Combat has me completely lost

[MGB | Screaming Internally]

Before I say anything I should point out that I'm completely new to Baldur's Gate and I have very little experience with these types of RPGs in general.

I've been playing this one for a couple of hours, I'm around level 3, and really like the game so far. The story and all the opportunities to roleplay are both great, and the characters seem interesting.

Though so far, my biggest source of frustration has been the combat. I've been trying to pay attention, but can't escape the feeling that I've missed something. The fights seem downright impossible.

Almost every fight so far has been me severely outnumbered, with enemies basically doing at least half health in one go. Then it's finally my turn, and unless I heal my party members in a panic I try to get some damage in, and just end up missing every attack. Even when the chance of hitting is 60% my party members seem to miss more often than not.

I'm currently on the quest to kill the three goblin leaders, and I just don't understand how I'm supposed to do it. I figured the only way that didn't involve me having to fight the entire goblin camp was to separate one of them and fight them alone. The only one this seemed possible with was the priestess (Rut? Rot? Something like that), that I could ask to talk to privately. But even then, she calls for backup and suddenly I'm up against an entire horde.

Is there an obvious solution that I'm not seeing? Am I meant to kill her off instantly so that she can't call for backup? Am I meant to avoid combat at all cost? Am I not meant to take on this quest yet? I assumed it wouldn't be that much of a hazzle since it's one of the first quests I got.

I don't know, I just feel lost and frustrated at this point.

[Dragon Master]

Okay, as you are new I will try to help as much as possible.

1. This game is based on D&D 5E.
2. Proper allocation of stats and using weapons and spells associated with them is crucial.
3. It's okay to leave an area and come back later when you are a higher level.

Now, for the basics.

People like Wyll or Gale should NOT be getting close to enemies. Wyll is a warlock so he should be trying to stay at range and use cantrips like eldritch blast.

AC (armor class) determines how hard you are to hit but does nothing to reduce how much damage you take when you get hit.

If you are using Astarion, he's a rogue so he should fight like one. Use stealth where possible, have a short sword and/or a dagger and a shortbow for range. Try to set up his sneak attack wherever possible.

Shadowheart can be a solid tank and buffer or healer, especially with her ability to invoke duplicity, but replace her mace with a dagger or some other weapon with the finesse property as she'll be more accurate with it because she has higher dexterity than strength.

Combat is all about positioning, knowing when to make attacks or spells that the enemies need to save against.

When it comes to the goblin leaders there are a variety of ways you can handle it.

1. Lead Priestess Guts off to a side room and ambush her there and then deal with each leader one at a time.

2. Agree with Minthara the drow to help and then betray her and fight from a fortified location at the Druid's Grove with the support of the tieflings.

3. Actually help the goblins wipe out the tieflings and the druids.

It may also help you to use potions like haste potions to buff yourself and the party.

[Vixziค็็็็็n]

Dragon always does a good job here so definitely pay attention to the advice there. You almost have to look at it like you would chess only because of initiative it's not guaranteed you will be the first to make a move.

Preparation can be a game changer (Spells, buffs, etc.). Strategy around who you need to eliminate first. Know your parties strengths and weaknesses (ranger have his pet available to add numbers to the party?). Placement can also be key (higher ground, cover, etc.) AoE items / spells/ abilities.

I'm obviously being much more general and perhaps you already know this stuff but I think these are some of the factors that can make or break an encounter. Dragon used some great detailed situations.

[dulany67]

My best advice is read carefully and recognize you need some practice. If you lose a fight, don't try to do the same thing better, try something different.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Need more details about your character, party, and tactics.

A video would be really helpful.

[Yojo0o]

Dragon Master has provided some good general advice.

If you want to talk to us about specifics of your character build, party composition, and tactics, we can break down rule mistakes you may have made or elements you haven't considered.

[MGB | Screaming Internally]

Thanks for the respones, it's appreciated.

Originally posted by Dragon Master:

As for the goblin leader, I did use a stealth attack which didn't do much damage, and seemed to give her the advantage in the resulting fight - which means that she instantly called for backup and I felt like I was screwed lol.

And yeah, I did talk to her to have a private conversation, but she still called for backup as the fight started so that didn't seem to help. Don't know whether or not that's a bug and she's not supposed to be able to do that? I did find that strange. Like, what's the point of asking for a private conversation if it doesn't isolate her from the rest of the goblins? Maybe the room she takes you to is more in your favor when it comes to environmental factors? I don't know.
And about Minthara, that's another idea I had, but as I chose that option, I got this notification about Gale disapproving. So I figured that meant that dialogue option locked me in and I would be forced to fight on the side of the goblins, which I didn't want to do. If I can betray Minthara and the goblins, I'm definitely gonna try that!

Originally posted by Pan Darius Loveless:

Yeah I probably should have included that, but I feel like the issues I'm having is more general, like perhaps misunderstanding how the combat system itself works, rather than it being caused by class/party etc. If it helps, I play as a rogue, with Shadowheart, Gale and Lae'zel in my party. As far as tactics goes, I'm mostly just trying not to die instantly lol. There's been a lot of healing potions, healing spells, and missing my attacks.

[Yojo0o]

Well, as a rogue, are you at 16+ dexterity at level 1? Do you have a decent constitution score, preferably 14+ at level 1? Are you wielding weapons that you're proficient with? Are you wearing at least leather armor, preferably studded leather? Are you making use of sneak attack mechanics as often as possible, preferably every round of combat? Are you making use of your ability to hide as a bonus action between attacks? Are you allowing Lae'zel and, to a lesser extent, Shadowheart the ability to actually draw enemy attention while you flank or snipe?

[Dragon Master]

Some tips for sneak attacks.

They add damage to an attack you make but in this game you have to toggle it when making the attack, and a few factors have to be at play to get the extra damage.

1. You either must have advantage on the attack or the target must be within 5 feet of an ally of the rogue doing the sneak attack.
2. You cannot have disadvantage as that will negate the advantage.

Now, with your party, quick question, which subclass did you choose when you reached level 3?

Since you are playing as a rogue you may want to pick up the mobile feat when you reach level 4. Also dual-wield daggers or short swords. That will let you zoom in and out of melee without fearing attacks of opportunity.

Lae'zel will want to be up close to her. If Gale has the silence spell try to have Guts in there so she can't call out, if she does call out then put Lae'zel in or by the door because it's a bottleneck and have Gale cast Darkness or Grease or something so enemies struggle to get in or can't shoot into the room.

There is an open platform to the side of the side room where you can just jump in and out in the hall, so if possible you can have your rogue in stealth try to position himself to take out goblins from range. With sneak attack your rogue should be able to one-shot most of the goblins as they don't have much health.

This fight has crowd control being king.

Do not be afraid to use short rests and a long rest when you run out of short rests and spell slots.

Lae'zel can heal herself with second wind as a bonus action and Shadowheart can cast shield of faith on Lae'zel to improve her armor and thus make her harder to hit.

Have Gale prepare crowd control spells and use his cantrips for damage. Pick the goblins off one by one using the bottleneck until you take out enough of them that you can rush out yourself (unless you put grease down, then jump over the ledge into the hall) and clean them up.

I'd rest between each goblin leader.

[Ronin Gamer]

Did you go to save the druid and the gobo kids ran out of the room? Because they alert the entire compound and you'll have every single goblin on your *** trying to kill you.
There's a lot of stuff to pay attention to in the world and a number of ways you can go about doing things. Since the game is in Early Access, keep experimenting and see what you can come up with.
Learn through practice. You'll do better as you come to understand things more.

I'd also suggest if you don't have a great understanding of 5e rule set, the rules this game works under, you may wish to look that information up online and get an understanding of stats and skills and how those can impact various things in game both in combat and out of combat.

[Lunduke is the Trump of tech]

Most people think the game is way too easy.
But I can imaginee there are some who thinks its too difficult.
That's why the game needs different difficulty settings at release.
Story/easy mode would be good for OP.

Kinda defeats the point if you are asking people to tell you how to win, it's like using a walkthrough guide.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

• Check to make sure everyone is using weapons they are proficient in (mouse over the weapon, the tooltxt shouldn't have any lines in red)

• Make sure everyone has the highest Armour Class (AC) possible, and is only wearing armour (shields count as armour) they are proficient in. No armour = you need to cast Mage Armour (Wizards and Sorcerers typically) unless you have Unarmoured/Natural Defense (Barbarians and Draconic Sorcerers). Light Armour = leather or studded leather. Medium Armour = Githyanki half-plate or scale mail +1. Heavy armour isn't really worth it right now (no plate mail yet), but there is some magical chain in the game. If you're not using a 2-hd weapon and you have shield proficiency, equip a shield.

• During character creation, check to make sure your main stat (the one you will be attacking with) is at least 16. You can raise it higher later although it's not necessary for EA. Strength can be used for any melee weapon, Dexterity is for finesse melee weapons and bows, all of the mental stats correspond to the different casters. Intelligence for Wizards, Arcane Tricksters, and Eldritch Knights. Wisdom for Clercs, Druids and Rangers. Charisma for Paladins, Sorcerers and Warlocks.

• You can get advantage on your attack rolls in a number of different ways (advantage lets you roll twice and take the higher roll, disadvantage makes you roll twice and take the lower roll). Attacking while stealthed is one way, and attacking a prone character while standing within five ft. of it is another. There are some spells that give advantage as well.

• Attacking from high ground gives a +2 to attack.

• If you have a support character (like Shadowheart), you may consider castig Bless on your party at the start of the battle. It's a concentration spell, and you can only have one concentration based spell active per character at a time, so don't accidentally replace it with a different concentration spell (spell descriptions tell you if the spell is concentration or not). If you take damage you will have to make a Constitution (Concentration) check, so you might want to keep your support Clerc out of direct combat. Bless gives +1d4 (1-4) to attack rolls and saving throws so it's pretty powerful. It will also help you maintain concentration on Bless because concentration checks are saving throws.

• Your casterblasters (Gale, Wyll) should have some AoE spells for dealing with hordes. Burning Hands, Thunderwave, Chromatic Orb, Shatter, Fireball, Hunger of Hadar, etc.

• Control spells are really powerful (Sleep, Grease, Web, Hold Person, Sleet Storm, etc.)

• Finally, look for environmental hazards you can use to inflict misery on your enemies. Falling statues, beams and stones. Explosive barrels. Pitting certain enemies against each other using charm offensives.

• When all else fails, watch gameplay guides on YT.

[MGB | Screaming Internally]

After reading the advice here, I've started to strongly suspect that I just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ suck at this game lol. I'll keep trying and see if I can figure it out.

Thanks for the tips.

[nemO]

Originally posted by MGB | Screaming Internally:

After reading the advice here, I've started to strongly suspect that I just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ suck at this game lol. I'll keep trying and see if I can figure it out.

Thanks for the tips.

You'll be grand :)

Go for the eyes ;)

[Mr Pibbleton]

In addendum to the previous advice you should do a short rest whenever you've taken a chunk of damage, it's best to go into fights at full health and USE CONSUMABLES. Scrolls, potions, barrels, special arrows are worthless unless you use them. Creating terrain that messes with the enemies is really useful, oil slicks will cause them to fall down and can be lit on fire. Casting create water, throwing a bottle of water, or blowing up a barrel of water will create a wet zone which will give creatures in it the wet status effect for 3 turns, during which they'll take DOUBLE damage from cold and electric attacks. Incidentally potions can be thrown, you can chuck healing potions at the back of people's heads and if they're clustered together you can affect multiple people with one potion. Potions of sleep are incredibly good for crowd control by the way.

Getting the high ground is useful for the following reasons, extra damage from throwing attacks, extra accuracy on ranged attacks, better defenses from ranged attacks coming from below and you can shove/blast creatures off of cliffs for fall damage. Using the terrain, traps and environment to your advantage can make tough battles easy.

To summarize, rest between fights (short or full) use: consumables, combo abilities and terrain terrain.

[Dragon Master]

Originally posted by MGB | Screaming Internally:

After reading the advice here, I've started to strongly suspect that I just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ suck at this game lol. I'll keep trying and see if I can figure it out.

Thanks for the tips.

Happy to help.

If you have any further questions or need any clarifications feel free to ask.