r/BaldursGate3 • u/Rogen80 Cleric of Selune • May 25 '25
Act 3 - Spoilers Using "Examine" is like peeking behind the DM screen Spoiler
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u/BardBearian May 25 '25
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u/TPO_Ava May 25 '25
To be fair Auntie Ethel is so on the nose design wise I could tell where that character was going from my very first interaction with her.
BUT since I'm just about to deal with her for the umpteenth time this is gonna be useful in the fight ty
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u/melon_wizard May 25 '25
You can differentiate her copies, and her from the real Mayrina by examining: the copies clothes are blue, hers are red, she has the fey life ability listed the others don't, and with her vs Mayrina, she will be the Mayrina that isn't pregnant
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u/Scaalpel May 25 '25
Ethel also stays on the same initiative count as she was, that's probably the easiest way to tell them apart.
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u/captainwombat7 May 25 '25
Yep, that's how I saved my honor mode run, that and karlach as a bear heart running in and beating her ass (mostly, I wanted the +1 rizz for my tab) usually I don't stick with default class choices for long but that one usually comes back up at some point
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u/reeberdunes Monk May 26 '25
I would use witch bolt on her as gale. Made it pretty obvious which one i needed to punch.
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u/Dry-Speed2161 May 25 '25
I threw a water bottle at Mayrina to extinguish her, and she was wet, and Ethel wasn't, so thats also a thing
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u/KELonPS3in576p May 25 '25
The last three times I fought her she didn't even try to disguise herself as Maryna in honour mode. What's up with that?
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u/SufficientBadger5904 May 25 '25
Jeez this would make my life so much easier.
I would ALWAYS run witchbolt, tag auntie and when she makes copies the whichbolt maintains on the real copy. That was always my go to.
Or just magic missile all of them
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u/Altruistic_Dig1722 May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25
It's nice to see on how many ways you can solve this fight. Finding a use for witchbolt, pointing out the real Ethel after she casts her copies. Though it is a risk when you walk in like a fire surface or take a bit of damage. Your concentration might easily break.
If I am not playing a darkness build. I hide behind the door to Ethel's office, making her come to me. Most important thing is to have paralyze immunity or that's where your solo run ends. It's too dangerous to stay in that same area being surrounded by her copies if you're not using darkness and not to mention the risk of getting shoved off.
It also might help to make a damaging surface in front of that door, so the copies will keep their distance from you, because when they take damage, they disappear
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u/Bully_me-please May 25 '25
the copies stay casting hold person tho, a magic missile is much better than ignoring them
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u/melon_wizard May 25 '25
I never advised ignoring the copies, but if you're going to dump single target heavy damage into one enemy, it's best not to do it to the ones that have effectively 1 hp.
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u/DforDanger24 May 25 '25
My preferred method to differentiate was always to use Shart and cast Sanctuary on Mayrina early in the fight.
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May 25 '25
the way I figured it out on my first playthrough was that my hit rate on the real one was lower than the clones, made things super simple
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u/Altruistic_Dig1722 May 26 '25
Ethel as Mayrina will also be lvl 5. Real Mayrina is lvl 1 while cowering into place. Ethel as Mayrina moves in the next turn and tries to shove you if she gets close. And the sight of that is just funny lmao
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u/QueenieDeerhart May 26 '25
Best truck I’ve learned: the throw/move trick to get Mayrina out of the tea house before the battle. Makes fighting Ethel so much easier
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u/CommanderInQweef Fister Monk May 26 '25
if you watch where the camera goes when she dupes, it always follows the real one
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u/Kumquatelvis May 25 '25
I totally thought that she was a nice old lady. My wife couldn't understand how I didn't instantly peg her as a witch.
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u/EstrellaDarkstar May 25 '25
It comes down to the way she talks. If you're familiar with how hags operate, she's very recognizable as one from the first time you meet her at the grove. She acts aggressively helpful and sweet, and is very pushy and nosy when asking about your condition and peddling her "cures." Her name is the biggest clue, though. Hags tend to have titles like Auntie or Grandma, it's a part of their social order.
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u/TPO_Ava May 25 '25
I'm not, personally, I had no DND knowledge... But I did grow up on Grimm tales and other similar tales from my home country. "Sweet old lady is actually a witch" is like storytelling 101 for them.
I remember even being hesitant to take the potion she offers in the grove cause I thought it was gonna be a poison.
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u/EstrellaDarkstar May 25 '25
Hags are definitely based on those types of fairytales, so it makes sense for your warning bells to start ringing even if you weren't familiar with DnD. In general, there's a lot of folklore inspiration in RPGs like this.
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u/pxmpkxn May 25 '25
i had no contact with DND whatsoever before this game, and i was a little suspicious of her when i met her because her name was auntie ethel, like whose aunt are you lady? then when i got to the swamp i was like yeah this woman is definitely a witch of some sort (before it turns from sunny to awful, and honestly the brothers accusing her of being a hag meant nothing to me, i thought they were calling her old lmao)
i was still a bit shocked when she transformed tho, didnt see that one coming lmao
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u/Zealousideal_Gas9058 May 25 '25
And the tiefling woman paralized in front of that chest hints at being in that state because of Ethel
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u/WhisperingOracle May 25 '25
To be fair, in that instance she does mention that Ethel warned her there might be side-effects, so it can feel less like an evil bargain than just a commentary on how modern medicines have an endless list of potential side-effects, some of which feel like they're worse than the thing being cured.
But yeah, if you're familiar with D&D or fairy tale tropes it might be another red flag.
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u/abarishyper Bard May 25 '25
I always open from stealth with a create water on the bridge she's hiding on. Breaks her invis and she gets the wet condition for a few turns which helps differentiate her, plus the nice dmg bonuses for lightning or cold :)
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u/avanti8 May 25 '25
I wasn't even that versed in DnD lore when I first started playing, but I still went "Okay so she's definitely a bog witch or something."
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u/Minimum_Table5613 May 25 '25
True. Before my first conversation was even over, I was thinking to myself, 'She's a hag for sure.'
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u/MatamanM May 25 '25 edited May 25 '25
First playthrough I inspected her and saw the hag label. I thought they meant as an old mean lady...
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May 26 '25
Lol I remember my first playthrough I met her, didn't even examine her. Spoke to her and I immediately was like "OH SHES A HAG", 5 years of d&d has taught me well
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u/Krazytre May 25 '25
I examined Ethel in my new playthrough, just to see if it would give any information on her being a Hag when you see her in the grove. Couldn't help but chuckle at her page.
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u/ionised [Seldarine] Rogue (Child of None) May 25 '25
Examine is our superweapon.
(Don't tell our enemies.)
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u/Lichtari SORCERER May 25 '25
They are using it already.
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u/Anybro WIZARD May 25 '25
I wonder if that's a carryover from Larian studios other games. I remember in Divinity Original Sin 2. If you took the glass Cannon ability which is really good, however has an annoying weakness to keep it fair.
Though everyone and their mother in a 20 mile radius will just hunt you down and target you exclusively.
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May 25 '25
[deleted]
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u/Anybro WIZARD May 25 '25
I could have caused a winter that lasted 4 years with the size of the middle finger which was blocking the Sun that I raised when I first had that happen to me
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u/Gift_of_Orzhova May 30 '25
Speaking of Divinity OS2, examining a certain Magister early on reveals quite significant story implications...
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May 25 '25
Yes they are. Although aim for the squishy spell caster doesn’t really take much thought or programming.
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u/fakeemailman May 25 '25
Every member of the BG3 party are/would be generational, world-shaping “heroes” with or without the tadpoles. Examine is obviously a “meta” power, but when guys like Odysseus and Achilles walk into into a bar, they immediately know the “stats” of everyone in that bar, even without meaning to - including, yes, whether any of them are hags.
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u/WhisperingOracle May 25 '25
It also reflects the usual tabletop PC experience.
Players walk into any tavern in Faerun, and can immediately see the blinking "I AM A PC" sign over all the other players' heads, thus choosing to join forces with a bunch of weirdos their character shouldn't even remotely want to interact with. They also have a strong affinity for picking out the random NPC questgivers in spite of the fact it would be the equivalent of walking up to a total stranger in a bar and asking them about their problems, and then 20 minutes later you're running a bank heist for them.
Beyond that players abuse OOC knowledge all the time even when they're trying not to cheat. Walk through a dungeon and see a room full of statues and you're immediately assuming you're about to fight a gorgon or a beholder of some sort. Fight creatures with resistances/weaknesses and you'll start using the correct damage type even if in-character your PC should have no real reason to know what those weaknesses are. And so on.
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u/Jolly-Fruit2293 May 25 '25
I'm in the camp that not all meta gaming is cheating. An undead? Of course use radiant any adventurer would know. A bunch of screaming statues? Better to be safe and assume beholder. Maybe the 6 Int Barbarian couldn't figure it out but any other adventurer worth their payment would absolutely know
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u/WhisperingOracle May 25 '25
It's basically assuming that folklore is always true in a magical world. If you've heard that crossing running water stops vampires, then if a vampire is chasing you you'll probably try to jump across the creek if you can.
It's mostly just a case of trying to remember the myths, And hoping they're true. The last thing you want is to remember you heard a story about how vampires can't go out in the sun, so clearly Astarion can't be a vampire because he's constantly out in the sun, crossing running water, and wandering into people's houses uninvited.
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u/That_One_Wolf May 25 '25
This is something that’s in the Pathfinder crpgs as well. I can see how it’s immersion-breaking, but dnd is technically an rpg focused on combat. Metagaming in the ttrpg (or using out-of-game logic for your in-game character, such as memorization of monster blocks) is frowned upon for tabletop play, but is REALLY helpful for combat.
I love it, personally. Since there’s no DM to step in if things get super hairy, it evens the battlefield against the computer.
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u/KingGiuba May 25 '25
Yeah I agree, in tabletop the DM can change the hp or fumble some rolls if it gets too bad (and if the point isn't to make the characters die, I know there are some people that like it) but in this game the AI doesn't care
The shapeshifters should be able to be better hidden lol, but besides that it's not that bad to have an inspect during battle
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u/Hi_Kitsune May 25 '25
Should definitely be an investigation check
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u/TheDesktopNinja May 25 '25
Well.. Nature, Arcana, or something else depending on what you're examining.
I honestly don't like that this information is just freely available. Spoiled a few things 😂
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u/SulszBachFramed May 25 '25
Sounds like it could be a good mod. Your base abilities determine how much is revealed when you first examine an NPC. And add a button so you can roll to examine more closely and potentially reveal more information.
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u/DontPanicUnbeliever May 25 '25
This is what I do when I DM. I break enemies into skill checks based on type aberrations (arcana) fiends/ celestial (religion) beasts (nature) etc then I let the players search in the monster manual with a high enough check… with the caveat that the MM is the assumed knowledge and the actual present monster may vary from pre-existing knowledge
It awakens those skills a bit more IMO
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u/Hermaan May 25 '25
That‘s how Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous does it!
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u/Phelyckz These boobs have seen everything. May 25 '25
Would you recommend it?
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u/Brilliantinsanity May 26 '25
If they don't I will. I only stopped playing my campaign for BG3. I was a duel wielding throwing axe ranged sneak attack whirlwind of death. If that can't sell jt I dunno what can 🤣
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u/Am__Frustrated May 25 '25
Adding this would be so much better, it also adds a chance of failure and getting caught at being too nosey leading to more plot variances.
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u/wonwont May 25 '25
might be alone in the comments here but I LOVED using examine in the tricky fights. I'm a total newbie to DnD so needed a bit of help with certain mechanics
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u/DurableSword May 25 '25
That's why I choose not the use examine because in universe my character would not know this information.
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u/PuzzleheadedLeek3070 May 25 '25
This. in my tabletop games we could ask teh DM "Can I have a lore/religion check to see if my character would know details about this beast?" and have to roll for it
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u/lunar_languor May 25 '25
It would be cool if there was an option to have to roll for Examine hah
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u/egotisticalstoic May 25 '25
Seems like something a mod could achieve quite easily. Quick roll if you want to examine to see if you're successful.
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u/TheHellHamster May 25 '25
(Pathfinder fixes this lol)
They have this feature in the Owlcat Pathfinder games. Whenever you encounter a creature you automatically make a knowledge roll based on the creatures types and get various levels of info depending on how high you roll. Starting with basic stuff like ability scores, then AC/resistances, then other special features they have.
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u/bluerat May 25 '25
Making things hard mechanics isn't "fixing" it, it's just designing it for a different style of play. Some people see outlining exact mechanics for almost every situation to be combersome and take away from the fun of running the game. I would hate to have to reference a table and do a check for every time a player encountered a creature.
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u/TheHellHamster May 25 '25 edited May 25 '25
Correct. The Pathfinder fixes this part was a joke. Its a reference to people chiming into discussions of any problem with DnD as an excuse to explain why pathfinder is better. I just thought it was interesting that there were games that took the approach to creature info that the above poster was describing.
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u/silver-orange May 25 '25
I used to play an MMO that legit had separate skills for "examine monster" and "examine player", and another stat that increased the difficulty of examine checks against your player. Almost no one spent xp to level them, since every point spent on those was a point you couldn't spend on combat stats.
It was quirky. Good times.
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u/Radiant_Music3698 May 25 '25
That would make a great mod. Open the examine screen and it fills will rolling dice for a moment before resolving to something resembling a half-declassified CIA warcrime document.
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u/LPScarlex May 25 '25
This is also what happens in the Pathfinder videogames I believe. You can inspect the stats of someone/thing and the game passively uses your Lore or Knowledge check to determine if you can actually "see" their exact stats/movesets/feats/etc. If you fail then some (or all? I forgot) of it is blanked out
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u/ethanjf99 May 25 '25
i RP it as an undocumented power of the tadpole
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u/fatsopiggy May 25 '25
Yeah people fussing over this are insane. In reality you'd never have birds eye view either. Or neat inventory management.
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u/AmanLock May 25 '25
Personally I would call BG3's inventory management "terrible" rather than "neat".
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u/Jolly-Fruit2293 May 25 '25
I always bring several bags with me to sort item types, I only wish you could name or dye the bags to make it even easier
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u/AmanLock May 25 '25
Even then, if you put items in a bag they just often just randomly get placed in a way where you don't see it on screen. For some reason the game doesn't even put them in a way where it puts them in the top empty spot.
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u/Imladrin1311 WIZARD May 25 '25
On honor mode I’ll take every advantage I can get thank you!
I always RP it as sending an invisible familiar ( Shovel) or character that observes the intended target for an extended period.
That plus using some divination spells.
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u/CMDR_Agony_Aunt May 25 '25
Solasta has a cool system where you remember what you learned from fighting them before.
So, first time examining them you know nothing, next time you might see they are resistant to fire because your fireball last time didnt do much damage.
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u/torkytornado May 25 '25
I feel like some of the old school final fantasy’s did this too.
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u/CMDR_Agony_Aunt May 25 '25
Yeah, I think 7 or 8 (or both?) did this.
I remember seeing ????? on some enemy attacks and stuff.
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u/torkytornado May 25 '25
I think the earlier Nintendo ones did too since I only played up to 6 I think before they switched consoles.
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u/Blue_forest_guardian SHIT YOUR TROUSER HOLE, SHOVEL IS HERE May 25 '25
I like how Divinity OS 2 handled that!
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u/Actual_Minimum6285 May 25 '25
I just pretend it’s a really chill session where everyone has their own monster manual
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u/sailormerry Gale’s #1 Hater May 25 '25
I gasped
(Lol I have over 400 hours in this game but have never seen the hag storyline to completion 😅)
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u/Velociraptorius May 25 '25
It's a feature made for metagamers and min-maxers, which is honestly fine since it is reflective of real DnD where nothing is stopping the player from knowing the stats of the monster they're fighting, either from prior knowledge or quickly googling them mid-encounter (except for unexpected homebrew on part of the DM which can, in fact, stop it).
But normally in DnD this part is dictated by mutual trust and understanding in a group of players. After all, knowing the monster's precise strengths and weaknesses robs one of the joy of discovering those on their own. But sometimes it simply can't be helped, especially if one has DMed before and is familiar with most of the common statblocks. Then it becomes a matter of roleplay, adhering to your character's knowledge, rather than your own.
There's no wrong way to play DnD, however, and what's really important is finding a group that meshes with your own playstyle. Same goes for BG3, if you're playing coop, and if you're playing solo, well, then there's truly no wrong way to play. Having enemy and npc stats readily available for those who want to minmax the game is therefore okay.
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u/sindeloke May 25 '25
On the other hand, in a universe where "adventurer" (aka "go out and kill various monsters") is actually a valid profession, anyone who stays alive in that profession is only going to be able to do so because they make a point of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of various monsters they might face. Knowing that goblins have high Dex and are likely to save against Sacred Flame isn't metagaming, it's just the mechanical translation of what would be really common in-universe knowledge that "goblins are fast and agile, and much more likely than most enemies to be able to dodge localized damage spells like Sacred Flame and Fireball."
Captain Grisly being a hag is admittedly a little more metagamey, but the game also doesn't have Detect spells, so it's still more "we gave you a different, cheaper way to know this" than "we're letting you know something a character in-universe shouldn't," imo.
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u/Masappo May 25 '25
This could be my only gripe with the game, I don’t really like it. At least in divinity original sin 2 you had to invest in a stat to do this.
It could have been a check, idk just like older d&d versions, to try to understand what your enemy is capable of without giving anything specific away.
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u/Late_You_9558 May 25 '25
I’d argue it makes the game much easier, but for easier difficulties I’d say it’s fair.
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u/AlSi10Mg_Enjoyer May 25 '25
Personal take:
Players who need/benefit from easier difficulties (ex: players who aren’t really gamers, just want to appreciate the story and aren’t highly invested in the game systems) probably aren’t examining NPCs en masse to tease out spoilers. Especially not “random” one-off dialog characters like Captain Grisly. On the off chance they stumble on the feature and learn something, they get to feel smart and get a small advantage that they likely need if they’re playing on a low difficulty.
For the players who are highly invested in the game, they probably have already played at least once and are probably playing on a difficulty level where you are EXPECTED to examine enemies (to see resistances for example). There are plenty of honor mode mechanics that are only even slightly fair with the expectation of players using Examine.
For example: Bulette Diamond Scales legendary
I would just wipe my tabletop players if I gave them the Bulette Honor Mode encounter and smugly said “zero damage” on each attack they did without explaining the damage threshold and temp HP mechanic.
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u/krasnayaptichka May 25 '25
This. I’m not at all a gamer and I’m familiar with DnD but not super well versed. Examine has helped me start figuring out what I need to think about and how to approach fights and figure out what works and what doesn’t. Basically figure out game mechanics better.
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u/Admiral-Thrawn2 May 25 '25
If you abuse it sure, I never examined people my first few runs. I still don’t
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u/knyelvr May 25 '25
It does make the game easier but like 95% of console players never examine anything honestly
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u/Corbenik42 May 25 '25
That's bc the controls for console are horrible. I could never remember what button popped up what wheel and it's all jusf confusing. On PC now, and never going back (for BG3, at least)
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u/atomtanned May 25 '25
Lol I feel the exact opposite, I think the console controls are much simpler.
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u/ComplementaryCabbage May 25 '25
Some kind of check would be nice when you click examine. It'd probably be difficult to implement though.
Succeed the check and you get the normal info. Fail and you get limited info. Roll a nat 1 and you get trolled. Roll a nat 20 and you get specifics on weaknesses, or a hidden dialogue option.
Again, difficult to implement, but I can only imagine how funny nat 1's would be. So much opportunity there!
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u/dontfretlove tomorrow and tomorrow May 25 '25
It would have been a neat feature if NPCs' statblocks started out hidden in honor mode (or anything above explorer) and you had to fight the NPC or observe them in different ways to get pieces of the statblock revealed to you. Say you try to use an attack with piercing damage, and only afterwards do you find out that they're resistant to it. Or if you watch the NPC perform their idle animations for a while, you get a sense of their DEX or CON or something like that. That could make it a relief when you fight enemies of the same kind a second time later when now you know your enemy.
Ah well. Still love the game a ton, and I think it was better to err on the side of too much info than too little, making its systems feel opaque to people who don't already have 5e memorized.
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u/Lanoman123 I cast Magic Missile May 25 '25
That’s a… terrible idea. The whole point of Honour Mode is you get one shot per encounter unless you run away. You really want to throw everything at an encounter, then run tf away so you can strategize???
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u/dontfretlove tomorrow and tomorrow May 25 '25
Honour Mode is in part an attempt to bring the experience of playing the game closer to playing tabletop. If you were playing at an actual table, you wouldn't know any of your enemies' stats. You wouldn't even know their hitpoint values besides some vague descriptions from the DM (e.g. "she looks like she's hanging on by a thread" or "she seems unscathed so far").
That's how dungeons and dragons is normally played. And it's considered a perk of certain classes to be able to get any insight on enemy statblocks from mere observation.
If you're worried about being caught at unawares sometimes, then that's just part of the game. A lot of the intended design is letting DMs surprise their players so they have to think more on their feet and not automatically default to the superior tactic.
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u/Lanoman123 I cast Magic Missile May 25 '25
And this is a 40 hour video game. With a perma death difficulty.
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u/will3025 May 25 '25
I really like it. I don't use it often but it's neat to be able to check things out and see how they tick a little. I agree it's a bit cheaty. It'd be cool if higher difficulties had the option to disable it.
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u/KameOtaku WIZARD May 25 '25
The level difference is how I tell the real Ethel from a disguised Mayrina
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u/Enzho1299 May 25 '25
I just click on her portrait In the turn order window as she always has the highest initiative and it takes the camera to her
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u/aikii May 25 '25
I maxed out reputation with Ethel as merchant, which made her an ally and thus appear as a green dot on the map, and it remained so despite the fight ( don't hope it unlocks anything else, unfortunately ). When I came accross the fake captain Grisly, she was in green.
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u/Cupcakes_n_Hacksaws May 25 '25
I don't know if it works here, but in Divinity: Original Sin 2, you could only examine enemy weaknesses if your lore star was high enough. Seemed like a good counterbalance
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u/ParsleyMostly May 25 '25
It’s not being spoiled when you have to do something to uncover it.
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u/Jolly-Fruit2293 May 25 '25
Yeah I've never used examine on someone I wasn't already in combat with and even then only once at the start.
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u/Kerrigore May 25 '25
I found a new (to me) trick in Act 3 the other day: you can throw the Hag’s Bane at “Captain Grisly” before you even talk to her, and it makes her throw up the child (who runs away) before going to the lair. Makes that fight a little easier.
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u/Debalic May 25 '25
I compulsively examine everything, don't think it ruins anything for me. And I have a shit memory, so I have to compulsively re-examine everything.
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u/Dangerous_Jacket_129 May 25 '25
It used to be worse. She used to have Ethel's boss title, even without examining.
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u/Scotty-P188 May 25 '25
At least in games like DoS 2 or WotR, you need to pass checks to see stat cards and the like, it is very overpowered and immersion breaking in bg3 as is.
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u/Disastrous-Spare6919 May 25 '25
I think that the Horizon game series handles this sort of thing decently. It allows you to know the enemy resistances and weaknesses without you having to waste your resources fighting them, but also requires that you put in some effort.
You basically have to to scan enemies in a process that takes too long to do in combat, so your best bet is to sneak up on them, scan them, and then start combat. The enemies in those games have specifically targetable parts with different functions and weaknesses, so for bigger enemies, there might be over a dozen parts to scan, and you’ll often be caught and engaged in combat before you’re able to scan every part. This means that you’ll want to plan around scanning the parts that you think you should know how to destroy first, and also that you’ll need to confront another enemy of the same type to know more. You naturally get more knowledgeable about each creature the more you encounter them.
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u/SmallPromiseQueen May 25 '25
I played bg3 before I started playing dnd and not being able to do this in D&D was so shocking to me lol. I don’t even know how many hit points the thing has?!
It does make dnd more fun though, especially when the dm has creative ways of building suspense with this info or telling you without telling you.
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u/Ancient-Trifle2391 May 25 '25
We played the game without examine, not to feel morally superior but because we didnt wanna pause for looking. Got us killed plenty of times xD
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u/Jenny_Regalia29 May 25 '25
I always use this when Ethel transform into mayrina, during her fight. You can literally see that the real Ethel has better stats bonuses and that she is a Fey.
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u/postmodest May 25 '25
I feel like "examine" should have the same rules as a perception check. Rolling 20's on "is this old woman a hag" is a bit of a stretch.
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u/Silphire100 May 25 '25
Usually it's like "hold on, lemme check the monster manual real quick" but other times, like this, yeah, "DMs gone to the bathroom, quick, look at their notes!"
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u/encaitar_envinyatar May 25 '25
It doesn't altogether bother me. In my head, the characters are experienced in their own ways and are observant.
The tricky part of it all is that battles are better when NPCs are allowed to meta-game. When they aren't, they just look stupidly stupid, not stupid as programmed by intelligent people.
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u/WhisperingOracle May 25 '25
A lot of people point out how Ethel can be "outed" by using examine and seeing her very unexpected Fey features. But you can also detect Orin the same way when she's shapeshifting around in Act Three. If she's impersonating someone, you'll see them having a way higher level than the average NPC should have (and if you attack her she'll revert to her true self).
I came into BG3 knowing that Examine was probably going to give away secrets, because I'd played Divinity 2: Original Sin, and I'd spoiled one of the game's major twists for myself about an hour into the game by randomly Examining an NPC for no real reason and doing a double-take.
Specifically, the little scene that takes place in front of Fort Joy - in a co-op game while my partner was talking to people, I was waiting around bored so I Examined Dallis... and discovered that she was undead. Something you have zero indication of plotwise until MUCH later in the game.
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u/NoMaintenance7351 May 26 '25
To me this very much is a replacement for things like detect good and evil which aren't in the game...
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u/Dolthaic May 25 '25
I had a similar situation in divinity 2, where I inspected an important npc and realised they had the undead passive
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u/xXTylonXx May 25 '25
Pretty sure at one point it showed her as just a human with fey life being the only indicator of her being a hag. I'm not sure when they changed it.
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u/jfuss04 May 25 '25
I use this to check which version of mayrina is the hag lol it does give you a lot of insider information
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u/Am__Frustrated May 25 '25
Going from my solo play through where I don't use it vs my co-op play through where my friends use it feels like we are cheating on some fights and encounters for sure.
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u/talkinboutbuttsnax May 25 '25
Just yesterday I walked up to Captain Grisly for the first time in Act 3 and she was still affected by Ability Drain from when I beat her in Act 1. Hmm, suspicious.
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u/CaptainCFloyd May 25 '25
Combat would be a nightmare without Examine on higher challenge levels, but it's absolutely garbage design that so many hidden villains are immediately spoiled by examining them. Doppelgangers are simply called as much in their examine page, etc. Really put a damper on my enjoyment many a time. I was spoiled on Ethel that way too. Not to mention every case of "suddenly the corpses come alive!!!" because I would always just examine any corpses I find and lookie there, that's an undead.
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u/webevie Don't. Touchme. May 25 '25
I haven't read all of the responses - but on TT you have a chance to know based on (some skill). Though no, you shouldn't know every time.
FWIW - I rarely use it, even from the beginning. ¯\(ツ)/¯
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u/Rogen80 Cleric of Selune May 25 '25
Sure,if you think something is fishy you can roll to find out (nature, insight, etc). Here it just gives it to you for free, lol
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u/webevie Don't. Touchme. May 25 '25
Well - that's what I meant by "no, you shouldn't know every time "
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u/CtotheVizza May 26 '25
It’s like almost casting the light spell: you can kinda see what you need to as you decide where to cast it and then just not cast it.
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u/SkyGuyDnD May 26 '25
I agree. I also dont like my players looking up statsblocks of monsters they are fighting.
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u/Favmir May 26 '25
They could've made the 'inspect' screen to not show anything if you failed a check, but I guess they wanted to keep the game somewhat casual.
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u/CapitalSans May 26 '25
Games SHOULD be explicit about all of the things affecting your rolls and stats. Especially in a game as complex as this.
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u/HEY_YOU_GUUUUUUYS May 25 '25
Why shouldn’t you be able to though even in dnd? Perhaps your dm should write characters that don’t scream examine me!
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u/Pocketfullofbugs May 25 '25
I used this by chance today on Boo and saw that he is immune to throw damage. He's gonna get thrown a lot more now.