Baldur's Gate 3

[Fezzik]

Hexblade could also be a fun dip. I'll have a play around with the different options. Larian said they can't guarantee you'll be able to carry any test characters forward with the official patch 8 release, so I'm just going to mess around with different Tavs in acts 1 & 2 mostly.

Also, Death Cleric is what Shadowheart should've been from the start. She's actually useful now, without having to wait for later levels and Spirit Guardians.

 

[Grand Prix]

It would be tempting to add a level of Hexblade to every charisma class. It kinda steps on the toes of the 6 / 6 Sorcadin though, both Paladin and Sorcerer want their level 6 features. For the 10 / 2 Swords Bardadin it would require the sacrifice of Magical Secrets. So... Hexblade is kinda balanced? Question mark?

Apart from 11 Oathbreaker / 1 Hexblade which would be, well, a broken Oathbreaker. Or maybe 2 Hexblade for Devil's Sight and Eldritch Blast.

I could see 5 Swashbuckler / 1 Hexblade / 6 Swords Bard being really fun at level 12.

 

[Fezzik]

I'm leaning towards a non-magical character so looking like a 9 Swashbucker / 3 Battle Master split. That gives me the Zorro/Inigo vibes I'm looking for - some ripostes and trip attacks (plus the armor & weapons) to go with the panache and general rogueishness. It won't be the most powerful but now I've got some experience the game isn't too hard (no Honour Mode for me).

I still haven't done a properly evil run so the Oathbreaker/Hexblade combo with max charisma is very appealing.

 

[Grand Prix]

I'm leaning towards a non-magical character so looking like a 9 Swashbucker / 3 Battle Master split. That gives me the Zorro/Inigo vibes I'm looking for - some ripostes and trip attacks (plus the armor & weapons) to go with the panache and general rogueishness. It won't be the most powerful but now I've got some experience the game isn't too hard (no Honour Mode for me).

I still haven't done a properly evil run so the Oathbreaker/Hexblade combo with max charisma is very appealing.

I see. A tripped enemy with 5d6 sneak attack damage applied on top is still going to be pretty ****ed. I wonder if they will be adding dialogue options for the new subclasses?

 

[Grand Prix]

Currently distracted from my Rogue / Sorcerer build with an Oathbreaker / GOOlock Dragonborn. This will be a descent into evil run I think, I haven't done the evil paths for Shadowheart, Astarion and Gale yet. It will be a darkness spell party.

I have Astarion as a Rogue / Shadow Monk to make him similar to a Witcher 3 vampire, teleporting all over the place.

Shadowheart will likely end up as 1 Monk / 11 War Cleric.

Gale as Divination Wizard seems like a good prelude for his ascension ending.

Lae'zel I have undecided on the exact split, but is definitely an Eldritch Knight / Wizard, courtesy of Lump. In a previous run I have tried 6 EK / 6 Wizard, 7 EK / 5 Wizard, and 11 EK / 1 Wizard. The 3rd one does the most damage certainly, but loses the Abjuration arcane ward and utility spells (Fireball has good utility) of the other two. Lae'zel also finally gets to ride a dragon in this run.

Minthara will likely be a Conquest Paladin / Bard with the Infernal Rapier. Possibly 7 Paladin / 5 Swords Bard, or 5 Lore Bard.

Also have the 2024 5E Dragonborn mod which buffs their breath weapon, gives them darkvision, and flight for 10 turns once a day at level 5. He already looks somewhat like a Balrog so I might end up giving him wings.

 

[Fezzik]

I see. A tripped enemy with 5d6 sneak attack damage applied on top is still going to be pretty ****ed.

Slight change of plan - the Battle Master dip has been replaced by a few levels of Oathbreaker. It's more fun being a bit of an a-hole, especially as I'm on a tadpole diet this time and going to end up rather ugly, and I can do some bigger sneak/smite damage with my 1 attack.

Tried some more of the new classes like Archer Fighter, Swarm Ranger, Drunk Monk - a bit underwhelming to be honest. Had more fun with the mod-added ones. Hopefully they get upgraded quite quickly after patch 8 officially drops.

 

[Grand Prix]

Slight change of plan - the Battle Master dip has been replaced by a few levels of Oathbreaker. It's more fun being a bit of an a-hole, especially as I'm on a tadpole diet this time and going to end up rather ugly, and I can do some bigger sneak/smite damage with my 1 attack.

Tried some more of the new classes like Archer Fighter, Swarm Ranger, Drunk Monk - a bit underwhelming to be honest. Had more fun with the mod-added ones. Hopefully they get upgraded quite quickly after patch 8 officially drops.

Not many homebrew buffs to Arcane Archer then? Strange.

I tried building Minthara as a Rogue / Paladin once, wasn't all that satisfied with it. She is fun as a Conquest / GOOlock multiclass. Aura of Conquest plus the inflicting of fear on crits, and level 3 slots that come back on short rest. I like to imagine she got her warlock powers from the tadpole.

 

[Fezzik]

I've been putting off for these last few months starting one final (ha) playthrough, waiting for the official patch 8 release just in case it ends up not compatible with stress test saves. It's taking so long though and there's no end in sight I'm just going to start now.

EDIT - Good timing. Patch drops on Tuesday.

Have tested all the new subclasses. The Swashbuckler was great fun, Stars Druid is powerful but I'm going Shadow Sorcerer for a full level 12 monoclass build. Mostly mental manipulation / control spells like Hypnotic Pattern, Slow and Dominate, the others in the party will be the main damage dealers along with Nimbus my shadow Hound.

I'm determined to actually finish the game this time!

 

[Grand Prix]

The patch is finally coming? I think I will do a monoclass Hexblade first, the accursed spectre looks cool. It would also go well with an Oathbreaker's Aura of Hate.

I built a Thief Rogue / Fiend Warlock with blade pact for a dual-wielding warlock that can attack 4 times. Should be nuts with the Bhaalist armour and Act 3 daggers and shortswords. It's like my Thief / Sorcerer build except with more of a melee focus.

With the addition of shadow blade in the patch you can have a dual-wielding Warlock with both weapons using Charisma.

It also looks like an 11 Eldritch Knight / 1 Hexblade is going to be insanely powerful with the Booming Blade cantrip. Unless it changes for release, you can use Booming Blade on every attack.

 

[Fezzik]

The Final Update (so they say). A bit sad, this is one of my favourite games of the last decade. It's going to be a long wait for any news of their next project, let alone something playable. If it's early access PC again that'll probably be my trigger to join the master race.

Baldur's Gate 3

An ancient evil has returned to Baldur's Gate, intent on devouring it from the inside out. The fate of Faerûn lies in your hands. Alone, you may resist. But together, you can overcome. Gather your party.

baldursgate3.game

There's still mods I guess, even a campaign being worked on.

 

[Grand Prix]

Currently playing a level 3 Hexblade with a shield and Shadow Blade. 18 AC and 5-19 psychic damage. Plus Hex. Plus Hexblade's Curse, which gets applied pretty often with weapon attacks. If an enemy is low on health you can apply the curse manually to get back some of your own health when you kill them. Seems OP overall, but fun!

Astarion should have had access to Swashbuckler from the start! I plan to build him with 6-8 levels of Swords Bard mixed in, but 12 levels of Swashbuckler is also tempting.

Death Cleric is not bad either, although enemies save against Toll the Dead half the time. Haven't tried Bursting Sinew yet.

There are people still making mods for Skyrim, I imagine this will be a similar situation. Will be at least half a decade before a BG4 comes, and it will be a different studio.

 

[Fezzik]

Went back to the original plan of Swashbuckler Tav (with maybe a little Dexadin later on), and made Astarion the Shadow Sorcerer instead. Stuffing him full of tadpoles as well, fully embracing his power hungry vampirism.

I really should've continued clearing off some of the backlog before I got sucked into this again.