[+] BG3 How would you do a solo run through? - Spoilers

[MarkB]

I'd be tempted to go with a build that's not over-reliant on bonus actions, and just pick up the various boots, necklaces etc. that give you Misty Step. That combined with the Thief's additional bonus action is going to let you bounce out and hide at the end of most turns.

 

[TheSword]

I'd be tempted to go with a build that's not over-reliant on bonus actions, and just pick up the various boots, necklaces etc. that give you Misty Step. That combined with the Thief's additional bonus action is going to let you bounce out and hide at the end of most turns.

Yeah, hiding, lots of movement and decent ambushing would be very useful!

Some game knowledge will be very helpful too though. The gnoll cave for instance which absolutely decimated me at level 4. With protection from missiles and some good early surprise area damage will be much easier!

I’m trying to think what pinch points will be a problem. I think the mindflayer cyst beneath moonrise towers could be a real challenge. Particularly the room with the pods and the four mindflayers. Though I guess it’s optional.

 

[wicked cool]

Current play through and laezel leveled before rest of party (not by much) but might be due to her being inspired by an action

Hats off if you go solo. I go full spread out magic and give companions what I think are best gear etc and fights can be challenging. Enemy ai with using certain spells such as hold person and with multi attacks such as grease/fire etc are tough.

 

[Stalker0]

The final fight to me is going to be reaaaaaally tough without some people to help you. I am sure there are some crazy optimizers out there that can do it, but you need to generate a lot of DPS quickly to win.

 

[TheSword]

The final fight to me is going to be reaaaaaally tough without some people to help you. I am sure there are some crazy optimizers out there that can do it, but you need to generate a lot of DPS quickly to win.

I’m thinking action economy is going to be key. The two bonus actions from thief (spitting out some sweet Illithid mind powers) and some dirty positions/misty step etc. Action surge from fighter 2. And some summoned companions would be doing the heavy lifting I think.

Has anybody worked out if sneak attack damage is limited to one attack per turn in this game or will it stack?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Plus once you’ve ran through a companion quest once or twice how many times does it still remain fun.

An awful lot of times - at least as many as the main game. This is obvious from this and other games with companion quests. ME2 remains the most replayable ME game by far, and it's basically constructed from companion quests. All the biggest moments and coolest quests in the body of BG3 are companion-related.

One option I have seen is to use two mods made by the same guy. Fast Level To 6 which means you accelerate the first six levels only, so you leave the beach area at level 6. Secondly there is an level cap remover which means you can level to 20 as long as you multiclass and don’t take a character past level 11 in any single class (level 12 has to be the last level take). This same mod also doubles experience simulating the XP boost from not sharing with others. The mod maker assumes you can get to approx level 18 or 19 with this method.

Why you even bother playing it solo if you're just going to cheat?

Isn't the whole and entire reason for doing a solo run to do it legit? It was with BG1 and BG2. I can kind of see a mod to not split the XP, and thus make it more like tabletop, but to start at level 6? That's just going to kind of make it a cakewalk, like why even bother?

The final fight to me is going to be reaaaaaally tough without some people to help you. I am sure there are some crazy optimizers out there that can do it, but you need to generate a lot of DPS quickly to win.

I presume you mean the fight before the boss? With the boss itself a single level 12 GWM Fighter could definitely output 100% of the DPS needed buffed only with a single Potion of Speed. With a Cloud Giant elixir it would be trivial.

If I was going to do solo I think I'd probably either just do a Lae'zel run, as she's sort of the most plausible character to sort the whole thing out herself and refuse to get help, or go with Durge who might do the same. I suspect I'd probably want to respec a few times rather sticking consistently to one build/class for the whole thing, but if I was sticking to just one it'd probably be either some kind of hyper-optimized Sorlock, or a heavy armour high-HP type like Fighter or Paladin. Cleric or Druid could work but I suspect you'd both die more and need to Long Rest a lot more. I don't think Rogues make much sense because in 80% of cases you can't kill off an enemy without starting a fight, even if you do in one hit and outside the sight cone of the rest of the enemies (it's unclear why). Thief might for the extra bonus action if you wanted to go Sharpshooter hand crossbows (which is probably a good option, DPS-wise).

Really the main thing will be being prepared for every single fight, and not forgetting to use consumables. With just one character, you'll have truly insane amounts of consumables at the ready - potions, elixirs, poisons, grenades, etc.

 

[TheSword]

So I’ve managed to get to level 4 with my solo thief using the double XP level 20 mod. Completed the nautilus, forgotten tomb, Druids grove (except the harpies) and now have to chose between the hags swamp or the abandoned village. (Thinking goblins and the village first).

I went with Warlock/Rogue to start with. It’s tough, but doable.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

All the biggest moments and coolest quests in the body of BG3 are companion-related.

Why you even bother playing it solo if you're just going to cheat?

I'm inclined to agree with these points. In BG1 companions made a negligible contribution to the story, and only around 20% of the content in BG2. In BG3 they make up most of the content.

And it's hardly a challenge if you use mods. Soloing bosses at level 12 is difficult. Soloing them at level 20 is a cakewalk.

 

[TheSword]

I'm inclined to agree with these points. In BG1 companions made a negligible contribution to the story, and only around 20% of the content in BG2. In BG3 they make up most of the content.

And it's hardly a challenge if you use mods. Soloing bosses at level 12 is difficult. Soloing them at level 20 is a cakewalk.

I don’t know about that I’ve been playing this run for 18 hours and feels like there’s plenty of content. Don’t forget I’ve already played it with companions so I’m not ‘missing’ anything as such.

Regarding cheating. All I’ve done is put the half XP mod onto the game and removed the level cap. If the game didn’t equally level up and EXP was divided by active characters like in BG 1&2 then I’d be on double the XP I’m on now. I really don’t see the problem with that. I haven’t started at high levels - level 1 like everyone else. I’m currently level 4 and tackling stuff we’d be at level 3 as a party of 4. That will probably get higher but probably will only be a few levels ahead at any point. Probably level 17 by the end of the game.

None of that really matters though. It’s a game. This is just a more challenging way to play it. You need to plan every fight and approach it in a different way. That’s pretty my fun to me.

 

[Umbran]

Why you even bother playing it solo if you're just going to cheat?

Mod Note:
Why cast judgements on how other people play games when it doesn't involve you?

Leave space for folks to enjoy entertainments in ways other than you do, please and thanks.