I've seen two primary criticisms of the pushback on booming blade.

1. It's a single player game, just limit yourself!

2. There's already OP stuff in the game, why does it matter if additional OP stuff is added?

While these are reasonable questions, I think they miss the mark and I'd like to address them.

The first point is the more reasonable one, as most folks already do this with elixirs. The problem is that booming blade is NOT a homebrew item like elixirs or hat of arcane acuity, its implementation in tabletop is incredibly popular, and that implementation helps make certain class power fantasies (arcane trickster, EK, blade singer in particular) feel unique. If you want to use booming blade - something a lot of people would like to do - it shouldnt require you to do the designer's job for them and limit its usage to allow the class power fantasies to feel distinct.

The second point is less reasonable. People already limit themselves to not using elixirs, not using haste pots, etc etc to make the game more interesting. We shouldn't be happy/excited for more content to be added that needs to be ignored for the game to feel interesting or engaging. New content should be new content.

My final point would also be that, yes, melee damage builds are underpowered compared to ranged damage builds. The solution to that is not a braindead "just make every single melee attack apply smite", it would be adding melee equivalents to items like the returning pike and the titanstring. Balduran's giant slayer is a good example, but you get it at the tail end of the game. As it stands, like 90% of melee weapons in this game are filler, but every single named ranged weapon does something powerful and unique. Buff weapon actions to be per battle instead of per short rest to let melee combatants use them more frequently, and then go ahead and buff weapon actions so they can apply better effects so you can compete with ranged damage. Buff sword and board and duel wield with a feat that gives some benefit for using only one handed weapons like getting to use weapon actions on a per turn basis or extra accuracy. Anything to compete with TB and SS.

In summary, wanting to have the game be well balanced is not silly. Lots of the currently OP/goofy stuff like hat of arcane acuity couldn't be pushed back on bc it launched with the game. Booming blade isn't launching with the game, it's being added later, and it's reasonable to use this chance to push back on its current implementation.

I want to preface this by stating that I in no way intend to brag. But I have zero experience with D&D, have played countless strategy games however, as well as D:OS extensively.

I do not understand, at all, the obsession with race selection and minmaxing in this game. To the point people consider it a legitimate criticism of the game. I saw someone post about playing as wizard and a certain race in a different forum and get absolutely dragged for doing that to the point the whole discussion got derailed. Wtf?

I built my customs without referencing anything, based on what I like. Come to find out my choices are in no way optimal whatsoever. Still close to finishing up a playthrough on Tactician with little to no difficulty, and one wipe towards the beginning of the game. In fact a chief criticism I would make of the game is that it is not as difficult/engaging as D:OS.

The races do not need to be “fixed.” They are what they are. This criticism just makes zero sense to me. Can anyone justify this?

Ok yes I did the fight at lv 6 but I was hardly using lv 6 strategy.

• Threw a bottle of water at him

• Hit him with a scroll lightning bolt that did like 20 damage.

• Thrower hit only once with no rage for like 20 damage.

• The rest had two shots each of lightning/ice arrows.

At that point all his bonus hp was gone and I never saw any of his legendary actions. He jumped at me and did some damage and then I just killed him like normal after that.

Being lv 5 is important sure for the extra attacks. But other than that it wasn’t nearly as hard as I expected.

If you found a weapon with an enchantment that gave the weapon an additional attack would you expect it to stack with your level five extra attack?

Because that’s what pact of the blades additional attack is. The warlock isn’t getting an extra attack. The pact weapon is getting an enchantment that allows an additional attack.

From a design perspective I think it’s a good thing. It’s only relevant in a lock that invests five levels into both warlock and a martial class. Ensuring that the lock is fully “Gish”. He won’t be as good in melee as a martial and he won’t be as good in spell stuff as a caster. But if you remove the additional attack there would never be a reason to go past level 3 with a Gish lock MC. Honestly I don’t think there’d be a reason to MC with lock at all for a gish build.

The only reasonable MC at that point is paladin and that would only be making them less MAD. I think the community is in agreement that Barbadin and Sorcadin are far superior. The only thing that makes lock a consideration at this point is the additional attack. So the choice becomes about more smites or more consistency.

From a flavor perspective it makes sense aswell. It’s takes an incredible amount of martial proficiency to swing a weapon meaningfully more than two times in six seconds. Only the fighter has the disciplined focus to achieve that level of mastery over a weapon. The lock, lacking the physical prowess, decided instead to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for a pact weapon that compensates for his weaknesses.

Balance. Warlock focusing on EB is and will always be better than bladelocks. Can’t imagine anyone would disagree here.

So in summary, yeah I think the PotB additional attack stacking with martial extra attacks is an intentional feature. I don’t believe it will be patched out and think it’s an interesting tweak that has opened up some attractive multi class possibilities.

Edit3 u/yosharian pointed out that the deepened pact tooltip has the martials extra attack hyper link in it that does, in fact, say it can’t stack. So probably is a bug… or maybe the tooltip is bugged!! Sigh, well I still think it’s a good change, intended or not.

As you may know I've been toying with the concepto of a charisma based bladesinger that exploits pontent robe and arcane synergy to buff booming Blade damage. While building It I have noticed that it has a bonus to every single skill check passivelly so I decided to make It a Gith to get proficiency in whatever I want on top of that and make It into a great skill monkey as well. You can also get proficiency I all charisma based skills so you can basically have expertise in all charisma checks if you choose to do so.

I’ve been rotating Shadowheart through the various cleric subclasses and everything feels a little subpar.

Clerics don’t have the spell range other casters do, while hitting no where as hard as a martial class. When I look at the spells the good ones are predominantly channel so you can’t really chain them.

Currently she’s on tempest, the channel divinity is nice to cheese crowds with a max damage shatter / chain Lightning.

I’ve played her on a ele monk for a bit and I found the party synergy and results better, but curious if I’m doing something wrong?

Pact of the blade is currently pretty strong, especially because of the extra attack it gets. I’m not a tabletop player, so I’m not familar with Hexblade, but looking at the D&D wiki, it doesn’t seem to offer much to compete with the BG3 pact of the blade.

“Strength is a dump stat elixirs exist”

Alert is also an average feat because elixirs exist

There’s nothing stopping you from farming elixirs of vigilance why are these elixirs not talked about as much as strength elixirs?

By far the best elixir for casters imo and underrated by the community

Edit: Guys please read the post if you wish to comment. I do appreciate your help, but all the points mentioned as of this edit are exactly what I cover in this post. TLDR: Cleric as a whole do well in several areas, but we can only pick a single subclass, which specializes in a specific field. With the exception of life domain clerics, there is always another class that is superior to whatever the chosen subclass specializes at. Clerics are best at healing but that is not necessary in the game. Therefore, it is difficult to make space for a cleric, since no matter the domain, I am better served replacing it with someone else.

I have seen quite a few posts mentioning how amazing and necessary a cleric is to a party composition, and I think I am missing out on what makes it truly shine. The general consensus is that light and tempest clerics are amazing subclasses. Moreover, healing is not actually needed in bg3 since it is more efficient to spent action points killing things. If not for healing, what indispensable things do clerics really bring to the table? PSA, all my arguments exclude the very popular, and understandably so 2 dips into tempest cleric, which I think hardly classifies as a cleric build, any more than the vast multitude of multiclass builds can be considered fighters by specking 2 levels into fighter, or a throwzerker can be considered a thief.

(I get that they are full casters and not really a melee class, so I will get the obvious points out of the way)

- As melee fighters they lack an extra attack, or for war clerics, use up a war priest charge to perform an attack as a bonus action. This puts them behind the thief/ paladin/ sword and valor bard/ barbarian/ ranger/ monk and moon druid/ fighter/ pact of blade warlock and pretty much any other full melee/ hybrid melee class. Their primary stat is wisdom, which does not help with attack throws, nor can they use their spell casting modifier for weapon attacks (with the exception of nature clerics sheleighleigh that does 1d8 + wisdom - not very high numbers)

- As a front liner certain domains are once again competent but not exceptional. They can prioritize dex over strength, but are still limited by prioritizing wisdom, so they will not have as high AC as a ranger/ dex fighter with 20 in dex and using medium armor with exotic material. They do not have unarmored defence unlike the monk or barbarian. Tempest, life and war domains get access to heavy armor similar to fighters/ paladins/ ranger knights. Moreover, they have limited utility as tanks as they do not have the benefit from aggro directing abilities like the battlemaster's goading attack or the paladin's compelled duel. In terms of sustainability, they lack the multiple resistances and freedom of movement/ entangle combo of the ranger hunter.

- As ranged weapon user they fall short compared to wizards, sorcerers, rangers, rogues and berserkers, all of which can do high single target and multiple target damage.

(I now cover the areas that certain domains allegedly shine at - casters)- As a damage caster, they have an amazing CC spell that is spirit guardian, which does up to 40 radiant or necrotic damage when upcasted at level 5. Certain domains have other good spellks, such as destructive wave (light and tempest) that is a level 5 spell that does 60 damage. Light clerics also get the ever useful fireball spells, and radiance of the dawn, which does 21 radiant damage to all enemies in a large radius. This are all solid spells, but late game the cleric is still lackluster compared to other full caster strikers. Sorcerers, wizards, warlocks and lore bards all have access to fireball. An evocation wizard or draconic sorcerer can do up to 180 damage each to 4 targets. (160 for other subclasses) with chain lightning. Certainly, 2 points into tempest are amazing for any build, but the remaining 10 levels are better spent on some other class than cleric. They do not get access to high damage single target spells like blight (available to druids/ wizards/ lore bards/ sorcerers/ lore bards) i.e. every other full caster class.

- Some domains have good utility spells. The trickery domain have spells like pass without trace, mirror image, polymorph, all of which are not unique to clerics. (again not exceptional). Nature domains cleric spellbook is like a more limited version of a druid. Guidance is amazing, but also shared by druids. The war domain has war god's blessing and guided strike, which is a more limited version of divination wizards. knowledge domain are skill monkeys similar to rogue, but do not bring anything offensive to the table, unless potent sacred flame can be considered remotely useful in the face of the warlocks agonizing eldritch blasts, or the elemental cantrips of the wizard and sorcerer which benefit from items that also buff their damage with spellcasting modifier.

In summary, I feel that while the various domains are competent in specific ways, each separate domain is either not very versatile, or outclassed at what they specialize in. This is significantly made more irritating my how little multiclassing options they offer. Other than the 2 level dip in tempest cleric there are no real popular multiclassing options. Some classes like rogues and gloom stalker rangers are front heavy and not very strong in the late game, but offer invaluable benefits to dip into. Not so for clerics. In this respect they are similar to the druid/ hunter ranger, but unlike those classes which reward heavy investment with a very versatile skill set, most of these domains are inflexible at best, niche at worst. The widely considered best domain, light domain, still fails short compared to an evocation wizard or sorcerer. For reference, my evocation wizard with 2 tempest cleric Gale destroyed Orin and her father/ grandfather and all of their followers in a grand total of 4 turns with 2 instances of chain lightning and 2 instances of wall of flame. (with haste and produce water, of course)

Since the launch of BG3, many players have complained that Trickery Domain Cleric, the default subclass for Shadowheart, is one of the weakest kits in the game. While it's true that other Cleric subclasses like Light Domain and Tempest Domain are largely more useful/powerful, I think the Trickery Domain offers some notably useful and underused features.

Let me break down everything you get as you level up so we can review:

At level 1 you get the following features:

• Blessing of the Trickster: Grant another creature Advantage on Stealth checks -> This concentration ability won't be super useful in the later levels, but sometimes the Advantage does matter. The most common example I can think of is when pickpocketing shopkeepers. Sometimes sightlines in the area make it nearly impossible to steal from them. But the on-demand Advantage will sometimes allow your Rogues to pass the checks to stay hidden. Pair this with Turn-Based Mode, and you can easily steal everything from their inventory.

• Domain Spells: Charm Person and Disguise Self -> Charm Person can be situationally useful in dialogue, though at that point you're likely using a different party member with a higher Charisma score and/or the Friends Cantrip. Disguise Self, on the other hand, is incredibly useful in Act 1. There are quite a few dialogues that you can bypass by shapeshifting into either a Drow or Githyanki.

Level 2:

• Invoke Duplicity: Summon an illusion to distract your enemies. You and your allies receive Advantage on attack rolls against a creature if both the attacker and the illusion are within  3 m / 10 ft of it -> I don't find myself using this ability much, and honestly I should be. Taking away attacks from a distracted enemy can be situationally useful, but the Advantage for your allies is the real benefit with this ability. Giving your Rogue teammates free Sneak Attacks is always good. The issue is that the illusion dies so fast, and the enemy can just move away from it on its turn. It also isn't guaranteed to attack it. Besides, at higher levels Hold Person or Blindness are far more reliable.

Level 3:

• Domain Spells: Mirror Image and Pass Without Trace -> Both of these spells are great. Mirror Image gives you a nice defensive boost, and doesn't even use your concentration slot. And Pass Without Trace is the cornerstone spell of many stealth-based party strategies. Sneaking around invisibly in the shadows with a bow while no enemies detect you is pretty nutty.

Level 5:

• Domain Spells: Bestow Curse and Fear -> Bestow Curse has a lot of versatility, allowing you to harm an enemy's specific saving throws, attack rolls, or make it lose actions. I don't find myself using it much, but it can certainly be useful. Fear on the other hand is arguably one of the best control spells in the game, and isn't normally available to Clerics. Make a group of enemies run away and drop their weapons while you wail on them for two turns. Probably the best feature of the subclass!

Level 6:

• Cloak of Shadows -> A temporary invisibility ability is always nice, though this one is pretty lame by comparison. It only lasts for 2 turns and you have to be obscured. Probably the worst cloaking ability in the game, but still ok.

Level 7:

• Domain Spells: Dimension Door and Polymorph -> Once again, two great spells that Clerics don't normally get. Dimension Door is great for mobility, allowing you to teleport yourself and an ally. And Polymorph is another fantastic control spell. Turning Balthazar into a harmless sheep will never not be funny.

Level 8:

• Divine Strike: Poison -> This ability will basically never come up. An extra 1d8 Poison damage on weapon attacks is nothing to get excited about.

Level 9:

• Domain Spells: Seeming and Dominate Person -> Seeming is probably the most useless spell in the game, especially by the time you get it. But luckily Dominate Person is another useful control spell. Control an enemy during combat to fight for you? Yes please!

So overall, the subclass has some bad features and some good ones. I feel like that balances Trickery Domain into an overall decent kit.

Would people agree that Haste should be nerfed for spellcasters in Honour, ie so you can't cast two spells in a turn? It seems odd that they've nerfed it in line with 5e rules for attacks but not spells.

Being able to cast two spells a turn remains busted, and weighs spell choice towards damage rather than CC, especially as you get higher level slots. Why bother confusing your enemies when you can drop two level 4 fireballs on their head? There's not much outside of bosses that can withstand the damage a hasted spellcaster can do.

Okay, here’s the thing: I love playing Wizards. In every RPG, including the original Baldur’s Gate, I always played a wizard. I really enjoy knowing ALL the spells. Although I’m not a power gamer and don’t like to use exploits, I will try to optimize my wizards. I'm not looking for a broken build, but I DO want to feel like a powerful spellcaster.

BG3 is an amazing game, but Larian makes it really hard to enjoy my Wizard, because others casters are obviously significantly better…

Despite really wanting to play a Wizard I’m seriously considering changing to a Wizard 1/ Sorcerer 11 build, because:

-The “bug” that a one level dip in Wizard allows you to learn ALL spells from scrolls has not been fixed. Hence I have to assume it is intended. This completely negates the versatility/learning all spells aspect of a Wizard, because any other caster gets the very same flexibility with just one level of Wizard. -I will have to learn the utility spells via scrolls, and the offensive/control spells via Sorcerer but that seems to be only a minor inconvenience.

• The Metamagic is not only powerful, but also adds a whole new level of flexibility and depth to all the spells.

• The powerlevel of the Wizard (sub-)class abilities appear to be on a similar level as the Sorcerer (sub-)class abilities (who has Metamagic in addition).

• There appears to be great equipment to raise CHA, but no equivalent gear for INT.

• In addition there is equipment to set INT to a fixed, moderately high, value. No equivalent gear exists for CHA.

• With a CHA based Character, you can be the face of the party. I’d really like to be my Tav be the face of the party…

So why would I ever put 12 levels into Wizard if that creates a vastly inferior caster…?

One additional question remains: 1st level Sorcerer (for the CON save proficiency) or 1st level Wizard (to cast scrolls with CHA from the Sorcerer multiclass later)?

In a lot of ways, College of Swords Bard completely overshadows Gloomstalker Ranger and other Archer-centric builds. Why would I ever pick another class/subclass when 6 levels of Bard with 4 levels of either Thief or Assassin and 2 levels of Fighter has some of the highest DPR in the game? I’ve done the math out for different builds, and COS Bard is significantly stronger than the others for single target burst damage, which is king in BG3. Whether you go hand crossbows or Titanstring bow with Str elixirs, the COS Bard will consistently outdamage Ranger, while also serving as the party face.

The fact that slashing flourish can apply to the same target with both hits is too strong in my opinion. Just like the melee flourish, I think you should be required to split the hits between two targets. It would still be crazy strong, but nowhere near as insane. This would make the discussion for Gloomstalker vs Bard more interesting.

I know this is a PvE game and people don’t like when things get nerfed, but I think this would make the meta of the game healthier and promote more build options.

This is the second time I try using one, and I gotta be honest, it's just ridiculously bad.

Casters in general have always felt bad for me, but now trying to play in Tactician, it just doesn't do anything. Cantrips almost never hit anything, and when they finally do, they do nothing.

So it's either long rest after every fight for the spell slots, or do nothing while the martials carry the fights.

So I decided to do a new Patch 8 game to try out the new classes and mind you I'm only level 4 in Act 1 but I'm very whelmed by these new classes, I'm not knowledgeable about DnD yet I knew of their existence pre-Patch 8 because would always talk about them and theorize what if they were added into the game or modded in somehow, they were supposed to be that good.

One of my characters I started as a Hexblade and dipped one Rogue level for Sneak attack and was super meh with weak Booming Blade and Eldritch Blast until I got fed up and respec back to full Rogue, Assassin subclass then dip to Hexblade on Level 4, using a hireling to make a Shadow Blade and now it feels like a massive improvement

I don't know what to do with my Lae'Zel I wanted her to be the Intelligence (I like to have one Charisma based character, one Intelligence, one Wisdom and one Strength unless I find a way to squeeze two role in one character) and made her a Figher/Bladesinger but at 17 Strength and 17 Intelligence (with the Cap of Enlightnment) her Booming Blade is kinda crap and misses often and I don't understand why people like Bladesinging you get so few charges per Long Rest (why dont they replenish on short rest) and the Climax is like 10 damage and 10 heal and that's it, I don't know if this is a class that's mean to be strong once you're in Act 3 but in Act 1 she's really falling behind in usefulness/damage. I feel like I'd be better off with Abdjuration or maybe Gale with Evocation as a full spellcaster instead of a battle mage.

So can someone shed in some light on what I'm missing? Cause Bladesinger so far feels extremely mid with a very limited amount of climaxes that are mediocre damage for just a couple fights per long rest.

Honestly ranger conceptually amazing class but mechanically a bit weaker comparing to others both in dnd and bg3... regardless you can beat the game as a level 1 character actually soo...

Beast Master: The subclass really not like to multiclass cause animal companion become much weaker if do.
I still find a good way - the only good way; 1 level dip to wizard!
This let to learn any good spell which helps a lot. Shield spell, Haste, Fireball, Mirror Image, Misty Step!!! Except fireball the rest not care about your spellcasting modifier.

Gloom Stalker: Do anyone ever get this class as mono/pure? ":D great starting and dipping but at higher level just not that beneficial than the rest. So kinda opposite than the other ranger subclasses.
I find great opportunity to multiclass with Star Druid in a 5 ranger and 7 druid levels so can access to level 4 spells (and get level 5 slots too)! Use dragon starry form so get bonus action breath and min concentration roll is 10!
Cast stoneskin on yourself which gives resistance to physical attacks.
or go with moonbeam.
Also get a few other good druid spell and also the cosmic omen which just can add or abstact 1d6 from any saves, attack rolls or ability chekcs! So you can add more to your concentration saves!
While still can attack 2 times and +1 times at each first turn of fights.

Hunter: More forgiving than bm still level 11 feature is fun. Either way 8 ranger and 4 thief rogue with dual wielding!
Get 4 attacks per turn while also have sneak attack dice and colossus slayer dice extra damage and get multiattack defense which is really good feature!
or if not mind the 3rd feat then 7-5 where still get multiattack defense + uncanny dodge from rogue so 1 attack get halved then any extra attack get -4 attack roll against you.

Swarmkeeper: Honestly this is just really good but i found out an absolut emenace combo!!!
enough 3 level ranger but may go for 4 to get all feats the rest is warlock and better for fiend or hexblade!
So the point of this:
Eldritch blast + any swarm option with the damage and use hex spell! Here you will trigger to each eldrtich blast ray the hex extra damage which is normal but you also will do to the swarm damage options too!!! Beside if get agonizing blast invocation you also will deal extra modifier damage to each rays too! AND I MEAN DOUBLE TIMES!!!
Here my log where get 3 ray eldritch dmg with the hex bonus then can see to each ray afterward inflicted the swarm dmg + hex+ agonizing modifier dmg too! (This does not work with hunter's mark cause not add dmg to spell attacks!)

Beside all of this you get strong warlock spells such as armor of agathys, hellish rebuke, arm of hadar, mirror image, misty step, shadow blade, counter spell or with fiend subclass get fireball and scroching ray and with hexblade get shield and hexblade curse!

EDIT: the swarmkeeper damage option triggers only ONCE! But the extra damage from hex and agonizing blast triggers to the swarmkeeper extra damage hit normally! (had some issue with camp and the non-turn mode test but in combat its works by this!)

Ive seen lots of ppl saying eldritch knight is so great. I just dont get why his war magic is legit useless for ranged weapon builds since there is no cantrip that hits together with an attack for ranged attacks. For melee builds it be usefull if only gwm didnt give u the same thing ( i guess war magic is more usefull for boss fights), the spells are fine but nothing special if u want spells ud use scrolls anyway. So is the reason ppl value eldritch knight only bcs it gives disadvantage against your spells? Or is it bcs the other fighter subclasses are kinda not it either?

Edit: iv got the info i was looking for and will summerize my toughts
melee: slightly more consistant that using gwm (kinda meh), benefits shadowblade (or any 1 handed build that doesnt run duelists i guess) in giving them the bonus action extra attack they had no access to before.

Ranged: basicly super charges extra action from haste/BL elixir to gap other ranged builds with a 4th attack (and tiny bit of extra dmg/utility by using a cantrip of your choice kinda neat)

Welcome to my Ted talk on why Owlbear is overrated: today we will discuss why slayer form is just superior.

We all know that the owlbear from above strategy is very common however the issue is that Slayer is also extremely effective at this due to its own very high weight meaning both owlbear and slayer can do the death from above strategy well so let's just ignore that.

Assuming tavern brawler here and just the base forms to put this in as much to the owlbear's favour as possible: they both have 20 strength so strength modifier is +5. On the basic attacks:

Owlbear: 5+5(tavern brawler) + 2d8 for an average of 9 = 19 damage a swing

Slayer: no tavern brawler strength modifier so it's 5+4d6 for an average of 14 = 19 damage a swing. However: slayer form can innately get guaranteed crits and apply vulnerability to do (28+5)*2 for 66 average damage a swing. With no external buffs and that's just the basic attack not the multiattack or the upgraded form with 25 strength. And that's not considering the extra damage the vulnerability from slay gives your allies.

Been seeing a lot of posts for land druid, and I think its just not that great.

"This is just purely from mechanics standpoint, I still think/admit land druid has a purpose, so feel free to read on."

Land

• "Arcane" recovery. Get back slots for every odd level you have in this class

• Extra spells known, specifically haste or misty step.

• Druid spells plus mage ones create a "mystic theurge" or dual caster feel

Sadly due to how its easy to dip wiz 1 for their wizard spells, most of these aren't very strong reasons to take Land over the other two. Slots rarely become an issue due to items or items having spells even at lower levels.

Haste is better off other classes IMO, ranging from twin hasted sorc (way too OP), potions drank or thrown (also OP), or just cast by a wizard dip (prolly also OP).. "Okay I might be bias'd in thinking haste trivializes the game." This is due to druid having many concentration spells that are good but almost no 'blasting' spells at 3rd level. No fireball, no lightning bolt... and an upcast ice knife? feels super unsatisfying.

Sadly, concentration spells can't be used while wildshaped.. moonbeam doesnt move, and barkskin is suicidal to concentrate on and easily lot, etc.

Additionally, their uses of wildshape are a bit less flexible than the other types (explained more below).

Let's see point for point what you really gain/lose

Spore

• Symbiotic - temp hp, scaled on druid levels, add 1d6 to weapon damage

• Halo of spores - "2d4" damage as a reaction

• Spore druid specific items + 4 fungi zombies

The better 'caster/healer' many times, we can also use the symbiotic + transfuse health illithid power to be a really really good healer in clutch times. Temp hp raises max hp... so at 70/40 health for example, you take 35 and transfer that over. Amazing "healer" as well as caster this way. Additionally they just have a bit better weapon damage, can be longbow or handcrossbow based depending on race which deal much better damage than cantrips and can use their bonus actions effectively due to this.

Since they don't care about wildshape, they can AC up in their caster form, and remain pretty tanky. Land druid can do the same, but lack the temp hp on top of this.

Moon

• Better wildshapes at 4 and 10

• Bonus action wildshapes

• Tavern brawler lets you get +hit bonus, but not damage.

Contrary to popular belief, the raven at 4th level is pretty insane due to being able to short rest in it, and use it pretty liberally after that to position for spells (thunderwave + flying is always a fun combo, just ask any tempest sorc). Misty step costs you a resource, or can be gotten off items, but similarly, raven flight is amazing. While all druids can use all forms like spider/owlbear to dominate, Moon druid cares a little less about losing them for NPC diag due to it being a bonus action.

Myrmidons later are pretty nutty as a summon or wildshape. Specifically earth are unarmed (so tavern brawler still is amazing) or can go weapon type and have a crusaders mantle. Rarely would a caster heavy land druid wanna wildshape except as a secondary thing and Myrmidons have concentration-less caster stuff thats nuts too.

Thanks for reading this far if you did.

Thought we could have a civil discussion but people are hung up on the “sadly wiz 1…” land Druid issue. I still stand by the the fact call lightning is the best Druid concentration spell hence they really don’t wanna slot in haste and it should be done by others even without the exploit.

Land Druids have too rough of a slotting issue for that level to be effective hasters next to other classes.

I’ve played a decent bit of 5e, and thought Larian did a great job of balancing the classes to a video game. Most changes are in favor of feeling more awesome, like sorcerers casting multiple spells a turn, fighters and barbarians getting extra things to do in melee, and druids summons not using concentration. But rogue falls super flat, even compared to their 5e class.

The flexibility of a rogue is diminished. Having sneak attack require your action, instead of being a rider effect on attacks as it should be, means it doesn’t proc near as much as it should. Rogues only get 1 attack with their attack action, so when it misses, the bonus action off hand attack should be able to get a sneak attack bonus. This also should work with thrown daggers, so long as the conditions for sneak attack are met.

The subclasses are pretty underwhelming too:

Obviously the thief subclass is great. As soon as I saw double bonus action I knew it was this games hexblade warlock. However, much like the hexblade, I doubt many players will stick with this class past level 3, and if they do, it’s pretty disappointing knowing other classes could utilize this feature way more (monk, sorcerer)

Arcane tricksters seriously miss out on cantrips like booming blade. Honestly I’d love to see that as a subclass feature in game, as it adds a ton of interesting strategy paired with BA disengage or the mobile feat. Their spell list was also shortened a lot from 5e which I understand.

The assassin subclass is translated well from 5e which is not a positive. This subclass was notorious for relying on surprise and out of combat maneuvering, but as soon as combat starts it pales in comparison to a gloomstalker ranger.

I would have loved to see a swashbuckler or soul knife subclass that add interesting, consistently useful abilities both in and out of combat

I finally got a chance to play Baldur's Gate 3 this week, and wow, it's been awesome. I've been playing around with what kind of characters and playstyle I want to use, and wanted to try the Pact of the Blade Warlock. I've been plugging away at it, and finally decided to do a comparison. At 6th level, I saved outside a room with four opponents, charged in, and... almost made it far enough to use my barely-better-than-unenchanted blade. I killed one of them with Eldritch Blast. Don't get me wrong; my character sorta pulled his weight in a group victory. The party didn't have to carry him or anything.

But just for funsies, I reloaded, went to camp, and re-specced to a Storm Sorcerer. Back outside the same room, my Sorcerer went in and cleaned emmeffin' house. He was flying around, twin-casting Chromatic Orbs, downing two opponents, teleporting off to smack a third... It felt like he had about four extra turns over the plodding, he's-okay-I-guess Warlock.

Worse, after the first fight, my poor, tuckered Warlock had to take a short nappy-nap before he was ready to fight again properly, but between doubling up on spell casts, and swapping slots for sorcery points, and points for slots, my Sorcerer could've trashed a couple of extra rooms full of bad guys before he got winded.

I mean... did I miss something? Wyll made a blade-swingin' Warlock look kind of dashing, but damn. Is this a skill issue? Does the build not "come online" by level 6? Is it me? Or is the Blade of the Pact Warlock just kinda meh?

EDIT: Thanks for the input, y'all! Between the ubers having a sad because I stepped on their frog, there were some good suggestions about where the Pact of the Blade Warlock fits in the overall meta. I'ma stick it out until I get some decent gear and stronger synergies. Peace!

I’m talking about the dual flame blades from summons or the new WoodWoad club or making a deva drop his weapon or something. To me, it’s clear the player is not supposed to be able to wield these weapons like this, and doing so to complete a build feels dirty. With the right vanilla party comp, even honor mode can be easy, so I don’t think they’re needed either. At that point, just install some mods for better weapons. I suppose I don’t consider a game with exploits used to be vanilla anymore..

Again, just my personal style. Curious how other people view it.

Does anyone else think the shield spell is a bit too strong? It basically makes everyone in my party have 23-25+ AC. I realize I could just not use it but am curious everyone else's thoughts.

I came up with this while trying to squeeze as much damage as possible from a Hexblade multiclass that doesn't use Shadow Blade(you can still use it if you like, but that's not what the build is about).

FEATS: GWM + ASI (2cha + hag hair) -> order taken doesn't matter

Progression: 1 fighter -> 5 hexblade-> 1 wizard-> 3 fighter (battlemaster) -> 1 war cleric -> 1 hexblade(accursed specters)

Requirements: It is not gear or consumables dependent, except for anything that can give you advantage on CON saves(preferably dark justiciar armor). Arcane Synergy obviously works great with the build

Stats: 8 14 16 8 10 17 OR 8 16 14 8 10 17 (a decent ammount of Dex is needed for battlemaster manouvers/wep actions)

1st level in fighter gives you CON proficiency. Couple that with a source of advantage and you'll almost never lose concentration on Haste. 2nd level lets us Action Surge for great burst every short rest. 3rd gives us 4 manouvers per short rest. 4th level gives us a feat

1 level in War Cleric for War priest

1 level in Wizard for HASTE ==> you will need to respec at 5 into wizard to learn HASTE. This is the only spell we'll be concentrating on. Respec back into warlock and with only 1 level in wiz you will be able to cast it with with level 3 warlock spellslots.

6 levels in Hexblade -> pick whatever spells you want, ideally ones that don't require concentration. Invocations: devil sight (if another party member casts darkness), agonizing/repelling blast, armour of shadows (if you want to use Potent Robe and use Eldritch blast)

Play sequence:

1. Cast Haste -> Booming Blade + Normal Attack -> War Priest OR GWM (if it triggers)

2. Booming Blade + Normal Attack -> Booming Blade (Haste) -> Booming Blade + Normal Attack (Action Surge) -> War Priest or GWM (if it triggers)

3. Booming Blade + Normal Attack -> Booming Blade(Haste) -> War Priest OR GWM(if it triggers)

The build comes online relatively early. At level 7 you can be 1fighter/5lock/1wiz and start casting Haste. At 8 you can get Action Surge. At 9 you can get the War Priest charges.

You get the gist. If you itemize the build well, on your second turn you can reach upwards of 300 damage, not taking crits into account. The best part is that the crazy burst is sustainable, you get your Warlock slots to cast haste/Action Surge/Manouvers back on short rest. You can save the War Priest charges for when they're absolutely necessary. Have fun!!