Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Panel from hell N2-If Swen thinks that spell level is so "complicated"(disagree), why not rename it?

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Because the charts DO track spell levels, its right there in the character creation when you select your class.

The problem is Larian isnt communicating that information. Its (again) not the fault of 5e, but Larian.

Pretty much. Larian historically struggles at designing their UI for whatever reason.

One of the most common complaints about BG3 is just how bad the UI is at conveying information to the player, and it's only gotten even more harsh since Solasta is a thing. Their UI is actually extremely easy to understand and use, even if the actual look of it doesn't really fit the game.

Functionality should always be prioritized higher than flash. That said, I wonder if BG3's UI can even be improved by that much, because the engine in use seems like it might not even support it (and several other things observed to be missing from the combat system). Larian seemingly continuing to prioritize cutscenes and whatnot seems to suggest something like this, because the longer they keep putting off a UI overhaul, it's only going to get harder to do so later.

It was, quite frankly, a very poor decision to base so much of BG3's programming off of the D:OS2 engine, for a game that is supposed to be AAA high budget. A game like this deserved an entirely new engine that is actually able to implement everything that needs to be done, not something cobbled together from a game in a different series.

Yep, and that last line fundamentally explains the issues with this game.

What I am saying is, to a complete newbie to tabletop or D&D, I can see how spell levels can be confusing. It is somewhat unintuitive.

Why is fireball a level 3 spell when it can only be cast at level 5 and up? Because that’s how it’s always been. Always been doesn’t make it right.

But this is more of a D&D issue that cannot be resolved with 5e. So for a designer who may not be too familiar with spell levels, it’s kinda strange and equally strange to those who have no experience with D&D at all.

Character level, class level, and spell level don't line up. I agree that this could be a little bit confusing. I've never actually had it be an issue in a tabletop game, partially because it is explained relatively well in the Player's Handbook and partially because there is always another player or a DM to clear up any misunderstandings.

A videogame doesn't necessarily have a DM or other players around to clear things up. I think a tweak to the nomenclature could help a little bit (call less things "level"), but ultimately, Larian just needs to do a better job of explaining how things work. That might be something they're planning to add at some point, but right now it's non-existent.

Because manage spell slots for 20 different spell levels would become a nightmare...

3.5e warlock invocations are divided in Least, Lesser, Greater and Dark. Just give a name for each spell tier/level/circle/whatever; Tiered magical progression exists in TONS of games.

And being a mage is far more harder in other games. For eg, on Gothic 2 - returning(not vanilal g2), you don't start as a magician. Wanna be a necromancer? Ask Xardas for apprenticeship, wait until he decides, become a novice of darkness, train your spirit(mana) from expensive trainers and your INT by doing intellectual things like reading books, runemaking, alchemy, learning new languages and when you have high enough INT(which can't be trained like STR/DEX), you talk to Xardas and do the initiation into the circle of darkness. Go kill a novice of fire mages in a monastery full of powerful magicians, find a good way to assassinate the target and after it, you only need to learn the first circle of darkness, purchase the book with reagents requriement from Xardas and pay for him to teach how to make the Arrow of Darkness or Summon skeleton run. Get the reagents(black pearn, skeleton bone or wathever) and make the rune. To cast spear of darkness, you need circle 3 which can only be obtained on ch 3.

Talking about TT game, GURPS magic is not simple either. For eg, GURPS is not a game where you learn how to cast fireball. You first learn how to ignite fire, then create fire, then shape fire and only after you can create and shape the fire, you can learn how to make a fireball. All things that you can make with shape fire alone are near impossible to translate into a CRPG. Magical aptitude and magic costs is 100% tied to the DM world "settings", if is a no magical setting, you can't learn magic. If is a high magical setting, magic aptitude is easy to obtain.

I heard what he said. I just am just not quite sure what he meant, aka. what is complicated about it. The only thing I can think of, is what I have pointed out but from all the things that confused me when I played BG2 for the first time, spell levels not being tied to wizard levels was not one of them.

Nothing, or at least nothing a simple statement couldn't clear up.

I mean for the majority of players, it’s not complicated.

I have a feeling it’s Swen’s pre-emptive excuse to mess around with spells and allowing access to them earlier than they should be. He’s making stuff up on other features. Spells are next.

I hope that you are wrong, but you is probably right...