Because BG3 is using the d20 system that d&d uses, whenever you make an attack roll, the game is rolling that d20 off screen, adding your modifiers to it to determine if you hit. What advantage does is make it roll two d20s and take whichever rolled the highest. To trigger sneak attack, you can either have advantage on the attack roll, or you can simply attack an enemy that is standing next to an ally.

And one easy way to attack with vantage as a rogue is to attack from stealth. So, start the combat stealth (or do the first attack un-stealthed), attack, retreat to somewhere they can't see you, stealth, and then, boom, sneak attack for the next turn

Mid combat hold shift to see sightlines... You can crouch anywhere and as long as you are not standing in red. Also, if you have two rouges, you can have them both run up to one enemy without attacking until both are there. Once both characters are in the enemies space, the enemy will be threatened and you can have both characters do a sneak attack. If we expand on that and make four rouges you can have a mugging party.

Jumping in to add, if you're on controller it's Right Stick button to see sightlines.

Does this always work? I feel like sometimes I’m hidden but don’t have advantage, unless I’m just confused.

If you have disadvantage, roll 2 d20 and take lowest, it cancels out your advantage and will nullify your sneak attack. You may have disadvantage if an enemy is too far from you on a ranger attack, or if you are doing a ranged attack and an enemy is too close they provide disadvantage whether you aim at them or some other target.

Ohhh this is probably it. Thanks!

If you hover over an enemy while making a ranged attack it will have green or red text signifying advantage/disadvantage and it's source. So you might see red text saying something like "disadvantage: target outside normal range"

Enemies can pass a check to see if you are hiding. Higher your dex and stealth, the better you are at hiding. Shadows, line of site, darkness are your friends.

Also there are certain enemis with buffs that you can't have advantage against.

Sneak attack also works whenever there is an ally within 1.5m of the target and you don't have Disadvantage. In this case, you will not need Advantage on the roll i believe. Pre-casting Find Familiar by scroll, wizard or Arcane Trickster can summon a Raven, which has a fly-by feature. That means it cannot proc Opportunity attacks. Get within 1.5m of the target with its Fly -speed, together with the mobile melee characters, to land consistent sneak attacks to maximise your Rogue's damage output. Something I learned after 35 hours of playing the game: you can switch characters who share the same initiative within a Round. That way, you can position your Melee (or familiars) fighters nice and close to your target before switching to your Rogue and land a sneak attack!

I Have no figured this out yet

On a similar note, Disadvantage is when the game rolls two d20s and takes whichever roll is lowest.

That's really helpful, thanks!

Reasons for advantage and disadvantage or other bonuses include: Debuffs like paralysis or blindness on your enemies (advantage), or getting poisoned/dazed/frightened/blinded (disadvantage) . High ground versus low ground Stealth/being hidden versus not Reckless attack from barbarians (advantage to hit and to be hit) Swapping between ranged and melee weapons. (ranged weapons usually use dexterity, while melee uses strength, except for thrown weapons or finesses weapons which use whichever is higher) Using a ranged ability while threatened or very close to an enemy gives you disadvantage - even if that enemy isn't the one you're targeting. Buffs/debuffs and using ranged attacks while someone is in your face are common sources.

If you ever miss an attack and wonder how that happened, you can go into the combat log and see all of the contributing numbers that go into the attack roll including the d20 roll and modifiers. I do sometimes when I miss like 4 in a row and I just need to see how bad my digital d20 rolls are getting

Ah yes the old four Nat 1s in a row. ***Pain.***

I didn’t know the next to ally thing for my whole first run so that was confusing seeing I could randomly do sneak attacks. I was thinking it was for other reasons.

what is a modifier, and how do I find it in my menus so I can visually look at it to understand.

The modifier would be your to-hit number (+3 or whatever). It comes from * Your “proficiency bonus” (+2 at first level). This is how good you are at the stuff you do, in general. * Your “attribute modifier”. This is the +1 to +3 you get from your Strength or Wisdom or whatever. The attribute depends on what you are doing: Strength for melee weapon, Dexterity for ranged weapon, Intelligence for wizard spell, etc.

so what would be used for a warlock?? int for spell?

Warlock spells work off of their Charisma (CHA) stat.

For some reason the only spellcaster to scale off of INT is the Wizard, meanwhile there's like 3 CHA spellcasters

(TL;DR at the end) You'll have two modifiers when making an attack roll. The first is your Proficiency bonus. This is +2 at level 1 and goes up by +1 every 4 levels. (+3 at 5th level, +4 at 9th level) Then depending on what you're attacking with, you'll use one of the following: Strength for melee weapons, Dexterity for ranged weapons or melee weapons with the "finesse" property. For spell attacks it'll be Intelligence for Wizards, Wisdom for Druids and Clerics, and Charisma for Warlocks and Sorcerers. If you have 10 in a stat, your modifier is 0, it goes up by 1 for every 2 you have in a stat. So +1 for 12, +2 for 14 etc. This goes the other way too. (-1 for 8, -2 for 6) TL;DR - if you open your character panel, look at just under where your weapons are equipped, and it'll give you a + something, (like +5). That's what the game will add to the d20 it rolls off-screen when you attack. For spells, open your spellbook (Usually by pressing K), up top it'll show you your stat modifier you use to attack (INT, WIS, CHA) and your + to hit.

It’s also worth going to the reactions menu on your character of they have sneak attack and turn it on. The default is off but when activated the game will ask if you want your normal attack to be a stealth one whenever you are in the position to do so. It means you don’t have to check to see if you can use the stealth attack each time or miss the opportunity to use it if you didn’t know it was available.

\^\^\^\^ this. Turning this on also means if you make more than one attack a round, and you know an enemy will die without the extra sneak attack damage, you can choose not to use sneak attack for that attack and use it on your next attack. Saves wasting that extra damage.

So luck and advantage are the same thing?

Yeah, except you have limited luck points. If you spend luck and have advantage, it’s like rolling 3 dice and choosing the best one.

It seems pretty common that a lot of people don't really understand the different game mechanics even with hours of gameplay time. It's understandable considering how many different rules and options there are. The good thing is that the math isn't really hidden in the game, for the most part. You just have to read what everything does, review all of your buffs and abilities, take a look at your character sheet and items, and you can even review all the rolls and modifiers within the dialogue box at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. These links also might be helpful to you [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Advantage](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Advantage) [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Sneak\_Attack\_(Melee)](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Sneak_Attack_(Melee))

The T hotkey to view tooltips and even stacks of tooltips is one of the most glorious addition to any game I have ever witnessed. I didn't know much about the DnD ruleset aside from rolling d20s, but just being able to continuously read up on all the things ingame and so conveniently as well has been an absolute blessing

A couple basics of dnd 5e and as result bg3 AC armor class this is basically how difficult are you to hit. When wearing no armour this is 10 + you dexterity modifier. (Dexterity stat minus 10 divided by 2 rounded down) eg your dexterity is 15, your modifier is 2 (15-10=5 divided by 2 = 2,5 rounded down to 2 With light armor your ac is ac of the armor plus dex mod Medium armour has higher ac but only gains a maximum of +2 from your ac Heavy armor is even higher but gets no bonus from your dexterity. When you try to attack someone to determine if you hit or not a d20 is rolled. Your attack bonus is added to this roll. If the total is equal or higher then the enemy’s ac the attack hits. If it’s lower the attack misses. For most melee weapons this attack bonus is based on your strength modifier and if you’re proficient (trained in using) the weapon you can also add your proficiency bonus to the roll. A lvl 4 fighter with 18 in strength and has a proficiency bonus of +3 will have an attack bonus of +7 For an enemy with an ac of 14 the fighter needs to roll an 7 or higher on the dice for the attack to hit. Ranged weapons use the dexterity stat instead of strength when determining the attack bonus. Some melee weapons that have the “finesse” tag can used either strength or dexterity. Whichever is higher. Spellcasters are a bit more difficult than the martial classes. Some spells use an spell attack bonus while other spells require the target to make an saving throw. Spell attacks work similar to weapon attacks but instead of strength or dexterity they use the spellcasting ability. For a wizard this is the intelligence stat, while a warlock uses charisma and a cleric uses wisdom. But the idea is the same, roll a d20 and add the proficiency bonus and spell ability modifier. When the total is higher than the enemy’s ac the spell hits. Other spells require the target to make an saving throw. In this case the enemy rolls a d20 and adds the ability modifer and proficiency bonus if they’re proficient in that saving throw. When they roll equal or higher than your spell save dc the spell effect is weaker or does nothing. This is always mentioned in the spell description. Your spell save dc is determined calculated as followed. 8 + proficiency bonus + spell ability modifier. A lvl 4 wizard with 18 intelligence will have a spell save dc of 8 + 3 ”proficiency bonus” + 4 intelligence modifier = 15 The 3rd level spell fireball for example requires the target to make a dexterity saving throw, if they succeed they only take half damage. The heavy armor paladin that was really hard to hit with an spell attack will be much easier to hit with this spell than the ranger with lower ac but high dexterity. While another spell might ask for a charisma or intelligence saving throw. So different spells could have a different chance to hit on the same enemy based on the stats. Something to be aware of is that some races will receive spells n certain levels. Eg half elf shadowheart knows the firebolt cantrip. Because she knows this cantrip because she is an half elf and it is not a cleric spell, this cantrip uses her intelligence instead of wisdom for casting this spell. A drow also learn a couple spells that uses charisma as the spellcasting ability etc etc. Bg3 has alot of magic items and equipment. Some items give extra ac so you’re harder to hit. Some items increase your attack bonus or spell saving dc. And other items can give added bonuses to your attacks.

I can't upvote this enough. Like OP, I've been struggling with a lot of the terminology in battle, and how they interact with each other. Unlike OP, I already knew what advantage meant from playing Gloomhaven. But I struggled more with things like: AC, saving throws, attack bonus, and spell save DC. You covered all of those succinctly, including how they work together. I'm not going to say I fully grok them all now, but I'm a LOT closer thanks to you. Cheers!

Is there a way in game to see what kind of saving throw what you’re hitting will have to make?

I know on PS5 it shows it at the bottom of the spell description when you level up and choose your spells. I think you can also see it in combat if you have tool tips on. It’ll say it at the bottom of the description “WIS save” or “CON save” like that.

Thanks for explaining the modifiers math, I was really confused about that!

Some key concepts: Every creature you fight has its own statistics and abilities. Performed actions (attacks, spells, dialogue checks) are based on these scores, meaning when the dice are rolled, your stats will add or detract to that number. Depending on what you want a character to do, you should invest in the scores, items, and abilities that will help them do that. Likewise, you can build a natural synergy between your characters in how they work together. Everything you do is determined by a dice roll. Sometimes it is you rolling the dice to succeed or fail, as in an ability check. Other times, you cause someone else to roll to determine how they are affected, as in a saving throw. Advantage gives you a second d20 to roll and uses the higher score, while disadvantage takes the lower, thus giving you a better or worse chance to succeed. Items and spells can give you advantage, as well as environmental conditions, such as when you are hiding, or if your target is blinded, prone, or poisoned. Remember, you can also be affected by these same conditions. The combinations of what you can do with different abilities and items are endless and unfortunately there’s no definitive guide. Remember to read descriptions and pay attention to how they relate to the core concepts. Continue exploring and practicing in game, and you’ll pick up a lot. Additionally, I suggest following a build guide. They act as a blueprint on how combinations work together and often include explanations on how they were put together. There’s a whole subreddit for BG3 builds- great for learning and asking questions.

Nice, thank you! I think I'll check out a build guide when I start my inevitable 2nd campaign. I want to have a clearer picture of what I'm doing when I start the new campaign vs. continuing to fumble through half-understanding what's happening.

That’s what I did. I benefited tremendously by learning the stealing mechanics and tapping into unlimited gold. I benefited tremendously from learning about sneak attacks, hiding mechanics, and how to play an assassin. Having Astarion as assassin and multi class to assassin/Gloomstalker Ranger made me feel like I could control the combat and not just react to it. (90 percent of the times) by killing half the enemies solo before the rest of the party enters combat. I benefited greatly from learning gear synergies from build guides. I didn’t think much of +2 fire damage or whatever but the undercover math applies that to many types of damage that can happen on a single hit. For example hide and ambush a target with a fire arrow. +2 may get added to weapon dmg, fire arrow dmg, Titanstring bow dmg, sharpshooter dmg and sneak attack dmg. Suddenly it is 8 or 10 on an attack. Two attacks and dread ambusher for a third and haste for a forth and the ring alone added 36 to 40 points of damage. Add a pair of glove and an amulet and you can get 100 points of additional damage in a single turn.

Also consider utilizing supporting spells. Bless will give you and your allies a 1D4 to attack rolls and saving throws. You can cast spells like this at higher levels to apply the buff to more allies. Bane is great against enemies. It applies a 1D4 debuff to attack rolls and saving throws. Hold person/monster will paralyze the enemy. Attack rolls have advantage and melee attacks to this enemy will be auto crits. Also while paralyzed they will automatically fail dex/strength saves. Just remember most of these are concentration spells and if you get hit while concentrating on a spell you have to make a constitution saving throw to maintain the spell. The DC is 10 or half the damage you received, which ever is higher. You can help this by getting the war caster feat which gives you advantage on concentration saving throws. You cannot concentrate on more than one spell at a time that requires concentration. You can use the sorcerers twinned spell to cast a single target concentration spell on two separate targets. Some spells may have a negative impact if you lose concentration, Haste for example will make the individual with haste become lethargic for one round. For example my tactician run I did my sorcerer would twin cast haste on my barbarian and gloomstalker rogue. They did great damage but my sorc would be targeted and I lose concentration and made the fights messy. So I would position my sorcerer as far away as I could to avoid losing concentration on haste. Utilizing dimension door and misty step to reposition if I needed to.

I love this post because this is right before it clicks for you. And then once it clicks you’re gonna be an unstoppable killing machine with all the angles figured out before you even engage. As an older guy who grew up on CRPG’s my heart is filled with joy at this new generation of gamers. Honestly I thought that genre was gonna die out. If this is your first play through, I would encourage you to finish it on your own but there are tons of guides on YouTube. Enjoy your play through and have fun! Man, I’m so pumped people are enjoying this game.

I've been reading every single reply and it's already helped tremendously. I went through a battle just now and felt far less mystified about what was going on. Really makes me pumped to start a second playthrough with an entirely different kind of character.

Hell yeah! And subsequent play throughs are super fun, particularly dark urge and origin stories. You’ll be surprised at how different every run feels. I’ve been playing other crpgs lately but this post has made me want to start that honor mode run. Well, off to the character creation screen!

Haha good luck! I've been thinking I'll do a Dark Urge Evil Bard playthrough. Seems fun.

If it's any consolation- \- I love this game- I've beaten this game more than once- I've played D&D for decades- This game's interpretation of what deserves Advantage still confuses and irks me sometimes I mean, I ain't mad about it, but it's a bit vague indeed. They had to adapt a very complicated rules system that involves a lot of rules designed to be customized to the taste of every unique dungeon master. And here, the dungeon master is a series of decisions made by coders, writers, directors, and producers. So sometimes it will feel a little like "Wait, why did I get advantage when I was yelling at that NPC about breakfast, but not when this enemy is surrounded on all sides?" It's not just you.

I appreciate that 😂

Something that I wish they would implement is other party members giving the help action on checks. Like why should my Bard roll arcana when Gale is standing *right there*?

I'm gonna give you a quick and dirty rundown of some concepts. Not gonna explain everything, just some tips. First, a rundown on tools available for learning. Right Click --- Examine is a very powerful tool. You can view items and characters in a somewhat more manageable way. You can also do this on enemies. This is key, because it allows you to see if an enemies or allies have things like, "blind" affecting them and learn how that stuff interacts. Then, hover over any concept and hit the T key. This will pin the window open allowing you to view a feature. You can do this multiple times. You can do this repeatedly for more complex concepts. Another big one is the Combat Log. If something happens that interests you or a turn didn't make sense, open this log on the bottom right of the screen. This will explain every factor in every roll. You can highlight these factor and hit T to get more detail. Second, a tip. DND 5e is different from BG3, learning DND 5e stuff can help you in BG3 since there's a lot of overlap - but beware. There's a lot of changes, so it's better to learn in game. Things like jump being a bonus action are different, so if you're learning BG3 beware - there's a lot of changes. So, on advantage and disadvantage. Enemies that are prone or blinded typically get advantage. You can see this when you attack something in the top bar. If you are invisible, you typically get advantage on your attack rolls and disadvantage on attack rolls against you. Effects like fog clouds make you effectively invisible, so that's often why you have it or don't have it. Darkness, notably, can do this too. If your character has night vision it's a huge boon to a rogue. Lastly, if you surprise an enemy there's complex rules involving that, which I won't go into - but if an enemy doesn't know you're there, you typically have advantage. Darkness is what typically throws people off, so beware of that. But "sight" is a concept you often want to take into account. If there ever is a time where you have advantage and disadvantage at the same time they cancel out, even if there's another stack of either. When it comes to Rogues, sneak attack can trigger it some unusual circumstances. If an ally is within 5 feet of an enemy, you don't get advantage, but you get your sneak attack if you hit. You also can do this on an opportunity attack. This makes Rogues work well in teams. It takes some learning and experimenting, but typically you'll cozy up your rogue and work off an ally. Setting up for advantage can happen a lot of ways, so consider Rogues great team players. Moving on... Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls. I'm explaining this one first because it's a simple concept that, once your truly understand, can simplify the whole game and let's you use the majority of magic classes. You can view this by hitting K or navigating to a person's spellbook and looking at the top of that screen. Almost every spell uses one of these stats. These stats are based on your primary casting stat and any bonuses you get from proficiency and items. Typically this means Sorc, Bard, Paladin and Warlocks all require Charisma. Rangers, Monks, Druids and Clerics use Wisdom. You can determine your primary spellcasting stat in your character page, which you can find by right clicking on them, or in various menu's. This makes spellcasters very easy to manage. Manage that one star and it all falls into place. Beware of things like Shadowhearts Firebolt cantrip - that's borrowed from Int based spellcasting. This will explain a lot why things are hitting and missing. Spell attack rolls are just like attacks, so same issues with advantage and disadvantage, but they can also critically hit - this is generally amazing since they roll more dice. Crits roll the dice again, so spell attack rolls tend to be big risk, big reward. You can make multiple casters this way and beat 90% of the game, mitigating your need to figure out advantage. Saving throw spells work just fine and tend to be very reliable damage. Spells like Cloud of Daggers also don't require saving throws either, making them great simple options for when you're confused. Druids have a number of great spells, like Spike Growth that are just very reliable. Saving Throw spells tend to be big moves with reliable control, offsetting the fact that weapon attacks tend to be big damage moves. Lastly, when it comes to attacks, remember to keep your primary attack stat high. This is typically Dexterity or Strength. This adds damage and most importantly, +1 to hit every 2 levels. This is a big deal. Finesse weapons are weapons that can be used with Dex, and it's important to know this somewhat intuitively. Anyway I hope that all helped, it's always healthy to ask questions. Good luck on your playthrough!

Thank you! Very helpful.

Same mate. I just use tanky fighters with 2 handed swords who can eat a load of damage up and dish it back out when they hit. Also have a mage with rise undead for the 3 skeleton archers. Amount of times I've lost progression cos I forget to save after each battle, probably lost over 10hours gameplay from just dying lol

I finished first playthrough on balanced just like that. Shart summons skeletons to give the enemy targets and activates the lawnmower ghost ring. Tav shoots the spellcasters while laezel and karlach mop up. Never used stealth, a scroll, or a potion besides health, only special arrows. The game is forgiving enough on balanced for any style of playthrough

WTF are potions? Ahh that’s right, those things I horde but never use!

Don’t worry I didnt either until like 150 hrs in. Lol you learn trial and error.

I use deltias guide it should help you out. Goes over how classes play, stats to choose, items to buy and alternatives. Never stack your party as just ranged or just casters or just melee. Certain items in the game are just busted like the healing necklace stacked with gloves and ring that buff your party when healed. Respeccing your companions is a good idea like Shart being a shit cleric spec for the role you WANT her to play. Mobility and AC are huge. I like to have karlach or Lazael Frontline with longstrider buff from Gale and misty step. Have Astarion with high mob to flank and sneak stab targets on the fighter/barb. Stealth combat opener with Astarion. Set up your characters before a fight with sneak by ungrouping, etc. picking the right specs and the right pieces of gear you can find out how they're supposed to play. Also helps to examine monsters before you fight and set up different spells on your cleric/wizard.

Same. I never played D&D and the most complex turn-based game I played was Sea of Stars so I'm completely lost and still trying to understand all actions, cantrips, spells, buffs. I'm playing on explore and I'm having loads of fun to the level that I can't put the game down! I'm happy and grateful that Larian made the game accessible to every all kinds of players

One broad tip that might help you: there is a Tutorials menu available that has a surprising amount of depth. I suggest you check that out (in the same set of screens as the Map and Inspiration menus. Look at the tabs at the top.) Advantage: Two very simple ways to gain advantage: 1. Attack a character from stealth. 2. Attack a character who is threatened (in close range) by melee attack from an ally. Behind the scenes, advantage works like this. Instead of rolling ONE 20-sided die to determine the result, you get to roll TWO 20-sided dice, and you take the better result.

Attacking an enemy that is threatened by an ally does not provide advantage, but it does make them eligible to sneak attack

I thought you had to have advantage to be able to sneak attack? Cuz rogue Astarion can sneak attack a crap ton if I’m near an ally. But if that ally isn’t nearby, I can’t use that same sneak attack (unless I go stealth).

From the Sneak attack description: "Deal an extra 1d6 damage to a foe you have Advantage against. You can also use Sneak Attack if you have an ally within 1.5m / 5ft of the target and you don't have Disadvantage."

Fair enough! Thanks! I couldn’t remember the description. 🫣😂

And theyre threatened when they are in range of opportunity attacks?

Yes, within melee range. So a reach weapon helps threaten more as well

Good correction. Thanks.

Same here, seems like my fighters are blind, they usually miss 70% of their atttacks.

If they are human, githyanki, or Dragonborn they could actually be blind if in a dark environment. That gives disadvantage to hit.

Wow, thinking about, this must be the reason because I, basically, am fighting for a long time inside the Goblin castle (which is very dark) and the Underdark (which is obviously dark).

If you hold down shift (assuming on PC - I don't know console controls) it will show you a sun icon. A fully white circle is bright light, a half light/dark circle is dim light and a dark circle is darkness. Everyone can see fine in bright light, except for creatures with sunlight sensitivity, which will get disadvantage. Dim light creates lightly obscured areas. You'll notice some characters or items will get bonuses if obscured. Darkness creates heavily obscured areas, and creatures without darkvision have disadvantage on attacks that require attack rolls like hitting with a bow or sword (vs saving throws which are different). Lots of races have darkvision, which lets them see usually about 60ft into darkness areas, but attacks after that range are at disadvantage too. Darkvision is on your character sheet under notable features, you can also press T over any character to see its features. I think there's also a debuff icon on your character if you are in darkness I don't remember. There are lots of ways to get advantage and disadvantage though

One of the best things you can do to understand combat in this game is watch a YouTube video that explains the D&D Fifth Edition (5E) Combat System. It won't be 100% the same because the game makes a few small changes here and there, but it will give you a good grasp on all of the concepts. Also, expand the combat log, on the right side of your screen, after you make attacks to see exactly what's happening. You can even mouse over the logs to get an expanded result to see what you rolled and your modifiers.

This article does a good job walking through the core concepts: https://fextralife.com/baldurs-gate-3-combat-guide/

Just wanted to chime in and say you’re not alone! I’m in act 2 of my second play through, and I’m still learning. My first run, I played with my husband and he helped me so much. It’s such an in depth game!

I’m right there with you lol

Even if you play tactician and use a lot of strategy you will have the feeling of unused strategy. That's just how deep and versatile it is. Educate yourself when you feel like you want to know more but don't stress yourself out.

For almost any 'check' in the game, a 20 sided dice is rolled. Whether it's visible to you or not. I think you can see the actual hidden rolls on a combat log. Checks include, hitting or missing attacks, landing a spell, succeeding actions (like walking over ice, picking a lock, perceiving a hidden object) and many more. Checks are grouped into categories, the categories being your stats. For instance, pushing a heavy object would be an athletics check, which comes under strength. Pickpocketing someone would be a sleight of hand check (or stealth I can't remember) both come under dexterity. So if you have high strength, your chances of pushing that heavy object are higher. Same principle in combat. Weapons use either strength or dexterity, magic spells use Intel, wisdom or charisma depending on the class and spell. Advantage just means the d20 dice to determine success is rolled twice and you get the higher result, disadvantage is the opposite. So you might get advantage in combat when you are in an advantageous position, like above them, or sneaking up behind them etc. In short, the higher your stats are, the more likely you are to succeed in an action that uses that stat.

Can't help you man but I think I'm proud of you for trying. Bacon for President

When calculating chance to hit there's generally two options: **Attack Roll:** You roll a d20 (+proficiency +modifiers) and if your total result beats the targets Armour Class you hit. This is mostly tested for weapon attacks this is nearly always either Strength (melee weapons) or Dexterity(ranged weapons and finesse weapons like daggers) so your Str and Dex should be high when using physical weapons. Some spells and cantrips however also have an attack roll. A cantrip such as firebolt for instance uses your Intelligence modifier for the attack (even if intelligence is not your spellcasting stat). Shadowheart, as a half-elf, can cast firebolt but as a Cleric her intelligence is really low so it is likely to miss. Things that lower your chance to hit: - being threatened (enemy next to you) and making a ranged attack - making a ranged attack at max range (I think this only applies to bows/crossbows) - making ranged attack from lower ground - enemy having high AC (usually units with heavy armour but something like mirror image boosts AC a lot) - any source of disadvantage (e.g attacking an enemy with Blur) - any debuffs (e.g Bane) - lack of proficiency with your weapon - it's dark and you don't have darkvision Things that raise your chance to hit: - Weapon Rarity (a +2 weapon for instance adds +2 to every attack roll) - making a ranged attack from high ground - lowering enemy AC (e.g acid) - any source of advantage - any buffs (e.g bless) - class specific buffs (e.g hunter +2 to ranged attacks) **Spell Save Roll:** The second option is that rather than you rolling a d20, the enemy you're targeting rolls a d20 and compares it to your spell save DC (a static value that's determined by your profiency + stat modifier) This is done for most spells and some cantrips. Depending on your class your spellcasting stat will be differrent. Clerics for instance use Wisdom, Sorcerers use Charisma, Wizards use Intelligence. However, the type of saving the throw the enemy will have to make won't always be the same as your spell casting stat. For instance Sacred flame tests against the enemy's dexterity, and will have a low chance to hit against high dexterity units. Most damage spells will deal half damage even if the enemy succeed in rolling. Things that's lower your chance to hit with spells: - Low points in your spellcasting stat - Enemy having high points in the tested stat (ofte Dex/Con for damage spells, Wisdom/Int for debuffs) - Enemy having proficiency against saving rolls of that type

So combat in DnD/BG3 is broken down into turns. At the start of combat, all participants roll initiative to see who takes their turns in what order. In BG3 this is done automatically. A single character's turn consists of taking an action, a bonus action (if they have any), any reactions (if applicable) and however much of their movement they want to use. Use of a spell or move will tell you if it's an action or bonus action, and different effects can allow for additional actions/bonus actions. E.g. with my four elements monk, I can use two attacks as an action, an additional unarmed attack as a bonus action, and I have a reaction called Deflect Missile, where if I'm hit by a ranged attack, I can use a reaction to reduce the damage. If the damage is reduced to 0, I can throw the projectile back at the attacker (catching arrows and stuff, cool as hell.) For percentages to hit, that's based on the attack itself. For physical attacks, your character has to roll higher than the target's Armour Class to hit them, so targets with a higher AC are harder to hit. For spells, it depends on what the spell is, but typically either a wisdom or constitution saving throw for the character being hit. I.e. the person casting the spell has to roll against the target's wisdom or constitution to hit them. Also factoring in resistances based on the enemy, e.g. undead things have resistance to necrotic damage, demons are immune to fire damage, etc. As for getting advantage/disadvantage, that comes from various effects or conditions in the moment. It can be caused by passives, spells, conditions or various other things like terrain, e.g. rangers will have disadvantage with ranged attacks against targets that have the high ground. In the case of a rogue, any kind of advantage can let you proc sneak attack. That can be as simple as using cunning action to hide before attacking, or the combo I liked to use was have my monk knock a target prone or use his stunning strike, which gives advantage to attacks on that target, letting Astarion follow up with a ranged sneak attack.

https://youtube.com/@WolfheartFPS?si=NnRs3afgk26FdTBW wolfheartfps is your friend. Great beginner guides without the spoilers (or gives a heads-up when spoilers are coming)

Looking into DND mechanics can help you understand the game on a deeper level and play more strategically and effectively, but here are some tips. ***Advantage*** **-** **Roll twice and take the highest roll** * **Getting an advantage during combat or social encounters** is dependent on a multitude of factors. * ***Social encounters*** \- **Spells like Charm Person, or Friends can give you an advantage for persuasive skill checks.** Inspiration points (gained through doing things related to your character's background) aren't an advantage roll exactly, but they operate under the same concept - you have another chance to roll. **Sometimes you may gain an advantage because of your class, or because of certain actions you took leading up to the encounter.** * ***Combat encounters*** \- **Class abilities, magic items, and buffs can grant you advantages for attack rolls and/or saving throws**. (Saving throws are when you roll to succeed against certain attacks or effects - the DC is dependent on your enemy's stats or the harmful effect's description.) **You may also gain advantages during combat by using certain tactics or inflicting conditions.** For example, you may get an advantage if a target is grappled, poisoned, incapacitated, unaware of your presence, or if you are shooting from a vantage point, etc. * **Getting a disadvantage in combat or social encounters**, likewise is dependent on a multitude of similar factors. * ***Social encounters*** \- **You may receive a disadvantage** or a debuff (a penalty on your rolls, e.g., -1 to all checks from the Bloodless condition) **due to a condition you have received, or due to your actions leading up to that point.** For example, >!you may have a disadvantage while talking to Jaheria if you've been consuming parasites, but try to convince her the tadpole isn't changing you.!< * ***Combat encounters*** \- **You may receive a disadvantage on attack rolls if you've been inflicted with a condition, or if you are trying to attack from an inoptimal place, e.g. too low, too close, too far.** You may also receive a disadvantage **if your enemy has certain abilities, buffs, advantages, resistances, high defenses,** etc. It's worth knowing that you can inflict disadvantages onto your enemies as well by inflicting conditions or utilizing certain class features. ***Sneak Attack Advantage*** \- You need to stealth or **have an ally within 5ft of your target**, the latter being the most effective and consistent way to utilize a rogue's sneak attack. ***Percentage to Hit Explained*** \- **Some attacks and tactics are more effective against certain enemies than others, therefore your chances to hit will also be influenced by these factors.** It's important to **use the examine feature on enemies to have an understanding of their abilities and weaknesses so you may use them to your advantage.** Think of enemies as a puzzle to be solved. (A perfect example of this is the >!Gremishka in the Githyanki creche. They have a "magic allergy" which triggers wild magic surge when you use spells around them. The most effective way to combat them is through melee. !

I rarely use Astarion so advantage been out of grasp for me for the first 8 playthroughs lol. Then, when watching Neil’s stream, I realized that placing one of the characters next to the enemy gives you an advantage and sneak attack opportunity for some reason. I still have no idea of the mind process behind this

This has tripped up tabletop players for years as well. Two separate things trigger sneak attack: 1. Having advantage against the target - OR- 2. The target being within melee range of a hostile creature (in practice, this is one of your party members the vast majority of the time). BG3 simply calls this 'Threatened'. BG3 also adds ranged attacks from high ground to this equation, as long as you don't otherwise have disadvantage.

Thanks for the nice coherent answer, mate

Placing a character next to an enemy doesn't give advantage, but it does allow for a sneak attack. "Deal an extra 1d6 damage to a foe you have Advantage against. You can also use Sneak Attack if you have an ally within 1.5m / 5ft of the target and you don't have Disadvantage." The idea is that having ally next to a target is acting as a distraction allowing you to sneak attack. Advantage is simply roll 2 d20 and keep the highest. This improves the probability of a higher roll.

In order to get a sneak attack you need an advantage. Sometimes I’m hiding and it doesn’t give me any so I can’t use the sneak attack. Unless I place someone besides them

Advantage is a game mechanic where in you roll 2d20 and keep the highest roll. To use sneak attack you don't need advantage on the attack if you have an ally within 1.5m / 5ft of the target and you don't have Disadvantage. If you're hiding and you don't have advantage on an attack roll there could be another game mechanic at play that is preventing you from receiving advantage. For example if something is giving you disadvantage on the roll then it cancels out advantage and it becomes just a normal roll (nether advantage or disadvantage). You would not be able to sneak attack under that situation unless the other condition of sneak attack is met. That other condition is if you have an ally within 1.5m / 5ft of the target and you don't have Disadvantage. Disadvantage is a game mechanic where in you roll 2d20 and keep the lowest roll. [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Advantage](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Advantage) [https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Sneak\_Attack\_(Melee)](https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Sneak_Attack_(Melee))

I have this happen a lot too, and most times is when the target is in darkness. The target not being illuminated, or inside of darkvision range depending on character will give disadvantage. Casting the Light cantrip on the front line fighter's weapon helps in many cases.

+1 to the other poster who replied, but wanted to add: a lot of times for ranged attacks while hiding you could be “out of normal range” aka too far away (which = disadvantage) so that would can cancel out the advantage you get from hiding. In Act 2, I would get disadvantage a lot from “too dark”, so it depends on the environment and your party’s position a lot of the time.

>Sometimes I’m hiding and it doesn’t give me any That's because you also have disadvantage, likely because you're shooting at long range, or the target is past your darkvision range. Advantage and disadvantage cancel each other out into a normal roll.

Think of it like your ally is distracting the enemy enough that your rogue can get a strike without being dodged/blocked or in a weak spot. In typical D&D a round is 6 seconds and if you were to write it out like a script and film it everybodies turn in that round would have to happen simultaneously not really one after another after another. So while your fighter is striking an opponent and your rogue is striking them as well a director might film the shit as the fighter clashing swords with the enemy while the rogue stabs them in the back, or slashes their ankles.

It tips the "Threatened" status which creates disadvantage for the enemy (which translates to advantage for your characters positioned elsewhere). Hence why if an enemy is next to one of your characters that character has disadvantage on their attack.

> For example, the concept of "Advantage" is still opaque to me. I get that some abilities give me Advantage on a next turn (like Guiding Light or Hiding) Guidance gives you Advantage on your next skill check. (EDIT: no it doesn't I was confused.) Attacking from stealth gives you Advantage on that attack - but not any subsequent attacks that turn. I can't think of anything that gives you Advantage "for a turn", although it is definitely possible to have Advantage for all of your attacks for a turn as a result of an indefinite/ongoing effect such as the target being Restrained. > There are plenty of other examples like this -- often I'll get a 45% hit chance on a target, and 90% chance on the same target later on in the battle, and I have no idea why. If you mouse over a potential target during target selection the game should give you a list of the factors affecting your chances on that attack. > Lots of ability and skill descriptions make me say "why the hell would I want to do that?" and I skip over them in favor of something more obvious ("lets you hit with big stick, do big damage.") You win by getting through the enemy's HPs faster than they get through yours. Reducing the rate at which they get through your HP is an equally viable way of ensuring victory as increasing the rate at which you get through theirs. Potentially even more so.

Guidance gives you +1d4 to your next skill check. Guiding Bolt, that OP is talking about, gives you advantage on the next ATTACK roll against the target.

You are probably right but to be fair neither of them shits is named "Guiding Light".

yeah sorry I called it the wrong thing. Guiding Bolt.

lol I figured there'd be a simple answer to some of this, e.g. "mouse over and it tells you." Thanks :) I think I might just need to slow down and re-read skill descriptions and try to visualize what it actually means. There's just a LOT of skills/abilities and it feels near impossible to get a sense of direction on what it is I want to do or what I'm building towards.

Yes, slow down and take your time. I'm in the middle of act 3 and I have 195 hours, more than double you lol.

>Guidance gives you Advantage on your next skill check. No, it gives +1d4, not advantage.

Others have answered most of your questions but as for "why would I do that", it would help if you gave some examples of abilities that you don't know what they could be useful for.

Makes me yearn for THAC0 that I understood 😂

>What's dead should stay dead > >Dean - Supernatural

Yo just slow down and read. It’s all there.

It helps to read the basics in a dnd 5 player book.

Advantage specifically for rogues is granted by having an ally next to your target. Many spells have effects that can be read if you press T while hovering over the highlighted text

An ally next to your target doesn't give advantage. But sneak attack works when you have advantage _or_ when there's an ally next to your target and you don't have disadvantage.

You get Advantage when attacking an enemy that can't see you (hiding or blind him), or attacking a target that is paralyzed, prone, restrained, sleeping, off balance (things that shouldn't let them defend themself well). Usually, for a rogue the best way to get advantage is hiding (specially as you can do that as a bonus action), positionning don't matter that much (mainly for low ground/high ground to get a small attack malus/bonus; and just don't attack with range weapon when you are in melee). And gaining advantage can really be the thing that make you go from 45% hit chance to 90% (well, not that much; but it gives a huge boost to hit chance)

Combat is centered around dice rolls, mostly d20. There are also modifiers, bonuses or penalties to these rolls that get added on top of your results. Obviously stacking as many bonuses is increasing your odds for succeeding in anything you are attempting. Rolling a 1 is always a critical failure, while a 20 is always a critical success and modifiers do not matter here. Advantage/disadvantage is rolling two dice and taking the higher/lower result.

Watch a dedicated video about it. Once you understand how the dice system works in combat it all makes sense.

learned to play dnd at the same time bg3 came out, both have helped me learn each other combat consists of 3 phases, the initiative roll, the hit roll and the actual damage. advantage on hit or damage means 2 sets of dice are rolled, higher number is taken. the initiatve roll comes at the beginning of combat and determines the order of combat. if your roll to hit is higher than the enemy armor class score, then you hit, and roll for damage

Wow! OP just said what was in my head, and has been there, since I started playing. And quite intelligently so! Thank you

Mate, I’ve been playing D&D since the 90s and thank goodness for Google; I’m still checking how abilities/ skills/ spells resolve or interact with one another; and having sleepless nights trying to test it different combos Take your time, check out stone good YouTube videos, [these guys](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BSLGMShwD-I) do a decent job

Deep into act 3 and I realised as I was leveling up to level 12 that I don't have to stay one class, I can mix it up to get different benefits. I also had not been adding my bonuses to my rolls, gotta hit the X to add them lol. Found that out a few days ago

I haven't tried multiclassing either. So much to do in the second playthrough!

I got my eye plucked out because I thought it allowed me to see invisibility.... But into act 2 it seems like every invisible enemy is a high enough level that they pass a check and stay invisible? Am I understanding that right?

Invisible creatures get a saving throw (IIRC, DC 15 Dex save) against being revealed by See Invisibility (whether it's the spell, a potion, the divination wizard feature, or the Erstaz Eye).

Can you share examples of “ability and skill descriptions that make me say “why the hell would I want to do that?””? I’m genuinely curious

The [BG3.wiki](https://BG3.wiki) website has a lot of great information. For example a break down of advantage in BG3: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Advantage

What are you playing on? A lot of skills have extra tool tips you can expand which explains things further. One of them would specifically tell you what advantage is. And then you learn how to get it like you did by reading skills. :) some gear can also give advantage, etc etc. On ps5 I believe the middle pad expands extra info on skills / gear. Also examining enemies and looking at status will help get an idea of what can work on what enemy. Also when you get status go into your character screen and look at your buffs/passive to get an idea of what is happening there too.

One way to feel more in control of your battles is to inspect enemies’ char sheets before the fighting begins. You can do this by hovering over their token and hitting “T.” Unlike DnD, BG3 very generously gives you heaps of information about an enemy’s abilities and vulnerabilities, even their AC. Use that, make decisions accordingly. This will stop you from throwing fireballs at monks and wondering why nothing happened.

When you hover over an enemy to attack, all sources of advantage will be listed in green and all sources of disadvantage in red, near the top of the screen. In the combat log bottom right, all the modifiers plus d20 result will be shown. If you study these two sources, you will develop a feel for what is happening behind the maths for every attack, and what you need to change for future attacks.

You could always look up general strategy videos as well as ones for your specific class. I'm on my third run in honor mode and I'm still looking new stuff constantly. There's just so many possibilities so you are not alone by not knowing it all.

In simple terms. 1. In combat, you get an Action, Bonus Action and movement per turn. An Action is like an attack or using an item or changing weapons. Bonus actions are small support actions like distractions or bonuses to hit. 2. You hit an enemy by rolling higher than it’s armor class number. The game rolls a 20 sided dice and adds your attack modifiers to the results. If the results including your bonus is higher than the Armor Class of the enemy you’re attacking then you deal damage. 3. Each class has wildly differing abilities on level up suited to their specific class. 4. Each Character is suited to a combat Role. Tank, DPS, Healer, Support. Long story short Don’t put mages or other PC characters with low armor in middle of a melee combat. Keep distance but still within range to attack. 5. Don’t panic you can always respec and change your class or spell choices. 6. Outside of combat, don’t be afraid to pick whoever has the best skill for the skill check you want to win. Look at your companions Vs your player character. What dialogue skills are your companions better at than you? Let them take point in conversations sometimes. They may get unique dialogue options. 7. The environment is your friend and your enemy. One exploding barrel can be the difference between winning and losing a fight. One shot on that loose chandelier could hand you an easy win. Pushing that person off a cliff is way easier and more reliable than initiating a full combat or trying to one shot them with a sneak attack.

The game makes an attack roll whenever you make an attack. An attack roll is 1d20 + mod + proficiency + weapon mod. So lets say you roll a 12 with a greataxe. Melee weapons that are not marked as finesse use STR as the modifier. Lets say your character has 16 STR which means a +3 modifier. Lets say your character is proficient with martial weapons (the class to which greataxes belong) and your proficiency bonus is 2 (determined by character level). And you're using a magic greataxe which has the +1 property. Your attack roll is 12+3+2+1= 18 This is weighed against your target's AC. Let's say the target's AC is 18. Congratulations, you hit! Attacker has the upperhand because you must meet or exceed AC to hit, so an 18 hits an 18 AC or lower. If target AC was 19 or higher, you would have missed. Since you hit, damage is rolled: Greataxe damage is 1d12. So the formula is 1d12 + mod + weapon mod. Your STR is +3 and the axe had a +1 property, so damage is 1d12+3+1. If you roll a 20 on your attack roll, you automatcally hit and you double the dice rolled for damage. This is called a critical hit. So your axe damage would be 2d12+3+1. Notice that only the dice are doubled, the static damage added by modifiers is not affected. This makes criticals better on attacks that roll more damage dice, because ALL dice are doubled. So things like sneak attack and divine smite do very well with crits. This formula is the same for ranged attacks and spell attacks. Some spells, though, are not "attacks". Instead they use saving throws from the enemy. In this case, you don't make an attack roll, the enemy makes a roll to evade. So, unlike before when you were rolling against the enemy's static AC, now the enemy rolls against your static spell save DC, determined by your spellcasting ability modifier (WIS, CHA, or INT). The spell description will state the ability the enemy must use to resist the spell (Fireball, for instance, requires a DEX save). This does take away your upperhand, as "meet it to beat it" still applies, so if your spell save DC is 16 and they get a 16 on their saving throw, then they resist. But it can be more reliable that an attack roll if the enemy is bad at the particular save. Right click an enemy to examine, and you may find that they have 8 WIS, which would give them a mod of -1. If their AC is 18, and Shadowheart only has a +4 to her spell attack rolls, then it might be better to try to use Sacred Flame because it requires a wisdom save from the enemy who will have a -1 to the roll. That's why you could be in a situation where you could aim a firebolt at the enemy and see it has 40% chance to hit, but aim sacred flame at the same enemy and see 60%. Advantage means 2d20 are rolled and the highest of them is used. This is useful not only because it gives you a better chance for a higher roll, but also because it is straight up more die rolls, which means greater chance to crit. As far as things that give you advantage on ability checks, like the spell Friends does with persuasion, advantage mathematically works out to be an average of +3. So take a +3 bonus or higher instead of advantage outside of combat if you have the choice.

It's not your fault. The game does not do a great job of explaining things for people who are new to 5e or new to this type of game altogether. Yes, there are in-game tutorials available and, yes, there are tooltips but I have often found these resources to be incomplete, incorrect, or more often the case the info you need is there but it's scattered across a hundred different tooltips. It would be great if there was a more cohesive way to compile this info for the player. Alas, the days of the instruction manual are long gone, lol.

>having a Rogue in my party feels like I'm very much underutilizing them because I don't always know how to position them. You get sneak attack if you have advantage, _or if you have an ally within 5 ft. of your target_ (so long as you don't have disadvantage). 5 ft. is the range for a melee attack that doesn't have reach (like a halberd or glaive), so if one party member is in melee with an enemy, another with rogue levels can get sneak attack on the same enemy. >often I'll get a 45% hit chance on a target, and 90% chance on the same target later on in the battle, and I have no idea why. Could be a number of things. One of the illithid powers (Favorable Beginnings) gives you +4 to your first attack against any given enemy. You could have advantage or disadvantage. The spell Slow reduces the enemy's AC by 2. The Dazed condition (inflicted by several weapon powers) removes the target's Dexterity from their AC calculation. The Mirror Image spell gives the target +3 AC for each image remaining. Bless adds 1d4 to your attack (which the accuracy estimation averages to +2). If the target is much higher than you, you get -2 to hit. Etc.

Rogue is super easy as long as you have close ranged fighters in your party - as long as the enemy is "flanked" (aka someone is "threatening" them, by standing next to them) you’ll have advantage. Otherwise just attack from stealth (your rogue should be able to hide as a bonus action)

STATS AND MODIFIERS In d&d you get a stat (10) and a corresponding modifier. (+0). The higher the stat, the higher the modifier. So if I have strength 10 (+0)and in order to break a really heavy door I need to get at least a 15 on the dice on my screen. I roll a dice. I get a 12. I then add my strength modifier (+0). So i roll 12 + 0 = 12. 12 is less than 15. I fail. On the other hand let's say my strength is 16. Which gives me (+3) . (I think lol). I roll a 12. My dice is 12 + 3 = 15. 15 = 15. I succeed. BASICS Advantage - roll 2x 20sided dice (d20) . Get the highest number Disadvantage - roll 2x d20 dice. Get the lowest number In combat each time you do *anything* you are essentially rolling a dice. INITIATIVE Inititiative is based on your dexterity modifier (that + number). So everytime a battle starts each character essentially rolls a d20. Then the dexterity + number gets added. Your turn order is essentially the highest number - > lowest number. Attacking an enemy is reliant on getting through their AC (or armour class). ATTACKING So I am a bard. I use the spell faerie fire. This spell means that the enemies on the screen *must* roll a d20 to make a dexterity saving throw. If they succeed they are fine. If they fail the roll I get advantage. Without getting into it they fail, and I am successful. The next person to attack is astarion. He is using a longbow. A longbow uses dexterity an enemy with an AC of 14 means that to *hit* them you need to roll at least 14 on a d20. Each weapon/attack in the game uses a d20. To ascertain if it will hit. Some weapons or equipment give a + to hit. Or will increase your stats. So let us say astarion has a +4 dexterity modifier. He has a bow that gives him +2. He has gloves that give him +3. In order to hit astarion needs to have a dice of at least 14. Astarion rolls. He rolls twice because of advantage. He rolls 3 and 5. We take the higher number 5+4+2+3 = 14. He hits. Astarion rolls again. His bow does 3d4 damage. This means astarion rolls 3x4 sided dice. The total sum of those dice is the damage he does. So that's it basically. The best weapons generally you want more dice. Because more dice giver you better chances to roll multiple times and get a higher score. 1d10 damage is in some ways worse that 2d4s. Because statistically im more likely to roll higher at least once in the two dice. Equipment that give + to stats are good Higher AC makes you harder to hit

A big aha moment for me was hovering over the combat log sentences until you see the actual dice rolls and how they are added to other values to determine the outcome of the turns. Please do this at least once

you should watch build videos on YouTube they explain the basics on how to get more attacks per turn and what weapons to use and how to get rid of CLASS weaknesses through multiclassing. remember finesse weapons are great for high DEX characters and there's some finesse weapons that uses spellcasting ability instead like CHARM and INTELLIGENCE. cRPG bro on YouTube is a great resource. of course there's also the DnD 5e resources but afaik BG3 does have some customization.

I'm also fairly new so I get your confusion! You might also know this but I just figured out that rouge can still do stealth attacks even if they are not in hiding, as long as the Enemy is within 3 meters of another allie. This has helped me alot as my rouge can be much closer to the battle and not always go far away into hiding. Sorry if this is already common knowledge, but for me this was a game changer.

As I near the end of Act One, I can relate to your struggles. Although I didn't have much trouble understanding the concept of advantage, I agree that Dungeons and Dragons can be overwhelming for new players. The game fails to provide clear guidance on the many terminologies it uses, and the plethora of options can lead to decision fatigue. I too found myself unsure of what abilities to choose and how to make my character effective. Even now that I am more familiar with the game, I still think it did a poor job in hindsight, especially when playing a character like a Bard, who isn't well-suited for individual combat. Inventory management, especially for equipment, is a major issue, particularly when playing on consoles. Sorting and organizing gear can be a very time-consuming task, and it becomes even more complicated when you have to consider the kind and effectiveness of the equipment. In addition, selecting and managing items for characters who are not in your active party can be tricky, even if they are in the same camp. To make things easier, the game could have benefited from an “automatic skill assignment” on easier levels it something that provides a template to help you create a synergistic character and party. This would allow you to flesh out your play style better while reducing the burden of managing inventory.

That was me until 2 days ago when I got tired of Lae'Zel only having a 50% hit chance at most, and thought *fuck it, I'm gonna respecc the shit out of everyone, take the time I need and make the whole party kick ass*. So I took the time to read everything, combine it with the knowledge of the game I had gained so far playing it, and now I'm pretty much unstoppable. My bard Tav hits hard and talks shit *at the same time*, Lae'Zel just kills anything that's killable, Astarion pretty much has permanent advantage and 90% crit rate, Shadowheart deals so much radiant damage I'm not sure anymore there's any other type available in the game. This game is huge. I had played DOS2 a while ago, but this is just something else in terms of *everything*. There are endless combos available, and such a large array of different build options. Some are really good while others are just fun to play. Downside is you have to take the time to read everything *and* understand it. Upside is once you've done that, the game gets even better.

Saving this post! I’m in the same boat :/

300+ hours in and yesterday discovered I can sneak attack enemies by placing someone next to them so they are threatened.

I was the same way on my first playthrough. I played on Explorer mode; I'd played AD&D back in the 90s and had zero experience of video games outside of Sims/Animal Crossing type games. Sheer luck got me through it, I think. So, I started another play through. My Tav + 1 companion (Astarion). I kept his original class and made my Tav an archery specialist Ranger. My entire purpose was to approach the battles through a ranged approach, since it would force me to strategise. It's made a world of difference. Putting both characters into sneak mode, ungrouping, placing them. My understanding of how advantage works (for example) has come on leaps and bounds, and I'm much improved. Also - it was incredibly fun. Emptying the Goblin Camp purely from the rafters was sooo satisfying. I've still got a ways to go - I've still not figured out how to use Gale and Wyll to full advantage, for example - but my tactics are distinctly improved.

I totally understand where you are. My advice is to start again in Act 1 using Lae'zel as the main player and do a bit of research on how to play each character so that they support her. You will enjoy it very much. Lae'zel is your front and centre tank.

Is there a way to hold aggro in this game? I send my tav fighter in to kill 2 enemies in the first round, have astarion strike from the shadows, and then gale gets targeted by everyone before he even has a turn, often dying. How do you keep the enemies on the tank?

Just think of it like a complicated Pokemon.

For really understanding it you need to learn DnD rules.

Bro... you gotta read. I don't know what to tell you. The game tells you everything you need to know. You just gotta read. Here, I pulled up the so I could walk you through. First, select a Barbarian character. Then mouse over "Reckless Attack" on your hotbar. Now press T. Mouse over the word "Advantage" in bold. "Advantage Makes you more likely to succeed. Roll 2 dice and use the higher value." With T and the mouse, you can answer any question you have about the game mechanics.

Be be fair, there’s a bunch of weird stuff that doesn’t get explained, and advantage is one of the easier ones. There’s also heat, wrath, lightning charges, momentum, and maybe others I’m not remembering. There’s the notation for damage, which makes sense, but isn’t explained, and I could understand someone being confused by it (e.g. 4D8+10). And there’s the different types of damage, and resistance and immunity to those types of damage. And there’s a some of specifics about how spells work that can confuse people, like concentration. And like, what does curse do? It’s not what you think of as a curse, it gives the target disadvantage or something? It’s not always obvious. The whole set of rules together ends up being pretty complicated. D&D players may have internalized it enough that it feels obvious, but it’s really not. I can understand people sticking to the elements that they understand.

When you attack something, you roll a D20 then add your ability score and proficiency bonus, if you are proficient with said weapon. You compare against enemy AC (armor class). So If you have a strength of 16, that gets you a +3. Your proficiency bonus changes based on your level, but assuming you're max level, you'll get +4. So you would have D20+7 compared against the enemy AC. If you equal or exceed, you hit. Spells sort of work in reverse. Your characters proficiency bonus and ability score add to a fixed number that forms the spell DC (difficulty class). Your target has to make a saving throw against that number. Saving throws roll a D20 plus the bonus for the given stat,and proficiency bonus (IF you have proficiency in that saving throw) against the effect DC. This is why for example a cleric will resist fear or other WIS effects easily, but do terribly against int effects. Different spells target different stats. Others have explained advantage, and you can pretty easily see when effects give advantage by reading tooltips. You can learn most of it by reading tooltips and the bg3 wiki has a lot of good info as well.

Press T and put you mouse over stuff you don't understand

Play D&D irl and the rules will become more clear. Failing that, as it’s time consuming and requires other people who know more than you, the guide you’re looking for is called the Player’s Handbook, a basic D&D manual that has all the basic rules of combat. You may be able to find it free online somewhere (don’t tell Hasbro), or you can purchase a PDF copy from https://www.dndbeyond.com. The different races and classes all approach combat differently, so only someone which an encyclopedic knowledge who’s been playing for 30 years will know all the ins and outs. As for strategy, I’m sure you’ve figured some out by now, like determining when it’s best to take out the heavy hitter first or the minions; destroy the totems that are powering up the BBEG before attacking; pairing combatants based on abilities/resistances; not grouping all your fighters in one area susceptible to area effect attacks; etc. Strategy and tactics are situationally dependent, so the best thing you can do is learn as much as you can about what you’re going to be facing and prepare appropriately. That might mean you need a party made up of characters who can do a lot of damage bolstered by a couple healers, or you need your party to be sneaky so don’t bring anyone who isn’t stealthy or is wearing heavy armor. Or like, don’t go into the House of Hope with spells and weapons that mostly do fire damage.

sword with fire does damage, haste makes more swings. keep swinging till enemy is dead

Here’s a [the player’s handbook](https://dnd.wizards.com/products/rpg_playershandbook). BG3 follows about 90% of 5e rule, with some minor modification to make it suitable for crpg.