D&D's lead rules designer admits he changed some spells because of how 'painful' and 'excruciating to cast' they were in Baldur's Gate 3 (2024)

D&D's lead rules designer admits he changed some spells because of how 'painful' and 'excruciating to cast' they were in Baldur's Gate 3 (1)

Dungeons & Dragons is getting a 2024 rules revamp, and while I've had a good old moan today about its baffling pre-order bonus nonsense, I'm overall curious to see what kind of game we'll be getting out of the whole kerfuffle.

Touted as a backwards-compatible reimagining of the game's ruleset (but not a new edition), the 2024 rules seek to retool a ton of the game's spells for the better, as promised by lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford in an interview posted to the Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel (thanks, Eurogamer).

New Spells | 2024 Player's Handbook | D&D - YouTubeD&D's lead rules designer admits he changed some spells because of how 'painful' and 'excruciating to cast' they were in Baldur's Gate 3 (2)

Watch On

Overall, Crawford's statements feel accurate, though in the sense that a lot of these issues have been issues for 10 years and relatively unaddressed in rules errata—such as altering Blade Ward and Resistance so they "might actually see use in play"—but hey, better late than never.

Some of these changes, however, have been inspired by Crawford's personal frustrations while playing Baldur's Gate 3, Larian's giga-popular RPG that uses 5th edition D&D as its ruleset. He highlights Cloud of Daggers and Produce Flame as two particular bugbears that bothered him.

For context, Cloud of Daggers is a 2nd level spell that fills a 5-foot space which, on your average battle map grid, is one square. This doesn't make it particularly useful, since most creatures can use around 1/6th of their bountiful movement to simply leave the space—granted, your fighter could keep them grappled or something, but that's a lot to ask for a mighty 4d4 damage every turn.

Of Cloud of Daggers, Crawford reveals that "this spell now lets you move it" after casting. "I as a player, when I have cast Cloud of Daggers, that is often my main frustration with it. [I] cast it, and then the monsters move over there. Even when I've cast Cloud of Daggers in Baldur's Gate 3, I as a player am like 'I wanna be able to move it!'"

I actually found the spell far more useful in Baldur's Gate 3, because I could plonk it in a doorway and watch my enemies (usually after struggling through a Spike Growth and Hunger of Hadar) be shredded to bits. We cheese Honour Mode however we must.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

"We've also made it so that some spells (that were really painful to cast in terms of their action economy) are far less painful," Crawford says, citing Produce Flame as a "prime example … that cantrip was really painful to set up."

For context once more (with feeling), Produce Flame is a cantrip that requires you to spend a whole action setting up before you can have the honour of dealing 1d8 fire damage with it—the bonus being that it also produces light. Or, if you're sensible, you could just have the Light cantrip and the Firebolt cantrips in your party, the latter of which does more damage and doesn't require six seconds of magically trying to strike a match like some kind of chump while your mate's getting stabbed by a goblin.

He adds that Produce Flame is "funnily enough another one where it was not only painful to cast in the tabletop game, but when I was playing Baldur's Gate 3 was excruciating [to cast], and it was actually while playing [it] that I thought 'we are going to redesign Produce Flame'."

Again, that's a fair enough assessment, though it's a little strange to me that—and I'm mostly being glib, here—Crawford didn't realise Produce Flame, the cantrip nobody uses, wasn't absolute dog water until playing a game that released a near-decade after the PHB summoned its cursed self into existence.

On the whole, however, I'm liking what I'm hearing. D&D's 2014 ruleset had a dearth of spells you wouldn't cast at gunpoint, like Witch Bolt, that absolutely needed tuning up. Let's just hope the eventual Dungeon Masters' guide, along with the rest of its rules revamp, is as sensibly designed.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

More about games

Today's Wordle answer for Monday, July 22Here's a game that combines jigsaw puzzles with arithmetic problems to great success

Latest

Replaying Dragon Age: Inquisition has recalibrated my expectations for Dragon Age: The Veilguard
See more latest►

See comments

Most Popular
The Polish Witcher comics from the '90s where Geralt has terrible hair are being translated into English
TennoCon's Warframe: 1999 demo reveals '90s instant messenger clients, motorcycle stunts, and an Infested space mutant boy band
Microsoft responds to the FTC, argues its Game Pass price hike is actually a good deal for gamers because the new cheapest tier includes multiplayer now
Great news: Soulframe will have customizable moms
A Baldur's Gate 3 player has discovered hidden mini-quests you can only get by leaving the most important items in the game in an exploding building or at the bottom of the ocean
Today's Wordle answer for Saturday, July 20
Overwatch 2's new space girl healer takes the throne as one of the most strategically satisfying heroes in the game
Bethesda Game Studios developers form 'wall to wall' union that includes artists, designers, and programmers

College Football 25 is having a big moment on consoles, but like usual, EA decided PC gamers are an afterthought
The creator of this Bigfoot game is considering changing Bigfoot's face after commenters said it's too human-like, but I'm entranced by it
Once Human developer teases the first big update, apologizes for the last bad patch
D&D's lead rules designer admits he changed some spells because of how 'painful' and 'excruciating to cast' they were in Baldur's Gate 3 (2024)

FAQs

D&D's lead rules designer admits he changed some spells because of how 'painful' and 'excruciating to cast' they were in Baldur's Gate 3? ›

Some of these changes, however, have been inspired by Crawford's personal frustrations while playing Baldur's Gate 3, Larian's giga-popular RPG that uses 5th edition D&D as its ruleset. He highlights Cloud of Daggers and Produce Flame as two particular bugbears that bothered him.

How to change prepared spells in Baldur's Gate 3? ›

To do this, the player can choose the character that belongs to one of those classes and head over to Spellbook. This will open the menu to prepare and manage their spells. When inside this menu, press on Prepare Spells. Here, the player will have the option to take out already equipped spells and choose new ones.

What does the D stand for in BG3? ›

In Baldur's Gate 3 and Dungeons & Dragons, most of the game runs on the d20, however, other dices will be seen throughout the game, usually to calculate damage, such as d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12. Here, d stands for a die, and the number after it determines how many faces the die has.

What does 2d6 mean in Baldur's Gate 3? ›

Most weapons use a single damage die, but some two-handed weapons use two: a successful attack with a Greatsword does 2d6 Slashing damage (2~12), rolling two six-sided dice for a total of 2 to 12 slashing damage. Damaging spells typically roll more dice: for example, being caught in a Fireball will cause 8d6.

What does 1d4 mean in Baldur's Gate 3? ›

Basically for 1d4 it means you roll one four-sided dice and for 1d6 it means you roll one six-sided dice. So yeah basically the ranges are 1-4 and 1-6 in those cases. For 1d6+1 it means roll one six-sided dice and add one to it. So basically the range is 2-7. For 2d6 it means roll two six-sided dices.

Can you change spells without leveling up BG3? ›

Characters can change their spells outside of combat or during level-up. You might want to adjust your spells based on your party's needs or specialize your party members' roles (e.g., designating a healer).

What is the best wizard subclass in BG3? ›

The best Wizard subclass is the Evocation School, which enhances your cantrips and most of your damage-based spells as you level up. Most of Baldur's Gate 3's heaviest-hitting spells are of the Evocation variety, so it's worth focusing on this school to maximise your Wizard's damage potential.

Is a Nat 20 always a success in BG3? ›

Rules as written, a natural 20 does not mean you automatically succeed nor a 1 mean you always fail (I prefer this personally for the issue you've stepped in exactly). It may mean less epic and crazy stuff happens, but it also helps you from being painted into a corner, because that's honestly hard to design around.

Does gender matter in Baldur's Gate 3? ›

Baldur's Gate 3 romances are not gender-locked either. For potential Dark Urge players, your violent intrusive thought generator doesn't have a huge impact on romance scenes, but it's worth considering when you go through character creation.

What does the +1 mean in BG3? ›

1+ attack means higher hit chance. and damage you can see it on weapons as well. the higher the + the higher your hitchance and damage. So good quality weapons are vital.

What does +1d6 mean? ›

1d6: It means that you take ONE of the SIX sided die. You give it a good shake and you throw it, let's say it lands on a 3. So you take 3 fire damage (or you deal 3 fire damage whichever the case) 1d6 fire is simply that: 1 die of 6 sides, you recive the number of damage according to the number the die lands on.

What does 3d10 mean? ›

The weapon damage from a 1d6 weapon is randomly generated to be any number between 1 and 6 as a result. A 3d10 weapon means 3 10 sided dice will be rolled which would mean the weapon has a minimum damage of 3 and a maximum damage of 30. Rolls can also be simulated using /roll nDn, where n are the two numbers.

What does 7 2d6 mean dnd? ›

7 is the average of 2d6 (at least in the dnd world) the 2d6 is what you would roll if you are rolling for like an attack or HP. I.e. 7(2d6) is the HP of a monster. You could either just use the 7 or roll 2d6.

What does AC mean Baldur's Gate? ›

From Baldur's Gate 3 Wiki. This article has a community guide. Armour Class (AC) is a measurement of how difficult a creature is to be hit by an attack. In order to successfully hit a creature, the results of an attack roll must have a number equal to or greater than the target's Armour Class.

What does 1d10 mean in D&D? ›

In Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the "1d10" notation signifies the rolling of a ten-sided die, known as a "percentile" or "d10." This versatile die brings precision and diversity to the game, offering a range of possibilities for Dungeon Masters (DMs) and players alike.

Can you be evil Baldur's Gate? ›

1: Yes, going evil will have some companions leave you (specifically Karlach, Wyll, and Gale... though I think you can persuade Gale into staying.). In return you do get a couple evil companions. 2: While it is entirely possible to do an evil playthrough, doing so cuts out a massive portion of the game's content.

Can you change your prepared spells? ›

You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of wizard spells requires time spent studying your spell book and memorizing the incantations and gestures you must make to cast the spell: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

How to change spells as a bard in BG3? ›

On the left sidebar, go to 'Replace Spell' to access the menu. You'll see a selection menu to choose one spell to change out and one spell to change in. Select 'Change' under Out to choose a spell to remove from your list of available spells.

Why can't I prepare more spells in BG3? ›

Ensure you're not in combat. While you can be anywhere—whether it's the wilderness, camp, or even a hiding spot in enemy territory—you must be out of active combat to modify spells. Open the character's Spellbook. This can be accessed from your inventory or party-view.

How do you change druid spells? ›

Druids can change their prepared spells after a long rest. The requirement is an additional minute spent in prayer or meditation for each spell level on the new list. This, unfortunately, does not extend to cantrips.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Annamae Dooley

Last Updated:

Views: 6472

Rating: 4.4 / 5 (45 voted)

Reviews: 84% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Annamae Dooley

Birthday: 2001-07-26

Address: 9687 Tambra Meadow, Bradleyhaven, TN 53219

Phone: +9316045904039

Job: Future Coordinator

Hobby: Archery, Couponing, Poi, Kite flying, Knitting, Rappelling, Baseball

Introduction: My name is Annamae Dooley, I am a witty, quaint, lovely, clever, rich, sparkling, powerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.