Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Wiz wears Gith gear?

Is this an oversight or something that D&D 5e allows? I have a Shield Dwarf Wizard wearing Gith armor. Instead of being a glass cannon, I'ma 'brass cannon' (;

Something that D&D 5e allows. Spellcasters can wear and cast spells in armor if they are proficient with that category of armors (light/medium/heavy). While the Wizard class doesn't give any armor proficiencies, the Shield Dwarf subrace gives proficiency with Light and Medium armors.

Another common route to get a medium/heavily-armored caster is to multiclass into or start your character with 1 level of fighter (eventually getting to 2 levels for Action Surge) which grants armor proficiencies. Multiclassing isn't (yet) in BG3 though, though we haven't heard Larian say they're *not* going to implement it...

Coolness. So I have made a 'legal' character after all. OP beyond belief. Still think they need to take a nerf bat to Flaming Sphere though, that one spell can pretty much win the whole game.

The downsides are that Dwarves/dwarfs get no INT racial bonus and of course while wearing armor you don't benefit from the Mage Armor spell.
In the end being able to use medium armor is not THAT much of a massive advantage, all things considered.

On a side note, I know very little of multiclassing in the 5th edition.
Maybe someone can tell me what type of breakdown in levels is usually considered particularly good? Let's say if a level cap is 12 or 14.

True, but there is the thinking cap you can get of the body of an ogre if you take him down O_o. (that fight is sooofaking easy.. sit on roof and take pot shots and stealth)

no self-respecting wizard is going to get by on 17 Int. Do Gith still get heavy armor? I might have to try that out.

My last playthrough I gave my Halfling rogue medium armor proficiency and with the shock boots and gith armor I had a pretty good time

Well, I'm obviously talking builds in the optic of the final game.

And 17 INT is pretty much crap to settle for as an end goal for any Wizard.

One of the most important things to note is that ASIs are based on class level, not character level. So multiclassing into a second class at levels 4, 8, or 12 means you are (at least temporarily) sacrificing an ASI/feat. Similarly, you probably want to get to level 5 in your main class because level 5 represents a significant power spike in most classes - e.g., 3rd level spells, Extra Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Stunning Strike (cough cough Larian please let us test level 5 in BG3).

Starting as a 1st level [Class] vs multiclassing INTO [Class] gives you different benefits. E.g., starting with Fighter gives you Heavy Armor Proficiency, while multiclassing into it doesn't. Additionally, besides Ranger/Rogue/Bard, you only get the skill proficiencies of the class you start in. This is why most caster/fighter multiclassed characters start out as a Fighter.

Fighter 2 is great for most main classes b/c 1st level gets you Second Wind, a Fighting Style, and armor proficiencies; and 2nd level gets you Action Surge.

...that's all I got. I don't multiclass often.

Fighters also get more stat ups than other classes.

I made a Githyanki wizard that doubled as a fighter that was pretty fun. Greatsword proficiency from being a Githyanki, pumped Strength to 15 so that I could take the Heavy Armor feat to make it 16 at level 4. Still had a respectable 16 INT for casting.

Once we get some proper plate it'll make for a VERY tanky wizard who can also hit hard in melee.

It's also on brand for them.

So ... basicaly Eldrich Knight without Action Surge?

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Personaly i belive that bigest drawback for Mid or Heavy armor Wizard is loot ...
Somehow i kinda dpubt that Larian would create magical armor that would strongly benefit Wizard ... cloth robe seems more logical and natural choice.

Medium armor is capped at +2 dex bonus, so (barring enchantments) you are capped at 17 AC with 14 or higher dex and the best medium armor (ie. Lazaels armor).

Mage armor can get to 18 (+3 from mage armor +5 from dex) but that of course requires a 20 dex, which is probably not a priority for a mage.

A rogue in "mundane" light armor is capped at 17, just like medium (2 from studded leather and 5 from dex).

Heavy armor does not allow any dex bonus at all, but you can get to 18 with full plate.

So basically each line of armor has similar potential, but you reach that potential in slightly different ways. The main reason to pick up medium armor on a caster is so that you don't have to push dexterity to 20 in order to gain acceptable AC.

Your calculations dont seem to include +enchantments on armors.

A Wizard in Half-Plate (+2 AC or more compared to Mage Armor) with extra HP from Dwarven Toughness will be a tough nut to crack. And they get to use the Mage Armor spell slot for something else.

If we get to "roll" ability scores in BG3 they can also start with 18 Intelligence. Will be a lot of Dwarven Wizards around. Dwarf and Githyanki seem like the power gamer Wizard builds. High Elf Wizards, step aside.

WotC will also probably unlock racial ability modifiers in 5.5e. They'd better look at the feats, too. Medium Armor Proficiency is very powerful for a non-armored class when ability scores are no longer holding race/class combos back.

If you are rolling scores then your wizard with mage armor can have an 18 dex if you are willing to press the button enough. That puts them at 17 AC, which is tied with wizard in half-plate with 14+ dex. The only advantage of wizard in half plate is that they don't need 18 dex, and they don't have to spend the spell slot. It does not make them significantly tankier though.

That was intentional. You can compare the baselines just fine... all types of armor have access to the same +n enchantments. Only mage armor is left out of the +n enchantments, but they can get enchanted bracers (probably, I'd have to look it up in my DMG to be sure).

I prefer to think of it as a full caster with 18AC that can hit decently hard in melee if the enemy tries to close.

Best part is you don't really lose much to get it save for a single feat, which won't mess up your spell progression.

For now you can learn all spells as a wizard in bg3, so pure wizard can have inflict wounds as a melee attack which is superior to any weapon attack, but ofc it eats up a spell slot...

Oh, but they do have Arcane Recovery. Not much, but still handy.