Please be aware that if you have any issues with the mod's install or functionality via Vortex; I won't be able to assist or make changes to the mod to accommodate this download method.
If you have issues with vortex install/download/configuration feel free to ask others here that are more familiar with the Vortex mod manager or use the originally intended method of BG3 Mod Manager install listed in the mods install instructions
If you have version 1.0.0.1 (there were around 250 downloads of that version) please update to 1.0.0.2 . That version had a compatibility issue with a popular XP mod that caused, oddly specific, issues with leveling up at level 8.
"Initiative Variants" by MaskedRPGFan is an updated equivalent to this mod, and it also lets you have more dice options. For anyone looking for an alternative, since this mod is badly outdated.
Thanks for this. Past a certain point your characters always wind up stacking first. The whole point of initiative rolling was to (a) balance, and (b) give a chance for weaker/vulnerable enemies/characters to move before others. I don't understand why they made it a d4. Super weird.
They did it to give more weight to individual initiative bonuses. When rolling a d4, investing into the alert feat or initiative gear bonuses makes a significant difference. It makes building for initiative worthwhile without having to go all in on it.
When initiative is a d20, you will often have your turn in the mid-range of the turn order, even with initiative bonuses. If you roll a 5 or less on the d20, your 20 dex character is still going to statistically be in the second half of the turn order, which just doesn't feel right, especially when most of the entities ahead of you have less dex than you do. Using one of your valuable feats on alert still doesn't even guarantee you anything other than going in the first half of the turn order (if paired with 20 dex). An enemy with only 8 dex and no initiative bonuses can (and frequently will) still go before you. This doesn't feel good, especially when you've probably invested significant time and gold into your build and you are still frequently getting your turn after low-dex enemies with no initiative bonuses.
This is particularly impactful on Assassins, whose effectiveness depends on going early in the turn order. Using this mod with my assassin took all the wind out of its sails. Instead of going first or second every battle and being able to strategically choose which enemies to target for maximum effectiveness, I often found myself closer to the middle of the turn order. This significantly limited my tactical effectiveness, and therefore my usefulness to the party. It negatively impacted my character enough that I felt I would have to respec to be not be a detriment to my party. Instead, we just turned off this mod and I was able to continue playing the character and class that I wanted to play and I didn't have to drag my party down in the process.
Yes, changing initiative to a d20 allows for more variety in turn order from battle to battle, but it also takes away most of the impact of initiative bonuses. You have to stack multiple bonuses to get any noticeable benefit and even max-stacked bonuses don't guarantee that you go first (or even second or third). If you enjoy regularly going early in the turn order, or are playing a class that depends on it like Assassin, you are forced into a cookie-cutter build of requiring Alert, three levels into Ranger for Gloom Stalker, and having multiple pieces of gear with + to initiative rolls. It limits your options by forcing you into very specific build choices. More turn variety at the cost of less build variety (for some cases). Using a d20 for initiative is a bit too much for this game, making it less about build balance and more about RNG.
However, I would say that the game using a d4 for initiative is too small. Any individual initiative bonus makes a significant difference and there's little benefit to stacking multiple because it's overkill. Alert alone basically breaks turn order.
I think putting initiative on a d10 would be the best balance for this game, giving some additional variance to turn order while keeping initiative investments worthwhile and avoiding RNG skewing things outside of reason. A shambling zombie with 8 dex should never go before a 20-dex Gloom Stalker with Alert.
Agree with this suggestion wholeheartedly. A D6 would be more reasonable than a D4 while keeping nearly identical to Larian’s vision, a D8 would be the biggest compromise between Larian’s Vision and regular DnD, and a D10 is the closest you can get to regular DnD without breaking the balancing of BG3.
Dank Franklin the turtle has the right of it. I was just about to download this mod, when I (also an assassin player, same as Sevael) realized that the true-to-book change would cripple the Larian-style combat mechanics, if I didn't also try and find ways to buff myself to compensate. And at that point, having to download 1-3 other mods for rogues/assassins/initiative boosting gear (as dsamra is basically suggesting) just to make up for the first mod's side effects...I feel like I'd be a pill popper at that point and should just never have bothered to "fix" the issue in the first place.
A D8 though would be a great option. It gives more result variety (doubled) for characters that have similar initiative bonuses, while rolling low on the die (roll a 1-2 vs a 7-8) can still be overcome by those who build towards initiative, with a +5 Dex and +5 alert and +1/2 armor bonus (total around 12-14 vs around 7-13), making sure that only other initiative heavy characters are in competition for going first in combat (outside of ambushes of course).
Edit: Found a mod that allows for selection of which die is used for initiative rolls: https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/1247?tab=description
I had a lot of problems with multiplayer. I realized a few things. Firstly, installing "Better Hints and New Loading Screens" definitely caused connection errors. Secondly, mods that caused an error in the game itself when creating the game also affected this, but it helped us 1. Disable mods and try to log in 2. Turn on mods and log in again. With such actions, the mods worked fine. I still don't understand how it works.
I've been running into the "multiplayer mods mismatch false positives" with a ton of mods following Patch 7. I found a workaround: When the other player gets the shitty popup that refuses to let them join the game, telling you that you have a mod mismatch even when you don't, they should un-tick all the mods show, and then re-tick them all. This should unblock the "play game" button and allow them to join.
Hopefully Larian fixes their s#*!, but I find it unlikely - if they fix anything, it's probably the fact that the workaround works, or something like that.
Initiative is supposed to be D6. When did it get changed to D4? D20 works. I'm just stumped on the change to D4. I guess if I actually read this 5E PHB I bought I might get caught up on the changes lol.
136 comments
Please be aware that if you have any issues with the mod's install or functionality via Vortex; I won't be able to assist or make changes to the mod to accommodate this download method.
If you have issues with vortex install/download/configuration feel free to ask others here that are more familiar with the Vortex mod manager or use the originally intended method of BG3 Mod Manager install listed in the mods install instructions
Let me know if you have any issues. Should be smooth sailing :)
They did it to give more weight to individual initiative bonuses. When rolling a d4, investing into the alert feat or initiative gear bonuses makes a significant difference. It makes building for initiative worthwhile without having to go all in on it.
When initiative is a d20, you will often have your turn in the mid-range of the turn order, even with initiative bonuses. If you roll a 5 or less on the d20, your 20 dex character is still going to statistically be in the second half of the turn order, which just doesn't feel right, especially when most of the entities ahead of you have less dex than you do. Using one of your valuable feats on alert still doesn't even guarantee you anything other than going in the first half of the turn order (if paired with 20 dex). An enemy with only 8 dex and no initiative bonuses can (and frequently will) still go before you. This doesn't feel good, especially when you've probably invested significant time and gold into your build and you are still frequently getting your turn after low-dex enemies with no initiative bonuses.
This is particularly impactful on Assassins, whose effectiveness depends on going early in the turn order. Using this mod with my assassin took all the wind out of its sails. Instead of going first or second every battle and being able to strategically choose which enemies to target for maximum effectiveness, I often found myself closer to the middle of the turn order. This significantly limited my tactical effectiveness, and therefore my usefulness to the party. It negatively impacted my character enough that I felt I would have to respec to be not be a detriment to my party. Instead, we just turned off this mod and I was able to continue playing the character and class that I wanted to play and I didn't have to drag my party down in the process.
Yes, changing initiative to a d20 allows for more variety in turn order from battle to battle, but it also takes away most of the impact of initiative bonuses. You have to stack multiple bonuses to get any noticeable benefit and even max-stacked bonuses don't guarantee that you go first (or even second or third). If you enjoy regularly going early in the turn order, or are playing a class that depends on it like Assassin, you are forced into a cookie-cutter build of requiring Alert, three levels into Ranger for Gloom Stalker, and having multiple pieces of gear with + to initiative rolls. It limits your options by forcing you into very specific build choices. More turn variety at the cost of less build variety (for some cases). Using a d20 for initiative is a bit too much for this game, making it less about build balance and more about RNG.
However, I would say that the game using a d4 for initiative is too small. Any individual initiative bonus makes a significant difference and there's little benefit to stacking multiple because it's overkill. Alert alone basically breaks turn order.
I think putting initiative on a d10 would be the best balance for this game, giving some additional variance to turn order while keeping initiative investments worthwhile and avoiding RNG skewing things outside of reason. A shambling zombie with 8 dex should never go before a 20-dex Gloom Stalker with Alert.
A D8 though would be a great option. It gives more result variety (doubled) for characters that have similar initiative bonuses, while rolling low on the die (roll a 1-2 vs a 7-8) can still be overcome by those who build towards initiative, with a +5 Dex and +5 alert and +1/2 armor bonus (total around 12-14 vs around 7-13), making sure that only other initiative heavy characters are in competition for going first in combat (outside of ambushes of course).
Edit: Found a mod that allows for selection of which die is used for initiative rolls:
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/1247?tab=description
I found a workaround: When the other player gets the shitty popup that refuses to let them join the game, telling you that you have a mod mismatch even when you don't, they should un-tick all the mods show, and then re-tick them all. This should unblock the "play game" button and allow them to join.
Hopefully Larian fixes their s#*!, but I find it unlikely - if they fix anything, it's probably the fact that the workaround works, or something like that.