Baldur's Gate 3

[opethdisciple]

 

[Si.]

Just picked this up, what's a good starting class/race for a beginner?

 

[stooeh]

Just picked this up, what's a good starting class/race for a beginner?

Don't think it will matter *too* much since you will running a party most of the time. But to make things simple you probably want a tanky char, one that can heal and some damage dealers. I enjoyed playing the Monk but I hear Bard pretty good for the player char too.

 

[strumpusplunket]

Just picked this up, what's a good starting class/race for a beginner?

While, I don't think the game is super-difficult, there are some systems can frustrate people new to the game and to DND rules in cRPGs.

My vote would go for swords bard (bard, take schools of swords specialism at level 3). This character will use dex and cha as their main stats. You get some nice control spells (hold monster, hypnotising pattern, fear, etc.). Hand crossbows allow you to pump out a lot of damage, especially with the bard's flourishes. And one of the main points in bards' favour - you also get good skills and stats for social interactions (specialise in persuasion, have high cha for casting anyway, using bardic inspirations to reroll social dice).

If you want to think more complex as you level, multi-classing into two levels of fighter and four of rogue later on will also give you extra attacks and extra bonus actions that let you really pump out the hand crossbow damage. You should be more comfortable with the game by that point. You'd go at least first five levels in bard anyway. And sticking with pure bard is still fine too. If you want more controlling magic and less emphasis on ranged damage, lore bard would be a good alternative.

My multi-classed swords bard could basically delete one or two non-boss enemies each round by the end, and also perma-controlled the most difficult late-game boss whilst also pinging enemies with crossbow bolts. Also worked really well as the "face" of the party.

EDIT: oh, for race, I like wood half-elf for the darkvision, movement speed and proficiencies. Duergar is also good as they get free invisibilty at level 5 (I think it's level 5). Or halfling to avoid critical failure rolls.

 

[McPhee]

Just picked this up, what's a good starting class/race for a beginner?

The most straightforward class in the game is Barbarian. You just hit stuff harder than it can hit you back until all of the enemies are dead In conversations, other classes will focus on trying to persuade or deceive the other party into giving them what they want. Some might even be adept at threatening the other party. The Barbarian just screams angrily until everyone agrees that they were right As for race, Half Orc, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, Githyanki and Tiefling all have attributes which complement this class.

But it doesn't really matter that much. If you pick a class and don't like it, you can completely rebuild your character from maybe 1-2 hours into the game. The only thing you can't change is race. You will also start finding companions who cover a lot of the classes, so you're going to get to try out maybe 8 or so classes on your first playthrough (and all of the companions classes can be changed too).

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Race? Half Orc, Wood Elf or Gnome. The Orc has slight advantages in melee combat, the WE is slightly faster and gets a stealth bonus, the Gnome has saving throw bonuses.

After that, to a degree, it’s doesn’t matter as you can respec your character VERY easily (ie everything but race and background).

Now I’ve got used to their take on the 5e rules:
- for pretty much any spell caster, take 1st level as a Fighter or Paladin to allow the use of heavy armour and shield. Post L1, all the other levels as say a Mage, Sorceror
- For a tank, straight fighter
- for stealth, Ranger (gloomy) 5 levels, and Thief Assassin (7)

 

[CGrieves]

Those all sound very optimal. I'm not a "beginner" as such, but I figured as there's a lot of combat in BG games, I'd go with a Human Fighter. The other characters add decent balance when you need specifics, but you'll always need a fighter. I frequently swap Laezel in as two fighters with two attacks per turn (plus bonus) can mince enemies pretty effectively. And given the wealth of magic loot, a fighter can always be tuned to do other roles. In fact, with DEX-modifying items, my lead character has become a fairly effective lockpicker/trap disarmer (both of which you need a LOT in this game) so I find myself using Astarion less.

There is no incorrect choice here though. Just don't build an average/balanced character with 12 in each attribute as it'll be a frustrating gameplay experience. Don't be afraid to pour everything into your prime attribute.

 

[unwashed potato!]

Just picked this up, what's a good starting class/race for a beginner?

personally i'd just go with whatever class you want, and put the game on "easy" mode for your first play through until you're either finished on your first run, or played enough that you understand it all. no harm in that, and i'm certain once you finish you'll want to play it again but with a whole different play style, and now can up the difficulty.

 

[CGrieves]

Don't forget you can change the difficulty at any time during a playthrough. I've never felt the need though- in Balanced mode everything feels possible, but at the same time it's still possible to mess up, and the biggest fights often leave the party banged up, with perhaps a few deaths.

 

[Noxia]

You can change class as well can't you?

 

[StephenJ]

You can change class as well can't you?

Yes you can

 

[Si.]

Ended up going with a Fighter to start with, might multicalss into mage a list elater..

At the moment, I'm a bit lost, just seem to be wandering around aimlessly, not sure if I've missed something or missed some dialogue with a quest.. have 4 in the party, and just came across a church or something with a dungeon in the basement (Fell through a hole in the floor).

 

[unwashed potato!]

Ended up going with a Fighter to start with, might multicalss into mage a list elater..

At the moment, I'm a bit lost, just seem to be wandering around aimlessly, not sure if I've missed something or missed some dialogue with a quest.. have 4 in the party, and just came across a church or something with a dungeon in the basement (Fell through a hole in the floor).

It'll start making sense and a direction will come. I'm pretty sure speaking with your new team would have given some sort of direction.

Anyone else feel envious of the joy this user has coming up? You can only play this game for the first time once.

 

[Kyo]

i wanna play this so bad but i am too tight to buy it full price

 

[mrlizard]

i wanna play this so bad but i am too tight to buy it full price

im 167 hours into my first play through with the wife in coop.. at £57 i would say i feel like ive got my monies worth and she wants to go through it again which was a bit surprising, we played it as good/positive/trying to do the right thing, however she wants to go through it as chaotic evil and watch the world burn, which is new ....

 

[unwashed potato!]

I can never bring myself to play the evil way. I'm missing out I'm sure, but it just feels wrong and I feel guilty having to select the bad choices.

I wonder what happened in the good play through that made your wife decide next time everyone needs to burn

 

[mrlizard]

I can never bring myself to play the evil way. I'm missing out I'm sure, but it just feels wrong and I feel guilty having to select the bad choices.

I wonder what happened in the good play through that made your wife decide next time everyone needs to burn

yes, as i wrote that i started to question it. I usually play as good, however there are a couple of characters that i feel would be evil if you lent into it dont you agree? Tbh the voice acting and story is so good i just want to hear/see more.

 

[Si.]

7 hours in and still feel lost.. I seem to have huge amount of quests to complete and struggling with direction.. Currently in the goblin camp and ended up in the under dark where I get my ass kicked by everything and had to waypoint out of there.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong but every fight I get into I get my ass kicked, spend most of the time just reloading checkpoints

 

[unwashed potato!]

7 hours in and still feel lost.. I seem to have huge amount of quests to complete and struggling with direction.. Currently in the goblin camp and ended up in the under dark where I get my ass kicked by everything and had to waypoint out of there.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong but every fight I get into I get my ass kicked, spend most of the time just reloading checkpoints

Go back to the light. Leave the dark area for later.

Almost all those quests you have will be for before the dark area.

 

[Si.]

I think the number of quests I have is why I have no direction, I don't know which to do and in which order.. so many.. I'm sure I'm missing things