Baldur's Gate 3

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)

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What can you ACTUALLY use Mage Hand for? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Is it just me, or is Mage Hand useless? Like, impressively useless.

I'm new to DnD (and DnD-like games) so I could be in the wrong here, but every time I think of something that Mage Hand should be able to do, it just doesn't.

Want to pick up an unreachable item and carry it to me? No.

Want to loot an otherwise unreachable body? No.

Want to pickpocket someone without being caught? No. (Okay, I get that this one would be pretty broken, even in normal DnD this is sometimes disallowed)

Want to fly a few feet up and light an overhead brazier? No.

Want to do literally anything useful? No.

Want to squeeze through a small hole to see a room you've already looted? Sure!

I'm at the point where instead of trying to think creatively about how to use it, I just immediately write it off because it probably can't do whatever I'm thinking of. I am genuinely surprised when I find out Mage Hand can do something, and that's not a good thing.

The only idea I had that actually worked was using it to stealth the early phase spider section by just throwing the gem at the end backwards, then moving the hand in the opposite direction to draw aggro. That's literally the only "useful" thing I've done with it, and I've still not found a use for the gem.

So I ask, what have you done with Mage Hand that's actually useful?

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It can't carry, but it can throw stuff from the ground. Came useful in one side quest.

Other than that, used it few times to pull a lever or such. Nothing terribly handy (sorry, not sorry)

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

Not only have I used it to pull levers, I also got the “kill an enemy with an unarmed strike” achievement by booping an almost dead kobold for 2 hp with it. Imagine having your existence snuffed out by mage hand.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mage hand + levers in the end of Act 1 was super helpful to prevent one of my party from getting stuck, but aside from that - yeah I'm not sure about the usefulness.

As someone with minimal tabletop RPG experience (only Warhammer not D&D), I'm enjoying the crap out of BG3 but I feel I'm missing out on when to use spells and what spells should be used.

Sure there's a spell to go to a different plane after your attack, but like... should I use the scroll on that? What if I would need it later?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same position here. After I finished my second playthrough I started a dnd campaign with some of my friends, we're all noobs.

I figured late into BG3 that if you need a scroll, use it. There aren't many spells in the game, odds are it'll drop or be sold by a merchant later. Besides, having less resources makes the game more fun.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

A lot of earlier scrolls also don't scale well, so that Melf's Acid Arrow that needed the right moment won't be any better than a typical action sooner than one would think. Definitely use 'em.