Exploiting rules, the environment and optimizing characters has a long tradition in Dungeons & Dragons. Larian Studios chief developer Swen Vincke is very happy that his team was able to mirror the feature in Baldur’s Gate 3. With highly effective owlbear bombs, halfling barbarians and fully optimized monk builds, they have more than succeeded!
What happened? In an interview on the Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel, Swen Vincke speaks passionately about the many ingenious ways to play Baldur’s Gate 3. The lead developer at Larian Studios is amazed at how creatively players use mechanics, class builds and the environment for maximum effect.
Vincke says passionately: “Everyone knows the owlbear now”! By this he means the mystical Dungeons & Dragons creature that is a mixture of an owl and a bear. Druids of the Circle of the Moon can, among other things, transform into just such an animal and do a lot of damage with a few tricks.
He also praises a video by YouTuber Okoii: he and three of his friends play halfling barbarians who clarify everything with strength. Whether they throw each other at opponents, throw opponents at each other, throw Lae’zel to his death in the tutorial or defeat an opponent with 150 life points right on level one. The crowning glory is the “barrel magician” montage at the end, in which the entire goblin camp is blown up.
Why is that? Traditionally, in Pen and Paper Dungeons & Dragons, players try to find the most effective and fun ways to resolve situations. This is possible with friends at the table as long as the game master allows it. There are basically no limits to your imagination.
However, transferring this variety of decisions into a video game is difficult. Developers are always constrained by the realities of the engine, asset location, and their own preferences – making the eventual sandbox reality of Baldur’s Gate 3 even more elusive.
Strategy expert Maurice Weber also commented on this:
“For me, Baldur’s Gate 3 is what gaming should be” – German strategy expert explains what makes the RPG so good
Unplanned positive side effects
Vincke himself tells of a conversation with a system designer about the game’s systems working well together. He wanted to crawl through a pipe with his character in gas form. This wasn’t specifically planned from the start. The rule was that the creature had to be “tiny” to pass through the pipe.
The system designer himself did not know whether a creature in gaseous form would come through the pipe. So Swen Vincke simply tried it out and lo and behold: it works!
By the way, MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski had the opportunity to talk to Swen Vincke about Baldur’s Gate 3 shortly before the release:
Baldur’s Gate 3 boss spoke to us about ChatGPT and AI: “A tool like any other”
How to make owlbear bombs
So how does the “owlbear bomb” work? The Owlbear example mentioned by Swen Vincke assumes that you have a Druid with Circle of the Moon in your group. This then transforms into an owlbear and is enlarged by a potion or a corresponding spell. This increases the creature’s weight to an incredible 5005 kilos.
If the owlbear jumps from an elevated point onto the opponents, it produces a lot of fall damage when it hits, since the weight scales with the length of the fall, as in reality. So far, “owlbear bombs” have been produced with around 800 damage points. That’s enough to kill a full-grown dragon in Dungeons & Dragons.
You can read exactly how you need to skill your druid for this build in our guide.
In addition to a variety of ways to exploit the environment and use items wisely, some players have also started setting up maximum damage class builds. Here we introduce you to two such builds: