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Baldur's Gate 3: The illithid conspiracy
- Thread starter Nich
- Start date
I would also say that skullduggery is an important skill even in the pocket of a goodie twos shoes. There's lots of people with dirty underwear in their closets that you may want to know about. There's a chest containing Khaga's dirty laundry in the back of the druid's refuge. It may have clues that you can use to find a better solution.
I think the game is designed in such a way (hard combat, unexpected and harsh consequences for choices) that it fully expects you to save often and reload when you want.
Yeah although I am still opening every box and cupboard looking for loot, which turns up results often enough that I’ll probably keep doing it despite it being not particularly interesting.
I fought a big spider. Took two attempts, for the second one I went around breaking its eggs so it couldn’t hatch them into more enemies first, plus I started combat with a surprise attack. Still a pretty touch and go thing, despite learning that destroying its web bridges to make it fall does pretty good damage. I’m still having interface issues - there’s a command that comes up to continue using concentration attacks, but I can’t get it to work, for example. And when I beat the bigger enemy its corpse obscured a smaller one. Despite knowing it was there, I couldn’t see it or find it with the cursor so I assumed it had moved away and I’d missed it, but it was in fact there and attacked me on the next turn. I tried to google how to highlight enemies (I turned on having circles under party members and NPCs but it doesn’t seem to include enemies) and only found posts about wanting to turn the highlights off. Ah well.
I fought a big spider. Took two attempts, for the second one I went around breaking its eggs so it couldn’t hatch them into more enemies first, plus I started combat with a surprise attack. Still a pretty touch and go thing, despite learning that destroying its web bridges to make it fall does pretty good damage. I’m still having interface issues - there’s a command that comes up to continue using concentration attacks, but I can’t get it to work, for example. And when I beat the bigger enemy its corpse obscured a smaller one. Despite knowing it was there, I couldn’t see it or find it with the cursor so I assumed it had moved away and I’d missed it, but it was in fact there and attacked me on the next turn. I tried to google how to highlight enemies (I turned on having circles under party members and NPCs but it doesn’t seem to include enemies) and only found posts about wanting to turn the highlights off. Ah well.
Nah, keep doing this. It's a great way to make sure you always have camp supplies and miscellaneous crap to sell so you can afford whatever you want in shops (if you're not aware, you can also send loot straight back to your Traveller's Chest at your camp, which helps avoid encumbrance limits while you're exploring).
My problem with searching everything isn’t that it’s not productive, it’s that I’m spending half my playtime using the search function and then looking through every container. But I am picking up a fair bit of lore and gear this way, at least.
I just got through a fight (Lump the Enlightened, whose character I enjoyed and whose circlet my guy now has equipped) by taking the enemies on at a choke point so only one of them could reach me at a time, then having one character get downed each round and another character help them, leaving my other two to take free shots at the enemy. Felt kinda cheap, but not enough so for me not to do it.
I just got through a fight (Lump the Enlightened, whose character I enjoyed and whose circlet my guy now has equipped) by taking the enemies on at a choke point so only one of them could reach me at a time, then having one character get downed each round and another character help them, leaving my other two to take free shots at the enemy. Felt kinda cheap, but not enough so for me not to do it.
I’ve hit level four, which presents a bewildering array of feats whose actual benefits are difficult to determine. I was tempted to just go with the one that gives a couple of stat points (feels very odd to be playing a game where level ups don’t lead to stat ups beyond HP), but I wound up giving my created character, a monk, polearm master, I gave the fighter savage attacker, and the wizard and warlock both spell sniper. I am sure these are not the best choices but I’ll see how I go.
I’ve been getting into save scumming via the gateway drug of accidentally getting my party killed. I’m in the sunlit meadow/putrid bog, which I initially entered and triggered a trap that caused bleeding I didn’t seem to be able to cure which dropped my party. On the second attempt I passed the monk skill check and discovered the bog but wound up having the same problem with the trap even though I’d found it through a perception check - one of the companions stepped on it anyway before I was able to disarm it. So I wound up reloading repeatedly until I passed the monk check again and then saved afterwards. Then I wandered through the area and had Auntie Ethel set her minions on me which led to party death, so then I fought them on entering the area and died again, and then I used all the buffs I had (not many) before attacking again and beating the enemies easily. Not sure how much of the difference is me understanding the game better versus the dice going my way a bit more.
I’ve been getting into save scumming via the gateway drug of accidentally getting my party killed. I’m in the sunlit meadow/putrid bog, which I initially entered and triggered a trap that caused bleeding I didn’t seem to be able to cure which dropped my party. On the second attempt I passed the monk skill check and discovered the bog but wound up having the same problem with the trap even though I’d found it through a perception check - one of the companions stepped on it anyway before I was able to disarm it. So I wound up reloading repeatedly until I passed the monk check again and then saved afterwards. Then I wandered through the area and had Auntie Ethel set her minions on me which led to party death, so then I fought them on entering the area and died again, and then I used all the buffs I had (not many) before attacking again and beating the enemies easily. Not sure how much of the difference is me understanding the game better versus the dice going my way a bit more.
Remember that respec'ing is very easy and cheap.
Also because potions of ogre strength and similar potions are relatively cheap and last until your next long rest, a monk who dumps strength, takes the Tavern Brawler feat, and uses potions to get +5 to strength rolls is getting a huge number of free attribute points and a pretty broken DPS combo.
Also because potions of ogre strength and similar potions are relatively cheap and last until your next long rest, a monk who dumps strength, takes the Tavern Brawler feat, and uses potions to get +5 to strength rolls is getting a huge number of free attribute points and a pretty broken DPS combo.
I think my awareness of the availability of respeccing is why I’m not still sitting on the level up screen pondering now. I might never actually use it, but knowing that it’s there means if I get too much decision paralysis I can just tell myself I’ll fix it later.
I think I’m done with the putrid bog. I went into the enemy lair, got totally trashed by four people wearing masks, reloaded and beat them handily, triggered a whole lot of traps and used a lot of potions of healing, then beat Auntie Ethel first try, despite managing to put up a cloud of daggers with my lead character in it, and forgetting to give Gale any way to heal himself so I had to throw a potion near him which missed despite the indicator looking like it would get him. He got healed when I walked him into it anyway.
I think I’m done with the putrid bog. I went into the enemy lair, got totally trashed by four people wearing masks, reloaded and beat them handily, triggered a whole lot of traps and used a lot of potions of healing, then beat Auntie Ethel first try, despite managing to put up a cloud of daggers with my lead character in it, and forgetting to give Gale any way to heal himself so I had to throw a potion near him which missed despite the indicator looking like it would get him. He got healed when I walked him into it anyway.
The game is "iffy" on certain items "splashing" in certain conditions. In many regards it is actually better to toss the potion NEAR your character and have them get hit by the splash (you can even heal multiple people with one potion this way!!!!) instead of tossing it at their head, since the splash doesn't get correctly applied.
Splash!
Splash!
In fairness, if someone were trying to splash me with a healing potion, I would probably also prefer that they not throw the bottle at my head.
Yeah the first time I threw a potion at someone it did damage instead of healing, I guess from getting hit in the face with a bottle, so now I throw them at the ground nearby. When I do, a little shadow area comes up around the point I’m throwing at that I’ve assumed shows where it will splash to, but I still seem to miss a lot.
Worth noting that you don't have to throw potions at characters if the character you want to heal doesn't already have a potion in their inventory -- when it's their turn, you can open the main inventory screen and just slurp one out of someone else's inventory instead. Magic pockets works for more than just keys!
I accidentally attacked a barrel of wine when I was trying to talk to an NPC:
Not sure I can make it out of this one. When did I last save?
I found the entrance to a mountain pass. When I tried to enter I was told to wrap up any loose ends first and that at my level I would struggle if I went ahead. I take it going through there starts the next act?
Not sure I can make it out of this one. When did I last save?
I found the entrance to a mountain pass. When I tried to enter I was told to wrap up any loose ends first and that at my level I would struggle if I went ahead. I take it going through there starts the next act?
Yep, there are two paths that lead to the next act and that's one of them. (You'll have access to both as long as you don't finish either. You can -- and should! -- explore them both before moving on.)
Specifically, moving on when one of those messages pops up will auto-resolve anything tied to the conflict between the Tieflings, the Druid Grove, and the Goblins. The game treats moving on past that warning message as your characters choosing to ignore that conflict and let things resolve however they would without you.
This game doesn't make this super clear, so for what it's worth going to the underdark does NOT auto-resolve those quests, and it's also NOT mutually exclusive with The Mountain Pass—you can (and probalby should, unless you're trying to make things harder on yourself) do both. You have to get pretty far into the underdark to move on to Act 2 via that route. Specifically, you have to reach an area called The Grymforge and clear the major quest there. If you want to hold off on the main quest a bit more, it can be worth going to the underdark once you've reached level 4 or (to be safe) level 5, if you've found a way in. It's very large area with a lot of rewards and merchants, and it can make sense to do it in parallel with the harder parts of the opening forest area. I'm slowly doing an Honor Mode playthrough, and I definitely went in there before even thinking about The Hag or the big party of Gith, for example, where bad luck can easily end a lower level party. I don't want to touch those until I'm overpowered relative to when you could potentially run into them.
One thing I'd add to this is that while it's absolutely true that this is one of the most powerful builds, if you feel like that sounds cheesey, you definitely don't need to do this to make a Monk work. On Tactician, I used an Open Hand Monk 8/Thief 4 with max Dex, decent WIS and CON, no STR or CHA penalties, and dumped INT, and no Tavern Brawler or STR potions for ridiculous stats, and it was still usually as good as or better than Fighter 12 Laezel, depending on the situation (basically, depending on how weak an enemy was to blunt damage or vulnerable to being tripped or stunned). Open Hand Monk is already great without doing that, especially with an extra bonus action from Thief Rogue, so going the extra step with that strategy takes it from already great to completely broken in your favor.
I’m very slowly working on the goblin camp/sanctuary. I’ve killed a few enemy groups, but the rest seem to think I’m on their side - not sure why. When I first entered the temple through the front door I got a lot of hostility, managed to talk my way through it, then had a catastrophic combat encounter and had to reload. Next time I snuck in, and despite a more successful combat in a dark corner everyone is friendly.
I did get some suspicion when I entered the priestess’ chambers but managed to pass the 22 persuasion check for the “if I weren’t allowed to be here I wouldn’t be here” argument. A bit more looking around and a puzzle later, and I’m in the underdark, where a Minotaur came at me and got burned up by lasers from a statue. There’s a fast travel thing down here so I might leave and come back later.
I did get some suspicion when I entered the priestess’ chambers but managed to pass the 22 persuasion check for the “if I weren’t allowed to be here I wouldn’t be here” argument. A bit more looking around and a puzzle later, and I’m in the underdark, where a Minotaur came at me and got burned up by lasers from a statue. There’s a fast travel thing down here so I might leave and come back later.
My explorations of the underdark extended to an encounter with a spectator and several charmed/petrified assistants, which as usual destroyed me on the first attempt. On the second I had three party members downed/dead but Astarion was on high ground in a cloud of darkness one of the enemies cast, so I was able to move out of darkness, take a shot at the enemy, then go back in the dark and hide. I almost had it and then the darkness dissipated and it was all over. Third attempt I took some of the nearby oil barrels and sneakily placed them where the enemy spawns planning to blow them, and it, up. But I accidentally got too close to one of the exploding mushrooms, which blew up and shattered one of the statues as well as setting my party on fire and setting off my trap early (not sure how, it was pretty far away), but the cut scene for the enemy appearing played during the explosion and when the fight started it was on half health and I was able to beat it. No complaints about that. The shattered enemy had a whole bunch of stuff in his rubble and was named by one of the survivors as their leader, so maybe I’d have gotten some plot if he hadn’t blown up, but oh well.
I also finished off the goblin camp. The priestess and the drow weren’t too bad, but the other guy was pretty rough. I wound up using animal handling to get some giant spiders on my side, and while one of them was attacking all the enemies in the room I went upstairs and shot an arrow at the boss and was able to beat him while the others were fighting spiders. Then I had to finish the rest of them once they killed the spiders, but I had the high ground and wasn’t getting smashed by the boss, so it wasn’t too bad. Then I walked too close to a keg of smoke powder with a lit torch and blew up my party again - the PC was killed and another party member downed, but otherwise we survived and I was able to resurrect back at camp. Gotta learn to save after tough encounters before doing anything else.
I also finished off the goblin camp. The priestess and the drow weren’t too bad, but the other guy was pretty rough. I wound up using animal handling to get some giant spiders on my side, and while one of them was attacking all the enemies in the room I went upstairs and shot an arrow at the boss and was able to beat him while the others were fighting spiders. Then I had to finish the rest of them once they killed the spiders, but I had the high ground and wasn’t getting smashed by the boss, so it wasn’t too bad. Then I walked too close to a keg of smoke powder with a lit torch and blew up my party again - the PC was killed and another party member downed, but otherwise we survived and I was able to resurrect back at camp. Gotta learn to save after tough encounters before doing anything else.
I finished a fight with my main guy downed, so Lae’zel wound up talking to the guys I rescued. Obviously she’s not going to be making any concessions, so I intimidated them into giving me their stuff, which led to their employer tying up/murdering them. My guy was back on his feet by then and attempted to intimidate his way out of the situation but is less intimidating than Lae’zel so we got in a fight which lasted all of one round as they dropped a firebomb on me that set off a lot more bombs and killed my party (and presumably their party, who were pretty close to me aside from the bomb thrower). If only I’d made it through the previous encounter awake, things might have gone differently.
That’s good to hear, if I’d realised I would have reported on what happened to Wyll. Anyway, I took another shot at the encounter described above. This time I released the artist first so he wouldn’t get blown up (I failed several persuasion checks and so had to spend a lot of money), and tried to get near the boss before the encounter started. The cutscene started while I was still pretty low, and this time I passed a history check, got some other options in dialogue, and was offered a job. But I refused to kill the guy ties to the chair, so they turned on me again. It turns out her party teleport to the high ground for the encounter (or, I guess, move up there during the cutscene), but I was half way up there myself. My main guy had the first move, went up the ladder and killed the enemy leader (I just hit monk level five, so I have two attacks plus flurry of blows). Then one of their guys blew up the lower level, killing the rest of my party, but my lead managed to finish off the other three alone (I don’t really understand reactions but it seems I just have the option to never get hit by arrows?). I got a fair bit of money looting them, but didn’t get back what I’d given one of the dead guys. Plus I had three revivals to do, so a fairly expensive business. And the guy I refused to kill got blown up anyway.
A reaction is a unique free thing every character gets once per round, unrelated to your normal action and bonus action. They're triggered by various specific things, and you can choose to use your reaction (or not) if that condition is met. For example, if you have a wizard who has Counterspell prepared, and an enemy tries to cast a spell you'd rather not get hit with, the wizard can use Counterspell as a reaction to make it go away.
The thing I don’t get about them is how often they can be used, what resources are used up. The information is probably there somewhere, but it’s not been super obvious. Once per round makes sense.
I think I’ve been overdoing the looting. Probably at least half my time with the game has been spent going through barrels and boxes taking stuff. I happened to look at my stats page and saw that I have over 2000 camp supplies, which is probably more than I need for the rest of the game, so maybe I should stop picking up all this food. Also on looting, if I’d taken the trouble to lock some of my stuff in a chest I might not leave half a dozen sets of thieves tools lying around the same room. Good for me that everyone in this game does though.
I think I’ve been overdoing the looting. Probably at least half my time with the game has been spent going through barrels and boxes taking stuff. I happened to look at my stats page and saw that I have over 2000 camp supplies, which is probably more than I need for the rest of the game, so maybe I should stop picking up all this food. Also on looting, if I’d taken the trouble to lock some of my stuff in a chest I might not leave half a dozen sets of thieves tools lying around the same room. Good for me that everyone in this game does though.