The background image and the title are provided assets in the press kit while the 'Original Soundtrack' was types and textured by me using the closest font to match the title
#Baldur's Gate
vague stone
After doing like 4 high charisma characters in a row I am back to playing a low charisma punch-first-ask-questions-later character. And man, it's so nice to have Wyll around more often again. He's such a good bean
vague stone
||Cazador|| honey that is not how you ||ascend||
fiery cargo
I was able to have ||Astarion help me with Bardic Inspiration while trying to persuade him not to do the ritual|| 
and that is ||Cazador|| officially down and ||7,000 souls saved||
sullen terrace
this is old news but I just learned there’s no plans for bg3 dlc :(
vague stone
yeah same
cyan shuttle
Same
fiery cargo
still a bummer that they're done with D&D though 😭
vague stone
that part is definitely sad 
fiery cargo
||Steel Foundry|| down, ||all Gondians saved and Barcus replacing Wulbren|| 
indigo pelican
||Barcus can replace Wulbren?|| 😮
I just finished ||Steel Foundry|| last night on my Durge (2nd) run. Close to the end now
In one of my co-op games I'm playing as Shadowheart as a Paladin and it's my first time playing a high charisma character. I go back to my Durge run and my entire usual party are low CHA 😅
vague stone
meanwhile the common denominator in my current playthrough's usual party is that they're all fuckin dumbasses (affectionate)
fiery cargo
if you're not a wizard your intelligence is 8
only 2 fights before final boss time now
indigo pelican
Mine is a bunch of dumbasses and Gale
Although SH has the intelligence circlet because she has one dip in Wizard
She's only artificially smart though
Me: I should get back to work
Also me: I should research Sorcadin builds
cyan shuttle
still a bummer that they're done with D&D though 😭
Big same. But at the same time I don't blame them; WotC hasn't exactly been stellar recently
fiery cargo
oh lord no I can't blame them at all, I've been anti-WotC and anti-Hasbro for years
cyan shuttle
AI art, doxing and sending the fucking Pinkertons after a magic YTer, general homophobia, etc.
fiery cargo
it's a bummer we're probably never going to see these characters again
or at least, not in a way that does them justice
fiery cargo
AI art, doxing and sending the fucking *Pinkertons* after a magic YTer, general ...
I will never not be mad about them backing out of gruulfriends
that was a big step towards me losing interest in Magic
cyan shuttle
It's sad that we'll (likely) never see the characters we love portrayed we'll again, but I'm also happy that we got them at all
I got 1 game with Halsin & Karlach instead of 0 games with Halsin & Karlach, and I love that
fiery cargo
I'm very glad we got what we did, it's a bit bittersweet to know it's all we're getting
and now I'm reading about Frazer Blaxland (actor for Dammon and Anders among others) causing controversy and that's a bummer too
cyan shuttle
Fair. But I lived through both Cullen & Iron Bull VA controversies in Dragon Age--while it still sucks that he's an ass, the main cast of BG3 and Larian Studios themselves have proven to be good people, and I appreciate them a lot.
fiery cargo
the main cast are amazing
cyan shuttle
Blaxland can suck a fuck, but the main character crew are awesome 💕
And Aliona
Where there's Jennifer English there's Aliona
vague stone
yeah a lot of them have explicitly addressed the situation like champs, like Sam talked about it at the start of their stream on Monday
fiery cargo
excuse me Corinna is a main character
cyan shuttle
You are so right
vague stone
there is no BG4 because the next game is Corinna Gate
fiery cargo
a squirrel based RPG would be pretty cool 👀
vague stone
there's a good chance we'll see all these actors in future Larian games too!
cyan shuttle
Squirrelheart, Asquirrelion, Cornlach, Lae'corn, Gacorn, Halsquirrel
vague stone
Btw I've been organising my screenshots into relevant character folders, and it's quite funny to see the spread. My first 2 characters (Tav and Bav) don't have thaaaat many because I was still pretty green at this game. The two Drow (Dav and Eav) have just under 200 and half of them are from me going "damn, she's looks so good, F12" did you know that Drow pretty. The co-op games are mostly other avatars looking cool and screenshots of us doing silly shit. Then there's Chav. Over 300 screenshots. The chaos had to be documented 
How about y'all, who have you screenshotted the most? 👀
marble summit
Sexy McGee for self explanatory reasons
vague stone
Gotta capture 'em beautiful giant hands from every possible angle
marble summit
Yeah 
fiery cargo
vague stone
Exhibit A for you noodle
fiery cargo
are those dwarf hands
vague stone
Yes Sexy is a dwarf
marble summit
They're a dwarf wizard and I love them
vague stone
Dat eyeliner 
(Hey look it's me behind!)
fiery cargo
Yes Sexy is a dwarf
Alix has a type 
/jk
vague stone
I do?? I mean I do but it starts with "Dr" and ends with "ow"
fiery cargo
Karlach isn't Alix's type
vague stone
How dare u
vague stone
Did you all know that Karlach Cliffgate?
fiery cargo
no, could you elaborate 😂
cyan shuttle
For me it's been my Wizard girl & Tiefling Monk. I love them both immensely
fiery cargo
tieflings 
vague stone
I really gotta play a tiefling (other than Karlach)
fiery cargo
they're so good
cyan shuttle
Banana's asleep so I'm hoping on Bald Gay, whomst shall I play???
I can finish with my Tiefling Monk (playing her character for the very last time), or I can continue my latest solo-Honor mode (Githyanki AssassinSporesGloomstalker), or start a Gale run
My Tiefling Monk, Elisbet, with mods
vague stone
Aw ye join the githyanki family Chav will bake cookies and get the salt and sugar confused
cyan shuttle
E takes a single whiff and mimes eating one, then throws it over her shoulder into a creek
fiery cargo
Nikara eats a couple of them to be kind
vague stone
It's OK because her son Xan unironically loves them
cyan shuttle
i am so proud of my redeemed little bean
cyan shuttle
The face of someone who ||"just blew up a building"||
cyan shuttle
You see my little pink Tiefling?????
We just ||wiped out Baldurass in a single turn by lopping a backpack full of regular explosives at him, then I had Wyll use a scroll of Globe of Invulnerability, when the Dragon retaliated nobody on my side took damage....... but the attack was just within range of the bombs that had flown out of the backpack, so technically the dragon blew him up :]||
There's something poetic about that
||Baldurass got his back blown out by a dragon, and then met his end when a dragon blew his ass up||
cyan shuttle
Nobody asked for it, but here are some of the best Araj Oblodra potions IMO:
- Gnome Potion: grants prof in Sleight of Hand until Long Rest & free Knock once per Long Rest
- Githyanki Potion: free Blur, Leap, and Misty Step each once per Long Rest
- Dragonborn Potion: Advantage on Intimidation & Persuasion, resistance to Cold (White/Silver), Fire (Gold/Brass/Red), Lightning (Blue/Bronze) & free cast Ice Storm (W/S), Fireball (G/B/R) or Lightning Bolt (B/B) once per Long Rest
- Elf/Drow Potion: 10m extra movement, Darkvision, and immunity to Charm until Long Rest
Sir Fuzzalump for the Gnomish Potion, Sina'zith for the Githyanki Potion, and Jacelyn/Ver'yll Wenkiir for the Elf Potion. The only one you can't get via hirelings is the Dragonborn potion, which you need a player for
The Halfling potion is decent, too
vague stone
The githyanki potion didn't feel that exciting to me when I got it, might have something to do with the fact that I was already a githyanki and so was my main mêlée damage dealer 😅
cyan shuttle
I like giving the Githyanki potion to a Rogue since unless you multiclass or use specific items Rogues don't get Blur/Leap/Misty Step, and maybe I want to use those equipment slots for something else
rocky cipher
https://vxtwitter.com/maraisbored/status/1771414602527674387?t=MulW6oe8dMtxySXO31ocrg&s=19
if any of y'all get this, I apologize for the psychic damage
rocky cipher
I'm still not over gruulfriends 😭
It's ok they are canon now
Unless that's pain because of what happened in story in which case fair
fiery cargo
It's ok they are canon now
canon in what sense? I completely checked out of the story after those stupid novels and stopped playing when they ruined one of my favourite planes
marble summit
As far as I'm concerned, nothing WOTC does with the characters matters
rocky cipher
canon in what sense? I completely checked out of the story after those stupid no...
So, at one point in the story last year, Nissa got compleated by Phyrexia and flight Chandra at one point
After the Phyrexian invasion was repelled, Teferi/Karn and some other walkers were able to reverse the compleation and Chandra kissed her basically first thing after she was back
marble summit
Their story ended with BG3
rocky cipher
So, at one point in the story last year, Nissa got compleated by Phyrexia and fl...
And now we have this card as well
fiery cargo
So, at one point in the story last year, Nissa got compleated by Phyrexia and fl...
ah, well, I hope that made some people happy, but it's far too little too late for me
rocky cipher
So yes, Gruulfriends is actually canon now, as is Saheeli/Huatli and Ral/Tomik
fiery cargo
||Gortash|| down last night, ||Ansur|| down today and ||Wyll rebranded as the Blade of Avernus, ready to be Karlach's buddy in hell||
only the final battle remains
fiery cargo
||Netherbrain|| down! only the epilogue between me and golden dice
vague stone
I rolled a nat1 on trying to heal the owlbear cub the second time he came to camp. Didn't use the inspiration in the hopes I'd get to use one of the other dialogue options but no, he ran away... I think I've lost him forever 
vague stone
I think this is my first time getting that check, what an incredibly specific reason for giving me advantage 😅 I'll take it though! (allowed me to roll a Nat20 too)
hold on that is hard to read, that should be better
fiery cargo
they went to all the trouble to type that out even after all the other times it's just "situational"???
vague stone
This short is from a very recent video. This youtuber's videos often have a couple of very useful new tips, but this one? I got it in my first playthrough without even trying 😅
||https://youtube.com/shorts/V94vufAvC5E?si=u5MX5lmoxOL6NfIi||
cyan shuttle
I SAW THIS ON TIKTOK
Fr, the only arguably hard parts about getting the buff for the final fight are Isobel & Halsin'a portal, and tbh they're pretty manageable. We achieved it on our Honor mode run
vague stone
We did 🙌
And now I have the pleasure of having to do them again very soon in my own honour mode 
cyan shuttle
I did it in my solo Honor Mode, and you're much more creative than me, so I think you'll be just fine uwu
vague stone
Can't take credit for how smoothly ||defending Isobel|| went, noodle fully briefed me 🫡 and I'm gonna do like the exact same thing again
cyan shuttle
So I tried the screen thing on my run, positioned it exactly the same way as our run, and the ghoul fucking clipped through the screen like it was nothing
*on my latest run
Very lucky that I won initiative and was able to case Sanctuary on Isobel first, becaause I would've been FFFFFFUUUUUCCCCKKKKEEDDDDDD otherwise
icy drum
I'm glad to hear Larian is open about how they're moving on from D&D. Despite everything they've done, it is an IP they do not own and no longer call the shots for. Whether they move forward with IPs of their own or something completely new, they now have "From the Makers of Baldur's Gate 3" in their arsenal. That's going to mean a LOT!
vague stone
I was listening to a DnD horror story where they mentioned the Deck of Many Things and it had me thinking...which of your Tavs/Dark Urges would pull from the Deck?
Here's mine:
- Tav (Ranger) : Mildly interested, but that would be too much trouble.
- Bav (Bard Tav): "This might be a bad idea... ok maybe one cheeky pull."
- Dav (Selûnite Sorcleric DU): "Absolutely not keep that thing away from me." casts max damage chain lightning on it hoping it'll get destroyed
- Eav (evil Warlock/Fighter DU): "Absolutely yes give it to me now."
- Chav (you know Chav): Mistook it for a normal card deck and already pulled 3 cards. Whoops.
- Bellav (Monk DU): She is keeping it close, but she will never pull from it. Sometimes she takes it out and looks at it to challenge herself.
While I'm at it here are my origins too:
- Karlach: Tempting... but no.
- Life Cleric Shadowheart: Nope. Nuh-uh. (She is pretty close to companion Shadowheart)
- Rogue/Bard Shadowheart: Y E S.
fiery cargo
idk your Karlach might pop one just to see what happened
vague stone
Naaaah too much trouble
cyan shuttle
Man the Flames card is freaking hilarious to me IMO. Imagine you're a random devil in the Hells, enjoying your hellish spoils of the Blood War, plotting your next venture, toying with your subjects and warlocks, and suddenly you're overcome with this intense, overwhelming hatred. You turn to the window of your castle in the hells, as if you're looking directly at a creature somewhere in the distance, and you speak the name of the person you suddenly hate more than anything: "STEVE......."
vague stone
Karlach probably knows of this card and it's enough for her to never touch the deck
cyan shuttle
What if the Djinn at the Circus gave us the Deck of Many Things to choose from instead of sending us to the jungle
vague stone
Mission ||Protect Isobel|| went without a hitch. Carried on happily, then in a subsequent fight a very annoying bug occurred. One of those ||garrotting lil shits|| hit Minthara, which killed it becuse she had armour of agathys, but simultaneously also triggered her "Tadpole Charm" reaction. The game was stuck on the reaction pop-up and I couldn't do anything. Had to quit the game. Relaunch..........had last saved just before Mission ||Protect Isobel|| 
fiery cargo
o h n o
vague stone
It was fine in the end, went just as well the second time, if not better, ||Isobel even killed Marcus herself||
but the stress is not fun 
cyan shuttle
icy drum
He said there'd be a feast.
vague stone
Heh yeah was quite the discovery when I interacted with that ball!
cyan shuttle
"Hey Tav, what did you see?" "Enough 
"
fiery cargo
Devils 🤝 owlbears
cyan shuttle
honestly the more I read up/learn about Devils in D&D lore the more I'm realizing they're essentially really, really evil rabbits/gerbils
icy drum
So let me get this straight. You can eat Raph is you're a Mephistopheles?
vague stone
Noodle was referring to the fact that ||The owlbear cub had a brother and their mum ate him||
icy drum
Darn owlbear mother.
vague stone
I discovered an interesting bug that still remains as of Hotfix 23 and could be exploited.
Wyll used to be a warlock 3 (pact of the blade) / bard 4 and He had his permanent pact weapon. Then I respecced him to be warlock 2 / bard 6 which means he lost the pact of the blade feature, but interestingly his weapon is still bound. I could see that coming in useful if you want to max out charisma instead of strength on a Paladin or something like that 👀
cyan shuttle
wild ridgeBOT
cyan shuttle
Some of the quote tweets are hilarious
vague stone
Noodle and I were playing some co-op tonight, and I shit you not, their paladin rolled SIX Nat20s IN A ROW
vague stone
Just a couple of mimics and Duergar alas. We had to conserve resources in grymforge so they weren't able to use the full power of the critical smites. It was still pret-ty cool though!
cyan shuttle
Aw man you know what I'm excited for?
All of us respec-ing into Wizards or something for the Mirror of Loss and seeing which of us will actually win the lottery and get free stat boosts
marble summit
Its an int save? I'd like to think i'd get it but knowing my luck I'll roll three nat 1s in a row
vague stone
I can guarantee I ain't winning
(The way to guarantee it is to respec as max int rogue with reliable talent and have guidance + bardic)
marble summit
Is there something that raises your int beyond 20? I forget
vague stone
There isn't, other than the mirror
marble summit
rip
cyan shuttle
I'm gonna respec Astarion into a Wizard/Bard so I can give myself inspiration & Enhance Ability. Then maybe I can have Gale on hand to give me Guidance and hope for the best @@;
vague stone
I can give y'all all the enhance ability or guidance you need you don't need your boyfriend 
Shadowheart ain't getting that bonus anyway so I'm not gonna do any respec'ing
(Also if you respec as lvl 11 rogue with religion expertise you won't be able to roll lower than a 23)
cyan shuttle
This is true,,,.....
Bard with Expertise in Religion, the Mage's Friend (+1 to Religion checks), & Guidance is guaranteed 25
vague stone
Bard isn't guaranteed though, only rogue is, bards can roll under 10
cyan shuttle
Bard/Rogue, then, because Rogues can't nab Religion unless their Background already grants it
vague stone
Oh yeah the guide says to pick the skilled feat for that
vague stone
I think noodle encountered issues where the reliable talent didn't work 😬
cyan shuttle
I mean... no harm in adding Brinna Brightsong's Bardic Inspiration just in case?
fiery cargo
I think noodle encountered issues where the reliable talent didn't work 😬
it seemed to work when I changed to using the skilled feat at rogue 4 to get Religion, but yeah it didn't seem to work when I used a level in a different class to get Religion, which is definitely still a bug
going full rogue picking up Religion through the skilled feat at 4 and getting expertise in it at 6, your minimum roll is 23, add the Mage's Friend ring for +1 and have someone around with Guidance and you're guaranteed
cyan shuttle
WHAT
so I did a multi-romance run with Astarion & Halsin, and for some reason the game is treating Halsin as the main romance instead of Astarion
oh Halsin was first, Astarion's scene came second
vague stone
Huh intriguing, I still wonder why the game kept bugging out when I was trying to get that Halsin throuple as Origin Karlach. Has anyone ever seen Halsin go with Karlach to ||Avernus|| in the endgame?
cyan shuttle
OH??? No I have not 👀
Also, small note, the poly romance epilogue scene with Halsin was a little meh. You get one extra interaction and that's kind of it. Much more fulfilling as a solo-romance IMHO
cyan shuttle
Question... has anyone playing a Dark Urge ||become Bhaal's favorite again|| but then at the final fight ||become a Mind Flayer and defy Bhaal at the last minute||? I am genuinely curious to know if becoming a ||Bhaalist Mind Flayer|| changes the epilogue party sequence in any way. I know what happens to a regular Durge who ||defies dad||, but what about ||Mind Flayer|| Durge 🤔
vague stone
That is a good question, I could one day go back in Eav's save file and investigate
cyan shuttle
What if I do a chaos run Honor Mode? Main character is a Barbarian/Sorcerer, Wild Magic for both?
Probably go 6/6 split down the middle so that I get the fun stuff from both Wild Magic sides
vague stone
Wild Magic excellent idea
fiery cargo
every battle starts with "hmmm, which flavour of wild magic should I use this time"
vague stone
Every battle I had "well I sure hope Chav's wild magic surge isn't the one that explodes and makes everybody be on fire" and "well I sure hope Shadowheart doesn't get the rage that hurts her nearby allies" she generally did
fiery cargo
can anyone think of a silly challenge I can do on my next playthrough to force me out of my comfort zone
I've seen people do things like summons only, wild shape only, I can't think of anything interesting that I haven't already seen done
cyan shuttle
I'm wondering if I should give her Markoheshkir & The Staff of Spellpower for two uses of Arcane Battery, or if I could be extra chaotic and instead give her Nyrulna & Club of Hill Giant Str to synergize with her Barbarian side more and see if I can trigger Wild Magic upon tossing Nyrulna 
marble summit
I'm thinking about doing a Eldritch knight/wizard playthrough
vague stone
I've seen people do things like summons only, wild shape only, I can't think of ...
Things that come to mind:
- no long rest until your spellcasters have used all their slots (easy in early game, but trickier in mid to late game)
- your favourite spells? Forget about them. No fireball, no spirit guardians, no counterspell. Try and use less common ones like calm emotions and magic weapon and bestow curse instead
- similar to the second idea but with feats. It's one that I've been considering to encourage myself to not always pick the same feats
fiery cargo
hmmm
cyan shuttle
I'm thinking about doing a Eldritch knight/wizard playthrough
I've done that! It's AWESOME
11 levels in Fighter to get 3 Extra Attacks, and 1 dip into wizard? YEEHAW
Only downside is you only get level 2 spell slots going 11 Fighter/1 Wizard, but if you go 6 Fighter/6 Wizard you can get to level 4 spell slots, Extra Attack, and 3 ASI!
I went 11 Fighter/1 Wizard on my run because I downloaded mods that gave me Booming Blade, which works with Eldritch Knight's War Magic so I still got an absurd number of attacks per round
marble summit
👀
cyan shuttle
But to get the War Magic feat you do have to go 7/5 Eldritch Knight/Wizard, I forgot it was level 7
That still gives you 4th level spell slots, but only 1 instead of 2
marble summit
I was thinking 4/8 or 5/7 🤔
vague stone
If you go for two-weapon fighting dual wielding then you don't need war magic at all
indigo pelican
Lae'zel in ||courtship|| battle vs Paladin Shadowheart. I guess you could say she was... smitten
marble summit
I would be too 😩
indigo pelican
I absolutely trounced her haha. Vow of Enmity and a bunch of smites
I'm currently playing her as a Sorcadin but unsure if it's best to continue in that direction or just go back to full Paladin
I haven't got that many levels in Sorc just yet
fiery cargo
cyan shuttle
I'm currently playing her as a Sorcadin but unsure if it's best to continue in t...
PalaSorc is fun because you get more spell slots and a lot more spell variety, but I understand wanting to stick to Paladin.
What's really fun is something Alix is trying out on our Minthara: 2 levels in Paladin to get access to Divine Smite, then 10 levels in Bard so that Minthy can do the College of Swords fun bit where she can hit 2 enemies with a single special attack, which without buffs means she can hit 4 people with Divine Smite in a turn. On top of that, at at 10th level in Bard Minthy gets Magical Secrets which gives her access to Banishing Smite (which also stacks with Divine Smite 
) and Hold Monster
Divine Smite stops scaling at 4th level, so that leaves Minthy with 2 5th level spell slots and 1 6th level to do all kinds of fun stuff with, as well as all those Bardic Inspiration charges for College of Swords Shenanigans.
And whatever path you choose--full Paladin or multiclassing--it's definitely worth it to go to the reaction/ask page and toggle Divine Smite for reactions and to stack with other attacks for extreme Smite-y Activity
vague stone
alllllso you get spell slots up to level 6! so you can max level divine smite like five times per day
cyan shuttle
SO MUCH SMITING
it gets kinda hard playing other classes once you unlock the full power of a PalaBard or PalaLock or PalaSorc
vague stone
It was Lae'zel's build for Chav, and gurl obliterated ||Cazador||
vague stone
I think I'm gonna give it to Jaheira for my honour mode, dual wielding flame blades like the bamf she is
cyan shuttle
You saw that video too, huh?
vague stone
YESSS it WORKS
cyan shuttle
IT DOES
Problem is that I usually give Jaheira the Phalar Aluve in one hand, it's hard to give up Shriek -> Instant Reverberation -> Instant Mental Fatigue -> Instant Luminous Orb
Jaheira: [walks near someone]
Enemies: [mentally melt]
vague stone
Oh Minthara is taking good care of Phalar Aluve (she's got something akin to Gale's build from our co-op I think it'svery funny to make her of all people a wizard)
cyan shuttle
tbf if I was in their universe I'd also mentally melt if Jaheira approached me
cyan shuttle
Oh Minthara is taking good care of Phalar Aluve (she's got something akin to Gal...
The Ice Wizard build is SO GOOD
I gave my Gale the Phalar Aluve too! He's got that in his main hand and Markoheshkir in the other hand, so he gets Shriek & Arcane Battery [dabs]
I also did a varient of the build where I grabbed 2 levels in Sorcerer specifically so I could do an exploit with the Gemini Gloves & Twinned Casting--there's a glitch where if you use Twinned Casting and the Gemini Gloves feature at the same time they overlap and you can suddenly hit as many targets as you want with a Cantrip, including Eldritch Blast
Imagine it:
An unkillable wizard who melts your brain when you approach, and whenever he uses Eldritch Blast he hits every single person in the room, shoving them back/knocking them prone.
also freezing everyone in the room with Ray of Frost is pretty hecking funny
fiery cargo
funny visual bug from last night
vague stone
Very important to point out: he was moving and talking while looking like that
cyan shuttle
He's enjoying his mud bath
cyan shuttle
[yells] THERE ARE SO MANY BUILDS I WANNA DO BUT PLAYING THE WHOLE 100+ HRS TO GET ALL OF THE EQUIPMENT AND GET TO MAX LEVEL AND TEST THEM OUT IS A PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
indigo pelican
How many levels of Pala vs Sorc would you recommend?
cyan shuttle
At least 2 Paladin for Divine Smite. The rest is up to you :]
indigo pelican
I think I have at least 4 in Pala and levelling more in Sorc right now
I got as far as having an extra attack I think
vague stone
I've seen guides that recommended Paladin 6 / Sorc 6 as a very powerful combo
indigo pelican
Hmm I might aim for that
I want to do an All Clerics run where the entire party is just Clerics of different domains
I might wait a while though for that because I may as well do the old Selune Cleric romancing SH but my Durge has just romanced SH so I feel like a bit of variety first is good lol
I've started single player games for basically all the Origins at this point to just kick off whenever I like. Most are still on the beach
vague stone
Musings on the end of act 2 from my second pass at it in honour mode
- the fact that Karlach can't be charmed is so very good when she's yeeting 3 to 4 pikes per turn at mind flayers
- give a thief monk a potion of elven elegance and the haste helm and that woman will break the sound barrier
- you know that crystal that gives you the steeped in bliss status where you're vulnerable to psychic damage? Now pair that with manifestation of <insert here the one that deals psychic damage> on an open hand monk and profit
- I think the reason ||Myrkul|| didn't use that ability that sucks all combatants towards it when we did it in our co-op is because I kept placing sacrificial mephits and spiritual weapons in front of it for it to focus on instead
guess what happened when it didn't have anybody in mêlée range - if you make sure your berserker barbarian who's immune to fear is the first to attack ||Myrkul||, you worry far less about its Gaze of the Dead
I really wish we could toggle on big bosses' legendary actions outside of honour mode, I really like the challenge
cyan shuttle
NOICE
Aw man we get to enter act 3 tonight on our run, we're gonna be SO BUFF
I can't wait for my screenshots to show Astarion Fine & Normal™️ and then when you and Roh share yours his face is just all kinds of fucked up
I am genuinely excied to fly around--a flying monk sounds fucking terrifying
||flying monk ascendant vampire who can walk in the sun||
vague stone
There is one very annoying and slightly worrying bug that I have been encountering, it was blatantly obvious when playing co-op with noodle last night: sanctuary seems to be a bit broken?
Lae'zel is our cleric, we were fighting ||Grym|| and she was using phalar aluve to support our paladin Kurz while operating levers. She was under sanctuary, but somehow whenever ||Grym||'s prime target was unattainable (because it was Wyll who was raining down eldritch blasts from a ledge up high), it would walk towards Lae'zel and use its AoE. Now you could argue that this is equivalent to us yeeting a bomb next to a sanctuaried target, but I don't think the AI is capable of that without targeting someone, which it's not supposed to be able to do when they are under sanctuary? If the AI got smarter then fair enough though. But then we went to Rosymorn Monastery to fight some kobolds, and once again Lae'zel was under sanctuary, and the kobolds still tried to throw stones at her?? Then back in my solo honour mode Shadowheart is sanctuaried when fighting ||Ketheric|| and he was still able to target her with a debuff??
We can't apply hex or hunter's mark on sanctuaried enemies, why can they? 😤
Has anyone had similar things occur?
cyan shuttle
tbf if Lae'zel was fighting me, I, too, would try to get rid of her first because she could easily fuck me up
vague stone
She is beauty, she is grace, she's got a lil something on her face
vague stone
OK so I just did ||Gortash||'s coronation on my solo honour run, and something very odd just happened. I was very much looking forward to seeing the angst of having ||Gortash|| explain that ||Dark Urge and him used to be bffs|| in front of romanced Karlach. Does it change the dialogue? Does it strain the relationship? I want to see dat angst! But for some reason I never got the chance to ask???? This is how the dialogue went (see screenshot). I was not greeted as his ||"favourite assassin"||, Ravengard seemed to have more dialogue than usual. I cannot fathom what I did that skipped that specific dialogue? I am so confused and so annoyed because in case it isn't clear I REALLY wanted to see the angst
vague stone
Welp I think I figured it out. This is how the scene is supposed to go if you ||enter the coronation with a romanced Karlach|| did I force quit the game to reload a previous save in honour mode in order to figure this out? yes, yes I did
cyan shuttle
AMAZING
fiery cargo
vague stone
I can hear this in her voice so clearly
cyan shuttle
I haven't played Baldur's Gate for like 3 weeks, bar last Saturday when I played with Alix & Roh (taking care of a young puppy is a full-time deal!!). It feels weird not powering up BG3 after playing it almost every day for, like, 6 months straight
fiery cargo
I know the feeling! I've taken a bit of a break (still playing co-op with Alix) since I beat honour mode and it's given me time to play other games???? like, is that allowed??
cyan shuttle
There's still so much I have not done yet! I haven't completed all of the Origins yet (so far I've only completed Shadowheart's, she was my first successful Honor Mode run and got me those delicious gold dice ). I'll be entering Act 3 will Wyll on a different multiplayer soon, and then I'll get Astarion's with Roh & Alix. That leaves Lae'zel Origin, Gale Origin, and Karlach Origin. I also haven't been a completely evil bastard yet, nor have I been a completely evil Durge (I made the choices I needed to get achievements and then backtracked lol). I also haven't done a run yet where I ||side with Gortash. I kinda wanna see that.||
vague stone
Siding with ||Gortash|| is pretty nice just for not having to deal with || the steelwatch foundry and iron throne||
fiery cargo
I've only barely started a Wyll origin, and I still have some achievements left
cyan shuttle
Siding with ||Gortash|| is pretty nice just for not having to deal with || the s...
Siding with him will probably have to be on a run where... Idk... I forget to recruit ||Wyll|| or something. Not doing ||The Iron Throne|| feels like stabbing him in the back 😭
vague stone
Oh it works very well with your ||raiding the grove|| playthrough 😅
cyan shuttle
Also I'm pretty sure Karlach will haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate me for it, too
I do know what happens, though! I saw this great clip of what happens when you side with him and Karlach's reaction at the ||first confrontation with the Netherbrain||. Samantha's voice acting was, once again, spectacular
vague stone
One day I'll do it with Karlach in the party too, but it feels so wrong to not get the experience of Sam's performance in that scene doesn't it?
Speaking of Sam I introduced them to Allegra's beautiful cool 
art on Monday
cyan shuttle
art?? (also is this another new emote that I just found out about?!)
vague stone
They were playing Tchia where we see a graffiti, so I had to show in chat (Allegra drew it)
cyan shuttle
Aaaaaaaaaa gotcha
vague stone
I may have recruited a few people to Mittelfrank by doing that
But going back to origin runs, I have really loved the ones I've done so far! Shadowheart origin has been especially great
Loooking forward to the day I do Lae'zel origin
fiery cargo
you're gonna be scary as Lae'Zel 😂
vague stone
Being Lae'zel is my chance to be the biggest dick to my fellow githyanki with little repercussions
cyan shuttle
Alix is about to be the bane'zel of their existence
vague stone
you've had Catlach, you've had Lennyheart, (aka super chaotic shadowheart from my honour co-op with noodle), better get ready for Bane'zel
I may also be planning a Badlach run for the last evil achievement ||i.e. become absolute but not for papa Bhaal||
cyan shuttle
The origins are really fun so far, but I think Wyll's is one of my favorites. Wyll's inner thoughts and personal deliveries are much more chaotic. It goes to show you how much of a front he puts up with the party to be this strong, sturdy, unphased hero, but on the inside he's just as terrified of their situation as everyone else is.
also Theo's delivery after pressing the Insta-transform button on the Nautiloid is so freaking funny and well done
It's the first voice line I ever heard from Wyll that was pure, unadultered, panic
cyan shuttle
Question: You know how if you go to the reaction tab you can click on Divine Smite options and Divine Smite will ask if you want to trigger them without you having to directly select Divine Smite from your attack bar? Does that also work with thrown weapons, like throwing Nyrulna? If I throw Nyrulna and have Divine Smites checked in the reactions bar, will Nyrulna hitting an opponent directly activate Divine Smite?
My assumption is no, it won't trigger, but I thought I'd ask just in case
I would test it on my end, but I haven't opened BG3 in like a week because I have a small pupperoni at home who needs all of my attention
vague stone
I'm not sure, but divine smite doesn't work on ranged attacks, and lots of things that would work in mêlée don't work on thrown weapon attacks, I can investigate when I boot the game later today though!
cyan shuttle
I think the answer is no, but just in case it does work I'd love to know 👀
Can you imagine a PalaClerBard (2/1/9) with Tavern Brawler and Tempest domain throwing Nyrulna AND getting to use Divine Smite on the same target?
An actual nuclear missile
vague stone
cyan shuttle
If I have to see this, so do you
fiery cargo
cyan shuttle
come again when he's got them big naturals, Noodle
cyan shuttle
I am both delighted and sad. Sad that we won't get any more new stuff, most likely, but also delighted that we got so much.
vague stone
looking forward to testing the new evil ending on Eav....also kinda dreading it
cyan shuttle
I guess it's a good thing I haven't done a fully evil playthrough yet
marble summit
Time to get in the Divinity 3 waiting room
I'm so happy we've got this game
I still play DA:O so I imagine I'm still going to be playing this in ten years
fiery cargo
interesting that they say they're working on 2 games
marble summit
Interesting
acoustic gale
👀
cyan shuttle
I still play DA:O and ME2 & 3. When you find games you love, you'll play them over and over again ❤️
vague stone
definitely gonna keep replaying through DA games and ME for a long time, and BG for sure, also next time there's a steam sale I think I'll get DOS2 👀
fiery cargo
I'm not a huge replayer of games
I think I've already played BG3 as many times as I've played any game
co-op has been a big part of going again and again
cyan shuttle
in 2044 I'll be 52 and still going "I GOTTA CLIMB THAT BEAR LIKE A TREE"
vague stone
I'm not a huge replayer of games
well games like bg3 and bioware games are perfectly geared towards replayability, with all the choices & consequences, and different classes and ways to play, so it does make sense if you haven't played that type of game much
fiery cargo
I've played some similar games, I just quite often am quite happy with experiencing a story and don't often feel like the time investment to experience it again is worth it for me
not entirely sure why BG3 feels different but
vague stone
I don't know if anyone here can fully explain the bg3 brainrot
we've all been tadpoled
marble summit
For me its like that scene from Ratatouille with the food critic having a flashback to his moms cooking but instead of Ratatouille it's late 00s - early 10s rpgs
fiery cargo
I don't know if anyone here can fully explain the bg3 brainrot
maybe I'm just in incredible brainrot mode because as soon as I took a break from BG3 after beating HM, I went back to finish Jedi Survivor from last year and have gotten myself stuck between BG3 brainrot and SW brainrot
cyan shuttle
I mean, I was playing Early Access like 2 months after it hit Steam and for years I would play what snippets of almost-finished Act 1 we were given over and over.
we are SO LUCKY everyone got sexier
Never forget Used Car Salesman Gale Dekarios
marble summit
I was interested when it went up on early access but I didn't trust it
If Larian does that again I'm def jumping in day one though
cyan shuttle
Honestly? I heard it was "D&D, the video game" and I went "SOLD"
vague stone
I tried EA a little bit but was annoyed by the lack of WASD movement (definitely got used to it now!), only properly checked it out around june last year when the hype for the game was starting to grow
fiery cargo
I've not done much early access before but I'd definitely be tempted by Larian's next game
cyan shuttle
I was one of the first people on the forums screaming for Halsin to be romancable lmfao
fiery cargo
and I'm definitely intending to play the early access for Hades 2 when I starts "soon"
vague stone
oh yeah it's definitely got me keeping an eye on other early accesses!
fiery cargo
Supergiant 🤝 Larian
getting early access right
cyan shuttle
Also, side note, I'm normally not a fan of Devs making last minute changes based on user feedback because 9x out of 10 they do it spectacularly poorly
But with BG3 I loved it
There was actual effort put into the changes (even with the massive time crunch!) and they still managed to put together a great story and loveable characters
icy drum
I do not envy the next studio who will be tackling Baldur's Gate 4. With Larian setting the bar so high in both game play, story, customer satisfaction and overall common sense, something inevitably is going to give
vague stone
interesting new foe (?) appeared when fighting ||Ansur|| earlier today (it triggered when he used his lightning breath reaction to getting hit with an attack)
cyan shuttle
lol
vague stone
If you look closely at the first screenshot, Us is literally right there next to ||Ansur||'s head. Do you know who got hit with the lightning? Not Us. ||Ansur|| lightning breath'd himself (and took no damage)
cyan shuttle
Pokemon Confusion
vague stone
Nothing is more entertaining than watching the enemy AI have a complete aneurysm in what should be one of the toughest fights of the game (Raging Vortex + Sleet Storm, add in an extra Cloudkill for the lolz)
marble summit
AI POV
https://tenor.com/view/silent-hill-silent-hill-2-james-sunderland-james-spin-gif-3257479475487591286
cyan shuttle
In our multiplayer Roh kicked a bucket of shit in ||the House of Hope|| and it aggro'd EVERYONE
vague stone
The bucket was so expertly kicked that the shit immediately hit the nearest fan
marble summit
I just wanted to mess with the stinky guy but I guess Harleep had a soft spot for him or something 😭
We survived without any issue though and I have a sick new armor
cyan shuttle
"A wizard with an AC of 21 walks into a bar-"
"I'm sorry a wizard with what?"
vague stone
In my solo honour game I sent Minthara (and her abjuration ice wizard build) all on her own to the top floor of Felogyr's Fireworks, she started blastin' those smokepowder barrels, stood there in the middle of the giant explosion that killed almost all enemies there, cleaned up any survivors, fully solo'd that floor, took zero damage. 
😎
||Arcane Ward ftw||
cyan shuttle
In my solo honour game I sent Minthara (and her abjuration ice wizard build) all...
I love the variant that uses Sorcerer instead of Warlock! You lose out on Eldritch blast, but instead you get Metamagic and can do the Twinned Spell glitch in Act 3 with the Gemini gloves
vague stone
I don't really use eldritch blast at all, the sole point of warlock in that build is to fill up that arcane ward with juicy juicy armour of shadows invocation and just....walk around the battlefield reflecting damage like a boss , but I am taking notes
cyan shuttle
The downside is not being able to stack Mage's Armor, but it's pretty easy to build Abjuration charges throughout the day. ||and if I ever need extra spell slots that day after the House of Hope I can just do the dupe glitch and make myself extra Angelic Slumber potions shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh||
I've already beaten Honor Mode without using tricks and glitches, so I'm allowed to be a little naughty
vague stone
Keeping things spicy!
vague stone
It DOES?? 👀
cyan shuttle
Blade Ward is an Abjuration cantrip, so it should work according to the description for an Abjuration School Wizard
vague stone
Hmm, it might need to be a levelled spell?
cyan shuttle
I'd be pretty upsetti if that's the case, becaue the description doesn't clarify that it has to be a cantrip. I haven't tested Blade Ward with it yet--I got curious and started browsing Abjuration cantrips--I can take a look and see if it does work
Ah, the internet has bamboozled me. Someone on reddit said "yes" to Blade Ward adding to the Arcane Ward, and multiple others are saying "no". Boo hiss.
Whelp, Mage Armor & Abjuration scrolls still work to build Wards I guess
vague stone
Also a couple of high level spells (e.g., upcast armour of agathys - from draconic ancestry, stoneskin) recovered via arcane recovery and we all good!
cyan shuttle
Alix I require your math mind
I'm tallying damage for a potentially optimized Paladin and the big numbers are doing me a frighten
fiery cargo
~~Watch me mess up the calculations even though I have a PhD in the stuff~~
the better you are at maths the dumber the mistakes you make
I make the mistakes of someone who actually finished their degree but ignore that
vague stone
Then again, did I once stay up in bed for like an hour mentally calculating whether advantage statistically offsets the -5 penalty from sharpshooter/GWM pshht never yes I did, yes it kinda does
cyan shuttle
The gist basically is using the boosts from Circle of Spores, the Arcane Acuity Helmet, potentially Cloak of the Weave for absorb elements, Helldusk Gloves, Ring of Arcane Synergy, Caustic Band, the buff from Balduran's Giant Slayer that grants you an additional 1D6 for your large size, and BGS's base attack + Elemental buff from the Drakethroat's Glaive, coupled with a Cloud Giant potion, Arcane Synergy at Cha +5, and Divine Smite at 4th level
I'm looking at something like this:
1D6 Fire DMG (Helldusk) + 1D6 Necrotic (Spores) + 2 Acid (Caustic) + 1D4+1 Lightning (Drakethroat) + 1D6 conditional BGS buff + 2D6+3 BGS + 5D8 Divine Smite + 16 Strength Modifier + 5 Arcane Synergy
Or, simply
5D6 + 1D4 + 5D8 + 25
vague stone
Does balduran's giantslayer not double your strength modifier on the damage?
cyan shuttle
If you use that one attack, Giantbreaker
which is one-time-use until a Short/Long rest, I can't recall
vague stone
Wait really? I haven't used it in a hot minute but I thought it was for all attacks, and that one special attack also knocks enemies prone or something
cyan shuttle
AH I'm confusing Giantbreaker wtih Topple the Big Folk, you are correct!!!
vague stone
Excellent, anything increasing crit chance?
cyan shuttle
Yes, the Dead Shot
cyan shuttle
Also, 5D6 + 1D4 + 5D8 +25 is only for ONE Divine Smite. If I use Slashing Flourish I'll double that number if Divine Smite is used on both attempts (unless Divine Smite is only allowed on one attack). On an Extra Attack, I can quadruple it (unless same Divine Smite rule applies here)
If I'm hasted on top of that, that's 8 potential attacks with the potential for 8 Divine Smites (6 4th level and 2 3rd level), but that's assuming I can do Divine Smite on each Slashing Flourish and not just once per Attack/Extra Attack
Yes, GWM applied
vague stone
Oh you can do divine smite on each target when using slashing flourish
Also, rolling with advantage or not?
cyan shuttle
Up to you since I'm out of slots to give myself auto Advantage
This character does have Great Weapon Fighting, though, so she can't roll 1 or a 2 to hit with Balduran's Giantslayer
unless she rolls like shit the second time, but whaaaatever
vague stone
Oh boi that changes expected damage 
gotte figure that one out or look it up for I am certain somebody has already done the maths
cyan shuttle
I could potentially get rid of Arcane Acutiy in favor of the Risky Ring?
fiery cargo
Oh boi that changes expected damage <:scared:1174727591450644502> gotte figure ...
it's not that difficult to work out though
cyan shuttle
Swap out the Helm of Arcane Acuity for the Diadem of Arcane Synergy, and swap out the Ring of Arcane Synergy for the Risky Ring to give myself advantage
fiery cargo
remember, if you play in honour mode, haste only gives a single extra attack (boo, hiss)
cyan shuttle
BOOO!!!!
So it would be a maximum of 6 Divine Smites in a turn
All 6 of my "4th level" spells (3 4th level, 2 5th level, 1 6th level)
fiery cargo
this feels relevant
vague stone
I think your base damage (before adding dice) is 37 though, 16 (strength × 2) + 2 (caustic band) + 3 (sword) + 1 (drakethroat) + 5 (synergy) + 10 (GWM)
vague stone
(That amount of damage is already insane and I love it)
fiery cargo
I forgot the GWM bonus
never forget the GWM bonus!
vague stone
Now for Great weapon fighting average damage I need to figure out whether it rerolls all 1s and 2s or only does it once, i .e., if it rolls 1, rerolls, gets 1 again, does it reroll until it's higher than 2?
fiery cargo
it's just one reroll
cyan shuttle
Basically if my luck is super shitty I'll roll another 1 or 2
fiery cargo
like Halfling luck (my beloved)
vague stone
So basically rolls all 1s and 2s with advantage on damage
cyan shuttle
NOPE
fiery cargo
...isn't it damage
cyan shuttle
It is Damage, hence delete
vague stone
Also does it reroll it on everything or just base sword damage? I forget
fiery cargo
wanna say just weapon damage
cyan shuttle
It says:
"When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack with a Two-Handed melee weapon, that die is rerolled once"
vague stone
I do know that savage attacker definitely only applies to base weapon damage in the game (from checking the logs)
fiery cargo
I think it's probably just weapon damage, seems easier to implement and a bit more intuitive
but the wording isn't too clear
vague stone
Easier to calculate too I tell ya!
fiery cargo
yeah for sure
cyan shuttle
HOLD UP
sorry for the delay I'm technically at work rn 💀
"Unlike in 5th Edition rules, added damage dice from sources like Superiority Dice,
Divine Smite, and a Fire- or Poison-dipped weapon may also be rerolled."
I clean forgot about Combat Inspiration from Brenna Brightsong lmfao, sorry to add more dice to the calculation Alix
cyan shuttle
It's an additional 1D10 for Combat Inspiration from Brenna, but it applies only once.
vague stone
You've done it Alia, you've made me take out pen and paper
cyan shuttle
Lwjoifewjeof
My Dragonborn Paladin is about to be the scariest mfer in the Toril-verse
In basegame she's a Bronze Dragonborn, in modded game she's a Sapphire Dragonborn (because Thundering Smite with Sapphire Dragonborn bonuses goes BRRRRRRRRRR)
fiery cargo
You've done it Alia, you've made me take out pen and paper
beautiful
fiery cargo
sorry for the delay ~~I'm technically at work rn 💀~~
that's an interesting bonkers change, I'm not a programmer or anything but it feels like that would have been harder to make work than RAW
cyan shuttle
I'd agree, but also I can see how it makes the ability more enticing
"Sven, are you sure you want to reroll all of the numbers with this ability?" "Of course, dear programmer child. Big numbers make brain go brrrrrrrr"
fiery cargo
they did overcompensate some things, true 😂
cyan shuttle
Thank FUCK they reworked Rangers
6E needs to make changes like BG3 did for Rangers. Rangers have seriously needed love for, like, 3 whole ass editions
fiery cargo
there are a lot of things a new edition should work on
cyan shuttle
They also made Hunter viable, at long, long, long, long, long last
fiery cargo
I never paid attention to the Ranger class so I don't know if this is a change or not but I love the volley ability that Hunters get
cyan shuttle
Alix is drowning in math while we joke about how bad 5e Rangers are
vague stone
Drowning? More like happily paddling, I love that shit
The expected damage on your first attack (adding valiant dmg) is 104.0962
Without it it's 96.5992
If you want to do more maths the expected value from a normal 1dn roll is (n+ 1)/2
With great weapon fighting it's:
(n-1) × (n+4) / (2n)
cyan shuttle
Correct me if I'm wrong, but technically if I used this overpowered motherfucking Paladin, if I was Hastened and was doing all 6 attacks in a single turn with Divine Smite, my total dice count would look something like this:
30D6 + 6D4 + 30D8 + 222 (+ 10 (1-time Combat Inspiration) + 1D6 (conditional Cloak of the Weave))
(5D6 + 1D4 + 5D8 + 37) x 6
vague stone
Alas the cloak of the weave absorb elements is currently bugged
Remind me how you get to 6 attacks? 2 normal + 1 bonus GWM + 2 hasted / 1 hasted (honour)
Action surge?
fiery cargo
flourishes I think
vague stone
Hmm then flourishes add 1d6 to the damage on each person too
cyan shuttle
SORRY ALIX
vague stone
That is me yes 
cyan shuttle
Correct me if I'm wrong, but technically if I used this overpowered motherfuckin...
so technically it's ((6D6 + 1D4 + 5D8 + 37) x 6) to make (36D6 + 6D4 + 30D8 + 222) + 10 (1-time combat inspiration) + 1D6 conditional Cloak of the Weave if it was working properly
Unless I am mistaken
||no wonder daddy likes her so much, she could kill god in a single fucking move||
That's assuming she is Hastened and using Divine Smite at max damage for all 6 of those attacks
vague stone
Not me counting how many spell slots above 4th level we have and if that is possibe, I think it is
cyan shuttle
Six. 3 4th level, 2 5th level, 1 6th level
The damage for Divine Smite caps at 4th level anyway, so that's six 4th level Divine Smites to use
vague stone
Ok ya ready?
That is 621.8 expected dmg
Doesn't beat triple max damage chain lighting on 3 wet enemies (80 × 2 × 3 × 3 = 1440), but pretty damn good!
fiery cargo
That is 621.8 expected dmg
not even killing Raphael smh my head, why even bother 😂 /jk
vague stone
I think it could actually kill raphael, since he is a fiend so the number of smite dice goes up by 1?
But that series of attacks kinda requires two targets (for slashing flourish) anyway
fiery cargo
I think it could actually kill raphael, since he is a fiend so the number of smi...
I keep forgetting that line of text on Divine Smite 😂
cyan shuttle
I mean, if my girl is still Hastened and attacks for 15D6 (the fire 3D6 won't do shit so I'm not counting them) + 3D4 + 18D8 + 111 it still hurts
vague stone
Just a wee bit
cyan shuttle
If any of those attacks is a crit then there's crit damage and the additional attack thanks to GWM
vague stone
Oh the calculation was taking into account crit chance, if you add in a sprinkle of luck of the far realms it will also change things
also if you are a half-orc? Well that also changes things
fiery cargo
amso
vague stone
I have been caught
vague stone
I think if you're going half-orc you'd want to maximise that crit chance, it won't make that big a difference under that build
cyan shuttle
Alas, I cannot double-slam a bottle of Viciousness and Cloud Giant Strength 😔
I refuse to use the other term, we aren't PG here but LORDT
So so far the highest Damage that we've been able to find so far has been Tempest Cleric x Storm Sorcerer dealing Chain Lightning on Wet enemies?
vague stone
Yeah I haven't found anything that could top that for now
cyan shuttle
You did 1 level in Tempest and 11 in Sorcerer for that, right?
vague stone
No I was 6 tempest / 5 sorcerer / 1 wizard, the 1 wizard can be ignored in favour of scrolls of chain lightning
You need 3 levels in sorcerer for quicken spell
cyan shuttle
oh no I adore the ability to pick up any fucking spell, I'm keeping 1 Wizard lmfao
What's the reason for 6 Tempest as opposed to 6 Storm? I forget what 6th level in Cleric is, but I remember 6 Storm is Heart of the Storm
vague stone
6 tempest for 2 channel divinities, if I want to lax damage 3 times I need those levels + that amulet that adds an extra one
......lax damage yes
cyan shuttle
LAX Damage is psychic damage you get from navigating Los Angeles airport
vague stone
Yesterday I made a similar typo and was talking about getting achievements for playing games on..."pax difficulty"
fiery cargo
you're truly on a roll at the moment
vague stone
Haven't been able to make all my usual typos in chat, it's all pent up
cyan shuttle
I was gonna say "Nyrulna as Melee weapon for funsies" but it would be better on a throw-based build
I also assume Elemental Adept (Lightning) is a great feat for that, since it applies regular damage to creatures with Lightning resistance
Or would that not even be necessary thanks to the Wet condition
Not necessary with Wet
vague stone
Not 100% sure, if it already bypasses resistances would wet make them vulnerable to your damage? That is a good question
cyan shuttle
According to BG3 wiki:
"Wet entities who are resistant to Lightning and/or Cold damage will have their resistances negated, but vulnerability will not be applied to the respective element."
so Elemental Adept would give that target Vulnerability, I assume?
vague stone
That would be nice, but I think what's more likely is that it doesn't stack, and you just don't need to make them wet this conversation sounds so wrong if you have elemental adept
cyan shuttle
it really does got it
Off the top of my head, if this character is entirely a spellcaster, then for gear I'm thinking maybe Helldusk Helm/Balduran's Helm for utility and crit-immunity (Hat of Storm Scion's power isn't that great, esp since in late game the Battlemage's Potion exists). Thunderskin Cloak for Reverberation fun, any heavy armor (Helldusk is amazing, so is Adamantine Splint & Persistence), Boots of Stormy Clamour (pairs well with rings), gloves of whatever, Amulet of the Devout, Callous Glow Ring & Coruscation Ring for Radiant Orb + Reverberation fun. Then it's just weapons?
I say gloves of whatever because if Callous + Corusc + Boots of Stormy are working together there's no need for the Gloves of Beligerent Skies, so it becomes an open spot.
vague stone
Gloves of thunder something something that my Shadowheart has in our co-op are perfect for tempest clerics
Belligerent skies!
Oh you mentioned them, I can totally read
cyan shuttle
Gemini Gloves are fun, Spellmight gloves give +10 to spell damage, and the Gauntlets of Frost Str are an option too for funsies if no-one else is using them
Helldusk also increases Spell DC, so that's a nice option too
vague stone
You don't do that many spell attacks as a tempest cleric, it's all about them failing your saves, I think I ended up with Gortash's gloves at the end? They also increase DC
(And they look awesome)
cyan shuttle
Helldusk might be better since the Thunderskin Cloak takes away the option to increase Spell DC via the cloak slot, so either Helldusk Gloves or Gauntlets of the Tyrant
vague stone
I don't think thundeskin is that exciting, I'd go for cloak of the weave! have you noticed I am a little bit drunk on wanting to have the highest ever spell save dc
cyan shuttle
(And they look awesome)
||when you steal your exes favorite hand jewelry to spite him||
cyan shuttle
I don't think thundeskin is that exciting, I'd go for cloak of the weave! ~~have...
just a bit
"only 22 Spell Save DC? Wow"
vague stone
22 is for weaklings can I make it 30
cyan shuttle
What weapons work on that build then? When I did my first Honor mode I had Shadowheart circulate between different Cleric builds depending on what she needed, but my endgame/final battle build was 11 Tempest Cleric + 1 Storm Sorc and she was using Nyrulna, Viconia's Walking Shield, and I alternated between the Joltshooter and the Dead Shot. I had Halsin use the Gontr Mael because he had the Greater Health Amulet so he could Celestial Haste without fear of his concentration breaking. It was magical.
cyan shuttle
~~22 is for weaklings~~ can I make it 30
Shadowheart wakes up 2 hours earlier than everyone else and just spends a whole 30 minutes slamming Battlemage Potions in the dark where nobody can see her
vague stone
Markoheshkir is a must
cyan shuttle
The two hours is so she has 15 minutes to mentally prepare, 30 minutes to chug, and the remaining 75 minutes to recover emotionally and physically
Oh yeah Dual Wielding Marohehkir and the Staff or Spellpower/another great staff is spectacular
Dual Wielding Markoheshkir and the Staff of Spellpower also gives you two uses of Arcane Battery per Long Rest
That's nothing to sneeze at
That's 3 Chain Lightnings per long rest naturally before using scrolls
vague stone
Funnily enough I think my other honour mode Shadowheart might legit be capable of hitting a 30 spell save dc with the helm of arcane acuity
cyan shuttle
It's such a good helmet!!! Why is it only uncommon, like bruh
vague stone
When we were defending ||Isobel from Marcus|| I was telling noodle "OK lemme cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on him. Hold on success chance is too low, off hand shoot off hand shoot OK we good now he ain't gonna save against that"
cyan shuttle
So with the Helldusk Helmet, Thundersking Cloak, Helldusk/Adamantine/Persistence Armor, Gauntlets of the Tyrant, Boots of Stormy Clamour, Amulet of the Devout, Callous Glow + Coruscation Ring, Markoheshkir + Staff of Spellpower, the Dead Shot, and 22 natural Charisma from the Mirror of Loss (you can swap Helldusk for Birthright ifyou really really want to), then you're looking at a Spell Save DC of 23 (24 with Birthright) before getting Arcane Acuity charges through the Battlemage's Elixir and/or the Helmet of Arcane Acuity
Also scrap the Dead Shot, Ne'er Misser & Hellfire Crossbow are where this build is at
vague stone
I tend to go for anything that boosts initiative for spellcasters there so the hellrider longbow that my shadowheart has
cyan shuttle
valid
vague stone
(My as in the relatively normal shadowheart in our honour mode with Roh, and not the unhinged shadowheart from my other honour mode with noodle )
cyan shuttle
The above with the Battlemage's Elixir with Birthright = 27 Spell Save DC
The above with the Battlemage's Elixir without Birthright or Helm = 26 Spell Save DC
The above with the Battlemage's Elixir with the Helm of Acuity = 26 Spell Save DC +1 per weapon attack (with two staffs the game automatically makes you use both, so in 1 round that's +2 to Spell Save DC making it 28 right off the bat)
On the other hand if you switch out the STaff of Spellpower for Rhapsody, after 3 kills with Rhapsody you'd have +3 to Spell Save DC instead of just 1 until your next Long rest, meaning if you didn't have the Helm of Acuity or Birthright you'd reach 28 Spell Save DC with the Elixir, and then if you had the Helm of Acuity after 1 attack you'd hit 30 Spell Save DC
vague stone
immediately go boot ||Cazador||'s butt upon reaching Baldur's Gate noted
cyan shuttle
Oh god Alix is gonna hit a Spell Save DC of 32, oh fuck, oh god, oh beans--
vague stone
fiery cargo
except not evil and not that ugly
cyan shuttle
Palpatine ate the worms
fiery cargo
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jfoiwejw
Listen, it works out in my solo-Halsin file: she could very well be one of the many orphans that went with Halsin to Thaniel's home and Scratch is still with us.
fiery cargo
I don't care what Larian say, me and Shadowheart ||adopted Scratch and Myshka and they live with us||
cyan shuttle
Hey Alix, do you have that screenshot of your over 1440 damage? My college friends don't believe that number can be achieved and I wish to prove them wrong
vague stone
that is pretty funny, I unfortunately did not do it myself, as I didn't have the amulet that lets you max damage 3 times and only realised it was possible after I completed that playthrough. I think the most I achieved was against the ||steelforge guardian|| + 2 steelwatchers, I have screenshots of it somewhere I can share but iirc it was a puny 3 × 160 + 3 × 168 = 984 damage (Markoheshkir adds lightning charges which add to the damage)
Ill try and find my screenshots when I'm back home from work, I do remember dealing tons of damage in the ||Cazador|| fight too 160 dmg to a 1hp bat may have been a lil overkill but I do not control the chain lightning
vague stone
OK so against ||Cazador|| & Co. Dav dealt a total of 862 damage in a turn. The extra bits of 8/9 damage here and there are a nice added bonus combining I think both lightning charges and the fact that the water that had made the first set of enemies vulnerable to lightning damage got electrified.
Against the ||Steel Watcher Titan at the Steelforge|| turns out the chain lightning only hit 1 extra steel watcher, I misremembered, total damage was a mere 676
also sorry ||Dalyria|| didn't mean to hit you there
cyan shuttle
[cackles in Sorcerer]
vague stone
If I were to re-do this build I'd need to improve how to make this work with a full team. Needs 1 member (druid, cleric) makes people wet, 1 member (wizard, sorcerer, scroll-haver) hastes the sorcleric, and then..... _It's lightning time 😎 _
cyan shuttle
stop talking about making people wet
marble summit
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One Overpowered Boy
vague stone
he s t r o n k
fiery cargo
is that using all 3 feats on ASI + the mirror?
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is there a +1 to a stat that I'm missing
vague stone
+1 to con from TB?
fiery cargo
that's 1 less than the third ASI I thought was had
vague stone
The gloves of soul catching also add a +2 con, it's similar to my Bellav build, but I went Monk 9/Rogue 3 instead and focused less on Con and Int and more on Wis and Cha
fiery cargo
ohhhhh
cyan shuttle
Resuming Cute Gith Gorl (armor is from a mod; I'm using the transmog mod so I get to play fairly while still looking dope AF)
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that's 1 less than the third ASI I thought was had
I went 4 Thief/8 Open Hand on Astarion, and his feats are Tavern Brawler (Con) to go from 15->16, Athlete (Dex) to go from 17->18, and then Wisdom +2 and Mirror of Loss +2 to go from 14->18. If I wanted to boost Astarion's Wis to 20 I would've needed Khalid's Gift, but that belongs on Jaheira and I could never take it from her
vague stone
Got the shiny golden dice! Bellav is ||being a Problem™️ in the Hells with her beloved and her bestie (her other bestie is taking a well deserved break and looking after her parents and 7 billion animals)||
Monks. They pretty good.
cyan shuttle
HECK YEAH WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN DICE CLUB!!!!! 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉
marble summit
I think I have like 3-4 honor modes at different stages of the game but I can't decide which one I want to finish with
We'll probably finish our co-op before I get to them
vague stone
They are very close!
cyan shuttle
Our campaign is super close, I can see us finishing it within the next month!
vague stone
I don't have any major planned playthroughs anymore, I am now tempted to go back to Eav and her Eavil ways and create a second branch in her story where she ||rejects Bhaal and becomes the Absolute in her own name (with her supportive evil gf by her side of course)||
That is to get the last achievement (and to prepare for Patch 7)
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||We're at the Wyrmway & we can easily follow up with the Emperor's Hideout. We could also take on Sarevok that same night without issue (Potentially 1 session). Dribbles is easy, Orin should be easy with how OP we are. Iron Throne may need an entire session all by itself, depending on if we feel good after fighting Orin we could save that for another session. Then it's the Steel Watch which we can do easy-peasy either the following session or right after the Iron Throne if we did the Iron Throne in a new session. Then it's just Gortash and the final fight for 1-2 sessions.||
vague stone
the one major disadvantage of my plan is that I don't get to ||Power Word Kill Raphael by calling him a pathetic bottom anymore, alas!||
marble summit
||We're at the Wyrmway & we can easily follow up with the Emperor's Hideout. We ...
||Well, I'm going to have to fight her alone so that might create some problems, but I'm hoping for the best planning for the worst. I can def see us beating sarevok in one turn tho ||
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Question for y'all: if you play a Durge and you ||cut off Gale's hand, where does Gale's body go? You can still use the rune so, like, is his body just dead inside the rock? Technically he's supposed to be trapped in the weave of the rune rather than the rock itself, so is his body, like...... amidst the weave now?||
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||I think it disinigrates in the weave or in raw magic||
||Which probably means his soul doesnt go to mystra or anywhere else in the afterlife :(||
cyan shuttle
Poor taste joke incoming: ||Gale Discard-ios||
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Also, I've started a non-Honor mode (Customized to still be difficult, though) for an evil Durge to get ready for the upcoming evil endings. I'm going to have Astarion, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Minthara as my only companions ||I've already lopped off Gale's hand||
Shadowheart is going to have white hair to fit the rest of the team, so she's not going to like me very much 💀
- Durge is a RangerRogueBard who uses bows and only has double daggers for Crits. With the Dead Shot, Knife of the Undermountain King, Bloodthirst, Sarevok's Horned Helm, and the Elixir of Viciousness every attack is going to hurt. Bard is the picked magic class here to get Hold Person because 1) I like playing music in this game, 2) Vicious Mockery to trigger Arcane Synergy, 3) I like playing music in this game and don't want to waste a feat on Performer, so sue me
- Astarion is an Ascended ThiefMonk because his Ascended bonuses are insane in this build, as seen in the multiplayer Honor Mode I have with Alix & Roh.
- Shadowheart is my Tempest/Storm with 1 level in Wizard for scroll shenanigans. I know that MAD isn't a huge issue in BG3, but I'm still keeping her Sorcerer spells as utility/non-cast scaling like Magic Missile to ensure that I can dump all of her points into Wisdom. It'll also be interesting going into Jaheira's House in BG3 and taking Khalid's necklace without Jaheira's permission
- Lae'zel's being built to throw things like the Returning Pike until Minthara arrives, then she's probably going to be benched.
- Minthara is the tried-and-true PalaBard for Smites. Also if I have Shadowheart cast Daylight on Minthara's weapon every day it means she only needs the Coruscation Ring to activate Radiant Orb on every enemy in the vicinity as an extra "fuck you", which is pretty fun.
Even though I'm not picking Performer on my Durge, I'm still picking it up on Astarion, Shadowheart, and Lae'zel for giggles. Since there are 5 characters total, and there are 5 kinds of instruments in BG3, if one of us starts jamming the AI will automatically make everyone play along
Durge has the Lyre, Astarion has the Lute, Lae'zel has the Drum, Minthara has the Flute, and Shadowheart has the Violin
vague stone
Oooh excellent team! And hey, Alfira can still teach you how to play an instrument before......you know
I kinda love that now that I have gone back to Eav's second branch, I'm gonna have similar builds, I'm changing up the team, Minthara is going from Paladin to Bardadin (same as you), Astarion of course exactly the same, Lae'zel was built to yeetus pikus as an eldritch knight but I've got a little idea I wanna try: Fighter 2, Gloomstalker 5, Warlock 5 (pact of the blade), seven attacks in the first round
cyan shuttle
Oooh excellent team! And hey, Alfira can still teach you how to play an instrume...
I tried that actually! I had Astarion try to learn from her, but whenever I played music he never joined in. He does with the Performer feat, but not when Alfira teaches him. Booooo
ALIX HOW DID YOU MAKE THE SAME THROWING BUILD AS ME FOR LAE'ZEL????
vague stone
Braincells
cyan shuttle
I was going to make her a BerserkerThief for the bonuses, but Gloomstalker & Warlock have great synergy too and I've got so many thieves in my party already
vague stone
That second bonus action, it's so good. Bellav & Karlach, my Tavern Brawler Thief Babes, absolutely wrecked the final battle!
(And my rogue bard Shadowheart is also a thief)
Also I gotta share with y'all a screenshot of a triple dashing, longstridered, potion of elven elegance-drinking, crusher's ring-wearing Bellav's speed
if only she'd also been hasted
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hot diggidy
vague stone
And unrelated-ish, wanna know my favourite thing about creating a second branch in Eav's story? Girl ||slurped the astral tadpole after embracing Bhaal||, which means she is back to looking smokin' hot and maybe I wanna keep her that way this time why oh why is my super evil PC the most good-looking one
cyan shuttle
Wait, what? ||Your face is unchanged if you slurp the Astral Tadpole after becoming Bhaal's chosen???||
D... Does ||Bhaal have a beauty standard for his children?||
vague stone
Oh no no, I just meant that going back to a save before ||Bhaal|| means I also went back to a save before ||slurping the astral tadpole||, and therefore all I had to do is ||re-critfarm my way through the Orin duel, and I now have an un-bhaaled, un-astral tadpoled Eav||
cyan shuttle
Aaaaah I see, I was about to be like "Father, I beg thine most deadass pardon--"
Good luck 🫡
vague stone
Oh I did it last night, ||I literally opened the duel with 3 eldritch blast crits on the sis,|| it was beautiful
vague stone
now that I am home, behold, the nyooooooming Bellav, that is 21 m/s, or 75.6 km/h, or 47 mph
fiery cargo
rookie numbers /jk
vague stone
it's not the absolute fastest one can get in this game, but sometimes I look back at my first playthrough where despite being a ranger I never used longstrider and the team was stuck at 9m speed for the whole game....what slowpokes
cyan shuttle
Drink Potion of Elven Elegance
Wear Crusher's Ring
Be A Monk (9)
Be A Thief (3)
Have Long Strider
Dash
Cunning Action Bonus Dash
Cunning Action Bonus Dash
nnnnnnNNNNNNNNYOOOMMMMMMMmmmmm
Man, if you had Haste AND you had the ||Half-Illithid|| Flying available that would be so much more movement
Also if your character was a Wood Elf, had Nyrulna equipped, and a Druid companion in Wolf shape had used an Inciting Howl you'd have even more movement
That's not even counting the Boots of Speed Click Heels and Minthara's Soul Branding
Like swap out a Cunning Action for Click Heels to get double your speed again instead of dashing again
vague stone
and aspect of the elk!
Though for some reason I've found the triple dash doesn't register in the speed numbers sometimes? Like I've had a speed of 114 at 2 dashes, then dash again and it still says 114
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RUDE
vague stone
Anyway with that speed, and one of the dashes coming from step of the wind, climbing up to ||the brain stem|| took a total of checks notes ah yes, one single turn. "Step of the Wind, Dash, Dash, Boink, Boink, Bonk, Boink, Open the door, Trigger cutscene "
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This calculator I found doesn't include buffs, so this is a Wood Elf Monk 8/Thief 4 with Crusher's Ring & Nyrulna. Assuming the player is under the effects of Elven Elegance (+10m), Longstrider (+3m), Transmutation Stone (+3m), Inciting Howl (+3m), and Minthara's Soul Branding (+5m), that brings the base speed of that character to 48m in a turn
Under the effects of Haste that character can Dash 4 times in one round... big number
vague stone
s p e d
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the true definition of BG3 speedrunning
If unlocking doors was a free action, a speedy monk would make the Iron Throne easy as fucking pie
"Oh the Iron Throne is only 300m across? Hold on lemme just-" [nyooms]
vague stone
Ok but unlocking doors in the iron throne via levers is a free action! Bellav had the time of her life in there!
cyan shuttle
What am I thinking of? Something requires an action (other than fighting the Fishy Boys)
Aside from Help Action-ing the woman trapped on the chair & Best Boy
vague stone
If you're on the wrong side of a door then you do have to spend an action to unlock it
cyan shuttle
If we weren't doing an Honor Mode together I'd be down to see how many people a Nyoom'd up Astarion could free while Hasted, Soul Branded, etc............ but we also don't have Araj anymore, so 😅
I think I still have Astarion's Elven Potion, though!
vague stone
Hasted Bellav basically Freed ||man, lady & Omeluum||, killed the one Sahuagin that is there before the others start appearing, then kept going down that corridor (had to spend an action to unlock some doors because she was on the wrong side of the levers), picked up everything that was in the corridor with no prisoners, nyooomed past the last room with sahuagin, and closed the door by pulling the lever, realised there was a corpse back in that room, reopened the door, nyoomed in, looted the corpse, nyoomed out, re-closed the door, and finally nyoomed back up to the submersible.
Astarion is gonna have a lot of fun in there, and we are hasting that vampire boi
hastarion
||Hasta la Vista, Gortash||
cyan shuttle
||I can't wait for Sexy to tell their ex boyfriend to Fuck Right Off||
Also correct me if I'm wrong, but at base speed 48m Dash, Dash, CDash, CDash would be 48x2x2x2x2, or 768m right?
Or would it be 48+48+48+48 = 192m?
vague stone
Bellav's base speed in the endgame was 32m (I think it's 31.5 rounded up though), when she triple-dashed it became 126, so 31.5×4, movement + dash + bonus dash + bonus dash each dash just adds another instance of your base walking speed, rather than multiplying
So yeah, 192m
cyan shuttle
Fair. But, also, alas 😔
With the Elk blessing it can reach 49.5 so long as that character is within range of the Barbarian using it. There needs to be a way to boost 48m to 50m for an even 200m walking speed
You can reach 51m if you have the Featherlight boots at under 50% HP, and if you grab the Martial Exertion gloves you can get a free action that doubles your base speed AND gives you another action (although according to the wiki that might be an attack action and not another chance to Dash)
Correction, it's an attack not an action. So you double your movement as a Free Action, but don't get another option to Dash
with the Featherlight boots and all of the other bonuses, that's (51x5) movement
vague stone
How about having 2 levels into fighter for a lil action surge dash?
vague stone
During my lunch break today I had fun calculating expected damage for various weapon/armour combinations I wanna test on Eav (as you do)
I then ended up wondering: what happens when you combine Savage Attacker and Great Weapon Fighting? Can I calculate it? Started looking it up, see what people had uncovered, had an existential crisis
(In short: they stack, and it's fuckin complicated)
marble summit
What does savage attacker do again?
vague stone
Basically you roll damage with advantage
vague stone
Basically I found this and boi, the interactions are complicated
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/1664e8o/do_great_weapon_fighting_and_savage_attacker/
cyan shuttle
On my next Half-Orc run I wanted to run a Fighter with GW Fighting style and at least GW Master and Savage Attacker to see if I could make the ultimate "Get Fucked" fighter
With Savage Attacker and Savage Attacks (half-Orc feature) if I drank an Elixir of Viciousness I could be rolling some serious damage
cyan shuttle
The problem with BG3 continues to be "THERE ARE SO MANY COOL BUILDS I WANT TO TRY!" vs "oh god that's like 100+ hrs of EXP to get plus getting all the gear to try out this build, fuck"
Like I cannot tell you how many times I've made a Deep Gnome Druid and deleted her because I couldn't make it past the Goblin Camp because my heart was no longer in it
vague stone
oh yeah before the mechanical build I always need a narrative hook for the playthrough!
cyan shuttle
My Gith girl is going to finally complete Lae'zel's romance, which will be great fun because ||we'll get to ride off into the Astral Plane together instead of being separated by duty/asking her to leave her people behind for me||
I really hope the ending cutscene sequence allows me to, uh... help with certain decisions first 😬
vague stone
Yeah I am hoping a patch will fix that and then I can go back and have Chav ||ride off into the sunset with Lae'zel, ~~then fall off the dragon ~~||
So I have spent wayyy too long today making calculations on how to optimise crit chance vs crit damage riders (dolor amarus).
I discovered that, provided you're at least a little bit of a terrible person, bhaalist armour + crimson mischief + risky ring + dolor amarus + vicious shortbow (same effect as dolor amarus, i.e., extra damage on crits) is fucking deadly. Eav destroyed Lorroakan in a single attack!
fiery cargo
I feel like calling an unholy assassin "a little bit of a terrible person" is underselling the evil a bit
vague stone
Just a wee bit evil, as a lil treat
vague stone
It's Eav, what did you expect
But anyway for anyone who's curious: the stats tend to favour crit damage over crit chance, so you have just a bit of a higher expected damage output if you favour gear that gives you flat damage riders (e.g., dolor amarus, birthright for that extra charisma) rather than ones that increase crit chance (i.e., bloodthirst, sarevok's helm).
cyan shuttle
My evil girl stole the idol last night. Used Fog Cloud, stole it, drank an invisibility potion, and walked away...... ||then I stayed hidden and let the Druids slaughter all of the Tieflings before taking up the rear and clearing out the last of the druids|| 🥲
Lakrissa ||was the last Tiefling left standing, but she's not going to last long once I get Minthara's war party to the grove||
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oh I mean unless you really wanna be mean ||the surviving Tieflings just leave the grove never to be seen again||
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Even if the whole grove ||is essentially empty?||
Like it's literally just ||Lakrissa and the kids||
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yeah, like when I did it we ||killed all druids and some tieflings survived like e.g. Bex, and even maybe Lakrissa too? and they just left, a journal update said "the surviving tieflings have left"||
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||they won't be surviving for long||
vague stone
This made me cackle https://x.com/SpiffyVaxildan/status/1789398057835995578
wild ridgeBOT
cyan shuttle
We beat The Iron Throne with all survivors on Honor Mode, easy peasy von-squeezy
cyan shuttle
Do I have permission to share.................. Sexiest McGee?
indigo pelican
I put a BG3 screenshot into Lightroom while I was doing other edits and wow I didn't realise just how dim all of Act II is until I brightened it
vague stone
Shadowlands do be shadowin'
marble summit
Do I have permission to share.................. Sexiest McGee?
Yes, always 🙏
cyan shuttle
BEHOLD! SEXIEST MCGEE!!!!
vague stone
It's hawt in here and not just because there's a fire myrmidon
marble summit
I should wear it to ||the temple of bhaal||
vague stone
||Orin I am Sexier than you in Every Way||
sullen terrace
not quite baldur’s gate but I traded in a bunch funkos, 3 games, and 2 amiibo to get divinity original sin 2 definitive edition on switch
it’s tied with pokemon emerald for my most valuable game
larian’s game before bg3
it’s so expensive because it’s from limited run in 2019 which does not do reprints and now that bg3 is so popular people wanna check out the other games larian made
vague stone
Oh for sure, I bought DOS2 on Steam like last week!
fiery cargo
Limited Run my beloathed
marble summit
DOS2 is def worth it! It's harder than bg3 but once you get the hang of it it's super fun
vague stone
I've been watching Dimension20's A Crown of Candy season for the first time. The DM (Brennan Lee Mulligan) made it incredibly difficult and deadly (no revivify, barely any heals) so some players were going for busted builds like.... gloomstalker assassin and tempest cleric/storm sorcerer. They were winning at BG3 before EA even released
cyan shuttle
I have a campaign where revivify and other necromancy spells are outlawed and severely punished, and in the 1-shot I did with my players they made some... interesting work-arounds 😅
sullen terrace
Limited Run my beloathed
I like what they do I just wish they’d do reprints when games get expensive online
fiery cargo
I like having more games available physically, but they're incredibly expensive and are really going out to exploit fomo and that's shitty
also their lead times are inexcusable
the relative lack of competition exaserbates the problems they have I think
cyan shuttle
I really want to get the physical BG3 set, but it will have to wait until after I move to my new place. Right now all of my savings are going towards deposits and the like 😔
indigo pelican
Still waiting for mine to ship
vague stone
Gale are u OK my friend
fiery cargo
I didn't realise Minsc could even grow a beard
marble summit
icy drum
it’s so expensive because it’s from limited run in 2019 which does not do reprin...
Having played all the Original Sin games, I can attest that Larian really makes strides to improve their games as they go. The interfaces, the graphics, the acting. It really feels like when they can do something better, they always go for it.
The changes from DOS2 to BG3 were so good that I wouldn't complain if things settled down from there
vague stone
Two down, one to go (legit I am suddenly tempted to do a third co-op honour mode run as Shadowheart but this time romancing Minthara to complete the trilogy)
cyan shuttle
~~Two down, one to go~~ (legit I am suddenly tempted to do a third co-op honour ...
dewit
vague stone
I need co-op buddies then who wants to join me
cyan shuttle
I'd be down 
I could resume my Karlach Origin, or even pick up a Gale Origin
Or if w need a Dark Urge I can fill that spot
vague stone
Aw yiss! I would definitely not do Cleric Shadohweart again btw, might be interested in full sorcerer or full druid
If a fourth person is interested and we end up in a 4-way co-op it will make it harder to form in-game relationships though, alas the duality of "I want to play with my friends" vs "I want to kiss the pretty pixel people"
cyan shuttle
Throws the Smooch Rotation out of whack
vague stone
exactly!
cyan shuttle
If I go Karlach I want to turn her intro a Druid and go Katlach
Not in the usual Katlach fashion, though--what if she was just a Moon Druid
I could romance Halsin as Karlach--
extra beef
vague stone
Fair warning, the game fully bugged out when I tried to romance Halsin as Karlach, granted I tried the poly angle but I do worry
marble summit
I could join then we'd be 4 ppl
cyan shuttle
If the four of us do an evil run we could do some serious damage.................
cyan shuttle
I still can't believe how easy our Honor Mode act 3 was 😅
Three power gamers in one campaign was, uh... efficient
Genuinely curious, what's our timestamp for completing Honor Mode? It was spread across 5 months, but if we played almost every Sunday from 2-7 that's 5 hrs per meet up, so 5x(20~23 weeks?) + the extra 5hrs last night, we're probably looking at between 105-120 hours taken to fully complete Honor Mode doing all of the side quests and hoarding power
fiery cargo
I did honour mode so fast, probably the fastest anyone's done it tbh
vague stone
The fastestest
marble summit
This isn't right at the end so I'd assume we clocked in at about 100 hours
cyan shuttle
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN we are efficient
marble summit
Not having the ability to reload probably made us lock in a lot harder
vague stone
I am impressed we finished in under 100 hours, we did skip a couple lil combats but nothing major
My longest playthrough is Chav due to her obsession with thoroughly cleaning battle scenes 😅
rocky cipher
https://vxtwitter.com/larianstudios/status/1793225571738042457?t=p4ls8C_0O4BARWfpR3CHkA&s=19
Thank u Larian very cool
vague stone
I am at MCM Comic con today and just met Scott Joseph aka The Emperor 
Lovely human, no tentacles in sight
cyan shuttle
You're so lucky Alix, I don't get to meet any of the cast here in the US of A 😭
Nobody in their right mind is coming to Texass
fiery cargo
a few of the cast have been over, and seem likely to go over again
idk what the con scene is like in Texas but it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility
marble summit
Welcome to how we europeans feel Alia 
vague stone
I'm not gonna complain too much given I met the entire cast in october last year, but 90% of the time they announce a new convention it's in the US and I'm like "come on come back to London" like a spoiled child 
fiery cargo
in October 🙏
marble summit
cries in Scandinavian
cyan shuttle
Welcome to how we europeans feel Alia <:lul:1130543632601067692>
fair
indigo pelican
*cries in Scandinavian*
Cries in New Zealand
sullen terrace
I’m in line for Sam!
vague stone
Enjoy meeting them!
sullen terrace
thank you!
I have things for me plus 3 people for them to sign so I hope that doesn’t overwhelm them
sullen terrace
everything was fine and it gave us a chance to chat a little bit
vague stone
Ooo do tell! what did you chat about? (If you're happy to share of course)
sullen terrace
I asked them if they liked Atlanta and they said they really liked the aquarium! that normally aquariums kinda make them sad because the tanks are so small but these are huge
and that I have no dnd group and no dice set
and that if I smeared one of my prints they’ll fix it which did happen
sullen terrace
look at this Gale cosplay I saw
vague stone
Oo that's awesome! Funnily enough when I was queuing to meet Sam last october somebody was standing behind me with basically the same cosplay
sullen terrace
oh nice!
sullen terrace
do you think my plushie loving dog will steal karlach (art by zhellyzee)
vague stone
Absolutely yes
sullen terrace
he did
marble summit
aww
marble summit
Doing ||Withers crypt ||and the gargoyle heads still fired even though I disarmed them? Come on man, I found and disarmed all the traps exept for|| the sarcophagus lid|| 😩
marble summit
Its just a tactician run so its fine, I could just reload and pass the check this time
Would have been hilarious if it was an honor run
vague stone
I may or may not have triggered it on my solo honour run. Thankfully I somehow survived
indigo pelican
I got the code for PS5 version, now I just need the disc 😅
cyan shuttle
YEEHAW
indigo pelican
I just got a free-camera tool and Reshade and I'm learning how to use them. Any scenes I should try to get nice freecam screenshots of?
fiery cargo
or is it that they know you're watching 😂
indigo pelican
Does the tool work during cutscenes then?
Yes it does
indigo pelican
It’s neat, you can pause the game at any point too
Mostly been testing in my Shadowheart run as that’s my most recent. I’ve got to remember where my Durge looked the prettiest to go try it out with her
vague stone
I really want to try them in some romance scenes! do you have a link to the tool (mod?) 👀
cyan shuttle
I have discovered that no one else sleeps with their eyes shut
that's just Gale Dekarios
indigo pelican
I like how Gale just looks like he can’t sleep because he’s a bit disturbed by something
indigo pelican
I really want to try them in some romance scenes! do you have a link to the tool...
It’s Frans Bouma camera mod
https://opm.fransbouma.com/Cameras/bg3.htm
It’s via Patreon so there is a small cost but you can just sub for a month min to download
I didn’t find it too hard to get the hang of the controls. Combined it with Reshade for extra effects that I haven’t used much
vague stone
thanksss!
indigo pelican
I enjoyed zooming in and around this moment
Kind of tempted to load up my Durge and see if I can find the ||Emperor seduction|| scene so I can cap it and horrify my friend
vague stone
I had to see this so now you have to as well
https://x.com/loveroforin/status/1796266160956067995?t=ufIndoMjiMWmoZcqDhx_2w&s=19
Twitter
marble summit
act 1 spoilers|| Raided the grove today. I thought it would be worse but maybe I've been desensitized since I've played the game a couple of times. Minthara is worth it though damn 😩 ||
vague stone
That she is!
vague stone
We're still a long way away from Patch 7 it seems!
https://x.com/baldursgate3/status/1797586744088621138?t=lPeUMrAM-5G5ImUN6y6yOA&s=19
Twitter
cyan shuttle
I love that Larian is giving us this gift
indigo pelican
Ooh I just got notification that a package had cleared customs
I think it could be BG3 discs since I don't think I've ordered anything else that ships from GB or Europe... oh wait it could be a book. I guess we'll see...
marble summit
devs cut stuff all the time
and since its datamined its probably not doable, this guy just modded it in
Don't think you should share it here either, the server does have a rule about datamines
cyan shuttle
vague stone
Ever wanted to see some Act III Shadow'zel goodness? Well worry not, I gotchu
Also there's this bug in multiplayer where even if you're not the Dark Urge, you have the option to tell Minthara in Act III that ||you just found out you are a Bhaalspawn||, which led to this beautiful face
icy drum
Also there's this bug in multiplayer where even if you're not the Dark Urge, you...
Oh my goodness. Did Shadowheart ||inherit Minthara's facial animations?!||
marble summit
Her hands are so dainty 😭
indigo pelican
Ever wanted to see some Act III Shadow'zel goodness? Well worry not, I gotchu
I’m looking forward to getting this in my coop run where I’m SH
SH + Lae’zel has been very satisfying
icy drum
How about a little audition video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyB2htq0SjQ
vague stone
Very interesting video exploring the mechanics behind Shadowheart's big Act 2 decision
https://youtu.be/YdNEya-Np5U?si=6U3RLEsuROGB4nxb
icy drum
Darn bugs.
I do LOVE that if you have ||no means of pursuading Shadowheart to not kill Nightsong, all you have to do is leave her spear behind and it plays out as though you did. That's hilarous. ||
vague stone
||"Oh no silly me what a clutz"||
cyan shuttle
||SH: "I can't believe I did that" Tav, leaning on the Spear of Night like a beam: "Yeah, you throwing the spear away was unexpected"||
indigo pelican
Also funny when you ||make her throw it away herself before the cut scene ||
vague stone
I watched this live and this part was very funny, glad somebody edited it together
https://youtu.be/H83jRSE1M3I?si=kv-AX67NVrRhdIiU
sullen terrace
act one gale spoilers
watching some dudes play bg3 blind and they pulled gale out of the portal ||only to be like let’s kill him and chat freaking out is what kept them from killing him and thus getting the gale game over||
vague stone
Damn why did they want to just kill him?
sullen terrace
the guy thought he'd betray them down the road/he was hiding something
they killed astarion cause one dude was role playing a vampire slayer and he was like this dude is 100% a vampire ELDRITCH BLAST
much to the dismay of the rest of the group
fiery cargo
sullen terrace
I just threatened to tell karlach that my son (a dog) wasn’t eating his dinner and then he started eating
I have a karlach pillow he cuddles with
GIRL KISSER OF THE YEAR AWARD (real)
I’d spoiler it but being in this part of the server spoils it so bg3 won gayme of the year
vague stone
heccc yeah! the Gayme of All Times
sullen terrace
Twitter
indigo pelican
Yay progress
vague stone
Ooh physical edition?
indigo pelican
Ooh physical edition?
Yeah!
vague stone
I've been very tempted to get the Vinyl soundtrack even though I don't have anything to play it, because the art on it is absolutely gorgeous
indigo pelican
I’m hoping they do prints of that
vague stone
Oil of Diminution is my new favourite
cyan shuttle
Awww it's pocket sized!
vague stone
The Smol Watch
sullen terrace
missable act one familiar but how do we feel about shovel
marble summit
I love my sneak attack bot <3
sullen terrace
I really love shovel she’s so funny
marble summit
She is
marble summit
It's fisting time!
icy drum
missable act one familiar but how do we feel about shovel
A very unexpected character. Unpredictable in the most fun ways. Also surprising that she and Mayrina share the same actress
indigo pelican
Yay it arrived
vague stone
Oooooooooh nice!!
sullen terrace
“strong sex scenes, strong nudity”
indigo pelican
“strong sex scenes, strong nudity” <:allegra_laugh:703077884008595456>
Let’s ignore all the other stuff that happens lmao
cyan shuttle
“strong sex scenes, strong nudity” <:allegra_laugh:703077884008595456>
Amy his name is Halsin
indigo pelican
Contents
I haven't unfolded the poster because I'm not exactly sure where to put a poster
vague stone
Some very cool news in this 👀
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/4240783699885624491
sullen terrace
in case you don’t immediately recognize it this is an item from bg3
pdf version available for around $5
fiery cargo
Some very cool news in this 👀
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/v...
still no mention of legendary actions in custom mode 😔
but
how could they be so cruel
cyan shuttle
RIGHT
sullen terrace
don’t be shy add her as a companion in every play through
fiery cargo
I am not biased I might be a little biased Larian must stop being cowards
cyan shuttle
I mean, great way to lay the rug and pull it out later
fiery cargo
😭
cyan shuttle
I wonder if Quill will get the same treatment
sullen terrace
@cyan shuttle I may or may not be planning on making you that owl bear teddy 👀👀
fiery cargo
I wonder if Quill will get the same treatment <:thonking:867529644415647744>
it would only be fair considering ||she literally only exists in the game to be brutally murdered||
cyan shuttle
<@418513455134277645> I may or may not be planning on making you that owl bear t...
I have to be extremely careful with it if you do, I do have a teething pupperoni who almost disassembled Garrus and Blahaj
fiery cargo
actually I wouldn't put it past Larian to be specifically referring to Quill with that and you actually don't get to say hi to Alfira
sullen terrace
I have to be extremely careful with it if you do, I do have a teething pupperoni...
NOOOO yes definitely keep this out of her way but I can try and make yours puppy safe if she gets a hold of it aka no buttons
would you want no buttons?
cyan shuttle
If Banana gets hold of it the whole thing is going to be torn apart, so whether there are buttons are not doesn't really matter 😅
vague stone
Ok but you know what's great about enabling the possibility of adding ||<redacted>|| to your party? ✨mods✨ there will be a mod that makes her a companion
sullen terrace
YESSS
cyan shuttle
Ok but you know what's great about enabling the possibility of adding ||<redacte...
just not as a Dark Urge, I assume
fiery cargo
Ok but you know what's great about enabling the possibility of adding ||<redacte...
where do we fundraise to get Rebecca Hanssen to record full companion dialogue /hj
icy drum
Why not? A Half-Life 2 mod replaced Alyx with Crystal from Star Fox: Adventures and brought her actress, Estelle Ellis, to redo all of Alyx's lines.
... No. Really. They did!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrgfncP_tlM&t=1s
cyan shuttle
Wrong channel, Jeyl, you're in Baldur's Gate :B
icy drum
Wrong channel, Jeyl, you're in Baldur's Gate :B
I was just trying to compliment Noodle's post by invoking a "stranger things have happened" response when it comes to gaming communities and using the original actors to reprise their roles.
sullen terrace
whenever good boy Carmel is bad I pull an “I’m gonna tell Santa” but it’s I’m gonna tell karlach because he snuggles with my karlach pillow
vague stone
Excellent plan, if Karlach was disappointed in me I would simply die
vague stone
This is so interesting, Larian you so smort https://youtu.be/01YNFAdcqRg?si=MM_HsDhVYJOiFo_e
icy drum
Has the soft-lock in the jungle been patched?
Also for a funny time, check out this article. https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-patch-7-updates-worse/?utm_campaign=TrueAnthem-TG&utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2tytOD3HiftwDYt8aGwpneRpcehTj7sXrAnpqMTDRHhg6bKjeqgY9YGn0_aem_13dT_ZQp8rk6TNH0ZA23_w
I don't think "Live-Service" means what she thinks it means...
Also, recruitable Minthara as a goodie ruined the story?
I don't get it. Even if you ||slaughter the grove and recruit Minthara that way, you can still change your behavior and become the glowing saint who sets out to do good which Minthara will still go along with.||
sullen terrace
almost done!
marble summit
Maybe I've finally lost my sanity but I kinda want to do a solo honor run
cyan shuttle
Maybe I've finally lost my sanity but I kinda want to do a solo honor run
do it
wet remnant
Also, recruitable Minthara as a goodie ruined the story?
I don't think they mean entire main story of BG3, but the original design of Minthara's recruitment was a bold choice, with real costs if players go through with it. ||Wyll and Karlach will leave the team if you raid the grove and so does Gale if you fail a skill check, amongst other things.||
Patching a way around those consequences makes recruiting her the original way kinda pointless and the story of your playthrough does suffer for it
vague stone
I honestly prefer the story if she gets knocked out. "Local Evil Drow Forced To Join Up With A Band Of Good-Hearted(ish) Chucklefucks Who Ruined Her Plans"
The punishments for simply not helping the tieflings (not even raiding the grove) were so incredibly harsh, it ||fully locked out any romance involving Karlach, Halsin immediately died, several separate questlines were immediately cancelled, we lost so many NPCs and merchants||
To me she deserves to have her story told without having to face such dire consequences
When I say not helping the tieflings I should mention: in one playthrough I ||killed every goblin and leader except Minthara....so like I tried really hard!||
wet remnant
Hmm, well... I prefer that being the exclusive method. It just adds another heavy choice, sets the tone for the playthrough while also adding to the arc of your character.
Fairly sure I wouldn't dislike the option if it was in 1.00 all along
vague stone
I am happy with the romance scene being fully locked behind raiding the grove though. And ||rescuing Minthara from Moonrise after having romanced her is such a sweet scene 🥹||
icy drum
I enjoy the scenario of Minthara being saved by my band of do-gooders. From her point of view, she's faced with two choices. ||Change her mind with Tav, or lose her mind with the absolute. It's easy for Minthara to join Tav out of hate for how quickly the absolute discarded her, but not nearly as much as how much she hates herself for believing in their whims so easily.||
wet remnant
For me, and I suspect the writer of TheGamer article, they are concerned about Larian softening the cool narrative edges of BG3 through George Lucas style patches. Minthara feels like that to me and I share the writer's concern for what they might do with Astarion in Patch 7.
From the article:
||"When Astarion ascends, he becomes a more arrogant and abusive character. He grabs your Tav's face as he kisses them, tossing it aside when done. He forces them to kneel and grabs their throat. Right now, your Tav looks scared when this happens - scared of what might happen, scared of what Astarion has become. In Patch 7, the implication is this fear will be taken away, and while it's true that you can play as an evil Tav and may admire Astarion, I fear it seems as though it will now show the scene as more playful and erotic for all Tavs. These repeated patches have lost Larian the benefit of my doubt."||
vague stone
I mean, the patch isn't out yet, I'll reserve judgement until then 🤷♀️
wet remnant
So will I, though it is a valid concern
icy drum
The ratio of what George Lucas changed varies in scope and purpose. I need something more specific than that to make an accurate assesment
wet remnant
In case you mean changes done to Star Wars:
Greedo also firing in the cantina in Episode 4
Swapping the musical number "Lapti Nek" for "Jedi Rocks", neither is great,
but Jedi Rocks is considerably worse.
Replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen as Anakin's Force Ghost.
Changes like that feel like what Larian did with recruiting Minthara and I think they make their respective artworks inferior to what they were
vague stone
It looks so good Amy!!
cyan shuttle
HE IS PERFECT
fiery cargo
awwwwwww well done 💜
sullen terrace
I’m obsessed with how he turned out
when I was setting him up for a picture Abby took a bite at him because she was in a playful mood
icy drum
One last note on the Minthara bit. Updating her storyline to accomodate 'good guy' runs does present a relationship that goes from 'Enemies to lovers". You never get that in an evil playthrough since you're doing her evil bidding from the start. These updates didn't break Minthara. They made her unique in the grand scheme of video game romances.
wet remnant
Star Wars: Fallen Order and sequel Jedi Survivor has a definitive "enemies to lovers" arc
I think the case can also be made for both KOTOR games, with Juhani and Visas Marr.
Arguably Leon & Ada in Resident Evil 2 as well, since Ada starts off manipulating Leon. Although there is a document in RE6 stating:
"They don't consider each other enemies, but it's hard to tell how they feel for each other. Complicated is the word that aptly summarizes their relationship"
They do have different objectives, like Ada pulls a gun on Leon twice in RE4
cyan shuttle
I think that making Minthara available on a non-evil run offers a fun narrative purpose without hurting her character. That Larian gave players the option to recruit Minthara Baenre--The Funniest Person In The Game--without having to do a genocide/mass slaughter is not only a great way to allow players who don't like playing evil runs to see just how great she is (Emma Gregory put her whole Drussy into Minthara and having only a fraction of the players experience her performance would be a CRIME), but her demeanor in camp can also encourage more on-the-fence players to actually try evil runs.
Minthara being available as a party member AND a romance option in a good run gives her a well-deserved spotlight and teases players to try something they wouldn't normally do, offering a whole new perspective on gameplay. And Minthara herself doesn't lose anything by being in a good party or an evil party. She's Minthara Baenre: she's going to find a way to survive, enact vengeance on those who wronged her, and amass power no matter who she follows.
fiery cargo
Minthara's not even in the top 5 funniest people in the game 😂
I think a teensy tiny addition they could make would be having Minthara act a little like Ulder does when first exposed to the prism, as it is it still feels too meta for "good" characters who are set on saving the grove to randomly knock out this single drow while killing everyone else in the goblin camp and I would like anything for my character to grasp at to justify her surviving to act 2
vague stone
Excuuuse me she is easily top 3 funniest to me
fiery cargo
there are so many funny people in the game, she's nowhere near 😂 but tastes differ
even if yours is wrong it's okay /jk
vague stone
Genuinely no other character makes me cackle as often as she does. Sure it's in a "did you just say that??" laugh of disbelief way but it's still fuckin funny
fiery cargo
I wouldn't generally consider someone funny if all I'm laughing at is how unhinged they are, but that's digressing to semantics a bit I suppose
also I didn't laugh at the wild things she said as much as I was taken aback 😂
cyan shuttle
"Minthara is the funniest person I know! Go on, tell them the one about the Drider getting married!"
"... It was a beautiful webbing"
vague stone
We gotta get her to say that in our evil co-op!
cyan shuttle
Noodle, is grandma Tex going to the circus or is she too sophisticated for it?
I imagine we get back, covered in blood, like "Grandma, you missed the circus! ||We got to kill all the clowns!||" and Tex, probably, says "and yet, you three are still here"
fiery cargo
"Minthara is the funniest person I know! Go on, tell them the one about the Drid...
I don't find that funny 😂
Tex probably has business with Akabi for some reason
vague stone
I don't find that funny 😂
how does it feel to be so wrong /j
fiery cargo
~~how does it feel to be so wrong /j~~
you're looking in the mirror again /jk
icy drum
Minthara's not even in the top 5 funniest people in the game 😂
I think a teens...
First, how dare you!
Second, anyone who can tolerate Zevlor's speech and give it a positive critique can't be all that bad.
Third, Happy 1 year Anniversary to Baldur's Gate III everyone!
icy drum
Boy, has it been that long?
Thanks for starting this @vague stone !
And everyone else for partaking
cyan shuttle
Me? Not shutting up about BG3 for a whole year? It's more likely than you think
vague stone
It's been an excellent ride! And still going!
fiery cargo
First, how dare you!
Second, anyone who can tolerate Zevlor's speech and give i...
I dare because I'm right
wet remnant
I think that making Minthara available on a non-evil run offers a fun narrative ...
Yeah, the key problem for me is patching the option in after launch of the full game. Even when they had a 3 year long Early Access period where people paid Larian/WOTC to QA test the game.
I also hold think that Minthara being hot is a decent enough way to get folks into doing an evil run and discovering that it's fun.
When I get to replaying KOTOR 2, I'm gonna be nice to the entire party, except Kreia
cyan shuttle
I disagree. "Character is hot, therefore change how you play" is a pretty weak way to get people to change their minds. Showing a character's depth and complexity is always more rewarding :]
We also need to remember BG3 was Larian's COVID baby, and Larian is heavily anti-crunch as well, so all of the hardest parts of gameplay were all done during the height of COVID. I played Early Access within months of it being available on Steam, and Minthara didn't really appeal to me because in Act 1 there was no narrative way to learn more about her other than "Be Evil". Seeing who she could be in Act 2, which was only available after full release, allowed players to explore her and her story better.
wet remnant
Well, in addition to that, siding with her was the only way to get a paladin in the crew, IIRC.
Most of my D&D knowledge prior to BG3 was from Honor Among Thieves (great film!).
So Minthara & Xenk are opposites, which I thought was interesting and fun. That angle feels more hollow now.
So before that patch, I'd already decided to side with her when I replayed BG3.
icy drum
When it comes to the matter of what's right in Baldur's Gate III, it's all about personal preference. Or are you really suggesting that players shouldn't enjoy the game the way they play it because it's not right?
wet remnant
The idea was:
-
To explain how the change does not fit with my personal preference
-
Express concern that Larian might do that again, which I think is bad.
icy drum
The idea was:
1. To explain how the change does not fit with *my personal pref...
Even if Larian did do it again, wouldn't you still be able to apply your preferred story telling method?
wet remnant
It's very likely, although, why should I do that if they add in a way to have my cake and eat it, like with Minthara?
Hypothetically, if a future patch added to the epilogue or wherever approriate, ||a cure for partial or full illithid transformation, would the choice to become one still matter?||
icy drum
It's very likely, although, why should I do that if they add in a way to have my...
I would ask if that cure also brought back the host's soul that the Illithid transformation destroyed.
wet remnant
Yes, it would, in this case
icy drum
If that sort of solution were introduced, than yes. I would say that it would be a step too far. If a game establishes something important like the ||finality of turning into a Mindlayer,|| that would take away all the stakes and consequences of your party's actions pertaining to it
One of the hardest things a writer can do in a universe that is so fantastical and so full of possibilities on what can and cannot be done on a super natural level is adhering to how all of these elements work.
The fantastic can happen, but there has to be limitations and rules in order to keep everyone invested.
But a key difference between curing an illithid and having a crush on Minthara is that Minthara is 100% optional in every regard. She can be killed the moment you meet her, or become the most important person to your character with the story and dialogue to support it.
The ||Illithid|| problem is inescapable.
It's a matter that you MUST deal with. You will always be lead to a choice that has to be made on who gets to dance. And as of now, Larian hasn't touched the consequences of what those choices present.
Having a ||cure to the Illithid that restores the original soul|| would be a betrayal to the franchise because it changes how the universe and it's mechanics work. Being able to recruit Minthara without ||slaughtering a grove||? Not a stretch at all.
And if you think it's "out of character" for my player character to be motivated/infatuated with Minthara before knowing her whole story, well. That's not out of place in this game either.
||Isobel: Regarding Dame Aylin Tell me, do you believe in love at first sight? - I took one look at her, and I just knew. She was it.
Dame Aylin: Regarding Isobel I loved her from the moment I behald her sweet face, her great, wise eyes.||
fiery cargo
the existence of 2 characters who claim to have experienced love at first sight doesn't suddenly make it in character to knock the evil drow out instead of killing her along with all the goblins
it's okay if you want to do that but with the current state of the game there isn't a strong IC justification
vague stone
There is currently no easy non-metagamey reason to spare Minthara on a good playthrough, as the game gives you no hints whatsoever that you could benefit from keeping her alive like it does for ||Minsc|| or even ||The Emperor||
I am hoping they introduce something
wet remnant
What I thought first time playing the game, was that siding with her would be a morally ambiguous way to learn more about the parasites by gaining entry the organization that is creating them?
My cover story would be solid. I could decide what to about them when I knew more, though with the heavy cost of what I had to do for it possibly haunting me. Or I could save the grove and waste the best lead I had.
In any future playthrough, that consideration now isn't as necessary, because one of the unique elements of that playthrough has been given to players who help the grove. I'd just be raiding the grove for the sake of it, which to me is less narratively satisfying than if I had done it my first playthrough.
fiery cargo
There is currently no easy non-metagamey reason to spare Minthara on a good play...
this exactly, this is my biggest problem with recruiting Minthara on a playthrough where my character is committed to saving the grove; as I said upthread a bit, I think adding a slight moment of confusion like ||Ulder|| has later in Act 3 could go a long way to giving an IC reason to do things differently with her
icy drum
There was that one conversation with Minthara inolving the very nature on why she was spared but the rest of the goblins and their leaders were not. Sadly, it's not in the game and hshowing any bits of it would violate the rules of this Discord since it's something that needed to be data mined
vague stone
From the patch 7 notes they have released it seems it's gonna be making its way into the game soon
icy drum
From the patch 7 notes they have released it seems it's gonna be making its way ...
- Minthara will now react if you knock her out in Act I.
Yessssssss!
- Minthara does, in fact, now have ||something to say about Orin after you kill her.||
Yes yes!!!
icy drum
Also, look who chose to celebrate BG3's 1st Anniversary! https://youtu.be/-Ra5n4MLkAI?si=gKqflrGshG9ewO2B
- Jennifer English (Shadowheart)
- Mia Foo (Isobel)
- Helen Keeley (Dame Aylin)
- Aliona Baranova (Performance Director)
Thrill as they're all mystified by prompted balloons!
vague stone
Oh you bet I have been watching those. We were playing some co-op while the stream was going on in the background on my second monitor, and we all paused just to watch ||the Moon Lesbians reunion live||
Mia Foo has also been streaming BG1 and she's an absolute delight!
marble summit
I gotta finish my BG1 playthrough one of these days
Advanced D&D 2e is a pain though
vague stone
from what I've seen, yes, yes it is 
icy drum
Oh you bet I have been watching those. We were playing some co-op while the stre...
It looks like Larian changed the camera angle on the ||"Pick up and spiiiiiin!"|| moment. Haven't played this part in a while.
vague stone
some exciting anniversary stats from Larian: https://x.com/baldursgate3/status/1821187150081356110
Twitter
Surprised by how small the proportion of people who completed honour mode is, well done us 
then again using the terms "players" vs "playthroughs" can be misleading, as there can be multiple playthroughs per player *laughs nervously in 8 completed playthroughs including 3 in honour mode*