR 8, and abuse Elixirs to have your STR permanently at 21 in acts 1 and 2 and 27 in act 3. 8 DEX is also fine since you can get the gloves that raises DEX to 18. WIS checks are by far the most common, so go ahead and pump up that WIS and why not CHA, since you can boost your CON to 23 in Act 3 anyway. Feats are pretty much free to choose after that, you could min-max there but... the game is so easy, you don't need to. The game can rather easily be finished solo as a Fighter on Tactician mode.
Above all else I blame 5e, if we were playing with DOS:2 rules this wouldn't be happening (unless barrelmancery). Even so, there are ways to make the game more difficult with the 5e ruleset. Camp supplies are far too numerous (probably a side-effect of them leaving out crafting. They had to fill all those barrels and crates with SOMETHING). Resting is indeed to easy (and even required to see camp events, which is another problem all-together). I'd welcome some camp ambushes. Unfortunately the way Larian has implemented fast travel (via magical waypoints) has made ambushes while fast travelling harder to introduce story-wise. Not sure why they went this route, it's really not common 5e practice.
The game has quite a few scripted ambushes while exploring and they are great, I think that they could add in more on Tactician. They can use the data they got post-launch to add ambushes to places people use to cheese fights (looking at you, holes in rooftops).
One thing that would be rather easy to implement would be to give enemies buffs right from the start of combat. Having a hasted enemy (or later on, a sorceror enemy who decided to twin cast Haste on allies) would be a fun addition. Having summons such as elementals pre-summoned instead of the caster wasting their first round to summon would also be a good start. The players action economy is a bit too good for 5e standards while the enemies' is pretty much the same as 5e unless they have a Haste potion (which is rare, and the AI usually fails to make the most of it). I also see no reason why enemies can't use Elixirs. Do it sparingly in act 1, but by act 2 they should be drinking elixirs in Tactician imo.
One thing I've noticed is a general lack of support enemies in enemy squads. Some can cast Rally or Bloodlust or so and that's cool, but throw in some Life Domain Clerics in there sometimes. The Hags den had a fantastic party comp, and the support had fun spells. Moar! Regen enemies are cool, but enemies should have access to more healing imo (so that we need to shut it down with Bone Chill or similar instead of just bursting them down). Potions for everyone!
Another thing that would be nice is enemies having (more) Feats. Mobility, etc.
There are definitely improvements to be made on the AI front, but I'm sure Larian already knows this. Enemies dashing somewhere and then jumping back to their original position can really ruin some encounters.
One thing I would not like to see is more burst damage - I think character Health levels are just right and for the most part the game isn't too bursty unless you get unlucky, but I think that generally nuking should stay where it's at right now. A hasted enemy or two will be enough to increase enemy damage to dangerous levels.
Originally Posted by Akka
Considering the amount of complaints about overtuning and the objective fact that nearly every fight would be ranked at "deadly+" in the actual real ruleset, I'd say this whole thread feels like a big echo chamber of people captive of their bubble.
I''m sorry for anyone playing D&D with DM that actually seriously takes into consideration CR and what WOTC considers a "Deadly" encounter. I'm extra sorry for people playing with a DM that decided to build an "Easy" encounter with some low CR enemies that will absolutely obliterate a low level party within one turn Leave that garbage where it belongs, in the trash. Thanks.
The best way to play any sort of melee character is with STR 8, and abuse Elixirs to have your STR permanently at 21 in acts 1 and 2 and 27 in act 3. 8 DEX is also fine since you can get the gloves that raises DEX to 18. WIS checks are by far the most common, so go ahead and pump up that WIS and why not CHA, since you can boost your CON to 23 in Act 3 anyway. Feats are pretty much free to choose after that, you could min-max there but... the game is so easy, you don't need to. The game can rather easily be finished solo as a Fighter on Tactician mode.
