let's talk about Flind the Gnoll

[Buzzerker]

Ran into this Gnoll 'WARLORD' with 56 hitpoints and a small army of other Gnoll 'Warriors' along with a pack of Hyenas. I took a shortcut but only 2 members of my party were able to jump through these fallen boulders into a cave and come out behind two human warriors defending against these creatures at the mouth of the cave.

I initiated combat after taking gold from the leader of the two to help him fight the Gnoll Warlord BOSS and his minions, then I come to find out that this jacked up game cut out two of my party members that are still at the entrance to the fallen boulder shortcut that I had already traversed with my character and that Githyaki 'Dragon Rider' wanker.

Anyhow, there's 4 of us, which I figure the game limits the player to in any combat up to this point as far as I know about this game, two are my party members that I can control and the other two are weak whipping boy NPC's and they get killed fast although they do some damage for me.

Come to find out the Gnoll Warlord Boss has a flail that can beat the living crap out of my characters with ONE ATTACK but hits THREE TIMES IN A ROW, devastating for one attack.

with the two NPC's dead I get the attackers down to the Warlord Boss and his sidekick that only has 20 hitpoints, but that Warlord wipes out my two characters even though I get him down to 12 hitpoints. He heals up completely back to 56 when I switch back to the two characters that couldn't follow through the short cut into the caves.

So I take on the two remaining Gnolls with my Wizard and my Cleric and I win, I revive my two other characters and camp, the loot is so sparse it disgusts the living hell out of me.

When I camp I run into a DEVIL that wants the souls of my characters to remove the tadpole and all I can think of is wtf? I just survived my first boss at level 3 in the wonkiest combat I've ever been through in any RPG and now I have to put up with this ridiculous nonsense?

I like the story in this game, I like the cutscenes, but the combat is wonky and borderliine moronic. Solasta's combat is polished and defined by comparison but it doesn't have the cutscenes, the graphics or the story so it's kinda weird. it's like two games made from two different companies that have the best and the worst in each game.

Combat in BG3 at this stage of the game's development is bad, it's bad, it needs work.

The combat is actually still BUGGY. As in very buggy. 60 dollars for an RPG with buggy as hell wonky combat.

[mitchincredible]

Be careful, if you do a critique of combat and don't use precise language to explain exactly the precise issue (or if people don't bother to read clarification) they'll just do the NPC response of: "Skill issue" or "Git gud"

Don't expect a decent discussion on the broad topic of combat.

[Kyutaru]

I didn't have a hard time with Flind. The first time I saw him attack, it was a shocker that I took as a fluke. Second time it was clear he was a threat that needed to be neutralized. But I focused down his allies, did the combat on the hill, kept yeeting him off the mountainside with shove to waste his action on Dash, and hit him Ray of Enfeeblement and Bane. This is a fight where I considered using consumables to win, which is not bad combat -- it's GOOD combat because it made me actually have to think outside the box. But I ultimately didn't need any consumables because abusing the terrain was sufficient enough.

To which I wonder... did you even have a frontline tank or a healer? If not, I can see why you find it rough. But having an enemy heal to full will happen more than just this one time so better get used to it and plan to take down more health than the bar suggests.

[Recjawjind]

Loot is sparse?

That's a +2 weapon that heals you on hit.

That's the opposite of sparse, that's bonkers (if you can reliably hit with it, like when playing a barb)

[Jinkaru]

I'd say count your blessings that Yeenoghu is not there but, it seems to have the same outcome lol.

[Buzzerker]

I fought this Flind Gnoll two other times from two different directions and got wiped out both times, then I try this third way by actually entering the cave system from behind and instead of coming out of it with six combatants being able to control the two NPC's as well, I only have TWO CHARACTERS at a time to fight with and....THEY DIE. So did the A.I. Controlled NPC's. As I indicated, yeah, I won the combat eventually in a wonky dorky way but it still is what it is and it's not cool at all.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Jinkaru:

I'd say count your blessings that Yeenoghu is not there but, it seems to have the same outcome lol.

Honestly, Yeenoghu seems like a good challenge for a 12th level party in this game.
Hope he's in the game.

[Buzzerker]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Loot is sparse?

That's a +2 weapon that heals you on hit.

That's the opposite of sparse, that's bonkers (if you can reliably hit with it, like when playing a barb)

It's a martial weapon with lame damage and it can drive your character crazy. SOOOoooo, there's that. Gnolls are already crazy so they don't even notice. In the hands of a Gnoll warlord it can hit three times in a single attack but probably not in the hands of any of my characters. Unless you have used it for a while, seen it and can tell me different.

[Gingermonkey]

If you focus him immediately, and whittle him down quick, you can use the tadpole to make him go berserk and fight his own troops (or if you're feeling evil, make him eat himself alive). Theres almost always an alternate way to approach tough fights in this game, you just have to search and experiment.

[Jinkaru]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Originally posted by Jinkaru:

I'd say count your blessings that Yeenoghu is not there but, it seems to have the same outcome lol.

Honestly, Yeenoghu seems like a good challenge for a 12th level party in this game.
Hope he's in the game.

He'd make a great encounter but, for a level 20 party. Since Yeenoghu is more than just Yeenoghu, you have to deal with his exarch and the Pale King alongside him. You'd also need to fight him in the abyss on a fortress in the sand carried by the backs of thousands of slaves.
Still, it'd be awesome.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Buzzerker:

It's a martial weapon with lame damage and it can drive your character crazy. SOOOoooo, there's that. Gnolls are already crazy so they don't even notice.

That bad boi goin STRAIGHT on karlach

Honestly, I haven't had much time with it thusfar, and haven't put it on a barb yet, but if your barbs the only person upfront, I don't super care about them going mad, and they are unlikely to miss because its a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ +2

Honestly that thing should prolly be legendary rarity.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Jinkaru:

He'd make a great encounter but, for a level 20 party. Since Yeenoghu is more than just Yeenoghu, you have to deal with his exarch and the Pale King alongside him. You'd also need to fight him in the abyss on a fortress in the sand carried by the backs of thousands of slaves.
Still, it'd be awesome.

I reckon, a 12th level party in this game could give a level 20 party a run for their money. You get so many crazy homebrew rules stacked in your favor, it's absurd. Like... quad fireball sorc. Triple disintegrate. ♥♥♥♥ like that

[Buzzerker]

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Originally posted by Buzzerker:

It's a martial weapon with lame damage and it can drive your character crazy. SOOOoooo, there's that. Gnolls are already crazy so they don't even notice.

That bad boi goin STRAIGHT on karlach

Honestly, I haven't had much time with it thusfar, and haven't put it on a barb yet, but if your barbs the only person upfront, I don't super care about them going mad, and they are unlikely to miss because its a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ +2

Honestly that thing should prolly be legendary rarity.

Hmm, REALLY? so you think it's a all that and a bag of Doritos? I'll have to try it out on this goofy wonky fested combat with a scum save of course to back me up. lol

[Kyutaru]

Originally posted by Buzzerker:

I fought this Flind Gnoll two other times from two different directions and got wiped out both times, then I try this third way by actually entering the cave system from behind and instead of coming out of it with six combatants being able to control the two NPC's as well, I only have TWO CHARACTERS at a time to fight with and....THEY DIE. So did the A.I. Controlled NPC's. As I indicated, yeah, I won the combat eventually in a wonky dorky way but it still is what it is and it's not cool at all.

See I never even went into the cave. I saw two people fighting them as distractions, expendable and useful. Sun Tzu says to divide and conquer your foes, so when half the gnolls want to shoot at some obscured men in the dark cave and the other half want to rip my party's faces off, that's excellent division. Heck I didn't even need to deal with the boss for the first few rounds because I engaged from the top of the cliff and he was confused about how to even reach me.

Your problem was you saw the NPCs as allies instead of what they actually are -- bait.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Buzzerker:

Hmm, REALLY? so you think it's a all that and a bag of Doritos? I'll have to try it out on this goofy wonky fested combat with a scum save of course to back me up. lol

There are practically no effects in 5e that heal on hit (with the exception of the vampiric touch spell)
Put this bad boi on a wild heart (totem) barb and the health is worth twice as much because well, they resistant to every damage type other than psychic

They can swing twice, recklessly, at level 5, meaning that's effectively speaking, 4d6 healing per round. That's insane.

They also only need to hit once to avoid the madness.

And to top it all off, its a +2. Which by itself is already a rare quality item.

Edit: I'll ofc replace it when I find an even better, even wilder item for her, but for the earlygame, it'll get me monsterous sustain.

[Remiwinks]

Originally posted by Buzzerker:

Originally posted by Recjawjind:

Loot is sparse?

That's a +2 weapon that heals you on hit.

That's the opposite of sparse, that's bonkers (if you can reliably hit with it, like when playing a barb)

It's a martial weapon with lame damage and it can drive your character crazy. SOOOoooo, there's that. Gnolls are already crazy so they don't even notice. In the hands of a Gnoll warlord it can hit three times in a single attack but probably not in the hands of any of my characters. Unless you have used it for a while, seen it and can tell me different.

This is where you need to be careful on how you word whats wonk about combat in a game like dnd. there is tons of ways to deal with this encounter.
1) As other have stated they used the terrain to toss him across him off the cliff taking tons of fall damage.
2) Command Spell - You can use Command to force him to DROP his weapon and then you can pick it up before his can making him only able to use basic melee attack.
3) Hold Person Spell - Using Hold person will allow your Highest Melee dps to get a crit on him and you can NUKE him down before he has a chance to go off on your party.
4) Ilithid Powers - You can trigger a dialag with him and command him to kill his own pact mates. While he is doing this you can hurt him too making the fight even easier.

There is always 1-5 Different solution to every combat you just need to think outside the box sometimes or plan your encounter going into.