Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Concentration: Low Level Spells

Yeah maybe I was sleeping on Hex there. It stacks up alright, but somehow that's the one that had me accidentally breaking concentration, cause it's like 'oh bonus' but then I goof, cause of course lol. I was trying a tome warlock so it was competing with haste, might have also been my problem. I haven't tried too many Warlocks. Probably not the best example coming off the top of my head, although I was thinking many times how much I wished it wasn't competing with many other spells that run. I just love the spells like that, where we get to pick a bunch of options and which have satisfying casting animations or sounds. One thing larian did a pretty good job of was making some of these spells just feel really nice to use, and Hex has that sort of feel. Similar to the Eldritch Blast and Flame Ray sizzle, with those very satisfying pings coming in rapid succession, Hex has that necrotic effect like the life force draining away that I really enjoy. Anyway, probably getting myself caught in the weeds for specifics again, but just more a general feeling that it would have been fun if concentration was not quite so strict, or became less so, like progressively as we gain experience.

Also unrelated/related, but I always liked the idea that if concentration is going to be a mechanic that it might be a bit more lively, where losing concentration or crit failing might sometimes result in losing control or having wild-magic-surge stuff happen instead of just the spell totally fizzling out. Like some kind of concentration drift instead of an all or nothing there, but not sure how that would look. I also dig some option for frantically casting from a book, like tearing out pages for scrolls, which might somehow allow us to blow past concentration requirements. So say where if the spells is already known but being cast from a scroll, that there might be some benefit for non-concentration there, if using the more limited resource. Basically a way to make scrolls used by an experienced spellcaster more effective than by a non-caster, beyond just whatever spellcasting ability score or check. We do get some psionic tadpole abilities that can make having a weak concentration spell active give more of a payoff, but it's a bit one dimensional, like just for a damage punch to wrap things up. The concentrated blast one I mean. Every now and again someone still has guidance up and it's like 'oh wow, bam!' but I was looking more for the flavor of some of those standard spells at the lower end. It's tough cause I'm sure any change to core stuff as written here would raise eyebrows, but the concentration dynamic is just one of those things that doesn't really grab me, least in the BG context. Takes a lot of getting used to.

ps. another issue that I always have, which probably plays into my impression here, is that whenever I'm the full caster I don't usually want someone else cramping my style or stepping on my toes. Like probably I should have had Gale as some sort of vile S'wizard to twin cast the Haste so I wouldn't be tempted to do it myself. There's never enough room with 4 though. For party comp I mean, but even there if going with say 2 similar casters deep for overlap, I feel like I'd still have trouble casting a lot of those lvl 1 or 2 concentration spells for flavor, instead of just some sort of wild super blast to open where I'd probably get stuck in the same loops. Just defaulting to the best concentration I had, and whatever blast package to compliment. It feels like choosing a variety of competing concentration spells for overall versatility is just bad for business usually, and anything that favors the big burst in a single encounter totally outclasses the stuff that's more long haul over successive encounters or situational. Like in my head when choosing what spell to learn or prepare from the list or who to take along for the ride based on the best in class, it's hard to slot in stuff that's like Enlarge/Reduce specialist which maybe I'd try otherwise, if there was a 5th character hehe.

pps. Perhaps having a Concentration distinction by class/magic type? So having like Arcane Concentration vs Divine Concentration vs Eldritch Concentration. Something along those lines? Maybe a multiclass priest/mage might be able to have a spell like Bless up without that also interfering with their Wizard concentration spells? Say where concentration was pooled differently by class level, or something similar. Maybe introducing a concept like Concentration vs Full Concentration, just so there's some kind of gradation there and a little room for the give and take. More powerful spells or upcast spells might be more demanding in that regard, as a way to balance stuff out. Trying to imagine a situation where some of the interesting multi-class caster concepts might allow more mix and match for their concentration spells, just to give more flavor flexibility.