Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Spell Toolbar Streamlining

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has seen how quickly the toolbar can fill up with abilities, spells, and such. In particular, for magic casters, the bar quickly becomes filled with the upcast version of the spell at higher levels. In other words as we level up our toolbar will quickly become filled with Magic Missile lv1, Magic Missile Lv2, Magic Missile Lv3, etc for each spell that can be upcast. However, thinking about it, I realize why not implement a system that already exists within the game?

Currently, when casting Hex, a subwindow pops up allowing the Warlock to select which version of the spell they would like to use according to the ability they would like to debuff Hex (Strength), Hex (Dexterity), etc.

So, why not implement this same system so that when you say, click on Magic Missile, it gives you the option to select what level to cast at. That way we need only have 1 button per spell which when clicked will then expand to give us the appropriate "cast at Level X" choice, if upcasting the spell is possible. I think this would make for a simple, yet effective solution to spell clutter on the taskbar.

Side note: It would be nice to start the game with a Backpack to help with inventory management. Furthermore, as an alternative, it would be nice if we could also have a Scroll Case and it would be awesome if Spell Scrolls would automatically be placed inside it, that way all we'd need is a Scroll Case in our toolbar that we can click on to bring up our scrolls which we can then use.

Additionally, why stop at Scroll Case: Arrow Quiver, Potion Bag, Grenade Bag, KEYRING, etc. Anything that allows us to more easily consolidate items into neat groups and save us from inventory clutter and bloated toolbars would be welcomed.

Especially for casting spells, a good way would be to have a "cast spell" button which then expands a context menu with all your cantrips + prepared spells, sorted by level.
Neverwinter Nights 2 had a nice quickcast feature like that, and so does Solasta.

Same could be done for any actions that work on "per rest" resource and are not coming from gear.

That way, hotbar would remain for anything you decide you use so often you really want it there instead of having to rely on it for basically everything.

Yea, I agree, another way to order the spells would be to break them down by level. I simply trying to go off of systems that already more or less already exist in game, which should in theory mean easier implementation.

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=695941#Post695941

I just commented on a post I made some time back, about just the same thing.

I totally agree the current hot bar system isn't sustainable for higher levels. Clerics already get a full hot bar by 4th level!

What might be helpful and probably easy to implement is a toolbar auto sort in "Options" where one could set their sort order preferences. If you want "actions" first, drag it to the top of the list, then say "cantrips" second. Could even make it a grouping function with a sort within it. The grouping and sorts could be alphabetical , level, or something else that makes sense.

Yeah I would like separate buttons grouping Cantrips, 1st Level Spells, 2nd Level Spells... etc. The 2nd Level Spell window would include all your 1st Level Spells in addition for 2nd Level Spells for the sake of upcasting.

Also an option to bind specific spells as we do now so we can quickcast spells we use frequently (e.g Eldritch Blast), but also the option to bind specific spells with a window to choose level just as OP suggests.

Whilst we're on the subject, a minor QoL life regarding Hex: have each Ability use a different colour in the window to make selecting the correct ability quicker (e.g Strength=Orange, Dex=Yellow, Con=Red, Int=Blue, Cha=Purple, Wis=Green)

I really, REALLY hope the current spell hotbar just is unfinished and will undergo some major changes as the game comes closer to its release.

Same here.

The hotbar as it is simply will not be able to stand any spell caster class reaching level 5.

I am really hoping that this hotbar was just put together quickly as a dump-it-all area so that the developers could on and test other things. Meaning that not too much thinking and development time has gone into the UI of how to take basic actions, cast spells, use class abilities, consume potions and other items ... And thus, that proper design of the UI will happen in the future.

I'm not a fan of the current spell hotbar. There must be a better way.

This is a common request that has received little opposition. There have been many methods suggested, but making spell levels like hex is not only the most popular but the resources to do so are already there so it should take as much work as a rework.

Having a pop out option for your spellbook, like for your inventory so you can click it to cast spells, would be the least confusing option from my perspective.

Clicking cast spell should open up a spell menu with all prepared spells sorted by level, with a simple way to upcast them using a higher level slot. Without making each and every upcastable option it's own icon. Simple +1, +2 etc tabs or something which would change the entire layout into +1 level versions of all prepared spells. Same interface could be used for metamagic.

NWN2 did it well, I would check that out.

I like the idea for the clicking the spell and getting a pop up on what level to cast it at. As stated, it already exists in the game, so it can be implemented rather easily.

Fully agree, This would be a huge quality of life improvement.

I can see the appeal, but on the other hand its more clicks - casting hex is already annoying, especially since penalty to a particular ability roll in combat is near irrelevant as far as I know. personally, 2 buttons on quickbar, 1 for spell at default level, 1 for selecting a cast at a higher level would be nice. Combine that with quickbar buttons to open spellbook at a particular level would be nice too imo - then quickbar spells could be slimmed down to the frequent cast/always buff ones + spellbook opening ones.

I don’t think clicking would be necessary. However over a spell and additional option could expand above it. Want to cast basic version - just click on the icon. Want to empower the spell? Choose one of the icons above.

Same I think should apply to mentioned “scrollcases, potion bags, missile quavers” - just hover over them and have the content expand above.

I agree that the current spell/item bar is ungainly and hard to manage. It appears that it will be impossible once a highly level is reached. It probably is temporary.

A great and more elegant solution would be something akin to Bioware's Neverwinter Nights pop-up "wheel" for casting, with it's multiplicity of easy to pick choices for spell level, etc. I always thought that was the siimplist, cleanest and most functional way of dealing with this sort of confusing clutter of any rpg game.

Its not as irelevant as it may seem ...
Since i started to use Hex:Charisma ... i usualy roll on attack 13-17 + modifiers ... until then, it was more like 5-15 ... anyway it still seem buged, since when you roll 1, you simply crittical miss no matter the advantage ...
I kinda doubt that i was so unlucky to roll snake eyes.

But to adress the topic ...
First of all, since Hex was allready mentioned ... i would really love to have option to choose specific hex added to my hotbar ... yes i know that means have 6 slots taken by one spell ... but i gues that is mine problem.

I completely agree, there are allready mentioned on this forum few options to make this better (in mine opinion) than another, and another popup menus ...
Let me quote one very smart RagnarokCzD. (:D)

this popup on mouse-over but just click to use is a nice idea.