Baldur's Gate 3's "Worst Spell" competition heats up as Bards enter their own worthless contender - and it's just as bad in D&D
Oct. 5, 2023Countercharm really is “pointless”
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Baldur’s Gate 3players are once again pitching for the game’s most pointless skill - and this time they’ve settled on Countercharm.
Countercharm is a Bard-centric ability. It lets you and your nearby allies gain advantage on Saving Throws to resist being Charmed or Frightened for three turns. It can also only be learned if you’re a Bard of level six or higher.
That’s probably contributing to its relative lack of popularity, because boy, do people hate this spell. The Reddit post below declares it to be utterly “pointless,” and that claim is backed up by several thousand supportive upvotes. It never even triggered for the player below once on their Tactician-level playthrough, which could be anywhere north of 100 hours.
I can see why the spell would be pointless without even playing a Bard myself - enemies rarely cast Charm or Frighten-based spells or attacks, and even if they were to do so, it’d be damn hard to Frighten the likes of Lae’zel or Karlach. Much of the time, you’d have to predict the Charm before it landed.
“To be fair it’s also one of the most pointless skills in the tabletop game too,” one commenter replied, adding “So this is pretty on brand for it.” Other tabletop Dungeons & Dragons players chime in with similar sentiments, writing that you might as well cast Silence against Charming or Frightening spells instead of using Countercharm at all.
Just earlier this week,players discovered a use for another seemingly-useless spell. It turns out Dancing Lights can actually thwart mines and other traps ahead of you reaching them, meaning Auntie Ethel’s horrible old cave is rendered pretty toothless with the spell. Perhaps there’s a hidden use yet for Countercharm.
Even with that addition though, Dancing Lights is still often brought up in conversations surrounding Baldur’s Gate 3’s “worst spells.” Another strong contender for the title is Shadowheart’s Sacred Flame cantrip, also available to other Clerics, which is useless because I swear it basically never hits, and even if it does, it does basically no damage.
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You can read ourBaldur’s Gate 3 Bardguide for a list of all the things you probably should be taking advantage of with the class.
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