Actually, imma little confused about Magic Initiate. The spellcasting ability doesn’t change right!?!? So, if I’m a Spore’s Druid, and I choose Magic Initiate: Cleric, I’m good??? However, if I am a Spore Druid, and I use Magic Initiate: Warlock, I’m not good because I have a low Charisma??? So, the spellcasting ability doesn’t change to benefit the caster??? I ask because I’ve seen Clerics take Eldritch Blast.
@@FestorFreak I see. So, unlike a subclass, where the spell you learn - but is not on the Druid spell list - becomes a Druid spell; that is not the case for Magic Initiate. Does that summarize it??
I've played dos 2 and 1 but I'm still a scrub. I still just pick a character and make him how I want. I dont min-max really so I hear people say making a bad character in this game can screw you. I'm already trying to rely on other characters for perception and bartering so, how bad can you screw up a custom character?
He didn't mention it so I will. If you combine polearm master and sentinel you get a great combination of feats. When using a reach weapon if someone enters your attack range (10 feet) you get an attack of opportunity. If you hit them then sentinel stops their movements. This means if they are not using a reach weapon they won't be able to move into range to attack you.
A couple of, more or less, quick notes that he didn´t go into: 1. The "you can´t roll 1" portion of it applies to damage rolls as well, meaning that spells like `Ice Knife´ go from 2-12 to a 4-12 damage profile since you can´t roll a 1 if you have `Elemental Adept - Ice´. 2. Picking up `Good Berry´ by taking `Magic Initiate - Druid´ is busted for out of combat healing if you take it on a Life Cleric since the `Disciple of Life´ subclass Feature turns every berry into 1d4+3 healing instead of just 1d4. However you could always just take a couple of Multiclass levels as a Druid to get the spell, and more, that way. 3. Picking up `Shield´ by taking `Magic Initiate - Sorcerer´ can be an amazing defensive choice for Bards, Warlocks and Paladins since they don´t learn it naturaly. However if you plan on doing so it may be more worth while to Multiclass into 1-4 Levels of Sorcerer instead. 4. NEVER take `Magic Initiate - Warlock´ to get `Eldritch Blast´, give up a potential Feat instead and Multiclass into 2-4 Levels of Warlock. That way you can take the Eldritch Invocation `Agonizing Blast´ which is the thing that actualy makes Eldritch Blast the true powerhouse it is. (Amount of Multiclass Levels based on if you want to also get a Pact and/or a Feat as well) 5. Instead of taking `Magic Initiate - Wizard´ to get `Find Familiar´ think about taking `Ritual Caster´ or one the following Multiclass Levels instead: Ranger 1 (Natural Explorer - Beast Tamer; Bonus - Favored Enemy), Warlock 3 (Pact of Chains; Bonus - Anything that Warlocks do), Fighter 3 (Eldritch Knight; Bonus - Fighting Style, Action Surge, other parts of the Wizard Spelllist) 6. Paladins can use their `Smite´ on both the Bonus Action and Opertunity Attack given from `Polearm Master´, giving you more opertunities to "Crit Smite" 7. `Resiliant Constitutian´ is great for any Caster that doesn´t start with Profitiancy in CON saves since it makes it easier to maintain Concentration on spells. Consider starting with an uneven number in CON if you want to go down this route. 8. `Sentinel´ is broken in combination with `Polearm Master´
Polearm Master is bugged currently and I believe had been for some time, It essentially gives all your enemies polearm master vs the character that has it. Moving into melee range with an enemy pops up the prompt, and if you choose to take the attack, they get a swing at you not the other way round! Also worth noting that the bonus action 'haft attack' does not seem to count as an attack with the weapon, despite it being an attack by the 'butt end' of the weapon itself, according to the description, and therefore does not benefit from additional 'on hit' damage such as +2acid from caustic band.
1. Polearm Master Sentinel takes 8 levels and only stops 1 guy at most IF you hit. And also 80% of fights have ranged combatans in baldurs gate 3, so it's not nearly as strong as in typical 5e. Not worthwhile. Compare that to Great Weapon master or just increasing strength which gives you 5% higher chance to hit, 5% more damage, a longer jump, more carrying capacity, access to better armor and better athletics 2. Goodberry isn't the same as in 5e. You don't get 10 berries which heal 3 each anymore. You just gain 4d4 healing. 3. Warcaster grants a bigger Concentration Save than Resilient Con on average, until you reach +4 proficiency at level 12. 4. Critfishing isn't really worthwhile. Don't take Polearm master on your Paladin just for that. It's an ok feat if it fits your build but not good enough to forgo an Ability Score Improvement or Great Weapon Master in 90% of cases.
It's worth mentioning that the proficiency-granting feats which were dismissed as "you're better off choosing a race which has the proficiency" are useful if you're running with Origin characters, since their races can't be respecced.
Alert is a great feat for a caster focused on CC spells. Going before everyone and dropping a Hypnotic Pattern on a cluster of enemies, for example, can absolutely swing a tough encounter in your favor.
Definitely a perfect feat for battlefield control/support types as it can let you get buffs off too like bless. It's great for are blasters too for getting a fireball into thr enemy before your front liners engage.
Yep, a lot of encounters you can sneak up to them and get a free first round regardless, but for those encounters that you can't (encounters that begin from dialogue, or as soon as you enter a place, etc) this is a very strong play for CC and AoE peeps.
Fighters get an extra at 6. Rogues get an extra feat at 10. Depending on you build, these can let you maintain 3 feats as a multi class without going 4/8/12
I know these are the 5E rules, did they carry over the extra feats to this game? I know Larian changed a lot from the PHB rules (looking at you warcaster).
Pure Fighters totally fuck in 5E... multiclassing a character that you plan to use as a fighter into anything else is kind of pointless unless you just want flavor tbh
@@keystonelyte ahhh, classic. You are so very wrong lol Fighters are only bad in theory crafting. They perform exceptionally well at the table. Battlemaster particularly. Longbow Fighter is still the most powerful Archer etc etc
Karlach with tavern brawler, the ring that increases throw damage, and the pike that returns to hand after thrown, is a crazy damage dealer while in frenzy and can trash 2+ enemies per turn with throws.
Update trying this trick and yea I don't even have to Frenzy and just rolling through stuff. At first I put all the spears, tridents, axes, pikes, daggers, etc., that can be thrown in a bag. Some have higher damage than others but dislike having to go pick them after a battle so I now use the "Returning Pike" you buy (or pickpocket) from the goblin trader in Act 1. I read now Apparently there is at least one other super returning weapon later on..
@@joeneighbor Got her setup with the gloves that also increase throwing damage aswell. Now gonna multiclass her into Eldritch Knight, then every weapon is a returning weapon
Tavern brawler on a barb is brokenly OP. Their STR modifier on accuracy and damage rolls gets doubled for all unarmed, thrown, and improvised weapon attacks. This build becomes even more devastating with the legendary 🔱 that you pick up in Act 3 from the Djinn running a rigged spin the wheel game at the circus 😂
Tavern Brawler also really makes strength based monks ridiculously strong. Eventually you find Gloves of Dexterity which boost your Dex to 18, so AC isn't an issue. I respecced Karlach on my first play through into an OH monk; Her punches were doing 1d6 + 13 (also had boots that add Wis to Unarmed damage) + 1d4 + 3 damage per strike. I'm sure I could've made it better with different gloves, but having the 18 dex for AC made her not as easy to hit.
@@TJ-ki3gp I took dual wielder on my thief rogue astarion and he's taking 3 rapier swings (or 2 and a cunning action) per turn, one of them with sneak attack.
For Elemental Adept, I think you may have misunderstood how the last line of the Feat works (unless I misunderstood you!). "In addition, when you deal *** damage with a spell, you cannot roll a 1." This is referring to the Damage dice, not the roll to hit dice. For example, Elemental Adept: Fire will make it so that None of your 8d6 fire damage are rolled as 1, they are all rolled as 2 as minimum. Makes for a nice small buff if you are focusing on that damage type, IMO.
Good to know that's in here I'll be picking that up for sure, it was part of the build for the 5e character I recreated, a tiefling draconic sorc/hexblade (changed to great old one since no hexblade) but with the blade pact changes I'm excited, also zariel tiefling giving me searing smite
@@Ytinasniiable its a reroll for every time it rolls a 1. So it is a MUST TAKE for any caster doing range spell damage. The person doing this video is pretty bad at going over the feats for this game. Ignoring resistances is HUGE in this game. Always rerolling 1 damage die is HUGE. He thinks Lucky is a great feat, but save scumming is way better. Of course if you aren't save scumming then Lucky is still good. These are the kind of things he completely missed among other things like feat combos such as polearm mastery + sentinel is just bonkers. More so on an enlarged target. You create a tank that becomes an immovable wall the enemy has a very hard time getting around.
Tip: Some of the feat descriptions aren't updated. Click on them one by one. Example: Tavern Brawler gives you an ability point even though the description doesn't state that
Alert is an elite feat. Slap in on your control character and make half of your fights 3x easier. An alert divination wizard with alert in a couple of control styles like hypnotic pattern or slow will just end the encounter before it begins.
so few videos focus on this aspect. the sheer level of effort put in to making this game so that it allows player's expression to the nth degree and all you get is min/maxing guides...
@@ince55antWell RP Builds are something that can talked about later. Yet at the beginning it is better to talked about the min/max Builds, because these are normaly the strongest and would therefore help New Player the most.
Sharpshooter is absolutely amazing with dual hand crossbows - the +10 damage applies to both main and off-hand attacks, so you can get twice the benefit from that, BUT ALSO, at the moment it seems to not apply the accuracy penalty to off-hand shots. At the moment it's EXTREMELY powerful
@Swi55Milk it was fixed in a recent patch. It misses more frequently now to where you should get Archery fighting style or w/e it's called but it's still disgusting. You still get free modifier to off hand crossbow without taking dual wielder fighting style so its not completely fixed.
With Ritual Caster you can cast Longstrider on everyone because it doesn’t take concentration and lasts until a long rest, so your entire team gets permanent extra movement without using a spell slot. Combined with ritual Enhanced Jump you can basically go everywhere for free at level 4.
Athlete and mobile are two absolute amazing feats! In combination with an 8 lvl champion - 4 lvl thief multiclass plus 20 strength you can reach 17m jumdistance and jump two times in a round and with mobile you can attack and didnt provocate an opportunity attack. So in this combination you can play "hit an jump" with your enemies (jump to one of them, hit him, jump with 17m out of his movment range). An absolute effective combination, if mostlie enemies cant catch you.^^
The athlete feat alone is good as it basically plays like a sub-par misty step most of the time. Considering jumping doesn't take a spell slot, it's pretty much worth it if you can squeeze it in even without other synergies.
You missed the reason why someone might choose to pick up Magic Initiate Druid and that is for Shillelagh as it lets you melee with your spellcasting stat. Primarily good for the other WIS based classes as damage is based on WIS. This lets you skip STR/DEX, focus on your caster stats and still be able to melee. You also missed the other primary reason to get Magic Initiate Warlock and that is Hex, this is a very good damage boost for several classes.
i agree, i was shocked that he mentioned Eldrich Blast but didnt say a word about Hex, which is nearly as important for warlocks damage as Agonizing Blast.
Hex on a monk can be powerful because of their number of attacks. If you are going to take a feat on one over an asi it's probably one of your best damage choices.
I love these comprehensive guides that cover one topic. I'd really like to see one focused on weapon types, since I just read today that two hand crossbows can be very strong and talking about Polearm Master here makes me wonder what else might be out there.
The spell "shield" should not be overlooked on magic initiate as it is a very powerful defensive buff that doesnt rely on casting ability. Fantastic on a paladin tank. Also cant personally confirm in BG3 but great weapon master should be able to apply its bonus damage to the bonus attack granted by Polearm master on a heavy weapon. (All two handed polearms are heavy in base 5e) making that bonus action attack very valuable on a melee damage dealer who could by level 6 on fighter or 8 on barb/ranger/paladin could be doing 3 attacks at +1d× + 13 damage. Very strong on a barb in particular who can get +rage damage and advantage on those attacks.
Couple things missed or overlooked possibly. Duel wielder removes the need for weapons to have the Light property, which means your rogue can put a have duel rapiers. he magic initiate druid and cleric feats can also work on a Monk, to give them some support options, or a ranged attack without needing a bow. Mobile on a Monk(and rogue) can be great for moving between multiple targets. Example, Monk runs in and kills mob A, mob C is going to attack next, but mob B is in the way, with the mobile feat mob B can't make an opportunity attack at the Monk as it runs to hit C.
Mobile and mobility in general feels terrible in this game compared to actual DnD. So many enemies seem to teleport, shoot webs, fly, or lay other terrain etc.
I agree with your point on Mobile, but the scenario you stated doesn't work as Mobile only negates Attacks of Opps on targets you HIT. So the better way to put it is Mob A is in your melee range, but Mob B is almost dead, concentrating, other reason you want to go for him, so you hit Mob A to get to Mob B without worrying about opportunity attacks. It's really good for bouncing between enemies, forcing enemies to HAVE to use movement to get to you, or for attacking a target and moving to another to impose disadvantage on range (so hitting the big guy but then ending turn next to an archer 15 ft away so they have disadvantage OR have to move and take an opp attack).
Forgot to mention for the Resilient feat, picking up Resilient (Con) is incredibly strong on any caster that uses concentration spells. Proficiency in constitution saves makes it way more likely for you to maintain concentration on a spell when you take damage, saving you from having to re-cast the spell and wasting another spell slot. I like this feat on Warlocks since I never want to lose hex, and I'll take this and/or war caster on clerics (as I tend to play them in melee). Both feats are incredibly good
Agreed. This is a really important feat for spellcasters, especially as you get to higher levels and the spells you are concentrating on are more impactful. Sorcerer has Con saves already, but everyone else benefits from this or war caster to sure up concentration. If a feat feels a bit steep, you can also consider multiclassing by starting your build with one level of fighter or Sorcerer. On anything except cleric I recommend fighter because of the defensive benefits.
@ziwuri13 Because a single level of class progression is often worth less than a feat. It depends on the build, but feats and ASIs are in short supply and levels aren't.
Honestly Tavern Brawler on a monk is actually godly. You have to build them with Str, but they can end up doing some crazy consistent damage despite their lack of HP.
@@MouldyCheesePienot if you dip one level in cleric, either nature, war, or tempest domain, since they grant heavy armor proficiency. You can go full in on strength and wisdom and ignore dex while wearing heavy armor. 14 Con is all you really need. The loss of monk's bonus tovement speed doesn't matter because with step of the wind, you can jump without a bonus action like 30 feet per jump anyways.
@@MouldyCheesePie Well, I did this build on Lae'zel, and her race gives Medium armor proficiency. At level 4, she had 18 Str, 14 Dex, 14 Con, and 12 Wis. You definitely end up sacrificing Wisdom here and just put on medium armor. The only feature you really lose here is your movement speed bonus, but it's worth it for a +10 to hit and 1d6+8 for damage up to 3 times per round at level 4. Also, step of the wind allows you to dash and jump without a bonus action. Since our Strength is so high, we can jump 6 times for some crazy distance.
I plan to play my evil playthrough with Lae'zel who starts off as a Fighter with defensive style, then switches to Open Hand monk to get double attack, and later gets more Fighter levels. Probably 8 Monk/4 Fighter at the end. probably even 6/6, since both options grant 3 feats. Specific flurries of Open Hand monk grant some battlefield control. Add maneuver dice and action surge to the mix, and she's got some very serious burst. She'll have defensive combat style, wear heavy armor and use a shield, so her AC will be pretty good. And with 10 Dex she can spare some stats for Charisma. Githyanki can easily get proficiency in all skills for one ability score, so she'll be a half-decent face too. She's also going to be hella mobile. Unarmored monks get higher move speed, but strong monks have longer jumps, especially with Athlete, it grants very serious mobility.
I love to see dnd veterans giving tips for this game. There are some really powerful combos in this game, like the polearm master and sentinel feat combo
Big oversight on Magic Initiate: Druid that shouldn't be slept on MI:D gives you both access to guidance and Shillelagh, the latter ofwhich allows for some really strong synergy with Ranger/non-Nature Clerics (and potentially weird monk builds) by allowing them to forgo their weapon attack stat (STR/DEX) in favor of wisdom. In most cases, this means doing a 14 DEX / 16 CON / 16 WIS and building from there. Guidance is just a no-brainer. Currently playing a Moon Druid that's using Shillelagh between wildshapes and I found that there's a lot of really cool early level staves that works very well for being melee focused, particularly one found near first "town" that allows you to have a chance to ensnare on hit. As far as the other MI's go - I'd heavily consider getting Thaumaturgy / Friends cantrips if available as the game allows these to be used in ability checks and both give advantage in their cases.
It's a solid option, but I prefer dipping 1 nature cleric for the armor and cleric spells. I think using the feat for an ASI to push wisdom is better, then you get more attack and spell save bonuses.
I have loved Athlete on my sword & board Paladin, used it to round out my strength to 18, I certainly feel the jumping distance increase and really feel like it’s made a huge impact on my Paladin’s movement decisions. It’s cool to see that a lot of feats that were passed by in dnd 5e are actually used in BG3.
Pro tip not mentioned here. Astarion Rogue Thief with Sharpshooter Feat and two one handed crossbows you can male up 3 attacks one turn dealing arround 50 damage at early levels. It is so broken yet so fun in my playthrough. Totally reccomend getting this
(Edit: see further down this comment for more optimal version using respeccing) After level 3, start going ranger with gloomstalker or fighter with battlemaster. Take them to 5, picking up the archery fighting style and extra attack. Then have shadowheart etc cast bless. This and archery offset the -5 from sharpshooter, and by level 8 you're making 4 attacks a turn, all with +10 and a good chance to hit. Then you either get 5 attacks on round one, and spellcasting, from Gloomstalker; or manoeuvres and action surge from battlemaster. I think both builds are pretty flexible as you keep going too, you can either go back to rogue formore sneak attack, or keep going ranger for spells and wisdom saving throw from gloomstalker, or fighter for extra ASIs and more manoeuvres per SR. Edit: after some thought, I think the most optimal version of this build involves going straight to rogue 4 for sharpshooter, then respeccing at level 5 into full ranger or fighter to get the subclass and the same number of attacks. Then picking up rogue thief again until 8 for the 4th attack, then going back to the ranger/fighter. I suspect fighter may do the most damage due to the extra ASIs, but the ranger does get hunters mark and offers much more utility. I would choose ranger if it were me I think.
@@garion046does Gloomstalker's Dread Ambush stack with Action Surge like it does in paper 5e? In paper d&d you get the Dread Ambush attack twice if you Action Surge on the first turn.
Alert is S tier and I recommend taking it on almost all characters, you almost guarantee that all of you party goes before all of the enemies, which means, by the time they get a turrn, they are about 2 down already, at the very least.
@@baltstop2702 There are a lot of fights that you can't ambush and even if you do ambush, your characters will still be placed in the order of the iniative roll, alert almost guarantees that all of your characters are next to each other in the turn, which is a very underestimated aspect. Switching between characters and being able to alternate through each one's actions is very valuable.
With the Magic Initiate: Bard feat, don't sell Viscous Mockery short. Doing a little damage and forcing them to attack at disadvantage is huge for the big baddies. It can really help out on a squishy that is getting beat on as well. Super useful as a Sorc or Warlock cantrip. Edit: Less useful on a Paladin IMO since they sacrifice too much offense in opportunity cost to use it.
I just went with Alert on my entire party on the first pick and will now probably do the same in every playthrough. I'm not familiar with 5e as much as 2.5e-3.0e so I was stuck on decision. I can honestly say its worked awesome as my whole party always goes 1st and we take out half the enemy and or focus the most dangerous on 1st turn all because of alert. We cant even get ambushed/surprised. Once I learn better feat synergies ofc I may change this but a full alert party works great in this game.
Tavern Brawler seems insane on paper. Put that feat on a Monk with a Barbarian dip, and at Barbarian 1 / Monk 5, just with the base unarmed damage, you'll be hitting for 1d6+8 with a bonus to hit of +11, three times per turn or four if you use Flurry of Blows. By the end, the base unarmed damage at Barbarian 1 / Monk 11 becomes 1d8+10 with a bonus to hit of +14. And yes it's been confirmed that it actually works. This is crazy.
Add to this, there’s a pair of gloves you can get during a quest in act 1 that give you lightning charges from performing unarmed strikes. At 5 charges, you get the potential for an additional 1d8 of lightning damage. It’s fucking op lol
Adding your STR modifier to the hit chance and the damage twice is brutal. This applies to thrown and imp. weapon attacks also, so putting it on Karlach makes her hit like a truck with thrown weapons like javelin/spear/trident. Equipping her with the Nyrulna legendary trident you can snag in Act 3 makes her an S tier ranged/caster killer who can also hand out some epic beatdowns in melee as well. That setup literally shatters the game balance altogether lol. Getting back to the Monk/Barb setup, I've already contemplated this, but the gloves that build up lightning charges although nice, are easily replaced by the gloves that give you 18 Dex that you can buy from a trader in the Mountain Pass. That extra damage is nice but it's conditional and kinda meh. I'd rather have higher AC and Dex saving throws and higher Dex skill check bonuses, along with higher initiative at start of combat. Those will benefit me plenty until I can snag the Soul Catcher gloves which IMO is BIS for any monk regardless of subclass. Soul Catchers give an extra 1d10 force dmg to unarmed attacks and you heal for 10 HP each time you attack. You can also choose not to heal to gain advantage on attack rolls or saving throws until the next round. And they boost Con by 2 ^_^
Thank you so much! It was a thorough in depth no nonsense explanation! Keep up the excellent work! You are helping me a lot with respeccing and optimizing my tav and team. 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
For any Tabletop player, there's a lot of armor pieces in this game that give you advantage on constitution checks that kinda make warcaster less important to take on your frontline / midline casters. Shadowheart especially will be able to use gear for that in the midgame.
currently in act 2. shadowheart has dc +11 to con with advantage roll with 18AC, which is a bit low considering my main has 24. and immunity to prone btw. guardian spirit never got broken lol
One note - Magic Initiate: Cleric can be a FANTASTIC pickup if you don’t have a guidance caster in the group. Guidance can be applied to almost any check. In lot of cases, this can be good on a noncaster so it doesn’t compete with other concentration spells.
Something to bear in mind before people use a whole feat just for guidance is that early on in act 1 you can pick up a necklace that has the spell on it. So just give it to any party member and they can cast it on themselves or others in conversations
I would recommend simply dipping cleric for 1 level for this. Then you get a subclass and other great cleric spells like healing word or bless. None of this requires any amount of wisdom (yes healing word is but it's negligible).
druid gets it too so it depends on what level 1 spell you want - longstrider & speak with animals are great though they're not too hard to get on items or via potions, faerie fire is a good bet if you've got a decent wisdom & goodberry can be handy for those extra healing noms. For level 1 cleric spell, i like sanctuary since it can be handy for positioning without triggering opportunity attacks.
@@tomsimpkins1211 it’s called ‘Rusty Necklace’ and you can find it on a skeleton before the entrance area to the druids grove, I think you have to climb somewhere? The wiki says the coordinates are X:160 Y:373
I picked up Charger on my first play through on my fighter, and I would highly recommend it for closing the gap with targets easier. Another awesome feature of Charger is when you use it, you can't provoke Opportunity Attacks, so you can run passed people to a specific target without getting hit, very useful!
Tavern brawler has the most game breaking potential. Athlete is the feat that ive universally gotten the most use out of. Jumping is extremely strong and it gets +1str/dex asi on top.
Alert is fantastic for casters, especially those who specialize in debilitating spells. They tend to not go higher than 16 DEX, so it more than doubles their base initiative bonus. Slapping a strong debuff like Slow on enemies before they can even act is incredibly powerful.
@@toddsilverwolfe Rolling a d4 instead means the bonus to your roll is even more heavily weighted in the outcome. High DEX + Alert means you go even more often than if a d20 were being rolled.
@@toddsilverwolfe +5 to initiative and being immune to surprise is also incredibly good in the tabletop version where the d20 is rolled. I don't see a point. It's a very good feat for casters either way.
Resilient Constitution is one of my favourite Feats in DnD for anything maintaining Concentration regularly (like a melee Paladin or Cleric with Bless or Shield of Faith, or Bladelock with Hex, etc.), to get Proficiency towards Concentration Checks. Especially Paladins with Aura of Protection + the Con Proficiency can even straight up auto succeed any Concentration check on
When choosing feats, also consider whether you could gain the effect from a multiclass dip, especially if it's a single level in a class with the same primary stat as yours. Dipping rogue, bard, cleric, sorcerer or fighter can be very handy.
It wasn't mentioned, but Dual Wielder also allows you to dual wield weapons that don't have the "Light" property, as long as they don't have "Heavy" property (like Greatswords). That can be pretty big, because suddenly you can use two long swords or battle axes or spears instead of daggers or short swords. *Light weapons typically have lower damage to compensate you being able to dual wield them.* So being able to dual wield regular weapons is a damage boost. In BG3, there's another layer to that, because magic items are so important. It allows you to dual wield magic weapons that normally you can't, which opens new possibilities. *Still more effective for STR based characters though.* Melee attacks use STR unless the weapon has the "Finesse" property, which allows using DEX instead. *Except for Rapiers, all Finesse weapons are Light.* And on top of that, Rapiers are Martial weapons, so not every class can use them without taking the Weapon Master feat. So even if the 1d8 from Rapiers is nice, unless you are like a DEX based Fighter or something else that can use Rapiers, it is very much not feasible.
Tavern Brawler is pretty busted on Berserker Barbarian. Enraged throw becomes a very consistent source of damage even against high AC enemies, and you can do it as a bonus action. I was originally running Karlach with Great Weapon Master but switched to Tavern Brawler and she's performing significantly better right now.
@@Kylar195 Level 4, I'm still in act 1 no where near level 8. Way too much stuff to do in this game lol. I'll probably give her GWM at level 8 so she can hit harder in melee as well, but throwing Javelins with her is my biggest source of damage right now. Tavern Brawler makes them hit like trucks.
Polearm master + Sentinel is a classic OP combo, opportunity attack when they come within reach of your polearm, immobilize them 10 feet away from you so they can't melee you
@@ChristianDeLarge polearm master (unless you have a weapon you want to use for levels 4-8 that doesn't work with polearm master, then take sentinel first)
Thanks for the advice, guys. I’m not new to video games, but this is definitely my first run in with DnD rules and, ummm, game architecture. So yeah. Thanks.
@@ziwuri I second this... While Sentinel might seem the safer bet to protect your squishys in the back, polearm master allows more damage, that protects your squishys by just killing the enemy... And your back doesn't have to be squshiy in the frist place. Pick a race that gives medium armor proficiency, build a wizard, use the shield spell if necessary. Bam, you have a wizard, that can deal damage, can controll the field and if needed, can increase it's ac by 5 as a reaction spell. Meaning with the most basic medium armor and 14 dex you would have a standing AC of 15, without using a spell or a shield in your offhand. If you can use a shield and still cast spells (not sure if it's possible in the game) you can easily have 17 ac and 22 on demand, if the shield spell is actually needed.
Fun thing to do with Tavern Brawler is to take it on a berzerker barbarian. It takes a bit to truly get off the ground, but there's a ring from a shop that gives +1d4 to throwing damage and gloves from a quest with a forgetful dwarf in the underdark that do the same. So if you frenzy you can whack someone with your great weapon for a big chunk of damage and then yeet them at their ally for 3d4+double strength modifier damage to both of them.
There is also the Spear of Return, which comes back to you instantly after you throw it. My berserker Karlach loves it. I think you can pick it up from the goblin merchant in Act 1.
I’m a complete noob with this type of game. It’s so amazing but I know I’m going to make bad choices my first run. Once I got to level four, I was overwhelmed with all the feats you can choose between appreciate the explanation on most of them. I really wish I would’ve added extra skill points to my main attributes but like I said, you live in learn.
Who else is still watching tons of videos and haven't even started the game past the char creation because they can't decide what to play? It's like some kind of choice paralysis. :D
:) I am around 40+ hours of watching videos for BG3 and have not even bought the game yet. Will I? Not yet sure. I do know if I do, I like "good" characters. So far Gale and Shadowheart appeal to me a lot. I am leaning toward playing a Ranger or Monk character and would need to choose between Karlack or the little feisty one with the face tats for a melee. Will see.
Tavern Brawler has allowed me to build a nearly OP Fighter. You can buy a + 1 Pike called Returning Pike that returns to you when thrown. There are also two different act 1 items that add a D4 to throw damage (ring and gloves). So my Fighter has very accurate and unlimited ranged attacks that consistently hit in the mid 20s. With level 5 second attack and action surge I can easily turn the tide of a battle from range and wear heavy armor while doing so
This is another extremely helpful video. As a new player trying to evaluate these feats is difficult and very hit or miss. Thanks. Combining this with with the combat tips video made things so much less frustrating. It increased my understanding a lot.
Here's a tip! Don't bother with Performer. If you really need that point of Charisma, just pick Actor and benefit from some extra proficiencies. You can earn a proficiency in musical instruments in-game by passing Performance checks during a conversation with the tiefling bard Alfira in the Emerald Grove, and you'll get a lute as an extra reward as well!
TAVERN BRAWLER MONK is amazing. Ran 17 St, 16 dex, 14 wisdom, took tavern brawler at lvl 4 for 18 strength for +8 flat damage to unarmed attacks and +10 to attack rolls. Base unarmed damage is 1d6 starting from lvl 3 for monks so you deal a TON of damage. You hit chance is much higher than a 2h weapon and including your unarmed bonus attack you hit for 18-28 vs a similar 2h build which would hit for 16-29 damage with great weapon master with no hit bonus (+5 from 3str & proficiency and -5 from great weapon master). Tavern Brawler is NOT simply a roleplay feat. The damage numbers don't show in the tooltip, but if you strike an enemy you will see the application to attack and damage rolls in the history. Do not sleep on TB Monk Not to mention the hit and damage bonus applies to Missile Deflection as well
I'm playing an eldritch knight for the bound weapon and using throwing weapons. It's basically like playing as a ranger but all my throws are guaranteed hits that scale really well with strength. It's an extremely fun setup and comes with a minor bit of spellcasting.
@@MouldyCheesePie I'm planning a similar build with Eldritch Knight, and the weapon binding skill makes it so thrown weapons come back to your hand immediately. Plus there are items to add 1d4 of damage onto throws. I think it can get out of control
I'm disappointed the Observant feat didn't make it into the final game. I thought it was pretty useful, and now the only feat that gives a +1 to Wisdom is Resilient, which is redundant if you're a Cleric or Druid.
@@chadbizeau5997 No idea. My best guess is that it might be too functionally similar to the Dungeon Delver feat, but then they should've given that feat +1 Wisdom. That or it was just an oversight. It ruins my observant druid plans, too.
By far the best use of Resilient is casters picking up Resilient: Constitution. Concentration checks are Constitution saves, so getting proficiency here is very strong.
I picked lucky for my first feat as a human fighter. It's awesome. That feat has fired so often in clutch situations that I've lost count. In my opinion it is a top tier feat.
Tavern Brawler is amazing for a Monk multiclass because you can start as a class with armor and shield proficiency, take armor and shield to start, spec into strength and all of your Monk unarmed strikes after get double strength damage bonus. That's 11 Monk levels with massive damage buffs and the only feature you lose access to is Unarmored Movement. You'll also have _higher AC than the Monk can get without magic items_ long before the Monk gets it's 2nd feat selection.
@@igormorais4192 Open Hand Monk adds multiple bonuses to the unarmed strike. I didn't account for them all here. Even so, you can still use any strength weapon you're proficient in for your opening 2 attacks then use your US bonus actions with double strength, because BG3 Monks get to use any weapon they're proficient with for Martial Arts not just Monk weapons. It adds up very quickly.
I think Dual Wielder is pretty nice if you have weapons that primarily improve important parts of your character like the quarterstaff that improves unarmed attacks when unarmoured for monks but you still want some proper bonus for the weapon attacks. Right now I have that quarterstaff and a shortsword that makes crits easier.
Getting access to druid cantrips without multiclassing into the class allows you to cheese your cleric or monk. As you can take shallelagh and wield a quarter staff or club (also of note, torches are clubs and do +1d4 fire damage which makes dipping a level into druid on shadowheart at lvl 2 and picking up torches in the crypt amazing early game damage spike). You can then pump Wis and Con. While leaving your Dex and Str at a lower amount (for cleric with heavy armor at least). Playing a Fist of Elements Monk means pumping Wisdom as a spellcasting stat. So, taking the talent to grab druid cantrips means putting your high Wisdom score to use as your melee stat as well. Granted, it doesnt help with your bonus unarmed attack(s). But, you're not really spending ki on Flurry of Blows. And may not be in range to use your singular bonus unarmed attack either. But its nice to have the higher ability score to use for the main weapon attack regardless. The main use is for Clerics, though. Pump Wisdom, dump Str and Dex, then pump Con and Charisma as your extra stat. Then dip levels into Paladin and Smite for days with your extra spell slots from Cleric. Enjoy!
A synergy you missed between pole arm master and sentinel, when using an extended reach weapon your reaction would trigger before most enemies enter their own melee range, meaning they lose all their movement and wouldn’t be able to even hit their target this turn.
Yep, and that means that on a spell that rolls a lot of dice that also each individually hit the enemies (fireball for instance) that can actually be a significant buff. However, I'd still say it's situational, because to see any benefit that damage die would've had to've been a 1, and then you could conceivably reroll it and get a 2. In the right situation pretty strong, though.
Love your content @Fextralife have been refreshing your website for days waiting for some juicy builds (Seems mainly EA still) but I know there is a lot to cover I got all the way to the end of act 2 and just couldnt beat the boss there so I need to figure out how to build my team comp better and love me some fextrassistance :) Keep it up guys
As strong as Ability Improvment is, I find that I just never want to take it because it's so much more boring than a lot of the other feats. It's definitely the 'optimal' choice in a lot of cases, but it usually doesn't feel like the 'fun' choice.
It would be nice to see more +1 ability scores improvements with side benefits like Resilient which is also really good to put into constitution for concentration saving throws getting advantage on characters that have really good or important concentration spells like cleric or bard and even wizard.
@@fladagreat This list of feats is pretty much just the basic list. In the tabletop game many of the feats offered in the supplemental books provide +1 to certain attributes. They realized a little later that we like those better.
"because you long rest between every two battles or so" meanwhile you've got me clearing half of act 1's top layer before my first long rest with zero downs
I'm playing a Wildheart Barbarian in my coop run and the Athlete feat (extra jump distance) combined with the extra jump distance from the Tiger Heart rage is really fun and silly.
I am running exactly this on my playthrough, I combined Athlete feat with Tiger Heart rage, and I have Gale with Enhance Leap. When possible, I cast this on my Barb and then engage - after rage, my jump distance is 59 meters - absolutely insane. If you can cast it before combat it also counts as a ritual spell so it doesn't consume a spell slot. It also allows you to explore a lot of areas you wouldn't normally be able to, because even though fly seems like a really good spell I can always jump further than fly would allow. Extremely useful for nailing down enemy casters or ranged attackers who have squirreled away somewhere hard to reach. Would recommend.
I feel the need to mention the effect of taking magic initiate druid feat could land you not only guidence (which could be extremely helpful in unoptomized builds, but also in multiplayerwhere the bonus doesnt auto apply) but access to shillelagh which allows you make clubs or quarterstaves 4-11 damage weapons.
Tavern brawler seems to be the best feat for druids (especially moon druids) as it would double your str bonus to attack and damage while in wildshape.
Thought dual weapon fighting was poor in this game, as you give up actions to strike with your off hand, which I'd different than any 5e/3e attack options?
Only good on a rogue which gets extra bonus actions. Dual wielding on anyone else is not worth it for an offhand attack that doesn't get modifiers to hit/damage from primary stat to eat a bonus action for a measly hit that would only tickle the enemy 🙄
Anyone who gets the 2 weapon fighting style should get the dual welding feat as it allows you to use medium sized weapons not just light ones, which is not mentioned in this video this makes it worthwhile.
For some context on how often u can long rest in hardest difficulty. The hardest part is managing ur inventory cuz u'll still got 200 or so supply overflow if u pick up food wherever u go.
Depends it is easy enough to just pick your favorite and go for it, but I tend to be a perfectionist, so I feel you on agonizing on every little detail.
Remember you can respec everything except your race, so focus on getting that the way you want it in creation. Imo think about the fantasy of your character, the types of things you want them to be good at, and their backstory. Then lean into features that help that, and respec if you're not having fun with it later.
Something I noticed for SpellSniper, the cantrip you pick seems to use YOUR casting modifier. getting eldrich blast on a wizard AND getting expanded crits on your spells is actually pretty good!!
I am struggling hard between planning out my first character in excruciating detail vs going with the flow on my first playthrough. I really like the idea of that Polearm Master (and Sentinel combo?), but I just dont know if it will be usable/worth it on a Pact of the Blade Warlock (the idea of a Warlock with a Glaive just SOUNDS cool to me). The amount of characters I am wanting to make in this game just keeps going up lol
just remember you pick up party members who you will have control over as they level up, meaning you can play more than one type of character in one playthrough!
@@grey_wind yea, as someone who has been playing it with friends, in a multiplayer campaign you're gonna just control one or two characters but in a solo you're gonna get the whole group, so as long as your team comp is okay, you should have room to experiment with a few different playstyles
Magic initiate cleric I think is strong to take for the cantrips, Ik you can get guidance from other places but this is now baked into a character to support your other characters in most dialogue checks
there are some things you missed out, and I think they need to be pointed out - 1)dual wielder, aside from the obvious advantages you mentioned, allows you to use non light weapons in each hand. That's huge, because you can dual wield longswords and rapiers now on a dex build, or potentially everything else except polearms, battleaxes and warhammers on a str build. The damage increase is big, and the flexibility to use any new shiny weapon in the game is also something you will appreciate. 2)resilience -constitution is really overpowered on any caster class that is not proficient on constitution saving throws, as constitution determines concentration saving throws. It can be preferable to War Caster, because it basically does the same thing, but also adds +1 con. 3)ritual caster has some permanent buff spells that last until long rest and require no concentration. Longstrider, for example. There's no reason to not cast it on the entire party and have extra movement speed on all combat until next long rest. Those are not cantrips, either, you wouldn't want to waste 4 spell slots normally for Longstrider. Also there's a whole ton of githyanki weapons and armor that provide unique bonuses to githyanki only. And they are incredibly strong, but you are not that race. Easily solved by casting ritual disguise self into a githyanki... also permanent until long rest, no concentration required(ex .you can have infravision from a race and all githyanki perks from disguise). Also useful if you are playing necromancer and would like to re-summon you familiar for free whenever you wanted. That's also a free full heal on the familiar whenever you do it.
correct me if im wrong, but elemental adept seems way better than you made it out to be, ignoring resistances (assuming it does whats written on the tin) makes it so that elemental type ignores *anything* under the Resitances section of the examine window... probably doesn't bypass "Immune" under this tab but it is technically a resistance; certainly makes enemies for a storm sorcerer or tempest cleric for example not resistant to lighting ever, which is huge because you definitely focus on that one damage type. Similarly, red dragonborn+red dragon bloodline sorcerer will be using a LOT of fire damage, and there are a number of enemies that are annoyingly resistant to fire in various places where it is hot without spoiling anything.
I gave it to Gale with the evocation subclass and has tons of fire spells and fire abilities that generate more fire damage on items, but to my suprise It doesn't bypass immune status, so im not sure its better than API.
Bypassing resitance means... exactly that, it bypasses resistance not immunity. That is something you can already do by preparing correctly your spells instead of being that one wizard which solves everything with a fireball. Not everything is solved with that... just 80% of the problems.
@@hazamax2139 Sure, if that's how you want to play. Some people just like to sling fireballs at everything, and this is how you make the most of that type of player/gameplay. Cheers
One thing you guys forgot to mention is that Tavern Brawler is very good in STR monk. You basically take 17 STR / 14 DEX / 10 CON / 8 INT / 16 WIS / 8 CHA and go 1 barbarian (for shields and rage)/ 6 open hand monk/ 3 thief rogue (for an extra bonus action)/ 2 fighter (for action surge). You use medium armor, a shield and no melee weapon.
Polearm Master + Sentinel might be a pretty strong defensive combo, you just stop melee enemies out of their reach. That's my plan for Lae'zel and we'll see, how it goes.
I'm loving BG3, but I do find character building EXTREMELY limited after Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. It isn't the devs fault, and it's way more approachable for 90% of players, but I miss some of the weird complicated builds you could make under the more complex ruleset.
@@Michael-bn1oi it's definitely the right move, but it just doesn't speak to the numbers nerd in me the same way. I've been spending way less time on character creation and optimization and more time playing the actual game. I definitely get it, even if I miss all the extra fiddly bits.
While War Caster is good on paper, it’s a scam feat in 90% of cases. You almost always are better off taking Resilient Constitution in its place. All concentration rolls go off of constitution anyways and you now also get proficiency in all cons saving throws outside of just maintaining concentration. On top of this you get a +1 to your con which if your con was on an odd number prior to ex. 15->16 you now have higher health and a higher chance on maintaining concentration anyway. I believe Resilient concentration is a must on all clerics especially those like War/Tempest/Light domain where you can just walk at enemies with spirit guardians active and when they attempt to flee from you, you get free opportunity attacks while lowering their movement and it’s almost impossible for them to break your concentration.
Resilient (Con) is also a good option for casters for protecting your concentration. It gives a similar boost as the advantage from War Caster (average expected result is about the same at +3 PB or slightly higher at +4, though the skewed distribution of advantage compared to a straight d20 does make War Caster more reliable for low-DC concentration saves), with the added benefits of that same boost being applied to *all* Con saves, not just for concentration. You also of course have the benefits the +1 Con can add to your stat array, which would be pitted against the Shocking Grasp opportunity attack in the comparison. Which is better depends on your playstyle, but a lot of casters would prefer not to be close enough to make opportunity attacks in the first place.
In the past we would combine things like Polearm Master and Sentinel, to prevent monsters that were heavily dependent on melee attacks but lacked the reach of a polearm from getting into their melee range. No idea if it works in this game but this was one of the best feat synergies available in fifth edition D&D.
