Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Minsc with low Strenght?? abilityscores fix please

STR 20, DEX 15, CON 15, INT 8, WIS 6, CHA 9

Those are his BG3 NPC stats before recruitment.

The 6 in Wisdom is the most problematic. First because the only way to achieve that in the BG3 scheme would be via Debuffs, like at the Zaithisk or Shar's mirror, and second because -2 hits quite a bit harder than just 'no spells' like in the BG1 context, since Wis checks are all over the place now.

In the new point buy for BG3, 8 (-1) is the new 10, and 20 is the new 18/00, so if the archetype for Minsc is heavy on the brawn but rather dimwitted, it's hard without a heavier malus for the mental stats, like we see in his NPC version stat spread. If he's somehow slower on the uptake and his angle is that he's reckless and impulsive, that is expressed via low Wisdom I guess. Virtually everyone else has at least a 10 or a 12 in Wis, and the game incentivizes us not to dump Wisdom. For the Illlithid abilities the framing there also has Wisdom checks call for a 2, but then everyone typically has a bonus of at least +1. Having low Dex and low Wisdom is terrible for a Ranger now, but perhaps that could be handwaved as something to do with the worm?

Minsc is tadpoled, unlike Jaheira, and so we can use our Illithid connection to communicate. He's also shielded by the Emperor immediately if he's recruited. Just like with Omeluum and Tav, perhaps MInsc might undergo a power up from that process? Some bonus that gives him extra Wisdom, just enough to be competent there. Or they could raise the roof on his Dex to match the new Ranger specs with a similar conceit. An 18 in Strength would also have been respectable, I'm not sure that he really needed to hit 20 there to maintain strong guy vibes, but it should least be 18 right?

For Dexterity, the Brawling Hands would have been an alright option. In BG1 those gauntlets set the character's Dex to 18 and were acquired from those Ogres by the bridge, on his first quest to rescue Dynaheir from the Gnolls. We already have a pair of Dex gloves in BG3 which do that though, and I think I'd want him to hit 20 in his prime if he's going to remain a Ranger.

I feel like his berserk should come from an innate ability, like maybe it's attached to the summon Boo ability, some item in his inventory that grants Wrath at the start of combat or whatever. I think it would be easier to add a rage-like ability to a Ranger archetype, than it would be to change his class. Even in BG2 when the Barbarian class was introduced, they didn't take that opportunity to re-class him then, so probably would be odd to do it at this point. His Berzerk state was wilder than the standard Barbarian rage, higher risk because he might lose control and start swacking at teammates. I don't know that's a particularly fun mechanic. Like it's one thing if it's a crazy cursed Sword absolute act of desperation, but the idea of him constantly getting confused or turning neutral yellow and doing his own thing in the middle of combat would be kind of annoying. Now that Boo is an actual summon, he might have some cool moves that work in tandem. Similar to the specialty Fighter Maneuvers, like maybe Minsc gets extra rage-y and out of control, but to compensate Boo get's a power up while that's happening? Something to make it seem more worthwhile.

In general I think it's kinda rough that the game plays so fast and loose with the idea of stat blocks for the companions. It removes an optimization challenge having to work around a character's stats to get the most out of their unique spread, or creating stat blocks that might lend themselves towards particular Multi-Class combos. Not that those have to be written in stone and immutable, they could still offer the same options to respec and switch stuff around, but it would give players something to work with keying off the defaults. Shadowheart for example has had her stat block changed a few times. Using her base stats and subclass is a more challenging experience than changing her into a Storm Cleric or Life Cleric. You know, with reworked stats so she can go all Dex heavy or use different weapons, or STR heavy and using different armor. I think everyone tries to respec Shadowheart though at the first point where it makes sense to do so, just cause Trickery domain is rough. Minsc had more baggage than Shadowheart did when we first met her though, since peeps have an idea of him from the previous games as a standard Warrior Brawler as like his whole thing. Boo didn't do anything in BG1, aside from taking up a quickslot, so it was pretty much down to the Swords. I'm sure there were maybe a couple runs where we kept him in leathers and did some light scouting, but in the main it was heaviest armor biggest weapon, up front to receive the big blows. I just have a hard time with him as a Ranged Ranger pinging from the backfield. Not that he didn't use the longbow often enough in BG1/2, but you know what I mean right?

Anyhow, I agree it would have been interesting to see a bit more work put into differentiating him from the more standard Tav ranger via stuff like starting Stats. Having Boo as a summon is definitely a draw. With Scratch, Shovel, and Us, Boo sorta completes the team. I feel like he'd see more action if the party was larger, but right now it's always hard to bench someone else, so he can come along for the ride too.

I actually like the idea that maybe Boo grants Minsc a series of bonuses that put him slightly ahead of the power curve. Similar to Jaheira's Sylvan Scimitar the uses Wisdom for attack, or her character items we pick up later on, except in this case it's Boo who awards the boon.

For example a Boo +1 to Strength, would allow him to hit that 18 immediately, so that even when he is first recruited or respec'd it would show that 17 + 1 in STR. Since Boo is a badass he might do that and it would probably make as much sense as anything else. By allowing him to raise the roof in STR over the limit of what would normally be available (similar to the Hag's hair but specific to him) this would allow us to keep some of that super strength fantasy. Even for respec'd Minsc that ended up going with a lower Strength for some other concept, he'd still have the little bit extra to carry over the idea from the older games. Then he could hit 21 in STR if the player pushed that far, similar to the way Jaheira can hit a 21 in her prime, since that's closer to what 18/93 would be now probably. I think they should lean into that idea floated around that whatever stat is highest compensates for Class abilities. So like just giving him an item that makes STR the main thing he needs, and then he has some item or just Boo, which does the translation into Ranger specs. Just so it doesn't come across as a nerf, but rather something to get excited about.