When am I supposed to do side quests?

[BadScientist]

I'm in the Goblin Camp right now. I've tried to do a couple of side quests so far, but both led me to fights with enemies that one-shot every member of my party. I tried to rescue the girl from the hag and had each party member get one-shot by the red caps. Then I tried searching for the Nightsong and had my entire team get one-shot on the first turn by a bulette in the Underdark. Is there something that tells what level the side quests are intended for that I'm just missing? How am I meant to know I'm walking into an unwinnable fight?

[82]

Side quests can be done within one act. If you go further, the game warns you that you change act. After you agree with it, sidequests of previous act will be unavailable.

[JoeAnarchy]

Originally posted by BadScientist:

I'm in the Goblin Camp right now. I've tried to do a couple of side quests so far, but both led me to fights with enemies that one-shot every member of my party. I tried to rescue the girl from the hag and had each party member get one-shot by the red caps. Then I tried searching for the Nightsong and had my entire team get one-shot on the first turn by a bulette in the Underdark. Is there something that tells what level the side quests are intended for that I'm just missing? How am I meant to know I'm walking into an unwinnable fight?

Maybe your team composition is just bad?
The hag can be easily killed with a level 4 party.
the red caps aren't stronger than the Goblins.
you should be level 5 before the Underdark, if you've done all the quests and side quests above ground, and the bulette is easy to kill at 5.
My custom character was a Warlock
I had Lae'Zel, Astarion, and Shadowheart, so my party was pretty rounded out and balanced.
IF you've got nothing but squishy casters, maybe that's the issue?
Or you might not be synergizing them well.

[BadScientist]

Originally posted by JoeAnarchy:

Originally posted by BadScientist:

I'm in the Goblin Camp right now. I've tried to do a couple of side quests so far, but both led me to fights with enemies that one-shot every member of my party. I tried to rescue the girl from the hag and had each party member get one-shot by the red caps. Then I tried searching for the Nightsong and had my entire team get one-shot on the first turn by a bulette in the Underdark. Is there something that tells what level the side quests are intended for that I'm just missing? How am I meant to know I'm walking into an unwinnable fight?

Maybe your team composition is just bad?
The hag can be easily killed with a level 4 party.
the red caps aren't stronger than the Goblins.
you should be level 5 before the Underdark, if you've done all the quests and side quests above ground, and the bulette is easy to kill at 5.
My custom character was a Warlock
I had Lae'Zel, Astarion, and Shadowheart, so my party was pretty rounded out and balanced.
IF you've got nothing but squishy casters, maybe that's the issue?
Or you might not be synergizing them well.

Team composition and synergies have nothing to do with getting one-shot. Experience level, on the other hand, is probably the issue. My team is only level 3. They've been level 3 for a very long time. Not sure how I'm meant to level them up if I can't do side quests.

Also, the red caps deal much more damage than the goblins. They hit three times in a row, dealing 9-10 damage each time.

[JoeAnarchy]

Originally posted by BadScientist:

Originally posted by JoeAnarchy:

Maybe your team composition is just bad?
The hag can be easily killed with a level 4 party.
the red caps aren't stronger than the Goblins.
you should be level 5 before the Underdark, if you've done all the quests and side quests above ground, and the bulette is easy to kill at 5.
My custom character was a Warlock
I had Lae'Zel, Astarion, and Shadowheart, so my party was pretty rounded out and balanced.
IF you've got nothing but squishy casters, maybe that's the issue?
Or you might not be synergizing them well.

Team composition and synergies have nothing to do with getting one-shot. Experience level, on the other hand, is probably the issue. My team is only level 3. They've been level 3 for a very long time. Not sure how I'm meant to level them up if I can't do side quests.

Also, the red caps deal much more damage than the goblins. They hit three times in a row, dealing 9-10 damage each time.

1. Team composition and synergy is EVERYTHING, even at low levels.
2. You can get level 4 through exploration and interaction EXP alone.
If you've killed all the goblins in the camp outside of the temple you should of easily hit 4 already.
If you've done the entire druid grove story and taken out the 3 leaders, you should be close to level 5 now.
But if for some reason you haven't, I recommend going and exploring the temple to Jergal, taking out the bandits there along with the undead guardians should give you the exp you need. then go and investigate the blighted town, if you go into the basement area there's some hidden goodies, and you can go down the well and fight phase spiders, but they're level 4 balanced, so it might be alittle difficult.

[BadScientist]

Originally posted by JoeAnarchy:

Originally posted by BadScientist:

Team composition and synergies have nothing to do with getting one-shot. Experience level, on the other hand, is probably the issue. My team is only level 3. They've been level 3 for a very long time. Not sure how I'm meant to level them up if I can't do side quests.

Also, the red caps deal much more damage than the goblins. They hit three times in a row, dealing 9-10 damage each time.

1. Team composition and synergy is EVERYTHING, even at low levels.
2. You can get level 4 through exploration and interaction EXP alone.
If you've killed all the goblins in the camp outside of the temple you should of easily hit 4 already.
If you've done the entire druid grove story and taken out the 3 leaders, you should be close to level 5 now.
But if for some reason you haven't, I recommend going and exploring the temple to Jergal, taking out the bandits there along with the undead guardians should give you the exp you need. then go and investigate the blighted town, if you go into the basement area there's some hidden goodies, and you can go down the well and fight phase spiders, but they're level 4 balanced, so it might be alittle difficult.

Team synergy has no effect on the amount of health you have or the amount of damage enemies do. If all team members die immediately, it doesn't matter who is on the team. They don't get a chance to do anything.

I'm in the middle of the Goblin Camp. I've taken out the priestess, but not the other leaders. I've already done the temple to Jergal, but I did not kill all the goblins outside the camp. I rescued Sazza, so I didn't have to fight. I'm trying to play a character who doesn't pick unnecessary fights and kill everything in sight, so I'm currently working on taking out the goblin leaders without killing every single goblin in the camp.

[The One True Nobody!]

Originally posted by BadScientist:

Originally posted by JoeAnarchy:

1. Team composition and synergy is EVERYTHING, even at low levels.
2. You can get level 4 through exploration and interaction EXP alone.
If you've killed all the goblins in the camp outside of the temple you should of easily hit 4 already.
If you've done the entire druid grove story and taken out the 3 leaders, you should be close to level 5 now.
But if for some reason you haven't, I recommend going and exploring the temple to Jergal, taking out the bandits there along with the undead guardians should give you the exp you need. then go and investigate the blighted town, if you go into the basement area there's some hidden goodies, and you can go down the well and fight phase spiders, but they're level 4 balanced, so it might be alittle difficult.

Team synergy has no effect on the amount of health you have or the amount of damage enemies do. If all team members die immediately, it doesn't matter who is on the team. They don't get a chance to do anything.

It kind of DOES have an effect on the amount of health you have and the amount of damage enemies do, though. There are party members who can impact that in your favor, and using them strategically is an aspect of party synergy.

If you're just trying to brute force your way through by trying to out-last the damage, though, you WILL die. D&D isn't that kind of game. Use positioning, take cover, bait your enemies into choke points and traps, divide and conquer, that sort of thing. If characters are hidden at the start of combat they're exempt from initiative until noticed and can just freely take their turn alongside another party member. You have options; you just need to learn them.

[BadScientist]

Originally posted by The One True Nobody!:

Originally posted by BadScientist:

Team synergy has no effect on the amount of health you have or the amount of damage enemies do. If all team members die immediately, it doesn't matter who is on the team. They don't get a chance to do anything.

It kind of DOES have an effect on the amount of health you have and the amount of damage enemies do, though. There are party members who can impact that in your favor, and using them strategically is an aspect of party synergy.

If you're just trying to brute force your way through by trying to out-last the damage, though, you WILL die. D&D isn't that kind of game. Use positioning, take cover, bait your enemies into choke points and traps, divide and conquer, that sort of thing. If characters are hidden at the start of combat they're exempt from initiative until noticed and can just freely take their turn alongside another party member. You have options; you just need to learn them.

I don't think you understand. These are scripted battles that either started as soon as a cutscene (which triggered without warning) ended, or the enemy just spontaneously appeared in the middle of my party. (EDIT: Actually, in the case of the red caps, they joined in battle without warning by running in from outside during the hag's turn and then their turns came right after hers.) In both cases the party was wiped before anyone had a chance to do anything (i.e. before any member of the team got to take a turn) and there was no opportunity to prepare for the fight. Again, who is on the team doesn't matter if they are killed before they have a chance to do anything.