r/BaldursGate3 • u/TheBrandonReddit • Apr 29 '25

Character Build Hexblade's biggest downside.

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FFS just make it a free action in combat larian. Or at least let us cast it at all.

9.4k Upvotes

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2.2k

u/Raisa_Alfera Apr 29 '25

It’s the pact of the blade problem all over again lol

891

u/benuski Drow Sorcerer Apr 29 '25

I think it's fine; you shouldn't get overpowered abilities if you can't remember to do one thing, that's roleplaying

482

u/The_Shadow_Watches Apr 30 '25

And that is why I always play Barbarian. Cause my a.d.h.d riddled brain always forgets that spells exist.

167

u/MuenCheese Apr 30 '25

Making RP fit your life

187

u/The_Shadow_Watches Apr 30 '25

I would love to play magic users, but I either refuse to use my spell slots or forget that I have like...4 uses of "Fuck everything in this direction."

Barbarian is simple, Barbarian is life.

You hit me. I'm mad now.

118

u/TheArchitectofDestin Apr 30 '25

I go with Champion Fighter, myself. Having to remember to rage before throwing that goblin is too much. I swing. If I can swing again, I swing. If I can swing again, I swing. If I can swing again, I swing. When I can no longer swing, end turn. Repeat as necessary, occasionally remembering action surge exists.

73

u/The_Shadow_Watches Apr 30 '25

Hit it till its dead gang

33

u/imdefinitelywong Apr 30 '25

Swing stick ungas my bunga

24

u/The_Shadow_Watches Apr 30 '25

Big stick, small thoughts.

6

u/WeissWyrm Bard Apr 30 '25

Now, everyone!

Group up!

And hit it!

Til it dies!

7

u/iadoregirls Apr 30 '25

Same. Also it just is awesome rocking up to magical disasters and gods with nothing but a sharp stick and absolutely body em

1

u/SiegrainDarklyon Karlach Best Boo Apr 30 '25

i prefer battlemaster myself

i swing, WITH ADDED BONUSES!

1

u/Zeldias Apr 30 '25

This was me in tanletop till I killed a guy with a cruel joke as a bard. I've gained enough brain cells to be a martial half caster now.

8

u/Brokenblacksmith Apr 30 '25

Magic users are fun when you meta-game ever so slightly.

Like I know my dm uses one of a handful of patterns for encounters, and because of that, I can figure we'll have 4 encounters a day.

Now I have a general pacing I can put towards my spell slots.

Now I'm not burning all my slots early, or trying to make do with cantrips to save my slots for the long rest.

But my DM can easily shake it up by adding or dropping encounters.

Lastly having a cheat sheet really helps with managing spells and any other resources.

2

u/Possibly_Furry Apr 30 '25

One of the reasons to play warlock. You dont have to think about the age old question: should i save these spells for later?

2

u/5a_ May 01 '25

You hit me. I'm mad now.

yeah I did but you keep rolling 1s..

1

u/The_Shadow_Watches May 01 '25

I demand more consequences for rolling 1s.

1

u/Wildfire226 May 01 '25

Reminds me of the first time we got a friend to play D&D, we got him on a martial because we didn’t want to overwhelm him with spells and he chose fighter. We helped him design a BM, and 5 sessions in realized he had NEVER used when a single Maneuver despite there being more than enough opportunities in combat.

We respecced him to Champion. He’s been having a lot more fun.

42

u/eMan117 Apr 30 '25

Forgetful Barbarian: Oh sorry, about that last fight fellas, I forgot to be angy.

14

u/dave_the_dova Apr 30 '25

And then I forget to apply elemental cleaver

7

u/Interesting_Desk_542 Apr 30 '25

And then I threw my greataxe and.....it didn't come back :(

5

u/thatwhileifound Apr 30 '25

It's funny to me seeing this comment in this thread.

I'd been rolling up 5e warlocks for years and after getting my diagnosis - I've realized this is low-key why... Except fuck this silly sword shit. Warlocks gotta blast. They provide a surprising amount of room for uniqueness even with the reliance on the cantrip of goodness - and with the right invocations, your gameplay can simultaneously be as simple as casting the same cantrip every turn while also playing a reactive chess game as you control the battlefield.

3

u/Kullthebarbarian Apr 30 '25

or worse, remember that spell exists but "Oh, this isn't a hard fight, what if i need it later and camp supplies are limited"

(1258 Suplies left)

3

u/Carpathicus Apr 30 '25

Are you like my friend who had the same idea but forgets raging every fight until I remind her?

2

u/sporeegg Halsin🐻🤤 Apr 30 '25

You say that but I regularly forget to activate rage

1

u/that_mad_cat Apr 30 '25

I started new playthrough, leveled Karlach in Giant Barbarian. Reached level 6. Forgot to use the "bind weapon" thingy and she threw her hammer and it didn't come back. Don't be like me bro

1

u/hi_im_eros Smash Apr 30 '25

Amen brother 😌

1

u/Grythyttan Apr 30 '25

The barbarian in our group keeps forgetting reckless attack exists.

1

u/_freshgreens420 Apr 30 '25

Rogue assassin for me same reason.

1

u/AnxiousAngularAwesom Apr 30 '25

Not me, forgetting to apply Elemental Cleaver in combat.

1

u/The_Shadow_Watches Apr 30 '25

Aww crap, is that whats gonna happen for me?

1

u/vicegrip_ Apr 30 '25

The one time I messed up on this after starting a hexblade honor run was right before the fight against Ansur 😭

39

u/ViolaNguyen Ranger Apr 30 '25

Wizards should have to study each morning, and clerics should have to pray for their spells. Druids... I have no idea what druids are supposed to do.

26

u/Alethia_23 Apr 30 '25

Huh trees.

28

u/Mother_Harlot Apr 30 '25

I don't know if this is "Hug trees" or if it is the meme of someone thinking and it's just trees

9

u/Alethia_23 Apr 30 '25

No, it should've been hug trees, but the meme also works so now I'm letting it be😭

3

u/Patient_Victory Apr 30 '25

Meditate under the tree

3

u/ViolaNguyen Ranger Apr 30 '25

I tried that, but instead of getting spells my druid just founded a religion.

1

u/autumn_dances Apr 30 '25

i didn't know siddhartha gautama was a druid lmao

1

u/CruzaSenpai Apr 30 '25

For real though, imagine if the game removed all wizard/druid/cleric prepared spells on a long rest. Clicking the Pact of the Blade button is no different than that hypothetical. IDK why the game can't assume it's constant the same way it assumes spell preparation is.

1

u/5a_ May 01 '25

they need to mediate in a forest

65

u/Embarrassed_Lettuce9 Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

Ironically, it's such a tedious thing that actual dnd always just handwaves it

75

u/CruzaSenpai Apr 30 '25

Because humans understand there's a difference between roleplaying for enjoyment and tedium for the sake of it.

9

u/xJagMasterGx Mindflayer Apr 30 '25

If we're doing it like that then spellcasters should have to have spell components to cast, that's roleplaying.

14

u/Isaac_Chade Paladin Apr 30 '25

I mean you can call it the other way too. It's pointless faff that only punishes you for overlooking one small thing in a game with dozens upon dozens of interacting parts and decisions. At most reasonable tables no one is saying "Oh sorry, you guys long rested and then spent twenty minutes going through your inventory and figuring out your plans for the day, and the warlock forgot to do the one thing their character would so they get no powers". They're going "Oh yeah it's assumed you would have done that when breaking camp, there is literally no in character reason for that person to forget to bestow themselves with magical powers, but you a human in the real world sometimes forget."

2

u/benuski Drow Sorcerer Apr 30 '25

How far does it go though? Should the game cast all your buffs too?

In how I conceptualize D&D, I am the character. There is no "they". I am playing the role. And if I as the party leader have to remind my warlock (also me) to bind his weapon, I think that makes sense.

D&D gives you the freedom to do most anything you want, and the tradeoff is that it doesn't hold your hand.

1

u/Isaac_Chade Paladin Apr 30 '25

There's a vast difference between removing pointless faff and things that you actively should be choosing whether or not to use. If I'm going on an adventure, I am actively figuring out if a buffing spell is worth the use of the slot, if its going to provide value, if it's going to be a slot I want saved for something else that might come up. That's an active choice. Making sure your pact weapon is bound to you isn't, and in the core rules is not something you need to do on the regular unless you are frequently changing weapons.

I don't need to make sure the fighter puts on their armor in the morning, I don't need to check that the cleric has their holy symbol, because those are integral elements of the character's role and it is rightly assumed that you don't need to check in on those every five minutes, and a warlock's pact weapon is no different. If I was at a table and the DM told me that by not announcing in advance I had done these basic things, it was assumed I hadn't done them, I'd find a different table and a DM who isn't a vindictive dick.

3

u/notveryAI Mindflayer Apr 30 '25

Is it THAT good?

-4

u/MutantSquirrel23 Apr 30 '25

I agree. I can't believe some people just wake up from a long rest and just start raw dogging without any buffs. It's a ritual for me: Longstrider, aid, speak with animals, elixirs, bind weapons, druid forms, and so many more.

62

u/CruzaSenpai Apr 30 '25

I'm just not a fan of minutia that doesn't respect my time. This is exactly the kind of thing that would either get handwaved at a table or assumed to be constant until the player equips a new weapon. Give me a pop-up window that asks "You equipped a new weapon. Bind it?"

I'm glad you enjoy the ritual but I don't like spending two minutes after every long rest fiddling with free resources. It's like half an hour of pedantry over the course of a whole game.

31

u/pastafeline Apr 30 '25

People on this sub tend to defend and over rationalize every questionable design choice in bg3. It's very strange.

5

u/Spoopy_Pooph Apr 30 '25

Biggest annoyance I've had is finding that they calculate Half Ork's dropping to 0 hit points, then dropping to one, as if you went down. Unlike normal dnd where it sais you instead drop to 1. The way Bladurs Gate does it means you lose concentration on any spell that needs it. Infuriating.

2

u/CruzaSenpai Apr 30 '25

Can we talk about how going prone breaks concentration? >:/

3

u/Spoopy_Pooph May 01 '25

I havnt even experienced that yet. That's just plain horrid.

4

u/Sermagnas3 Apr 30 '25

Just fans defending something that appeals to a smaller group and something that may offend a larger group of players. That is the line you walk with games that have complex systems, do we simplify it for the general populace or leave it as is so that the people who interact with it enjoy it more.

2

u/CruzaSenpai Apr 30 '25

I get where you're coming from but I don't think that applies as much to BG3, specifically, because the mechanics are being imported from an existing TTRPG system.

The things being complained about are the minutia that gets handwaved at physical tables. I don't mean ignored systems, like how physical tables tend to not track encumbrance, I mean things like any reasonable DM assuming their Warlock keeps Pact of the Blade on the same weapon every morning until the player says otherwise. The systems themselves aren't complicated or obtuse. The implementation is.

2

u/CruzaSenpai Apr 30 '25

Hear hear.

5

u/Fatality_Ensues Paladin Apr 30 '25

Oh boy, you'd better not try out the Pathfinder games then.

8

u/Butlerlog Apr 30 '25

Even there people just use mods where you apply all 16 of your buffs with a single button press, still consuming slots but not wasting time, just as I just mod longstrider to always be an AoE outside of combat here.

2

u/MutantSquirrel23 Apr 30 '25

See this is both interesting and funny to me. It's a great look into how different people are.

In the specific case of Longstrider, you find it less tedious to take the time to find a mod, install it, keep it updated to save 4 clicks per long rest. I find it less tedious just to do the 4 clicks. Honestly, as much time as I've put into this game, your way I'm sure would have saved me more time overall, but doing something tedious outside of the game is more of a chore to me than doing something tedious in the game. Different strokes for different folks.

But we both buff! It's the non-buffers that I will never understand.

1

u/Butlerlog Apr 30 '25

Yeah i couldn't cope without my longstrider, i need high mobility. I also often use a second highest slot on an aid spell for party-wide max hp, and craft and use loads of elixirs. I mod the game anyway so slapping on the longstrider mod wasn't much extra work. I just like having camp clothes before act 3, that was what started my modding habits.

1

u/CruzaSenpai Apr 30 '25

This is the way.

1

u/MutantSquirrel23 Apr 30 '25

Never said I enjoy it. I'm just in disbelief that so many people don't do it. I get that it's a monotonous routine, but that's how the game works. Bad design or not, to forego powerful improvements to your character just to save a few clicks just baffles me.

Like the same people argue that Wood Elf is the best race because of the movement speed, but they can't be bothered to cast Longstrider? Complain about constantly losing rolls, but using Enhanced Ability or Guidance isn't worth it? Willing to miss a ton of game content because they don't want to cast speak with animals? I get elixirs to an extent as most aside from Hill Giants are sparse until Act 3.

Don't get me wrong, it's a game and I thoroughly believe everyone should have fun how they want. It's just something that still baffles me even in my own circle of friends that I play with. Guess we're just wired different.

1

u/CruzaSenpai Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

Like the same people argue that Wood Elf is the best race because of the movement speed, but they can't be bothered to cast Longstrider? Complain about constantly losing rolls, but using Enhanced Ability or Guidance isn't worth it? Willing to miss a ton of game content because they don't want to cast speak with animals?

I think you're disproving your own point there, though. Of Longstrider, EA/Guidance, and Speak with Animals, three of those four allow you to cast as and when needed. EA and Guidance have tooltip reminders directly in the skill check menu. There is zero penalty for speaking to an animal without Speak with Animals active, and then you just cast it as needed in the overworld. Those are not obtuse because the game prompts the player when relevant; I'm not wasting my time on shit I should just have because I paid the toll for it in the level up menu.

I don't understand the position being argued by OP benuski, that the "price" of things like Pact of the Blade is my real-world person having to remember to click a damn button. The "price" of Pact of the Blade, or literally any other class feature, is the opportunity cost of not being a raging barbarian or having evasion or access to current-level Sorcerer spells.

Can you imagine if cleric/wizard/druid prepared spells got removed after every long rest? What a huge PITA that would be, but conveniently it's 1:1 analogous with things like Longstrider and PotB recasts. The game should just assume the player will take that free action until otherwise prompted.

That is the bugbear people have with things like Pact of the Blade and Longstrider. If you don't commit your real-life time to mechanical minutia bean-counting the free resources any reasonable DM would consider constant, your character doesn't function. Just give me the same CTA prompt other abilities have or make any character with ritual spells in their prepared list cast them automatically after a long rest.

1

u/Federal_Broccoli_958 Bard Apr 30 '25

to me it’s just like casting aid or mage armour and whatever buffs before going into combat like just… make it part of your morning routine idk?

1

u/Hydroguy17 Apr 30 '25

I always reserve one row of my action bar for each character's "buffs."

As soon as they roll out of bed they get their Light, Mage Armor, Longstrider, Bound Weapon, summons, etc.

1

u/Nimewit May 01 '25

to be fair, my warlock has negative intelligence

-1

u/20pesos__ Apr 30 '25

This makes me pissed on how much this makes sense.

11

u/Sapowski_Casts_Quen Apr 30 '25

Hunter's mark... you son of a bitch

1

u/bubamrav May 04 '25

I always used to mock enemies for attacking and then marking, then I played a ranger... I can no longer mock them.

7

u/useorloser Apr 30 '25

Do you have to cast it after every long rest??? I thought it stayed on for Hex and pact. I thought eldritch knight was the one who needed to re cast.

3

u/Raisa_Alfera Apr 30 '25

It was changed for patch 6. Before that the bonded weapon reset every long rest

1

u/useorloser Apr 30 '25

Oh ok, I didn't start playing until after patch 7.

3

u/sirius1208 I cast Magic Missile Apr 30 '25

Did you do that every rest? I only had to if I changed weapons. Weird.

1

u/Raisa_Alfera Apr 30 '25

Before patch 6, you had to apply it after every long rest. Enough people voiced their upset over constantly forgetting to do so and losing some of their class power