Go into the options and turn off cosmetic attacks and suddenly the animations will make a ton more sense.
Most of what you see with characters attacking is just cosmetic blows to make it look like something is happening.
a "round" is 6 seconds (a "turn" which is just a confusing term is 10 rounds but isn't really otherwise relevant)
most characters and creatures attack once per round, so once every 6 seconds. "speed factor" will determine when in the 6 seconds you attack. (low is sooner. 10 is at the end of the 6 seconds. 1 is at the beginning. 0 is instantly.) some characters, particularly fighters, can have more than one attack per round. note that there are "animated" attacks within each 6 second round that are not the actual attack that you get. when you get your attack you should see it in the log. (I think these cosmetic attacks were more of a thing in IWD but can't remember 100%.)
so, at 1 attack per round, a group of 6 will on average attack once per second (amongst the whole team). three characters would attack around once every two seconds.
due to the way AC and THAC0 work, each point of AC or THAC0 (each point *decreased*) gives you +5% to dodge or to hit, and you always have at least a 5% chance to dodge or hit a particular enemy (since IIRC 1 is always a miss and 20 is always a hit) (this can sometimes change, like when 19 are crits too on some characters).
as a very rough example, a gibberling has 7 AC and your characters probably have around 18 THAC0 at the start of the game (just a rough guess), so you would have something like a 55% chance to hit a gibberling.
(Generally AC starts around 10 and descends; THAC0 starts around 20 and descends. So to-hit for low-level characters and mobs is roughly in the neighbourhood of 50% (20 THAC0 - 10 AC = get a 10 on a d20 to hit; lower THAC0 lower roll needed; lower AC, higher roll needed).)
I don't think missed attacks show in the log by default. If you turn on the option to show the attack rolls being made they definitely will, and you can get more idea what is happening mechanically.
Go to game settings and turn on auto-pause. This will make game play more turn-like.
It uses the 2E rule-set which is very different from later versions. The game manual would be a very helpful place to start.
First you got one thing wrong Baldur's Gate is not a "DnD" game, it is a "game that uses the DnD system". Hemce all the rules are drawn from DnD, but they still have their own liberties.
As for the turn based aspect, turn basing is something that makes combat easier to manage. In reality, everything is seemless and happening at the same time as what you see in the BG games. Like normal DnD, everyone fights based on "rounds", but it has all been integrated into the combat already so you may not see when each round ends and starts. That is what DnD combat is supposed to look like outside the table.
This.
I don't understand the "D&D is supposed to be turn-based because tabletop is too". Please tell me how the turn-based aspect is NOT a technical limitation of tabletop/board games. Name one tabletop/board game that's not a turn-based game.
I guess I used the word supposed wrongly here. What I meant is, that I just expected it to be turn based because my previous experiences with DnD were all turn based. And my autistic brain likes to turn expectations into requirements sometimes
I mean it's kind of a technical limitation but turn based combat vs real time combat are 2 very different things with different things to love about it.
If you could somehow bring realtime to the tabletop and pretend there are no limitations to it (it works flawlessly just like the BG games) I doubt most people would switch to it. Turn Based Combat and Real time Combat both have their positives and negatives. Those positive and negatives do not have anything to do with technical limitations. People love the combat systems of Final Fantasy, Fallout 1&2, BG3, etc.
I honestly do agree that DnD is supposed to be turn based because that is where it's ruleset shines. There are too many rules and interesting tiny bits about combat that you should be able to meticulously plan. And even if you want to say it's a technical limitation, the ruleset of the game is completely based around that "limitation" so bringing it to real time does take away some of the intricacies of DnD combat as written.
Not necessarily saying the real time combat of BG1 and 2 are bad, but to sit here and say DnD combat is only a limitation is stupid. DnD combat should be turn based, because that's how the rules are written so if you want to translate those rules properly to a game you should also make it turn based. Again BG1 and 2 were great games but I wouldn't consider the 2e games necessarily. They are inspired by 2e.
Tabletop D&D is turn-based for the sole reason that it would be too chaotic and difficult to try to track simultaneous movement and action by everyone. That is very much a technical limitation of the medium in which it is played, a limitation on how well it can model the action being described.
The Infinity Engine devs realized they could stay true to the basic rules of D&D (so many attacks per round, so many spells per round, so much movement per round, etc.) while also allowing simultaneous action by everyone and so modeling battles *better* than tabletop D&D. The result was fluid, tactically complex, and fun, while still being faithful to the D&D rules. It sits in this amazing spot between slow, plodding, unrealistic turn-based RPGs and so-called “action RPGs” that give up on the rules and embrace fluidity at the expense of the rules. It was seen as revolutionary in its time for a reason!
As far as seeing your characters attack and miss a lot: the tabletop D&D rules specifically said that your attacks per round value does not actually represent how many times you swing your sword; it is expected that you are constantly swinging your sword and your opponent is constantly blocking or dodging it. Your attack rolls are the times you have a chance to break through that stalemate and actually damage your opponent.
So here again, Baldur’s Gate actually does a faithful job of representing the D&D rules, showing your character swinging their weapon a bunch while only some set number of those swings actually get attack rolls. Turn-based games are actually worse at representing this.
That said, the EE games have an option to turn off these ‘cosmetic attacks’ and I usually play with them turned off, so I can visually see the real attack rolls.
Real Time Pause was the standard for CRPGs for a good long while. essentially, actions still take place in order of initiative and in that sense "turns" are still being taken, but it all happens in real time. The intended way to play is to manually pause whenever you need to select important spells or other actions, and let party AI scripts handle the simple stuff.
AD&D is the ruleset used for BG1&2. it uses THAC0 instead of the modern Armor Class system, which didn't come along until 3rd edition. Essentially, you take your THAC0 and minus the target's AC, and that's your difficulty class to successfully hit. For example if you have a THAC0 of 13 and are trying to hit someone with an AC of 2, you need to roll an 11 or higher to hit them. You want your AC to be as low as possible, as higher AC makes you easier to hit.
In general, AD&D is a less forgiving beast than later editions, and there's no shame in playing on easy if normal is too much.
As another comment said, turn off cosmetic attacks in the options. They’re confusing and I would never advise having them on.
It’s not a turn based game, so when you tell your dude to attack with a bow, they’ll just sit and do that unless you tell them otherwise (directly or through using a script via ai control). If you tell your mage to cast a spell they’ll cast it and then either sit there and do nothing or start attacking with whatever method the ai thinks is the best option (depending on script).
Enemies at the beginning of bg1 are notoriously hard. Best to avoid them, just straight up run away, or kite them. For the uninitiated, kiting is when you have one dude run around in a circle with the enemy chasing them while everyone else pelts said enemy with ranged weapons. It’s cheesy, but it’s effective.
Aside from burning through spell slots on sleep or blindness, these are the only two reliable ways to not die at level 1. You can get lucky of course but you need to do some quests for the exp, or do some easy high value fights you know you can win using the advice above. Once you’re level 3 or so you’ll be much better off.
The game IS turn based. You have the option to auto-pause when the turn ends. Maybe you are confused because it is disabled by default. You can disable IA too to force what every companion does every turn.
The combat system is based in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. If you never played the tabletop rpg can be confusing... well, even if you played it for years sometimes is confusing because the tons of rules and exceptions ;)
For some basics, just remember: high abilities, hp, and positive bonus are good; high AC, Thac0 and saving throws are bad.
At level 1 your to hit ratio is crap. You should find a way to advance some levels, to that end you should explore some areas. At level 1, your scouts (basically thieves that hide in shadows, or rangers that do the same) are super poor, so that's pretty daunting. However there are quite a few of experience sources lying around. Also, to make things more convoluted, you should go get that experience with 1-2 characters, since the more you level your MC, the more experience characters you recruit later have.
It's possible to follow the main quest without farming EXP, but then the game reverts to being hard and uncomfy.
If all else fails, do a game with the sole aim of exploring the map. Then activate Story Mode (if you're in the Enhanced Edition) and steamroll everything. This way you know where everything is for when you do a real playthrough fair and square.
Go into the options and turn off cosmetic attacks and suddenly the animations will make a ton more sense. Most of what you see with characters attacking is just cosmetic blows to make it look like something is happening.
I second this
a "round" is 6 seconds (a "turn" which is just a confusing term is 10 rounds but isn't really otherwise relevant) most characters and creatures attack once per round, so once every 6 seconds. "speed factor" will determine when in the 6 seconds you attack. (low is sooner. 10 is at the end of the 6 seconds. 1 is at the beginning. 0 is instantly.) some characters, particularly fighters, can have more than one attack per round. note that there are "animated" attacks within each 6 second round that are not the actual attack that you get. when you get your attack you should see it in the log. (I think these cosmetic attacks were more of a thing in IWD but can't remember 100%.) so, at 1 attack per round, a group of 6 will on average attack once per second (amongst the whole team). three characters would attack around once every two seconds. due to the way AC and THAC0 work, each point of AC or THAC0 (each point *decreased*) gives you +5% to dodge or to hit, and you always have at least a 5% chance to dodge or hit a particular enemy (since IIRC 1 is always a miss and 20 is always a hit) (this can sometimes change, like when 19 are crits too on some characters). as a very rough example, a gibberling has 7 AC and your characters probably have around 18 THAC0 at the start of the game (just a rough guess), so you would have something like a 55% chance to hit a gibberling. (Generally AC starts around 10 and descends; THAC0 starts around 20 and descends. So to-hit for low-level characters and mobs is roughly in the neighbourhood of 50% (20 THAC0 - 10 AC = get a 10 on a d20 to hit; lower THAC0 lower roll needed; lower AC, higher roll needed).)
I don't think missed attacks show in the log by default. If you turn on the option to show the attack rolls being made they definitely will, and you can get more idea what is happening mechanically.
it's not a DnD game. It's an AD&D game.
Go to game settings and turn on auto-pause. This will make game play more turn-like. It uses the 2E rule-set which is very different from later versions. The game manual would be a very helpful place to start.
First you got one thing wrong Baldur's Gate is not a "DnD" game, it is a "game that uses the DnD system". Hemce all the rules are drawn from DnD, but they still have their own liberties. As for the turn based aspect, turn basing is something that makes combat easier to manage. In reality, everything is seemless and happening at the same time as what you see in the BG games. Like normal DnD, everyone fights based on "rounds", but it has all been integrated into the combat already so you may not see when each round ends and starts. That is what DnD combat is supposed to look like outside the table.
This. I don't understand the "D&D is supposed to be turn-based because tabletop is too". Please tell me how the turn-based aspect is NOT a technical limitation of tabletop/board games. Name one tabletop/board game that's not a turn-based game.
I guess I used the word supposed wrongly here. What I meant is, that I just expected it to be turn based because my previous experiences with DnD were all turn based. And my autistic brain likes to turn expectations into requirements sometimes
I mean it's kind of a technical limitation but turn based combat vs real time combat are 2 very different things with different things to love about it. If you could somehow bring realtime to the tabletop and pretend there are no limitations to it (it works flawlessly just like the BG games) I doubt most people would switch to it. Turn Based Combat and Real time Combat both have their positives and negatives. Those positive and negatives do not have anything to do with technical limitations. People love the combat systems of Final Fantasy, Fallout 1&2, BG3, etc. I honestly do agree that DnD is supposed to be turn based because that is where it's ruleset shines. There are too many rules and interesting tiny bits about combat that you should be able to meticulously plan. And even if you want to say it's a technical limitation, the ruleset of the game is completely based around that "limitation" so bringing it to real time does take away some of the intricacies of DnD combat as written. Not necessarily saying the real time combat of BG1 and 2 are bad, but to sit here and say DnD combat is only a limitation is stupid. DnD combat should be turn based, because that's how the rules are written so if you want to translate those rules properly to a game you should also make it turn based. Again BG1 and 2 were great games but I wouldn't consider the 2e games necessarily. They are inspired by 2e.
Tabletop D&D is turn-based for the sole reason that it would be too chaotic and difficult to try to track simultaneous movement and action by everyone. That is very much a technical limitation of the medium in which it is played, a limitation on how well it can model the action being described. The Infinity Engine devs realized they could stay true to the basic rules of D&D (so many attacks per round, so many spells per round, so much movement per round, etc.) while also allowing simultaneous action by everyone and so modeling battles *better* than tabletop D&D. The result was fluid, tactically complex, and fun, while still being faithful to the D&D rules. It sits in this amazing spot between slow, plodding, unrealistic turn-based RPGs and so-called “action RPGs” that give up on the rules and embrace fluidity at the expense of the rules. It was seen as revolutionary in its time for a reason! As far as seeing your characters attack and miss a lot: the tabletop D&D rules specifically said that your attacks per round value does not actually represent how many times you swing your sword; it is expected that you are constantly swinging your sword and your opponent is constantly blocking or dodging it. Your attack rolls are the times you have a chance to break through that stalemate and actually damage your opponent. So here again, Baldur’s Gate actually does a faithful job of representing the D&D rules, showing your character swinging their weapon a bunch while only some set number of those swings actually get attack rolls. Turn-based games are actually worse at representing this. That said, the EE games have an option to turn off these ‘cosmetic attacks’ and I usually play with them turned off, so I can visually see the real attack rolls.
Real Time Pause was the standard for CRPGs for a good long while. essentially, actions still take place in order of initiative and in that sense "turns" are still being taken, but it all happens in real time. The intended way to play is to manually pause whenever you need to select important spells or other actions, and let party AI scripts handle the simple stuff. AD&D is the ruleset used for BG1&2. it uses THAC0 instead of the modern Armor Class system, which didn't come along until 3rd edition. Essentially, you take your THAC0 and minus the target's AC, and that's your difficulty class to successfully hit. For example if you have a THAC0 of 13 and are trying to hit someone with an AC of 2, you need to roll an 11 or higher to hit them. You want your AC to be as low as possible, as higher AC makes you easier to hit. In general, AD&D is a less forgiving beast than later editions, and there's no shame in playing on easy if normal is too much.
Read the manual.
https://youtu.be/tgPyY0X5jmg?si=YP1Iz1EXbQYILnLc
As another comment said, turn off cosmetic attacks in the options. They’re confusing and I would never advise having them on. It’s not a turn based game, so when you tell your dude to attack with a bow, they’ll just sit and do that unless you tell them otherwise (directly or through using a script via ai control). If you tell your mage to cast a spell they’ll cast it and then either sit there and do nothing or start attacking with whatever method the ai thinks is the best option (depending on script). Enemies at the beginning of bg1 are notoriously hard. Best to avoid them, just straight up run away, or kite them. For the uninitiated, kiting is when you have one dude run around in a circle with the enemy chasing them while everyone else pelts said enemy with ranged weapons. It’s cheesy, but it’s effective. Aside from burning through spell slots on sleep or blindness, these are the only two reliable ways to not die at level 1. You can get lucky of course but you need to do some quests for the exp, or do some easy high value fights you know you can win using the advice above. Once you’re level 3 or so you’ll be much better off.
The turns are taking place in the background. You can activate a setting to pause at end of turn in the menu.
The game IS turn based. You have the option to auto-pause when the turn ends. Maybe you are confused because it is disabled by default. You can disable IA too to force what every companion does every turn. The combat system is based in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. If you never played the tabletop rpg can be confusing... well, even if you played it for years sometimes is confusing because the tons of rules and exceptions ;) For some basics, just remember: high abilities, hp, and positive bonus are good; high AC, Thac0 and saving throws are bad.
At level 1 your to hit ratio is crap. You should find a way to advance some levels, to that end you should explore some areas. At level 1, your scouts (basically thieves that hide in shadows, or rangers that do the same) are super poor, so that's pretty daunting. However there are quite a few of experience sources lying around. Also, to make things more convoluted, you should go get that experience with 1-2 characters, since the more you level your MC, the more experience characters you recruit later have. It's possible to follow the main quest without farming EXP, but then the game reverts to being hard and uncomfy. If all else fails, do a game with the sole aim of exploring the map. Then activate Story Mode (if you're in the Enhanced Edition) and steamroll everything. This way you know where everything is for when you do a real playthrough fair and square.