10 Unexpected Dungeon Master Lessons from Baldur’s Gate 3

Let's discuss 10 unexpected dungeon master lessons we can learn from Baldur's Gate 3!
🧙 The Secret Art of Game Mastery! Get decades of GM experience in one book! - www.kickstarte...
💖 Support us on Patreon and get Lair Magazine (5e and PF2 GM resources) and other rewards! / thedmlair
🏪 Shop the store! Get back issues of Lair Magazine, Into the Fey, map packs, 5e adventures, and more! - the-dm-lair.my...
⚔️ Get Lairs & Legends! Over 700 pages of D&D 5e GM resources: adventures spanning levels 1 to 15, 100+ new monsters, encounters, puzzles, traps, villains, NPCs, maps, and more! - the-dm-lair.my...
🚩Free GM Resources! Get free D&D 5e goodies emailed to you every week! - thedmlair.getr...
💬 Join our discord! Become a part of our awesome, welcoming community of game masters who encourage and help each other out! - / discord
❓ Ask me your own questions here! - forms.gle/zKXs...
⭐ Roll20 adventures! Get D&D 5e adventures! - marketplace.ro...
~~2023 Convention Schedule~~
Please come up and say hi if you see me!
Grand Con, September 1-3 www.grand-con....
#dungeonsanddragons #dungeonmaster #gamemaster

[@theDMLair]

🧙 The Secret Art of Game Mastery! Get decades of GM experience in one book! - www.kickstarter.com/projects/thedmlair/the-secret-art-of-game-mastery?ref=77qgbg

[@jonathanschmitt5762]

0:25 1.: Branching Story Paths. 1:53 2.: Dynamic World Building. 3:17 3.: Balancing The Three Pillars. 4:15 3.5.: Sleezy Plug. 4:57 4.: Follow The Rules. 5:45 5.: Complex Character Backstories. 7:03 6.: Increase Immersion With Music. 7:28 7.: Using Abilities During Social Interactions. 8:30 8.: NPC Depth. 9:50 9.: Environmental Interactions. 10:45 10.: Intrigue And Mystery.

[@zerdafox]

😮🎉❤❤ S tier comment

[@sanserof7]

The main takeaway I got from BG3 is to ALLOW players to cheese fights. When I cheese a fight in BG3 I feel amazing, but as a DM I always had the urge to make fights more difficult or to adapt my fights to better counter my player's strengths. I think just allowing your players to steamroll your fights by clever gameplay will leave them more satisfied in the end.

[@thespianmask8451]

The secret is designing encounters meant to be cheesed. If they cheese an encounter you didn't mean to be cheesed, you might run out of content mid-session and end up impromptu writing yourself into a corner for future sessions by ad-libbing.

[@ColinMacInnis]

This is a staple in my DMing. Players earn these moments as they come and I make sure to honor them

[@chiepah2]

Just don't allow them to cheese the fights the same way every time, keep them thinking and encourage them to be more creative by having NPCs react to known tactics, something as simple as "We were warned about this, get out of the water!" will let the players know the same trick they've used on the last 6 fights wont keep working.

[@julianbecker4351]

One of the things that realy impressed me was many cool itms you can find without getting to strong, I realy think this is somthing the tabletop side can realy profit from. Like you find a weapon with a new cool cantrip to cast. You do not get that much stronger, but you look foward to check out what is in the next chest. While in most adventures you only find a basic +1 weapon or just money (sometimes in the form of stuff, but still just gold).

[@leonelegender]

That's a GM problem

[@cooperblackwell1392]

But you find items quickly that can make you incredibly stronf

[@phecto]

Shar isn't morally ambiguous, she's super evil

[@veeshallkumballi2551]

she can be its dnd you can make your own rules

[@jarvisebon3273]

Omg I’m so lucky that you said about the skill checks during dialogue thing. I realise now that I neglect charisma skill checks during conversations more then I should. I should definitely bring them up more often as the uncertainty will make it more interesting rather then purely relying on the players’ words to persuade a friendly NPC! Love it! Awesome video as always! 🤌

[@CaseyWilkesmusic]

This is easily the thing I stuggle with the most. I have CHA based players who I’m always trying to give them options but it’s so much harder

[@samanthacousland870]

I would say the narrator is the DM.

[@L337P1R4735]

They absolutely are, I don't know what he was thinking when he said that.

[@Hot_Dice]

@@L337P1R4735you can’t converse with the narrator, it’s clearly not the same thing. Though I do see where a comparison can be drawn.

[@jarvisebon3273]

I’ve been watching videos online and her voice sounds so cool! I wish my narrator voice was half as cool as that. 😂

[@Lrbearclaw]

​@@Hot_DiceThe PC cannot talk to the DM, the player does. In BG3, you are the PC and see from their point if view.

[@Hot_Dice]

@@Lrbearclaw are you not also a player, who has no ability to speak to a DM- because there is no DM? Only a narrator. They’re clearly not the same, it is unfair to expect a video game to emulate the interactions between free thinking minds and I believe that is the ground Luke is standing on.

[@jamestaylor3805]

Speaking of masterpieces, have a character design for you to share which is an absolute rendemption for the Blood Hunter class. The newer Dhampir race, Con based bite attack with the ability to empower them for HP gain and bonuses to the next ability check. No breathing. But no spider climb. Use the Ancestral Heritage to take Owlin, Flight equal to movement and Stealth proficiency. Optionally, I think it's the Mariner background that gives a Swimming and Climbing speeds. Now have all movements except burrow. These both work nicely with the Stealth skill. Blood Hunter, Order of the Lycan, reflavored to the Skyrimesque Vampire transformation. Total of +15 to movement with some jump bonuses too. Bite damage increases to a 1d8 damage, upto a +3 attack and +3 damage, with advantage on all attacks, counts as magical, and includes your blood rite damage. This has 2 attacks per action and can use unarmed attacks as a bonus action. Tons of regeneration to recover from augmenting your curses because you are a pure constitution build. Dex(AC) and Int(blood hunter features) are where you put anything else you have. The tethers and curses give lots of options for other bonuses against a chosen target who will never be able to get away (you KNOW where they are and have advantage on perception with smell and hearing to help track that thing you haven't branded yet). +1AC if not in heavy armor, taking the defensive fighting style for +1AC as well. This places studded leather at 14 AC. Can wear light armor with full Dex bonus while flying. Also has damage reduction for non silver physical attacks. Take the Mobile feat and you now have a 60 foot movement speed, even flying, swimming or climbing. Finally take the NET as your only weapon and have the Crossbow Specialist feat (no disadvantage to ranged attacks at the net's range) just for that extra layer of 5e redemption. This net attack is a great place to use the bonus to an ability check from your massively boosted bite attack that you can only empower a limited number of times(Prof Bonus/day). You still have feats to play with but... Aberrant Dragonmark could give ya a cantrip and one spell cast with Con. Greater Dragonmark of Passage give Blink(thematic for the quick vamp) and Teleportation Circle(can always get everyone home) cast with Con as well. Both increase the stat too to ensure that max 20 Con by late game. For the cantrip, "Green Flame Bite" comes to mind. That single first level spell, maybe Longstrider for even more movement. Non campaign specific feat option is the classic combo of Fighting Initiate - Tunnel Fighter, Sentinel, and War Caster. You now have unlimited and free attacks of opportunity that freeze the enemy in place via a massive bite attack or Green Flame bite when applicable. Chompy McChompy Zoom.

[@vodostar9134]

Excellent points. While I'm a very experienced RPer, I was just learning 5e when I started BG3 EA. It was actually my main tool for firming up my understanding of 5e rules, especially as they relate to running various classes that I don't play very often. As I'm playing the final release now, I still occasionally run into things that highlight a difference in rule interpretation and often it turns out that my interpretation was wrong when I look it up. (And sometimes, BG3 is homebrewing.)

[@notequalto5179]

I've been wanting to go from a good DM to a great DM. I bet if I end up accomplishing most of the points on this list, I could get there.

[@OtterrChaos]

Playing through BG3 on act 3 now. Man I have never felt so hooked on a DnD game, I feel like every decision I make is high stakes for the characters I've gotten attached to. I've gotten so inspired by how this story is so interwoven i hope i can take some of these lessons to my table.

[@OneTrueNobody]

The moment I understood Baldur's Gate 3's intricacy when it comes to having multiple ways to approach a problem was probably when, while scouting a ruined ghost village filled with goblins, I had the bright idea to cast Disguise Self to turn my halfling protag into a drow. The goblins, predictably, were cowed by the prospect of trying to tell a drow elf not to do exactly as they pleased, although they did make a token effort to confirm that I was at least an ally. I was able to take a Performance ability check to put on a stereotypical haughty drow act and bluff my way through. I assume that a drow protagonist would have the option to do that by default, but from that moment on it occurred to me that I really might have so many more ways of approaching even the most basic situations. Baldur's Gate 3 is really good about providing tons of little story branches and also springling in a number of Ability Checks that just give you a slightly different way of expressing yourself in dialogue without it even changing much-the result being that you genuinely don't know whether or not a given choice is really a choice or just the illusion of one. And that's not even getting into how much use you can get out of Detect Thoughts, Speak With Dead, and Speak With Animals.

[@simonwhitworth2040]

I've never played any of the Baldur's Gate series, but agree with the points you make on how the gameplay and options illustrate some facets of good gamesmastering. Skyrim, shich I have played, is another good example.

[@casualmagic1102]

…who was entrusted with a powerful artifact before she was captured. When the Davises booked their vacation, they didn’t know about their neighbors down the hill… Oh wow, Baldur’s Gate 3 sounds even more dark than I expected! 🤣

[@EmperorSteele]

I'd have to pull a "Hol' it!" at number 5, "Complex backstories". Half of the characters' backstories in BG3 suggest that they should be like, Level 20, and have no business starting at level one. One spent a decade or so in hell fighting demons. Another single-handidly defeated the cult of the dragon and prevented Tiamat from being summoned to the material plane. Another F-KED A GODDESS, who only broke up with him because he ACCIDENTALLY RE-DISCOVERED LEVEL 10 MAGIC. I wouldn't allow such ludicrous backstories at my table, because it breaks immersion, at least for me, when rp and game mechanics don't mesh.

[@coinslot321]

as someone who is easily distracted, music rips me out of DM mode, I can be mid sentence and if an epic score is going on in the background it throws me off as I listen to it and I stutter or pause unnaturally. So I usually dont play music in my games

[@skippyzk]

5:43 YES I agree. The dm should know the rules. Another dm advice youtuber has said it should be on the players.

[@orokusaki1243]

Tip 6 - Using Music - can really be hit or miss, IMO. As a Player, I mute any/all music bots so that I can hear what the GM and other Players are saying and because it is unnatural for a 60 piece orchestra to be following the party around everywhere. I get that it can help set the atmosphere and be used as cues for table energy, but it really knocks me out of the immersion instead of drawing me in. Tolkien didn't have a musical score in the margins of his books, that gets added later in movies to fill all the empty gaps between dialogues and, again, to tell the audience what atmosphere they should be feeling. As a GM, I prefer ambient sounds (looped and with soundboard) as opposed to any kind of music (unless in a tavern with a bard in the background, ofc, which would also be an ambient sound in the stack). It sets the atmosphere just as well, if not better than music does. Neverwinter Nights' (2002) Aurora GM Toolset had placeable sounds like that and it was glorious to hear a torch's crackling (among other things) increase as one moved closer to it, or decrease as one moved away. Some VTTs also have a feature like this for sounds.

[@RottenRogerDM]

Looks at Blazing Saddles. You are wrong.

[@BreakingRadOfficial]

You forgot doing the horizontal mombo with a bear! Seriously though, thanks for this list. I’m not going to play BG3 so the tips have to come from you :)

[@thegreengnome]

I'd be interested to know the details of the BG3 house rules and if they could be used in an actual 5e game. Ex. 2 short rests for each long rest.

[@cooperblackwell1392]

Shove bonus action is huge

[@chrisc359]

So thing I already did is steal Some of the books in the game. Not for the information per se, but to have something laying around if someone decides to look into a book. He is now likely to get some trivia, or a letter from someone. Maybe a new plot hook, maybe not, but still better then always having to say "you look around, find all sorts of non sense" because it was not anticipated to be of interest

[@GeoFry3]

I find the game very interesting, but I'm definitely feeling the shock of being back into my teen years of D&D. A big change from the whole hack and slash manna/health clicky click combat and single path quest.

[@chiepah2]

BG3 can teach us, as DMs, that it is important we allow PCs to eff a bear.

[@aaronbono4688]

What I want to know is who taught your cat the blink spell?

[@Hedron-Design]

Good observation. Good advice and good fun thanks again. Gave me some things to consider in the current game I am running.

[@hadesblackplays]

good tips for new dm's and masters who usually run campaigns that havent so much of a narrative focus

[@Wanderinpaladin]

I used to have gaming music, but since I've started running at a FLGS I haven't had the opportunity.

[@endorneyodera4366]

"Like leaving a character in captivity" Look, maybe if Laezel wasnt such a jerk, i might allow her to be in my party or live

[@herman1francis]

Talking about player decisions having meaningful impacts on the game world, My players just had Vassili von Holtz elected as the new burgomaester or Vallaki :)

[@justinschmelzel8806]

10. Loot is fun. Give out loot often.

[@terminus9619]

I would like to see a video of you rating the companion backstories in BG3 as if they were going to be used in a tabletop game. As a former gamemaster, some of them I love a lot, while others not so much. I'd really like to hear your opinions on them.

[@Tenderleaf]

most of them are backgrounds for characters higher than level 1, that's for sure

[@SoulPotion]

Amazing video, man! Thanks a lot 💙

[@kodiakthebear4422]

Cannot wait to play the game, for the algorithm

[@multiversedm]

Well done. Thank you.

[@Sir-Cyr_Rill-Nil-Mill]

Tim Kask is still making videos! _Tim Kask_ original maker of D&D guy.

[@darksider111]

The cat was in the video, but is annoyed it was not about the cat - all praise to the furry overloads

[@toondemaere3080]

The best one by far is giving players 2 short rest's per day to use whenever they wan't.

[@TrairFrair]

And, conversely, making long rests costly- in resources, in time, and the consequences of both. But yes, the ease of short rests really hammers home how meaningful the short rest abilities are. Warlock and warrior abilities get a lot more mileage when you short rest so often!

[@sanserof7]

Players can already do that though, in fact they can do more

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

I only disagree with music. That’s more time and energy for the DM to put into planning the game

[@orokusaki1243]

The cheat for that is to look up some jRPG soundtracks. Loop the battle music. Loop the village music. And so on. Fanfare on victory. Etc.

[@guyman1570]

Yeah it really depends on you and the group. Music does nothing for me and my group.

[@heifs]

Why should I make my players make a charisma check during a dialog if what they say already aligns with the values/goals of the character they are talking to? On the opposite side, if what they say is completely opposite, even a Nat20 won't make an Undead drop their weapons. I only make them roll when there is a chance to success/failure when the character is unsure of which side action to take.

[@phecto]

But do you give them the option to just say they want to try and persuade an NPC and roll if it's reasonable or do they have to give you the speech they use to try that persuasion? If not then do you also make the rogue show you how they go about picking a lock first and the fighter demonstrate their swordsmanship before they get to roll? You don't have to be a body builder into hema to play a barbarian so you also shouldn't have to be a charming rockstar to play a persuasive bard. That's what the stats and dice are for

[@heifs]

​@@phecto If they say "Can I try to persuade them?" yes, I ask them to roll persuasion and we go with it, considering the "Starting attitude" of the NPC towards them as mentioned on the DMG. Ex: You face a lowlife mercenary guarding the stable, and you offer 20,000 GP for him to go away. The amount is so ridiculous he will take it and leave, no need to roll on this case. If it was a knight of a holy order, you either have a great argument/reason for him to leave and/or roll for persuasion, deception or find other ways to get in. That's what works for my table so far

[@gitrekt-gudson]

Because you can be speaking to someone about something you actually do believe in, and they can still think you're full of it. The key in these dialogues and checks isn't just the success failure, but how the conversation flows from there. Just because you spoke truth doesn't mean they believe you, even if what you say aligns with them... they could think you're trying to play them. The 20k GP example especially... I might make them roll... the lowlife mercenary hasn't survived this long by being a fool, and this could sound too good to be true to him, whats the catch? Might make the mercenary more suspicious.

[@sleepinggiant4062]

While I love music and sound effects, to increase immersion, music needs to be handled with a kid glove. It usually interferes with game and makes communication difficult.

[@Tenderleaf]

+ if you have players at the table like I do, they stop listening to eachother and the GM, and are hard-focussed on the music

[@gitrekt-gudson]

I think a lot of people just run the music too loud. It's not there for active listening enjoyment, should be JUST loud enough to be audible and fill the silence and set a mood in the background. Anyone speaking at a normal volume should be able to easily drown it out, hard to be hard focused on music you can't hear.

[@Mr_GoR_]

*sigh* guess I need to buy BG3 so I can play it and give you my opinion.

[@JC-ew5ss]

Where are your rules for social combat that you promised?

[@Calebgoblin]

"Follow the rules" dang :(

[@djseggrighfscu1616]

Isn’t that lady voice that talks to you could be considered a DM

[@Doodle1776]

The one thing that I disagree with in this video is the playing of music. I play immersive sound effects for the area that they're in at the time. Using music feels too video game-like or movie-like. Not immersive but just a mood setting. Versus playing sound effects like city sounds, cave sounds, forest sounds, etc, help place the players into the world better and feel more realistic than music.

[@gabes7356]

Hey you really should have said spoiler alert on this one the small details you revealed are the plot twists to the game

[@alexbarn3841]

He literally did. It’s not his fault you didn’t listen.

[@guyman1570]

Luke did, within the first minute of the video.

[@gabes7356]

Alright I technically worded my comment wrong the spoiler alert in my opinion should be taken a little bit more serious than implied in the video the details revealed are minor but… if you do intend to play the game (without a guide) they are relevant spoilers.

[@Sympaticos]

Also literally everything he mentioned is something you encounter withing the first hour of playing... It's like saying that the majority of the movie Titanic takes place on a boat... it's technically a spoiler but we figure it out pretty quick...

[@Runehammer1]

aren’t you just describing normal game mastering? 😊

[@kharngotrekson1726]

Most powerful lesson is do not create a shit story similar to BG 3 plot.

[@helixxharpell]

It's the computer game RPGs that, over time has reduced the # of DMs. Very few gamers anymore want to leave the comfort of their own home to drive over to a DM's house and enjoy actual face to face social interaction. As WoTC becomes fully digital there won't be a need for DMs. Players will depend on WoTC to be the DM & content creators now, will become dinosaurs in 10 years. Really sad. 😢

[@ricardojuanlopeznaranjo6651]

If those are lessons, I dont know what role playing Gamesyou have been playing. O well, I know, 5E WOW or FeatFinder LOL