Oh yes please. I'd espeacially like a city appropriate Druid ideas, I had Halsin tag along as healer for a bit because the bear shape made everyone freak out.
What I love about your builds is they're seated in the mechanics of the game, rather than weird and specific items that abuse game mechanics that probably aren't intended and only come online in Act 3. Thank you for what you do!
@@anthonyfaiell3263 Much rather have a good build to enjoy the journey before reaching act 3 and once upon reaching act 3..... feel the power But everything is about the journey
This is factual. Rather have a build that's based in the game and natural progression rather than "hey this build is based on this one item you get at the end so play any build you want and respec right before you beat the game"
On the other hand, I'd love to see specific builds around items, or sets of items. Like the ones that add lightning charges. Early on I had that on a staff plus the necklace that added 1 hit to magic missiles. Used the free magic missiles casting to build up a bunch of charges, then next turn fire off a big shot of a 2nd level magic missile for 5 hits, each doing additional lightning damage, plus a big burst of damage once a certain number of charges were obtained.
Much agreed. It's fun to see how wild some of those endgame builds can be, but thanks to Colby's knowledge of 5e he's able to give us characters that progress with a natural feel; enhanced by finding rare items instead of relying on them.
For jaheira, if you wanted to embrace her melee, scimitar wielding style, do this astarian build, but fit 2 levels into spore druid for symbiotic entity. The surprise turn getting an extra 8d6 damage is wild. My jaheira is currently 5 ranger, 3 rogue, 3 druid and I love it. Didn't consider paladin at first, but that would be a good place to go for the last 2 levels for biggest burst damage with smites
On high charisma Lae’zel, as I’ve been saying for years, charisma is an individual’s force of personality, not necessarily how amicable they are. So Lae’zel having a strong presence or personality makes a lot of sense to me, as do paladin levels. She screams Oath of Devotion or Vengeance as a Githyanki Warrior.
I gotta love friendly Homelander educating my newbie self on how to play BG3. Found this channel from part 1 of this series and now I’m totally hooked! Keep up the good work!
Very professional! Our ENTIRE family plays this and watches your channel. Age 3, 8, 13, 39, and 45. Thank you. You have a 30 ability score in our house, on Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence. We love the BG3 content! So good!❤❤❤
Anyone doubting her majesty Lae'zel taking on bard should consider that Gurney Halleck played a lot of baliset, well at least in the book. He also is fairly prickly.
Using tarot to generate backstories is such a great idea. Tarot is, even if you are a skeptic, a great random idea generator. Making connections between the cards can get your creativity going.
I feel like Vengeance Paladin makes soooooo much sense for Astarion especially since the dip is likely to happen in act 2 when he starts to open up more and become more affixed to the idea of taking Cazador down instead of simply avoiding him at all costs. All 3 of these builds seem super fitting to me, and that Karlach build from the last video is INSANE at least up to level 6 where she is in that playthrough. Thanks as always for the wonderful breakdowns of the synergy of your builds, it really makes DnD noobs like me have a better understanding of the game and I can't say I'd be having as much fun as I am without them. Thank you!
Another excellent bonus for Rally is that it can revive Downed allies! It gives them the X Temporary Health AND 1 standard HP. Martials getting the equivalent of Healing Word with a 60ft range is nuts.
Something interesting/weird about Gale in BG3. Since humans in BG3 have Light Armor and Shield proficiency, it means Gale (and Wyll) always get to use Light Armor and Shields for free without multi-classing.
Just found this channel a week ago and was already waiting anxiously for Part 2. Love the DnD and Balder's Gate content and the positivity in these videos, keep up the good work!!!
Gale is actually pretty sturdy by default, or he can be. As a Human in BG3, he starts with proficiency in Light Armor and Shields. So if you spec him to have 14 Dex, he can have 12 AC natively, plus 2 from a shield is 14, then throw on, like, even a Padded+1 early on and you’re at 16 or 17 or so. Also, on learning from Lae’zel: She actually offers to teach him some of her techniques for defense, but he says he “prefers Abjuration to acrobatics,” for what it’s worth.
That "I prefer Abjuration to Acrobatics..." line is worth a ton when the subject is selecting character specific class choices. Makes the Tanky Wizard build idea even more valid since he personally states it in game.
One thing to keep in mind too, with gale specifically, is that he can use light armor and shields right from level 1 regardless of class. In bg3 humans and half elves get the civil militia feature, which gives you proficiency in all polearms, light armor and shields.
I was totally planning to give Astarion Paladin levels because it feels right for the character to me. These build's are awesome. I love the idea of Lae'zel taking up the roll of battlefield commander as she slowly grows to appreciate the capabilities of her companions. Thanks for sharing :D
@@finnfeaver1196 I'm on my first playthrough but my partner played the game before I was able to so I'm a bit spoiled on his story line. Without to many spoilers for anyone else though, I've been waiting for a specific thing to happen and if it goes the way I'm hoping it will, I think he might have a bit of a change about how he views heroes and himself among their number. At that point I think I'll respec him into several levels of paladin, I'm not sure how many yet haven't quite worked that out. But I am drawn to his line about no one ever coming to save him. I think at this point in the story he might start feeling like he could be that for someone else. Also I think if he got to smite someone on top of sneak attack he would gleeful at the destruction lol.
Thank you! This is a big help! I'm getting back into D&D after a 20 yr hiatus & thought a vg would make it easier. I had no idea how overwhelming it would be. Thank you for making my life easier.
A random note, as a human Gale has light armour and shield proficiency. With the 18 dex gloves and cloak of protection he was sitting comfortably at 20 AC for me leaving act 2.
I gave Gale a level of Cleric of Mystra with War Domain (figure it fit his background reasonably well). But that gives him Heavy Armour Proficiency. It was quite humorous seeing the normally squishy Gale, lumbering into battle and slinging spells while wearing a full suit of Adamantine Armor and plate helm as attacks missed him left and right.
Also worth considering swapping one feat for dual wielder rather than ASI, you can dual wield quarterstaffs meaning you get a +1 AC from the feat and also get both staff benefits, so double arcane battery, or 2 sets of spell save DC and spell attack increase. Works very nice with the endgame Legendary staff plus some of the very rare ones and as OP says you can have dex gloves and light armor, and the +1AC from talent goes some way to counter the loss of a shield
Not my dumbass not realizing he also had light armour prof due to being human but still giving him a shield because that part I could read apparently. Atleast Mage Armour hives him his arcane ward because I made I'm Abjuration despite it feeling like there are no freaking Abjuration spells
Lae'zel as bard: I see her sitting around the campfire strumming her lute and singing "kumbaya!" while encouraging everyone to come in closer. Group hug!!!! 🤣 . . . . ha! Can't get this image out of my mind, now! Seriously, these two videos taught me so much about building characters, multiclassing, and group dynamics for the party. Well done!
If I remember correctly Lae'zel and Gale have a bit of banter about Githyanki fighting styles and weapons early on. She offers to teach him something and he declines. So there would be some backstory for those fighter levels. ^^
@@F_Mothering yeah i know, it's just funny that he justifies it using lae'zel. Long time fans know those two levels of fighter are just coming from his obsession with it. He puts two levels of fighter in a lot of his builds it's practically a meme now.
@@joco8587 That's fair. It does seem to be his go-to when a multi class doesn't even up for feats. "Just sprinkle in some fighter levels for action surge. Stir, and bake at Karlach-degrees Fahrenheit."
I have not heard a SINGLE WORD you've said in the last 40 minutes as I was reading articles, and writing my very own essays to a friend. Your voice is THAT soothing, and that's a compliment. it's almost like background music. if nothing else, when I need to focus on my own writing, i'll just pull up one of your 40 minute videos. xD
For optimising Gale, I like camp Gale. 3 Cleric/1 rogue/8 Transmutation Wizard. He can use Warding Bond on everyone and he gets the NPC heal self while he's not in your party so he takes half of your party's damage without ever being there and heals it all for free. He gets a level 6 spell slot for upcast Aid. He can do the longstrider and mage armor casts (if you have anyone unarmoured) saving your party from needing to prepare/use those spells. The rogue level is for expertise in Medicine to help him do alchemy and produce double outputs as a transmutation wizard. And finally he gets transmutation stone as well, that he can give away to someone. He just buffs everyone then leaves party and chills in camp.
I love that, after all this time taking a break from bg3 but just now getting back into it when a friend started playing; just seeing and hearing you speak about it jogs my mind and brings back all the clever tricks and tips I had gotten from you back at the game's release. Your charisma stat is considerable, lol
@@georgeskinner3217 n act 1/2 you have to pick between the gobbos and the Druid/tiefs. That choice leads to only having 9 available at end act 3, as you lose access to the faction leader of the side you didn’t choose.
Time to respec everything. Thank you so much for doing this, I can't imagine how much work it was. It's much appreciated!💖As a noob in turn vg, I was super apprehensive. I'm just grateful I found your channel.
Not gonna lie, when you said Bard for Lae'zel, I was like "Okay...that's a weird choice, but I wanna see what you do with it," but as you started explaining, this is definitely something I want to play with. Very...inspirational lol
That's my version of Astarion, the Ascendant Vampire ! For me have a lot of sense some mix of Rogue and Bard. He is very charming and cautivating and he talks a lot ( so his instrument is the lyre ). All the spells are very vampirestyle: charming, sleep, control animal, paralize, hipnotise, disguise. And a little of Warlock cause the final pact with Mephistopheles. Disapointing that someone with more than 100 years old still on Level 1. Come on Astarion,..! Anyway, it could be like this. ACT 1 Nautiloide, Tiflings/Goblins, Auntie/Underdark and Crèche 1.- 1 Rogue. Sneak attack. 2.- 2 Rogue. hide/run as Bonus action. 3.- 3 Rogue. PickPocket. Extra Bonus Action. 3 attacks/round. 4.- 4 Rogue. Feat . Sharpshooter. +10damage -5attackrolls 5.- 1 Bard. Bardic inspiration. Harmful mockery is very Astarion and Friends. ACT 2 Shadowlands. Last Light, Gauntlet of Shar and Moonrise Towers. 6.- 2 Bard. Short Rest + competence skills. 7.- 3 Bard.Colleges of Swords. 2 attacks or +4 AC or through back the enemy. + Paralize + Dual weapon bonus 8.- 4 Bard. Feat : +2 DEX or Crossbows Master. ACT 3 Baldur's Gate. 9.- 5 Bard. Hipnotise patron. Better Bardic insp,. 10.- 6 Bard ExtraAttack Finally! Terror. 11.- Warlock Hex/Infernalrepresion. The Great old One, mortal reminder. 12.- Warlock Devil's Sight + Repeling Blast. Gear. Helmet of Grit +Extra Bonus Action when 50% HP. The Deathstalker Mantle. Invisible for kill. Bhaalist Armour. Enemies at 2 meters vulnerables to piercing damage. That's crazy. +2 initiative Infernal Gloves. Extra damage and +1DC And Thief Gloves for stealing Disintegrating Night Walkers boots. Misty Step and good stuffs. Amulet of the Harpers. Shield Spell. Or Constitution cause the idea is being under 50% HP. Risky Ring Advantage on attack rolls. And Smuggler's Ring for stealing. Band of the Mystic Scoundrel. After hitting a creature with a weapon attack, you can cast illusion or enchantment spells as a Bonus Action. And Shapeshifter's Boon Ring for stealing. Knife Under the Mountain 19Crit Blade of the First Blood leftHand 18Crit + Counter Attack + 1AC HandCrossbow Hellfire and fireburning And the Eternal Carafe of Wine Item that you can win with the Djinn Akabi and the Tranfuse health illithid power is perfect for the Helmet of Grit. You can damage almost the half of your HP and be aqurate with the wine as free action to reach the 50% HP. And if you don't have the Thief Gloves in Act 1, Akabi have a +2 stealing gloves with a "downside" that you gain 1 piece of hot coal for each steal you do. Then you can sell the coal for 1 piece of gold each one. The problem is that when you steal a lot of things you can burn in flames. So there is a cloak from Akabi too that make you wet. It's a funny combination :o) - So, you have a very powerfull build here! 2 attacks + 3 bonus actions with the helmet. With the ring you can cast a spell as a bonusaction. Use your action attacking and then paralize, hipnotize or terrify with a bonus action, and destroy with the other 2 bonusaction. AND with the amazing Baahlist Armor, you'll be attacking with your crossbow and the +10 damage of the Sharpshooter exactly 2,00 meters from the enemy. So the enemy will be vulnerable to your piercing damage and the min distance to avoid the proximity disvantage on ranged atacks. There is a pixel in between! ( Or you can choose Crossbowmaster to make easier ) And anyway , you wear the risky ring ;) Also is very funy and usefull how interacts the aura of the armor out of combat. Everyone run away from you! Luckly you can toggle the pasive. Very vampire too. So, attacking with a ( +10 dmg Sharpshooter +d10 dmg Vampire Ascendant +d6 dmg Gloves ) x 2 = 52 dmg for arrow . Plus if you have paralized before... Crit! Put some arrows like Darkness with the Infernal Vision or arrow for Multiple enemies and have fun Plus Illithid Powers : Flying, Cull the weak, Mind Blast, Transfuse, Blackhole, Beast Shape,. Man, that's all very vampire too, my darling ♡
I really love the Lae’zel build here. Such a cool idea for her to be mostly a Fighter/Bard. I can just hear the mockery she would yell across the battlefield, hoping to throw off an enemy just in time for a vicious strike from her allies. These build guides have been blessing for me as I do not have as much time to theory craft anymore. Thanks and keep up the fantastic work!
I like the Rogue/Gloomstalker for Asterion, but his personality is all about wanting power and being charming (in a way). A pure Bard with College of Lore fits him well. He can still be your slight of hand specialist, but he now gets all sorts of illusion and charm options. Even a few good evocations if you want to take them at levels six or 10. Arcane Trickster or Rogue 2 Wizard 10 might fit him as well, but with Bard he’s casting and picking pockets from the start. And he has perform in his default skill set, too.
Empowered evocation also add the INT modifier on EACH missile of magic missile. Which is quite something considering its 8 missiles at the end so 40 hit point guaranted.
I've been waiting for this one. I absolutely love your builds. I have never played dnd, your videos are huge on helping me understand the mechanics for BG3.
A potential alternative for Gale's lvl 8 feat choice is spell sniper instead of +2 to INT. Pick up eldritch blast, and lvl 10 wizard he now adds INT to every blast, mimicking agonizing blast really well, but with a wider utility as a wizard.
Could also do 2 lvls in Warlock to get Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast, then at Wiz 10 you get both INT and CHA scaling on it (slightly MAD, but you could fit it in, or wiggle around some ability scores to get a couple extra dmg points)
@@soulstice94there is a quest reward in act 2 that gives you a robe that adds your charisma bonus to all cantrip damage that would stack as well so if you had a charisma of 20 and an int of 18 you could Eldritch blast for 3d10 + 42 if all 3 of them hit
@@The_Crimson_Witch This is the part stumping me on the builds. They feature impossible starting stat spreads, with 16 points in stats that don't get the class bonus, like Lae'zel's Charisma, or Gale's Constitution (or Intelligence, if doing a level 1 Fighter respec).
Hey Colby, thanks for all the fire BG3 content lately, I've been making good use of some of your builds. I really love your battlefield commander idea for Lae'zel and I'm definitely gonna try it out. It does feel very thematic for her personality and I like how you tried to keep that in mind. Keep up the sick work!
Your option 3 for Lae'zel is almost exactly how I started building her in my second playthrough, partly because I just initially thought it would be funny to make her mad to be not as much of a direct "warrior"-like character like she would realistically want, but then I just started to realize how much it was actually was working (I did the bard option) and how much fun it was. Bonus points that it's funny that you can use her to perform and earn money, the mental image of a Gith singing like, ancient songs of war in the streets is very entertaining!
I was excited for the Astarion build, however I already used that build for him at least until you added Paladin lol. My build for him was 4 assassin, 5 gloomstalker, and 3 champion. The reasoning for going champion is to reduce the number needed for a crit, which by the time you get to act 3 you'll find many items that *stack* onto it. Also having action surge on a build that already murders half the enemies on turn one is insane. That's not even mentioning illithid potential, luck of the far realms, favorable beginnings, psionic backlash, and cull the weak just make this build even more incredible.
I actually respecced Astarion into an Oathbreaker/Warlock; he's the only of my party to grow the *mind powers* and is running the underdark drow sword, so having him be this sort of unholy powerseeker that does loads of damage is really fun
I've been waiting, since part 1, for this one. :) I'd love to see your take on a Jack of all Trades build. One that you can't respec (If achievement hunting).
You can technically cheese the achievement by getting to level 12 normally and then either getting a hireling set up with one level in each class or building one of the act 3 latecomers with that setup.
BG3 brought me back to the D&D community (at least on YT) after many decades away, and I have to say, it seems better than it ever was, judging from the huge heaps of excellent content like your videos. This video was especially helpful for me, since I'm rolling with Gale and Astarion in my next run.
You explain stuff so well. There are some channels that are all over the place on these guides. Thai is my first “D&D” “experience” so I appreciate the explanations and the fact that you explain stuff so well. Cheers bro. Thanks
I've got multiple hundreds of hours in this game, and I've barely even scratched the surface of act 3. These videos always inspire me to play around with different builds, thanks for being awesome!
Gloomstalker is by far and away one of the best subclasses in all of 5E and BG3 really brings it to the "big screen", as it were. It's really fun to see it work - and work well, as intended - in a game. Pairs perfectly with assassin in BG3 too even though I find assassin to be a sub-par sub-class in actual D&D. You have to get Withers as soon as you can just to have fun rebuilding and experimenting!
Sparkling Frost build. People often forget that wet + cold = double damage as well as wet + electric damage. How about a build that emphasises wet + cold damage, as well as wet + electric. The key thing about this build is that here are several items you can find that make this build rather powerful. To get the best from the build you will need your character to have footwear that stops you slipping on icy ground (like the boots from true soul Nere). This works nicely with the 3rd level spell Sleet Storm - it's always nice to be able to hit prone opponents. The Snowburst ring also helps (creates a small ice surface around a target when hit with a cold based spell). If you want to melee with weapons that help with these damage types, you probably want a cleric over an arcane caster, as they are more tanky. There are several items to help this build available later in Act 1 and some early in Act2. Look for parts of a staff in the Underdark that you can combine together, that chills your target (add the wet condition and they are frozen for 1 turn). Keep all of the many water bottles you find, to throw at enemies at the right time. You can decide for yourself whether you want opponents to suffer from being electrified or chilled and possibly prone. Add the Sparkswall ring to your character for protection from electroction along with electricity resistance and you can have immunity to many of your spells that use WET + lightning, or WET + cold damage. There are numerous weapons that can boost your damage with electric and cold. I'd probably gravitate towards electric based items early (as there are several items found early), switching to cold based weapons when you find them. If you went Tempest cleric (or at least 2 levels of it) you can use your ability to maximise lightning (and thunder) damage , which would give you the big one-a-day max electric/thunder damage strike, followed by your character dealing chilled/cold damage and creating ice surfaces. Character creation choices can also give you resistance, depending on your choice, to things like electricity/cold/fire/poison, which helps survivability, especially on a Tactician run. I like this build concept because it is not just wet + electric; while wet + cold can do nasty damage to fiery creatures and possibly others too, because IIRC there is an item (forget its name, or even whether it is an item, or spell, or both) that causes enemies to be vulnerable to a certain damage type.
I've watched so many build videos at this point and these are by far my favorites. I care much more about making the builds feel in-character instead of just min-maxing, so this was perfect! Also love that you don't focus on requiring super specific equipment to make builds work. Can't wait to start my tactician playthrough using your builds for Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Astarion! I'm stealing Wyll's build for my character. Planning on doing an evil playthrough so hoping for a part 3 just in case I need to sub out Shadowheart for Minthara!
If I'm not playing a bard myself, I often give the role to Astarion as college of swords and deck him out in a +1 (and later +2) chain shirt since those both have a fairly similar aesthetic to his starting outfit. He becomes my fancy Battle-Bard.
Definitely wasn't expecting Bard Lae'zel here, but I'm all for it. Charisma does encompass Intimidation and Deception which are 2 things Lae'zel is always promoting in your party. Gith also make quite an interesting face in this game so Face/Battle Commander Lae'zel feels very good. Might use this for when I play as her origin...
Love these builds, and love your energy, man! Such a positive and refreshing thing to find on the interwebs. Your expertise has made my first playthrough so much fun!
Thanks for all your hard work. I recently found your channel. Your video production is fantastic. Everyone needs to hear your outros, they're wholesome and genuine, and should be in your intro as well.
Love these builds. Been looking forward to this 2nd optimizing video. I often watch this during my lunch break, yay for working from home. Totally off topic, I could listen to you read a phone book. Like for reals it just chills me out. lol.
I came back just to watch the second one (even though I already got the build I wanted lol) just because you said in the first one people never watch part 2's 😂😂😂 well and your videos are so well put together.
A couple lesser-known things: -While you can’t go 16 16 16 on your important stats at level 1, you can go 18 16 16 once you reach level 4 if you dump the other three. -You can pickpocket Withers to get your gold back. He doesn’t even care if you fail, so keep rolling until you do. The bigger a pile of gold is the harder the check tho, so don’t let it get too big (although again, you can try as much as you want)
My favorite build for Gale has been the following. Level 6 warrior, going into eldritch knight. Then taking 6 levels of wizard. The EK levels give extra attack and some nice additional spells to his list. For these spells I took things like "shield" or "longstrider". Utility spells that I generally always want to have. The six levels of fighter give that extra feat for 3 feats total. The wizard levels give up to 4th level spells for some nice options. The 3 feats are (ASI - INT / ASI - INT / Great Weapon Fighter) to give a 20 INT. There are a few things in BG3 that really make this build perform exceptionally well. - You can absolutely drink a potion of giant strength every day, giving you a 21 or 27 STR. - You can get the band of the mystic scoundrel that lets you cast an illusion or enchantment spell as a bonus action after attacking. This lets Gale head up with a glaive and whack twice for ~45dmg, then he casts hypnotic pattern, tashas laughter, or fear as a bonus action. Overall this is an incredibly satisfying GISH to play and vastly different from most GISH builds.
7:46 I play him just as a wizard... with light armor and the shield that gives you a 1st lvl spell slot, having 20 AC + shield spell from time to time, and hand slot which gives 18 DEX. Didn't even minmaxed his stats. Gear in this game is amazing!
29:12 the stereotypes around bards are easily my biggest pet peeve when it comes to the dnd community. For some reason most people can’t follow along any time you try to make a bard that goes outside of that box. There’s so much potential for making loads of characters that have nothing to do with being a musician or trying to seduce everyone you meet. But it’s done more often than not with every other class. But apparently that stereotype is *so funny* 🤪
Thank you for these build guides, they are awesome 👌 I rolled with your Storm Socerer build with my Gale and never looked back. Makes boss fights trivial 😅
I totally agree with your assertion about wizards being sort of boring to optimize. I love playing the class, and it's super powerful when done right, but it's much more about spell selection and tactics than picking this or that race, feat, or even subclass, because the base class is just so effective and versatile
Playing as a sorcerer I can tell you that Gale doesn't have any respect for sorcerers or warlocks. He mentioned it directly in dialogue, so it would be against his character to multiclass in any of those
Just diving into bg3 last week(never played dnd and never enjoyed turn based games) I'm addicted and did mostly all act 1 without watching or learning much of anything about the game. Stepped into act 2 and just wanted to expand my knowledge That said I've learned so much in just the few videos I've watched so far thanks for all this content I'm gonna be able to rummage through lol.
I always respec Astarion as a Bard first and then a rogue, makes more sense considering that his job with Cazador was attracting victims, so he would be very carismatic, and I love the dual hand crossbow build, its insane
I'm incapable of playing a rogue (Astarion or Tav) without taking Thief, seeking out dual hand crossbows, and picking up Sharpshooter. It's just way too fun!
@@MsCrickBG3 also with the dual weapon fighting style from the bard, the dual hand crossbows are OP, I combine that with the bard's hat thet you can get in the grove and I turn Astarion into a Gunslinger
The two-weapon fighting style isn't necessary to get the bonus damage from Hand Crossbows because for some reason Larian coded the Hand Crossbow weirdly. As a result, you're actually better off taking the Duelling fighting style that you can Rapier + Shield and still deal decent damage if someone gets into melee range.@@HinchaGeek
For Astarion, I went Gloomstalker Ranger 3, Thief Rogue 3, BM fighter 6 with trip attack, disarming attack, and precision attack. I still get 2 feats, and two fighting styles. So i pick dual wield, sharpshooter, archery and two weapon fighting and use two hand crossbows. I don't get auto crits first round, but if i action surge, I can get 7 attacks first round, and 4 attacks per round ongoing. It can knock enemies prone, setting up your party to finish off any stragglers. Precision attack helps offset the sharpshooter "all in" penalty if needed. Gloves of archery or gloves of power, eversight ring, and cloak of cunning brume are some great early-mid game gear. Disengage and hide before you attack to obscure yourself in a fog cloud, but you're immune to blind, so you're just spitting out a hail of bolts Special callout to diadem of arcane synergy. If you inflict a condition (prone, hunters mark, frightened, elemental arrows, bane from gloves of power), then you also add your spellcasting modifier to all attacks. That can be tricky to build stats for, but its a fun added bonus for more sustained damage and utility.
Part 3 for Halsin and Minthara!! Also this was an amazing video and I really liked the original and surprise twists you made in these builds. I think they made sense and I will be trying them all out!!
Love the builds! And well... every build you've posted regarding BG3 haha. I do feel though with Gale maybe the blaster caster Tempest cleric/Sorc could've been a good fit too? No spoilers but definitely could see him being that subclass of a cleric too as well as the fact that he's a charmer as well so Charisma feels like something he should thematically have a lot in lol
Watch part 1 here! ua-cam.com/video/YOgipqWEUV0/v-deo.html
Wishing for a part 3 for Halsin, Minthara, Minsc and Jaheira in the future.
Seconded.
Thirded.
And my Axe 🪓
Oh yes please. I'd espeacially like a city appropriate Druid ideas, I had Halsin tag along as healer for a bit because the bear shape made everyone freak out.
@@logancuster8035and my bow 🏹
Lae'zel's Healing Word is just telling a grievously injured party member to "walk it off."
What I love about your builds is they're seated in the mechanics of the game, rather than weird and specific items that abuse game mechanics that probably aren't intended and only come online in Act 3. Thank you for what you do!
All the good stuff is in act 3 :(
@@anthonyfaiell3263 Much rather have a good build to enjoy the journey before reaching act 3 and once upon reaching act 3..... feel the power
But everything is about the journey
This is factual. Rather have a build that's based in the game and natural progression rather than "hey this build is based on this one item you get at the end so play any build you want and respec right before you beat the game"
On the other hand, I'd love to see specific builds around items, or sets of items. Like the ones that add lightning charges. Early on I had that on a staff plus the necklace that added 1 hit to magic missiles. Used the free magic missiles casting to build up a bunch of charges, then next turn fire off a big shot of a 2nd level magic missile for 5 hits, each doing additional lightning damage, plus a big burst of damage once a certain number of charges were obtained.
Much agreed. It's fun to see how wild some of those endgame builds can be, but thanks to Colby's knowledge of 5e he's able to give us characters that progress with a natural feel; enhanced by finding rare items instead of relying on them.
I think a part 3 for non-origin companions would be great. Especially with the 2 very different druid builds between Halsin and Jaheira
For jaheira, if you wanted to embrace her melee, scimitar wielding style, do this astarian build, but fit 2 levels into spore druid for symbiotic entity. The surprise turn getting an extra 8d6 damage is wild.
My jaheira is currently 5 ranger, 3 rogue, 3 druid and I love it. Didn't consider paladin at first, but that would be a good place to go for the last 2 levels for biggest burst damage with smites
On high charisma Lae’zel, as I’ve been saying for years, charisma is an individual’s force of personality, not necessarily how amicable they are. So Lae’zel having a strong presence or personality makes a lot of sense to me, as do paladin levels. She screams Oath of Devotion or Vengeance as a Githyanki Warrior.
I gotta love friendly Homelander educating my newbie self on how to play BG3. Found this channel from part 1 of this series and now I’m totally hooked! Keep up the good work!
friendly Homelander...
i cant unsee this
cursed
Very professional! Our ENTIRE family plays this and watches your channel. Age 3, 8, 13, 39, and 45. Thank you. You have a 30 ability score in our house, on Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence. We love the BG3 content! So good!❤❤❤
Anyone doubting her majesty Lae'zel taking on bard should consider that Gurney Halleck played a lot of baliset, well at least in the book. He also is fairly prickly.
Using tarot to generate backstories is such a great idea. Tarot is, even if you are a skeptic, a great random idea generator. Making connections between the cards can get your creativity going.
Missed opportunity to call the wizard tank either The Wank or The Wanker
I feel like Vengeance Paladin makes soooooo much sense for Astarion especially since the dip is likely to happen in act 2 when he starts to open up more and become more affixed to the idea of taking Cazador down instead of simply avoiding him at all costs. All 3 of these builds seem super fitting to me, and that Karlach build from the last video is INSANE at least up to level 6 where she is in that playthrough. Thanks as always for the wonderful breakdowns of the synergy of your builds, it really makes DnD noobs like me have a better understanding of the game and I can't say I'd be having as much fun as I am without them. Thank you!
Another excellent bonus for Rally is that it can revive Downed allies! It gives them the X Temporary Health AND 1 standard HP. Martials getting the equivalent of Healing Word with a 60ft range is nuts.
Something interesting/weird about Gale in BG3. Since humans in BG3 have Light Armor and Shield proficiency, it means Gale (and Wyll) always get to use Light Armor and Shields for free without multi-classing.
it's really hard to not put shields on every character bc it's so easy esp early on
The moment I realised, I could give Gale a shield & remembered to put that shield spell in his spell list, he instantly stopped being squishy.
Wyll gets light armor from being a warlock anyway without multiclassing
@@anska7475 yeah! i also made my gale an abjuration wizard x warlock 2 if you know what I mean. my boy's unkillable. plus he got darkvision!
Just found this channel a week ago and was already waiting anxiously for Part 2. Love the DnD and Balder's Gate content and the positivity in these videos, keep up the good work!!!
Gale is actually pretty sturdy by default, or he can be. As a Human in BG3, he starts with proficiency in Light Armor and Shields. So if you spec him to have 14 Dex, he can have 12 AC natively, plus 2 from a shield is 14, then throw on, like, even a Padded+1 early on and you’re at 16 or 17 or so.
Also, on learning from Lae’zel: She actually offers to teach him some of her techniques for defense, but he says he “prefers Abjuration to acrobatics,” for what it’s worth.
That "I prefer Abjuration to Acrobatics..." line is worth a ton when the subject is selecting character specific class choices. Makes the Tanky Wizard build idea even more valid since he personally states it in game.
One thing to keep in mind too, with gale specifically, is that he can use light armor and shields right from level 1 regardless of class. In bg3 humans and half elves get the civil militia feature, which gives you proficiency in all polearms, light armor and shields.
I was totally planning to give Astarion Paladin levels because it feels right for the character to me. These build's are awesome. I love the idea of Lae'zel taking up the roll of battlefield commander as she slowly grows to appreciate the capabilities of her companions. Thanks for sharing :D
Interesting call on paladin! What was your thinking behind that? Always keen to hear about other cool lore builds.
@@finnfeaver1196 I'm on my first playthrough but my partner played the game before I was able to so I'm a bit spoiled on his story line. Without to many spoilers for anyone else though, I've been waiting for a specific thing to happen and if it goes the way I'm hoping it will, I think he might have a bit of a change about how he views heroes and himself among their number. At that point I think I'll respec him into several levels of paladin, I'm not sure how many yet haven't quite worked that out. But I am drawn to his line about no one ever coming to save him. I think at this point in the story he might start feeling like he could be that for someone else. Also I think if he got to smite someone on top of sneak attack he would gleeful at the destruction lol.
Thank you! This is a big help! I'm getting back into D&D after a 20 yr hiatus & thought a vg would make it easier. I had no idea how overwhelming it would be. Thank you for making my life easier.
The introduction is quite likely my favorite of all introductions. Love you too!
A random note, as a human Gale has light armour and shield proficiency.
With the 18 dex gloves and cloak of protection he was sitting comfortably at 20 AC for me leaving act 2.
I gave Gale a level of Cleric of Mystra with War Domain (figure it fit his background reasonably well). But that gives him Heavy Armour Proficiency. It was quite humorous seeing the normally squishy Gale, lumbering into battle and slinging spells while wearing a full suit of Adamantine Armor and plate helm as attacks missed him left and right.
Not sure how I missed that! Game changer
Tempest domain gives you heavy armor proficiency as well, and suits Mystra more imo@@Dervraka
Also worth considering swapping one feat for dual wielder rather than ASI, you can dual wield quarterstaffs meaning you get a +1 AC from the feat and also get both staff benefits, so double arcane battery, or 2 sets of spell save DC and spell attack increase. Works very nice with the endgame Legendary staff plus some of the very rare ones and as OP says you can have dex gloves and light armor, and the +1AC from talent goes some way to counter the loss of a shield
Not my dumbass not realizing he also had light armour prof due to being human but still giving him a shield because that part I could read apparently. Atleast Mage Armour hives him his arcane ward because I made I'm Abjuration despite it feeling like there are no freaking Abjuration spells
Lae'zel as bard: I see her sitting around the campfire strumming her lute and singing "kumbaya!"
while encouraging everyone to come in closer. Group hug!!!! 🤣
. . . . ha! Can't get this image out of my mind, now!
Seriously, these two videos taught me so much about building characters, multiclassing, and group
dynamics for the party.
Well done!
If I remember correctly Lae'zel and Gale have a bit of banter about Githyanki fighting styles and weapons early on. She offers to teach him something and he declines. So there would be some backstory for those fighter levels. ^^
"No thanks. I prefer abjuration to acrobatics."
The backstory on those fighter levels is just d4's obsession with action surge.
@@joco8587 I mean, action surge is pretty good.
@@F_Mothering yeah i know, it's just funny that he justifies it using lae'zel. Long time fans know those two levels of fighter are just coming from his obsession with it. He puts two levels of fighter in a lot of his builds it's practically a meme now.
@@joco8587 That's fair. It does seem to be his go-to when a multi class doesn't even up for feats. "Just sprinkle in some fighter levels for action surge. Stir, and bake at Karlach-degrees Fahrenheit."
I have not heard a SINGLE WORD you've said in the last 40 minutes as I was reading articles, and writing my very own essays to a friend. Your voice is THAT soothing, and that's a compliment. it's almost like background music. if nothing else, when I need to focus on my own writing, i'll just pull up one of your 40 minute videos. xD
I just watched part 1 from my recommended tab an hour ago and checked if part 2 was out. And not just 40 minutes later, here it is
For optimising Gale, I like camp Gale. 3 Cleric/1 rogue/8 Transmutation Wizard. He can use Warding Bond on everyone and he gets the NPC heal self while he's not in your party so he takes half of your party's damage without ever being there and heals it all for free. He gets a level 6 spell slot for upcast Aid. He can do the longstrider and mage armor casts (if you have anyone unarmoured) saving your party from needing to prepare/use those spells. The rogue level is for expertise in Medicine to help him do alchemy and produce double outputs as a transmutation wizard. And finally he gets transmutation stone as well, that he can give away to someone. He just buffs everyone then leaves party and chills in camp.
I was quite literally just waiting to see if this had been uploaded yet! What great timing, thank you so much for this!
I love that, after all this time taking a break from bg3 but just now getting back into it when a friend started playing; just seeing and hearing you speak about it jogs my mind and brings back all the clever tricks and tips I had gotten from you back at the game's release. Your charisma stat is considerable, lol
Feel like someone’s gonna show up in this series that I didn’t know could be a companion
There’s 10 possible.
@@hoganlex1 I was correct, I’m at the end of Act 3 and I’ve got 9
@@georgeskinner3217 n act 1/2 you have to pick between the gobbos and the Druid/tiefs. That choice leads to only having 9 available at end act 3, as you lose access to the faction leader of the side you didn’t choose.
@@hoganlex1actually siding with the goblins loses you Wyll, Karlach and Halsin in exchange for Minthara
Hopefully next week
Time to respec everything. Thank you so much for doing this, I can't imagine how much work it was. It's much appreciated!💖As a noob in turn vg, I was super apprehensive. I'm just grateful I found your channel.
That last part was very nice, thank you, you too have a great day, week or month even!
Not gonna lie, when you said Bard for Lae'zel, I was like "Okay...that's a weird choice, but I wanna see what you do with it," but as you started explaining, this is definitely something I want to play with. Very...inspirational lol
That's my version of Astarion, the Ascendant Vampire ! For me have a lot of sense some mix of Rogue and Bard. He is very charming and cautivating and he talks a lot ( so his instrument is the lyre ). All the spells are very vampirestyle: charming, sleep, control animal, paralize, hipnotise, disguise. And a little of Warlock cause the final pact with Mephistopheles.
Disapointing that someone with more than 100 years old still on Level 1. Come on Astarion,..!
Anyway, it could be like this.
ACT 1 Nautiloide, Tiflings/Goblins, Auntie/Underdark and Crèche
1.- 1 Rogue. Sneak attack.
2.- 2 Rogue. hide/run as Bonus action.
3.- 3 Rogue. PickPocket. Extra Bonus Action. 3 attacks/round.
4.- 4 Rogue. Feat . Sharpshooter. +10damage -5attackrolls
5.- 1 Bard. Bardic inspiration. Harmful mockery is very Astarion and Friends.
ACT 2 Shadowlands. Last Light, Gauntlet of Shar and Moonrise Towers.
6.- 2 Bard. Short Rest + competence skills.
7.- 3 Bard.Colleges of Swords. 2 attacks or +4 AC or through back the enemy. + Paralize + Dual weapon bonus
8.- 4 Bard. Feat : +2 DEX or Crossbows Master.
ACT 3 Baldur's Gate.
9.- 5 Bard. Hipnotise patron. Better Bardic insp,.
10.- 6 Bard ExtraAttack Finally! Terror.
11.- Warlock Hex/Infernalrepresion. The Great old One, mortal reminder.
12.- Warlock Devil's Sight + Repeling Blast.
Gear.
Helmet of Grit +Extra Bonus Action when 50% HP.
The Deathstalker Mantle. Invisible for kill.
Bhaalist Armour. Enemies at 2 meters vulnerables to piercing damage. That's crazy. +2 initiative
Infernal Gloves. Extra damage and +1DC And Thief Gloves for stealing
Disintegrating Night Walkers boots. Misty Step and good stuffs.
Amulet of the Harpers. Shield Spell. Or Constitution cause the idea is being under 50% HP.
Risky Ring Advantage on attack rolls. And Smuggler's Ring for stealing.
Band of the Mystic Scoundrel. After hitting a creature with a weapon attack, you can cast illusion or enchantment spells as a Bonus Action. And Shapeshifter's Boon Ring for stealing.
Knife Under the Mountain 19Crit
Blade of the First Blood leftHand 18Crit + Counter Attack + 1AC
HandCrossbow Hellfire and fireburning
And the Eternal Carafe of Wine Item that you can win with the Djinn Akabi and the Tranfuse health illithid power is perfect for the Helmet of Grit. You can damage almost the half of your HP and be aqurate with the wine as free action to reach the 50% HP.
And if you don't have the Thief Gloves in Act 1, Akabi have a +2 stealing gloves with a "downside" that you gain 1 piece of hot coal for each steal you do. Then you can sell the coal for 1 piece of gold each one. The problem is that when you steal a lot of things you can burn in flames. So there is a cloak from Akabi too that make you wet. It's a funny combination :o)
-
So, you have a very powerfull build here!
2 attacks + 3 bonus actions with the helmet.
With the ring you can cast a spell as a bonusaction. Use your action attacking and then paralize, hipnotize or terrify with a bonus action, and destroy with the other 2 bonusaction.
AND with the amazing Baahlist Armor, you'll be attacking with your crossbow and the +10 damage of the Sharpshooter exactly 2,00 meters from the enemy. So the enemy will be vulnerable to your piercing damage and the min distance to avoid the proximity disvantage on ranged atacks. There is a
pixel in between! ( Or you can choose Crossbowmaster to make easier ) And anyway , you wear the risky ring ;)
Also is very funy and usefull how interacts the aura of the armor out of combat. Everyone run away from you! Luckly you can toggle the pasive. Very vampire too.
So, attacking with a ( +10 dmg Sharpshooter +d10 dmg Vampire Ascendant +d6 dmg Gloves ) x 2 = 52 dmg for arrow . Plus if you have paralized before... Crit!
Put some arrows like Darkness with the Infernal Vision or arrow for Multiple enemies and have fun
Plus Illithid Powers : Flying, Cull the weak, Mind Blast, Transfuse, Blackhole, Beast Shape,. Man, that's all very vampire too, my darling ♡
I would have never thought of a assassin paladin build. Thats sounds really fun thanks!
I love you, too, dude. Thanks for the builds.
I really love the Lae’zel build here. Such a cool idea for her to be mostly a Fighter/Bard. I can just hear the mockery she would yell across the battlefield, hoping to throw off an enemy just in time for a vicious strike from her allies. These build guides have been blessing for me as I do not have as much time to theory craft anymore. Thanks and keep up the fantastic work!
Your videos feel like an informative hug
Awww yeah. Been checking up daily when part 2 came out. Been having a blast with the companion builds. They really feel just right
I like the Rogue/Gloomstalker for Asterion, but his personality is all about wanting power and being charming (in a way). A pure Bard with College of Lore fits him well. He can still be your slight of hand specialist, but he now gets all sorts of illusion and charm options. Even a few good evocations if you want to take them at levels six or 10.
Arcane Trickster or Rogue 2 Wizard 10 might fit him as well, but with Bard he’s casting and picking pockets from the start. And he has perform in his default skill set, too.
Empowered evocation also add the INT modifier on EACH missile of magic missile. Which is quite something considering its 8 missiles at the end so 40 hit point guaranted.
I've been waiting for this one. I absolutely love your builds. I have never played dnd, your videos are huge on helping me understand the mechanics for BG3.
A potential alternative for Gale's lvl 8 feat choice is spell sniper instead of +2 to INT. Pick up eldritch blast, and lvl 10 wizard he now adds INT to every blast, mimicking agonizing blast really well, but with a wider utility as a wizard.
Could also do 2 lvls in Warlock to get Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast, then at Wiz 10 you get both INT and CHA scaling on it (slightly MAD, but you could fit it in, or wiggle around some ability scores to get a couple extra dmg points)
@@soulstice94there is a quest reward in act 2 that gives you a robe that adds your charisma bonus to all cantrip damage that would stack as well so if you had a charisma of 20 and an int of 18 you could Eldritch blast for 3d10 + 42 if all 3 of them hit
@@BinxyBrown Charisma 20 Int 18, then everything else is at 8? Stephen Hawking out here blasting people with his mind
@@hyteclowlifeYou can put your INT, CHA and Con to 15 before ASI and just dump everything else
@@The_Crimson_Witch This is the part stumping me on the builds. They feature impossible starting stat spreads, with 16 points in stats that don't get the class bonus, like Lae'zel's Charisma, or Gale's Constitution (or Intelligence, if doing a level 1 Fighter respec).
Hey Colby, thanks for all the fire BG3 content lately, I've been making good use of some of your builds. I really love your battlefield commander idea for Lae'zel and I'm definitely gonna try it out. It does feel very thematic for her personality and I like how you tried to keep that in mind. Keep up the sick work!
I did Gloomstalker 5/Assasin 6/ Great Old One 1 for that Fear on Crits, was very happy with it
Your option 3 for Lae'zel is almost exactly how I started building her in my second playthrough, partly because I just initially thought it would be funny to make her mad to be not as much of a direct "warrior"-like character like she would realistically want, but then I just started to realize how much it was actually was working (I did the bard option) and how much fun it was. Bonus points that it's funny that you can use her to perform and earn money, the mental image of a Gith singing like, ancient songs of war in the streets is very entertaining!
Did you give her drums? Because the moment I thought of laezel bard I thought on the drums LMAO
I was excited for the Astarion build, however I already used that build for him at least until you added Paladin lol. My build for him was 4 assassin, 5 gloomstalker, and 3 champion. The reasoning for going champion is to reduce the number needed for a crit, which by the time you get to act 3 you'll find many items that *stack* onto it. Also having action surge on a build that already murders half the enemies on turn one is insane.
That's not even mentioning illithid potential, luck of the far realms, favorable beginnings, psionic backlash, and cull the weak just make this build even more incredible.
I actually respecced Astarion into an Oathbreaker/Warlock; he's the only of my party to grow the *mind powers* and is running the underdark drow sword, so having him be this sort of unholy powerseeker that does loads of damage is really fun
I've been waiting, since part 1, for this one. :)
I'd love to see your take on a Jack of all Trades build. One that you can't respec (If achievement hunting).
You can technically cheese the achievement by getting to level 12 normally and then either getting a hireling set up with one level in each class or building one of the act 3 latecomers with that setup.
@@Galastan I was under the impression that it had to be the PC. Either way, it would be interesting to see his take on a JoaT build.
BG3 brought me back to the D&D community (at least on YT) after many decades away, and I have to say, it seems better than it ever was, judging from the huge heaps of excellent content like your videos. This video was especially helpful for me, since I'm rolling with Gale and Astarion in my next run.
You explain stuff so well. There are some channels that are all over the place on these guides. Thai is my first “D&D” “experience” so I appreciate the explanations and the fact that you explain stuff so well. Cheers bro. Thanks
I've got multiple hundreds of hours in this game, and I've barely even scratched the surface of act 3. These videos always inspire me to play around with different builds, thanks for being awesome!
The puzzle with Wizards is spell selection moment to moment. When you have quick saves that falls apart.
Gloomstalker is by far and away one of the best subclasses in all of 5E and BG3 really brings it to the "big screen", as it were. It's really fun to see it work - and work well, as intended - in a game. Pairs perfectly with assassin in BG3 too even though I find assassin to be a sub-par sub-class in actual D&D. You have to get Withers as soon as you can just to have fun rebuilding and experimenting!
Totally doing the Gloomwalker for my PC! Such great videos. Thank you so much.
Sparkling Frost build. People often forget that wet + cold = double damage as well as wet + electric damage. How about a build that emphasises wet + cold damage, as well as wet + electric. The key thing about this build is that here are several items you can find that make this build rather powerful. To get the best from the build you will need your character to have footwear that stops you slipping on icy ground (like the boots from true soul Nere). This works nicely with the 3rd level spell Sleet Storm - it's always nice to be able to hit prone opponents. The Snowburst ring also helps (creates a small ice surface around a target when hit with a cold based spell). If you want to melee with weapons that help with these damage types, you probably want a cleric over an arcane caster, as they are more tanky. There are several items to help this build available later in Act 1 and some early in Act2. Look for parts of a staff in the Underdark that you can combine together, that chills your target (add the wet condition and they are frozen for 1 turn). Keep all of the many water bottles you find, to throw at enemies at the right time. You can decide for yourself whether you want opponents to suffer from being electrified or chilled and possibly prone.
Add the Sparkswall ring to your character for protection from electroction along with electricity resistance and you can have immunity to many of your spells that use WET + lightning, or WET + cold damage. There are numerous weapons that can boost your damage with electric and cold. I'd probably gravitate towards electric based items early (as there are several items found early), switching to cold based weapons when you find them. If you went Tempest cleric (or at least 2 levels of it) you can use your ability to maximise lightning (and thunder) damage , which would give you the big one-a-day max electric/thunder damage strike, followed by your character dealing chilled/cold damage and creating ice surfaces.
Character creation choices can also give you resistance, depending on your choice, to things like electricity/cold/fire/poison, which helps survivability, especially on a Tactician run. I like this build concept because it is not just wet + electric; while wet + cold can do nasty damage to fiery creatures and possibly others too, because IIRC there is an item (forget its name, or even whether it is an item, or spell, or both) that causes enemies to be vulnerable to a certain damage type.
I needed to hear the don't give up. thanks
I've watched so many build videos at this point and these are by far my favorites. I care much more about making the builds feel in-character instead of just min-maxing, so this was perfect! Also love that you don't focus on requiring super specific equipment to make builds work.
Can't wait to start my tactician playthrough using your builds for Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Astarion! I'm stealing Wyll's build for my character. Planning on doing an evil playthrough so hoping for a part 3 just in case I need to sub out Shadowheart for Minthara!
If I'm not playing a bard myself, I often give the role to Astarion as college of swords and deck him out in a +1 (and later +2) chain shirt since those both have a fairly similar aesthetic to his starting outfit. He becomes my fancy Battle-Bard.
Definitely wasn't expecting Bard Lae'zel here, but I'm all for it. Charisma does encompass Intimidation and Deception which are 2 things Lae'zel is always promoting in your party. Gith also make quite an interesting face in this game so Face/Battle Commander Lae'zel feels very good. Might use this for when I play as her origin...
Love these builds, and love your energy, man! Such a positive and refreshing thing to find on the interwebs. Your expertise has made my first playthrough so much fun!
Finally, been waiting for this.
Your vids are so great man. Never thought I'd get invested in long form DnD build content lel
Thanks for all your hard work. I recently found your channel. Your video production is fantastic. Everyone needs to hear your outros, they're wholesome and genuine, and should be in your intro as well.
Love it Colby!
I actually went with Monk for Lae'zel, especially after a specific choice that begins in Act 1 and throughout Act 2.
Can't get enough of the BG3 content. The respec'ing and multiclassing flexibility is just wonderful for optimization.
Love these builds. Been looking forward to this 2nd optimizing video. I often watch this during my lunch break, yay for working from home. Totally off topic, I could listen to you read a phone book. Like for reals it just chills me out. lol.
I came back just to watch the second one (even though I already got the build I wanted lol) just because you said in the first one people never watch part 2's 😂😂😂 well and your videos are so well put together.
Ha ha - thanks!
So true, I’ve only recently started watching these and have to agree, your videos are very well put together 👍
A couple lesser-known things:
-While you can’t go 16 16 16 on your important stats at level 1, you can go 18 16 16 once you reach level 4 if you dump the other three.
-You can pickpocket Withers to get your gold back. He doesn’t even care if you fail, so keep rolling until you do. The bigger a pile of gold is the harder the check tho, so don’t let it get too big (although again, you can try as much as you want)
That Lae’Zel build is so awesome I love it!
Finallllyyyy! Been waiting excitedly for a long 7 days for this! Thanks so much!
Really happy I found your channel. You are really a fantastic resource. Thank you!
Another great video! I love your content and your attitude. 🧡
Thank you very much! Amazing videos!
I will absolutely be using this Lae’zel build! So freaking dope!
You've convinced me. Next run: all Bard multi-class party! I LOVE this idea for Lae'zel! Please keep making these they are fantastic.
My favorite build for Gale has been the following. Level 6 warrior, going into eldritch knight. Then taking 6 levels of wizard.
The EK levels give extra attack and some nice additional spells to his list. For these spells I took things like "shield" or "longstrider". Utility spells that I generally always want to have. The six levels of fighter give that extra feat for 3 feats total.
The wizard levels give up to 4th level spells for some nice options.
The 3 feats are (ASI - INT / ASI - INT / Great Weapon Fighter) to give a 20 INT.
There are a few things in BG3 that really make this build perform exceptionally well.
- You can absolutely drink a potion of giant strength every day, giving you a 21 or 27 STR.
- You can get the band of the mystic scoundrel that lets you cast an illusion or enchantment spell as a bonus action after attacking. This lets Gale head up with a glaive and whack twice for ~45dmg, then he casts hypnotic pattern, tashas laughter, or fear as a bonus action.
Overall this is an incredibly satisfying GISH to play and vastly different from most GISH builds.
Just got BG3, was going "jees complex character development". Mate your help guides are the best. Watched them all. Gamer from Australia.
7:46 I play him just as a wizard... with light armor and the shield that gives you a 1st lvl spell slot, having 20 AC + shield spell from time to time, and hand slot which gives 18 DEX. Didn't even minmaxed his stats. Gear in this game is amazing!
29:12 the stereotypes around bards are easily my biggest pet peeve when it comes to the dnd community. For some reason most people can’t follow along any time you try to make a bard that goes outside of that box. There’s so much potential for making loads of characters that have nothing to do with being a musician or trying to seduce everyone you meet. But it’s done more often than not with every other class. But apparently that stereotype is *so funny* 🤪
Thank you for these build guides, they are awesome 👌
I rolled with your Storm Socerer build with my Gale and never looked back. Makes boss fights trivial 😅
About Fighter Gale, there actually is an interaction between them that happened to me in Act 1 where Lae'zel offered to teach Gale her fighting style.
I love the videos! I haven't watched my subscriptions page as closely as I do for these videos
This is excellent Colby.
I totally agree with your assertion about wizards being sort of boring to optimize. I love playing the class, and it's super powerful when done right, but it's much more about spell selection and tactics than picking this or that race, feat, or even subclass, because the base class is just so effective and versatile
I looove the battlefield commander lae’zel! The support aspects of battle master are never spoken about online, good stuff.
I think for Gale, a little bit of sorcerer would be interesting and fit his background - he was born with an incredible ability with magic...
Playing as a sorcerer I can tell you that Gale doesn't have any respect for sorcerers or warlocks. He mentioned it directly in dialogue, so it would be against his character to multiclass in any of those
Loving the build ideas ❤ I really enjoy trying new builds in this wonderful game.
Just diving into bg3 last week(never played dnd and never enjoyed turn based games) I'm addicted and did mostly all act 1 without watching or learning much of anything about the game. Stepped into act 2 and just wanted to expand my knowledge
That said I've learned so much in just the few videos I've watched so far thanks for all this content I'm gonna be able to rummage through lol.
I always respec Astarion as a Bard first and then a rogue, makes more sense considering that his job with Cazador was attracting victims, so he would be very carismatic, and I love the dual hand crossbow build, its insane
I'm incapable of playing a rogue (Astarion or Tav) without taking Thief, seeking out dual hand crossbows, and picking up Sharpshooter. It's just way too fun!
@@MsCrickBG3 also with the dual weapon fighting style from the bard, the dual hand crossbows are OP, I combine that with the bard's hat thet you can get in the grove and I turn Astarion into a Gunslinger
The two-weapon fighting style isn't necessary to get the bonus damage from Hand Crossbows because for some reason Larian coded the Hand Crossbow weirdly. As a result, you're actually better off taking the Duelling fighting style that you can Rapier + Shield and still deal decent damage if someone gets into melee range.@@HinchaGeek
@@Yabbamann Well probably its patched because im using a dual hand crossbow bard Astarion in two fo my runs and is totally OP
For Astarion, I went Gloomstalker Ranger 3, Thief Rogue 3, BM fighter 6 with trip attack, disarming attack, and precision attack. I still get 2 feats, and two fighting styles. So i pick dual wield, sharpshooter, archery and two weapon fighting and use two hand crossbows. I don't get auto crits first round, but if i action surge, I can get 7 attacks first round, and 4 attacks per round ongoing. It can knock enemies prone, setting up your party to finish off any stragglers. Precision attack helps offset the sharpshooter "all in" penalty if needed.
Gloves of archery or gloves of power, eversight ring, and cloak of cunning brume are some great early-mid game gear. Disengage and hide before you attack to obscure yourself in a fog cloud, but you're immune to blind, so you're just spitting out a hail of bolts
Special callout to diadem of arcane synergy. If you inflict a condition (prone, hunters mark, frightened, elemental arrows, bane from gloves of power), then you also add your spellcasting modifier to all attacks. That can be tricky to build stats for, but its a fun added bonus for more sustained damage and utility.
Part 3 for Halsin and Minthara!!
Also this was an amazing video and I really liked the original and surprise twists you made in these builds. I think they made sense and I will be trying them all out!!
you are my GOAT man thank u for these
I love your builds also love that you're doing BG3 content. Thanks!
Thanks!
Thank *you* :)
Sentinel & Polearm master a great combo. If it works properly.
I'm screaming!! I've been waiting
I was waiting for this.
Oh man, this is the first video of yours I've ever watched, and your outro made me cry so hard. I haven't been very kind to myself lately, thank you!
❤️
Love the builds! And well... every build you've posted regarding BG3 haha. I do feel though with Gale maybe the blaster caster Tempest cleric/Sorc could've been a good fit too? No spoilers but definitely could see him being that subclass of a cleric too as well as the fact that he's a charmer as well so Charisma feels like something he should thematically have a lot in lol