Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Random items or memorable ones?

Countless items with random stats and bonus, that forces you to spend all your time in the inventory comparing boring numbers, was my one major issue with DoS 1 & 2 (which apart from that were incredible, <3 Lohse song).
I dreamed so much of the same games but with much less and much more memorable items... yes, exactly like in good old baldur's gate games !

So, whatever you like or not those random items everywhere, do you have some information about what is planned for BG3 ?

I took a few screenshots from the gameplay video, and here is what I found.

About weapons (see below), it looks good: no random stats, good old 1D6, 1D8 etc damages.
But! Next screenshots are 3 armours... They all have the same name, same icon, but with 3 different armour class numbers.

So... what I fear is that only the few first weapons in the game aren't random (as that would have been a bit difficult to do with the dices system on very low numbers). And that as soon as possible they will go back to the DoS system, that being right from the beginning for armours. And so I cry


image list : https://imgur.com/gallery/uoGB8Aa

WEAPONS (there are others in the video, but they are similar):



ARMOURS:

I agree with you.

Slash?

It looks like Larian wants to make each weapon type have a certain flavor. Bows have "Pin Down," swords have "Slash," etc. Just a way to add a bit of extra style.

However, I don't think a rapier should have "slash" considering it's a piercing weapon lol.

Nice finding

They should just stick to the DnD rules, no need for random stuff.
D:OS1+2 are good games but I dislike random equipment and inflating numbers.
Slash makes absolutely no sense for weapons that deal pierce damage.
Plus it makes no sense that a regular attack with a generic weapon causes bleed damage at all.

In one image the cuirass is a light armor, then a medium and then a heavy armor, having different AC, weight and price but the same description.

PLEASE USE THE DnD RULES !!!

PS: We need a facepalm smiley

Well, can't say I'm a fan of those extra effects, as they aren't very D&D 5e at all. As magical effects on magical items, bring it on, but just generic, non-magical weapons? Definitely not a fan.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the Cuirasses are placeholder armor sets. I would think they would distinguish between Leather, Studded Leather, Splint, Plate, etc as they start adding more detail to items and their descriptions. At least, that is my hope.

i mean this is an obvous one. handcrafted weapons are always superior to diablo loot.
theyre more work, but i dont think anyones gonna say" yeah give me randomly generated generic stuff instead of thematic handcrafted ones"

This.

They're making it harder on themselves to counter all the BG3 vs DOS3 angst if they aren't going to at least justify using the name by making the best/truest "D&D" game they can (and I'm very Pro-Larian on this issue--I'm happy that the DOS turn-based engine is the basis for a D&D game... even one called BG3!)

But, sorry, bows don't "Pin Down" people in D&D. And "Bleeding" isn't even a standard Condition in 5e, let alone something that should be a default effect of such mundane weapon types.

I see your point, and I have to agree. It's almost like they are trying to compensate for 5e's lack of magical items in general. In a table top setting, you aren't likely to get a magic weapon until you are a handful of levels in.

Larian just needs to realize we don't need flashy abilities on mundane weapons to be entertained. Just let the non-magical shortsword do 1d6+Dex and be done with it.

I wouldn't mind random magical items if the unique ones all have fixed locations. I really hope they go wild with the magical items, since 5e severely lacks in this department.

NOOOOO ! ! !

DnD rules are good because it takes some time until you find some magic items.
I do not know DnD 5E, but BG1 was great. You start with cheap equipment and it takes some time until you find your first magic item. You can go anywhere, but most enemies would kill you right away, even a lone wolf can be deadly for a lv1 char. You have to find companions and some easy enemies or quests before exploring some of the more dangerous areas. Finding your first magic weapon+1 felt importent, finally your weapon could not break anymore and you are able to damage some enemies at all. Getting the longsword+2 with +2 ice damage felt as impressive as getting the holy avenger in BG2. At the end of the game you had lv 8 - 10 (depending on your class), +2 equipment and you could beat some powerful enemies, even demons.

On the other hand, look at D:OS2. You are a wizard and you find an epic staff with +int and +fire skill. Your reaction: "Well, thats nice but next level I find a lengendary weapon with twice the stat bonus. And I would prefer a bonus to lightning damage and it does not cause a burn dot on hit."

So magic items should be rare, expensive and placed by hand in locations where it makes sense.
Magic items with unique abilities should only be found after beating a very hard boss, in a secret chamber in a dungeon full of traps or sold at the black market for an extremely high prize and you have to do lots of efford to learn about this market, find it and enter it.

So isn't "slash" or "pin down" like a special skill/ attack that you can use with those weapons equipped.. or are they just added to a normal attack? I thought the former.

Thanks to all of you for your feedbacks

So none of you know more about it? As I didn't watch everything that was released (full video, press articles, etc) I hoped that there would be some info about it.

Other question: do you know some other recent RPG (preferably a high fantasy one) with such unique and memorable items ?

Baldurs Gate 1+2, Dragon Age Origins and Pillars of Eternity 2 do not have random items, all loot is fixed. I think the same is true for most games of this genre. Pillars of Eternity 1 had most loot fixed, but a small number of items was semi random: At some places you could find one of different items depending on which day of the month you had. Very annoying in some cases, like getting the gloves that let you attack faster.

I think the random loot is a typical Larian thing. Their first game Divine Divinity had the same combat style as Diablo. Both Divine Divinity and Divinity 2 were single character action RPGs were you bash or burn enemies every few seconds. There it is OK if enemies drop random stuff and you buy and sell new stuff all the time.

When they switched from single character action games to turn based RPG with a full party they should have changed the loot system from random stuff in every barrel to hand placed magic items and artifacts.
I would like something where they combine the combat of Temple of Elemental Evil ( some people say it is the best DnD rule adaption, but its 3E) combined with the humor and origin characters from Larian.

Thanks for the list. I have played BG 1+2 and Dragon Age a long time ago ; and I didn't get hooked on Pillar of Eternity when I tried, but maybe I should try again.


Pleeeeeeeease Larian, make items few and memorable, we are counting on you !

It would be nice (and probably very simple) to have an option to select a low loot level. To use DOS2 as an example, perhaps disable all non Unique loot. Also, perhaps fill the loot tables with more craftable components so that instead of getting no 'reward' for a majority of encounters, you can occasionally get pieces to craft something.

Or you could simply use the DnD 5E rules because

- The game is announced as a game based on DnD 5E
- Creating a new system costs time and money that would better be spend elswhere, such as more areas, quests and characters and most importent more bug testing.
Creating a new system will produce bugs and balance problems and then you will need more time and money to fix it.

I am NOT against inventing new mechanics in games, else we would still be playing Pong all day. But a game that is based on an existing system (DnD 5E) is the wrong place to re invent the wheel.

On the armor class thing:

i think thats the total armor class?
as in the armor class for that character after the modifyer for the armor?

For clarification, I would like the loot level to be low (which I guess D&D 5e is...haven't kept up). However, like the whole TB vs RTwP debate, I think there will be a divide on the loot issue; some like more, some like less. Unlike TB vs RTwP, though, which will be enormously difficult to accommodate both, I don't think it would take much effort at all to allow an option for both loot preferences. No reinventing of the wheel required there. It would end up having little more effect than another difficulty option (whether that means harder than default or easier than default).