Highlight interactable objects by holding the ALT key. Beware though that many containers and hidden interactables are generally not highlighted.
* This is called Show Item Labels if you wish to change the key.

Highlight creatures and characters by pressing the tilde key (the key left of 1).
- Enemies are red ; threats you can talk to are yellow ; friendlies are green.

Examine (inspecting) & Contextual options : right-clicking offers options for creatures or objects under your mouse pointer.
- "Examine" a creature to evaluate its capacities or stats (even during combat).
- On objects, this is also helpful for lockpicking, moving, climbing, etc.

Camera rotation : by default, you can use the Middle Mouse Button or use the keys Q / E and Delete / End.

Cancel a selected action of any kind by right-clicking or by pressing Escape.
- Do not press right-click nor Escape during cut-scenes, as this will skip some scenes totally.

- Karmic Dice : by default, Larian has a system to reduce bad luck on your rolls (math unknown). If you prefer to use true random d20 rolls, turn the Karmic Dice option off (Gameplay settings).

Show dangers in your path by holding down shift and moving your mouse pointer over the terrain. This will show possible paths and also reveal :

• spots that can damage or debuff you like fire or acid : the path line will be red or yellow ;
  
• a small circle icon indicates if that spot is lighted or in shadows, which will affect how stealth will work if someone looks towards that spot :
  - black circle : dark - you will be totally hidden ;
  - half circle : dimly lighted - you will roll an easier stealth check ;
  - full circle : lighted - you will either be utterly visible or roll a difficult stealth check.

- These indicators are automatically shown when you are in stealth or turn-based mode.
- Also, when in Hide mode (stealth), you can see where creatures/people might see you (shown as red area).

Destroy objects, even chests, by attacking the object. Key: hold CTRL while targeting an object or simply click the weapon icons (melee/ranged).
- Note : items are not destroyed when using this method, as was proven by Proxy Gate Tactician (Youtube). Traps and explosions, though, can destroy some items.

You can move objects (mouse drag) and place them in a way that allows you to climb upwards. You can also place containers inside your inventory !
- Tip : some floor traps can be blocked by placing an object over them (like in DOS 1-2).

- Some spells are Rituals that do not cost any spell slots when cast out of combat! Look for the bright green Ritual tag in the spell descriptions. We will not discuss spells or tactics, but we mention it here since new players generally have zero knowledge of what are Rituals.

Moving a character separately out of combat :
There are two methods ...
a) Press the Toggle Group/Ungroup icon on the left-hand side (default key: G). You can also drag a character portrait to detach it from the party movements.
b) A character in Hide mode (stealth) can move away without being followed by the rest of the party, but other grouped members also in stealth will follow.
- Press the Toggle Hide icon on the left-hand side (default key: Shift+C) to switch a group of characters from Hide/Unhide. This affects only grouped characters and not the whole party.

Switch characters easily by pressing F1 F2 F3 F4 or by clicking their portrait.
- Double-clicking a portrait will move the camera to that character.
- In dialog, only one character interacts and cannot be switched.
- Nonetheless, it is possible to control your other party members while one is in dialog (button Character Selection on the left during a dialog), which can open up various possibilities outside of dialog (those talking are stuck in place).

Long Rests and Short Rests are done with the round button at the bottom-right (beside the big End-Turn button).
Before doing a Long Rest, consider that you can do a Short Rest before. Almost all classes regain some features after a Short Rest and you heal an amount of HP (rolls your HP dice modified by your Constitution modifier bonus).
- Note that Long Rests (camp) trigger some story elements (talk to your companions) and events, so you should do some for fun even if your party is doing fine.

* [updated] Changing party members : you can add a companion to your party in dialog at camp and the game will then ask you which companion will stay at camp, if your party was full (as of Patch 6, March 2024).
(- Note that you may need to talk to them more than once to see this option.)

- Important : on the easiest difficulty, you cannot multiclass! Which would explain why some people were unable to. Trick: switch to Balanced difficulty temporarily before leveling :P

Best way to see your gear and select your compatible weapons is by pressing I (Inventory).
- clicking on the weapon sets (Melee or Ranged) will show weapons you are in proficient in. It is important to set your Melee and Ranged weapons in the proper slots before combat.
- the rest of this user-interface is very clear (self-explanatory).

Overview party gear and stats by pressing TAB

You can send any item directly to your camp chest. For example, all food stored in your food pack can be selected and sent to camp. You can also do this while looting.

- Select multiple items by holding Right-Ctrl.
- Select all between two items by holding Shift and clicking in the inventory.
- Split a stack by holding Shift and dragging the stack.

Selling items : you can sell by double-clicking an item or dragging it over the merchant's stock (you do not need to click a Balance icon like in DOS1-2).
- It is recommended to always Quicksave before trading/bartering.

- Talk to merchants with your character that has the highest Charisma and/or Reputation with that merchant (visible on the right-hand side of the trading window), as they give a very significant price rebate. This bonus is applied according to whom started the conversation, so the prices do not change unless you exit dialog and restart.

Mark items as "Wares" (stuff to sell/vendor) [right-click contextual option].
- You can sell all Wares from a given character (you need to first be in the Trade window).
- A trick is to put junk items inside a carried container and then sell the whole container: all items will be sold to the trader safely and the container emptied.

Click the Action icon or Bonus Action icon to easily see what you can still do that turn.
- these are the green and orange symbols above the hotbar.

Switch between weapon sets (melee >< range) easily with the F key (Toggle Weapon Set)
- or use the small buttons near your portrait.
- Changing a character's weapons/shield set, while in combat, cost an Action on that turn, but you can freely switch between melee and ranged afterwards. Changing armor also cost an Action in combat.

Dual wielding light weapons can be done with any class in 5e. You simply need two light weapons (which often work with both Dex or Str), but an offhand (extra) attack cost a Bonus Action.
- You can optionally always attack with both weapons (using both Action & Bonus Action) using the Toggle Duel Wielding button (R) or icon (just below the weapon switch). This option will always trigger the Bonus Action offhand attack when you click to attack. An icon should also appear in your hotbar to manually make an offhand attack (this is the recommended method in case you need your Bonus Action for something else).

Disengage manoeuver to avoid Attacks of opportunity : if you move out of melee, this normally gives enemies one free attack called an Attack of opportunity, but this burns their one Reaction per turn. You can avoid this altogether by doing the Disengage Action.

- If you have a shield equipped in your melee weapon set, the bonus is applied even when you switch to your ranged weapon set. This is designed to be player-friendly, so you do not need to switch back to your shield every turn. BUT you cannot make an Attack of Opportunity (when an enemy moves near you) if you are holding a ranged weapon, so it remains better to always switch back to melee before ending your turn.

Aiming at a creature tells you if your character would have an Advantage or Disadvantage during an attack, and shows some other conditions.

- You can heal by throwing a healing potion ! Yes, it is odd and surprising, but it works. In fact, it works for most types of potions (eg. you could throw an Antidote at someone to heal their poison). Likewise, poisons can be thrown at enemies (some may not work: needs more testing). You can either use the Throw action icon or right-click an item in your Inventory.

Elemental effects, like cold, electricity and fire, will often have extra impact if they hit puddles of water, blood, oil, etc. Characters with the Wet condition (standing on a wet surface) will take double damage (!) from electricity for example.

You can set weapons/arrows on fire or apply other substances using the Dip Bonus Action.

Teamwork Initiative : if you look at the Initiative Tracker (order of portraits at the top of the screen), note that your party members can often choose who acts first if their portraits are grouped. Although hard to explain here, you will simply see that two or more portraits at the top are sometimes highlighted and grouped together. This can be quite helpful to know!

- Directly target an enemy by clicking their portrait in the Initiative Tracker if you find them hard to target otherwise.

Combat log : it is at the bottom right and must be opened (it is really easy to miss). You can then also expand its height.

A tutorial guide is accessible in-game by pressing J (default for journal) and clicking the 5th tab.

Other keybindings : F5 is Quicksave. I did not list all the keys, as you simply need to open the settings to see them (a gamer should check the keybindings whenever they open a new game).
- Remember that, if you do not use an American or English keyboard, the keybindings may be different (see settings).

To report a bug directly to Larian, please use the link at the top of the Larian game launcher.

General tip : knowing the basic rules for D&D is very helpful ("action economy"; Concentration spells, Prepared spells [eg. Wizards & Clerics], etc.), but that could be another guide.

"If you’re experiencing crashes or framerate issues, Larian Studios recommends "launching the game in DX11 mode".

About this guide : this can be a cooperative guide by adding, in the comments below, other basic controls a player will want to know.
__

* Food, Ingredients and Keys are now automatically stored in special orange containers. You can still send items to the camp chest.

* If you played Early Access, make sure to delete all past save files in-game (Load > Delete Campaign) to make sure the Steam Cloud is flushed of all incompatible old saves.

* To change party members, you no longer need to dismiss a companion first (Patch 6, March 2024).
- Shift clicking items no longer marks them as Wares [Early Access] and instead selects all items.
- Do not show your back to the enemy : hold Ctrl (in combat) to freely choose where your character is facing. Attacking from the rear gives an important bonus...
- As the Advantage for hitting a back has been removed (not to be confused with Sneak Attack), you no longer need to bother with adjusting facing/direction.

Originally posted by Baraz:

Guide version 2.3 - Fully verified with the released version of the game 4.1.1.
The whole guide was improved (wording) and divided into sections.

* NEW, at Release: Beginner's Guide to Gameplay Mechanics by WolfHeartFPS !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN0ZDPoS5y4

- Essential starter tips from PartyElite [2020-2021 Early Access]
( similar to what I explain here, but in video and with a few different tips )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YWN44Rotpg&ab_channel=PartyElite
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2252807533
If you would like some deeper tips, I recommend Ser Medieval's following video :
- it has mild spoilers though ! [2020 Early Access]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwU57jA6aM8&ab_channel=SerMedieval