Summary
With a large storyline spanning three acts and plenty of freedom with how you’d like to play your experience out,Baldur’s Gate 3can be an intimidating journey for those not used to similar games. The adventure starts out with the usual tutorial, but it doesn’t teach every mechanic.
There are plenty of things to keep track of from engaging in combat to trading with vendors, and failing to understand how certain things work may lead to a lot of confusion or cause things to be more difficult than necessary. It’s useful to familiarize yourself with certain things to ensure you have a blast exploring the vast world of Faerûn.
9Avoiding Battle
Not Everything Has To Be Bloody And Chaotic
Not everyone has to be your enemy. While it’s tempting to just rain arrows down on any goblin you spot from far away, sometimes you canavoid an altercationand save on resources by simply engaging in civilised dialogue.
Hover over a creature and a speech bubble icon will appear if they can be talked to. On your mini-map, you can also see if a creature is hostile if its icon is red. If a battle is not yet set in stone, why not try using your words? Intimidation is just as fun as butt-kicking.
8Limited Spell Slots
Spell Slots Don’t Grow On Trees
Plenty of games teach us that as a spellcaster, you’re able to cast different spells as much as you want, so long as you have MP or mana. Baldur’s Gate 3 is different. Most spells use a spell slot and these slots come in increasing levels.
When a slot is used up, you’re able to only restore it by taking a rest or by drinking an elixir. Each spell slot has a different tab indicated by an icon above your action bar.
7Buffs That Last Until Long Rest
Buffs Are Like Your Daily Vitamins
As you explore various temples and ruins, you might find elixirs in backpacks, chests, or sitting on shelves. These grant a variety of buffs that will give you an advantage in different encounters. Compared to potions, these last the whole day until you take a long rest.
Not only elixirs give you awesome power throughout the day, certainspells can also grant useful buffsthat last just as long. Make sure to check out which spells and elixirs you can use for the day before you head out.
6Long Resting For Story Progression
Rest Up As Much As You Can
If you haven’t found it already, there’s an option to head to your camp in the lower right corner of your screen. You take long rests at camp using up camp supplies to restore health and spell slots. After that, the game will progress to the next day.
Taking long rests will make time pass. While there’s no need to worry about the tadpole ever turning you from sleeping too much, certain events such as burning buildings may progress after you head to bed.
While resources may be scarce at times, you shouldn’t deny yourself a good night’s rest because sleeping also progresses different storylines. Plenty of cutscenes can occur in the night, explaining the lore and deepening your bond with companions.
5Trading And Bartering
Know The Ins And Outs Of Shopping
Plenty of mechanics regarding vendors are not explained. For instance, if you want to buy or sell items using gold you should select the bartering option. In this mode, double-clicking on the desired item will allow the transaction to push through if enough gold is available.
If there is a lack of gold in either your pocket or the vendor’s, you can trade. This will allow you to exchange goods of similar value.
Vendors also have an approval rating which improves buying and selling prices as approval goes up. It’s a good trick to donate at least 400 worth of gold or items to a merchant to boost their approval and sell to that merchant throughout the act for the best rates.
4Canceling Concentration On Spells
Avoid Damage From Your Own Cloudkill Spells
Some spells that last for several turns require concentration from the spellcaster. Spells like these can only be cast one at a time. Casting a different concentration spell will cancel the previous one. These spells can also be canceled if disturbed by external factors such as taking damage.
Some concentration spells can get in the way of your plans, such as Cloudkill blocking your path to safety, and you’ll want to cancel them. An active concentration spell has a tiny icon in the bottom-left corner of your screen. Click on the X above the icon to cancel the spell.
3Preparing And Learning Spells
Be A Diligent Cleric And A Learned Wizard
As spellcasters level up, they gain access to more powerful spells. In most cases, you will need to discern which spells you’d like to be rid of and which to keep. Those that don’t make the cut are inaccessible unless you speak to Withers to change your class.
Wizards can learn spells from scrolls for a fee. Right-click on the scroll to see the option. The wizard’s level has to be high enough depending on the spell.
Clerics, wizards, paladins, and druids, however, have a full list of spells that they can select from to be prepared anytime. This can be seen using the spellbook accessible by pressing K while outside of combat.
2Grouping And Ungrouping Up
Learn To Divide And Conquer
While you might be clingy to your companions, sometimes you’ll need to split the group up to explore certain areas easily or to execute a plan before a battle. You can split the group by pressing G or right-clicking on the portraits on the left side of the screen.
To group up again, you may press G to bring everyone back together. If they’re all close enough, they’ll run back to the current selected character. If you want to choose which characters to include, you can drag portraits onto each other to form the group however you want.
1Hang Out At Camp
You Can Take A Brief Respite From All The Chaos
Your camp is where you can take long rests and end the day, but you cango to your camp anytimeit’s available by clicking on the campfire icon in the lower right corner of your screen. There, you’ll be able to talk to Withers and other co-campers.
Your traveler’s chest is also in your camp and items that you send to camp end up inside. It’s a good idea to send anything too heavy to camp because you’ll be able to get it from there should you need it anytime during the day.
