HOW TO BUILD GOOD PARTIES - Baldur's Gate 3 Honour Mode Party Composition Guide

[@mikeunger4165]

"Wizard and Paladin make good buddies, because Wizard will have the right answer to a problem and Paladin will have the Smite answer to a problem." Well done🤣

[@travisretriever7473]

As a guy who keeps rolling Paladins, it's no wonder I love keeping Gale in my party. :)

[@rogue_recruit]

I listen to each of your build videos like a podcast while I'm doing other things so please keep making them!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much! More every day :D

[@ssSHIFTt]

"Staves... Uh, staffs!" I see you, Mr. Ceph. Commenting to help you find the visability you deserve.

[@The_Breaded92]

Oh man I remember the day I finally started pronouncing this correctly after playing fire emblem for YEARS! 😂

[@christianabruzzo6632]

If you ever do a let’s play I will 100% watch every episode and thoroughly enjoy it!

[@bruceal4797]

Dude please.

[@Eirandir]

I just watch all your videos, not because I'm interested in the specific topic covered in the video, but because I LOVE the delivery, the way you present the information is extremely well made and I want to support you so that whenever a video comes out of something I would actually want to know I know for a fact it's going to be the absolute best way for me to understand it

[@itsyoungk04]

We come for the content, but stay for your voice ❤

[@phoenixwright3752]

literally, need him to do a long let's play of bg3 as something properly to fall asleep to

[@dotkittyraptor]

💯

[@joeracer302]

I don’t want to know what makes you come.

[@Kailokel]

Awesome video that actually broke down things I'd kind of had as a muddy mess in my head but wasn't able to properly solidify in an actionable way.

[@alex1sandulache]

1:36 Good use of the meme. I actually like your individual character build videos quite a lot.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks!

[@yvaskhmir]

What I love about BG3 is how they make martial classes have "more buttons" (as you called it) than their D&D counterparts, with the inclusion of easily accessed throwable items and with throwing being a viable option instead of a simple attack (even excluding Tavern Brawler) for Strength builds that lack Dexterity and with special arrows for Dexterity builds that often lack Strength. Making arrows into less busted spells for martial classes is just very cool. Of course, excluding "more damage against x" arrows, as they are just that and don't really add anything unique to the table.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

I agree! In particular I think the bonus action jump and shove and the short rest weapon actions were great game design that they should absolutely roll into the upcoming D&D update

[@GAMER32231]

@@Cephalopocalypse jump and shove aren't bonus actions in D&D?

[@yvaskhmir]

I don't think you have to worry about people not needing to watch your party composition videos after teaching them about building parties, as, even with all the knowledge, the amount of options is still incredible, so it's still fun and interesting to see what sb cooks up. And besides, you make it very clear explicitly every time, that there's hardly a need for your videos, as the game makes it kinda hard to make a weak character without doing so on purpose. The added knowledge you provide is helpful, yes, but, at least for me, the main reason to watch your videos is to listen to a well-prepared, open-minded, passionate person with a pleasant sounding voice talk about a game they like and I like as well. I know a joke is a joke, but still, seemed worth to type this out nonetheless, even if to just fill your "weird compliment from a stranger" quota for the day.

[@Feersumdjinn]

As ever, an excellent break down of fundamental concepts. Your content is top notch! Here to stay, whatever it is your covering

[@TheCassinus]

You, sir, are much like the scarecrow who won an award. He was out standing in his field

[@BizLBizL]

no one commenting on this joke is a crime, i chuckled

[@ClockworkBard]

This is a huge help for taking a macro look at a build. While none of it is brand new info for this channel, framing it in this context is hugely helpful. Your timing is great too. I'm in a co-op game and have been struggling on how to contribute cohesively to an established party (ice sorc, arcane trickster, and vengeance paladin) while still getting to play sometime I'm in the mood for. Looking at this party through these pillars, it feels way more complete than I'd previously thought and I have way more options the next time I talk to Withers!

[@zethgb]

Your content is top notch man. Your builds are to optimized for my taste, But they inspire and help me getting better at building on my own!

[@CMiY0]

I love how his builds are all optimized around simplicity and flavor rather than just sheer min-maxing (for the most part). Personally, I hate multiclassing for the sake of it. I prefer having an RP element for a multiclass.

[@matthewlands9839]

I am so impressed by your channel and the time you put into your videos. As a new player playing balders gate, videos like this have been a great tool in planning my playthrough of the game.

[@0xNaufal]

This was super helpful!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks so much for the support! I really appreciate it - glad you enjoyed the video!

[@awesomepossumdude]

This video is just like when I played baseball in high school. I was an outfielder and this one game I got totally confused, “why is the ball getting bigger?” And then it hit me

[@meliannhawke3318]

AWESOME explanations! I cannot put into words how helpful this is - thank you so much. ❤

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it :D

[@andreijuduc7275]

Thank you. I'm new to BG3, with no experience in D&D, and your videos so far helped me have way more fun with the game than I would've solo

[@LadyBernkastel92]

Great video, I learned a lot! Also I'm glad you brought up BG3 being stingy with bows, I'm glad that I haven't just been somehow missing all the great bows, cuz every time I go into my magic weapon supply to equip a character I'm always pretty surprised by the lack of ranged options. I got swords and clubs all day long, but I hardly have enough really good ranged stuff to even cover my party.

[@CCFelton94]

I just really dig this channel so much.

[@Cindr4]

I'd love to see you make videos going through and analyzing specific combat encounters (of your choosing), teaching and applying (as well as learning for yourself) in-depth strategy while playing the game. And also, you obviously have such a perfectly tailored brain for this kind of thing, so there is absolutely no way people will stop watching your content by you teaching them to think for themselves when making parties - if anything, they'll see what a resource you are, feel inspired, come back for more, and perhaps even contribute to the discourse with their own experiences. Love the content, btw

[@quaffie]

its just fun to watch what people come up with. keep going with your party compositions.

[@JODYHiROLLER-Smite]

I love how long these videos are. I listen to them while at work.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much!

[@matheusmterra]

You just blew my mind: I'm having an easy time-ish almost finishing Act 1 honour mode and it always struck to me "well, creating water and only in the next turn exploiting wet sounds terrible, how's that good?". I had no idea you could mix and match actions of characters if there isn't any enemies acting between one another.

[@gardandresen5939]

Mind blown seconded 😁

[@Cephalopocalypse]

The game really does not make it clear!

[@quaffie]

i found out on the nautiloid because i played my first playthrough in coop and that makes it pretty obvious that you can mix and match :D

[@bunchofives313]

Excellent, super informative content. Just twenty hours in and it has made my first play-through much smoother so far. Bonus dad joke: when I realised I had set up my characters terribly, I got so angry I smashed my keyboard against the wall. Keys went everywhere. That’s when shift really hit the fan.

[@Kamadusk]

How many goblins does it take to paint a house? Depends on how hard you throw ’em.

[@karnazacss]

I would watch a whole educational playthrough from you, I think more people would aswell.

[@manolispiperias7608]

Easily one of the most comprehensive Baldur’s Gate 3 content.

[@notinwater]

So.... basically just make a party of 4 Bards

[@thomasrosendahl2783]

Bards are the only class that can fill every role, Clerics also have control, damage and support spells but can not do all the skill and dialogue checks besides disarming traps and lockpick etc.

[@chuckchan4127]

4 Swords Bards to be specific.

[@uncannyresemblance]

Have you ever considered doing a let’s play? I know they don’t click very well on modern KZbin but I feel your current audience would really enjoy watching them.

[@kylebutler682]

Very good tutorials/guides. Very thorough and interesting. keep up the good work

[@PhantomPhD1218]

Fantastic video! I love the breakdown on team composition considerations. There should always be a balance between theory and practice.

[@cobyvanderwall7490]

I so so so wish there was more content as clean and thorough as yours - just perfect

[@khairulbasirrudin732]

Smoother gameplay is the keyword for me..Thanks for this gigantically useful tutorial! Previously I followed DND 4th Ed guidebook for Defender, Leader, Striker & Controller builds.

[@Lucifer-sn9ir]

Love these videos because you sound naturally trustworthy and battle tested per se when it comes to knowledge of the game I always feel like I can trust the builds you give us without worry about me messing it up for being idiotic

[@THEcamobackpack]

This was SUCH a helpful video!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much!

[@DigDoug56]

Love the videos, just wanted to say the “shared initiative system synergy” you mentioned in bg3 is not new from dnd, the same thing is present RAW in 5E. (But the wording has so many groups misunderstanding it and thus not running it like it is in bg3) I don’t have the drive to find the link now but there is a Jeremy Crawford interview on mounted combat in where he confirms this is how it should be working. (Not just as it regards to mounts, that’s just the topic being discussed that it come up for). Ps- he has another going into differences between hidden and unseen and how line of sight works in dnd 5 and it’s all very interesting but also very convoluted and thus groups get all that wrong all the time to. I love dnd and Baldur’s gate.

[@BerserkPlaysYT]

phenomenal video, thank you for being as thorough as always

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much!

[@paulabroyles120]

Your videos have been so helpful. Thank you!

[@jwow6817]

been looking for a video just like this, great content!

[@TheLukas144]

Really nice breakdown of party mechanics, verified some of my own thoughts but also learned a bunch of tips amd tricks!

[@itsJPhere]

I have learned so much from your videos. Now, if Larian just fixes the worst honor mode ending bugs, I might try it one day. Tactician feels easy. None of my characters actually die in battle anymore. Although Jaheira died fighting Sarevok but that doesn't count because she literally single handedly took all the damage.😅

[@dirtiestdan4756]

MOOD, my closest shaves with my honor mode ending were all bugs 💀. I also almost permanently lost an ally slot because shadowheart randomly decided she wouldn’t be controlled by me or fast travel with me (had to kill and res her 7 times to get her fixed and she almost left the party taking all the items and armor I got her)

[@eduardoserpa1682]

Needed or not, party-building is a fun puzzle to have, so I appreciate the framework.

[@thebrokuyasu4733]

These videos are great for helping me plan out the honor mode run that I will never do. As for a dad joke. A dad is washing his truck with his son. After some time the son says “Can you use a sponge instead?”

[@Baseballman1224]

Still the most articulate KZbinr

[@Ragatokk]

Control is not the opposite of damage, power is not the opposite of versatility. Rather a powerful character with good control and damage options is a versatile one.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

That's trivially true, and if characters were simply on a scale from "good" to "bad" then that would be the right way to look at it - but the point here is that different builds emphasize different things, and you trade strength in one area for strength in another.

[@cyrylkowalczyk9392]

Great guide, leaving a lot of place for individuality, flavour and role play!

[@Skyfoudre64]

Comment to help you out with the algorithm. Love the content thanks for all the work you do ❤

[@cherylyan4334]

Your videos helped me a lot. Thanks. You're doing a fantastic job!

[@connornelson3277]

Only commenting for the algorithm but your channel is sick man, liked and subbed off this one

[@Magnus_Strand84]

Awesome video. Are there builds you made that would work well together?

[@cannyvalley8522]

My favorite Gale joke is Gale, our tank

[@lawrencefosterjenkins8216]

Oh yes, we’ve all watched that lonewolfie ft. shenpai video at one point. “he’s gonna action surge and cast two spells” 💀

[@djcowell91]

Stat gear: No mention of the Club of Strength from the Arcane tower? I love it as an off hand weapon for an archer with the Titan Bow.

[@IliumGaming]

i would like to see you do solo run builds, at least a few would be cool to see. I know others have covered the topic but you tend to go in depth with your game analysis and I think you could provide a good perspective on that aspect of the game.

[@Marshal_Dunnik]

A good example of synergy would be a party member with Longstrider and a Monk: the monk's mobility is already excellent, with Longstrider, it makes it borderline overpowered

[@travisretriever7473]

Re: Role Balance, it's a reason why wizards (esp. Divination wizards) and Paladins (any of them, really) pair so extremely well together. As a guy who loves maining Ancients Paladins, I knew I loved having Gale in my party for a damn good reason. ^.^

[@avinabdas5647]

Just recently started following your guide and loving it. One suggestion from my side maybe you can suggest compatible party members for each of detailed builds that you do!

[@johansmith9424]

Thank you for your videos. From a french player

[@Sosozanyway]

Lame thing happened last night to me and my friend in our Honor Mode run. We returned to camp after a fight at the goblin camp, and the Oathbreaker Knight turned hostile upon arrival. He slaughtered my party and ended our Honor Mode run then and there. I looked it up, and didn't find many people that have shared my experience. It was odd, and frustrating. Oh well! Time to start a new run 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@cherimoya122]

My favourite professor at BG3 university

[@michaelackerman2283]

Love your videos, I found you last week and have watched just about everything BG3 you’ve done. Do you have interest in more CRPGs, like PoE2?

[@jimruthers4583]

My friend is just getting into bg3 and dnd and I'm gonna recommend the crap out of this. He was really set on the WoW roles and he wouldn't listen to me. But your paladin description is what he needs to hear lol now go SMITE!

[@jmr90000]

Nature Cleric, Veng Pally, Hunter Ranger, and Divination Wizard has been fantastic

[@jmr90000]

Halfling Cleric Tav, Pally Shart, Ranger Karlach, and Gale Gale (I think once the beginning of Act II roles around Karlach has cooled down enough to wear armor and not lose control all the time, so thats when I swapped her from Barb)

[@jmr90000]

One more comment for the engagement push

[@slkrsmobile]

Right now I'm working on an honour run, but I'm also insisting on Lae'zel being an Oath Breaker paladin - for thematic reasons she kept her oath until the Creche. I using Karlack as a monk because it pairs with her soul coins. I'm running Minthara as your Paladin/Rogue slayer, and I keep respecting my Tav as I haven't settled entirely on something. It's always some spell caster - typically wizard. I'm working towards your lightning lord build now.

[@FinalHooba]

Love your videos my dude. The start killed me 😂

[@darkmoone9984]

Going to try the Blast Everything Before They Can Act builds to see if I can finally beat Honor mode.

[@Lamentationsofapoory]

Exactly what I wanted in a video!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

glad to hear it!

[@Teratoma..]

My favorite party is Swords bard (dark urge) Open hand monk Karlach Gloom stalker ranger (anyone works) Eldritch knight thrower Lae'zel At least for the early game before you unlock some of the crazy equipment like bhaalist armor. I'll also cycle in light cleric Shadowheart for encounters like the mountain pass death shepherds and outside the goblin camp

[@b1ackm4gic]

That's similar to my current honor mode run except my gloomstalker and Swords bard are the same multiclassed character. Then I have land druid putting down hazards, and my Tav is a warlock. Nobody melee ever reaches my party lol

[@Roman_Z_ov]

I needed this video 6 mons ago

[@RafaelMartins-fg9rb]

Best party in the game: 4 stealth archers. joking.The upside of games that reward you to have companions is that it forces me to dont play only stealth archer

[@Bruno-ki9iz]

I'd add that a huge factor is how reliant the character is on long rests. My parties tend to have a ranger and a fighter in order to save supplies. Btw, perhaps you could make a guide or a tier list on that? xD

[@Honzy87]

I would agrue a "short-rest-parts" could also be a very good idea. something like bard/druid/warlock/monk. after lvl 5 or 6 you could go long ways without long rests if that is what you want or generally reset allmost all of your resources after every little fight. I thing i might try that out.

[@TheGuardian707]

Hello my friend can you please do a mono-class Barbarian (for Karlach) and a mono-class warlock (for Wyll). As someone who doesn’t know a lot about D&D and play on Explorer difficulty where multi-classing is disabled. Your builds really help me both make strong characters and overall enjoy the game. It would be cool to have builds for those characters that are both lore friendly and don’t require multi-classing to work properly. Keep up the great work and have a good day

[@cannyvalley8522]

I would like to add Enhance Leap to utility spell list. Some places are inaccessible with 8 str jump. It also makes easier positioning before and in combat

[@emilelegault9746]

good presentation , clean video ! know your topic 😊

[@papaAJ88]

Love your build guides!

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks very much!

[@emerealm3779]

The conversational skills can be important in multiplayer to have distributed as you wont always be running around with 4 people linked together, especially in the boring early game that my team has done 300+ times

[@MXF-sy9hy]

Excellent, as always. Thanks very much.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thank you!

[@davidsharpe1611]

As per your kind request - “What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.” :-)

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Excellent

[@nightcatoof1712]

Why did the scarecrow get an award? Because he was out-standing in his field!

[@generalmayhem8318]

Well done buddy, keep it up🤙🏽

[@Cephalopocalypse]

thanks!

[@dasphoenixable]

Two peanuts were walking down the street, when one was a salted.

[@bramo1825]

Great advice and insight not just for bg3 but also D&D! Here's the dad joke as requested: "This roof might not be my child, but I will raise it." 😊

[@alexmashkin863]

Very well thought out meaningful comment of more than six words

[@Goodpsychiatry]

It would be amazing to see a deep video of the first strike team comp for honor. I would love to try that 😊

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Stay tuned ;)

[@Goodpsychiatry]

@@Cephalopocalypse

[@jcc019]

Great vid! Any chance we can get an illithid power video discussing each one's strength, specific builds, or perhaps how best to spread the powers across a party?

[@Cephalopocalypse]

Thanks! Definitely on the agenda

[@ChumblesMumbles]

Knowing what super-powerful items are in the game really helps with party building, because if you get one of them and nobody can use it, that's a really feels-bad moment, and since the game is limited (they don't have the entire universe of possibility out there) it's not even a random chance thing where maybe you'll get lucky next time. It's not as bad as BG2 though - in that one there were a couple of super-busted items that were just junk if you didn't have a very specific party. Carsomyr was the worst - if you didn't have a paladin nobody could use it, and it was by far the most powerful weapon in the entire game by orders of magnitude (and you only got one crappy paladin as a normal playthrough option, so you basically had to custom-make your own).

[@AK-bm1yl]

To be honest, if you want to have a cakewalk for honor mode, you maximize burst damage. If you have 3 characters with extremely high single target output and 1 character for extremely high AOE output, you can end, or make the fight just a mop up in 2 rounds. You also spec 1 for the party face (preferably something like a bard xbow, or bardadin dual wield with Phalar Aluve for A1+2. For example, my first honor mode run was with a party of abjuration wizard/tempest cleric, TB monk/rogue/fighter, bardadin and light cleric. Because none of them had action surge besides the monk, there would be a lot of times when high threat enemies would get a turn and do their nasty things In contrast, my last honor mode run was with a party of magic missile evocation wizard/tempest cleric, bard/fighter/rogue dual xbow, EK thrower, Battlemaster/war cleric archer. With this set up, I can zerg any high threat in round 1 (all my characters had alert feat to have high init) and make round 2/3 just a mop up. The design intent behind DnD and by extension BG3 was to make healing pretty ineffective. Larian also nerfed some of the crowd control spells/effects to last less. Because of this, "crowd controlling" via taking out a target before they can have a turn seems to be the most effective way.

[@Ark0]

any video of a detailed party build? to the last detail? i would like to play a Chaotic Good run. and I would love to have Shadowheart and Karlach on my party. I can play whatever main but I guess I should be something inclined to CHAR + INT build. Anythging in mind?

[@jamminkeys]

one of my favorite themed parties I ran was my dark urge evil run, in which I recruited Minthara, and had Shadowheart make the evil choice. since I had the Spear of Evening to cast darkness at will, I built the whole party around it with immunity to blindness, darkvision, and ways to root enemies (GoO warlock, wolverine barb, etc). it was such a blast to play the "Warriors of Darkness", trapping enemies in the dark and wrecking them 🕶

[@craiglindberg5206]

Really love the channel and listen all the time! Was thinking of make cold focused party: ice sorcerer, spore druid with morning frost, dagger build with cold snap. And swords bard with bow enchantrd with drakethroat glauve. What do you think?

[@michaelboron2534]

My biggest issue is that I tend to get stuck on a certain quest line and basically push the main story line while severely under leveled

[@robertbuchanan7609]

I wish I had this video in my first play through. I hadn't played table top since second addition. So my mind was thinking like a video game player. Tank, healer, dps and controller. I struggled a lot.

[@JosieJOK]

My current party: Throwing Barbarian, Swords Bard/Rogue, War Cleric and Abjuration Wizard. Tactician, not Honor-don’t think I’m ready for Honor quite yet!

[@necoparx2687]

Never blame others for the road you're on. That's your own asphalt.

[@bdonlazy]

When is a joke a Dad joke? ... When it becomes apparent!

[@chuckchan4127]

Oh My GOD

[@bdonlazy]

@@chuckchan4127 Yeah, I'm at once sorry, and you're welcome. It's a heavy weight to bear knowing this joke, but I believe in you.

[@Alexander_Chase22]

Would love to see an evil playthrough party comp and an updated lore bard if you'd change it at all

[@skullkrusher-dx4kg]

You can hold ypur initiative until after a party member in the 5e rule set if you both beat the same enemies in initiative.

[@Cephalopocalypse]

That's a very common houserule (and I personally play with delayed turns even more generous than that, just letting players choose to delay to any point in the initiative order and then jump in, like in previous D&D editions) but technically in base 5e the only way to change your initiative is with a readied action triggering on a specific circumstance and requiring your full turn as well as concentration if it's a spell.

[@Its_whats_his_face]

My current playthrough has an interesting party. My halfling Barbarian named Franklin failed to roll a 7 or higher to pull Gail out - so no wizard. Lazel would not say "please" - so no fighter. Franklin would not tolerate another Barbarian - Karlach is dead. Barbarian - Eagle Totem Rouge - Assassan Cleric - Trickery Warlock - Fiend