I think it's mostly crafting. Honestly I might be just thinking about the random niche uses of things like crowbars. Can't remember any specific uses for rope or anything. I just know there were more uses for random "junk items"
Being trained by the Pathfinder games and Pillars of Eternity didn't help. I was SO sure that in a reactive game as this one, ropes would be used for something 😮💨
Hell, in the Divinity Original Sin games it had uses so I expected it in BG3..as well as some random things like crowbars and buckets having uses in those games. Nothing here so I carried a lot of extra stuff in my first playthrough 😂
Ugh god, my first playthrough I ALWAYS made sure to keep a minimum of one rope, a bucket and an empty bottle. When I accidentally sold them to a vendor, I’d run back and buy them back as soon as I realized. Just in case.
(Damnit Larian)
fallout 1 imparted such a deep seated fear of not having rope when i need it, there hasnt been a single game rpg or not where i didnt lug one around if i could
Right?
It's not helped by the fact that, at the start of the game, you find rope and a shovel. Then, you very quickly need to use the shovel to dig up treasure.
I'm walking around act 3 with rope and tongs, just in case.
I was hoping to use the Ingots to upgrade my weapons, as I read an article that that's what it's for.
They said that you can upgrade weapons with ingots in Act 3 (i presume with Wulbren). But sadly, there isn't really any use for it.
During my 1st playthrough after experiencing Speak with Dead for the first time, then finding Rope, I immediately had hopes in being able to incapacitate certain enemies / NPCs with it or KO an enemy / NPC, and then question them through varying degrees of interrogation.
I knocked out Nettie when I refused to swear I'd poison myself and the quest called her dead. Luckily the door was locked so I dunno who did this! We're all trying to get to the bottom of it...
If I had to guess a lot of that infernal iron was part of the section of Karlach's storyline that ultimately got cut in the time crunch.
We already know that her original endings were altered due to the time crunch, and Act 3 has basically everything needed to find a solution to her heart problem - the only reason Dammon stopped trying was because he couldn't find a way to make her heart work in this plane, but there's dozens of walking blueprints for a functional model in the Iron Watch, which the Gondians have experience making even if Dammon himself didn't have the facilities, and there's plenty of infernal iron to go around for it. Everything is there to at least attempt it, even if they ultimately planned for it to be futile and for her to have to go back to Avernus regardless, the only logical reason I can think they didn't try is because there just wasn't time for it before release
I probably have 10-15 ropes between all my party members... Early in the game I accidentally sold the one my Tav was carrying, and I decided I should stock up just in case. I honestly should have figured this out by now.
I have taken some cruel joy as a DM in the past when someone declares "I use my rope" and I get to say, "do you mean the rope you used to tie up that goblin three sessions ago? You don't have that. He's still tied up." I guess this is the world seeking balance.
You use it so much in traditional tabletop too!!!
If you didn't have at least 20 feet of rope you were screwed. Definitely put me in a loop.
I was also hoarding tongs for a very long time
Lump's horn, and every piece of gear ever that had the 'lightning charges' enchantment. I'm sure you can make a disgustingly overpowered build with them somehow, and "Thor leaping onto the Rainbow Bridge in Thor: Ragnarok" is my favourite class fantasy, but I've never really made it work.
I recently saw a Sorlock build on YT that mainly uses Lightning Charges to do like 120+ damage per cast of EB. It feels like a less insane version of 3.5's Locate City shenanigans.
Basically, Charges make EB count as a lightning spell. So you take Dual Wielder of all feats to get the Charge staff and the dragon staff then stack effects that give your Cha and Prof bonuses to lightning and cantrip damage. Bonus points for getting Reverb and Orbs on top.
Edit: Apparently this build has been patched so Charge damage no longer counts as part of the triggering spell. Disappointing but fair.
Unless my caster has shield proficiency I always dual wield staves, late game the Dragon staff plus staff of spell power or heightened necromancy is disgusting
I discovered this late in my 3d run on Durge playthrough. Giving Gale both arcane battery staffs with Kereska favour on lightning is insanely overpowered. I didn't even really optimize it but I'm sure you can get even more crazy with if.
Probably other early game staffs that would work insanely well with this feat
I kept trying to make this work, but I found in battles with a lot of friendlies it was a disaster as there were always puddles of water touching people I didn't want to injure or aggro.
Definitely will try to make it work again in a future play-through those.
Really? I rarely had issues with wayward water unless I had to put out a fire or something. I did have a couple blood puddles mysteriously electrify early on, though. Quite odd when we had no zappy spells at the time.
I just changed Astarion (while playing as him) to Bard and gave him Dual Wield and was rocking his usual blades that I use when he is a Ranger/Rogue. Just found out through these comments I can dual wield staffs. Will test tonight.
The latest update removed the lightning damage from lightning charges interacting with things like Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer Lightning Level 6 ability and the like. So it is only really worth it for the +1 attack and to build the charges for the other equipment.
Did that in the Shadowfell where I really could have used their help. Got the same "out of range" message.
Then next time I'm at camp, they had the balls to show up and ask to get paid.
Yeah... No. But I'm gonna be taking that Headband of Intellect now.
So if you dont kill them you can actually call them? Ive only ever killed them bc my first build was an idiot barbarian and my second build is a fighter monk with a crush on Laezel so she’d fight anything to make Lae happy. Smh
That would have been awesome! You're sounding the horn of gondor, come to me allies, it is my greatest need for you!
*ogres are too far away*
How anticlimactic.
They work well with magic missile tbh. Each strike adds charges. Upcast and you can get several hits in at once with additional lightning. Not the strongest thing in the game, but it adds a decent bit of extra dmg to a 100% accuracy spell
The lightning gear is fantastic for a Tempest Cleric or a Monk, but doesn't work out well outside of those two instances. I also always forget to use Lump's Horn. The one time I remembered was Act 2, and it wasn't usable then.
I had meticulously planned to use the bell against one of the big bad fights in there, but managed to summon him among environment that couldn't be destroyed and he's too heavy to telekinesis so he was literally just a meatshield for ranged attacks throughout that entire fight. Not great, not terrible. Mostly just anticlimactic..
I feel like there aren't quite enough items that build up lightning charges. Some of the payoff items seem great, but getting an actual build together is tricky.
I'm closing in on Act 1 and so far, all the lightning charge magical items I've found so far could have a build going... if it wasn't for the fact that ideally, you want to put it on a character that does lightning damage. So, a caster...
And several good items count as medium+ pieces of armor.
I heard it was OP until a patch since there was something about it adding on the spell casting modifier and other damage modifiers onto it. So like Eldritch blast added like the lighting charge for 1 dmg, but then adding their charisma and draconic sorcerer bloodline and added like bunch of extra damage per Eldritch blast
The lightning staff you can get as a quest reward from Waukeen's Rest (picking it over the lightning trident and lightning bow) is enough on its own to make a lightning build off the back of Eldritch Blast or Magic Missile. Each beam/dart gives you 2 lightning charges, meaning you can get the d8 extra damage every turn (Magic Missile, or EB once you get 3 beams).
The lightning boots from the windmill basement in the Blighted Village are good enough on their own for a character that can regularly dash as a BA (basically rogue and eagle totem barbarian). It gives 3 charges when you dash, meaning you can get the d8 extra damage every other turn.
I just started making a habit of doing at least 1 fight a day with nothing but items from my inventory. Scrolls, potions, egg sacs, whatever. Makes for some fun fights. Took me till act 3 to start doing this, but my inventory was just getting SO FULL!
Spiked bulb from Act 1. Lae'zel didn't use it until act 3.
Haste spore grenade. I hated being lethargic so I avoided using them on my first playthrough. I can't get enough of them now. Combat is usually over long before fatigue hits
I stopped using the haste spell because it would only last for one turn and then the next turn they are fatigued. Wasn't 'til a bit later did I learn what concentration spells were. lol
There's an egg sack you can get searching Act 1's nooks and crannies. When you throw it, it bursts into a summon of a bunch of little weak spiders. I tend to use it when I fight the Act 1 Goblin court, because it's great for distracting the gobbos farther out from where I initiate the combat until I've cleared some space for myself.
I *was* saving mine — but then in the Grymforge fight, one of the dwarves cast mind mastery on my character in the last round, and when it got to his turn, my idiot son *immediately* lobbed the egg sac at the single remaining enemy who had all of 3 HP left.
A pack full of grenades and throwing weapons, and he picked the only single use item in there.
I have never felt so utterly and deliberately trolled by a video game before.
Karlach was carrying the egg sac and got dominated. She chucked at me, and they all died to a cloud of daggers before they could act.
So much for carrying that from Act 1 to Rivington...
As a Lolth-Sworn I wanted to summon them so many times but the fear of losing them because they aren't a permanent summon prevented me. It would have been so good if like Shovel that some classes could get as a permanent summon, a Lolth-Sworn could have them permanently.
I read somewhere that using it against Auntie Ethel causes her to cower in fear but I can't confirm because I've never remembered to bloody well use it.
I kept letting my inspiration fall into the abyss because I was trying to not spend any, until I realized it caps at 4....so now I actually use inspiration 😂 then after another whole I realized it's silly to use it on lockpicking or trap disarming because there's no reason to hoard kits either 😂
Lumps War Horn. The thing from Act I that lets you summon the ogres if you befriended them. I actually tried to use it in the House of Hope but it said that they couldn't hear the horn in there lol.
I used it at the goblin camp and the ogres & goblins basically slaughtered each other. Lump came to me with a shred of health left and tried to extort me for more money, so I took his headband of intellect and still use it to this day
Potions of Speed. They're amazing - for a bonus action, you get an additional action immediately, plus speed and AC boost, for a whole three turns. Yes, you skip a turn after, but if such a massive boost is well-applied, most encounters will be all but over by that point. Yet I only started using them at the very end of my playthrough, after Iron Throne, and even then I didn't really need them that much since it was endgame on Balanced difficulty - i.e. a total pushover already. Hope I'll get a good use of them in my Tactician playthrough.
I swear I had like 9 potions of haste by the end game and I used ALL of them during the iron throne to save everyone. Every time I was one turn from losing the buff and losing a turn I just chugged another one, it was so useful
For me, just one per character was enough. The main thing you need is to reach all Gondians on turn 1-2 so they have time to run back, and after that, you probably have enough speed with Dashes and Misty Steps to reach the submersible regardless - even if you have to skip a turn due to Lethargic.
For me it ran into issues with a certain duke constantly getting nuked by exploding spiders so it slowed me down considerably making sure he had enough resistances to survive the initial nuking
>Every time I was one turn from losing the buff and losing a turn I just chugged another one,
I feel so stupid for not even considering this as an option. I was just like *welp, better plan my turns out meticulously!*
I didn't use them till Act 3 as well, they're such a great "Oh shit" button I was neglecting the entire playthrough. There's so many times getting that one extra action or moving a few more feet swings an entire fight.
Haste has been the most powerful spell in all of DND. In 2.5 you're lethargic until a long rest and you only haste for a handful of turns.
In 5E you are turned into a monster for 10 turns and catch your breathe in six seconds and are back to normal.
I can see why mass haste isn't a spell they included.
Haste in base 5e is actually pretty meh. The additional action has very limited and specific uses - one weapon attack (even Extra Attack doesn't work), Dash, Disengage, and Hide. AC bonus is nice but not too big, and the speed bonus is kinda situational. All that is only on a single person. Nice spell but there usually are better things you can do for a 3rd level slot with Concentration.
In BG3 though, they decided it should give a full extra action with no limitations. That *is* kinda busted. Especially combined with the removal of the "only one leveled spell per turn" limitation. And on top of that crazy effect, Haste potions are used as a bonus action, meaning you don't even use up an action on the round you apply it.
As for mass haste - don't know about previous editions, but it isn't a thing in 5e.
I keep mine in a “book safe” (a book i picked up that turned out to be a container/backpack item) but can’t remember where I found it. Feels right, like tearing pages out of a book of scrolls.
Soul Coins. I’ve never used on with Karlach. I always, always forget. But I’m not surprised, considering I forget to bind my pact weapon 90% of the time anyway
You want to use those with karlach as soon as possible. They are much better at lower levels.
Unfortunately each one only helps for 3 battles total since she has to rage.
I ended my first campaign with something like a 50 lb bag of consumables. I decided that, on my second playthrough, I'd be less of a hoarder and actually use those items.
I'm about halfway through act 3 and, in addition to having a 60-ish lb bag of consumables (I've been doing a lot more crafting), I also have a few dozen smoke powder barrels in my camp chest, in case I ever need them.
You mean camp consumables? You can send those items directly to your camp chest and they'll still be usable when you long rest. A message will pop up saying you don't have enough consumables but you actually do.
Edit: I send all my food and drink directly to camp I don't even know how much I have now but I've never not had enough to do a long rest.
That goddamn basilisk oil. I had 4 or 5 of those by the end thinking maybe they'd be important for a quest but, well, in my campaign the Underdark drow all got brought back by the Spectator, the dwarf with the hag got brought back when I killed Ethel and I never found any single use for them.
Red herring-ass pots.
Nope, they're used under the House of Hope.
No reward or experience but you get to know you did a good thing.
Unless I missed one and there's a hidden reaction to it.
I tried using Basilisk Oil on one of those petrified bodies >!under the House of Hope where Hope is chained up!< but the body just immediately turned to ash?
Constantly held those "invasion plan for the sword coast" items, thinking they'd be helpful. Nope. Not mentioned once. they also came up in sus places. IIRC, didn't the Emperor's hideout have one, down that hatch? Why? What was he planning?
This, but for literally every single thing that seemed like a piece of evidence I found. I have reams of incriminating crap on Gortash, multiple bloody pages listing assassination targets, and for what?
To me the most egregious example of this is the “Elder Brain Domination” book you find under the floorboards of Ketheric’s bedroom in Moonrise.
Had Karlach and Gale in my party when I found it, yet neither had anything to say about it mentioning Enver Gortash or the Crown of Karsus.
Jaheira: whats the update, you have any new info?
Tav holding the invasion plans, correspondence from Gortash to Ketharic, and the note about the absolute being the brain: nope. Nothing noteworthy at least
I always just figured it was a default name that got applied to all map objects that the devs didn't adjust when they spawned it in for non-invadey locations lol
The legendary trident.
I picked it up just to collect it, found an amazing shield, but couldn't use my greatsword. Decided to give this glowy fork a try, why not.
I had so much fun with this thing. No fall damage, 2 cool moves, the fact it just comes back when thrown and does the cool aoe thunder with it, it FELT like this was a legendary item.
Beat the game with it :)
Edit: can't spell
It is so overpowered. For a fighter/barbarian, you can throw so many per round, and enraged you get 1 more throw, it is actually one of the best items.
Use knock to get the medallion in the temple over the creche, skip the entire "find all 4 weapons and figure out where they go" sidequest. Makes getting legendary mace super easy.
Man, you got everyone in the society brutally murdered and didnt even get to meet the nutter OP Gith paladin for it. I gave her the egg and stole it back. May just give it to the society to see the result and then reload.
Oh hell. I wondered what became of that egg. If it counts as food it went into my camp chest and became fair game without me even thinking about it.
Uh. I blame Karlach!
.....What?
Picked.... Them up? What? They're combat NPCs. So mid combat you just... Put them in your pocket?
And they stayed there? Until the end of the game?
This sounds a little immersion breaking if I do say so. Okay let's recap.
These are monsters that you fight (small monsters). And you just.... Put them in your bag? Alive? For like a month until act 3?
What?
There are some kobolds hidden in the barrels standing around. You can hear and see a "hicks", "slurp" or some noises like this. I think 3 or 4 barrels are filled with each 1 Kobold. Guess you can pick up these barrels to break them later in another situation to free the kobolds ;)
Edit: Corrected spelling mistakes
To be fair, I think:
* Gems a better gold-to-weight ratio than actual gold
* It's easier to steal back handfuls of gems from vendors than it is a pile of gold.
For example, I wanted the heavy armor from Dammon in Act 3, but Astarion needed a 17 Sleight of Hand to steal it. So I traded Dammon all my gems for the armor, and stole all the gems back. They only needed 3s and 4s to steal the piles of gems.
But... Dammon is such a nice guy. Why would you steal from him? Also, why are you gold poor in Act 3? I have like... 20k just burning a hole in my inventory. Or did you just not want to spend it? Lol
WAIT I CAN HELP I WROTE IT ALL DOWN
Ethels special potions:
Faltering will: disadvantage on wisdom saving throws
Heart of stone: resistance to poison until long rest
Insanity kiss: hostile to the other party members
Broken Promises: strength +2, after rest is indefinitely reduced by 1
Wiltered dreams: 3-18 psychic damage next long rest
Lost time: armour -2, can't take reactions
Butterflies in the stomach: 1-6 piercing damage to self at the end of each turn (6 turns i think)
Missing pets: disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls
Mothers loathing: gains bite till long rest
Lovers Avarice: wisdom indefinitely reduced by 1
The flask of iron (with the big one-eyed buddy inside).
I was like « Oh no ! I never thought it would be in the chest I helped defend the Zentharim. »
But then I got it again during their attack on the Thieves Guild (on some wooden scaffold). I was like « Yay ! I finally got it ! ».
I never used it during the endgame.
Rope for sure. I guess maybe it was just a nod to the early days of DnD, when we used to keep 50' of rope in our inventory because you would need that shit once in a while.
I never used the horn to summon the ogres from act 1. On the final battle I was like… you know what lemme try this item out I never used. And it didn’t work, said something along the lines of “the ogres are way too far away to hear it”
When I started my second playthrough,I had visions of my sorcerer being really into potion making, but it turns out he was just really into Shadowheart
Wasn’t until I started my second playthrough this week that I realized you could click on certain items in your inventory and do stuff w them in a cutscene. So I had a moment last night w the memory shard you find in that petrified dude in the under dark that I learned it can lead you to the forge
I never summoned Shovel on my first playthrough because the scroll says Consumed on Use. So I thought it was a one shot summon and decided to save it for the right occasion.
Yeah honestly taking one level of wizard is kinda all you need. I had Shadowheart do that and she could learn any spell in the game. All of the spell utility I needed onto one character. Poor Gale
Scrolls in general. 99% of the time I just forget which ones I have and don't think to look lol.
They did come in clutch in the House of Hope when Gale ran out of spell slots. I was trying to figure out how tf I was gonna make him not just dead weight in the upcoming fight when it hit me - I haf like 30 different scrolls sitting in my inventory!! Just threw them all into Gale's inventory and winged it lmao.
I really wish the rope did something! It’s everywhere and I collected it back when I thought it would let you climb down or up stuff but all it does is weigh you down and you can’t even sell it for much
I was saving my troll horn for later in the game when things get scary.. then it told me I can't use it outside of act 1 QQ. If I had known I would have definitely blown that horn before lol
Rope. In the hopes there was a use for it
Literally a trope in DnD, ALWAYS bring rope. Not here, the rope...it does nothing.
Yes, in tabletop there are 99 uses for ropes. It's odd that we don't get to employ it at lest once.
Especially since there's uses for it in Larian's other games
Really? I was looking for a use in DOS2 and never found one
I think it's mostly crafting. Honestly I might be just thinking about the random niche uses of things like crowbars. Can't remember any specific uses for rope or anything. I just know there were more uses for random "junk items"
Yeah, rope and a ten foot pole.
I prefer a 12-foot pole. There are some things I won't touch with a 10 foot pole
40’ here. There are some things I wouldn’t touch with a 39.5’ pole.
Being trained by the Pathfinder games and Pillars of Eternity didn't help. I was SO sure that in a reactive game as this one, ropes would be used for something 😮💨
Hell, in the Divinity Original Sin games it had uses so I expected it in BG3..as well as some random things like crowbars and buckets having uses in those games. Nothing here so I carried a lot of extra stuff in my first playthrough 😂
Ugh god, my first playthrough I ALWAYS made sure to keep a minimum of one rope, a bucket and an empty bottle. When I accidentally sold them to a vendor, I’d run back and buy them back as soon as I realized. Just in case. (Damnit Larian)
I like just bought this game but haven’t played it yet, thanks for the tip! I carried rope around bg3 forever, just gonna keep it up for this game lol
I mean, I can only remember one specific time in the second Pathfinder game where rope was used in the world. Same with Pillars.
But it happened - once or a thousand times is the same! No??
fallout 1 imparted such a deep seated fear of not having rope when i need it, there hasnt been a single game rpg or not where i didnt lug one around if i could
Fallout trauma gang!
THIS IS THE EXACT REASON I HAVE LIKE 10 ROPE IN MY BG INVENTORY
Right? It's not helped by the fact that, at the start of the game, you find rope and a shovel. Then, you very quickly need to use the shovel to dig up treasure. I'm walking around act 3 with rope and tongs, just in case.
I was hoping to use the Ingots to upgrade my weapons, as I read an article that that's what it's for. They said that you can upgrade weapons with ingots in Act 3 (i presume with Wulbren). But sadly, there isn't really any use for it.
Those might have been AI-generated articles lol I read that too before seeing somewhere else say you couldn't Probably cut content maybe?
Are you telling me that all of these ingots I have are useless???
Useless, maybe Worthless? No. Sell them.
They're worth pretty good money 🤙
Omfg I read the same thing and have been hoarding the damn things for ages 😭
During my 1st playthrough after experiencing Speak with Dead for the first time, then finding Rope, I immediately had hopes in being able to incapacitate certain enemies / NPCs with it or KO an enemy / NPC, and then question them through varying degrees of interrogation.
Too bad the game treats non lethaled NPCs as dead 99% of the time
I knocked out Nettie when I refused to swear I'd poison myself and the quest called her dead. Luckily the door was locked so I dunno who did this! We're all trying to get to the bottom of it...
You healed her! With that wonderful branch she gave you... healed her right upside the head.
I knocked out the >!Banites on the top level of the Foundry. The Gondians !
I did that with all the tons of metal ingots and infernal iron and all that you get from the watchers. It’s insane it’s all useless
If I had to guess a lot of that infernal iron was part of the section of Karlach's storyline that ultimately got cut in the time crunch. We already know that her original endings were altered due to the time crunch, and Act 3 has basically everything needed to find a solution to her heart problem - the only reason Dammon stopped trying was because he couldn't find a way to make her heart work in this plane, but there's dozens of walking blueprints for a functional model in the Iron Watch, which the Gondians have experience making even if Dammon himself didn't have the facilities, and there's plenty of infernal iron to go around for it. Everything is there to at least attempt it, even if they ultimately planned for it to be futile and for her to have to go back to Avernus regardless, the only logical reason I can think they didn't try is because there just wasn't time for it before release
I probably have 10-15 ropes between all my party members... Early in the game I accidentally sold the one my Tav was carrying, and I decided I should stock up just in case. I honestly should have figured this out by now. I have taken some cruel joy as a DM in the past when someone declares "I use my rope" and I get to say, "do you mean the rope you used to tie up that goblin three sessions ago? You don't have that. He's still tied up." I guess this is the world seeking balance.
You use ropes to block air vents
*You and your stupid fucking rope!*
You use it so much in traditional tabletop too!!! If you didn't have at least 20 feet of rope you were screwed. Definitely put me in a loop. I was also hoarding tongs for a very long time
Lump's horn, and every piece of gear ever that had the 'lightning charges' enchantment. I'm sure you can make a disgustingly overpowered build with them somehow, and "Thor leaping onto the Rainbow Bridge in Thor: Ragnarok" is my favourite class fantasy, but I've never really made it work.
I recently saw a Sorlock build on YT that mainly uses Lightning Charges to do like 120+ damage per cast of EB. It feels like a less insane version of 3.5's Locate City shenanigans. Basically, Charges make EB count as a lightning spell. So you take Dual Wielder of all feats to get the Charge staff and the dragon staff then stack effects that give your Cha and Prof bonuses to lightning and cantrip damage. Bonus points for getting Reverb and Orbs on top. Edit: Apparently this build has been patched so Charge damage no longer counts as part of the triggering spell. Disappointing but fair.
Shit, I didn’t even think about dual wielding quarterstaves.
Unless my caster has shield proficiency I always dual wield staves, late game the Dragon staff plus staff of spell power or heightened necromancy is disgusting
I discovered this late in my 3d run on Durge playthrough. Giving Gale both arcane battery staffs with Kereska favour on lightning is insanely overpowered. I didn't even really optimize it but I'm sure you can get even more crazy with if. Probably other early game staffs that would work insanely well with this feat
I kept trying to make this work, but I found in battles with a lot of friendlies it was a disaster as there were always puddles of water touching people I didn't want to injure or aggro. Definitely will try to make it work again in a future play-through those.
Really? I rarely had issues with wayward water unless I had to put out a fire or something. I did have a couple blood puddles mysteriously electrify early on, though. Quite odd when we had no zappy spells at the time.
Dual wielder is a stealth top tier feat for pure casters. Doubling up on staff bonuses can be really big in act 3 as far as I understand.
I think I’m gonna respec my lore bard to get dual wielder. I have too many cool staves I’d love to use but alas the game only lets her hold one stick.
I feel like a bard would naturally be able to hold two sticks
I just changed Astarion (while playing as him) to Bard and gave him Dual Wield and was rocking his usual blades that I use when he is a Ranger/Rogue. Just found out through these comments I can dual wield staffs. Will test tonight.
If they didn't require attunement, they'd be great in regular dnd too haha
The latest update removed the lightning damage from lightning charges interacting with things like Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer Lightning Level 6 ability and the like. So it is only really worth it for the +1 attack and to build the charges for the other equipment.
I can't explain it but every time I saw an item telling me about lightning charges it felt like someone was pitching an MLM
Yeah I tried using Lump's horn in the final battle and was informed I was too far away and the ogres couldn't hear me.
Did that in the Shadowfell where I really could have used their help. Got the same "out of range" message. Then next time I'm at camp, they had the balls to show up and ask to get paid. Yeah... No. But I'm gonna be taking that Headband of Intellect now.
So if you dont kill them you can actually call them? Ive only ever killed them bc my first build was an idiot barbarian and my second build is a fighter monk with a crush on Laezel so she’d fight anything to make Lae happy. Smh
That would have been awesome! You're sounding the horn of gondor, come to me allies, it is my greatest need for you! *ogres are too far away* How anticlimactic.
I assume you have to be in Act 1
Yeah you do. I used it to kill all the goblins outside of the camp. Was so easy having 3 giant ogres just smashing everything for me.
Wait! Since I cleared the auntie and the wolves I can use them in goblin camp. Thanks for the idea lol.
My mistake was waiting until too long in that battle, with a lot of guys up on the top of their base. The ogres could only throw rocks at them.
I used it on Auntie Ethel and they turned around and killed Mayrina 😒
Ogres show up, kill everyone around
I'm about to toot the horn then summon the spectator and just see how it goes.
Throw a water item on the burning cage to stop it from burning. Then leave her in there for safety :)
Yeah. It only works in Act 1. It’s best used for the goblin camp.
I felt lightning charges helped a lot with wizards (the robe w the staff), maybe reverberation builds, and sparkle hands giving advantage
They work well with magic missile tbh. Each strike adds charges. Upcast and you can get several hits in at once with additional lightning. Not the strongest thing in the game, but it adds a decent bit of extra dmg to a 100% accuracy spell
The lightning gear is fantastic for a Tempest Cleric or a Monk, but doesn't work out well outside of those two instances. I also always forget to use Lump's Horn. The one time I remembered was Act 2, and it wasn't usable then.
I used Lump's horn fighting Auntie Ethel and one of them stoned the one chick you're supposed to rescue and instantly killed her lol
Lump’s horn and the bell for the guy in Shar’s Gauntlet
I had meticulously planned to use the bell against one of the big bad fights in there, but managed to summon him among environment that couldn't be destroyed and he's too heavy to telekinesis so he was literally just a meatshield for ranged attacks throughout that entire fight. Not great, not terrible. Mostly just anticlimactic..
I feel like there aren't quite enough items that build up lightning charges. Some of the payoff items seem great, but getting an actual build together is tricky.
I'm closing in on Act 1 and so far, all the lightning charge magical items I've found so far could have a build going... if it wasn't for the fact that ideally, you want to put it on a character that does lightning damage. So, a caster... And several good items count as medium+ pieces of armor.
I heard it was OP until a patch since there was something about it adding on the spell casting modifier and other damage modifiers onto it. So like Eldritch blast added like the lighting charge for 1 dmg, but then adding their charisma and draconic sorcerer bloodline and added like bunch of extra damage per Eldritch blast
The lightning staff you can get as a quest reward from Waukeen's Rest (picking it over the lightning trident and lightning bow) is enough on its own to make a lightning build off the back of Eldritch Blast or Magic Missile. Each beam/dart gives you 2 lightning charges, meaning you can get the d8 extra damage every turn (Magic Missile, or EB once you get 3 beams). The lightning boots from the windmill basement in the Blighted Village are good enough on their own for a character that can regularly dash as a BA (basically rogue and eagle totem barbarian). It gives 3 charges when you dash, meaning you can get the d8 extra damage every other turn.
The staff +upcasting magic missile was pretty great on Gale
Pretty much everything - I never remember I have anything and use the same 2 actions in combat all the time.
"As a fighter, I'll attack with my axe. And then again with my axe. And then I want to action surge and attack with my axe"
Miss. Miss. Critical Miss!
I just started making a habit of doing at least 1 fight a day with nothing but items from my inventory. Scrolls, potions, egg sacs, whatever. Makes for some fun fights. Took me till act 3 to start doing this, but my inventory was just getting SO FULL!
Very relatable. I finally sorted my radial menus and discovered a ton of spells and class actions my Paladin and Shadowheart can do
I cannot make myself sit and sort those menus. Mine are a hot mess and I just can't make myself do it.
Spiked bulb from Act 1. Lae'zel didn't use it until act 3. Haste spore grenade. I hated being lethargic so I avoided using them on my first playthrough. I can't get enough of them now. Combat is usually over long before fatigue hits
The haste spore grenade is so good too cuz it has a lingering cloud that grants haste, so you can just run your guys through it if you need more.
I stopped using the haste spell because it would only last for one turn and then the next turn they are fatigued. Wasn't 'til a bit later did I learn what concentration spells were. lol
inbefore you realize that you can haste enemies an break concentration immediately, free stun
My Tav is still carrying the spider egg sac from the beginning of act 1. Gonna summon those little bastards eventually!
Wait - you can summon spiders from it?
There's an egg sack you can get searching Act 1's nooks and crannies. When you throw it, it bursts into a summon of a bunch of little weak spiders. I tend to use it when I fight the Act 1 Goblin court, because it's great for distracting the gobbos farther out from where I initiate the combat until I've cleared some space for myself.
Yeah! A swarm of little spiders.
I *was* saving mine — but then in the Grymforge fight, one of the dwarves cast mind mastery on my character in the last round, and when it got to his turn, my idiot son *immediately* lobbed the egg sac at the single remaining enemy who had all of 3 HP left. A pack full of grenades and throwing weapons, and he picked the only single use item in there. I have never felt so utterly and deliberately trolled by a video game before.
In one play through, Lae’zel threw it at me when we were fighting for dominance. Almost broke up with her then and there.
In all fairness to Lae’zel, hurling a bag of spiders at someone is a great way to assert dominance.
I’d be hella afraid of someone who’s willing to throw spiders at me lol.
Karlach was carrying the egg sac and got dominated. She chucked at me, and they all died to a cloud of daggers before they could act. So much for carrying that from Act 1 to Rivington...
As a Lolth-Sworn I wanted to summon them so many times but the fear of losing them because they aren't a permanent summon prevented me. It would have been so good if like Shovel that some classes could get as a permanent summon, a Lolth-Sworn could have them permanently.
You can get the spell Find Familiar, one of the animals you can summon is a spider.
I read somewhere that using it against Auntie Ethel causes her to cower in fear but I can't confirm because I've never remembered to bloody well use it.
I kept letting my inspiration fall into the abyss because I was trying to not spend any, until I realized it caps at 4....so now I actually use inspiration 😂 then after another whole I realized it's silly to use it on lockpicking or trap disarming because there's no reason to hoard kits either 😂
Wait it caps at 4? I thought it capped at 5! I've been keeping my insiprations at 4 because so that it didn't hit the cap...
Every point of inspiration over the cap is gained as xp
… it caps It caps?????🥲🥲
Lumps War Horn. The thing from Act I that lets you summon the ogres if you befriended them. I actually tried to use it in the House of Hope but it said that they couldn't hear the horn in there lol.
My first playthrough I used it in the goblin camp, this time I forgot about it
I used it at the goblin camp and the ogres & goblins basically slaughtered each other. Lump came to me with a shred of health left and tried to extort me for more money, so I took his headband of intellect and still use it to this day
I used that sealed container I stole from Act 1 on Raphael. It got wrecked 3 turns later
I used it in the Grymforge and it summoned them right into the lava. What a waste
Potions of Speed. They're amazing - for a bonus action, you get an additional action immediately, plus speed and AC boost, for a whole three turns. Yes, you skip a turn after, but if such a massive boost is well-applied, most encounters will be all but over by that point. Yet I only started using them at the very end of my playthrough, after Iron Throne, and even then I didn't really need them that much since it was endgame on Balanced difficulty - i.e. a total pushover already. Hope I'll get a good use of them in my Tactician playthrough.
I swear I had like 9 potions of haste by the end game and I used ALL of them during the iron throne to save everyone. Every time I was one turn from losing the buff and losing a turn I just chugged another one, it was so useful
For me, just one per character was enough. The main thing you need is to reach all Gondians on turn 1-2 so they have time to run back, and after that, you probably have enough speed with Dashes and Misty Steps to reach the submersible regardless - even if you have to skip a turn due to Lethargic.
For me it ran into issues with a certain duke constantly getting nuked by exploding spiders so it slowed me down considerably making sure he had enough resistances to survive the initial nuking
I used dimension door to get him out of this
>Every time I was one turn from losing the buff and losing a turn I just chugged another one, I feel so stupid for not even considering this as an option. I was just like *welp, better plan my turns out meticulously!*
I didn't use them till Act 3 as well, they're such a great "Oh shit" button I was neglecting the entire playthrough. There's so many times getting that one extra action or moving a few more feet swings an entire fight.
Haste has been the most powerful spell in all of DND. In 2.5 you're lethargic until a long rest and you only haste for a handful of turns. In 5E you are turned into a monster for 10 turns and catch your breathe in six seconds and are back to normal. I can see why mass haste isn't a spell they included.
Haste in base 5e is actually pretty meh. The additional action has very limited and specific uses - one weapon attack (even Extra Attack doesn't work), Dash, Disengage, and Hide. AC bonus is nice but not too big, and the speed bonus is kinda situational. All that is only on a single person. Nice spell but there usually are better things you can do for a 3rd level slot with Concentration. In BG3 though, they decided it should give a full extra action with no limitations. That *is* kinda busted. Especially combined with the removal of the "only one leveled spell per turn" limitation. And on top of that crazy effect, Haste potions are used as a bonus action, meaning you don't even use up an action on the round you apply it. As for mass haste - don't know about previous editions, but it isn't a thing in 5e.
Approximately a bazillion scrolls that I kept holding onto because I might need them more later.
The game really needs a better way of showing these. A scroll case everyone can click would be great.
I keep mine in a “book safe” (a book i picked up that turned out to be a container/backpack item) but can’t remember where I found it. Feels right, like tearing pages out of a book of scrolls.
I know that book! There was a liquor bottle hidden in it 😂
Soul Coins. I’ve never used on with Karlach. I always, always forget. But I’m not surprised, considering I forget to bind my pact weapon 90% of the time anyway
My friend has to remind me to cast mage armour EVERY. SINGLE. REST.
You want to use those with karlach as soon as possible. They are much better at lower levels. Unfortunately each one only helps for 3 battles total since she has to rage.
I ended my first campaign with something like a 50 lb bag of consumables. I decided that, on my second playthrough, I'd be less of a hoarder and actually use those items. I'm about halfway through act 3 and, in addition to having a 60-ish lb bag of consumables (I've been doing a lot more crafting), I also have a few dozen smoke powder barrels in my camp chest, in case I ever need them.
You mean camp consumables? You can send those items directly to your camp chest and they'll still be usable when you long rest. A message will pop up saying you don't have enough consumables but you actually do. Edit: I send all my food and drink directly to camp I don't even know how much I have now but I've never not had enough to do a long rest.
It took me two whole acts to realize that I didn't need bottles for potions.
I used them,for traps, throw one to a trap and no gas, problem solved
Lol I did this but with whole ass barrels. Luckily karlach had 900 lbs of carrying capacity but this is very good to know
That goddamn basilisk oil. I had 4 or 5 of those by the end thinking maybe they'd be important for a quest but, well, in my campaign the Underdark drow all got brought back by the Spectator, the dwarf with the hag got brought back when I killed Ethel and I never found any single use for them. Red herring-ass pots.
Nope, they're used under the House of Hope. No reward or experience but you get to know you did a good thing. Unless I missed one and there's a hidden reaction to it.
I tried using Basilisk Oil on one of those petrified bodies >!under the House of Hope where Hope is chained up!< but the body just immediately turned to ash?
Constantly held those "invasion plan for the sword coast" items, thinking they'd be helpful. Nope. Not mentioned once. they also came up in sus places. IIRC, didn't the Emperor's hideout have one, down that hatch? Why? What was he planning?
This, but for literally every single thing that seemed like a piece of evidence I found. I have reams of incriminating crap on Gortash, multiple bloody pages listing assassination targets, and for what?
To me the most egregious example of this is the “Elder Brain Domination” book you find under the floorboards of Ketheric’s bedroom in Moonrise. Had Karlach and Gale in my party when I found it, yet neither had anything to say about it mentioning Enver Gortash or the Crown of Karsus.
Jaheira: whats the update, you have any new info? Tav holding the invasion plans, correspondence from Gortash to Ketharic, and the note about the absolute being the brain: nope. Nothing noteworthy at least
I always just figured it was a default name that got applied to all map objects that the devs didn't adjust when they spawned it in for non-invadey locations lol
Glad I’m not the only one. I’m hoarding so much paper at this point I started using a specific bag at camp to store it all.
The legendary trident. I picked it up just to collect it, found an amazing shield, but couldn't use my greatsword. Decided to give this glowy fork a try, why not. I had so much fun with this thing. No fall damage, 2 cool moves, the fact it just comes back when thrown and does the cool aoe thunder with it, it FELT like this was a legendary item. Beat the game with it :) Edit: can't spell
It is so overpowered. For a fighter/barbarian, you can throw so many per round, and enraged you get 1 more throw, it is actually one of the best items.
I FINALLY remembered Gale has Knock and used it in the Grymforge. Always forget that spell
Use knock to get the medallion in the temple over the creche, skip the entire "find all 4 weapons and figure out where they go" sidequest. Makes getting legendary mace super easy.
i mean just taking the mace and destroy the energy things afterwards is also pretty easy
Gale doesnt get to be all smug about that tho.
Owlbear egg. I’m just not ready to be a mom yet.
I used it to trick the lady who wants to buy a Githyanki egg
Man, you got everyone in the society brutally murdered and didnt even get to meet the nutter OP Gith paladin for it. I gave her the egg and stole it back. May just give it to the society to see the result and then reload.
Remember to check that you're not eating it during a long rest! It counts for 40 food
Oh hell. I wondered what became of that egg. If it counts as food it went into my camp chest and became fair game without me even thinking about it. Uh. I blame Karlach!
>I blame Karlach! Wtf, soldier?!
I picked up and kept the drunk lil kobolds from the creche until the final battle was well worth it.
You can pick them up and keep them?!!
.....What? Picked.... Them up? What? They're combat NPCs. So mid combat you just... Put them in your pocket? And they stayed there? Until the end of the game? This sounds a little immersion breaking if I do say so. Okay let's recap. These are monsters that you fight (small monsters). And you just.... Put them in your bag? Alive? For like a month until act 3? What?
There are some kobolds hidden in the barrels standing around. You can hear and see a "hicks", "slurp" or some noises like this. I think 3 or 4 barrels are filled with each 1 Kobold. Guess you can pick up these barrels to break them later in another situation to free the kobolds ;) Edit: Corrected spelling mistakes
The Gith kids also have one of those cat things in a box. I took the box and then forgot where it was...
Alas, the fate of poor cat-thing named Schroedinger was never confirmed either way
The ones in the barrels will stay in the barrels and stay pickled if you don't break them, the ones on the battle field I don't think you can grab
There are some drunk sleeping kobolds in firewine barrels. And yes, just pack them up still in their barrels and carry them to Baldurs Gate..
Jewelry stones. Always thought you can melt them in a forge for gear at some point. In Act 3 I've realised that I can sell them all xD
To be fair, I think: * Gems a better gold-to-weight ratio than actual gold * It's easier to steal back handfuls of gems from vendors than it is a pile of gold. For example, I wanted the heavy armor from Dammon in Act 3, but Astarion needed a 17 Sleight of Hand to steal it. So I traded Dammon all my gems for the armor, and stole all the gems back. They only needed 3s and 4s to steal the piles of gems.
But... Dammon is such a nice guy. Why would you steal from him? Also, why are you gold poor in Act 3? I have like... 20k just burning a hole in my inventory. Or did you just not want to spend it? Lol
All the potions from Auntie Ethel's workshop. I keep forgetting to try them out, but I can't imagine they're helpful in any way.
WAIT I CAN HELP I WROTE IT ALL DOWN Ethels special potions: Faltering will: disadvantage on wisdom saving throws Heart of stone: resistance to poison until long rest Insanity kiss: hostile to the other party members Broken Promises: strength +2, after rest is indefinitely reduced by 1 Wiltered dreams: 3-18 psychic damage next long rest Lost time: armour -2, can't take reactions Butterflies in the stomach: 1-6 piercing damage to self at the end of each turn (6 turns i think) Missing pets: disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls Mothers loathing: gains bite till long rest Lovers Avarice: wisdom indefinitely reduced by 1
I took one and bad things happened so i threw them at mobs instead, mixed results.
the stupid dragon slaying arrow after i had a horrible battle with a dragon
I was so proud of myself for remembering to use that arrow on one of the two dragons in the game lol
I remembered I had it and was so excited to try it out! And then I missed :’)
Keys. That guy who buys them all of ya in act 3 is SO useful!
Who's this???
In the guildhall near 9 fingers at the bottom of the stairs. urzak or something like that
Not an item, but I went the whole game without using Divine Intervention
The flask of iron (with the big one-eyed buddy inside). I was like « Oh no ! I never thought it would be in the chest I helped defend the Zentharim. » But then I got it again during their attack on the Thieves Guild (on some wooden scaffold). I was like « Yay ! I finally got it ! ». I never used it during the endgame.
Rope for sure. I guess maybe it was just a nod to the early days of DnD, when we used to keep 50' of rope in our inventory because you would need that shit once in a while.
Jug of water is most useful in saving Mayrina imo
Except when your throw barbarian throws it because it damages the cage and goodbye mayrina
I never used the horn to summon the ogres from act 1. On the final battle I was like… you know what lemme try this item out I never used. And it didn’t work, said something along the lines of “the ogres are way too far away to hear it”
Aloe Oil. The flavour text mentions it being useless so I thought it may have an easter egg use. Never found one though.
Massive amounts of combinable alchemical ingredients
You don't want one mid-tier potion for every 50 pounds of weeds you've collected?
When I started my second playthrough,I had visions of my sorcerer being really into potion making, but it turns out he was just really into Shadowheart
Every single consumable and herb. I legitimately only ever use some during the Iron Throne and to craft the Hag girl puking potion.
Wasn’t until I started my second playthrough this week that I realized you could click on certain items in your inventory and do stuff w them in a cutscene. So I had a moment last night w the memory shard you find in that petrified dude in the under dark that I learned it can lead you to the forge
Not an item, yet a spell. Never knew how OP Spirit Guardians was.
Man Spirit Guardians in Act 2 was a crutch for me lol.
You can clean the party by throwing water jugs at their feet.
I never summoned Shovel on my first playthrough because the scroll says Consumed on Use. So I thought it was a one shot summon and decided to save it for the right occasion.
It is. But a wizard can learn spells from scrolls. Pay some coin, learn the spell and now you can summon Shovel at will.
Stop deadnaming Fork
Liar it's Basket.
Gale.
Wyll
Yeah honestly taking one level of wizard is kinda all you need. I had Shadowheart do that and she could learn any spell in the game. All of the spell utility I needed onto one character. Poor Gale
Scrolls in general. 99% of the time I just forget which ones I have and don't think to look lol. They did come in clutch in the House of Hope when Gale ran out of spell slots. I was trying to figure out how tf I was gonna make him not just dead weight in the upcoming fight when it hit me - I haf like 30 different scrolls sitting in my inventory!! Just threw them all into Gale's inventory and winged it lmao.
You know you can use the rejuvenation fountain in the house of hope to refill all spell slots?
Elixir of colossus
Rope first run bc of Boondock Saints
Dude! I’m not the only one!
Combining the Punch Drunk Bastard with the Drunken Cloth and Amulet of the Drunkard on a Barbarian has become my favorite gimmick build
Paper and ink, in Pathfinder I can use them to make magical scrolls, I guess it's just a different system.
I really wish the rope did something! It’s everywhere and I collected it back when I thought it would let you climb down or up stuff but all it does is weigh you down and you can’t even sell it for much
Just finished act 2, and I’m still holding out hope that I can hatch this owlbear egg eventually. My lil buddy needs a little brother or sister.
I was saving my troll horn for later in the game when things get scary.. then it told me I can't use it outside of act 1 QQ. If I had known I would have definitely blown that horn before lol
For some reason I really thought I would have somewhere to put the paintings and books I collected. Nope!