Tactician "Difficulty"

[Domreill]

Anyone else feel like their idea of a harder game is just a cheating DM?

[Revan619]

It is just the same with a few +2s, extra health and the intellect devours have a ranged attack. I have not really noticed much else

[Domreill]

You haven't noticed that enemies seem to roll uncommonly high for attack rolls? The frequency of enemy critical hits? Adding Disadvantage to player actions just because? It doesn't feel like a harder difficulty, it just feels like a DM cheating.

[Farsha]

Originally posted by Domreill:

You haven't noticed that enemies seem to roll uncommonly high for attack rolls? The frequency of enemy critical hits? Adding Disadvantage to player actions just because? It doesn't feel like a harder difficulty, it just feels like a DM cheating.

Nope I have not and even if it was true, game is still easy on tactician, if you know the game rules.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by Domreill:

You haven't noticed that enemies seem to roll uncommonly high for attack rolls? The frequency of enemy critical hits? Adding Disadvantage to player actions just because? It doesn't feel like a harder difficulty, it just feels like a DM cheating.

If some enemies get improved critical because of difficulty then it will double the likelihood of their critical hits. If enemies get better AC then you will miss more. If certain rules are added to disadvantage player - then it's "going against the odds".

Not sure what of that is cheating? You chose it to be more difficult and that was provided. Granted - I'm also not a big fan on the RNG deciding everything and 2-3 bad rolls meaning a TPK, but that's what it is in DnD. If you don't feel it fair because of the rolls - I don't think Tactician is what you'll enjoy playing.

[Orion Invictus]

If a DM doesn't show you the rolls, he's probably cheating, just FYI. Usually in your favor, but cheating nonetheless.

Tactician does not give enemies higher rolls per se, but it DOES give them higher bonuses.

[Darkstorm76]

It would be nice to have a hard mode, I didn't really notice the difference between balanced and tactician, just a few more HP and some ability's but when you know 5e it's still very easy.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

If a DM doesn't show you the rolls, he's probably cheating, just FYI. Usually in your favor, but cheating nonetheless.

Tactician does not give enemies higher rolls per se, but it DOES give them higher bonuses.

To help with that: https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/717
You can hover over any checks in the log and see what was rolled. "But was it fairly rolled" - you never know, it's not TT where you roll a physical die. So if we're on that level of distrust - I say there's no helping it, it's simpler to just not play.

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by id795078477:

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

If a DM doesn't show you the rolls, he's probably cheating, just FYI. Usually in your favor, but cheating nonetheless.

Tactician does not give enemies higher rolls per se, but it DOES give them higher bonuses.

To help with that: https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/717
You can hover over any checks in the log and see what was rolled. "But was it fairly rolled" - you never know, it's not TT where you roll a physical die. So if we're on that level of distrust - I say there's no helping it, it's simpler to just not play.

You can definitely know, if you know your statistics and are willing to put in the work. Or you can just use logic and reason and understand that there's no benefit for the devs to rig the game against the player like this when they can literally just up the enemies' stats.

Yes, I know you're not saying it, just adding my reply to the usual complain about pseudo RNG.

[id795078477]

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Originally posted by id795078477:

To help with that: https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/717
You can hover over any checks in the log and see what was rolled. "But was it fairly rolled" - you never know, it's not TT where you roll a physical die. So if we're on that level of distrust - I say there's no helping it, it's simpler to just not play.

You can definitely know, if you know your statistics and are willing to put in the work. Or you can just use logic and reason and understand that there's no benefit for the devs to rig the game against the player like this when they can literally just up the enemies' stats.

Yes, I know you're not saying it, just adding my reply to the usual complain about pseudo RNG.

There's no logic or reason for devs to do it - it's a fair point... if not for the context given. I can perfectly see them fiddling with rolls on higher difficulty without telling it to players to "make it feel more difficult".

You can also fiddle it in a way that's incredibly hard to test statistically. Say, case 1 of fiddling - you make it so that monsters never roll below 10. That one will be clear as day after even one playthough. And case 2 of fiddling: you make it progressively likely for monsters to roll better numbers. Say, not linear 1/20 distribution, but stuff like 1/30 for 1s, 1/15 for 20s and then maybe gradient in-between. Good luck finding that out and "proving" even after 100 of playthroughs.

And then there's another giant elephant in the room - even if they don't fiddle (I personally don't think they do) - there could be just .. bugs. You're right in the argument that they have no reason to do it intentionally. But unintentionally? Oh.. that's a whole can of worms.

[wendigo211]

Originally posted by Domreill:

You haven't noticed that enemies seem to roll uncommonly high for attack rolls? The frequency of enemy critical hits? Adding Disadvantage to player actions just because? It doesn't feel like a harder difficulty, it just feels like a DM cheating.

If you're talking about the Doppelgangers it's a display bug, they have an ability that gives enemies disadvantage the first round fighting them. It's not disadvantage because it's tactician difficulty despite what the game displays.

I can't really comment on the rolls, the RNG seems streaky to me, but I haven't bothered to gather statistics and I'd need a lot of them to check. While it's often confirmation bias, I can also think of a few examples where the RNG wasn't working correctly and the devs had to patch it (e.g. Neverwinter Nights, Mordheim, Blackguards). Contrary to what people think pseudorandom number generation isn't an easy thing, where you just use the standard library RNG and call it a day; If you're using the standard RNG in any c-variant language, you can't call the results of your RNG random.

[Solvem Probler]

There is no cheating. Wanna see a cheating DM, play Wrath of the Righteous.

[Revan619]

Originally posted by Domreill:

You haven't noticed that enemies seem to roll uncommonly high for attack rolls? The frequency of enemy critical hits? Adding Disadvantage to player actions just because? It doesn't feel like a harder difficulty, it just feels like a DM cheating.

Yeah I saw sometimes it adds disadvantage to attack but I always build to get around that. Risky ring for a rogue. Relentless attack for a barbarian or using a crowd control ability to ignore it from a cleric or bard.

[SQUARE-SOFT]

really? it seems like damage is halved on tact mode
my lvl 12 barb with 20 str only does like 25 dmg with the giant slayer sword from ansur

[Mithrals]

wow, welcome to ALL GAMES DOES THIS!

[SQUARE-SOFT]

Originally posted by Mithrals:

wow, welcome to ALL GAMES DOES THIS!

are you responding to me?
i made this comment because i didnt see anyone else mention if theres a dmg nerf on tact mode
i dont recall seeing that condition when chosing difficulty