Finding bg3 very difficult so far. I don’t want to be slavishly following a walkthrough but I’ve never played a game like this before and there’s just so much.
Even walkthroughs aren’t really helpful ‘cause they’re like “you can move a thing to do whatever” and I’m like… great! How do I move things? I do not know yet! “Make a barricade so you can—” woah there I’ve managed to shoot an arrow from high ground ONCE. Dial it back for me PLEASE
Alright protips from a cRPG veteran who is not particularly good at games. Quicksave is your friend. Use it often. I don't know why games went away from the original bg convention of binding quicksave to Q but the good news is it can be rebound in the settings.
Don't worry about missing stuff, except for the companion quests. Do not miss the companion quests.
You don't need to use the environment to beat the game: just make sure the enemy doesn't use it on you. Keep a reasonable distance from cliffs and stand right next to walls when fighting enemies that have strong pushing abilities. Most bosses are gonna take multiple tries. Your first attempt isn't to win, it's to learn what the boss and its minions will do to you. In general, enemies will use their abilities in roughly the same order on each attempt. Their strategies aren't gonna change much: yours can.
Usually the best thing to kill is whatever's easiest to kill. If the boss gives you an opportunity, take it, otherwise just gun down the schmucks.
If you know an ambush is coming, you can attack an ambushing enemy if you can spot them with your eyes, even if your party fails their perception checks. Slowly move your mouse over where you know the enemy is: often it'll let you select them.
Volo will give you the ability to see invisibility if you let him help you with your tadpole. Drop everyone from your party when you do it, near as I can tell they all disapprove.
Keep a couple acid vials handy, if you know where an invisible enemy is but they're still invisible you can reveal them by throwing acid on them. You can detect invisible enemies by seeing what walkable areas you can't walk on.
You can swap casters out for other casters when they run out of spell slots. Don't be stingy with your spell slots.
Don't sweat on not having someone to deal with everything in the party at all times, you can usually get whoever you need from camp anyway.
It's worth having 2 frontliners most of the time.
The friendly AI is atrocious and should never be relied on. If you have the option to have someone join you directly, do it. Using the non-lethal damage feature to knock your allies unconscious is not a terrible idea. Abilities that limit their movement can also be useful. Strong characters can sometimes throw them around.
The only hit point that matters is the last one. Healing in battle is about keeping people up, not keeping people healthy.
Death is a minor inconvenience, as long as someone's alive.
You can move things by holding left click on them and moving the mouse. Make sure you use strong characters for this. Don't worry about missing stuff if it didn't show up in the quest journal.
Tanky Tav is probably the best way to go as far as making the game easier, the cast is really thin on tanky characters. Don't feel forced to play one though.
Character-specific strategies: Astarion: Hide with your bonus action, then use sneak attack. If you fail the hide, you can still sneak attack enemies if they're fighting your other party members (even though you don't have advantage). Advantage is always Astarion's friend since he only gets one attack per turn, but it's a HEFTY attack. Arcane Trickster has some fun options, but Thief's probably gonna be the most useful option for the second bonus action.
Gale: He is squishy, do not let him near the enemy. Firebolt is basically always better than weapon attacks. Counterspell is amazing and is basically always worth spending to block any spell that's gonna hit multiple party members (note how many targets the game says the spell is cast on). Remember he needs to be able to see the enemy spellcaster. Big AOE spells like fireball are usually my go-to: remember, you can place the center behind the enemies so that the enemies will be on the edge of the area and friendlies in melee with them will be unaffected. Diviner and Invoker are good subclasses, but beware: although invoker says it makes his evocation spells not hurt allies, this only applies to party members.
Halsin: I missed his recruitment :(
Jaheira: Druids are either a powerful frontline class (by turning into an Owlbear) or a dangerous full caster, but they can only be one at a time. Remember that you've still got all of your normal HP after your wildshape HP, so don't be afraid to soak up all kinds of damage. You aren't invincible, but you're pretty close. Whether you want to start as an Owlbear on the frontline or a backline caster raining AOE spells will depend on the fight. I went circle of the land for extra spells, and that worked pretty well. Wall of Fire is really good on her.
Karlach: Improving armor class is really hard for Barbarians, but getting damage resistance is easier. IIRC in the Githyanki Creche you can acquire the Skinburster Halberd through either trading or killing and looting, and that Halberd is absolutely massive for her. I went beast totem - eagle heart to get advantage for other melee characters.
Lae'zel: Her damage output can be insane with the Githyanki-specific weapons from her quest, but there aren't a lot of good ways to improve her survivability. Use her abilities early, while she's still upright enough to use them. Battlemaster's a great subclass for her to amp up that early blitzkrieg even more. Also fun fact: after using Disarming strike you can pick up the enemy's dropped weapon to keep them disarmed permanently.
Minsc: his stat distribution is BLASPHEMY. 12 strength? 15 wisdom? That ain't the Minsc I know. After respecing him to 18/16/16/8/8/8 from Withers, I found he could be pretty decent with Dual Wield fighting style + Dual Wielder feat. Bonus points if you use the Defender Flail (Githyanki Creche, same place as the Skinburster) as an off-hand option for the extra damage resistance, and take Ranger Knight for the heavy armour options.
Minthara: I killed her.
Shadowheart: She's a 5e cleric, which means she is far and away the most powerful companion. Don't think of her as just a healer, Guiding Bolt and Inflict Wounds are arguably the two best offensive spells in the game. She's all about balancing between healing and blasting. Don't worry about getting more offensive spells, Guiding Bolt, Inflict Wounds, and Spirit Guardians are mostly all you need and the rest can be supportive spells. Also use Turn Undead whenever you're fighting undead. Summon Planar Ally is a really good summon spell too. Also: she is not a frontliner, she is a caster. Use her as a caster.
Wyll: Take the invocation that lets Eldritch Blast push people: pushing people away from squishy casters is rarely not useful. He gets his spell slots back after a short rest and you're gonna short rest before or after most serious fights, so don't worry about saving them. All his stuff is upcast automatically, so pick spells that upcast well (Witch Bolt and Scorching Ray are good). Eldritch invocations that give you spells are rarely that useful IMO, especially if those spells are tied to warlock spell slots. Also he's really good at counterspelling. His rapier and pact weapon abilities are rarely useful, he's a ranged caster.
That's the best reference I've got for you. Remember that none of this advice is compulsory, but all of it should be effective.
If you need help with any specific part, let me know!
