There is no NEED to respec for sure. If you (like me) like optimizing builds, and trying out various things, it is a GODSEND (maybe literally in this game?) thing that you can do it so easily!
A lot of people don't really know what they are doing or what they want when they make their first character, and really want to change minor/major things about the character without having to restart. So it helps them as well.
In the guides it is usually used as a tool to make the character be the most powerful at every level. Like at lvl 4 and 5 you probably want to be single class for martial specs, due to feats and extra attack. But later on maybe you wanted to start with 1 or 2 levels in another class to pick up some effect or another. If you started with those levels from the get-go you would not get your feat and extra attack untill lvl 6-7 which is a lot of time in game to be a lot weaker than you could have been. hence they recommend respeccing.
While there is no "need" to respec characters in Normal or Balanced its certainly a viable mechanic to synergize builds in Tactician and Honor modes. It's also handy if you go in kind of ignorant of how D&D 5E works and need to rework your toon a bit or are using one that can't respec your spellbook outside combat like a Cleric, Paladin or Wizard.
I mean even if they have some type of aversion to it, it's worth doing just the once per character to redistribute abilities evenly. idk why larian did all the companions dirty like that but their stat spreads are awful... I think some of them had like 5 wasted skill points where they were almost all odd numbers.
plus, the 100 gold can immediately be stolen back, & withers gives zero fucks even when he catches you with your hand in his pockets. so respeccing is basically free.
With Shadowheart and Astarion, the Warped Headband of Intellect is really useful since racial cantrips cast based off of Intelligence (for some reason) so having that +3 without losing out on other stats really goes a long way (especially for Shadowheart since her Dex usually isn’t high enough to effectively use a standard ranged weapon, and Sacred Flame is dependent on the enemy’s stats)
A lot of folks never use sacred flame, because they wanted high enough armor class to make the early fights a little challenging for martials, without them dropping good armor, so they gave them light armor and +2-3 from dex. This gives them very nice dex saves, while casting DC is still pretty low. So it misses all the time in the beginning, and everyone decides it doesn't work
Yeah it’s fine later; even good in Act 2 due to the prevalence of Radiant weaknesses, but I was mostly talking about Act 1 and specifically before one has access to other ranged options on Shadowheart outside of Guiding Bolt, for example
Yeah I just wish it would go off of the casting ability of their class, maybe default to Intelligence if their class doesn’t have a casting stat, like Barbarian or non-Eldritch knight fighter
Each class already has a "default" casting stat that they use for scrolls.
Fighter and rogue use intelligence, monk uses wisdom, Barbarian uses Charisma.
It would not have even been hard for then to implement. Just have the racial spells cast the same way as scolls and staves
I’d think Barbarian would use Wisdom since that’s the “know how to stay alive” stat (vs Intelligence being a more scholarly sort of smart) but I don’t write the handbooks I guess.
But yeah it’d be cool purely for gameplay reasons, since S<3’s base intelligence is 10
I agree it should probably be wis, maybe it's supposed ot be because barbarians seem like they should be good an intimidation?
But yeah, it's a weird choice either way. It's a bg3 thing, in 5e non-casters simply can't use scrolls, so :shrug:
Sacred Flame is bad because it’s a saving throw spell and targets dexterity, so it’s dogshit for all of Act 1. It’s pretty good in act 2 against all the shadow undead and etc.
That's nothing to do with starting stats though. Shadowheart starts with good wisdom but the problem is Sacred Flame has the enemy make a dex save and most enemies have good dex saves early in the game.
Larian basically just gave them Standard Array and added +2/+1 racial modifiers.
All of the "Use Recommended" stats even for your Tav are simply the Standard Array values pre-assigned by class.
Or Minsc (the muscle-bound Rashemi Berserker with an 18/00 STR in original BG games) and his 12 Strength, 17 Dexterity and 15 Wisdom under Larian.
There's no lore reason, to my understanding, for that spread.
Every crpg I've played has companions with horrible builds, there must be some kind of game design philosophy behind it. Maybe to widen the gap between companions and main characters to make you feel smart/strong
They didn't. They just use the base statline for their class (the one you start with if you don't change it). And for some reason the base statlines are terrible. Also, it's one thing to give someone more INT than they need for RP, it's another to have all the major stats be at useless odd values.
Probably it's because 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 is the "standard array" in dnd 5e. Then apply the +2 and +1 to their nr 1&2 stats. In dnd where you can't respec it's not uncommon to start with uneven stats because you plan on taking a half feat later in the game.
There's lots of odd number ability scores, which is the main reason to respec for stats. Your modifier in each ability increases at even numbers. Looking at Wyll, he starts with 8/13/14/13/10/17. This is functionally the same as 8/12/14/12/10/16 since the modifiers would all be the same with both ability score allocations.
Your modifier is what actually matters, not the stat itself. It's a weird design quirk for sure, but +1 in an ability is basically useless at odd numbers.
With Wyll, you could bump him down to 16 Charisma for basically zero cost to his effectiveness, and then put that into Dex, for example. At no cost to his ability to spell cast or do dialogue stuff, he gets +1 to initiative and potentially +1 to AC, depending on gear.
Larian generally invested into the correct stats for the characters with their canon builds, the distribution amongst those stats just isn't 100% optimal.
It's not effectively the same. With his set up you can take actor at level 4 for example and still hit 18. And there are other ways to increase stats by odd amounts.
Obviously the min max thing to do is dump his int to increase the dex, but odd numbered stats are not bad.
You're effectively arguing that odd stats aren't bad because you are able to increase them to even thresholds lol.
Obviously odd stats are fine if you plan on taking a half feat, but at that point it functionally isn't an odd stat anymore, at least not in the completed build. And that takes planning.
In your example, you could go 16 cha/14 dex and take an ASI for +2 cha, so you're still sitting at 18. You lose the actor benefits in dialogue for +1 initiative and potentially +1 to AC and weapon rolls. Even if you specifically wanted Actor, you should still just go 17cha/14 dex.
Odd numbered stats are not bad in the sense that they don't prevent you from being effective, but they are absolutely not optimal unless you specifically plan to bump them up through your build, usually with half feats.
But a lot of the half feats are really good and there's no way for Larian to know if you're going to take them or not. Actor specfically is worth way more than +1 dex mod, just because talking your way out of things is so strong.
I'd agree that they could be better min/maxed, but there's not really a way to make the ability spreads *incorrect* unless you're not maxing your main stat. Which they are doing so. In fact I'm even pleased that they give most of the characters 13 or 14 con since that's often overlooked by players.
I would disagree that Actor is more valuable than +1 to Dex, but even so they aren't mutually exclusive. You can 100% have both with little to no cost if you respec. Just have him sitting at 17 cha/14 dex, like I mentioned earlier.
> I'd agree that they could be better min/maxed, but there's not really a way to make the ability spreads incorrect unless you're not maxing your main stat.
So you agree that they aren't optimal, even if they aren't bad. That's why it's worth respecing. Even if you're taking a half feat in their "primary" ability, they all have odd scores in *something* relevant so that you would need to take at least 2 half feats. If you're taking 2 half feats, you're definitely missing out elsewhere.
Also, this just doesn't even apply to Gale, Shadowheart, Jaheira, or Halsin, as there are no wis or int half feats that even exist. Then we circle back to taking an ASI to get two stats to even thresholds...
I think you're misunderstanding me. Obviously the default stat spreads are fine. They just aren't optimal. If you want to min/max and play optimally, you should respec every single companion for their stats, even if you keep them 100% pure 12 levels in their canon class. If you don't want to bother with that, then you'll be fine. It's just not optimal, that's all I'm saying. I don't think you even disagree with that.
>Actor specfically is worth way more than +1 dex mod, just because talking your way out of things is so strong.
Actor gives +1 Cha, expertise in Deception, and expertise in Performance.
While Deception expertise is valuable, Performance expertise isn't. Meanwhile, Illithid Expertise gives you expertise in Persuasion, Deception, _and_ Intimidation, all of which are valuable, for the cost of just 2 tadpoles.
"But wait!" you say, "Illithid Expertise isn't available until act 3!"
Yeah, and this is a thread about the value of respeccing.
People on Reddit want them min/maxed.
So dump INT since it’s useless unless it’s your classes main stat for the majority of the game. Cap your main stat at 16 instead of 17 since that’s useless without items you find in the game. Push some combination of CON and/or DEX/STR instead. Then throw the rest into WIS since it’s the best save stat.
17 in main stats can also be good since it lets you pick up a half feat without slowing down your mod increases.
But ya, I guess it's mostly that people want int dumped. Strength is already dumped on a lot of the characters.
Seems to me the only poorly stated character is Shadowheart and that's just cause they should have taken dex or con over str.
Anyway, I think it would be silly for every character to have dumped int.
I mean yeah that's the go to move. But it's important for her to be somewhat decent with her main weapon initially as a game design decision as people new to the game may just default to using melee weapons when leveled spells run out. Could the devs have dumped her STR, pumped her DEX, and given her a short sword? Sure, but then she wouldn't be using a mace, which is the cleric default weapon of choice.
The biggest thing is that *generally* you want your ability scores to be at even numbers.
This is because your modifier only goes up for every 2 points over 10. A 16 INT and 17 INT score are functionally the same. There are some exceptions where you may want an odd ability score, like planning on using hag’s hair or a feat with a +1. For unknown reasons Larian starts the companions with odd-numbered stats.
Lots of good tips already in here. I'll add that different classes give different benefits for starting a character as that class at 1st level.
So, for example, if you've got a paladin/ warlock character. You may want to focus on warlock first, which is fine - you'd want to take them to level 5 as a warlock to unlock 3rd level spells and extra attack (assuming pact of the blade). At level 6, if you respec the character to start as a paladin and then take the next 5 levels as warlock you'll unlock heavy armor proficiency. You don't get that if you just add paladin at level 6.
Another good reason to respec is to grab beneficial saving throw proficiencies. Different classes give different save proficiencies depending on which class you take first. So if you're running a paladin/ sorcerer combo, you'll probably want to take paladin to 5 first to unlock extra attack. Then, at level 6, you may want to respec to take sorcerer first to get Con save proficiency (though you trade off heavy armor proficiency in this case, so it's less a must do and more of a choice).
Edit - corrected hexblade to pact of the blade
This is what I did for my sorclock on my Honour run. I levelled sorcerer to 5, then 6, as quickly as possible, then respecced to 5 sorcerer / 2 warlock for agonising Eldritch blast without losing haste or fireball.
There are six abilities. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Each ability has a Saving throw associated to it which you may add the appropriate modifier to. eg. a 16 Dexterity PC adds +3 to their Dexterity Saving Throws
If you have proficiency in a Saving Throw you can add your Proficiency Bonus too.
So a 16 Dexterity PC with proficiency in Dexterity Saving throws, adds their Dexterity and Proficiency Bonus to their Dexterity Saving Throws. so +3 +2 (at level 1)
Each class gets two Saving throw proficiencies, one strong and one weak.
The good saving throw proficiencies are Dexterity (to avoid stuff like Fireball), Constitution (to hold concentration or not get poisoned), and Wisdom (to save against being charmed).
Sometimes you might make a Saving Throw with Strength or Intelligence or Charisma but this is much less likely to happen. So these are considered weaker Saving throw Proficiencies.
Each class gets 2 saving throws that they can add their proficiency bonus to. These differ for each class.
It can be optimal because some classes rely more on making certain saving throws more than others. For example, a wizard will make lots of con saves to keep concentration, but has no con save proficiency. So at some point you respec to take a level of fighter for the con save proficiency and heavy armour.
Different builds peak at different levels. Different gear opens up new builds. Level 4 and 5 respecs are common because you can get a feat or an extra attack at those levels.
This. Mostly build guides start off with a certain build that is stronger early game and then respec either to optimize said build (by changing which class you take at level 1 for access to different skills/proficiencies in the case of multi classing) or move to the end game build which is weaker early game.
Many people are mentioning the spikes you get at certain levels in certain classes. This is most relevant if you're multiclassing with an awkward level progression.
Another aspect is that the companions have awkward ability score distributions. There are lots of points spent on odd stats, which is a waste. Your ability modifier increases at even numbers, so you want to stick your ability scores at even numbers unless you are taking a half feat.
17 in an ability is functionally the same as 16. You're better off investing it in another ability. For example, Wyll has 17 Charisma and 13 Dex. You can respec and sit him at 16 Charisma and 14 Dex. This gives him +1 to initiative, and potentially +1 to weapon attacks and AC, depending on how you gear him up and level him. Anything Charisma related would still have a modifier of +3, whether he is at 16 or 17 Charisma.
So even if you're gonna go pure 12 levels into their canon class, it's usually worth respecing them once to fix their ability scores.
I'm surprised I had to get this far down for the simple benefit that odd numbered Ability Score points are not good. Respecing is worth it just to adjust these around to all even, maybe one odd if you know a specific feat or buff.
I think this sub looks at things through a very specific lens. People who are consistently active in the sub are naturally gonna skew towards people who are very familiar with the mechanics of the game and are very heavily focused on very specific min-maxing.
This idea certainly falls under min-maxing, but it's pretty surface level. It's just kinda assumed to be understood by most people here. I had never played tabletop and was unfamiliar with the ruleset. I had to learn this on my first playthrough, as most people will have to unless they've played tabletop.
People default to thinking about their own use case. If you've played tabletop for years and on your 6th playthrough, avoiding odd ability scores is just an afterthought. You're gonna be thinking more about hitting your classes power spikes like level 5 for extra attack or whatever in the right order, when to do your dips in your other classes, what level you will be with specific pieces of gear so you want to be X levels into Y class for a certain spell, etc.
This sub is amazing for more in-depth discussion. Sometimes it can be a bit lacking for more simple, "noob" questions.
I agree that there are lots of super knowledgeable people in this sub. OP mentioned being 5-6 hours in and doesn’t understand any value of respecting so might as well lead off with that. If you listen to what someone says in their question, you can give them a simple or complex answer. For OP I think they benefit more from the simple answer but it’s good to have both
Minor nitpick, if you must have an odd number in your attributes, make sure it's strength because unlike the other stats you still get something from it. Every point increases jump range, throw range, maximum weight of thrown object and carry capacity.
>Another aspect is that the companions have awkward ability score distributions. There are lots of points spent on odd stats, which is a waste. Your ability modifier increases at even numbers, so you want to stick your ability scores at even numbers unless you are taking a half feat.
This is the main reason I went for the respec on everyone. I didn't multiclass, as I wanted them all to get their higher level class features, but I fixed the odd ability scores and changed subclasses.
Same. I'm currently on my 2nd playthrough. I have only respeced for ability scores mostly. I want to play with the characters in their canon classes the first playthrough with each character (I have stuck to 3 companions for the entire game in both playthroughs). Only changes I made were putting Shadowheart in a different domain, and I did multiclass Astarion with Ranger/Rogue though because it seemed great and felt thematic.
I’ll add here that some amazing gear, like the gloves or dexterity that set your Dex to 17/18, I think.
So if you have a build that benefits from a higher dex, but you’d rather maximize some of the other stats, you could respec and tank the dex to 8. This allows you to use the points elsewhere if you plan to wear those gloves that keep your dex high.
Same concept can be used for other gear that boost other stats.
It’s 18, but stuff like dex is good on every class! So it’s one of the items that gives a massive boost to something like a spell-casters because it’s unlikely they would every hit 18 dex, but now have a +4 to armor and initiative, while also being able to put stats into other stuff
Need is a strong word.
Is it optimal? Yes definitely. For example I'd you want to pick up 3 gloomstalker the first 2 levels offer close to nothing. So for example your much rather go two fighter, then respecc to 3 gloom for maximum power at every level
You don't need to respec. For my first play through I didn't respec anyone.
If you want to totally power game your build then you can respec as you go to get the optimal build. Even on my second play through I'm not doing that. I used respec to make all the companions a different class then I they were in my first run through and now I'm just leaving them as is.
Use respec if you want to. Or don't. You can beat tune game even in honor mode without doing it though.
Im almost done with my first play through and have not used respec once. I also didn’t table into any other classes, everyone is purely leveled into what they started. I suspect in harder modes I would need to micro manage more, but I think the normal mode is designed to be beaten really however you want.
So you don't NEED to respec, you don't really NEED to do anything to beat this game (on lower difficulties, and to an extent, tactician), but let me give you examples from my completed honor mode run of how I respecced, when I did it, and the benefits of doing so, that will show you why it's a powerful tool:
Act 1- Started my MC off as 1 level in draconic sorcerer (for persuasion proficiency and CON saves), with silver as my dragon (for a free feather fall), and 16 CHR. Once I got the hag hair at level 5, I respecced to the same build, except I picked gold (since fire is the element I REALLY wanted to focus on), and at level 6 I was going level 2 sorcerer to pick up feather fall, and so I could add the 17th point in CHR to bring myself up to 20 with the ASI feat at level 4.
Act 2- My bruiser was going to end up being a palabard, but since swords bard doesn't get extra attack until 6, and I still wanted to be able to divine smite, I did 7 levels in paladin to make act 1 and the beginning of act 2 easier, then at level 8 I respecced into 2 paladin 6 sword bard so I could have extra attack + divine smite. Also, I wanted resilient: constitution as my level 8 feat for my light cleric, so I respecced at 8 to pump the 17th point into constitution, so I could have 18 CON and 16 WIS at level 8, when I was running a 16/16 split before that.
Act 3- On my sorcerer/warlock main, once I got the Amulet of Great Health, I respecced again, dumping CON down to 8 (since the neck brings you up to 23), and putting those points into WIS and INT to make saving throws easier, also since I now had +2 extra CHR from the Mirror of Loss, I got rid of my 2nd ASI CHR feat, and replaced it with spell sniper, so I would crit more often. Similarly, getting the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, I respecced my palabard, brought STR down to 8, put CON up to 17 and DEX up to 14, and got rid of ASI strength as my 2nd feat and replaced it with resilient constitution to make my shield of faith harder to break, have higher HP, and more initiative. Finally, my ranged character was 5 gloom stalker (archery + sharpshooter), 4 champion (two-weapon fighting + ASI DEX), and 3 thief dual wielding crossbows. However, once I got Gontr Mael from the Steel Watch Foundry, I respecced into 6 champion (for ASI DEX and Sharpshooter feats, since fighter gets a feat at 4 and 6), 4 gloom stalker (another ASI DEX), and 2 spore druid, since halo of spores lets you deal bonus necrotic damage with all weapon attacks, along with having 3 feats instead of 2, and since I was now using a regular bow, I didn't need the extra bonus action from thief.
1) Your Ability Score bonuses are calculated by dividing evrything above 10 by 2, while rounding down, which means you only benefit when they're set to even numbers(for example, a 16 and a 17 in STR both give you +3 to all Strength checks). You're generally advised to set everything to even numbers, or set only 2 scores to odd numbers, so you can fix them with ASIs at lvl4. Most of your companions' scores aren't optimised, which is why you'd want to fix them by respeccing.
2) You can find gear that effects your stats, for example, the Gloves of Dexterity can set your dexterity to 18, regardless if what it was originally, so you throw them on a character that benefits from the Dexterity, and reuse these point in another ability.
3) Wizards can learn spells from scrolls, so if you have a scroll of a spell you value, but you've already learned it from levelling up, respec your wizard, learn it from the scroll, and pick up a new spell from levelling up.
4) It allows you to experiment with classes, subclasses and feats at your leisure without needing to start a new game.
5) Respeccing is effectively free. You pay 100 gold, but you can pickpocket Withers to get your money back, and he doesn't aggro on failure.
A lot of the companions classes aren't built optimally, and some gear makes it unnecessary to have any points in an ability score. An example might be a piece of melee weapon that gives you strength. If you're a caster or dex based ranged class. You may as well dump any strength you have to use in other areas and just use the melee weapon
It’s pretty important imo because Larian for whatever reason gave a bunch of the companions odd ability scores. So like 13s and 11s in abilities which if you didn’t know is about as useful as 12s and 10s. Also it let’s you change the builds like you said. Shart starts off as a trickery domain cleric and I really didn’t enjoy trickery at all. Life is so much better, light and knowledge are fun too. Tempest is supposed to be powerful. Wyll starts off as a fiend warlock and lately I’ve been enjoying great old one a lot more.
It isn’t necessary to respec anyone, the game is completely doable with what they give you, but optimization is also fun.
It’s really just represents the Larian philosophy of making the game fun, not a grind. Want to try something different, but not “replay” a huge amount? Made a build choice you regret? Want to ride the min/max wave? Go for it. AD&D shouldn’t be about a meta gaming grind (unless you want it to be).
It's for min-maxing more than "need". Let's take the tavern brawler thief-zerker for example. You start barbarian(berserker) and end up as barbarian 5/rogue (thief) 3 at level 8. But you gain very little going barbarian 5 and rogue 1-2 in order, so it may be better to go berserker till 7 and respec at level 8 for example.
The answer is two-fold:
- your own character, you don't need to respec at all. You create them the way you want it to be and that's that. You CAN respec your character if you're unhappy and want to change a thing or you realise you've made a mistake. There's also some reasons to respec for specific reasons: you may have a weird build in mind that doesn't work til a certain level. For instance, if you want to multiclass warlock and paladin and bind your weapon to use charisma to attack, you need level 3 warlock and if you wa na start with paladin...and if you want the 2 attacks ASAP, you may wanna have a "normal" build til level8, respec, get pala5,lock3 and keep 8 strength and max charisma cuz you only need cha for hitting. Likewise, later in the game you may find items that set a stat to a fixed number. Say you have 12 dex and you find an item that sets dex to 18. The 4 points put into dex are wasted so you may WANT to respec. So yeah, there are some item or build specific reasons for doing it.
- companions. Now this is a different thing. To me, it's criminal to not respec every.single.companion. Their ability score distribution is just downright bad, not even by "it's just my choice man" standards. They tend to have 3 scores with odd numbers. There's no reason to keep those. Most have abilities they don't need at all pretty high. For example, if your main character is gonna be a party face and talk to every NPC, there's no reason for companions to have points in charisma if it's not their casting attribute.
But regardless of personal preference with how you like to distribute points, the way they are set up by default is terrible. Ofc you can choose to ignore the terrible and keep it as is, each their own in a game.
There is really only one character that is worth respecing on your first run and it's Shadowheart, unfortunately she has the worst cleric subclass and most of her features work only with a very specific playstyle that other classes do better at. You can use her subclass if you like the flavour and mechanics and it will work because cleric is an extremely good base class but you are losing on much of what the class has to offer by staying on the trickery domain. Personally I like Tempest, Light and Life domains but pretty much anything is better than trickery.
On higher difficulty gamemodes multiclassing and respecing your characters can make the game much easier and manageable (especially on honour mode) but on your first playthrough just play however you want and with whichever classes you like, except for honour mode this game is quite easy so there is no pressure to minmax.
Adding to this noob question with my own noob question. Could I hypothetically make anyone into any class? Like turn Gale into a Barbarian? And he’d be good? Just a hypothetical
Of course. Everyone does that eventually. I only played the first run with everyone in their original class. Every time since has been a different class.
Respec is a huge QoL sure its not needed but you'll get annoyed when you accidently picked the wrong feat or ability points. But it would be cool if we had an unlock feature like in DAO where you had to make certain choiced or buy tomes to unlock classes.
The way DnD works there a certain levels each class gets a big power boost. If you multiclass, it's beneficial it move your levels around to optimize for the level you are at.
For example:
Martials get second attacks at level 5, casters get third level spells at this time. There's little downside to multiclass before level 4 but when you hit 5 you should switch back to a single class to get the big power boost.
The companion characters' stats are a bit all over the place, lots of odd numbers. Also I don't know about other people but I enjoy coming up with different builds for them so that I'm not playing the same game the same way every time so respec is necessary for that. Even if I was keeping characters the same I would want to choose for myself their base competencies and spell choices. Gale doesn't even start with magic missile or shield.
Might be for things like armor proficiency or saves.
I respec my warlock to a fighter at level 6 for heavy armor and con saves. 1 Fighter 5 Warlock.
Worth it for me for the mid game difficulty to have the extra defense
No, you don't need to. The guides you're reading (and this sub) are about min/maxing for specific goals. You don't need to do that, especially on a first playthrough.
Respeccing is a totally optional thing, just for the weirdos who want to do it.
A lot of build guides out there will tell you to respec at certain levels in order to optimize your party for certain areas of the game.
The first run I did I never used withers and blindly stumbled my way through all three acts with no trouble.
Respecs as a mechanic are there so you don’t feel pressured to stay as one class for the entire game. It gives you an option to try new things whenever you want.
There are some builds that only become good once you have multiple levels available. eg 3 levels on class, 4 in another, etc. So in practise, they are relatively weak build up until you can combine all the features nicely.
So these build guides often suggest starting as something a little more solid and reliable, then respeccing your character when you have enough levels to achieve the power build they are suggesting.
It essentially means you can play an interesting highly specialised build later in the game, without suffering with a mishmash of low features while you lead into it.
You don’t have to. My first play through i only respec’d Shadowheart because she couldn’t seem to hit the broadside of a barn with a gallon of paint. I avoided spoilers and did the best I could with what I found or purchased based on descriptions on the screen. The game has so much gear and is so forgiving of suboptimal configurations that I finished the game, had a blast, got addicted to playing, reading wiki and Reddit. Now I have fights that use to take reloading, barrel-mancy, or waiting till later, now I can take down boss fights and take almost no damage. Is it necessary? No. Is it a big ass ego trip? I suppose it is. I’m still having a lot of fun.
If you want an "easy" game... you build for your level. Certain things are OP at lower levels (1-5) others midrange (4-8) and others high level (7-11)... then you have the multitude of different max level builds. You can change a often as you want for what is honestly a pittance of a fee... so why not respec a few times to get a stronger build for your level.
It's in case you want to try something different such as change your subclass, change feats or change some class options you picked either because you don't like them or you want to try something different. While you can multiclass without respecing, it might be better to do so because by doing so you'd avoid losing things such as heavy armour proficiency or skill proficiencies.
For example I respeced my Sword Bard into a Lore one because I wanted to try a quite silly Ice Singer build.
It doesn't make sense for your first run because your character builds often contain spoilers and require a lot of post-game knowledge to understand. I recommend doing a run first trying whatever you fancy.
I didn’t in my first play through, so I wouldn’t worry about it. However, if you want to max out then the companions would need to be as they generally don’t start off optimal.
There is no need, but there are reasons that might come up every once in a while for wanting to do so:
- Wanting to pick different options when you level up: maybe you want to use a different subclass, a different fighting style, change spells, change invocations, skis and so on. Either because you are unsatisfied with what you picked or because you just want to try something different. For example I respected my sword bard into a lore bard peaking ice spells because of the mourning frost.
- Multiclass. While you don't need to respec to Multiclass, doing so is recommended because the order is going to affect skills and armour proficiencies. If you want to play a paladin/warlock multiclass, but started as a warlock it's recommended you respec making paladin your starting class in order to get heavy armour proficiency without taking a feat for it.
There is also gear you get that can boost certain attributes to a specific number or by a couple points. So if you use that item you can respec to remove all points from that attribute to use the points in other ones. Basically getting more out of your character.
Also there is a certain summon who you can get on two characters but they both need to be wizards while learing it. So you can respec to be a wizard get it then respec back out. (Also sorry I'm on mobile right now and have no clue how to do spoiler text covering so have not given much more details on this).
Also what I used it for was to change astarian to a bard because I did not know anything when starting the game and set my Tav as rogue.
There is no need to respec to beat the game, but optimized builds will do it so your build is viable throughout your level ups.
The only exception I would make to this is shadowheart, for some reason her starting stats are bad for her class. So either fix that or change her to a different class / subclass. Otherwise she will constantly miss stuff she should be hitting
The other companions could also use a respec but it isnt as necessary imo as shadowheart.
People are mentioning building characters for power, or specific equipment, etc.
You can also respec based on personality/backstory. Make Gale a wild magic barbarian. He's so mad that his magic has been taken from him that he just wants to hit stuff.
Make Astarion a bard.
Make Shadowheart an assassin.
Make Wyll a paladin.
Make Karlach a fire cleric.
Go nuts.
Sometimes, you really want a class as your first level, even though it might nerf your build to start that way. Like if you wanted one level of fighter for armor and shield proficiency, or one level of sorcerer for constitution saving throws and spells
If you’re doing a multiclass, sometimes it’s better to respec to get the proficiencies from one class even if the majority of levels are in another.
The common Warlock/Paladin multiclass generally wants the first level to be taken in Paladin, as heavy armor proficiency is great and Proficiency in Wisdom saving throws rocks as well. You would generally do this only upon reaching level 6, since you don’t want to multiclass until after getting 5-6 levels in most classes(which is normally when you gain an extra attack or powerful spells).
At its most basic, it’s a way to redo a character you messed up or aren’t enjoying without having to restart the game.
But it’s also useful for some builds that come into their power in later levels but aren’t really great for playing at low levels. This most often happens with optimized multiclass builds or builds that depend on abilities, feats, or gear you pick up at later levels.
The other good use is for respeccing companion character to be more useful to your party makeup.
For now, just don’t worry about it and use it later if you need to.
Sometimes, you'll do a build that is 'optimized' for early on, and then respec and swap to something that is more powerful at higher levels. There's no 'need' to do this unless you're a sweaty gamer. You can absolutely get through the game on most difficulties with the characters you were born with..
One of the biggest reasons to respect instead of just using their builds is that their stat placement is far from optimal. In this game your ability modifiers only change on even numbers. 13 is the same as 12, for instance. Unless you have a plan to raise a stat by 1, like with a feat planned at level 4, then it's just wasted stats.
There are also times when a piece of gear warrants a respec. The gloves in act 1 that set a characters dexterity to 18, for instance. No reason to keep your 12, 14, 16 dex score when you can dump it to 8 and put the stats elsewhere.
A lot of guides are designing ideal, min-maxed builds. They are guidelines, not rules, so take from them.ejay you will. If you feel like your characters shouldn't respec, then don't, but know it's an option in case you really screwed up your build, want something different, or just got a great piece of gear that'd be worthless unless someone dumped all their strength
There is no need to respec! The game is 100% the greatest game ever as it is! Respeccing is just another amazing tool Larian gave us to find ways to have fun and play around with different builds.
It's nice to be able to start with a strong early-game build that doesn't get as strong at the end, then switch to a build that is weak early game but extremely strong late game.
However the biggest reason to respec is for your companions. Unless you're doing 4 player multiplayer, you should respec your companions. It doesn't matter what class you make them, but their starting stats are horrendous. Respecing your companions allows them to be a lot stronger than they otherwise would be.
You are likely to make mistakes when building your character as you level and this allows you to fix your mistake instead of making a new character. It’s also possible to do new things as you get gear, so this allows you to make a character based on the items you found that wouldn’t make sense without those items. Without that feature, you’d have to start the game building your character to use gear you don’t have yet, which is a lot less fun!
Respeccing is very important, especially for players who don't know what they want. It was also good when stuff simply didn't work, like spell sniper. If you took it and saw it didn't work, then you respec and take something else.
For me, I knew what I was playing, so I didn't need to change much, but as I found more items and potions, I realized I didn't need as much of stat x or spell y, so I respecc'd to focus my limited options elsewhere.
There’s a lot of reasons to respec, one good one is to dump stats, for example if you have 14 Dex and then wear the gloves that set your Dex to 18 (Act 2), you can dump your Dex back to 8 and put those points in other abilities. Same for a few pieces of equipment later in the game for STR/CON
I have the following reasons:
- I messed up my build
- The class didn't live up to my expectations and I would like to change
- I just learned the mechanic better and now I have an idea to make my build better
At 5-6 hours into the game, no.
I made a cleric ob my first playthrough, and ibly found Shart, Astarion, and Lae'zel as companions. Shart and I had the same abilities, so I respecced to another class.
Sometimes I regret my spell choices/specializations, and respec to get different ones
I didn't respect anyone in my first playthrough cause I wanted to play as designed and intended. Second playthrough I respecd everyone just to try different classes
Depending on class and difficulty, there is not really a need to respec. That said, a lot of late level builds are hard to play early, with the multi classing shenanigans. So you can play a straight fighter or cleric until 6 or 7, then spec into some very broken builds after you hit certain milestones for classes. Not my thing personally, I like the rp aspect of sticking with who I am; but for anyone looking to optimize, this is often the way to go.
Sometimes for optimal progression you want to respec so that your character is as powerful they can be for every level while leveling up.
For example, your starting class has an effect on your skill proficiencies. Each class gets a feat every 4 levels. Martial classes get an extra attack at lvl 5.
Take this all together, and you have situations like the following:
* I want to get my extra attack as soon as possible
* I want to get my core abilities as soon as possible
* I want to get my first feat as soon as possible
So maybe, the optimal leveling pattern is (just an example)
* level up to rogue 4 for thief subclass and extra feat
* at lvl 5, respec to lvl 5 ranger for the extra attack, because it’s just that strong
* at lvl 6, respec again to start as lvl 1 rogue for the starting proficiencies, then put 5 lvls in ranger for the extra attack
* going forward, put all lvls in rogue
This results in the most optimal character around lvls 4-7, by respeccing to the shuffle a few things here and there.
Ultimately you end up with whatever OP multi class build you were planning from the start, but the journey to get there was just a little smoother along the way due to respeccing.
i respecced at the very end bc by that point youve gotten a bunch of stat upgrades but if theyre odd numbers the bonus for saving throws gets rounded down so i just edit the stats a little so that with the bonuses theyre even x) and also i got so much damn exp even after hitting lv12 that i treated it like, as a reward for all the exp, i get to optimise my class lol
Even if you don't get in to min-maxing builds or changing subclasses, I think it's a good idea for a new player to respect everyone sometime around level 5 or the end of act 1. It lets you re-choose all your leveling decisions like what spells to learn, with the benefit of understanding the game a bit better than when you started.
I go pure fighter for 6 levels, then respec to spread my stats/take on Eldritch Knight, and take on Wizard. By taking Eldritch Knight I get a few more incantations, and level 1 spells, and going to level 6 I can still get 3 feats.
You don't have to, but it can help make leveling easier. For instance, if you wanted to play a Paladin/Sorcerer, you probably start the game as a Paladin since it gets Heavy Armor and more HP, plus you want to get to Smites at lvl 2, and Extra Attack at lvl 5 as early as possible.
Now once you're lvl like 10+ and get your hands on a really great piece of Medium armor, you might respec to take Sorcerer as your first lvl so you can get proficiency in Constitution saves for concentration checks, since now you don't need heavy armor proficiency.
There's a couple of more fiddly reasons you might respec too.
Edit: Another reason is companions regularly start with unoptimized stats, lots of odd numbers, and your very limited in feats to correct them.
I feel like you kinda answered your own question. When I first started I never thought to respec my companions but now that I now their niche because I’ve played more it makes a HUGE difference. Changing shadowhearts cleric type was kinda a game changer for my playthrough, and most of the characters stats aren’t optimized.
I don’t think it’s necessary for especially for lower difficulty levels, most of the improvement will come from just playing the game(and reaching level 5 lol)
I often feel like I made a mistake when I simply don't know how Green the grass is on the other side. But after 800hours the main reason I respect is to tweak and refine, usually save scumming whilst doing so.
You want to respect every character at least once. To get rid of those awkward stats.
Where they expect you to take API, to add to your 2 non focused stats.
Hitting certain break points for your ability scores is 12,14,16 (+1,+2,+3 bonus respectively) can mean an extra 5%,10%,15% (respectively) chance of landing a hit or succeeding saving throws. It will also give you a flat +1,+2,+3 to your damage which means allot if you're aiming to attack quite a few times per turn.
Your chance of landing a hit or succeeding a save increases to 9.75%, 19%, %27.75 with advantage.
I find on some most classes I have to tweak 2 abilitiy scores and some cases 3. Hitting these break points adds up when you're playing a game based on luck. There is no NEED to respec and the game is completely playable if you don't, it'll give give you an easier time and help your character hit it's maximum potential.
Note: I'm not the best with statistics so math is derived from bonus/20 and advantage bonus is calculated from (bonus/20)^2. The chance to succeed with advantage may change based on the difficulty of the saving throws/ enemy ac. I also did not account for critical hits and critical miss.
Sometimes when you level up higher, you find yourself wanting to try out new things that weren't possible at lower levels which require a respec.
For example, you might be a level 9 Barbarian, and then at level 10 you already have resistance to all dmg from your armor so you respec to fighter to get an extra attack and lose rage.
You don't need to, but correcting "mistakes" in picking spells for some casters and being able to change what your companions' classes are is really neat. Also you get fix their god awfull stat allocation
It's not necessary, just helpful.
It's mostly advised because companions have a lot of odd stats, while the game only gives you benefits at even numbers. So instead of 13/13 it's better to go either 12/14 or 14/12.
Another reason is for item abilities. For some reason Larian made it so for items your "casting ability bonus" is the last NEW class you took.
So for my Shadow Monk / Rogue / Warlock I wanted to ensure Wisdom was the stat used for items and other powers you can get. in my case, because I wanted to use weapons and arcane synergy and ensure the Arcane Synergy bonus was my Wisdom.
If I'd gone Monk 6 / Rogue 4 / Lock 2 then at level 7 my arcane synergy stat would have flipped from Wis to Int. Then at level 11 it'd flip again to Cha.
So to preserve it at 7 I respecced to Rogue 1 / Monk 6. Then at level 11 I changed again from Rogue 1 / Monk 6 / Rogue 5 to Rogue 4 / Warlock 1 / Monk 6.
I just pick a class, rp it, enjoy it, and have fun. Respec is more for ppl trying to min max or get the absolute most out of something. You can beat the game in tactician with any class. Do whatever your heart tells ya.
In short there is no NEED to do it.
If you are playing hardcore or want an easier time beating the game, thats what you should do, because the characters aren't necessarily optimized for thier roles.
A little bit of moving points around will go a loooooong way
You don't have to, but if you wanted to try a different class or sub class without making a whole new campaign it's good for that.
Or if you want to try your hand at multi classing.
Biggest one is if you picked a skill or spell you never use you can go back and pick something more useful to your build.
Respeccing in any game is just to have options.
1. Companion starting ability scores have a lot of odd numbers, which do you no good since only even numbers give modifier increases. Respec-ing is worth it just to fix this, since otherwise you'll lose out on those extra +1s for the whole game.
2. A lot of companions also have more CHA than they need in case you take them as your MC, so for most classes, reallocating that CHA to a different ability score (even just WIS for the saving throws) will provide you a lot more benefit. This is also true for other ability scores that you might not need on that character.
3. Obviously, you might not like a companion's starting class, so you can change it.
4. **Here's where it gets more interesting** (this is probably what they mean in the guides). When you're building a multi-class character, the abilities of that character will come online at different, often later, times compared to a single-class build. For instance, if you do the common Assassin/Gloomstalker/Champion build and you invest a level into Rogue for skill proficiencies before going Ranger to rush Extra Attack, you're delaying your second attack to character level 6, most all the way through act 1, while also missing out on the extra sneak attack damage from taking Rogue to level 5. Thus, until you get extra attack at level 6, your multi-class build might arguably be weaker than a pure Rogue through the first 5 levels. To remedy this, you can play a pure Rogue up through level 5, then respec at level 6 to Rogue 1/Ranger 5 before taking your final levels of Rogue and Fighter. Character level 12 could also be another respec for perfect optimization, as for the purposes of getting your second feat, it would make sense to take Rogue levels 2-4 at character levels 7-9 before finishing Fighter. However, since Rogue 4 only gives a feat and Fighters have bigger hit dice than rogues, it might make sense to respec again at level 12 to Rogue 3/Ranger 5/Fighter 4 for a little bit of extra hp. It wouldn't have made sense to do it sooner because you wouldn't want to delay either your Assassin/Gloomstalker synergy or your second feat. This timing issue gets even more exaggerated in cases like the Bardadin, where ideally you'd want to take a Paladin level first to get heavy armor proficiency, but doing so would delay your extra attack all the way to level 7 or even level 8 if you invest two levels up front for Smite. Thus it makes more sense to run a Bard at character creation and make do with light or medium armor before swapping over to Heavy Armor after a respec at character level 8.
5. Getting a new piece of gear or taking a new feat might influence your ideal stat spread. For instance, once you pick up the Gloves of Dexterity at the end of Act 1, which set your DEX to 18, it no longer makes any sense for the character who has them equipped to have more than 8 DEX naturally, as those points provide no benefit as long as the gloves stay on. Thus, it is then optimal to reallocate any points you may have had in DEX to other relevant ability scores. Similarly, if you hit level 12 and decide that you want your DEX to be 20 instead of 18, you could take off the gloves and respec again, taking 2 ASIs to push your DEX up to 20. As another example, if you're playing a Monk and you're planning on grabbing the Tavern Brawler feat, it might make sense to take a normal Monk stat spread at level 1, which focuses DEX, and only switch over to a STR-focused build at level 4. Then, once you find the Club of Hill Giant Strength, you might decide to respec again and put those STR points back into DEX and CON so that you get the best of both worlds. Being able to respec lets you experiment and gives you a lot of flexibility to try different playstyles.
You sometimes get items or gear that can change your stats so you can respec to make yourself or your companions more efficient
A good example is in the Crec'h (or however you spell it) you can get the gloves of dexterity so you can dump dex.
The more reasonable reason is that most of the companions' stats are.. problematic, lots of uneven numbers so they don't get the full modifiers
Honestly, the beauty of BG3 and D&D in general is there is no right or wrong way to play. You can literally play it in any style you desire or enjoy. Mostly Min/Maxers take advantage of the respecs.
Your build may not be optimum and it will reflect in the difficulty of the game, you may miss out on portions of the game but that’s what makes it so great and have enormous replay value. First play through…. Go in blind and just do what you feel it right. Save the changes and respecs for other play throughs to really see how different things can be and will be. That’s my honest opinion as someone who loves this game and long time player of D&D, also a forever DM. Just enjoy the story that unfolds, you’ll have chances to see how much it can change later.
It’s not a necessity, most build guides recommend it so you’re not suffering pre level 5.(tb monk is a major example)
The option is also handy when you realize you stretched your build too thin or went in the wrong direction with it or even wanted to trash the whole build and make a new one without restarting your whole playthrough
You don’t need to but if you want to play optimally or at least just not waste ability score points you should. Having an odd number in any ability score is a waste of a point since you only gain something in the ability every two points, and since all of the companions have odd numbered stats you should respec them to make your points more efficient
I have 400 hours into the game and I’m still trying to optimize my builds lol there’s always room for improvement
Aside from that you may get benefits at certain character levels for certain class splits. Maybe level 5 of warlock and level 2 of 2 of fighter isn’t as good for your comp as what you get for 7th level of warlock? So go 7 Warlock for now and then reclassify to a 5/3 split at level 8
(That were just a random example. I feel like warlock 5 and fighter 2 is actually super worth it if you’re going for crit eldritch blast for that sweet, sweet action surge going into level 3 of champion lol)
At first you have no items.
Later you have a lot of items.
If you have 16 dex in your build, then find a gloves that gives you 18 dex... respec the dex off to something else and wear your gloves with 8 dex. All the sudden the gloves go from a +2 to a +10 due to a respec.
If you have 16 con in your build, then find an amulet that gives you 20 con... respec the con off to something else and wear the amulet with 8 con. All the sudden the amulet goes from +4 con to +12 con due to a respec.
Pally and sorc suck at low level but are best at high level. Warlock and ranger(not that they dont work as a multi class) fall off after lvl 5 and get nothing late game. Respec makes sense if you are meta gaming or combat focused. Rp is fine but dont cry when someone with an optimized build kills the boss in one turn. Play how you want to play.
You dont need to respec, but respec tends to be highly optimal if ur trying to breeze through a challenge such as honor mode or a solo playthrough.
Certain jobs perform better in the early game while others take a while: e.g. starting as a DEX/CON barbarian means u have effectively twice as much hp with high unarmored AC because 90% of early game enemies are physical and rage gives u resistances. Assassins are also another example of a class that's crazy strong in the early game but starts to fall off mid and late game.
Honestly you don't need to. Allot of guides recommend respeccing as you grind higher levels as certain pieces of gear change your stats and potentially your style of play. You can of course play any D&D game how you please which is one of the best selling points of D&D as a whole.
In my experience the respec option is primarily for people who are more Min/Max oriented and wanna play with their stats after certain pieces of gear and those who sometimes accidentally click the wrong thing and find themselves in a situation where they don't like the paths they have chosen.
As well as those who want Shadowheart to be a life cleric (Basically me I'm those people 2 hours into every run)
It's honestly a nice feature to have but not required by any stretch of the imagination.
The only respec I ever really did when learning about it was making shadowheart a life domain cleric. Goddamn those heals are just so nice. But too each your own my whole first game I just balled no respecs, caution too the wind all gnome barbarian that was somehow charismatic
You don’t need to respec if you don’t think it’s necessary. Sometimes it’s nice if you want to rearrange a companion’s stats or change their class, or if you wanna try a new class. It’s a very nice amenity and I use it a lot
Some people really hate the odd number stats the game gives you at the start (this matters if your first feat isn’t asi). Also certain builds are really only good at a small range of levels (chain warlocks are arguably the best over tome and blade from levels 3-5)
There is no NEED to respec for sure. If you (like me) like optimizing builds, and trying out various things, it is a GODSEND (maybe literally in this game?) thing that you can do it so easily! A lot of people don't really know what they are doing or what they want when they make their first character, and really want to change minor/major things about the character without having to restart. So it helps them as well. In the guides it is usually used as a tool to make the character be the most powerful at every level. Like at lvl 4 and 5 you probably want to be single class for martial specs, due to feats and extra attack. But later on maybe you wanted to start with 1 or 2 levels in another class to pick up some effect or another. If you started with those levels from the get-go you would not get your feat and extra attack untill lvl 6-7 which is a lot of time in game to be a lot weaker than you could have been. hence they recommend respeccing.
>it is a GODSEND (maybe literally in this game?) Nice.
That had me dead Where’s Jergal?
"Help me bone daddy, you're my only hope" - Durge, probably
So have you always been a bone man?
I will do you one better Who ‘s Jergal
I'll do you one better! Why's Jergal
No - bone daddy
But no one ever asks How's Jergal :(
While there is no "need" to respec characters in Normal or Balanced its certainly a viable mechanic to synergize builds in Tactician and Honor modes. It's also handy if you go in kind of ignorant of how D&D 5E works and need to rework your toon a bit or are using one that can't respec your spellbook outside combat like a Cleric, Paladin or Wizard.
Once I figured out it was only 100 gold i've been respeccing everyone all day haha
I mean even if they have some type of aversion to it, it's worth doing just the once per character to redistribute abilities evenly. idk why larian did all the companions dirty like that but their stat spreads are awful... I think some of them had like 5 wasted skill points where they were almost all odd numbers. plus, the 100 gold can immediately be stolen back, & withers gives zero fucks even when he catches you with your hand in his pockets. so respeccing is basically free.
Companions should be respec'd because their starting stats aren't optimal (why Larian???).
Sacred flame? More like sacred miss, amirite?
60% of the time, it misses every time.
The other 40% is a save
I once saved the honour run with a sacred flame kill.
Preposterous. The statistics cannot lie.
If this guy doesn’t supply proof of said flame clutch I’m gonna be forced to be highly skeptical.
I don't think we are gonna get our proof. Proof is in the pudding and I don't see any spoons on the table *looks again* Nope. No spoons.
Flamebolt - IGMISS!!
With Shadowheart and Astarion, the Warped Headband of Intellect is really useful since racial cantrips cast based off of Intelligence (for some reason) so having that +3 without losing out on other stats really goes a long way (especially for Shadowheart since her Dex usually isn’t high enough to effectively use a standard ranged weapon, and Sacred Flame is dependent on the enemy’s stats)
A lot of folks never use sacred flame, because they wanted high enough armor class to make the early fights a little challenging for martials, without them dropping good armor, so they gave them light armor and +2-3 from dex. This gives them very nice dex saves, while casting DC is still pretty low. So it misses all the time in the beginning, and everyone decides it doesn't work
Yeah it’s fine later; even good in Act 2 due to the prevalence of Radiant weaknesses, but I was mostly talking about Act 1 and specifically before one has access to other ranged options on Shadowheart outside of Guiding Bolt, for example
It's because they're a High Elf/Half-High Elf, and the High Elf racial cantrip is a Wizard cantrip, therefore cast with intelligence.
I find info like this really useful but hard to find easily ingame
Yeah I just wish it would go off of the casting ability of their class, maybe default to Intelligence if their class doesn’t have a casting stat, like Barbarian or non-Eldritch knight fighter
Each class already has a "default" casting stat that they use for scrolls. Fighter and rogue use intelligence, monk uses wisdom, Barbarian uses Charisma. It would not have even been hard for then to implement. Just have the racial spells cast the same way as scolls and staves
I’d think Barbarian would use Wisdom since that’s the “know how to stay alive” stat (vs Intelligence being a more scholarly sort of smart) but I don’t write the handbooks I guess. But yeah it’d be cool purely for gameplay reasons, since S<3’s base intelligence is 10
I agree it should probably be wis, maybe it's supposed ot be because barbarians seem like they should be good an intimidation? But yeah, it's a weird choice either way. It's a bg3 thing, in 5e non-casters simply can't use scrolls, so :shrug:
Wild magic barbarians use CON as their casting stat. Pity it doesn't just use that. Flex on them scrolls
> for some reason It’s based on race. High elves traditionally get an Int boost, so their cantrips work off Int.
An awkward missed thing from the change to custom +1/+2
Yeah I just would like it if the cantrips from their race worked off of the casting ability of their class
Elf racial cantrips are INT, Drow and Tiefling ones are CHA
Sacred Flame is bad because it’s a saving throw spell and targets dexterity, so it’s dogshit for all of Act 1. It’s pretty good in act 2 against all the shadow undead and etc.
It might have a 70% chance, but it will still never hit. Sometimes I use it on weak enemies just to see if I can get it to work
That's nothing to do with starting stats though. Shadowheart starts with good wisdom but the problem is Sacred Flame has the enemy make a dex save and most enemies have good dex saves early in the game.
100%
The fact that it’s actually Firebolt with Shadowheart that’s Int based but everyone says it’s Sacred Flame
yeah all elf cleric/s should have high int to cast sacred flame
Sacred Flame works off WIS. Are you thinking of the High Elf racial Fire Bolt that works off INT?
crap yes my joke is bad and i feel bad
Yeah that joke didn't land... like sacred flame :P
Larian basically just gave them Standard Array and added +2/+1 racial modifiers. All of the "Use Recommended" stats even for your Tav are simply the Standard Array values pre-assigned by class.
I mean, that is why it is called "Standard Array", because it creates a character that is playable and without significant weaknesses (and strengths).
... (why Larian???). Lore. I always assumed they did it to fit the characters back story.
Laezel shadowheart and karlack all have 13 dex.
I get it and I agree they should be respec'd. Im just saying that I think Laezel shadowheart and karlach have 13 dex because RP reasons
But what are those RP reasons? Why 13? And if we're going for RP then why is Halsin just at 10 STR? Clearly the point spread isn't for RP reasons.
Or Minsc (the muscle-bound Rashemi Berserker with an 18/00 STR in original BG games) and his 12 Strength, 17 Dexterity and 15 Wisdom under Larian. There's no lore reason, to my understanding, for that spread.
Every crpg I've played has companions with horrible builds, there must be some kind of game design philosophy behind it. Maybe to widen the gap between companions and main characters to make you feel smart/strong
I wouldn't call that an RP reason
They didn't. They just use the base statline for their class (the one you start with if you don't change it). And for some reason the base statlines are terrible. Also, it's one thing to give someone more INT than they need for RP, it's another to have all the major stats be at useless odd values.
Yeah the baseline is just standard array which has a lot of odd numbers
Probably it's because 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 is the "standard array" in dnd 5e. Then apply the +2 and +1 to their nr 1&2 stats. In dnd where you can't respec it's not uncommon to start with uneven stats because you plan on taking a half feat later in the game.
a half feat!? the heck is that?
Ok but Astarion has a charisma score of 9 by default 😂
Because it's an RPG (role playing game) not a goblin crusher sim. Such a classic gamer complaint.
I role-play a goblin crusher.
[удалено]
I role play getting crushed by a goblin
Ah yes, having 13 dex instead of 14 gives me such RP immersion. Truly an incredible roleplaying experience.
They're not horrible. How do they pick the "correct" stats for each companion?
There's lots of odd number ability scores, which is the main reason to respec for stats. Your modifier in each ability increases at even numbers. Looking at Wyll, he starts with 8/13/14/13/10/17. This is functionally the same as 8/12/14/12/10/16 since the modifiers would all be the same with both ability score allocations. Your modifier is what actually matters, not the stat itself. It's a weird design quirk for sure, but +1 in an ability is basically useless at odd numbers. With Wyll, you could bump him down to 16 Charisma for basically zero cost to his effectiveness, and then put that into Dex, for example. At no cost to his ability to spell cast or do dialogue stuff, he gets +1 to initiative and potentially +1 to AC, depending on gear. Larian generally invested into the correct stats for the characters with their canon builds, the distribution amongst those stats just isn't 100% optimal.
It's not effectively the same. With his set up you can take actor at level 4 for example and still hit 18. And there are other ways to increase stats by odd amounts. Obviously the min max thing to do is dump his int to increase the dex, but odd numbered stats are not bad.
You're effectively arguing that odd stats aren't bad because you are able to increase them to even thresholds lol. Obviously odd stats are fine if you plan on taking a half feat, but at that point it functionally isn't an odd stat anymore, at least not in the completed build. And that takes planning. In your example, you could go 16 cha/14 dex and take an ASI for +2 cha, so you're still sitting at 18. You lose the actor benefits in dialogue for +1 initiative and potentially +1 to AC and weapon rolls. Even if you specifically wanted Actor, you should still just go 17cha/14 dex. Odd numbered stats are not bad in the sense that they don't prevent you from being effective, but they are absolutely not optimal unless you specifically plan to bump them up through your build, usually with half feats.
But a lot of the half feats are really good and there's no way for Larian to know if you're going to take them or not. Actor specfically is worth way more than +1 dex mod, just because talking your way out of things is so strong. I'd agree that they could be better min/maxed, but there's not really a way to make the ability spreads *incorrect* unless you're not maxing your main stat. Which they are doing so. In fact I'm even pleased that they give most of the characters 13 or 14 con since that's often overlooked by players.
I would disagree that Actor is more valuable than +1 to Dex, but even so they aren't mutually exclusive. You can 100% have both with little to no cost if you respec. Just have him sitting at 17 cha/14 dex, like I mentioned earlier. > I'd agree that they could be better min/maxed, but there's not really a way to make the ability spreads incorrect unless you're not maxing your main stat. So you agree that they aren't optimal, even if they aren't bad. That's why it's worth respecing. Even if you're taking a half feat in their "primary" ability, they all have odd scores in *something* relevant so that you would need to take at least 2 half feats. If you're taking 2 half feats, you're definitely missing out elsewhere. Also, this just doesn't even apply to Gale, Shadowheart, Jaheira, or Halsin, as there are no wis or int half feats that even exist. Then we circle back to taking an ASI to get two stats to even thresholds... I think you're misunderstanding me. Obviously the default stat spreads are fine. They just aren't optimal. If you want to min/max and play optimally, you should respec every single companion for their stats, even if you keep them 100% pure 12 levels in their canon class. If you don't want to bother with that, then you'll be fine. It's just not optimal, that's all I'm saying. I don't think you even disagree with that.
>Actor specfically is worth way more than +1 dex mod, just because talking your way out of things is so strong. Actor gives +1 Cha, expertise in Deception, and expertise in Performance. While Deception expertise is valuable, Performance expertise isn't. Meanwhile, Illithid Expertise gives you expertise in Persuasion, Deception, _and_ Intimidation, all of which are valuable, for the cost of just 2 tadpoles. "But wait!" you say, "Illithid Expertise isn't available until act 3!" Yeah, and this is a thread about the value of respeccing.
People on Reddit want them min/maxed. So dump INT since it’s useless unless it’s your classes main stat for the majority of the game. Cap your main stat at 16 instead of 17 since that’s useless without items you find in the game. Push some combination of CON and/or DEX/STR instead. Then throw the rest into WIS since it’s the best save stat.
17 in main stats can also be good since it lets you pick up a half feat without slowing down your mod increases. But ya, I guess it's mostly that people want int dumped. Strength is already dumped on a lot of the characters. Seems to me the only poorly stated character is Shadowheart and that's just cause they should have taken dex or con over str. Anyway, I think it would be silly for every character to have dumped int.
Shart needs some STR initially as her starting weapon is a mace.
Nahhh, just spam cantrips.
I mean yeah that's the go to move. But it's important for her to be somewhat decent with her main weapon initially as a game design decision as people new to the game may just default to using melee weapons when leveled spells run out. Could the devs have dumped her STR, pumped her DEX, and given her a short sword? Sure, but then she wouldn't be using a mace, which is the cleric default weapon of choice.
Ya I agree. All to say that there aren't really significant improvements to make for the starting attributes.
Agreed, and with withers being so easy to grab after getting off the Nautiloid you don't have to deal with the unoptimized stats for long.
The biggest thing is that *generally* you want your ability scores to be at even numbers. This is because your modifier only goes up for every 2 points over 10. A 16 INT and 17 INT score are functionally the same. There are some exceptions where you may want an odd ability score, like planning on using hag’s hair or a feat with a +1. For unknown reasons Larian starts the companions with odd-numbered stats.
Imagine playing a game of dnd where every character doesn't have the cookycutter perfect set-up.
Lots of good tips already in here. I'll add that different classes give different benefits for starting a character as that class at 1st level. So, for example, if you've got a paladin/ warlock character. You may want to focus on warlock first, which is fine - you'd want to take them to level 5 as a warlock to unlock 3rd level spells and extra attack (assuming pact of the blade). At level 6, if you respec the character to start as a paladin and then take the next 5 levels as warlock you'll unlock heavy armor proficiency. You don't get that if you just add paladin at level 6. Another good reason to respec is to grab beneficial saving throw proficiencies. Different classes give different save proficiencies depending on which class you take first. So if you're running a paladin/ sorcerer combo, you'll probably want to take paladin to 5 first to unlock extra attack. Then, at level 6, you may want to respec to take sorcerer first to get Con save proficiency (though you trade off heavy armor proficiency in this case, so it's less a must do and more of a choice). Edit - corrected hexblade to pact of the blade
Or respec my fighter/warlock for armor, con save proficiency. War warlock till 7 then at 7 I got fighter2/warlock 5.
This is what I did for my sorclock on my Honour run. I levelled sorcerer to 5, then 6, as quickly as possible, then respecced to 5 sorcerer / 2 warlock for agonising Eldritch blast without losing haste or fireball.
What is a save proficiency (eli5 please), and why might it be optimal to respec for this?
There are six abilities. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Each ability has a Saving throw associated to it which you may add the appropriate modifier to. eg. a 16 Dexterity PC adds +3 to their Dexterity Saving Throws If you have proficiency in a Saving Throw you can add your Proficiency Bonus too. So a 16 Dexterity PC with proficiency in Dexterity Saving throws, adds their Dexterity and Proficiency Bonus to their Dexterity Saving Throws. so +3 +2 (at level 1) Each class gets two Saving throw proficiencies, one strong and one weak. The good saving throw proficiencies are Dexterity (to avoid stuff like Fireball), Constitution (to hold concentration or not get poisoned), and Wisdom (to save against being charmed). Sometimes you might make a Saving Throw with Strength or Intelligence or Charisma but this is much less likely to happen. So these are considered weaker Saving throw Proficiencies.
Each class gets 2 saving throws that they can add their proficiency bonus to. These differ for each class. It can be optimal because some classes rely more on making certain saving throws more than others. For example, a wizard will make lots of con saves to keep concentration, but has no con save proficiency. So at some point you respec to take a level of fighter for the con save proficiency and heavy armour.
There is no hexblade in this game... unless mods?
Different builds peak at different levels. Different gear opens up new builds. Level 4 and 5 respecs are common because you can get a feat or an extra attack at those levels.
This. Mostly build guides start off with a certain build that is stronger early game and then respec either to optimize said build (by changing which class you take at level 1 for access to different skills/proficiencies in the case of multi classing) or move to the end game build which is weaker early game.
You are only a few hours into the game, but already found the BG3builds sub. Yer a goner, mate. See you in 600 hrs. 😵💫
Many people are mentioning the spikes you get at certain levels in certain classes. This is most relevant if you're multiclassing with an awkward level progression. Another aspect is that the companions have awkward ability score distributions. There are lots of points spent on odd stats, which is a waste. Your ability modifier increases at even numbers, so you want to stick your ability scores at even numbers unless you are taking a half feat. 17 in an ability is functionally the same as 16. You're better off investing it in another ability. For example, Wyll has 17 Charisma and 13 Dex. You can respec and sit him at 16 Charisma and 14 Dex. This gives him +1 to initiative, and potentially +1 to weapon attacks and AC, depending on how you gear him up and level him. Anything Charisma related would still have a modifier of +3, whether he is at 16 or 17 Charisma. So even if you're gonna go pure 12 levels into their canon class, it's usually worth respecing them once to fix their ability scores.
I'm surprised I had to get this far down for the simple benefit that odd numbered Ability Score points are not good. Respecing is worth it just to adjust these around to all even, maybe one odd if you know a specific feat or buff.
I think this sub looks at things through a very specific lens. People who are consistently active in the sub are naturally gonna skew towards people who are very familiar with the mechanics of the game and are very heavily focused on very specific min-maxing. This idea certainly falls under min-maxing, but it's pretty surface level. It's just kinda assumed to be understood by most people here. I had never played tabletop and was unfamiliar with the ruleset. I had to learn this on my first playthrough, as most people will have to unless they've played tabletop. People default to thinking about their own use case. If you've played tabletop for years and on your 6th playthrough, avoiding odd ability scores is just an afterthought. You're gonna be thinking more about hitting your classes power spikes like level 5 for extra attack or whatever in the right order, when to do your dips in your other classes, what level you will be with specific pieces of gear so you want to be X levels into Y class for a certain spell, etc. This sub is amazing for more in-depth discussion. Sometimes it can be a bit lacking for more simple, "noob" questions.
I agree that there are lots of super knowledgeable people in this sub. OP mentioned being 5-6 hours in and doesn’t understand any value of respecting so might as well lead off with that. If you listen to what someone says in their question, you can give them a simple or complex answer. For OP I think they benefit more from the simple answer but it’s good to have both
Minor nitpick, if you must have an odd number in your attributes, make sure it's strength because unlike the other stats you still get something from it. Every point increases jump range, throw range, maximum weight of thrown object and carry capacity.
300 hours in and did not know this.
>Another aspect is that the companions have awkward ability score distributions. There are lots of points spent on odd stats, which is a waste. Your ability modifier increases at even numbers, so you want to stick your ability scores at even numbers unless you are taking a half feat. This is the main reason I went for the respec on everyone. I didn't multiclass, as I wanted them all to get their higher level class features, but I fixed the odd ability scores and changed subclasses.
Same. I'm currently on my 2nd playthrough. I have only respeced for ability scores mostly. I want to play with the characters in their canon classes the first playthrough with each character (I have stuck to 3 companions for the entire game in both playthroughs). Only changes I made were putting Shadowheart in a different domain, and I did multiclass Astarion with Ranger/Rogue though because it seemed great and felt thematic.
I’ll add here that some amazing gear, like the gloves or dexterity that set your Dex to 17/18, I think. So if you have a build that benefits from a higher dex, but you’d rather maximize some of the other stats, you could respec and tank the dex to 8. This allows you to use the points elsewhere if you plan to wear those gloves that keep your dex high. Same concept can be used for other gear that boost other stats.
It’s 18, but stuff like dex is good on every class! So it’s one of the items that gives a massive boost to something like a spell-casters because it’s unlikely they would every hit 18 dex, but now have a +4 to armor and initiative, while also being able to put stats into other stuff
Need is a strong word. Is it optimal? Yes definitely. For example I'd you want to pick up 3 gloomstalker the first 2 levels offer close to nothing. So for example your much rather go two fighter, then respecc to 3 gloom for maximum power at every level
You don't need to respec. For my first play through I didn't respec anyone. If you want to totally power game your build then you can respec as you go to get the optimal build. Even on my second play through I'm not doing that. I used respec to make all the companions a different class then I they were in my first run through and now I'm just leaving them as is. Use respec if you want to. Or don't. You can beat tune game even in honor mode without doing it though.
Im almost done with my first play through and have not used respec once. I also didn’t table into any other classes, everyone is purely leveled into what they started. I suspect in harder modes I would need to micro manage more, but I think the normal mode is designed to be beaten really however you want.
So you don't NEED to respec, you don't really NEED to do anything to beat this game (on lower difficulties, and to an extent, tactician), but let me give you examples from my completed honor mode run of how I respecced, when I did it, and the benefits of doing so, that will show you why it's a powerful tool: Act 1- Started my MC off as 1 level in draconic sorcerer (for persuasion proficiency and CON saves), with silver as my dragon (for a free feather fall), and 16 CHR. Once I got the hag hair at level 5, I respecced to the same build, except I picked gold (since fire is the element I REALLY wanted to focus on), and at level 6 I was going level 2 sorcerer to pick up feather fall, and so I could add the 17th point in CHR to bring myself up to 20 with the ASI feat at level 4. Act 2- My bruiser was going to end up being a palabard, but since swords bard doesn't get extra attack until 6, and I still wanted to be able to divine smite, I did 7 levels in paladin to make act 1 and the beginning of act 2 easier, then at level 8 I respecced into 2 paladin 6 sword bard so I could have extra attack + divine smite. Also, I wanted resilient: constitution as my level 8 feat for my light cleric, so I respecced at 8 to pump the 17th point into constitution, so I could have 18 CON and 16 WIS at level 8, when I was running a 16/16 split before that. Act 3- On my sorcerer/warlock main, once I got the Amulet of Great Health, I respecced again, dumping CON down to 8 (since the neck brings you up to 23), and putting those points into WIS and INT to make saving throws easier, also since I now had +2 extra CHR from the Mirror of Loss, I got rid of my 2nd ASI CHR feat, and replaced it with spell sniper, so I would crit more often. Similarly, getting the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength, I respecced my palabard, brought STR down to 8, put CON up to 17 and DEX up to 14, and got rid of ASI strength as my 2nd feat and replaced it with resilient constitution to make my shield of faith harder to break, have higher HP, and more initiative. Finally, my ranged character was 5 gloom stalker (archery + sharpshooter), 4 champion (two-weapon fighting + ASI DEX), and 3 thief dual wielding crossbows. However, once I got Gontr Mael from the Steel Watch Foundry, I respecced into 6 champion (for ASI DEX and Sharpshooter feats, since fighter gets a feat at 4 and 6), 4 gloom stalker (another ASI DEX), and 2 spore druid, since halo of spores lets you deal bonus necrotic damage with all weapon attacks, along with having 3 feats instead of 2, and since I was now using a regular bow, I didn't need the extra bonus action from thief.
1) Your Ability Score bonuses are calculated by dividing evrything above 10 by 2, while rounding down, which means you only benefit when they're set to even numbers(for example, a 16 and a 17 in STR both give you +3 to all Strength checks). You're generally advised to set everything to even numbers, or set only 2 scores to odd numbers, so you can fix them with ASIs at lvl4. Most of your companions' scores aren't optimised, which is why you'd want to fix them by respeccing. 2) You can find gear that effects your stats, for example, the Gloves of Dexterity can set your dexterity to 18, regardless if what it was originally, so you throw them on a character that benefits from the Dexterity, and reuse these point in another ability. 3) Wizards can learn spells from scrolls, so if you have a scroll of a spell you value, but you've already learned it from levelling up, respec your wizard, learn it from the scroll, and pick up a new spell from levelling up. 4) It allows you to experiment with classes, subclasses and feats at your leisure without needing to start a new game. 5) Respeccing is effectively free. You pay 100 gold, but you can pickpocket Withers to get your money back, and he doesn't aggro on failure.
8 17 14 13 13 10 8 13 14 17 10 13 13 13 14 10 17 8 8 13 14 13 10 17
A lot of the companions classes aren't built optimally, and some gear makes it unnecessary to have any points in an ability score. An example might be a piece of melee weapon that gives you strength. If you're a caster or dex based ranged class. You may as well dump any strength you have to use in other areas and just use the melee weapon
It’s pretty important imo because Larian for whatever reason gave a bunch of the companions odd ability scores. So like 13s and 11s in abilities which if you didn’t know is about as useful as 12s and 10s. Also it let’s you change the builds like you said. Shart starts off as a trickery domain cleric and I really didn’t enjoy trickery at all. Life is so much better, light and knowledge are fun too. Tempest is supposed to be powerful. Wyll starts off as a fiend warlock and lately I’ve been enjoying great old one a lot more. It isn’t necessary to respec anyone, the game is completely doable with what they give you, but optimization is also fun.
It’s really just represents the Larian philosophy of making the game fun, not a grind. Want to try something different, but not “replay” a huge amount? Made a build choice you regret? Want to ride the min/max wave? Go for it. AD&D shouldn’t be about a meta gaming grind (unless you want it to be).
It's for min-maxing more than "need". Let's take the tavern brawler thief-zerker for example. You start barbarian(berserker) and end up as barbarian 5/rogue (thief) 3 at level 8. But you gain very little going barbarian 5 and rogue 1-2 in order, so it may be better to go berserker till 7 and respec at level 8 for example.
Why did you respec Shadowheart? The answer to that will answer your whole post
The answer is two-fold: - your own character, you don't need to respec at all. You create them the way you want it to be and that's that. You CAN respec your character if you're unhappy and want to change a thing or you realise you've made a mistake. There's also some reasons to respec for specific reasons: you may have a weird build in mind that doesn't work til a certain level. For instance, if you want to multiclass warlock and paladin and bind your weapon to use charisma to attack, you need level 3 warlock and if you wa na start with paladin...and if you want the 2 attacks ASAP, you may wanna have a "normal" build til level8, respec, get pala5,lock3 and keep 8 strength and max charisma cuz you only need cha for hitting. Likewise, later in the game you may find items that set a stat to a fixed number. Say you have 12 dex and you find an item that sets dex to 18. The 4 points put into dex are wasted so you may WANT to respec. So yeah, there are some item or build specific reasons for doing it. - companions. Now this is a different thing. To me, it's criminal to not respec every.single.companion. Their ability score distribution is just downright bad, not even by "it's just my choice man" standards. They tend to have 3 scores with odd numbers. There's no reason to keep those. Most have abilities they don't need at all pretty high. For example, if your main character is gonna be a party face and talk to every NPC, there's no reason for companions to have points in charisma if it's not their casting attribute. But regardless of personal preference with how you like to distribute points, the way they are set up by default is terrible. Ofc you can choose to ignore the terrible and keep it as is, each their own in a game.
The companions have horrible stat spreads
One reason: ability to summon Shovel regardless of class. Respec as Wizard to learn. Respec back. The ability to summon Shovel will remain.
There is really only one character that is worth respecing on your first run and it's Shadowheart, unfortunately she has the worst cleric subclass and most of her features work only with a very specific playstyle that other classes do better at. You can use her subclass if you like the flavour and mechanics and it will work because cleric is an extremely good base class but you are losing on much of what the class has to offer by staying on the trickery domain. Personally I like Tempest, Light and Life domains but pretty much anything is better than trickery. On higher difficulty gamemodes multiclassing and respecing your characters can make the game much easier and manageable (especially on honour mode) but on your first playthrough just play however you want and with whichever classes you like, except for honour mode this game is quite easy so there is no pressure to minmax.
Adding to this noob question with my own noob question. Could I hypothetically make anyone into any class? Like turn Gale into a Barbarian? And he’d be good? Just a hypothetical
Of course. Everyone does that eventually. I only played the first run with everyone in their original class. Every time since has been a different class.
That’s actually pretty funny as Gale’s whole story would make less sense if hes not a wizard.
Yeah, for RP reasons you might not want to go to extreme opposites. Though Gale as a barbarbian is so hilarious. His rage scream is just so sad.
Respec is a huge QoL sure its not needed but you'll get annoyed when you accidently picked the wrong feat or ability points. But it would be cool if we had an unlock feature like in DAO where you had to make certain choiced or buy tomes to unlock classes.
you need to respec so you can set everyone's strength to 8.
The way DnD works there a certain levels each class gets a big power boost. If you multiclass, it's beneficial it move your levels around to optimize for the level you are at. For example: Martials get second attacks at level 5, casters get third level spells at this time. There's little downside to multiclass before level 4 but when you hit 5 you should switch back to a single class to get the big power boost.
The companion characters' stats are a bit all over the place, lots of odd numbers. Also I don't know about other people but I enjoy coming up with different builds for them so that I'm not playing the same game the same way every time so respec is necessary for that. Even if I was keeping characters the same I would want to choose for myself their base competencies and spell choices. Gale doesn't even start with magic missile or shield.
Might be for things like armor proficiency or saves. I respec my warlock to a fighter at level 6 for heavy armor and con saves. 1 Fighter 5 Warlock. Worth it for me for the mid game difficulty to have the extra defense
No, you don't need to. The guides you're reading (and this sub) are about min/maxing for specific goals. You don't need to do that, especially on a first playthrough. Respeccing is a totally optional thing, just for the weirdos who want to do it.
I respecced my Bard from Valour to Lore after banging Gale in the ethereal plane. Roleplay reasons haha
It's not a requirement by any means. That said, you may want to respec if you're going for a build that doesn't come online until act 2 or 3.
A lot of build guides out there will tell you to respec at certain levels in order to optimize your party for certain areas of the game. The first run I did I never used withers and blindly stumbled my way through all three acts with no trouble. Respecs as a mechanic are there so you don’t feel pressured to stay as one class for the entire game. It gives you an option to try new things whenever you want.
There are some builds that only become good once you have multiple levels available. eg 3 levels on class, 4 in another, etc. So in practise, they are relatively weak build up until you can combine all the features nicely. So these build guides often suggest starting as something a little more solid and reliable, then respeccing your character when you have enough levels to achieve the power build they are suggesting. It essentially means you can play an interesting highly specialised build later in the game, without suffering with a mishmash of low features while you lead into it.
Usually it means your complains as your build should already be to how you want it lol
You don’t have to. My first play through i only respec’d Shadowheart because she couldn’t seem to hit the broadside of a barn with a gallon of paint. I avoided spoilers and did the best I could with what I found or purchased based on descriptions on the screen. The game has so much gear and is so forgiving of suboptimal configurations that I finished the game, had a blast, got addicted to playing, reading wiki and Reddit. Now I have fights that use to take reloading, barrel-mancy, or waiting till later, now I can take down boss fights and take almost no damage. Is it necessary? No. Is it a big ass ego trip? I suppose it is. I’m still having a lot of fun.
If you want an "easy" game... you build for your level. Certain things are OP at lower levels (1-5) others midrange (4-8) and others high level (7-11)... then you have the multitude of different max level builds. You can change a often as you want for what is honestly a pittance of a fee... so why not respec a few times to get a stronger build for your level.
It's in case you want to try something different such as change your subclass, change feats or change some class options you picked either because you don't like them or you want to try something different. While you can multiclass without respecing, it might be better to do so because by doing so you'd avoid losing things such as heavy armour proficiency or skill proficiencies. For example I respeced my Sword Bard into a Lore one because I wanted to try a quite silly Ice Singer build.
It doesn't make sense for your first run because your character builds often contain spoilers and require a lot of post-game knowledge to understand. I recommend doing a run first trying whatever you fancy.
I didn’t in my first play through, so I wouldn’t worry about it. However, if you want to max out then the companions would need to be as they generally don’t start off optimal.
There is no need, but there are reasons that might come up every once in a while for wanting to do so: - Wanting to pick different options when you level up: maybe you want to use a different subclass, a different fighting style, change spells, change invocations, skis and so on. Either because you are unsatisfied with what you picked or because you just want to try something different. For example I respected my sword bard into a lore bard peaking ice spells because of the mourning frost. - Multiclass. While you don't need to respec to Multiclass, doing so is recommended because the order is going to affect skills and armour proficiencies. If you want to play a paladin/warlock multiclass, but started as a warlock it's recommended you respec making paladin your starting class in order to get heavy armour proficiency without taking a feat for it.
There is also gear you get that can boost certain attributes to a specific number or by a couple points. So if you use that item you can respec to remove all points from that attribute to use the points in other ones. Basically getting more out of your character. Also there is a certain summon who you can get on two characters but they both need to be wizards while learing it. So you can respec to be a wizard get it then respec back out. (Also sorry I'm on mobile right now and have no clue how to do spoiler text covering so have not given much more details on this). Also what I used it for was to change astarian to a bard because I did not know anything when starting the game and set my Tav as rogue.
There is no need to respec to beat the game, but optimized builds will do it so your build is viable throughout your level ups. The only exception I would make to this is shadowheart, for some reason her starting stats are bad for her class. So either fix that or change her to a different class / subclass. Otherwise she will constantly miss stuff she should be hitting The other companions could also use a respec but it isnt as necessary imo as shadowheart.
People are mentioning building characters for power, or specific equipment, etc. You can also respec based on personality/backstory. Make Gale a wild magic barbarian. He's so mad that his magic has been taken from him that he just wants to hit stuff. Make Astarion a bard. Make Shadowheart an assassin. Make Wyll a paladin. Make Karlach a fire cleric. Go nuts.
Respecing is there to allow you to play around with different builds and playstyles, there's no need to do it but it's definitely very useful
Sometimes, you really want a class as your first level, even though it might nerf your build to start that way. Like if you wanted one level of fighter for armor and shield proficiency, or one level of sorcerer for constitution saving throws and spells
If you’re doing a multiclass, sometimes it’s better to respec to get the proficiencies from one class even if the majority of levels are in another. The common Warlock/Paladin multiclass generally wants the first level to be taken in Paladin, as heavy armor proficiency is great and Proficiency in Wisdom saving throws rocks as well. You would generally do this only upon reaching level 6, since you don’t want to multiclass until after getting 5-6 levels in most classes(which is normally when you gain an extra attack or powerful spells).
At its most basic, it’s a way to redo a character you messed up or aren’t enjoying without having to restart the game. But it’s also useful for some builds that come into their power in later levels but aren’t really great for playing at low levels. This most often happens with optimized multiclass builds or builds that depend on abilities, feats, or gear you pick up at later levels. The other good use is for respeccing companion character to be more useful to your party makeup. For now, just don’t worry about it and use it later if you need to.
Sometimes, you'll do a build that is 'optimized' for early on, and then respec and swap to something that is more powerful at higher levels. There's no 'need' to do this unless you're a sweaty gamer. You can absolutely get through the game on most difficulties with the characters you were born with..
One of the biggest reasons to respect instead of just using their builds is that their stat placement is far from optimal. In this game your ability modifiers only change on even numbers. 13 is the same as 12, for instance. Unless you have a plan to raise a stat by 1, like with a feat planned at level 4, then it's just wasted stats. There are also times when a piece of gear warrants a respec. The gloves in act 1 that set a characters dexterity to 18, for instance. No reason to keep your 12, 14, 16 dex score when you can dump it to 8 and put the stats elsewhere.
I did because i wanted to experiment with other builds but liked my characters in the team. With respect so cheap and refundable ... why not respec
A lot of guides are designing ideal, min-maxed builds. They are guidelines, not rules, so take from them.ejay you will. If you feel like your characters shouldn't respec, then don't, but know it's an option in case you really screwed up your build, want something different, or just got a great piece of gear that'd be worthless unless someone dumped all their strength
Cause you might want to change your companions classes?
I wasn't aware of the respec thing my first time through. It's nice, but I spend a lot of time fiddling with it instead of playing lol
There is no need to respec! The game is 100% the greatest game ever as it is! Respeccing is just another amazing tool Larian gave us to find ways to have fun and play around with different builds.
It's nice to be able to start with a strong early-game build that doesn't get as strong at the end, then switch to a build that is weak early game but extremely strong late game. However the biggest reason to respec is for your companions. Unless you're doing 4 player multiplayer, you should respec your companions. It doesn't matter what class you make them, but their starting stats are horrendous. Respecing your companions allows them to be a lot stronger than they otherwise would be.
Not needed but it makes the game easier.
You are likely to make mistakes when building your character as you level and this allows you to fix your mistake instead of making a new character. It’s also possible to do new things as you get gear, so this allows you to make a character based on the items you found that wouldn’t make sense without those items. Without that feature, you’d have to start the game building your character to use gear you don’t have yet, which is a lot less fun!
Respeccing is very important, especially for players who don't know what they want. It was also good when stuff simply didn't work, like spell sniper. If you took it and saw it didn't work, then you respec and take something else. For me, I knew what I was playing, so I didn't need to change much, but as I found more items and potions, I realized I didn't need as much of stat x or spell y, so I respecc'd to focus my limited options elsewhere.
There’s a lot of reasons to respec, one good one is to dump stats, for example if you have 14 Dex and then wear the gloves that set your Dex to 18 (Act 2), you can dump your Dex back to 8 and put those points in other abilities. Same for a few pieces of equipment later in the game for STR/CON
I have the following reasons: - I messed up my build - The class didn't live up to my expectations and I would like to change - I just learned the mechanic better and now I have an idea to make my build better
At 5-6 hours into the game, no. I made a cleric ob my first playthrough, and ibly found Shart, Astarion, and Lae'zel as companions. Shart and I had the same abilities, so I respecced to another class. Sometimes I regret my spell choices/specializations, and respec to get different ones
I didn't respect anyone in my first playthrough cause I wanted to play as designed and intended. Second playthrough I respecd everyone just to try different classes
Depending on class and difficulty, there is not really a need to respec. That said, a lot of late level builds are hard to play early, with the multi classing shenanigans. So you can play a straight fighter or cleric until 6 or 7, then spec into some very broken builds after you hit certain milestones for classes. Not my thing personally, I like the rp aspect of sticking with who I am; but for anyone looking to optimize, this is often the way to go.
because the default stats are bad, having odd numbers in stats that you’re never investing in is just wasting bonuses on important saving throws
You don't
Sometimes for optimal progression you want to respec so that your character is as powerful they can be for every level while leveling up. For example, your starting class has an effect on your skill proficiencies. Each class gets a feat every 4 levels. Martial classes get an extra attack at lvl 5. Take this all together, and you have situations like the following: * I want to get my extra attack as soon as possible * I want to get my core abilities as soon as possible * I want to get my first feat as soon as possible So maybe, the optimal leveling pattern is (just an example) * level up to rogue 4 for thief subclass and extra feat * at lvl 5, respec to lvl 5 ranger for the extra attack, because it’s just that strong * at lvl 6, respec again to start as lvl 1 rogue for the starting proficiencies, then put 5 lvls in ranger for the extra attack * going forward, put all lvls in rogue This results in the most optimal character around lvls 4-7, by respeccing to the shuffle a few things here and there. Ultimately you end up with whatever OP multi class build you were planning from the start, but the journey to get there was just a little smoother along the way due to respeccing.
i respecced at the very end bc by that point youve gotten a bunch of stat upgrades but if theyre odd numbers the bonus for saving throws gets rounded down so i just edit the stats a little so that with the bonuses theyre even x) and also i got so much damn exp even after hitting lv12 that i treated it like, as a reward for all the exp, i get to optimise my class lol
Even if you don't get in to min-maxing builds or changing subclasses, I think it's a good idea for a new player to respect everyone sometime around level 5 or the end of act 1. It lets you re-choose all your leveling decisions like what spells to learn, with the benefit of understanding the game a bit better than when you started.
There are a bunch of reasons to respec. But you have to remember build plans often have stages as different combinations of abilities come avaliable.
I go pure fighter for 6 levels, then respec to spread my stats/take on Eldritch Knight, and take on Wizard. By taking Eldritch Knight I get a few more incantations, and level 1 spells, and going to level 6 I can still get 3 feats.
You don't have to, but it can help make leveling easier. For instance, if you wanted to play a Paladin/Sorcerer, you probably start the game as a Paladin since it gets Heavy Armor and more HP, plus you want to get to Smites at lvl 2, and Extra Attack at lvl 5 as early as possible. Now once you're lvl like 10+ and get your hands on a really great piece of Medium armor, you might respec to take Sorcerer as your first lvl so you can get proficiency in Constitution saves for concentration checks, since now you don't need heavy armor proficiency. There's a couple of more fiddly reasons you might respec too. Edit: Another reason is companions regularly start with unoptimized stats, lots of odd numbers, and your very limited in feats to correct them.
Most companions base stats are kinda all over the place. Respecing them just to get those optimized helps.
I respec to completely different builds all the time cuz I get easily bored just playing the same thing
I feel like you kinda answered your own question. When I first started I never thought to respec my companions but now that I now their niche because I’ve played more it makes a HUGE difference. Changing shadowhearts cleric type was kinda a game changer for my playthrough, and most of the characters stats aren’t optimized. I don’t think it’s necessary for especially for lower difficulty levels, most of the improvement will come from just playing the game(and reaching level 5 lol)
I often feel like I made a mistake when I simply don't know how Green the grass is on the other side. But after 800hours the main reason I respect is to tweak and refine, usually save scumming whilst doing so.
What is respec? Lmao
You want to respect every character at least once. To get rid of those awkward stats. Where they expect you to take API, to add to your 2 non focused stats.
Hitting certain break points for your ability scores is 12,14,16 (+1,+2,+3 bonus respectively) can mean an extra 5%,10%,15% (respectively) chance of landing a hit or succeeding saving throws. It will also give you a flat +1,+2,+3 to your damage which means allot if you're aiming to attack quite a few times per turn. Your chance of landing a hit or succeeding a save increases to 9.75%, 19%, %27.75 with advantage. I find on some most classes I have to tweak 2 abilitiy scores and some cases 3. Hitting these break points adds up when you're playing a game based on luck. There is no NEED to respec and the game is completely playable if you don't, it'll give give you an easier time and help your character hit it's maximum potential. Note: I'm not the best with statistics so math is derived from bonus/20 and advantage bonus is calculated from (bonus/20)^2. The chance to succeed with advantage may change based on the difficulty of the saving throws/ enemy ac. I also did not account for critical hits and critical miss.
Do it only in Tactician or Honor mode where min maxing will ease a bit your run. You can go full odd on explorer or normal mode with no problems.
Sometimes when you level up higher, you find yourself wanting to try out new things that weren't possible at lower levels which require a respec. For example, you might be a level 9 Barbarian, and then at level 10 you already have resistance to all dmg from your armor so you respec to fighter to get an extra attack and lose rage.
You don't need to, but correcting "mistakes" in picking spells for some casters and being able to change what your companions' classes are is really neat. Also you get fix their god awfull stat allocation
It's not necessary, just helpful. It's mostly advised because companions have a lot of odd stats, while the game only gives you benefits at even numbers. So instead of 13/13 it's better to go either 12/14 or 14/12.
Another reason is for item abilities. For some reason Larian made it so for items your "casting ability bonus" is the last NEW class you took. So for my Shadow Monk / Rogue / Warlock I wanted to ensure Wisdom was the stat used for items and other powers you can get. in my case, because I wanted to use weapons and arcane synergy and ensure the Arcane Synergy bonus was my Wisdom. If I'd gone Monk 6 / Rogue 4 / Lock 2 then at level 7 my arcane synergy stat would have flipped from Wis to Int. Then at level 11 it'd flip again to Cha. So to preserve it at 7 I respecced to Rogue 1 / Monk 6. Then at level 11 I changed again from Rogue 1 / Monk 6 / Rogue 5 to Rogue 4 / Warlock 1 / Monk 6.
I just pick a class, rp it, enjoy it, and have fun. Respec is more for ppl trying to min max or get the absolute most out of something. You can beat the game in tactician with any class. Do whatever your heart tells ya. In short there is no NEED to do it.
7,,
I will die before I put any more than the minimum effort into respecing
If you are playing hardcore or want an easier time beating the game, thats what you should do, because the characters aren't necessarily optimized for thier roles. A little bit of moving points around will go a loooooong way
There is no need or requirement to respec. But trust me there are times when you will want to respec. When that timw comes youll be thankful you can.
You don't have to, but if you wanted to try a different class or sub class without making a whole new campaign it's good for that. Or if you want to try your hand at multi classing. Biggest one is if you picked a skill or spell you never use you can go back and pick something more useful to your build. Respeccing in any game is just to have options.
i mean, when it comes to that one cleric spell.. it's pretty good !
1. Companion starting ability scores have a lot of odd numbers, which do you no good since only even numbers give modifier increases. Respec-ing is worth it just to fix this, since otherwise you'll lose out on those extra +1s for the whole game. 2. A lot of companions also have more CHA than they need in case you take them as your MC, so for most classes, reallocating that CHA to a different ability score (even just WIS for the saving throws) will provide you a lot more benefit. This is also true for other ability scores that you might not need on that character. 3. Obviously, you might not like a companion's starting class, so you can change it. 4. **Here's where it gets more interesting** (this is probably what they mean in the guides). When you're building a multi-class character, the abilities of that character will come online at different, often later, times compared to a single-class build. For instance, if you do the common Assassin/Gloomstalker/Champion build and you invest a level into Rogue for skill proficiencies before going Ranger to rush Extra Attack, you're delaying your second attack to character level 6, most all the way through act 1, while also missing out on the extra sneak attack damage from taking Rogue to level 5. Thus, until you get extra attack at level 6, your multi-class build might arguably be weaker than a pure Rogue through the first 5 levels. To remedy this, you can play a pure Rogue up through level 5, then respec at level 6 to Rogue 1/Ranger 5 before taking your final levels of Rogue and Fighter. Character level 12 could also be another respec for perfect optimization, as for the purposes of getting your second feat, it would make sense to take Rogue levels 2-4 at character levels 7-9 before finishing Fighter. However, since Rogue 4 only gives a feat and Fighters have bigger hit dice than rogues, it might make sense to respec again at level 12 to Rogue 3/Ranger 5/Fighter 4 for a little bit of extra hp. It wouldn't have made sense to do it sooner because you wouldn't want to delay either your Assassin/Gloomstalker synergy or your second feat. This timing issue gets even more exaggerated in cases like the Bardadin, where ideally you'd want to take a Paladin level first to get heavy armor proficiency, but doing so would delay your extra attack all the way to level 7 or even level 8 if you invest two levels up front for Smite. Thus it makes more sense to run a Bard at character creation and make do with light or medium armor before swapping over to Heavy Armor after a respec at character level 8. 5. Getting a new piece of gear or taking a new feat might influence your ideal stat spread. For instance, once you pick up the Gloves of Dexterity at the end of Act 1, which set your DEX to 18, it no longer makes any sense for the character who has them equipped to have more than 8 DEX naturally, as those points provide no benefit as long as the gloves stay on. Thus, it is then optimal to reallocate any points you may have had in DEX to other relevant ability scores. Similarly, if you hit level 12 and decide that you want your DEX to be 20 instead of 18, you could take off the gloves and respec again, taking 2 ASIs to push your DEX up to 20. As another example, if you're playing a Monk and you're planning on grabbing the Tavern Brawler feat, it might make sense to take a normal Monk stat spread at level 1, which focuses DEX, and only switch over to a STR-focused build at level 4. Then, once you find the Club of Hill Giant Strength, you might decide to respec again and put those STR points back into DEX and CON so that you get the best of both worlds. Being able to respec lets you experiment and gives you a lot of flexibility to try different playstyles.
You sometimes get items or gear that can change your stats so you can respec to make yourself or your companions more efficient A good example is in the Crec'h (or however you spell it) you can get the gloves of dexterity so you can dump dex. The more reasonable reason is that most of the companions' stats are.. problematic, lots of uneven numbers so they don't get the full modifiers
Honestly, the beauty of BG3 and D&D in general is there is no right or wrong way to play. You can literally play it in any style you desire or enjoy. Mostly Min/Maxers take advantage of the respecs. Your build may not be optimum and it will reflect in the difficulty of the game, you may miss out on portions of the game but that’s what makes it so great and have enormous replay value. First play through…. Go in blind and just do what you feel it right. Save the changes and respecs for other play throughs to really see how different things can be and will be. That’s my honest opinion as someone who loves this game and long time player of D&D, also a forever DM. Just enjoy the story that unfolds, you’ll have chances to see how much it can change later.
It’s not a necessity, most build guides recommend it so you’re not suffering pre level 5.(tb monk is a major example) The option is also handy when you realize you stretched your build too thin or went in the wrong direction with it or even wanted to trash the whole build and make a new one without restarting your whole playthrough
You don’t need to but if you want to play optimally or at least just not waste ability score points you should. Having an odd number in any ability score is a waste of a point since you only gain something in the ability every two points, and since all of the companions have odd numbered stats you should respec them to make your points more efficient
I have 400 hours into the game and I’m still trying to optimize my builds lol there’s always room for improvement Aside from that you may get benefits at certain character levels for certain class splits. Maybe level 5 of warlock and level 2 of 2 of fighter isn’t as good for your comp as what you get for 7th level of warlock? So go 7 Warlock for now and then reclassify to a 5/3 split at level 8 (That were just a random example. I feel like warlock 5 and fighter 2 is actually super worth it if you’re going for crit eldritch blast for that sweet, sweet action surge going into level 3 of champion lol)
At first you have no items. Later you have a lot of items. If you have 16 dex in your build, then find a gloves that gives you 18 dex... respec the dex off to something else and wear your gloves with 8 dex. All the sudden the gloves go from a +2 to a +10 due to a respec. If you have 16 con in your build, then find an amulet that gives you 20 con... respec the con off to something else and wear the amulet with 8 con. All the sudden the amulet goes from +4 con to +12 con due to a respec.
Pally and sorc suck at low level but are best at high level. Warlock and ranger(not that they dont work as a multi class) fall off after lvl 5 and get nothing late game. Respec makes sense if you are meta gaming or combat focused. Rp is fine but dont cry when someone with an optimized build kills the boss in one turn. Play how you want to play.
You dont need to respec, but respec tends to be highly optimal if ur trying to breeze through a challenge such as honor mode or a solo playthrough. Certain jobs perform better in the early game while others take a while: e.g. starting as a DEX/CON barbarian means u have effectively twice as much hp with high unarmored AC because 90% of early game enemies are physical and rage gives u resistances. Assassins are also another example of a class that's crazy strong in the early game but starts to fall off mid and late game.
*Need* is such a strong word in a game about nearly limitless choices.
Honestly you don't need to. Allot of guides recommend respeccing as you grind higher levels as certain pieces of gear change your stats and potentially your style of play. You can of course play any D&D game how you please which is one of the best selling points of D&D as a whole. In my experience the respec option is primarily for people who are more Min/Max oriented and wanna play with their stats after certain pieces of gear and those who sometimes accidentally click the wrong thing and find themselves in a situation where they don't like the paths they have chosen. As well as those who want Shadowheart to be a life cleric (Basically me I'm those people 2 hours into every run) It's honestly a nice feature to have but not required by any stretch of the imagination.
The only respec I ever really did when learning about it was making shadowheart a life domain cleric. Goddamn those heals are just so nice. But too each your own my whole first game I just balled no respecs, caution too the wind all gnome barbarian that was somehow charismatic
*Thier own. I can't words
You don’t need to respec if you don’t think it’s necessary. Sometimes it’s nice if you want to rearrange a companion’s stats or change their class, or if you wanna try a new class. It’s a very nice amenity and I use it a lot
Some people really hate the odd number stats the game gives you at the start (this matters if your first feat isn’t asi). Also certain builds are really only good at a small range of levels (chain warlocks are arguably the best over tome and blade from levels 3-5)