D&D 5E Baldur's Gate 3 AMA

[Demetrios1453]

Larian did a Baldur's Gate 3 AMA on Reddit today:

AMA Link

A few highlights:
They plan on every class from the PHB to be available to play on launch, although they won't go into what races beyond what they've already revealed.
They're focusing on PHB, DMG, and MM material over later stuff, although they obviously aren't ruling any of that out (we've seen playable githyanki, after all).
There are definite and substantial links to the original games, both in plot and characters.

But there's way too much to go over, so click on the link and see what they said!

 

[Gradine]

So some highlights:

*No Grappling. Shoving is in though.
*No Ready an Action. Reactions are off/on toggles you can set on your turn, and the first one triggered during the enemy goes off automatically, using up your Reaction.
* Short Rests happen automatically between combat encounters. No word on healing/Hit Dice, but they confirmed that, for example, Warlocks get their spell slots back after every battle (all 2 of them).
*Oh yeah, the game covers levels 1-10.
*All PHB classes AND subclasses confirmed. They're still playing coy with races though.
*They don't appear wedded to their current initiative system
*They are wedded to the first person past tense narration though
* Multiclassing is in and pretty much RAW. Same for Extra Attacks.
*Feats are also confirmed.
*Four-person parties.
*All NPCs are fully realized characters that you can also choose to play as (all recruitable named NPC's are Origin characters)
*Generic mercenaries are also available, including the option to build a full party at the beginning of the game

More coming later...

 

[Prakriti]

*Four-person parties.

Argh. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but... argh. Six is better.

 

[Gradine]

Argh. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but... argh. Six is better.

I imagine turn-based battles were taken into consideration here.

Other stuff of note:
*Way more emphasis on custom PC. "This is not D:OS2". Custom PC's race, class, and background, as well as their choices and actions throughout the game, will have significant impact on story.
*Can customize your own PC in many ways, including visually. No sliders, but many preset options (hairstyle, facial hair, tattoos, etc.)
*Custom PC will be fully voiced, with several voice options to choose from.
*No custom vampire spawn. Asterion only.
*Alignment is downplayed, if not outright removed.
*Large explorable areas rather than individual maps. Areas seem like they will change at act breaks.
*No item randomization. Treasure will be deliberately placed. Mix of DMG and original magic items.
*Emphasis on being very, very long. Seems like Baldurs Gate itself will be reached later in the game.
*None of the Larian higher-ups at the AMA knew if half-drow could grow beards like other half-elves. Said they'd check in with their "Mustache Guys"

I think that's most of it, I'll post more if I remember it. All in all, especially in spite of the grousing that was supposedly dominating Reddit, it was a pretty positive AMA.

 

[abirdcall]

*No item randomization. Treasure will be deliberately placed. Mix of DMG and original magic items.

That is a big disappointment for me.

Maybe they went that way because all the items that aren't just sword+1 and such are essentially unique items.

Would have been very cool if they used a system like the treasure hoard system in the DMG to provide random loot though.

In my D&D game we use the treasure hoard tables and I think that is a lot of fun.

 

[Gradine]

That is a big disappointment for me.

Maybe they went that way because all the items that aren't just sword+1 and such are essentially unique items.

Would have been very cool if they used a system like the treasure hoard system in the DMG to provide random loot though.

In my D&D game we use the treasure hoard tables and I think that is a lot of fun.

Amusingly, you stand relatively alone in this regard. The idea that BG3 would have Original Sin style itemization was one of the biggest concerns I was seeing with regard to Larian working the project. There were quite a few sighs of relief over this tidbit.

 

[Quickleaf]

My favorite part of the AMA:

"Will there be any connection between the story of Baldurs gate 1/2/tob and Baldurs gate 3?"

We really don’t want to spoil anything but we wouldn’t call it Baldur’s Gate 3 if there wouldn’t be a link. Let me just say that we touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in meaningful ways, there are returning characters and what happened in BG 1/2/tob leads to what happens into BG3. You won’t necessarily see that at the start of the adventure but you will quickly understand once you get further into the game.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Returning characters? Most of the characters from the original games are dead apart from Minsc and Boo.

Xan?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That is a big disappointment for me.

Maybe they went that way because all the items that aren't just sword+1 and such are essentially unique items.

Would have been very cool if they used a system like the treasure hoard system in the DMG to provide random loot though.

In my D&D game we use the treasure hoard tables and I think that is a lot of fun.

Really, why?!

I would much rather have magic item placement make some kind of sense.

 

[Derren]

*Way more emphasis on custom PC. "This is not D:OS2". Custom PC's race, class, and background, as well as their choices and actions throughout the game, will have significant impact on story.

That doesn't sound right. How should there be more emphasis on custom PCs when, thanks of origin stories, you lose story and quests when not playing a pre-build character?