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Dajal Offline OP
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Hey guys,

In 5E the Wizard class is one of the most powerful classes. In Baldur's Gate 3 he is not a desirable class to play... Why so?

No Ritual Casting
No copying spells from scrolls or books
No real use of utility or social spells(You really need a DM, the nature of a video game is limited responses, which makes social spells weaker)

So the advantage of having access to the most spells in the game is not here.
Most of the blaster spells are accessible to the Warlock as well.
Having more spell slots Just for blasting in combat does not help, with short resting the warlock or Long Resting him as well.
Having Intelligence as Major attribute is mega negative with truly on having Arcana checks being useful here. Having Charisma as your main attribute will have infinite more benefit, comes up more in your game, than intelligence.

There is no real advantage to take the wizard over the Warlock, Bard, and Sorcerer. The main advantages are Not in the game Ritual Casting and Massive Spell Selection(SELECTION OF UTILITY SPELLS) which to be fair is very hard and almost useless in a video game. Just saying the wizard class in 5E works very well in Real Life, but is falling short in the video Game.

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o.O Right click on a scroll in your inventory. You can add it to your spellbook for 50 gold. As of right now you can even learn spells you shouldn't be able to, like Cleric spells, that way.
Also the Wizard gets more than double the spell slots of the Warlock and can recover two spell slots once a long rest. They can also gain an HP shield that activates when they cast Abjuration magic or the ability to save allies from taking damage from their AoEs. There's absolutely a reason to play a Wizard.

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I would say that the biggest issue with Wizard right now is the HP bloat of enemies causes a severe shift in their effective power, either with "blaster" spells, or spells like sleep which use the HP of enemies to determine effect.

It would be nice to see Ritual Casting though for sure.

Like Contra said you can learn spells from scrolls though.

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Dajal,

I don't disagree with some of your points you got there, but I don't think you are totally seeing everything the wizard can do right now. For one, if you learn the cantrips, at least as a High Elf, you can min/max have an infinite amount of cantrips at your disposal for a low level wizard for only 50 gold a piece to learn. Next wizards are able to learn EVERY spell including spells off of the clerical list. Which again is their boon. Now as far as Charisma goes, if you get the guidance necklace from the dead harper on the cliff not far from the grove you can randomly up your ability checks a bit for social interactions so long as you cast it on yourself before you enter, BUT be warned some checks will not allow you to adjust it. For instance when I did the cleric check to find out who the skeleton was... it wouldn't adjust the roll. Maybe it was a glitch, maybe not. Regardless, as long as you don't dump Charisma as your low stat and chance having that wizard with an 8 con and str you can have a pretty kickass wizard that mows through most fights. Just remember though you have to play real smart and definitely have that mage armor on and stay way away from the fights so misty step is a must to have!

I don't think you are really angry about the combat spells though, but about the social interactions. Which I agree seems to be not so great at the moment since social interaction spells seem limited or have zero to no effect currently. I think the devs are intending to change that, at least I hope so, because Disguise Self I know works wonderfully for the most part. That said, its good you pointed this out. The wizard should always be important to any D&D group video game or otherwise.

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The only issue I've seen is that the AI is coded to focus fire your lowest AC character, which results in the wizard getting steamrolled in nearly every fight with next to no options to protect them.

That said, once Gale had Mirror Image he became incredibly powerful. He was instrumental in multiple later fights against the more deadly underdark opponents. His damage output vastly eclipsed anyone else in the party when he blew all his spell slots for damage. His frost cantrip was incredibly valuable in soft controlling enemies and his Sleep spell single-handedly turned the sides of several fights that would've been a loss without him.

He even had a bunch of healing spells from scrolls and could, if he chose to, be a better healer than Shadowheart just by preparing the right spells for the day.

Wizards are insanely versatile and their sheer quantity of spell slots make them terrifying.

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Well I played warlock, was impressed.
Then had a wizard in my party
Next playthrough dumped the warlock for 2 wizards.
Can learn any spell from a scroll.
Plenty of spell slots.
Plus in EA unlimited rests.
Wizards are currently effective (and fun).

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As already said in above posts, wizards are pretty amazing if played correctly. I breezed through having 2 wizards and Astarion, if anything I'm unimpressed with Wyll in comparison (maybe that's a L2P issue as well, though spamming Eldritch blast doesn't seem that nuanced).

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I guess you haven't found the necklace that gives Magic Missile an additional d4 for each missile making anything in the game a piece of cake, or the Staff of Arcane Blessings, making it impossible to miss with spells that have attack rolls for 10 rounds.
Wizards are literally the strongest class, if you know where to go and how to get there safely, early.


My suggestion, go through to the grove killing everything you see using the Nautiloid tanks on the devils for a neet extra 100xp making you level 2 by the end of the intro.
Pick up Invisibility and Misty Step at level 3, buy a scroll or two of feather fall and run straight for the well in the blighted village.
Pop invisibility and walk to the room where you find a nice pair of boots that make you immune to web, pick up the scrolls and pop invisibility again.
Walk to the main room with the spider matriarch, set to turn based and cast feather fall.
Pick up the amethyst if you want, then jump into the big hole in the center of the room.
Have a long rest as you land.
Cast featherfall again and jump down to the west towards the mushroom minefield, poke them with a bow, crossbow, cantrip or whatever to clear a path to the Mushroom people village.
Head in and buy or steal the Necklace - you now do the most damage of any class or build each turn (Force + Psychic which is almost never resisted.)
Have another rest, then cast invisibility and walk to the arcane tower.
Pick up the books, boots, petals etc. etc. you know the drill.
Then top floor, Shove the big boy robot off the side.
Kill the rest or invisible shove them off.
Grab the ring, head to the basement and claim your Staff.
Congratz, you are now the most powerful character in EA and it took less than 2 hours and no party.

Alternatively, abuse the fact that you can learn Divine Spells and pick up Cure Wounds and Healing Word and do a Dex Wizard who uses the Brood Mother's Necklace (take from Kagha), Hellrider's Gauntlets (pickpocket from big man Tiefling) and the Whispering ring (pickpocket from Volo) - optionally buy a +1 crossbow from Mr. Tiefling in the grove or Dwarf lady in the Mushroom people village. You now have a character that can give itself resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing, give itself a short-term bless and poison their weapon with a bonus action. Guess you win.

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Originally Posted by Mxiio
I guess you haven't found the necklace that gives Magic Missile an additional d4 for each missile making anything in the game a piece of cake, or the Staff of Arcane Blessings, making it impossible to miss with spells that have attack rolls for 10 rounds.
Wizards are literally the strongest class, if you know where to go and how to get there safely, early.


Even without these the Fire Bolt and Ray of Frost cantrips are the very best abilities in the game right now. Your low AC can also easily be offset with Magic Armour and then you tank / dodge just as well as Lae'Zel or any fighter would.


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