Question about "Primary Ability/Stats"

[DuskNDawn]

Restarting (AGAIN) my attempt at Dark Justicar MC Shadowheart and I'm just now stopping and asking "Have I been drinking Str Flask for nothing?"

I look at what it says for "Primary Ability" and it says "influences chances to hit and your damage etc". Do I not need to worry about Str then? This whole time I thought it was Str for Hit/Dmg on Melee unless its Finesse then it's Dex.

[Annie Other]

SHOULD be STR for chance to hit and damage on melee while the Primary Ability of a caster is for hit chance and damage of SPELLS. Or maybe I misunderstood something...
But looks like it, as my Cleric hits well enough with weapons while on steroids (aka STR Elixirs).

[alanc9]

Unless you've respected her out of Cleric, the game is thinking of her as primarily a caster. WIS is her stat for spell attacks.

Hitting people with sticks works the way you think it does.

[DuskNDawn]

Think I got my answer quick, I'm getting -1 Hit from 8 Str. Weird since it says Wisdom Effects Spells AND Weapon Hit/DMG. Looks like im back to getting broke on Str Potions!

[JuX]

You can see better details at bg3wiki.

dexterity determines ranged and finesse attack rolls. While strength for other melee attack rolls. But there are exceptions like monk passives that determine which ever is higher.

[FunkyMonkey]

STR and DEX affect weapon attacks only. Finesse uses DEX only if it's higher than STR. All melee weapons can use STR, Finesse just chooses between DEX and STR, whichever is higher. Ranged weapons always use DEX.

For spell attacks (both ranged and melee), the character uses the casting stat of that class (WIS for Clerics and Druids, INT for Wizards and CHA for Sorcerers, Warlocks and Bards).

Maybe this clarifies it a bit.

[alanc9]

Originally posted by DuskNDawn:

Think I got my answer quick, I'm getting -1 Hit from 8 Str. Weird since it says Wisdom Effects Spells AND Weapon Hit/DMG.

I don't think it actually mentioned weapons there

[Nibbie]

Originally posted by DuskNDawn:

Think I got my answer quick, I'm getting -1 Hit from 8 Str. Weird since it says Wisdom Effects Spells AND Weapon Hit/DMG. Looks like im back to getting broke on Str Potions!

Are you sure it does? Maybe you can check/post the text again for what it specifically says, because if it does say anything about weapons, it would likely only be in much more specific circumstances.

[DuskNDawn]

Originally posted by Nibbie:

Originally posted by DuskNDawn:

Think I got my answer quick, I'm getting -1 Hit from 8 Str. Weird since it says Wisdom Effects Spells AND Weapon Hit/DMG. Looks like im back to getting broke on Str Potions!

Are you sure it does? Maybe you can check/post the text again for what it specifically says, because if it does say anything about weapons, it would likely only be in much more specific circumstances.

Hovering over the star it says "The most important ability for your class. It influences your chances to hit and your damage output with weapon attacks or spells"

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by DuskNDawn:

Originally posted by Nibbie:

Are you sure it does? Maybe you can check/post the text again for what it specifically says, because if it does say anything about weapons, it would likely only be in much more specific circumstances.

Hovering over the star it says "The most important ability for your class. It influences your chances to hit and your damage output with weapon attacks or spells"

The "weapon attacks OR spells" part is important here. It means that if you use weapons, you need DEX or STR. If you use spells, you need INT, WIS or CHA.

[Tenacity]

The "primary ability" for each class doesn't actually mean anything. It's a suggestion. Generally, Clerics will want high wisdom and strength due to their proficiencies (Maces and morningstars are str weapons, and wisdom affects their spellcasting) but you could easily play a Trickery cleric focused on dexterity and charisma, functioning similarly to a rogue, using only non-scaling spells.

[.Master Jiren, The Strongest]

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

Originally posted by DuskNDawn:

Hovering over the star it says "The most important ability for your class. It influences your chances to hit and your damage output with weapon attacks or spells"

The "weapon attacks OR spells" part is important here. It means that if you use weapons, you need DEX or STR. If you use spells, you need INT, WIS or CHA.

yeah if thats what it says then thats just wrong. Spellcasting has never impacted damage output for spells, literally ever. Fireball does 8d6 regardless of whether you have +10 or -5. The best explanation would be that it sort of indirectly affects it by increasing Spell Save DC, therefore meaning enemies fail more often, therefore meaning you deal more effective damage over the course of a campaign, but it absolutely doesn't directly increase damage dealt. It's also super weird if thats what it says because Eldritch Knight would be using Strength just like any other Fighter, but Strength has 0 impact on your spells, which would be INT. And if the star is for INT that also makes no sense because Strength is your melee stat. I'd say just ignore that altogether, that tooltip is clearly incorrect.

DnD is known for being tough for new players to get into because of all the systems, but 5e is still overly simplified compared to older editions. Specifically, DnD 5e which BG3 is based on, was streamlined specifically for new players. Yet, still, these things are often counter-intuitive. People to this day still debate about Wisdom vs Intelligence and there are still people hung up on whether Charisma does or should have anything to do with physical appearance.

For OP, everything in Monkey's earlier post is correct, just go by that. The game doesn't do a great job of explaining these things. As a caster you generally don't want to be swinging in melee anyway, but you absolutely can, I myself buy up all the giant strength potions so I can be a strength cleric. You'll also find that there are ways to have melee weapons that will use your casting stat instead of Strength, I think Flame Blade, Shadow Blade, and the Hexblade's pact weapon all user their specific casting stat for melee instead of strength. Bladesinger might use INT but I havn't checked.

[Tenacity]

Originally posted by .Master Jiren, The Strongest:

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:

The "weapon attacks OR spells" part is important here. It means that if you use weapons, you need DEX or STR. If you use spells, you need INT, WIS or CHA.

yeah if thats what it says then thats just wrong. Spellcasting has never impacted damage output for spells, literally ever.

Several clerics get +WIS to damage later on, same with Evocation wizards and INT.
It's not a default thing, but definitely not "never, literally ever".

[JuX]

Originally posted by Tenacity:

The "primary ability" for each class doesn't actually mean anything. It's a suggestion. Generally, Clerics will want high wisdom and strength due to their proficiencies (Maces and morningstars are str weapons, and wisdom affects their spellcasting, but you could easily play a Trickery cleric focused on dexterity and charisma, functioning similarly to a rogue, using only non-scaling spells.

Each class has their own proficiencies, which gain bonuses (starts +2 up to +4) to boost your rolls so primary attributes are not irrelevant.

[dolby]

as a cleric you can get druid cantrip and just use staffs - clubs or flaming sword and use wisdom for you damage. If you have potent spellcasting cleric you can add wisdom to cantrip spells damage.

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by JuX:

Originally posted by Tenacity:

The "primary ability" for each class doesn't actually mean anything. It's a suggestion. Generally, Clerics will want high wisdom and strength due to their proficiencies (Maces and morningstars are str weapons, and wisdom affects their spellcasting, but you could easily play a Trickery cleric focused on dexterity and charisma, functioning similarly to a rogue, using only non-scaling spells.

Each class has their own proficiencies, which gain bonuses (starts +2 up to +4) to boost your rolls so primary attributes are not irrelevant.

On saving throws, yes.