this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)

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Hey all,

Can anyone recommend a good guide that describes the mechanics of the sorcerer? I'm not looking for a build guide but rather something that explains stuff like spell slots and sorcery points and what your choices are during level up (what learning new spells and forgetting old one does). I had some weird behaviour during level up from lvl 2 to 3 which I'm trying to understand...

TIA

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[–] DaCookeyMonsta@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You could look up the DnD 5e rules for Sorcerer, it's made the same way.

Sorcerers have known spells which are all the spells they can cast, and they can cast them with spell slots. It takes a level 2 spell slot to cast a level 2 spell, but a level 1 spell can be cast with a level 1 or level 2 spell slot.

Sorcerers don't prepare spells, they just know them, but they can swap one out at level up, plus they learn more with level ups.

Sorcery points are used for metamagic, which allows you to modify spells depending on what the metamagic is.

I haven't played sorcerer in BG3 do I'm not sure if they add or change anything from base 5e, but checking the 5e info should be a start.

[–] shadeless@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Thanks, this sounds pretty much how it is in the game.

I think my problem is with understanding the swapping at level up. As I was (trying) to describe in my other comment, during level up I learned a new spell "x". Then I was trying to swap in spell "y" without "forgetting" another spell first, because the game let me do this. I thought that I gained a new spell slot so that's why I didnt have to forget another spell, but after level up, spell "y" wasn't available.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 5 points 2 years ago

You get to do two things,

  1. Swap a known spell for a new one. Basically forgetting the old. This is optional and done once per level.
  2. Learn a new spell. This is mandatory and doesn't require forgetting one.
[–] JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

I’m also not a D&D player so the rules were new to me as well, but yes you need to forget a spell to learn a new one.

Then you can’t use it but next time you level up you can re learn it (forgetting another one) or I believe also learning it as the new spell.

[–] Proofofnothing@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

When you level up, you gain new spells and have the option of switching out an old spell. Some level 1 spells like sleep are great at low levels but become obsolete later on, so you may consider a different level 1 spell with more utility later in the game.

[–] holiday@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

One of the common misunderstandings with 5e is that slots != spells. Slots mark how many spells at that level you can cast before long rest.

So if you have 5 known spells, 3 level 1 spell slots and a level 2 spell slot, all your spells could be level 1 spells.

Alternatively, you could have all level 2 spells and only be able to cast one of them once.

I hope this helps.

[–] shadeless@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

You are right, I've been playing some more today (and leveling up once more) and one thing I misunderstood was that I thought a spell slot is fixed to one specific spell. So once I figured out that this wasn't the case, everything made a lot more sense (for example creating spell slots with sorcery points).

So thanks for confirming :)

[–] Rouxibeau@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Right. Some other editions and systems locked the slot to the spell like a bullet in a revolver. Once it's loaded, there are no changes.

5e and thus BG3 are more free than that.

[–] Slade357@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

You can try reading through the 5e players handbook or googling whatever you aren't understanding followed by 5e. For example "spellcasting 5e" will explain spell slots, ritual spells, learning new spells, and preparing spells in the easiest way they can. 5e means 5th edition and is the version of DND the game is based on.

Some other quick tips, most classes know a lot of spells but can't prepare them all, you can change your prepared spells at any time outside combat. A ritual spell can be cast for free without using a spell slot outside of combat.

[–] JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

High jacking this post a bit, any recommendations for the best cantrips for Sorcerers? It’s my first time playing a DnD game and it seems like they are all quite shit.

For some reason the fire one keeps missing or making low damage so now I’m mostly using the ice one. (Lvl4 atm).

Also is there a possibility to change them at some point?

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Cantrips in D&D tend to be kind of shitty (ie miss often or do little damage) until your character has a high casting stat or high proficiency. Unless you get decent items, that's probably going to happen at higher levels.

Leveled spells are often more effective, but burn spell slots, so you need to manage resources.

[–] JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Indeed. But I’m getting the hang of it and also getting some items which means I will probably not need to use cantrips anymore

[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Nice! I just grabbed BG3, so I'm looking forward to trying it out.

[–] JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Oh man you are in for a blast

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Check if they say something about being an attack versus something like "DEX save". Attack ones roll against armor class. The other ones use the targets save. If you know multiple it is worth having one be an attack and another against a save. This is because some heavily armored enemies may have had saving throws. This will come up WAY more often than varied damage resists or vulnerabilities.

[–] JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

That makes sense

I’ll look it up and maybe read a bit more on it. I’m sure it all is logical, I just don’t have all the info. In DOS 2 this was a bit more clear but like I said I haven’t played DnD before.

I also picked up some staff today that boosted my stats so that should help.

Thanks!!

[–] Proofofnothing@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

Sorcs have spells known and casts per day. For example, at level 2, a typical sorc would know 4 cantrips (weaker spells with unlimited casts per day) and likely 4 level 1 spells (2 that you start with, 1 from your sorcerer subclass, and 1 that you gained from leveling up.) At this point, you only have 3 casts of level 1 spells per day.

At level 2, you will also have 2 sorcery points which can be used in different ways. You can use these points for metamagic, which improves your spell for in different ways, (for example, a twinned spell [which is one of the best uses of metamagic] will cost 1 sorcery point and allows you to essentially cast two of a same spell at once). So you could twin 2 of your three level 1 spells. You can also spend sorcery points to replenish your casts per day at the cost of spell level +1 . If you want to replenish a level 1 spell use, it costs 2 points. In the futute to replenish a level 2 slot, it costs 3 points, etc. You will gain sorcery points as you level up which will eventually get you more flexibility.

Anyway sorry for the long write up, i hope that explains the core of it. Just some siggestions though, your most important stat is your charisma and your spell save dc (this is what enemies need to beat to avoid your slell effects). Thus it is essential that you max out charisma as you need it to help most spells hit the enemy and affect them.

At the beginning, your crowd control spells won't be as affective until your spell dc goes up a bit. Tbh you will likely feel underpowered compared to a fighter or melee class as they seem very strong this far. However, if you rest a lot, then sorcs can absolutely be powerful as you will be able to dish out a lot of spells in short succession with thinga like haste and twinned spells, especially when you hit level 5 or 6.