Seems legit, Norbyte is a name I recognize from Div modding days, doesn't surprise me that they've written some of the key scripts for BG3 stuff.
The new mod does at least credit Norbyte/fig/etc, essentially reposting their work with SEO and monetization is more than a little scummy, though. (I also don't know how to tell whether or not a mod is monetized, and if it's not I don't really care. But don't really have reason to disbelieve that particular claim. /shurg)
Possibly one of my favourite series, period. The first book is objectively hard to get into. (The writing is a little rougher than the later novels, and the in media res start + Erikson's... anthropological(?) approach to world building (where history and culture are complicated, everyone disagrees about everything, anyone who can tell you something about the world with certainty either refuses, or is lying) leaves you needing to work hard to understand what's going on while not being sure if the effort is worth it.)
And then book two shares almost no characters and takes place on an entirely different continent, only tangentially connecting to the main plot. :P But if you can get over the shock of that (and get through the first book to get here to begin with) Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice (books two and three) are genuine works of art, and the rest of the series is of similar quality.
Caster with Knock is is a solid alternative, although I've found myself needing to rest because Gale has spent all his spells on unlocking stuff an unfortunate amount of times. :P
On the other hand, my Warlock who coincidentally has the best dex in my party, has been burning through Thieves' Tools like there's no tomorrow, since no one has Slight of Hand and I can't be bothered to go back to camp for Astarion unless I'm doing stuff I know involves him. :P I miss Shadowheart having the Urchin background. :P
All but one of those crashes happened before the second hotfix, and the most recent one was during a multiplayer session. It hasn't crashed at all since the third hotfix. In fairness though, I haven't tried Vulkan since the second hotfix; maybe for me now it doesn't crash either. :P Release weekend though DX11 was vastly better for me, although it did still crash 2-3 times.
No insights unfortunately, my PC has similar specs and similar issues. Performance is better on Vulkan, but it's so much more stable in DX11 (maybe ~4-5 total crashes over the last week and change, compared to the roughly 2-3 an hour I had in Vulkan) I've been playing it pretty much exclusively that way.
Sometimes you might want to (there are areas where you can't return to camp without leaving, and some of those areas you might not want/be able to leave before completing them), and you can be attacked in your camp, depending on decisions you make.
Generally though, yeah. If you feel like a scroll/potion/spell/resource/etc will help you in this fight, don't be shy about spending it. Just maybe don't go wandering too much, if you find yourself low on resources. :P
Other thing to note, is that combat will feel clunky before you hit level five. That's where you start getting your heavy hitting spells, buffs and abilities, making additional attacks per round, etc. It's hard to screw up a character in 5e (unless you're multiclassing, then there are some trap choices), but everyone will feel a little weak early on.
That does sound strong. I've had Hunger+Wall of Fire/Ice put in work on some fights, adding Spike Growth probably can trivialize a lot of them.
I've been mostly sticking to classic DnD stuff (hasted Paladin go brr), but I've seen that Create Water can be used to inflict Lightning vulnerability... (in addition to a water surface that can be frozen or electrified) definitely keen to roll a Sorc/Cleric multiclass aiming to see how much damage I can do with Lightning Bolt spam. :P
I find Clerics and Wizards are good "flex" roles, where they can shift between control, utility or damage, depending on what you need moment to moment. Sorcerers and Warlocks are also flexible, but the shorter spell lists make them need to specialize more.
I've been running Warlock/Paladin as my primary striker, due to the way Extra Attack works in this game. 3x attacks per action, smite slots that recharge on short rest, and Blade Pact letting me dump Str. Yes, I do like to Smite six times in one round, thank you. :P I just wish I could somehow get Lifedrinker as well. :P
I haven't tried Monk yet, but after seeing an NPC monk in action... I think an Open Hand Monk can be a pretty damn good Striker. :P Definitely a build I'm excited to explore on a future playthrough.
Good scifi-setting swear. Especially a Transistor-esque sort of digital cyberpunk setting.
There's a lot of griping about the third act, and yeah, I get it, it's incomplete and comparatively poorly optimized. But it's still really good. :P They clearly bit off more than they could chew with the City, that maybe they could've solved with another year or two of dev time. (Hopefully, will be solved in a Def Ed a year or two down the line.) That isn't necessarily dev time they had, though. Not without taking out a ton of loans (do you really want tencent to own more than 30%?) and risking ill-will with consumers and WotC. (The game was meant to come out over a year ago.)