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EvilVik Offline OP
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I'm playing a druid in my latest patch 5 playthrough, and I noticed something super annoying with the "Speak with animals" spell - it requires concentration!
This might be according D&D rulebook, but in a videogame it's just super annoying.
Especially since you can overwrite it by accident by using the cantrip for extra stats in conversation, overriding that concentration.

I see three options that could be used to improve it:
1. Remove the concentration and make it like "speak with dead" spell. You can recast it for free whenever you like after the first time. This way it would still use a spell slot (lvl 1).
2. Make it a permanent buff until the next long rest.
3. Make it a cantrip - it's free to cast.


My vote is on 2.

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+1 (for all 3 options)


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I didn't even notice since all my uses of Speak With Animals so far were made through potions. Which in fact do NOT require concentration and are maintained until a long rest.


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You know that you can talk with animals when you're in any animal forms without using the spell "speak with animal", right ?

I'm playing without a druid and I don't find this boring at all. I don't have to use it very often.


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If only the animals weren't straight from a Disney cartoon when they speak. Eloquently and intelligently. It completely throws me off from the entire concept.

Larian seems to have forgotten they still have an Intelligence score of 3. It would have been much more interesting to communicate with them if their speak was more primitive and rough. Being able to speak with them doesn't turn them into polymorphed humans.

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Originally Posted by EvilVik
2. Make it a permanent buff until the next long rest.
3. Make it a cantrip - it's free to cast.
Both of these would be great! smile

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Speak with Animals does NOT require concentration according to D&D rules. It also is a ritual spell, meaning you can cast it for free by taking 10 minutes to cast it.

So yeah, any of the 3 options are fine. Lasting until the next rest matches what Larian has done with other 10 minute spells and is probably the best option QoL-wise. I'm in favor of it still costing a 1st-level spell slot, since the game is still in need of daily spell-slot/resource management.

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Yeah, it shouldn't even be a concentration spell to begin with, but the other thing is that casting a cantrip or any other spell shouldn't break concentration unless that spell is also a concentration spell. Larian is just bad at implementing the D&D rules correctly, it seems.

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Originally Posted by Pupito
Yeah, it shouldn't even be a concentration spell to begin with, but the other thing is that casting a cantrip or any other spell shouldn't break concentration unless that spell is also a concentration spell. Larian is just bad at implementing the D&D rules correctly, it seems.
I assume OP is referring to casting guidance during conversations. Which does require concentration, and thus would end any other concentration spell.

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Nooo... It will make Warlock's Beast speech useless.
And then how often do we need to speak with animals and do important checks against them? It doesn't worth all this attention IMHO.

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Originally Posted by Icelyn
Originally Posted by EvilVik
2. Make it a permanent buff until the next long rest.
3. Make it a cantrip - it's free to cast.
Both of these would be great! smile
Nah, the second is another case of advocating for convenience at expenses of balance and consistency.

There are classes that have to spend a feat or take a specific specialization to have permanent access to that ability. giving it away as a free cantrip is a big middle finger to them, especially since the game is already more than generous enough with offering ways to access that ability (see the overabundance of potions).

Last edited by Tuco; 09/08/21 02:21 PM.

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Quote
SPEAK WITH ANIMALS
1st-level divination (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 10 minutes

You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence, but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the DM's discretion.

It is not a combat spell so it should automatically be considered a ritual spell that does not cost a spell slot.

Yes, this does make Warlock beast speech rather less interesting but it is the unavoidable nature of options that some appeal more than others. Considering some of the other PHB options for invocations that may or may not show up when we get to higher levels, (ascendant step, eldricth spear, otherworldly leap, one with shadows), I reckon that beast speech is a bit down the list anyway.

Last edited by ArvGuy; 09/08/21 02:59 PM. Reason: Readability
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Originally Posted by 1varangian
If only the animals weren't straight from a Disney cartoon when they speak. Eloquently and intelligently. It completely throws me off from the entire concept.

Larian seems to have forgotten they still have an Intelligence score of 3. It would have been much more interesting to communicate with them if their speak was more primitive and rough. Being able to speak with them doesn't turn them into polymorphed humans.
+1 !!!


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Originally Posted by Tuco
Nah, the second is another case of advocating for convenience at expenses of balance and consistency.
This is just chatting with some animals outside of combat, not turning the tide of battle!

I love convenience grin , and in this case from what others have posted it also seems that it is free in the 5e rules as well.

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Originally Posted by mrfuji3
Originally Posted by Pupito
Yeah, it shouldn't even be a concentration spell to begin with, but the other thing is that casting a cantrip or any other spell shouldn't break concentration unless that spell is also a concentration spell. Larian is just bad at implementing the D&D rules correctly, it seems.
I assume OP is referring to casting guidance during conversations. Which does require concentration, and thus would end any other concentration spell.

Indeed I was thinking of Guidance - I just couldn't remember the name of it.

And I'm also glad that I'm not the only one bothered by this xD

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Originally Posted by Icelyn
Originally Posted by Tuco
Nah, the second is another case of advocating for convenience at expenses of balance and consistency.
This is just chatting with some animals outside of combat, not turning the tide of battle!

I love convenience grin , and in this case from what others have posted it also seems that it is free in the 5e rules as well.
They said that is not a concentration check, not that it's "free".


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Originally Posted by Tuco
Originally Posted by Icelyn
Originally Posted by Tuco
Nah, the second is another case of advocating for convenience at expenses of balance and consistency.
This is just chatting with some animals outside of combat, not turning the tide of battle!

I love convenience grin , and in this case from what others have posted it also seems that it is free in the 5e rules as well.
They said that is not a concentration check, not that it's "free".
It is a ritual spell. It lasts for 10 minutes and does not cost a spell slot.

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Originally Posted by ArvGuy
It is a ritual spell. It lasts for 10 minutes and does not cost a spell slot.
It does if you do not cast it as a ritual:
Quote
Rituals
Certain spells have a special tag: ritual. Such a spell can be cast following the normal rules for spellcasting, or the spell can be cast as a ritual. The ritual version of a spell takes 10 minutes longer to cast than normal. It also doesn't expend a spell slot, which means the ritual version of a spell can't be cast at a higher level.

To cast a spell as a ritual, a spellcaster must have a feature that grants the ability to do so. The cleric and the druid, for example, have such a feature. The caster must also have the spell prepared or on his or her list of spells known, unless the character's ritual feature specifies otherwise, as the wizard's does.
Source: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/spellcasting

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Obviously, Zellin, but why would anyone in their right mind ever cast Speak With Animals as a regular spell in a setting where there is no time factor and 10 minutes or 5 hours or 2 seconds are impossible to tell apart?

No, the spell has the ritual tag and since we're never going to cast it in combat anyway, there's no reason whatsoever that it costs a spell slot to cast it.

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Originally Posted by ArvGuy
Obviously, Zellin, but why would anyone in their right mind ever cast Speak With Animals as a regular spell in a setting where there is no time factor and 10 minutes or 5 hours or 2 seconds are impossible to tell apart?

No, the spell has the ritual tag and since we're never going to cast it in combat anyway, there's no reason whatsoever that it costs a spell slot to cast it.
For example that difference could be represented in an option to cast this spell after the conversation started. Warlock with Beast speech casts for free, someone else at the cost of a spell slot since it's doubtful that an animal will wait while you perform a 10 minutes ritual.

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