Baldur's Gate 3 made D&D's lead designer change one of the RPG's deadliest NPC-killers because it was "excruciating" to use

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(Image credit: Larian)

Baldur's Gate 3

D&D’s lead designer says he’s changing some of the tabletop RPG’s spells because they were so annoying inBaldur’s Gate 3- including one infamous spell that’s responsible for a good chunk of inadvertent deaths.

In a new video, D&D lead designer Jeremy Crawford explains some of the changes coming in with the game’s new2024 Player’s Handbook. Some of those changes, he revealed, were brought about specifically because of his time with Baldur’s Gate 3.

Crawford explains that the spell has now been changed in the TTRPG to allow players to move it around the map, similar to spells like Moonbeam, which can be cast in one spot and then adjusted on subsequent turns. Coincidentally, Moonbeam is another spell that’s caused Baldur’s Gate 3 players problems, but that’s not our concern right now.

New Spells | 2024 Player’s Handbook | D&D - YouTubeWatch On

New Spells | 2024 Player’s Handbook | D&D - YouTube

New Spells | 2024 Player’s Handbook | D&D - YouTube

New Spells | 2024 Player’s Handbook | D&D - YouTube

The reasoning behind Crawford’s changes isn’t that these spells are dangerous for NPCs with poor pathfinding, but because their “action economy” can be “really painful.” Take Produce Flame, for instance, a Druid cantrip that allows a player to summon a small flame in their hand. Crawford says that this was a spell that frustrated him in the tabletop game but was “excruciating” in Baldur’s Gate 3. In fact, it was only while playing Larian’s RPG that he made the decision “to redesign Produce Flame so there will not be as much friction to cast this cantrip.” Crawford doesn’t explain exactly what changes he’s planning to make, but if I had to take a guess, it’s removing the rule that extinguishes the flame after you attack with it, forcing you to take two turns to set it back up as an offensive tool.

Baldur’s Gate 3 YouTuber offers $500 bounty to anyone who can find the mystical, fourth-wall-breaking Karlach cutscene without mods.

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