Baldur's Gate 3 Guide to Spellcasting and Magic

in the smaller Skate 3 guide I'm going to explain everything you need to know about spell casting in pg3 what are can trips how do spell slots work what is concentration how do you prepare spells these are some of the things we'll cover in this video if you've been struggling with your spellcaster or you need a refresher on how these things work watch on for some helpful information there are many facets to spell casting in bg3 and there's a lot that goes into how each spellcaster Works since they are all a little different however they do have many things they share in common and in this guide we'll go through what those things are and just how they work first let's take a look at which classes can cast spells in Baldur's Gate 3. many classes in bg3 can cast spells but some can cast more spells than others and higher level spells as well so let's get into which they are spellcasters that can reach level 6 spells in bg3 are sometimes referred to as full casters and there are a total of six classes that can do this these are Bard cleric Druid sourcer Warlock and wizard you'll notice that there is an asterisk next to Warlock and this is for two reasons first their spell slots technically only go up to level five but they can learn one level six spell at warlock level 11. and second they have far fewer spell slots than all other full casters and their spell slots operate a bit differently which I'll get into later in the sky this means half of bg3's classes are full casters which is quite a few to say the least however there are also classes that can cast spells that cannot reach level 6 spells and these are Paladin Ranger Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster paladins and Rangers are sometimes referred to as half casters meaning they will gain half the spell slots and level of spells is that of a full Caster this means they will only reach level 3 spells instead of level 6. Eldritch Knights and Arcane tricksters are sometimes referred to as one-third casters since they will only reach level 2 spells and only gain one third of the spells that full casters gain this means a total of 10 classes of 12 can cast spells in bg3 which is quite a lot and all the more reason to become familiar with how spell casting works and just about every party in bg3 will have one two or even three characters that can cast some spells each spellcaster in bg3 whether full half or one-third will use one ability to determine How likely it is to successfully cast their spells on a hostile Target these abilities are Charisma wisdom or intelligence and each class that casts spells will use one of these abilities for this purpose and they are as follows Arcane tricksters Eldritch Knights and wizards use intelligence bards paladins Sorcerers and warlocks use Charisma and clerics Druids and Rangers use wisdom when casting a hostile spell all spell casters will use the modifier of their spell casting ability and add that to either the attack roll of the spell or its spell difficulty class whichever is applicable so let's dive into that a bit there are generally two different types of hostile spells in bg3 that Target enemies specifically the first are spells that Target their armor class and operate similarly to weapon attack roles you can see if this is the case on the tooltip since these spells will say attack roll on them and there will not be an ability save listed on them these spells are always damage dealing spells even though they may have additional effects in this case the spellcaster will add their spell casting ability modifier to their attack roll with this spell along with their proficiency bonus which will be plus two at the beginning of the game but will rise to plus 3 at level 5 and plus 4 level 9. the higher their spell casting ability modifier the higher total they will have on their spell attack roll if the spell attack rule meets or exceeds the armor class of the enemy the spell will connect and make a damage roll based on the damage of the spell you can see how much damage a spell can deal on its tooltip and note that your spell casting ability modifier is not added to your damage roll only your attack roll spells that Target the armor class of an enemy benefit from a high ground bonus if they are ranged spells and they are above the enemy however they have a high ground penalty if they target enemies above them just like ranged weapon attacks they also suffer disadvantage of an enemies within melee range of them just like ranged weapon attacks but some spells like inflict wounds or shocking grass Target Armor class and don't suffer this penalty because they can only be cast in melee range additionally spells that make attack rolls benefit from Advantage meaning if an enemy has any status effect that provides advantage to attackers these types of spells will be more likely to connect being hidden is also a great way to gain Advantage particularly when beginning a combat encounter the other type of hostel spell in bg3 doesn't make any attack rule at all and does not Target armor class instead these spells Target one of the six abilities strength dexterity Constitution intelligence wisdom or Charisma and use what is called your spell difficulty class or spell DC for short to determine if they succeed or fail many of these types of spells don't deal any damage at all and provide some other negative effect but many deal damage as well a character's spell difficulty class is equal to 8 plus their spell casting ability modifier plus their proficiency bonus at level 1 the highest spell DC you can have is 13 since you can't have higher than plus three on your spell casting ability modifier during character creation and your proficiency bonus would be plus two when you target the ability of an enemy with a spell that enemy makes what is called a saving throw they roll the D20 or 20-sided die and add their ability modifier for that ability to their role if your spell DC is 13 then they need to reach a total of 13 or higher between their role and their ability modifier in order to save against your spell if they fail then whatever the spell does will trigger and damage rolls are made if needed if they succeed they may take no damage or effect or take half damage depending on the spell make sure to read the spell tooltip to find out which is the case you can see the ability modifiers of enemies in bg3 by pressing T and mousing over each ability make sure that you target the lower abilities of characters with these types of spells otherwise you'll have a very slim chance to succeed for instance don't Target an ogre with a spell that targets strengths as they will get a huge bonus to their role and will likely save against your spell the ability Improvement feat can be used to raise your spell casting ability modifier further and is a good feat for every spellcaster if you fling lots of spells you'll definitely want to reach plus 5 in your spell casting ability modifier eventually which is the highest you can go with ability Improvement in VG though equipment can take you higher now that we've explained the two different types of hostile spells let's get into a bit more detail about spell slots what are spell slots spell slots are essentially a finite resource that spellcasters use to cast their spells with these only replenish on Long rest so once you've used them all you cannot cast any more level 1 or higher spells Until you long rest this means don't burn them all in one fight or be prepared to Long rest often spell casters can only cast spells using a spell slot that's the same level or hired of the spell they are trying to cast you cannot cast level 2 spells with level 1 spell slots for instance but you can cast level 2 spells with level 3 spell slots why would you cast a level 2 spell with a level 3 spell slot though well maybe you really need to cast that spell and you have no level 2 spell slots left or maybe the spell will be up cast and proving its effect many lower level spells in bg3 can be cast using high level spell slots and a lot of these spells gain more damage like burning hands when doing so or allow you to Target more enemies with them like blindness pay attention to the tooltips of each spell so that you understand which can be upcast and which can't this will help you make better decisions about which spells to cast with which spell slots warlock spell slots operate a bit differently as I mentioned before and their spell slots will actually increase in level as they gain warlock levels this allows them to cast any spell they know with these spell slots and lower level spells that can be upcast are always upcast when using them however they only have two spell slots at level 2 and 3 at level 11 which means they have to be way pickier about the Spells they use in combat since they won't be able to cast many before they run out of spell slots it is not uncommon for warlocks to use all their spell slots each combat the upside though is that warlock spell slots recharge on short rest compared to the long rest of all other spellcasters so they gain them back in between combats much more easily not all spells in bg3 consume spell slots though and that is usually because they are either a cantrip or a ritual spell however sometimes certain races classes or equipment will let you cast a spell once per day without using a spell slot but what are cantrips and ritual spells can trips are essentially level zero spells that can be cast an infinite number of times outside of combat and once per turn inside of combat that consume no spell slots these are generally less powerful spells like Fireball that sort of operate as a basic attack for spellcasters however some can also provide other effects like guidance which adds one to four to your dialogue or skill checks which makes you much more likely to succeed in these ritual spells are spells that can be used outside of combat without consuming a spell slot but will consume a spell slot if used in combat these are very specific spells and there are not many of them in the game but you can recognize them by the ritual icon and the word ritual next to the action you can select many of these with the ritual Caster feat sometimes players can't use their spells in combat and they wonder why either they are grayed out or they cannot find them on the action bar but either way they cannot seem to use them in combat well there are reasons for that first do you have enough spell Slots of the right level or higher remaining if not these spells will appear grade out on your bar and you won't be able to cast them until you long rest or short rest if you're a warlock second have you expanded your action bar so that you can see all of your spells many players don't even know they can do this and it hides a lot of spells and other actions from the player when they don't make sure you do this and set up your action bar properly lastly did you prepare the spell you were trying to cast beforehand many spell Casters in bg3 know a lot of spells but cannot cast them unless they are prepared the following classes must prepare their spells before they can cast them cleric Druid Paladin and wizard the advantage of these classes is that they know far more spells than classes that don't need to prepare them but they must prepare them in order to cast them this means if you walk into combat and want to cast Fireball with your wizard but forgot to prepare it beforehand you won't be able to prepare spells hit the K key outside of combat and click on any already prepared spell to remove it from your prepared spells and click on any non-prepared spell to add it you'll be able to prepare one spell for each level of the classes I just mentioned taken plus your spell casting ability modifier so if you're level 4 and had 16 Charisma on your Paladin you would be able to prepare seven spells if you are Level 10 and had an intelligence modifier of plus 4 on your wizard you can prepare for team spells many spells in bg3 require concentration in order to maintain the effect of the spell for instance if you cast cloud of daggers you will concentrate on that spell and it will remain as an AOE on the battlefield as long as you maintain your concentration on it you can only concentrate on one spell at a time in bg3 so if the next spell you cast also requires concentration you will end your concentration on cloud of daggers effectively dismissing it from the field and begin concentrating on the new spell but this doesn't only happen in combat for instance if you use enhanced ability on someone for a dialogue check you will concentrate on that spell however if another dialogue comes up and you cast guidance to improve their chances you will end your concentration on enhanceability and begin concentrating on guidance instead ending the effects of enhanceability because both require concentration try to plan accordingly and don't waste spells by overriding them with others before you mean to concentration can end another way however and that is by taking damage when a character takes damage while concentrating on a spell in combat such as on bless or cloud of daggers they must make a concentration saving throw using their constitution modifier if they fail the spell ends if they pass the spell continues this repeats for each source of damage the character takes this makes proficiency and Constitution saving throws phenomenal for spellcasters since this further adds your proficiency bonus to these roles Sorcerers have this by default as do Fighters and barbarians but you can also gain this proficiency with the resilient feat note that the war Caster feat provides you Advantage when making concentration saving throws allowing you to roll twice and use the higher of the two rolls which is excellent for spellcasters who use a lot of spells that require concentration and one last tip you can end your concentration early if you want by clicking the X icon under your portrait this lets you end hostile aoes after a battle is nearly one or is already over so that your party members don't accidentally walk into them so that wraps up our video on spell casting and how spells work in Boulder's Gate 3 and if you're interested to find out how spell casting works with multiclassing I suggest you check out our multi-classing video and as always if you have tips that I didn't mention in this video please leave them in the comments below for other players so they can learn and if you have questions I will try and answer them [Music] [Music]

Channel: Fextralife

Views: 215,376

Keywords: bg3 spells, bg3 spells explained, bg3 spells showcase, bg3 spells vs prepared spells, bg3 spells and cantrips, bg3 magic system, bg3 magic guide, bg3 spellcasting guide, bg3 how to play warlock, how to play baldurs gate 3, wizard baldurs gate 3, baldurs gate 3 spell slots explained, baldurs gate 3 spellcasting ability, what is spellslots, what is spellcasting bg3, baldurs gate 3 magic guide, baldurs gate 3 magic, baldurs gate 3 magic explained, baldurs gate 3 full caster

Id: yccaTR4DQgc

Length: 12min 37sec (757 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 12 2023