Order of Alert and War Caster

[Senkoau]

So after people said I shouldn't take ritual caster talk to animals (I asked for advice and I'm taking it) I looked into their recommendations resillient isn't bad but there's an amulet I can find later that'll give me 23 con and since feats are rare I decided to get war caster, alert and something. The question I'd appreciate help with here is the order of taking those feats. I'm thinking Alert first as its +5 to initiative which since they decided to make the initiative die d4 is a huge bonus. Especially as I don't have many concentration spells now (mostly out of combat ones like detect thoughts) and then war caster at 8th level to get advantage on concentration checks. +3 and increasing bonus to them is nice but I think rolling two dice which be more help in avoiding a lost spell. 3 + 3 is still 6 but 3 and 16 is a 16.

Thoughts and advice appreciated which order should I these two feats?

[Kafik]

If you want more story than Animal Speaking -> Warcaster -> Alert. Although you can make / find a ton of potions for animal speaking. In my experience War Caster is better earlier in the game and then Alert is great as the game goes later and the fights get bigger or you have more bosses.

[Senkoau]

Originally posted by Mal:

If you want more story than Animal Speaking -> Warcaster -> Alert. Although you can make / find a ton of potions for animal speaking. In my experience War Caster is better earlier in the game and then Alert is great as the game goes later and the fights get bigger or you have more bosses.

The general response I got was the same thing you said about there being a lot of animal speaking potions and they last till a long rest. If i run out I can respec for that feat but right now I'm relying on them. I also have Kargach with beast speaking ability as she's a beastbarian so I can use her if needed.

So war caster should be my level 4 you say interesting.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by Senkoau:

So after people said I shouldn't take ritual caster talk to animals (I asked for advice and I'm taking it) I looked into their recommendations resillient isn't bad but there's an amulet I can find later that'll give me 23 con and since feats are rare I decided to get war caster, alert and something. The question I'd appreciate help with here is the order of taking those feats. I'm thinking Alert first as its +5 to initiative which since they decided to make the initiative die d4 is a huge bonus. Especially as I don't have many concentration spells now (mostly out of combat ones like detect thoughts) and then war caster at 8th level to get advantage on concentration checks. +3 and increasing bonus to them is nice but I think rolling two dice which be more help in avoiding a lost spell. 3 + 3 is still 6 but 3 and 16 is a 16.

Thoughts and advice appreciated which order should I these two feats?

War caster is unnecessary if you're set on usin the Amulet of Greater health, since it sets your CON to 23 AND gives advantage on CON saves, just as War caster gives Advantage on Concentration checks. Actually, Resilient CON would be better if you're using the amulet, because then you would have proficiency AND advantage, which is really strong.

Also, while Alert is great and Resilient CON is great, remember to increase your spell casting stat to 20. That should be done in all cases. Also, you can have elixir that gives the same benefits as Alert. While they are not as plentiful as some other elixirs, it's an option.

I just remembered too, that there is an elixir that gives advantage on concentration checks. So my suggestion would be, assuming you have 3 opportunities for feats or stat increases, take Resilient CON and two stat increases for your spell casting stat. Then you can take an elixir to buff your concentration checks or initiative.

Here is a list of elixirs in the game, if you're interested.
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Elixirs

[insolent1]

If you are not using many concentration spells, increasing your primary stat to 20 is best thing to do.
There are enough ingredients to make +40 speak with animal potions in chapter 1 so ignore that.
Alert while nice is not essential as you should start with 16dex which should have you high enough for most combat early and later you get equipment to boost even higher.
Take warcaster later, 20 int/cha/wis is big help early game.

[Senkoau]

Not set so much if I find another amulet that would be better for my wizard I'd use it but it was in a wizard build so I didn't think there was likely to be much better for me. I started with 14 dex and 17 int. I come from pathfinder so I was expecting to be able to increase them by levelling as it were. Live and learn.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by Senkoau:

Not set so much if I find another amulet that would be better for my wizard I'd use it but it was in a wizard build so I didn't think there was likely to be much better for me. I started with 14 dex and 17 int. I come from pathfinder so I was expecting to be able to increase them by levelling as it were. Live and learn.

I prefer to use the amulet that boosts my cantrip damage (the one that adds your spell casting bonus to damage rolls) on wizards and sorcerers.

And if you haven't yet fought the Hag, there is a way to get a +1 to any stat from her ;) So you could do: 17 INT, +1 to INT from HAG, +2 from level 4 and then have two feats at levels 8 and 12 to take what you want (like war caster and alert, both).

[Senkoau]

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

Originally posted by Senkoau:

Not set so much if I find another amulet that would be better for my wizard I'd use it but it was in a wizard build so I didn't think there was likely to be much better for me. I started with 14 dex and 17 int. I come from pathfinder so I was expecting to be able to increase them by levelling as it were. Live and learn.

I prefer to use the amulet that boosts my cantrip damage (the one that adds your spell casting bonus to damage rolls) on wizards and sorcerers.

And if you haven't yet fought the Hag, there is a way to get a +1 to any stat from her ;) So you could do: 17 INT, +1 to INT from HAG, +2 from level 4 and then have two feats at levels 8 and 12 to take what you want (like war caster and alert, both).

I'm aware of that but not planning to use that approach

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by Senkoau:

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

I prefer to use the amulet that boosts my cantrip damage (the one that adds your spell casting bonus to damage rolls) on wizards and sorcerers.

And if you haven't yet fought the Hag, there is a way to get a +1 to any stat from her ;) So you could do: 17 INT, +1 to INT from HAG, +2 from level 4 and then have two feats at levels 8 and 12 to take what you want (like war caster and alert, both).

I'm aware of that but not planning to use that approach

Hm, then I might suggest, if you don't respec your stats with Withers, to take at level 4 +1 to INT and CON, and then at level 8 take Resilient CON, and then at 12 cap INT to 20.

[Vukmir]

You can respec, so don't worry about resilient/amulet interaction if you're early in game.

Alert is pretty useful, +5 to initiative is always nice and not getting surprised is insanely useful if it's your first time. Mostly would suggest this for low dex fighters but yeah definitely not wasted.

In my experience war caster felt meh. In this game it's really easy to break or get broken out of concentration, so your main tactic should be avoiding save rolls for it all together (like hiding, running away, bunkering etc. in short; not getting hit). Resilient at least gives you constitution with it. And when you get the amulet you can respec to another feat.

[Senkoau]

I think then I'll increaes int to 19, take alert at 8th and respec/speend the last feat on something else as need be. Just have to record all my choices so when I respec I can retake the same ones ecxept the feat.

[Dank Sidious]

Whether Resilient or War caster is better depends on your stat. Resilient is better if you round up from 15 to 16. War caster is better if you have already even con.

The amulet itself is also incompatible with War Caster since War caster gives you advantage on constitution rolls as does the amulet. Resilient gives you proficiency to your con checks and that proficiency does still apply when you are using the amulet, but the combo is a complete overkill.

[Senkoau]

My con is 13 so resilient would move it to 14.

[FunkyMonkey]

If your CON is 13, then I would highly prioritize Resilient over War caster. Advantage when you only have +1 to the roll isn't as good as getting +2 from CON and then adding your proficiency +2/+3/+4 to a total of +6 in the end-game. Especially when there are items and elixirs that can give you advantage when you need it.

[Senkoau]

Good to know. So ability then resilient or alert and then the other just need to decide order still. I'll see how many concentration spells I"m using at 8th level I guess.