Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks New Player Question(s)

Alright so I am only level 2 and come to my first vendor..... naturally I cannot afford anything I want.....


So what is the most profitable way to come across Gold in this game? Like should I just pick and sell everything I come across or how do you do it to maximize gold and get good items?

My next question is what is the best party composition. My main is my Paladin - then I have a rogue, cleric and fighter and sent my mage back to camp ???

Any suggestions would be appreciated and thanks in advance.

Ted

Hi Ted,

Collecting junk for sale is a sure way to cover all your needs, but it is a long and tedious journey.

To spare yourself a headache I suggest having at least one rogue or bard who has Sleight of Hand expertise. Cast a fog cloud near the trader, hide, pause, steal. Let your cleric cast guidance in advance to increase your chances.

If you are against stealing due to any role playing purposes, then I suggest trading with the party member who has the highest Persuasion stat, because it affects the trader's prices. Gold comes as a quest reward less often than expected, sadly. Therefore, its either raiding and trading, stealing or using glitches.

Game forces you to make Tav the Face, as the automatic "use Tav for dialogues" option does work (most of the time).
A spread of classes is useful. However, the diluition of class distinctiveness (that is WotC, not only Larian) and glut of potions&scrolls makes e.g. Cleric redundant.
Unless on Honour Mode, gold is not a problem. A few levels in you will not have anything worthwhile to spend it on.

I would say a cleric is fine early on, but you might want to go for a damage focused build (tempest) or a heavy debuffer-wizard hybrid (light domain) if starting with a Paladin.

The optimal party composition mostly depends on if you want one that requires a little skill to play, is item dependent, and various personal preferences. Even on honour mode, you only "need" 3 strong (not perfect) builds at best. If you're struggling in a fight, you're usually:
A) underleveled
B) badly positioned
C) all of the above and have not figured out the "trick" to an enemy.

Gaining gold the "honest" way is ironically theft. There are never in game consequences for stealing (gold) other than arrest, but unless you want to devote hours into loot goblin behavior, it's just the best way.

That being said, there are a couple powerful items in Act 1 you'll need to get the most out of many builds. You'll also want to know if you want minor spoilers early on or not.

The MOST profitable way... Is to steal it and anything you want. Vendors refresh their (Non-unique item) stocks whenever you long rest so you can steal all their gold, rest, steal all their gold again etc...

Of course, if you don't want to do that, there is of courrse, picking up everything to sell.

Personally, I don't pick up everything. I only pick up things that have high value for their weight (Magical items and jewellery) because you eventually find so much stuff that you'll be swimming in gold.



"Best" is generally unnecessary and would be technically be a lot of abusing of overpowered abilities and tactics which is not ideal for a new player.

Generally, anything will work and you can make allowances for various compositions to fit in your preferred companions (Even without using Withers to change their classes)

In terms of making things easier as a new player;

- Having a character with high Dexterity is good, ideally with proficiency in Sleight of Hand for to be able to open locks and disarm traps.

- Having at least 1 character to act as a "Tank" on the frontlines. Someone with high Strength and Constitution to take the brunt of the focus from enemies (And stand next to things to "Threaten" them so they receive an Attack of Opportunity if they try to move away, thus they are less likely to run after less durable allies) and is able to throw or shove enemies to keep them where you want them.

- Having at least 1 caster is often good. Casters eventually get access to potent area damage spells which will help massively in most combats where you will be able to damage and zone out multiple enemies.

- A Cleric or Druid is a useful addition to a party, because of being able to use the Cantrip "Guidance" to provide a bonus on any skill checks you do (You can find an amulet that grants anyone this ability fairly early on, but it's easier to simply have a character able to cast it, especially when you find more amulets that provide combat bonuses so you don't have to swap them constantly)

If you keep these things in mind, you shouldn't have too much issue while you get used to the game. At which point you can start experimenting with more varied compositions.

Party comp wise I'd say the most important roles to fulfill are:

- Ritual Casters, who would enable Longstrider and Jump ritual spells for your party. Having those makes a ton of difference all the way till act 3. Classes for that role are Wizard, Ranger and Druid.

- Party wide HP buffers. Unless you are a barbarian, you'll always feel behind your enemies in terms of HP. Therefore having a Cleric or a Paladin to cast Aid spell on your entire party is very useful.

Other roles should not restrict you from playing what you want. I advise to ignore hyper specific advice which tries to lure you into playing a specific class combination. Just have fun!

Technically... Neither of those are actually required in a party (Besides Enhanced Leap and Feather Fall. Though the number of times these make a massive difference can be covered with the millions of scrolls that are found everywhere)

You can swap a character in to buff all the members of your party with the "Until Long Rest" spells and then swap back your party member.

I'd also argue against the necessity of such things. Longstrider is nice, but you can do fine without it especially if you use the strategy of... Having your enemies come to you. (Which works well with a number of strategies and spells)

Aid is also unnecessary. I've never felt it be particularly noteworthy and would likely say that an extra Hold Person, Spiritual Weapon or Silence cast will provide far more health than Aid does via preventing damage and/or making enemies easier to kill (Thus preventing damage).

True, there are ways to play the game that involve summoning things, setting up surface traps, ambushing from stealth etc. But those are not always obvious to the newcomer. I listed party wide buffs for a reason, they can be prepared in advance and open up life time and mobility needed to feel comfortable while exploring how the game works. I never meant that something is mandatory. On the contrary - nothing is. But those spells cast in advance give some breathing room for a player new to the series.

P.S. I bet a lot of us at least once had that puny melee dwarf protag with 7m MS who couldn't hit once before getting obliterated by goblin archers.

Most of the time, these aren't even needed to create strategies that bring enemies closer. Just... Standing behind a corner will bring ranged enemies to your feet. Not to mention that 90% of enemies are, themselves, melee so run at you anyway.


Honestly, I've never had this. Not with the plethora of ways to get extra speed... Like, Dashing, bonus action Dashing (And items that facilitate such), spells like Misty Step... Or simply just having a ranged attack option.

In general, if you're encountering a situation where someone is getting obliterated by archers... You've simply got to learn more about the options available rather than hoping an extra 3m movement will save you while you run directly at them.

Even if it's something a simple as, having a dagger in your backpack to toss at an enemy (If you're a Strength based character). Or using the terrain to block line of sight and make the archers themselves move.

Longstrider is nice and is a free bonus given it's ritual nature. But it's hardly something I'd suggest a new player base their party around. Even more so when a character casting Longstrider doesn't even need to be your main party member. You can just have Gale cast it on the 4 people you want in your party after you Long Rest and then leave him in camp...

The first trader is probably the one in the grove ? From memory, all the goodies you can pick up on the way there (Nautiloid wreck, Harper cache, goblin raiders) are sufficient to buy at least one magic item. The harper cache is easy to miss of course.

You know, I have an experience of 2800 hours with this game, I've beaten honour too. You might stop trying to make my advice look bad, because I know it is good, It has been good for me and I see no reason for it to be bad for other
It is not specific and does not promote playing into some particular comp (have a tank, have a caster, have an *insert class/multiclass* and so on), just gives a general idea of what can be useful to any roster and requires absolute zero micro management which distracts a new player from finding their own way with the game. I never suggested to *build a party around* something, anyway... Cheers!

Yeah, this surely is true, however you need to beat initiative first in order to fully utilize this approach. Other way to play can be going extra hard on the defense, like warding-bonding your barbarian or fighter and making them gather all the enemies and blasting them with some potent AOE via sculpt spells or careful spell with your wizard/sorcerer! For the tanking purposes you've mentioned in one of your previous posts, for example - I find druid to be extremely potent. They can take a lot without much risk!

Also, to OP - if you find story more appealing than combat, you might be content with a bard/cleric companion duo to push you through the tougher dialogue checks!

I'm not saying the advice is bad. I'm just saying it's not necessarily the best for a new player.

P.s. Playtime and having beaten honour does not mean anything in regards to how useful any information may or may not be.


... You literally did though.

You said these things were
Equating these things to be the MOST IMPORTANT roles to fill in your PARTY COMP. Suggesting that they should build their party around such things which are limited to
Which given the OP's information, is essentially saying "Play with the Wizard in your party" because they're not playing a Ranger or Druid and don't have a Ranger or Druid companion (Yet).

That's the main issue I had with your advice. You were calling these things the MOST IMPORTANT roles. While personally, I don't see them as that important.

The rituals are nice, IF you're using a Wizard/Ranger/Druid/Bard in your party and I would definitely recommend picking these spells up when possible. But I wouldn't specifically tell anyone to go out of their way to try and add such a class to their party when these things aren't particularly important overall.

While Aid, not only do I consider it not important, I feel it's actively bad to recommend to a new player because of the trap surrounding recovery vs prevention that often plagues new players in regards to Clerics (Which often takes them to the underwhelming Life Domain instead of the far superior Light Domain).

Things like Aid and Cure Wounds don't actively prevent damage and thus aren't as good at keeping characters alive and healthy as spells that do provide damage prevention. Spells that provide bonuses to AC and Saves to allies or that control enemies will be more effective than soaking more damage and trying to heal it back up for survival. Hence even with a Cleric in the party, I'd still say to prioritize other spells over Aid (And I wouldn't discourage someone from taking the Cleric out of their party either because losing access to Aid isn't a big deal).

Fair point, I think it was just poor wording on my part. I actually think that aid and longstrider are extremely useful for a new player and make the game significantly easier regardless of the setup. You still need someone to cast them, naturally, and here comes my class selection advice.

You mentioned having a sort of a tank with high constitution as one of the solutions to the party comp question. I mean, can we look at it that way: 2 points in constitution equals 1 HP/level, while (up)casting aid grants around 2 HP/level to the whole team. Having 3 tanks and a 1 alpha-tank sounds good, doesn't it? Espceially with "downed" condition being one of the worst debuffs in the game - losing your action and spending your companion's action or bonus action in order to recover. Health matters, I would say - even more so when you are just a beginner prone to make mistakes or non-optimal decisions.

Longstrider is a difference between outpacing/reaching an enemy or always standing in their reach, 12m of movement worth for the party of four. Same story as Aid - creating room for mistakes, having more freedom to screw up and survive the consequences.

As far as I know, Aid is a universal spell which is available to all cleric subclasses, it is not exclusive to life domain. It also is not reactive in any way, because it is an in-advance buff that does not require any active resource spending. In order to take action you need to be alive, having some extra meat on those bones makes a difference between lying on the ground licking your own blood OR turning the tables in one fell swoop. I mean, calling extra health not important is kinda anti-newcomer friendly, at least in my book. There is a reason why the easiest difficulty mode essentially doubles HP of the party...

But again, I reiterate, that a person casting it does not necessarily need to be part of your main party.

You can literally just grab a hireling to buff your party and sit in camp until after your next long rest.

The only things that are explicitly needed in your party are Enhanced Leap and Featherfall because they do not last Until Long Rest (But are also easily available via scrolls and potions)


Except (Up)casting aid is using one of your spell slots that can be used on other more useful spells. While Constitution is a passive thing that isn't taking anything away from your effectiveness (AND provides Contitution saves)

That's the problem I have with Aid itself. It's not just Aid vs no Aid. Since it's not a ritual like Longstrider. It competes with other, more useful spells that can far outperform the health increase. The higher you upcast it, the better the spell you're losing out on to cast it.



No. Survival matters.

Again, I'll reiterate for the nth time. The spell slot you spend on Aid, can often be used on another spell that will provide more defensive benefit than Aid itself will.


Longstrider is useful, but nowhere near as impactful as you make it out to be. Most encounters are not as dynamic as you portray. They're usually a bunch of melee guys running at your team (Until they get within Threaten distance of someone where they will then usually stay still) and ranged enemies standing within ranged attack distance (Unless you are out of their line of sight where they will move around)

Some encounters may be more mobile, like the Spiders in Act 1. But generally having some form of ranged attack prevents the need to do much running around.


And I never said it was. I was equating to the thought process that many new players have that to get more survivability, they use a Life Cleric so their heals provide more healing. Whereas what actually provides more survivability is Light Domain and its ability to make attacks outright miss.


It quite literally costs a spell slot.

That is enough of a cost to make it have to be compared to all other uses of that spell slot. Of which there are many that provide bonuses far in excess of the meagre health that might not even do anything (Having +5 health doesn't matter if you just got crit for 20 with 10 of it being overkill for example)


Extra health can make a difference. Depending on how much damage you take and in what intervals. But again, for the nth time, how does spending a spell slot on Aid compete with OTHER uses of a spell slot in terms of survivability is the key part here.

Locking down an enemy with Hold Person so they do 0 damage and you kill them in 1 turn because they take guaranteed hits from everything and guaranteed crits from melee can prevent far, far, far more damage than a cast of Aid for example. Preventing enemies from casting powerful spells with Silence can prevent far, far, far more damage than a cast of Aid. Having a Spirit Weapon help kill an enemy sooner (Or other things, like making a Harpy fail a concentration save and stop singing) can prevent far, far, far more damage than a cast of aid.


That's because as someone who actually is aware of the mechanics of the game. I know that health and healing is a common newbie trap. That the best way to stay alive and healthy is to use preventative measures.

Extra health is nice and I definitely will never say to dump Constitution as a stat. But when it comes to a limited resource like spell slots, there are far more effective things than Aid to provide survivability to a party.

If someone wants the extra health from Aid, by all means, grab a Hireling to upcast Aid for your party. Just don't waste one of your Cleric's spell slots on something so mediocre when there are much better things available to use instead and don't only bring a Cleric just for Aid (And don't relegate them to being just a healbot either. I know that's another common thing for newbies, to get used to having a Cleric just to spam Healing Word and Cure Wounds and not actually do any fighting. Which honestly I blame more on Shadowhearts stats being complete trash)

In your eagerness to dismiss newcomer friendly Aid and Longstrider one-taps in favor of complex combat planning such as casting CC spells (which can go wrong a lot of different ways - counterspell, low save DC, CC resistance on the enemy, having the enemy ignore the surface, opportunity cost of just not bonking them on the head and so on) and terrain utilization... It just shines with overly complex hyper specific solutions that go beyond the party composition into the area of "how you should play this game".

I don't disagree with any of your advice, mind. CC can be a powerful tool if you account for some extra complex things, chokepoints can be used to generate advantage with any party composition, summons can take some fair share of agro and so on and so forth. Yet I think nothing beats exploring the combat for yourself, playing the game the way you see fit. To be able to do that, you just need some air to breathe, some passive boost to your mobility and survivability will suffice. Then you can avoid leaning into a particular playstyle - take some fights head on - for example, or play as 4 casters party. It is an entirely different kind of fun! Can we agree on that?

Btw, does the hireling thing still works? For some reason I thought they made it so when someone leaves your party - the buffs disappear. Haven't used it since patch 3 or 4.

Okay, Taril and neprostoman, I think you've given TedAmerica enough food for thought there, and hopefully not enough that they regret asking the question

As those of us who have played the game a lot know, there are loads of potentially successful strategies that can be used, particularly on the two easier difficulty settings. Let's share approaches that have worked for us and allow others to do the same, and let TedAmerica and other newcomers to the game choose what sounds appealing to them, rather than getting sidetracked into debates between ourselves.

I’ve not put in the thousands of hours that some have, but for what it’s worth, my advice would be:

Don’t worry too much about other people’s ideas of optimal builds, strategies and party composition. Much of the fun on your first play through is working out some combinations that work well for you. Worth picking up all the companions you can on first time though. I wouldn’t kill them or tell them to sod off, except maybe the one that’s hard to get without being all evil (assuming you’re staying as good paladin).

I’d advise to swap your party around depending on where you are and what you’re doing. Astarion or other slight of hand hand character are useful to pick locks and disable traps, for instance but that’s quite situational. You can always just go back to camp and get him when you need him.

Paladins are definitely more front line fighters with some healing spells. So you won’t always need to have Lae’zel with you, although sometimes it’s nice to have another big hitter. At other times you could do without Shadowheart in the party. Sadly paladins don’t have Healing Word, which is an incredibly useful early spell for clerics, bards and druids, as it uses a bonus action, works at range and can revive a downed character.

Don’t worry if you can’t afford anything yet, it’s still super early. If you loot bodies and pick up valuables as you explore do various tasks, you should have plenty to trade without thieving (unless you want to play that way).

General hints:

-Read the tool tips on items and spells. And note there are tool tips within tool tips. eg if a spell says you get advantage on something, you should be able to check to see what advantage means.
-Make sure you understand how actions, bonus actions, spell slots and the class specific slots work and when they recharge (short rest or long rest). Always check to see what an attack, movement, spell, etc uses. Paladins especially have all sorts of varieties. eg smites that only use a spell slot if they hit, or that use both your action and bonus action.
-Some spells last multiple turns. Some even last until the next long rest. Another reason to always check the description. If it’s a concentration spell, it will cancel any other concentration spell you already have going.
-Most casters can only swap out one existing spell when they level up. Wizards and Clerics can swap spells at any time outside of combat. Clerics can just choose from whatever is available. Wizards can add spells to their spell book by using up a scroll and paying some gold (not casting it).
-Keep a close eye on what weapon and armour proficiencies everyone has from their class and race. It’s easy to forget.


On my first playthrough (sword bard), I didn’t bother multiclassing, or respecing anyone for fancy optimizations. The party got plenty powerful enough without worrying about all that. You will be able to respec before long if you think you’ve leveled someone up badly though.

In other words - use the "T" key