My favourite: I LOVE bard so much. Something about my goofy outfit with my flute is just entertaining to me. My second favourite would probably have to be Druid or cleric though. I love wild shaping, but light cleric is also insane.
My least favourite: I hate Barbarian. I just find it so boring. Don’t get me wrong I like the starting drip, but it’s just not for me.
Wizard is meh as a face class until my high charisma character is missing all the arcana and intelligence checks and then I miss the class so bad 😭
This is why I murdered lump for his headband for my dumb bard 😌
Gloomstalker is part of my semi-optimized honor mode run. Just a strong martial and since they are a caster they benefit from arcane synergy.
By the time I left act 1 my ranger was my highest hitting character with 1d8 titan string bow + 5 dex + 4 str + 3 wis + 2 braces of archery + 2 caustic band (will add sharp shooter soon for even more damage).
And it gets an extra free attack on the first turn. It’s just too clutch.
the curve of rangers is just so smooth in act 1 with all the items u can get
Favorite: Lore Bard - everything all at once
Least: Ranger - I get the what and why I just prefer Rogues. Redeeming quality: Gloomstalker subclass
Seems like rogue/ranger makes a decent multiclass combo
Gloomstalker/Assasin is a really good if you can make use of surprise often.
And of you can't, then GS/Thief is great - play it Dual Wield or Hand Xbows - always able to make 4 attacks per turn if you go at least 5 GS / 3 Thief
5 attacks per turn at level 6 if you go all in with a dual hand crossbow swords bard.
Plus more spells, more proficiencies, expertise, and of course high charisma for dialogue.
Now you need to make a Lore Bard modeled after Michelle Yeoh
Yesssss! I’m currently playing an all Lore Bard multi class run for maximum Cutting Words. I missed such an opportunity to name my Tav Yeoh.
(I named her Florence after Florence and the Machine.)
Speaking from ignorance here, it's nice how there's face defaults that seem to lean towards various ethnicities beyond various versions of european descent (and more minorities than just black, or european-with-skintone-slider). Probably bar-is-the-floor varieties of nice, but nice nonetheless.
I just made my second character and had forgotten that it's presets rather than a full face-slider setup. At least the hair and makeup/tattoo/eye color options do a surprising amount to pseudo-shape the face by centering other features.
On a concept level, I get why one might prefer Rogue to Ranger, but everything Rogue does Ranger or Bard can do better. Rogue makes for an excellent multiclass dip but after a few levels it's massively diminishing returns (particularly since Sneak Attack's extra damage is less useful than being flat out able to attack twice)
Rogue and Ranger both dip classes to 😔, bard is just so good
Try going full hunter and destroy every act III encounter with your insane aoe which costs literally no extra resources other than your action. You'll hit 4 times with haste or elixir of bloodlust pretty regularly because your aoe will be just too much. Ranger only lags in parts of Act II in the game. That's mainly because ranger spells are pretty shitty. Ranger can also be a pretty good off tank with 3 resistances + phalar aluve and a shield
Only really Gloomstaller is the dip subclass of ranger. Hunter and beastmaster need a majority of levels into it for it to be functional later in the game
Lore Bard with Dimensional Door.
Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Don’t sleep on the beast master ranger. In honor mode an extra hit point pool and action is awesome at level 3. And the beast companion benefits from Hunters Mark. And by level 11 your wolf gets an area attack twice dealing force damage. And your bear gets an extra bear. All in addition to your rangers two attacks. Puppy friend is a best friend.
Least favourite is probably Ranger. The dialogue options you get from it aren't even that good, and the class itself just feels very boring to play. Favourite is probably Cleric. The dialogue options if your deity is evil are great.
Rangers thing comes from gear choices. You can really get stuck trying to create synergy between your weapons and armor. They have a simple ability kit but synergy is kinda where their complexity lies.
Lightning charges build ranger is crazy
Ranger also has Hunter which really shines on a full-level build, or Gloomstalker which shines more as a dip/multi.
My 4 Spores-3 Swords-5 GloomRanger is fucking terrifying. Slap on a displacement cloak and concentration damage items, dude is untouchable, highly mobile, has support options, can deal extremely solid damage at any range, and makes a great face.
I'm a bit obsessed with Sorcerer right now. I think I dislike Druid the most, but to be fair, it could be because I just don't understand how to make it useful.
Druids got a ton of utility and damage spells. If you're trying to go melee druid, you can still pump wisdom and use shellegili (I butchered that spelling) For me druid is one of the best classes. Plus you can sanctuary yourself still use moonbeam without breaking sanctuary, making you untouchable.
I think the biggest "problem" with Druid for me is that Wildshape Moon Druid are so effective and so easy to make effective that all my Druids just end up basically being an Owlbear all of the time. Which is still pretty neat, but it means you basically ignore a lot of the really cool spells that Druids get. You can still cast a concentration spell but with 5e you could activate those spells too and that added a lot of fun and versatility that we're missing out in with BG3. It's honestly one of the few changes they made that I think is a step-down from how it works in 5e.
You can go land Druid and just use wildshape for its out of combat utility. That way you can still use the cool spells
Land Druids are very slept on.
Their ability to add valuable spells onto the Druid Spell List is actually like a much better version of Magical Secrets where you get 9 additional spells known. Not all of them would be my top picks, but most are.
They get Arcane Recovery like Wizards, and are prepared casters so they have more spell versatility and spells known. An overlooked feature is that because they are Wisdom based, they can dip 1 level of Cleric for a ton more prepared spells, and subclass feature.
The biggest reason I think they are overlooked, is because they are sort of Wizard-lite. In DnD I think they'd be arguably better than Wizards, but in BG3 the armor proficiency Druids get is pretty easy to pick up and there's great robes. Also the Wizard spell scribing is pretty broken. The unique Druid spells they have access to are often overlooked though, as is OOC wildshape utility.
Then again there's nothing stopping you from going Land Druid 10, Wizard 1, Cleric 1 and just having all the spells in the game.
The problem with your last suggestion is that anything you learn from a scroll uses intelligence as its spellcasting modifier, while Druid spells use Wisdom.
Also, you still won't get mass healing word, which is imo the biggest advantage of bringing a Cleric.
I regularly take a Wizard dip on non-Int casters regardless, for two reasons:
which is imo the biggest advantage of bringing a Cleric.
I almost never used in-combat mass healing spells as Cleric. Even on higher difficulty levels, the main uses were to pop up a downed player with a bonus action healing word. Since Druids do get mass cure wound, they're still helpful in healing if you can't rest for some reason, and the lack of bonus action cast only matters in combat.
I do miss Spirit Guardians on Druid. But Thunderwave, Goodberry, Spike Growth, Plant Growth, Cloud of Daggers, Call Lightning, and the Storm, Conjuration and Wall spells more than make up for it.
Clerics peak with Spirit Guardians. After that their later level spells are meh. Druids have some great options throughout, especially with Land Druid supplementing direct damage and defense spells.
Yeah that's true and I think they can still be super fun and effective, I think I struggle to choose it because it feels like Wildshape is like the Druid feature and so it feels weird to choose the suboptimal version of it and while I'm not a min/maxer by any means, I do like creating the best version of a build I can make.
I think reframing it to use wildshape primarily out of combat kinda helps adjust my thinking on that though and I also had forgotten that they get Arcane Recovery like r/Irish_Whiskey pointed out, that does help a lot.
That’s great utility in my opinion. Because if you’re an owl bear all the time. The moment you stop being an owl bear you have all of your spellslots while the other full casters are exhausted
That is a good point, they can get a lot of usefulness in one day between Wildshapes and then spells but with this game in particular you're kinda incentivized to long rest as much as possible most of the time so I feel like it's a little less useful than it might be in a more traditional tabletop dungeon crawl experience where resource management is super important.
That makes sense. I personally don’t long rest often so it’s much more valuable for me
That's how I played in my first couple playthroughs too cause I'm used to 5e tabletop and the game kinda suggests early on that it's a bad idea to rest a lot. I also just like to roleplay as much as possible and not metagame too much. But I also missed a lot of cutscenes so on more recent playthroughs I've started conserving spell slots and everything a lot less and then long resting as long as it doesn't feel immersion-breaking to be doing so.
I find it kind of fun to stretch your resources. And I like to use elixirs which you can stretch further if you long rest less.
When I would take a long rest I would take one using resources and then take a few using no resources. That way I could run through all the events at my camp but also not force myself back to long rest every other fight
oh that's smart! yeah I also do enjoy that aspect of the game and it does add a lot. I only occasionally use elixirs but I've definitely started resting way less often after I started using a camp witch to buff my party up with all the long rest buffs too.
Gonna be honest I often found myself using the saber tooth more than the owlbear. Slap a haste on that guy and boom 6 attacks a turn with a high chance for prone.
Yeah Sabertooth is also great! I often use panther too when Jaheira is my druid even though it's objectively worse just because it's Jaheira.
Also, the biggest problem of all with Moon Druids - if I'm in wildshape all the time, I can't see the cool character I made with their awesome armor. Fashion game is endgame.
that's honestly a big part of why I haven't played with one as my PC! that and the fact that conversations don't always bring you out of it (that may be fixed now I am not sure.)
You maintain concentration in wildshape, no? Great way to use conjured creatures and spike growth or wall of fire, for example, then wildshape with the bonus action to be ready to give your enemies an owlbear hug the next turn.
Shegehlegi
I love being a druid and making bear puns as I approach a battle.
bear puns truly are unbearable
I also go "rawr" when I slap someone as a bear. "You're about to be bapped!"
bear puns truly are unbearable
I can't believe you stole Halsin's dad joke. Very bear-faced of you.
Druid is pretty tough early on not a lot of useful offensive spells
Spore Druid helps a bit with an extra cantrip (Bone Chill) but also they want to be using Shillelagh or hand xbows because of the extra necrotic damage they do.
My favourite part of spore Druid was getting actual spores to use from a piece of armour from an optional boss hidden in act 3 at level 12.
But you can put that armour on anyone and they are more of a spore Druid than the spore Druid.
But I’m Biased I normally like druids but they all seem pretty mid. Giving up an action (round of combat) just to shapeshift and having almost no gear support seems awful (I know there are some fun owlbear opportunities) and just seems less useful than having a fighter.
Spore Druid had a cool selection of spells but I pretty much just found it to be a weaker mix of other classes and spammed spiked growth and land is probably an okay healer but after my first run I really haven’t used a dedicated healer and as far as that goes Life cleric thoroughly impressed me.
I personally think stuff like shapeshifting would be a lot cooler in a tabletop environment, where you can turn into a cat and eavesdrop for info, turn into a bird and scout the surrounding land. But despite being very in depth bg3 doesnt and can’t support those more flavourful and creative approaches.
I think all the classes that have more Freeform rpg interactions suffer from that though, I think Druid just cops it the worst in this medium.
My favourite part of spore Druid was getting actual spores to use from a piece of armour from an optional boss hidden in act 3 at level 12.
But you can put that armour on anyone and they are more of a spore Druid than the spore Druid.
are you talking about sporekeeper's armor? because you can also just buy it, it's not required to kill anyone.
and you can't put it on anyone - the spore abilities only activate when you have Symbiotic Entity active. IMO this armor singlehandedly upgrades spore druid (imo already an A-tier subclass) into an S-tier subclass. Once/long rest haste spores is absolutely bonkers, on top of the other perks of the armor.
I know you didn’t have to kill him you still get it from him which is what I said. It’s either option. He IS a boss.
I forgot it needed symbiotic to be activatable. Tbf I’ll cop that. And yeah the armour felt great I felt like a spore Druid. I’ll be real I don’t have any dnd tabletop experience let alone with spores. But I was expecting more spores not to be some form of necromancer. (More units that are not that useful that make the turn timer take even longer are not my cup of tea). I wasn’t unimpressed by it but it definitely didn’t feel like an A or S tier class to me. The halo of spores felt kinda mid very quickly. Getting spreading spores at 10 felt good but that was about it. Everything else a wizard could do.
perhaps a case of mismatched expectations or playstyle? I don't like/play a spore druid because I want a wizard-like.
Some bullet points on stuff i liked/used (not saying that you are wrong to not like it, everyone is free to have their own playstyle/opinions, but highlighting things that i think make spore druid A-tier for anyone reading along):
with sporekeeper's armor, you get haste spores once/long rest, and party-wide (literally including all my summons), lethargy-free, haste for 3 turns is just stupidly good to get on a recurring basis as long as you have enough camp supplies. S-tier subclass at that point.
It was definitely mismatched expectations. I was just expecting something a bit more unique with more spore based spells. (That’s 100% on me) Yeah your comment about the HP is spot on. Jaheira using the con necklace + symbiotic had like 132 Hp +48 iirc, which was wild to look at.
Don’t get me wrong, having a free cast coz it’s a reaction on caster is nice, but I often felt a little underwhelmed in its application. Like going from d4 to d6 at level 6 and then not doing to d8 till level 10. Felt kinda meh as the health pools got higher. Nice to have but didn’t make me feel the subclass fantasy. The spore keepers made it feel amazing I went nuts with those little haste spores. But it also felt kinda bad coz it’s something I kinda wanted from the class not a piece of gear if that makes sense.
Yeah the shape shifting in game is not as impactful as in table top.
I actually really liked Circle of the Land in bg3 - ALL the spells!
The roleplay aspect of wildshape definitely falls short, though that's kind of expected. I personally liked Spore Druid and feel that BG provides a lot of good equipment that works well with the class (or subclass) (ring of elemental infusion, circlet of psionic revenge, caustic band etc.) Plus it's a fairly easy subclass to dip into others, but I've also done the full 12. It's just a fun subclass to tinker with.
The standout is probably Moon for me, but it's not a class I want to try for my Tav because of the emphasis on wildshape. Halsin can take that lol. Land is very cool especially with the Land's Stride and Nature's Ward perk but for the rest I'm usually like, I have a perfect good Gale for that lol
you're right about gear support but moon druid wildshapes as a bonus action so you can do that and attack (or cast a spell beforehand) in the same turn
Spike growth is one of the most oppressively offensive spells in act 1 and 2, and torch shillelagh is solid for the two levels before you get it
Baiting enemies into the crunch crunch will never not be fun
Druids are an all-purpose class with a lot of flavour. As a 5e druid player I find the class in BG3 shows its limitations in comparison to tabletop more than most of the other classes because a lot of what makes druids shine would just break the game, but I still have a lot of fun with them in BG3. One of their big advantages is preparing spells at will, and the spell list is extremely well-rounded, so you have to always be taking advantage of that. AoE, healing, and summoning spells make them a great complement to heavy hitters (my party almost always has Karlach throwing and Monkstarion), and they've also got my most-used utilitarian spells, speak with animals and fog cloud. I really love throwing spike growth and maybe a summon out there, then just straight up crushing some folks in wild shape.
Everytime I start a new run it takes all my willpower not to create another sorceror, and about half the time I fail
Summon elemental. Then summon minor elemental. Then summon forest … lady thing. Then give someone bark skin then wild shape into an owl bear or basically be the team healer
Thats about it really. All the extra turns are super useful in a fight. And with the elementals having a teleport as a bonus action you can have them teleport right up to someone thats up a ledge sniping you. Itl either take the agro or they will run away and get opportunity attacks.
I find druid to be one of my least favorite starter characters. I love act 3 druids when I can wild shape into a Dino, or use the spore druid for lots of cool spells. But since most of my favorite abilities unlock at higher levels, I tend to just use Halsin and Jaheira for fun druid shenanigans, and I play as some other class.
I have a spore druid drow, because I like the underdark lady being good with fungi lol.
The funny thing is, she actually just dual wields, Phalar Aluve - because drow, you know - and an other sword, the name of which I can't remember right now, but I know it does give you a spell.
Anyways, I can generally cut down everyone, but then again, im only at moonrise with this one. Go symbiotic, make sword shriek, attack, and then spores. The shrieking adds some damage to all attacks, so that's kind of cool. I have dual wielding handcrossbows, for added ranged fun.
And when things get ugly, and I really need to unleash what I got, I just misty step away and start casting spells, essentially ending any fight very fast.
And then there are the zombies and skeletons you can make.
Right now, she's level 7 or 8, with all in spore druid, since symbiotic entity's extra health scales with levels invested, but I want to do dips for extra attack, I just don't know what to dip into.
Going into sword bard would be op as hell from a melee standpoint, but yeah, I'm still thinking.
Edit: I just realized, she is not even proficient with swords lol, so yeah it's not a well thought out thing, and I want to try and experiment with stuff until I get to level 12 where I will respec and make her truly OP.
Favorite: Wizard. I know it's not the most powerful, but I love tinkering and there's nothing like having the full range of spells available to you to choose from pre-fight.
Least favorite: Ranger. Just doesn't do anything I want I guess.
my ranger heart is hurt. There's nothing quite like a gloomstalker assassin. I think ranger is just elite for multiclassing.
Gloomstalker is great. I ran it on my first playthrough and loved it. But honestly, I don't think I'll ever go back after realizing how strong Swords Bard is.
Swords Bard SLAPS
Swords Bard with a two level dip into Paladin is chef's kiss level awesome
charisma multiclasses all just feel so good. padlock is super well rounded, sorlock is fucking busted, and bardadin is like the epitome of being a silly little guy who will also fuck you up if you dont just die from being talked to death
You forgot bardlock. Running a bardlock Drow rn and she is the business
My current playthru I have 3 of my 4 party members as charisma classes, and honestly it's probably my strongest party yet. Tav is 10 draconic sorc, 2 goolock just tossing out reverb and radiant orbs like candy. Minthara is 5 Vengeance Paladin, 7 sorc. Astarion is a 6 Swords Bard, 2 fighter and 4 rogue. Then Karlach to round it out as a 1 barb, 8 OH monk, 3 rogue.
Just a lot of fun.
I just started my second attempt at honour mode (don’t ask why I thought I should try it as a wizard first lolol) and paladin / bard combo is my plan. And as a durge drow, I am thoroughly enjoying intimidating everyone I can and avoid combat when I can.
I just don't like sword bard. I keep trying and keep respeccing.
Probably doing some thing wrong.
I will probably always try to have a GSA with a fighter dip available. Such a great ranged fighter, and great for stealth. I'm running an SSB right now and I love it, but I still find value in the GSA.
I'm running a life cleric/gloom stalker build right now. It's insanely fun. I cast spirit guardians and open with my ambusher attack and hula hoop around the field healing/commanding/striking/sanctuary-ing
wait holy shit. That sounds incredible. I'm gonna have to look up a build for that.
My spread is currently 7 for life cleric and 5 for gloomstalker!
I multi-classed Astarion into 5 Rogue, 5 Gloomstalker and 2 Warlock to have a chance to apply Frightened upon crit. He is an absolute killing machine.
ooooh I like that warlock dip.....
Ranger was my first dnd class ever so it has a special place in my heart
But I can’t off my bard addiction. I just love jamming out on my violin right next to Shart just randomly blowing air through her flute. The animation and the sound it makes always gets me
Although I have recently learned that passing the first performance check with Alfira just gives you the ability to play any instrument proficiently has cured it
Wizard is probably one of the strongest classes in the game… so much so that even a 1 level dip makes other classes shine even more
Wizard IS, historically, the most powerful class though... I believe Bard has it beaten in 5e / BG3, but Wizard is still a strong 2nd place.
same, nicely summarized
Idk le throw away, a Level 12 Wizard ain’t nothing to sneeze at. Depending on the specialization and gear they can one shot entire mobs and still have gas in the tank.
Sorcerer. I just love metamagic.
Closely followed by bard and ranger.
Least favorite would be monk. It's just kinda boring for me.
Glad someone else likes Ranger. Don’t see why everyone hates it so much 😭
It's so fun to play! I think people don't give them a chance because they suck in actual dnd. BG3 made a lot of changes that made them much better.
Everyone always goes GS becuase, yes, it is the best subclass. But beastmaster was like everything I wanted from my wood elf run.
I'm doing a Gith run; taking sin, Bae'zel & Karlach (using disguise self) and i initially took Beastmaster cause I thought "might as well try it till i get slightly higher so i can multiclass gloomstalker & assassin"... But I'm actually loving it. Bring two crows to blind enemies or wolf and crow to prone and blind has been clutch. Plus, when you throw longstrider on everyone, you get this fun fast moving party. Don't think I'm gonna change it out anytime soon!
I like Ranger too, it was my first build. I like shooting things with arrows, my needs are not complex ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I like monks a lot, they got a massive buff because of all the monk gear. Most consistent high damage martial build for me, outside of maybe the cheesy barbarian thrower.
Open hand monk 9 / rogue thief 3 go brrrrrrr
My favourite is definitely warlock. I love the RP value of having a character who has bargained for their powers with a powerful entity that observes them and intervenes in their life. It's not the strongest class (though it is good) but it's the one I always have the most fun using.
As for least favourite, it's tricky. I personally dislike bard and druid because bard feels too overpowered and druid doesn't feel like it has a good fit anywhere and it's next to impossible to multiclass well.
However, for function I'm actually going to say rogue. After third level rogue has absolutely nothing unique or interesting to offer. Nothing. Reliable talent sounds great but when you can easily get +10 bonuses to skill checks in act 1 it's not worth missing out on extra attack, or on better combat or magic capabilities to take rogue. Arcane trickster is dire. The thief and assassin subclasses are fine, but again these gain everything they provide at third level.
The amount of bard equipment I’ve found for bardic inspiration… I can see why it’s so broken 😭.
Bonus action hide and sharpshooter feat have something to say about the scaling of Sneak Attack.
That said, I'm probably multiclassing my Astarion after level 5.. Still undecided. Assassin scales even less than generic rogue somehow, so that's rough.
I had so much fun with assassin Astarion in act 1 but then it started getting remarkably boring in act 2 where after his first round of combat, he wasn’t doing much, so I recalssed him to add gloomstalker multiclass and I’m having a BLAST with it. I did thief gloomstalker instead of assassin so I can bonus action hunters mark, bonus action hide, then sneak attack, extra attack, and dread ambusher on first round. I love it. Incredible. The extra attack rly makes such a difference
Knowing that The Great Old One cares for my Tav is heartwarming lmao
First my favorite was paladin . Why? High charisma + high strength = good. Then it changed to monk. Why? I like hitting people with my fist when these people use devine magic, throw fireballs, hit 6 times in one round with a big sword or just shoot your ass from afar. Now its a combination of ranger and rouge. Something about stealth archers is just satisfying. Least favorite is druid. I hate the druid early game and i cant find the right balance between animal form, party lead and caster
I'm in my third playthrough and playing a ranger (gloom stalker) main.. I finally found Stealth Archer from Skyrim! Also I have Astarion and both he and my evil durge main have Sharpshooter. I'm playing with switching Shart back to Trickery and giving all my invisibility stuff to Minthy to do a full stealth murder run.
you're right about early game druid but I think it's worth sticking out the first few levels until it hits its stride
with moon druid, I'm usually in wild shape more because it's so versatile in the subclass (bonus action to activate, extra elemental forms at lvl 10), but I use some of my spell slots for summons, passive stuff, and maybe a concentration spell before wildshaping so I'm not totally neglecting being a caster. It can be easy to forget though
the game is really fickle about wild shape and dialogue though. Sometimes it turns you back for the duration of the dialogue so you can participate in the conversation, but other times it defaults to another party member instead and leaves you transformed, so that can be frustrating. Since wild shape charges are pretty easy to get back I usually just transform back fully as soon as a fight ends. That's the most annoying part though
Ranger. I can pew pew and have a wolf buddy to bully Shadowheart.
Yes all this ranger slander here is sad.
I can one shot enemies with my crossbow and have a pet bear that I can conjure in a fight.
Plus with the misty steps boots I teleport myself to the distance and pew pew sniper range.
Bard is my absolute favorite.
Least favourite is Fighter. I know BM Fighter is really, really good. But I just find it boring. It's just not for me.
I made Lazeal a champion 12 with crit gear. Not that interesting to play but my god the damage. She hits like a truck. I also got her the bless statue.
Hasted champion with perma bless and haste is terrifying.
So she crits on 8 and up? God damn that is terrifying if I am understanding that right. What’s the lowest till you can get a crit on with gear and champion. Sounds interesting for my next playthrough for her.
I'm not sure where her crit level is, I meant she's a pure 12th level fighter. I have her wearing every piece of crit gear and weapon that's feasible. I tend not to do the conditional ones that are hard to fulfill.
Weapons for her are balduran giantslayer and silver sword. It's a ridiculous amount of damage.
She probably gets a crit every turn or close to it. Things
When you get baldurans great-sword it becomes laughable. She had this equipment that gave her psychic damage and poison damage. So in a fight she was basically killing bosses in 2 rounds on her own. It became a thing where the whole team was formed around buffing her with extra ac and damage. While my monk/barbarian tanked the hits
Did you try Battle Master? Those figthing techniques are so fun
Nah, bowel movement fighter. Time to shit on the enemies >:)
I'm the same, bard is favorite, fighter is least favorite. I know it's considered one of the strongest martial classes, I just find it boring. I have more fun with OH Monk and TB throw barb if I am using martials, which I normally use Lae'zel and Karlach for.
My favorite might be Warlock. Eldritch Blast to zap, pact of the blade to smack, fewer spells but they’re always gonna be the coolest ones. Least favorite - I don’t really get Paladin. I’m running around with Minthara and I don’t quite get the appeal yet.
From what I've experienced, playing AS a Paladin is more fun than playing WITH a Paladin. The dialog and decision making I think is what makes a Paladin shine while playing.
And while combat is fun as one, the whole "being an impartial divine judge" is part of the appeal. OR breaking that and being an oath breaker.
It's the lawful good class so it's a very easy rp
Just subclass Vengeance and Smite everything. Literally no reason to use your spell slots for anything else
I mean it provides a little adaptability. Especially ranged spells if there's an enemy either a lil too far or in an aoe spell that you dont wanna step in.
Def not your main action but I wouldn't say NO reason.
Plus that kinda takes away from my point that part of the Paladin appeal is the out of combat rp. Vengeance doesn't always fit what people want
Pump Str > stupid big jumps > jump onto enemy caster and SMACK.
I mean again yes, that and misty step are fantastic advantages. But a little adaptability isn't bad.
Like I'd rather not jump into Wylls Hunger of Hadar when I can use a spell to do poke damage
Paladin go smash! 😂
Divine smite with the sword from Ansur just 😩
Orgasmic if you will
The sound of divine smite is just so satisfying though
Especially when you use Cleave and hit 3 enemies and then burn through 3 spell slots with one attack. So satisfying
How do you combine special attacks like Cleave and Pommel Strike w/ Divine Smite?
Man this is my first play through recruiting Minthara and I find her to be super powerful. I have her dual wielding cruel sting and the emperors sword and she slices through everyone
I didn't get Paladin until I tried 5 Vengeance Paladin + 7 GOO Warlock. Pact of the Blade gives you three attacks per turn along with Paladin extra attack, and you can use your 2 Warlock Spell slots to upcast Divine Smite. So you can Divine Smite three times in one turn and then short rest and do it all again in the next fight.
You can probably use other subclasses since that stuff isn't really bound to any of the 6 subclasses here.
Warlock or Sorcerer is probably my favorite, preferably multi-classed together is even better. Wizard is also one of my staple classes in my party.
My least favorite is Bard… I know it may be controversial but there are so many other things I’d rather be doing than throwing out control spells. It’s a great class if you like that play style but it’s not for me. I’m trying a BardLock on my current play through and I’m constantly wishing I was a SorLock.
I can respect that. I feel like bard is what I prefer when I'm more focused on story and I prefer other classes when I'm more focused on combat. I didn't really like warlock at first, but I'm doing a dark urge warlock and I do like it a lot.
Rogue is probably my least favorite. It's a great utilise for 3-4 levels but anything after that just feels weak compared to alternatives like Bard or Gloom Stalker Ranger. Can't say I'd even consider making a pure Rogue.
Barbarian is fun but if I'm playing anything other than a throwing build there's a good chance I'll be thinking I might as well just change them to a Fighter.
Here is where I make my stand-
Druids are top tier and I won't listen to any slander. A great control caster AND a good martial. Defending the portal in act 2 was a cake walk with spike growth. Conjure woodlland being + Wood Woad plus Conjure Elemental. One. Person. Army. And guidance.
On the other hand Rogue doesn't do anything for me. If I want to sneak and shoot bows I'll play a fighter to do more damage or a bard to have spells.
Damn right!!!
Yes, I love this! Spore Druid is my absolute favorite. Their AOEs are no joke. I laugh in the face of my enemies from behind my Wall of Fire.
Fave - Bard - can do pretty much everything
Least Fave - Barbarian - it's just a smash button
My favorite: druid, more specifically Circle of the Land Druid and Circle of the Spores Druid. I just have a lot of fun tinkering with the subclass abilities and options. Spores druid in particular is really druid-flavorful in a way you typically don't get with druids, even though death and decay are also parts of nature.
My least favorite: champion fighter. Just absolutely boring. I did it once my first run with lae'zel because I thought increased crit range would be bonkers and it's just... meh, and you get basically nothing else to do with the class.
Favorite: Swords Bard. It's just stupid fun. My favorite run I've ever done. Add a couple levels in warlock? chefs kiss
Least favorite: I'd say a tie between Ancients Paladin and Nature Cleric. I could just play a druid. They feel like almost druids that didn't fully commit.
And Nature Cleric's Channel Divinity: Charm Plants and Animals? When would I ever use that over just... Speak with Animals? Maybe I'm missing something with these two.
Warlock just for EB? Bound weapon? I can't imagine multiclassing swords bard and NOT dipping 2 levels of Paladin for Smites
My favorite is to dip 2 into Spore Druid to get 1d4 extra necrotic on every attack, get a ranged weapon, and enjoy Sporekeeper Armor. Add the Helmet of Arcane Acuity and you'll be getting 95% to hold every person in an encounter.
Swords bard with a couple of levels of Paladin is also bonkers
Trickery clerics are also gloomstalker assasins that suck
But light, war and tempest domains are awesome
I beat the game my first go-around with an ancients paladin, I found it be a very balanced class with amazing dialogue options.
Meeting the Myconids as Oath of Ancients 😘👌🏼
Favourite: sorcerer, the dialogue options are just so funny to me with the whole “I AM MAGIC INCARNATE” every chance they get, plus I like the magic too. My second favourite would probably be berserker barbarian cuz… BONK
My least favourite would just have to be either rogue or ranger just because they just seem a little boring to me compared to everyone else
Least favourite is Monk, I feel stuck with TB OH and it isn't fun to me slappin around, tho I get the love it's not a class, an identity or a gameplay I love
Absolute favourite is Moon Druid, the ultimate all purpose class that can tank, damage, cc, heal, shapeshift, and be eco responsible at the same time, just a fabulous class with strong identity
Having done a run of each of these I can agree. The TB OH monk is OP but boring at a certain point. Whereas the moon druid is a constant joy.
Favorite: bard, I just love how it compliments my favorite party setup and I love a high charisma talker. Least favorite is probably druid, because I just don’t know how to play it well. When I try it’s just a class that’s mediocre at 3 things instead of being good at one thing.
Wizards all the way. I finished the game with a Neutral Evoker last year, now started a new run with an Evil Necromancer (with Dark Origin + Undead Race, Animate Dead++ mods)
Least favorite: Sorcerer or Ranger.
I got to Act 3 and saw all the necromancy items and it made me reroll a character as a Necromancer wizard. There’s just so much you can do with the class because of all its subclasses. Divination wizard, abjuration tank, even an illusion wizard with some levels in rogue. Those sorcerers don’t know what they’re missing
Exactly. Game motivated me to start with a Necro this year, thanks to those Act 3 items (and that lovely book from Thay).
Said like a true wizard
Favourite: Sorcerer. High Cha and amazing in battle.
Least Favourite: Bard. More into the more combat focused classes in the game, but love me some bard in regular dnd.
Major unpopular opinion but I can’t stand wizard/sorcerer/bard classes
Love: fighter and barbarian
Nothing more fun that brute forcing everything and filling my bag with dead gobbos to throw at everyone
Favorite: Wizard. All the spells Least favorite: Warlock. None of the spells
I get that the spell slots recharge at short rest but only being able to cast two spells a fight before just going back to Eldritch Blast spam is so boring for me.
How dare you
I’m sorry 😭. If it’s any consolation, I like warlock more as a not Eldritch Blast bot. Devils Sight + Darkness combo
Devil Sight, Darkness, and Pact of the Blade = hilarious.
I feel like I'm in The Mist only I'M the monsters in the mist
Gotta go for pact of the blade and be a Swiss Army knife. Makes you feel like a leader because you can zip around being just enough to turn the tide. Need another mage blasting? Done. Need crowd control? Done. Need a fighter swinging his sword? Done. Need a some nifty spells to change things up? Done.
Swinging my singing sword at the center of it all, I feel like the leader of the group directing everything.
Favorite is probably Draconic Sorcerer or Gloomstalker Ranger. Least favorite is probably druid because I don't understand how they work tbh.
So far I haven’t played anything beyond warlock and sorcerer. I love warlock so much! I can use daggers, bows, and spells!
My most favorite are the casters. Sorcerer mainly. I love having that extra bit of complexity so that's it's not incredibly simple. My least favorite has to be the paladin though, I just don't like having to restrict my actions for my oath. And oath breaker is really the only one I'm not restricted by which restricts my overall options in general for class building.
Favorite: Monk. I've played it twice so far and it's one of the strongest classes I've used
Least Favorite: Any of the spellcasters. I find it hard not to burn through spell slots at the start of the game and having to do a ton of long rests because of it, also having very low hp at the start
My favorite is a wizard. Played it twice, will probably do 2 more. There is just so much fun to be had with the different subclasses. My least favorite is barbarian as well. They have some awesome interactions especially with servant of Loviatar, i had an absolute blast. But the playstyle is just not for me. And the armor thing my god, i still can't understand it
Favourite: Monk. Least favourite: Paladin. One reason: Walking speed.
Paladin doesn't even have ranged spells. One needs to use a bow and arrow to shoot, same as Fighter I guess. So it's so difficult to catch up if the scene is big.
I found that jumping helped a lot with this in my Paladin playthrough lol
You could try spinning!- Anakin Skywalker!
That’s a good trick!
Have a wizard cast Longstrider after every long rest on the entire party. Makes a world of difference. If you add haste, your Paladin will be able to get around the battle quickly. Oath of Vengence gets Misty Step too. There’s also a ton of items that give momentum as well.
Oath of Vengeance Githyanki paladin.
Misty step from paladin.
Gith psionic jump.
Gith psionic misty step.
Nobody escapes.
Boots of speed baby! Massive gift for my pally
Two words: Misty Step
It’s so easy to get misty step through gear or race, or even + movement buffs that this becomes trivial. Once a paladin is close its lights out.
Tempest cleric is my favorite because call lightning is amazing and tempest cleric’s is ridiculous. My least favorite is ranger because it’s just a shoddy combination of druid Paladin and rogue that does everything they do only slightly worse
Least favorite is definitely between wizard and rogue, maybe leaning more toward rogue because I find it really boring. Favorite is harder but probably paladin. Big smites=big fun.
My favorite is warlock. It has excellent potential for backstory writing and is just a fun class with the unstoppable eldritch blast and other nice spells. And unlike most other casters, you can run a really nice melee build without multiclassing.
My least favorite is bard. It’s just too weird for me to have a funny music man on the battlefield dressed in goofy clothes. It feels more like a joke class than anything. It has good potential in 5e where you can homebrew a lot of it, but I just don’t like its vanilla aesthetics.
I am right there with you, OP. Druid is my favorite, followed closely by Bard. My least favorite is Barbarian because it is so boring to play. Ranger and Sorcerers are also classes that I struggle with finding a use for, as Druids/Wizards just seem to do what I enjoy better and have a similar enough flavour that I struggle with devoting one of my characters to these classes.
Favourite: Barbarian. Larian did a great job with the wildheart subclass, but, more importantly, fixed Berserker to an acceptable degree. In fact, the ability to throw things and sometimes people works perfectly in concert with the game mechanics and allows for tactical interactions during fights that are both funny and thematically ingenious to me. During dialogue, the barbarian and Berserker dialogue options allow for a fresh and unique option to react to the game's shenanigans (usually, you just shout down their stupid antics).
Least favourite: Bard. This is not Larian's fault, I just hate this class with a passion. Bard as a class should never have existed and in my opinion the designers of the previous versions of D&D went into the wrong direction with it, long long ago. I much prefer the representation of a singing leader/protagonist from 'Honour among thieves'.
While I disagree with you about bards, I am a barbarian defender. Especially wildheart barbarian. I always have so much fun as a barbarian.
Favorite: Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Least: Monk (boring, just punch punch) being way of elements helps slightly
As a pure class, it'd have to be Rogue. Astarion was a level 12 rogue in my first playthrough, and he just felt completely outclassed by my ranger, cleric, and barbarian. Spell selection was weak, only one attack per turn, and sneak attack damage did not compensate. Respecced him to a gloomstalker/assassin and my enjoyment skyrocketed.
Favorite class has probably been Bard so far. College of swords is such an amazing martial class, and I was charismatic enough to talk my way through a lot of situations.
Dishonorable mention: Beast master ranger was a big disappointment. Mechanically speaking, having a bear knocking weapons out of enemies' hands and goading attacks is great. But the fact I couldn't rename or customize the appearance of my animal companions really took me out of it. Didn't feel like it was my animal joining me on my journey, felt like I was summoning a random animal to fight. Customizable fur color and name would have gone a long ways.
I LOVE the bard class. Good dialogue options and amazing spell variety. Also pairs well with multiclassing into 3 other classes of my choosing.
I'm not a huge fan of warlock mainly because the limited spell slots turned me off and I reclassed as soon as I could get Withers. I do understand, though, that creating a build focused on eldrich blast would be overpowered af, I just haven't had the patience to try it yet.
Warlock was my least favorite class until I realized how great it was when you paired it with bard. I'm finally starting to get the hang of it.
I have a love hate relationship with thief it’s weak alone but lock picking is a must for my face character that’s why it’s my least fav class and fav multiclass
Least favorite: barbarian. It's too easy and lacks any real variety in play style other than "big muscles go smash."
Most favorite: probably battlemaster fighter or valor bard, or maybe wild magic sorcerer. All 3 are pretty close
Favorite because play style is so fun: Bard, either in combat or dialog/story, fun to rp
Least: Druid, idk can't understand this class,
Favourite is Wizard, because I wish the books I read in real life gave me the power to shoot fireballs out of my ass, but sadly Martin Wolf's "Crisis ot Democratic Capitalism" only gives me sad feelings.
Least favourite is probably Ranger, just because I feel it's thematically between a rogue and a druid and I like using both of those enough that the halfway house is the compromise I don't need.
I absolutely love wizard, I always have and playing a wizard in BG3 is just as fun as it is in tabletop. Especially with the evocation subclass, I mean the ability to protect your party from certain spells just can’t be beat! As for least favorite, maybe cleric? Idk, i don’t like having a character completely dedicated to healing when I could have a character take a class like paladin where they can heal and do attack damage
Favorite: Bard. I never liked the bard in earlier editions of D&D or BG, but being able to talk your way through a lot of difficult challenges is a fun route.
Second Favorite: Fighter. Basic, and "broring", but that third attack, extra feat and battle master maneuvers nake for something very capable and flexible in a fight. No one trick sneak attack ponies here.
Least favorite: Barbarian. I just never "got" the class. Paladins have smites and then become worse fighters, once they've run out of spell slots. Barbarians seem to go straight to worse fighter. I must be missing something.
Second Least: Monk. I ran a monk durge all the way through. Was great in combat. I could dange through groups of enemies, lock everyone down with stunning strike and have Lae'Zel/Karlach/Minthara follow through. It's just that the class has always felt like a foreign body, ever since 1E.
Favourite: Wizard. Was my first, fell in love (+ Gale), played with one in my party ever since, even if my Tav/Durge isn't it themselves (in 4 out of 6 runs I ran around with wizard Durge and Gale. I just love the class so much). I LOVE learning scrolls and having heaps of spellslots and switching them around to fit the occasion.
Sorc felt lacking, cause pure DPS is not what makes my gamer brain tingle, and so few spells to have at once x.x
Least favourite: Either Barbarian or Rouge. Barbarian just feels weak and so does Rogue. I am not a fan of multiclassing so I am talking about the pure classes here.
I’m with you on Sorc. Yeah sure metamagic but I would much rather get the benefits of either a Lore Bard or Wizard (or ideally, a 10/2 multiclass of both)
Favorite: Druid. Land and spore give you so many options.
Least: cleric. Very powerful but the inability to recover spell slots outside of a long rest is infuriating. My Druid and wizard can end a difficult fight with half their spell slots or more and recover key slots afterwards, but shadowheart needs some warm milk and a blankie before she is useful again. It’s gotten to the point I only bring her to fights where her kit is useful and healing needed.
Favorite: Druid. Reason: turn into a bear :) Least favorite: Ranger. Reason: animal proficiencies, but can’t turn into a bear :(
Favorite - Bard, any Bard. I love bards
Least Favorite - warlock I just can’t get into this class it seems to only be good at being a gish and I’d rather play bard for that. Full caster lackluster compared to sorc or wizard.
Fav: Paladin Oath of Vengeance. SMITE. That is all.
Least fav: Druid. I played as Halsin and honestly it felt like a weaker version of cleric with wild shape. His cave bear form is good but it didn't seem to have the damage potential that paladin or even wizard has.
I have played bard a little and it's fun! But I haven't got past level 3 so I can't speak on the power level
Favorite: Gotta be Wizard. Pretty sure every Tav I’ve made that’s gotten anywhere is a Wizard.
Least: Druid. I’m just so meeeeh on their flavor and kit. They’re a good class, just not my style.
Play a Wildheart Eagle totem barbarian with Fleetfingers, Linebreaker Boots, and the Athlete feat. Add the Stallion aspect. It will change your mind on the class, I promise.
Start combat on a cliff or other raised surface. Enter rage, eagle dive to knock them prone. Every turn after that, you can bonus action dash, which also activates fleet fingers. You get 3 turns of wrath, a free jump, twice your level in temp HP. You can leap up back to the surface and dive. You can use the immense movement you get to run up to another surface, dive at another enemy.
The fun thing about the Eagle Dive weapon action is that it scales with regular jump distance, so pumping strength actually increases its range too. So you're durable, incredibly mobile, and can knock things prone left and right while running away from them. You have enough mobility to eagle dive, go back to the top of a cliff or surface, and eagle dive again with movement to spare usually.
I used to think Barbarian was boring because I played a berserker, but Wildheart has a lot of fun options that are more engaging.
This has been my TED talk
Fighter is strangely addictive! I liked sorcerer but early on it's ROUGH. Rangers and rogues are so good as secondary classes. Wizard is a staple. Clerics are good. Druids are good too, and so are warlocks. I find bards kind of underwhelming though...i feel like it's one of those classes that just work better in IRL TTRPG, despite all Larian's efforts with the fun dialogue options. I think it's an excellent class for a first playthrough, but once you kinda know where the story goes it's just very gimmicky and superficial. Barbarians are just as gimmicky but their bit entertains me personally a lot more than bards. Haven't played monks or paladins and frankly don't look forward to it haha. Minthara could make me play paladins in a future run though
Gloomstalker ranger/rogue is heaps of fun.
In 5E I absolutely love playing Druids, but i've felt them underwhelming in BG3.
And I dont get the dislike on Barbarians, sure they are simple, but enraged throw is SO fun!
Sorcerer paladin is just so awesome. Least liked rogue
Favourite: Bard
Least favourite: Fighter. Why would I want to be just some guy with a sword?
So not sure which is my least favorite (I also haven’t tried all the classes yet) but my current play through is a durge oathbreaker paladin and it is my current favorite. Devine Smite can be a very addicting spell to use. (Plus just 1 shotting certain enemies that are over 100 health with Devine Smite is way too much fun)
Favorite is Wizard, always and forever. It doesn't work great as a face class but I love teaching Gale every spell scroll we get. Toolbox of a class. I also make him a divination/counterspell king so he can blow stuff up AND protect his buddies.
Least favorite is Ranger. It might be a prejudice from playing tabletop 5e and the fact that I never dabble in it until I get Minsc and by then everyone else is so optimized and kitted out that it feels extremely underwhelming.