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Hey everyone, so bard is my favorite 5E class. Bardic inspiration and cutting words (for lore bard) are core features for the class. Assuming it winds up in BG3, I was wondering how bardic inspiration and cutting words could be best implemented, because they don’t translate super well to a video game that is supposed to have fast and fluid combat.

The reason for this is that bardic inspiration allows the bard to grant an ally the ability to add a bonus die to any roll they make AFTER they make they make the roll but before they know the result. So if you attack something and roll a 12, you could opt to add the inspiration die.

Cutting words is kind of the opposite. When an enemy does an attack roll or ability check, you can opt to use cutting words and subtract an inspiration die from their roll as a reaction.

I feel like these are both difficult to do in BG3, because things like attack rolls just happen in the background, and it would slow down combat if you had to decide to use inspiration after every roll. Cutting words is even worse since it could apply to any enemy attack roll or ability check.

Any ideas on how to retain these features in spirit but make them work in BG3?

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If you have Regular inspiration, you get a "Roll Again" as an option in checks. I think Bardic Inspiration should get a button right above it where you can roll that. Maybe a button for the 1d4 from Guidance as well, now that I think about it.

Cutting words is a difficult thing, which will require some careful thought.

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Originally Posted by Stabbey
If you have Regular inspiration, you get a "Roll Again" as an option in checks. I think Bardic Inspiration should get a button right above it where you can roll that. Maybe a button for the 1d4 from Guidance as well, now that I think about it.

Cutting words is a difficult thing, which will require some careful thought.


I agree for skill checks, pretty simple.

For combat inspiration it’s a bit more tricky because the attack roll and damage all resolve basically instantly. I guess you could have the game intelligently figure out when inspiration should be used on an attack roll based on the value rolled, and just use it. And then there should be some visual and auditory feedback so that you know your bardic inspiration was used.

Cutting words...best I can think is just have it be a toggle, and then once again have the game automatically do it when an enemy rolls something that is in the range of cutting words turning from success to failure.

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Yeah, this is something of a concern I have personally for these sort of abilities in general. Usually for a Battle Master Fighter, you can make the attack roll and decide to apply Battle Master maneuvers afterwards; it's hard to make that work in an engine like BG3, so instead you choose to do a maneuver when you choose to attack and afaik it just doesn't burn your maneuver dice unless the attack actually hits.

Doing it this way does affect gameplay, especially if they do the same thing for say Paladadin' Divine Smite. Fishing for crits with multiple attacks / advantage and then only activating your Smite after confirming a crit happens is a really strong way to boost your damage without blowing your spell slots too quickly. Similar thing for say the Defensive Duelist feat, where you can use your reaction to add your proficiency mod against an attack. There are a lot of cool abilities like that in 5E that give you an "A-ha, in reaction I do this!" option that doesn't work the same in BG3's engine. Hopefully Larian has a good way to work around the differences, though I wouldn't be surprised if it leads to abilities being reworked a bit, which is kind of a shame.

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What they could do is make is slightly better than table top but a reasonable change given how combat works in the engine. Toggle the ability on a target player and IF the ability made the difference you lose a charge. So if a companion missed you were trying to help, the ability kicks in if it makes the difference and you hit, then you lose the charge. If it make no difference it is like you never tried in the first place. much more powerful than TT? Yes but not so over powered because many players only use the ability when they are pretty sure of the die roll needed based on what hit previously and the bonuses and what missed with what bonuses. So it isn't that OP. The same is true with cutting words.

I think you can't just say within a range because I'm not sure I'd use the ability unless I have at least a 50% chance of success unless it was a make or break moment and that could happen mid turn when a party member falls and you suddenly want to make sure you are always using cutting words or inspiration regardless of the chance.

having a toggle that only counts when it succeeds is more powerful but it streamlines the ability to be used in a system where you can't interject to the DM during the enemies' turns.

Last edited by Gothfather; 10/10/20 03:36 AM.

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