Here are the balance patch notes from Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch #1.
But is it making normal mode normaler?
I wish theyd do this. All of my time on normal has been rince and repeat reloading because i refuse to play on easy. The one time i did, it turned from hard and all my friends dying to a super easy 2 turn fight. It feels like theres no middle ground here.
If normal poses a challenge you might be too conservative with your resources. It’s perfectly fine to have a short rest after each fight to regain your abilities. And even long rests are basically free, so unless you are in one of the rare time sensitive moments use them a lot.
Also consumables should be used more freely. Elixirs last until a long rest, so are usually good for at least 3 fights. Potions and weapon coatings also add up, that additional D4 of the lowest poison does a lot. And it’s just a bonus action to apply and lasts 10 turns .
Scrolls of spells you have already learned should be used if you are out of spell slots. You don’t need to save them for a harder fight. You can always have a long rest before entering a hard fight. But they can make that random encounter you entered with few spell slots much easier.
And all of that goes hand in hand with organizing your ability bar. It’s a pain to do but being able to see what you have available is so valuable. At the very least make use of the individual tabs for “Class abilities” “Spells” and “Consumables”. They give you a better overview than the default bar.
And even long rests are basically free, so unless you are in one of the rare time sensitive moments use them a lot.
Wait, is this true? I’ve been avoiding even short rests since the game tells you so explicitly that time sensitive things can get messed up by too many long rests, and the early plot is super clear that having a tadpole usually means death/mind-flayer-dom within a week. So I’ve been SUFFERING through every single fight since I need to conserve short rests. Can I actually long rest without dooming myself?
There are maybe one or two quests that are actually urgently time sensitive. Don’t be afraid to rest, the game will warn you if you’re going to mess up a quest before it happens. Resting is also how you get a lot of important camp scenes with the companions.
Also, short rests will never mess up a quest. Do one after nearly every fight.