this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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I mean, the title is mostly it. I haven’t played DnD for…long enough that I know none of the rules and few of the classes. I didn’t play BG or BG2.

It looks so shiny, but I’m afraid I would just be 100% lost. Can anyone say what it’s like to go in cold?

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

None really. The game will walk you through everything through tool tips and help menus.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd second this as someone who is only lightly aware of 5e. If only I could remember my attribute points before some dialogue choices. Whoops.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At least on pc over over the option and it will show what your roll will be.

Can't see the DC till to late but that's a normal rpttrpg thing

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ahhh ok. I'm using a controller at the moment for accessibility reasons, but I'll definitely look into doing that when I can again! Maybe it'll show if I just idle a couple seconds over the selection

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Press the left stick during dialogue choices and a little window will tell you what stats are used and if you get any boni on the rolls.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's possible to view on the controller as well. I think one of the bumpers maybe? I don't remember exactly sorry but it's definitely possible!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Right on 🤙🏻 I figured there had to be with how accessible the controller options truly are - I haven't been able to check since my initial response. I should get to relatively soon though! Option on the controller is: select --> enable help tools

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

There is a considerable amount of depth to the game, but it's not insurmountable for anyone. You'll have no problem going through the game if you read through tool tips and help pop-ups as they arise. DnD knowledge needed is none at all or negligible at best.

If you do end up playing, I hope you enjoy!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's very user friendly in terms of tooltips, and if you don't make deliberately bad choices during level up (e.g. taking a feat that gives you a cantrip from the Wizard class... that scales off your INT score... while playing a Barbarian with 8 intelligence that can't cast spells while raging) it's fairly difficult to make an unplayably bad character.

There's a few cases where some general knowledge of D&D is helpful, such as knowing to never take True Strike because it's literally worse than just attacking twice and having some knowledge of good builds is useful, since it helps influence level ups. That said, there's also entire categories of actions in BG3 that don't really have an equivalent rule in TTRPG 5e, such as weapon proficiency attacks, so online cookie cutter builds don't capture the full extent of what you can do.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To add to the true strike thing, it is for your next 2 attacks in BG3, so it's actually not super amazingly awful

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I don't think that's true. It lasts two turns, but the description only says "the next attack". And I think the reason it lasts two turns is because the first turn you cast it you'd have already used your action.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

No knowledge of dnd needed, from someone who has no knowledge of dnd and having a grand time

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

It is also helpful to know that if you make any mistakes in you character build, you can respec your class and ability scores very early in the game for a fairly low price. The things that you cannot change are your origin, race or appearance, but these don't have such a great impact (unless you take the Dark Urge origin and find a bit too bloody for your tastes - in which case you have to start over)

Personally, I never played DND but I did play a bunch of RPGs before (such as the Pathfinder games on PC) and I love checking out character build guides. The learning curve of BG3 was pretty smooth for me.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

It is very similar, but you don't need to know anything to start playing. Just a basic understanding of turn based RPGs. The rest will come with playing the intro tutorials.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

As somebody with no knowledge of 5e but some knowledge of 3.5e, it’s been pretty user-friendly. The game goes out of its way to make mechanics pretty easy to grasp. Tooltips can be brought up to and you can go further with any highlighted words in the spell/ability tooltip, so you can look up what “Prone” is when you’re look at the “Trip Attack” tooltip, as an example.

The only knock I have so far is that it doesn’t outline class progression at all, especially since the game apparently does deviate from tabletop rules at times, but that’s more of a QoL thing than anything else.

[–] rolofox 5 points 1 year ago

If you have experience with RPGs that's all you need, the game will walk you thru it as others have said, I've never played d&d and having a good time

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

They put a lot of time into making sure the game would be accessible and fun for new players. Give it a go and I’d wager you’ll have a blast

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I haven't played BG1 or BG2, but so far I haven't felt that BG3 requires prior knowledge in order to understand the story. As for DND knowledge, the only things I know about the game are from the bits and pieces that I glean from watching Critical Role. BG3 is doing a wonderful job filling in the missing pieces of knowledge with really handy tooltips and descriptions of how everything works. If anything, it's probably the most interesting primer to DND I've ever encountered.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

In my opinion, It helps to know the rock bottom basics (like why is this d20 being rolled all the time and what the stats are) but it's certainly not a necessity.