#and i'm gonna go without lae'zel or karlach this run

[boymounter]

idk what class to play next, i like casters but i've done sorcerer and warlock pretty often. some kind of gish would be fun? something that's not CHA based tbh

[sigcorp]

bg3 characters as retail managers in my boyfriend's* educated opinion

(*he refuses to post this so i'm doing it for him)

wyll - i think wyll would be a really chill manager, he'd let you goof off sometimes But after a while he'd still make you go do something productive. probably would have some random assignment like dusting the fucking lights or something if there's nothing to do but he's not too strict.

would get mad at a customer once and you'd be thankful you never have faced his fury (he'd never get that mean with you though)

basically the "haha yeah okay okay guys seriously go zone we can't all be standing here you're gonna get me in trouble" type of manager

lae'zel - insane workaholic. you'd dread working with her and she'd make your shift exhausting, but you also can't deny the place would go to shit without her because she's so on top of things.

you'd feel immense joy having her come up for a stupid item return that is against policy because she would absolutely never bend for it no matter how bitchy the customer got. not because she cares about you really but she'd be damned to go against policy for literally anything

karlach - literally so chill that you forget she's a manager until she has to call you to her office which freaks you out because you know you've been extremely lax around her and you forgot she actually has to do shit about that but it's actually just to give you your next raise. you love her and she loves you

shadowheart - when you first work with her you find her insanely intimidating and a little bitchy but after a few shifts you kind of get Why she's like that. wouldn't be a favorite manager but you'd probably sympathize with why she buys wine after her shift every night. if you're lucky enough to hang with her out of work you get special privileges (as in she doesn't scold you for standing still for 3 minutes like she does the others)

gale - nice, but unlike wyll who has a balance between pleasant chats and doing work, gale will literally stand there and accidentally force you to actually stop focusing on what you're working on to have a conversation with him. that can be a good thing, but then you're behind and another manager gets grumpy about it. chill guy but you never actually see him do much for his job. how did he even get to this position???

astarion - call HR.

halsin - dude knows how to run a place. he schedules everyone perfectly and there's always a feeling of harmony as you work together to get projects done. he's friendly but focused. he doesn't care if you don't finish your projects he assigns you so long as you were trying your best, but he would be a little disappointed if it happened too often

i feel like he'd definitely be the manager who actually gives the customer whatever they want even if you said you couldn't though 💀 he wouldn't be mad at you for saying no but he'd make you look like a jackass to the customer

minthara - i actually don't know her so idk but from what i gather i would say also call HR

withers - he's been with this company so long that he knows where literally everything is and every single specific policy and how to solve everything. he doesn't talk much and he doesn't really tell you what to do, he expects you to figure it out and leave him alone unless you need to ask where the most obscure item of all time is to help a customer. genuine lifesaver in those circumstances though

jaheira - the mom manager. checks on you when she notices you're clearly not feeling well. will cover any shift without complaints. you feel safe with her. she handles any difficult task because she doesn't feel like explaining to you how to do it, which is nice but as soon as you have no choice but to do it on your own you don't know how

[thranduil-aran-edhil]

OK, so. Finished my first run. Gotta admit I'm not 100% satisfied with some endings. BUT NO BIGGIE, THAT'S WHAT HEADCANONS ARE FOR, DON'T WORRY I GOT A PERMIT (i'm a Dungeon Master) SO LET'S GO, HC TIME D&D STYLE BC WE STILL GOT 8 LEVELS TO GO: (spoilers for BG3 and Descent Into Avernus going forward)

They'd all stay together and continue to go on adventures, the 9 of them, Tav, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Gale, Astarion, Wyll, Karlach, Halsin and Minthara. Found Families stay together. (I do enjoy the polyship aspect too, so just throwing it out there)

There's an exchange you can have ingame with an NPC in the Guild and Tav will say the party's name is Wormskulls and I love it. I do also love Tadfools. Maybe they are Wormskulls to the general public and Tadfools to their close friends and allies lol. After the tadpoles are gone I think it would be very useful for them to commission earrings enchanted with Rary's Telepathic Bond. Less invasive than a mindflayer tadpole and just as useful. Also symbolic for Gale. I think the earring would have a pendant of a skull with a serpent coming out of its eye and being bitten by the teeth.

OK SO, my girl Karlach. I haven't romanced her yet, gonna do a run for that. But she's not dying on my watch. She's going back to Avernus, BUT YOU CAN BE SO SURE THAT THE MOMENT THE WHOLE PARTY IS READY WE'RE KICKING DOWN ZARIEL'S DOOR AND KICKING HER ASS. Or giving her her sword back and possibly turning her back into an Angel, something that whatever party of adventurers that managed to save BG and Elturel in Descent Into Avernus CLEARLY didn't do, it would probably not only nullify Mizora's contract with Wyll bc Zariel is now a completely different entity, if you decided to redo Wyll's contract with her, but also would give us a better chance of Zariel taking the infernal engine out of Karlach herself. Maybe turning Wyll into a Devotion Paladin? (more details about Zariel here)

I'd ask Jaheira and Minsc to take care of Scratch and Albie (owlbear cub) because the Hells is no place for pets. Even very brave ones. Maybe Halsin's "ending" fits here, taking care of the pets and the kids while everyone goes to Avernus, they leave him with a Sending Stone. And when they are back he's there waiting for them. 🥺

If we saved Duke Ravengard and broke Wyll's contract. (or didn't but are hcing that we broke his contract by defeating/unmaking Zariel) what does that mean to Wyll? I think it be super cool to go more in depth about it. How does he reconsile with his father? Does he accept to be reinstated as heir and becomes the Duke right away or does he think it's best for his father to continue his role a bit longer? Does he even want to be Duke or does he think he can serve the people of the Sword Coast better as an adventurer? If he turns into a Duke, what sort of benefit does that give an adventuring party?

Finding something to make Astarion able to walk in the sun again I've seen people talk about the Ring of the Sun-Walker as if it's from the 5e books, it's not, it's homebrew. HOWEVER, any freaking DM with a heart would create something similar for their player to continue playing without being afraid of dying instantly bc of the sun. The Cloak of Dragomir is canon to the Baldur's Gate videogame universe, so it be a good tie in, but it would be a temporary solution at best since it penalizes the player quite harshly, Strength: -6, Dexterity: -4, Intelligence: -2, Wisdom: -2, Charisma: -4 and Vampire Regeneration divided by 3, to 1 HP per 3 rounds. That being said, I wouldn't make it TOO easy to obtain as there are other ways for Astarion to be safe, like the Darkness spell. It would be interesting to see him (and Tav) struggle a little bit more, really feel the sacrifice Astarion made by rejecting the Ascendance even after they find something to combat the Sunlight Hypersensitivity.

Astarion's biological family would be something very interesting to explore in the future. They would be Elves themselves and are most likely still alive, we even have a surname thanks to people analyzing the shit out of that tombstone: Ancunín. As a DM I wouldn't wait for a player to decide to search for these people, I'd throw them at the players! Strolling through the Upper City in a quick shopping trip? You hear a loud gasp, things clattering and bumping into the ground, hurried desperate steps and then someone sobbing "Astarion?? Astarion is that you?!" What do you do?

Visiting Waterdeep and Morena Dekarios. This woman deserves to see her son again, and Gale deserves to finally go back home and see his mom without the burden of an ancient artifact lodged in his chest and a goddess wanting him to kill himself. Would he stay? I'm not sure, he went through an entire Odissey and maybe now home, although pleasant, is not as comforting anymore. Waterdeep is the element of Gale of Waterdeep and he's not him anymore. I think this would be a great premise for a roleplay focused arc. Gale is invited to the Blackstaff Ball for the first time since Mystra shunned him, the Wormskulls are famous now, The New Heros of Baldur's Gate (Gala Episode anyone? All of them SLAYIN with their fits? Poor Halsin totally out of his element). He's once again welcomed into the society of the Lord Mage of Waterdeep and his peers seem to have all but forgotten he was ever a pariah. Is that what he wants?

And Waterdeep has many opportunities for more adventure.

A paranoid Beholder underground anyone?

Kill the Lich Queen (CLASSIC D&D). Vlaakith IS FINISHED. TIME TO SPELLJAM AND BE SPACE PIRATES YALL. Lae'zel deserves to see this through to the END.

Shadowheart goes through another journey to find out if she wants to truly embrace Selûne or maybe become another thing entirely. Selûne should reach out or Isobel and Dame Aylin would help her out. Or maybe Shadowheart is tired of being a Cleric and following a god. But change and inconsistency is something that is under Selûne's portfolio, she's often followed by those who are lost, so I think she'd find more than fitting for Shadowheart to be a cautious and weary follower of her.

Your Tav's personal stuff. The Dark Urge sounds amazing and I can't wait to do a run with them, but I think most of us got very attached to our Original Characters Do No Steal. So I'm excited to see what people come up with for their Tavs. Otessa, my Tav, doesn't know her dad was a pirate, he never told her, so I expect that his past will come bite him in the ass and she'll have to help him out of that pickle.

When the party has reached level 17, Gale has access to the Wish spell. And I really do think they'd use it to get rid of Astarion's undeath. As a DM I wouldn't let Gale simply get the spell outright, he'd have to research it. Not only that, I don't think Astarion would be totally free of undeath, some remnant of it would linger, he'd probably turn into an Elf that needs blood to survive and is forever locked out of the Call of Arvandor or something. But he'd be mortal and would be able to walk in the sun without that ring, cross bodies of water, wouldn't instadie from pointy wood objects in the chest etc. (i'm writing a little one-shot about this, should post it soon)

[malicedafirenze]

I unintentionally skipped a lot of the romance content in Baldur's Gate 3 and I want others to learn from my mistakes:

So: I managed to lock myself out of romance entirely and ended up alone, which was a huge bummer and a serious crack in my motivation to play the game. I finished my playthrough (because I was already close to the end of Act 3 when I realized it), and plan to do another one eventually. I'm making this post in hopes of a) keeping others from making the same mistakes and b) to possibly get some additional insight re. what to watch out for in my next playthrough.

PSA: Pick a Partner before Act 3

The key learning here for me was this explanation from the poly mod

In BG3, romance is divided into 2 steps: dating and relationship(also called partner). Dating is basically where you are at after the 1st romance scene. Relationship is where you are at after the 2nd romance scene (relationship also unlocks the kissing menu). BTW, If you enter A3, all dates will break up with you (partners won't, ofc).

I hadn't realized this until well into Act 3, at a point where going back to a save to properly fix it would have meant replaying large parts of Act 2 as well - I decided to finish my run instead and then start a completely new one later.

Note: lots of spoilers below. (click here to read this post on reddit instead)

My Romance Woes

I read in advance that you couldn't romance multiple people (except for the specific Halsin combos with Shadowheart and Astarion) and therefore turned down Gale and Lae'Zel early in the game (not realizing you could just date/bonk them without fully committing or getting anyone upset)

I didn't take approval all that seriously, thought I'd have more opportunity to fix things later. I was playing pretty good guy, and ended up with high approval for Karlach and Shadowheart, but low for Astarion. Weirdly, I don't recall an option to romance Shadowheart (no clue what I missed?) and the only option I had for Karlach was at the Tiefling party, where I went with Astarion instead. I had a scene or two with him, but then didn't progress further in the relationship, without really realizing what I was missing.

I wanted to romance everyone, sat on the fence for too long, and ended up not romancing anyone at all, by missing a thing or two in act 1 and 2 and being too late to fix it in act 3. Don't be like me, it feels bad man.

Early Act 3, I got Astarion's breakup dialogue ("we haven't spent a night together in some time" --> him explaining it was just transactional and he doesn't see the value in it anymore) and got super worried, but when trying to look up if I'd messed up, I didn't find a clear answer for without more spoilers, so I just continued playing Act 3, including all of the companion quests.

I later learned that I missed out on at least one important Astarion romance interaction by not going to Moonrise Towers until after freeing Nightsong. (when the Towers are already on high alert, i.e. I could only fight and not have a lot of conversations)

After realizing I had messed up companions romance, I instead fucked everyone it was unwise to fuck (Emperor, Mizora, Harleep...) for fun and to see what would happen... but chickened out and reloaded after Emperor and Mizora. Still, got to enjoy some fun content that way!

The ending I got (going to Avernus with Karlach) was really cool and made me cry a lot. I then did try to reload my last save though, to see if I'd get any other epilogue content if I didn't go to the Hells, but... apparently that scene on the docks (Astarion goofily running off, everyone kinda agreeing to go party after this, no other conversations with anyone again.... is just... it?

Idk how much of this is the lack of romance, but I really felt like something was missing there. I at least wanted to talk to everyone again one last time.

This is a post about my romance failures and regrets so I'm not gonna talk about everything else that I loved about the game, but just in case this is getting a bit too negative: I had an absolute blast with the whole game regardless, I'm stoked to give it another go the "proper" way (i.e. with romance). I also generally think it's really fucking cool that this game's romance options depend on how you behave, and that you can't just e.g. give someone the right kind of gift 20 times in a row to make them love you, like it works in games like Stardew Valley.

Next Playthrough Plans

I'll probably wait for another patch or two - considering how much got fixed and tweaked with the first three patches, I suppose it's worth to wait a bit and see what's coming

I'll play with the Poly mod next time and try to romance all of the Origin characters.

I plan to play with the camp notifications mod, as well as the approval ratings in dialogue mod. Both in hopes of being able to game the romance a bit better and get much of the romance in one playthrough

I'll play Dark Urge (haven't seen any of that so far!), but probably still go for a "good" playthrough mostly

I plan on equipping & levelling all Origin companions and switch them out more freely, in order to get approval from everyone and edit my party as makes sense depending on story events (e.g. take Lae'Zel to the Creche, take Gale to the Ketheric fight...)

I want to romance everyone. I already saw some tips for early game Astarion approval and assume the aforementioned mods will help in optimizing this

Am probably not gonna do anything all that differently otherwise because my heart can't take an actually evil playthrough

Aand that's about it. As mentioned, I'm mostly posting in case this helps anyone else.

I was really damn sad when I realized I had locked myself out of all romance, because the romance was a significant part of my motivation to start playing this in the first place. At the same time, I loved so much about the game that I still got a lot out of it in 110+ hours even with minimal romance content.

If you see any red flags about my plans for the next playthrough (or if you have experience with the mentioned mods!), I'd appreciate comments and insights. Other than that, here's hoping others can learn from my mistakes. Thank you for reading <3

[themaskstayson]

Part three of the Wyll origin run

Ah man, this is a lot. I haven't had Gale so excited to talk to me since my first playthrough 500 hours ago it's kind of cute ngl

I'm thinking about Wyll being emo during the party cause the little scene is one of my favorites, and trying to cheer him up from his body dysphoria(?) but I also really, REALLY, enjoy the idea of Wyll stuffing his feelings down to make everyone happy since he can't be emo by the river since he's the party lead. Wyll is trying to keep the team morale high and then when he's alone in his bed he just cries to sleep. Cause, let's be real, no one is mentally capable to help each other when the player is the therapist.

Also, his funny lines are pretty good and I have been picking every single option to have Wyll just laughing the pain away.

So, we saved Karlach, asked her if she had any advice on horn care since I feel like that's a WAY better route to go instead of Wyll being depressed during the party when you are Tav amd makes more sense since Wyll is gonna mingle.

(Side rant: People say Wyll sucks because he's insensitive but like, come on. He's a DEVIL not tielfing! I think he's allowed to express how he feels uncomfortable in his new DEVIL body. "But tielfings have horns!" yeah okay but they straight up saw Wyll as a human like two days ago, they know something is fishy with the sulfer smell coming off him. You gonna say there's no difference??? Now THAT is insensitive /hj lol)

I also went to the Rest and Counsellor Florrick asked what the hell happened and once again Wyll joked that he was running with the wrong crowd. Unfortunately that backed fired and she said she knew since his father informed them which damn. Ulder is talking mad shit about his own son, that's crazy. Felt bad and then she had the audacity to demand my help???? Like I was gonna give it but damn.

Anyways, I was hoping to get to level 5 before the Goblin Camp but I didn't. So, we gambled it. Had Gut give me the sleep potion and got assistance for that. Knocked Minthara out cause I'm STILL trying to get that girl without being a bad guy. Then fought Ragzlin which.... that was rough. Gale did die but luckily his deas body did some damage to a goblin and Ragzlin. I usually cheese the fight but idk I decided not to this time around for some reason.

STILL not sure who imma romance. Flirted with Gale at the party, which was cute. I am leaning towards him cause I gotta stop romancing Astarion and Wyll all the time. And despite being a huge wyllstarion fan, Gale is doing something to my current need for a cute romance. Plus my other game I am romancing Astarion and Wyll (two Tav game yippee) so I should romance someone new. Karlach did not try to put the moves on me and I am not putting the moves on her so rip. First time ever Shadowheart and Lae'zel are meh about me, which is weird. I'll figure it out the next time I play but might be joining the Gale/Wyll club. I should find some fics to get into the mindset.

Also if anyone is reading these I should mention this is a modded custom game. Meaning I am using the mod honor feature unlock so i can have the playstyle with multiple saves, playing in a custom game that I cannot see the NPC HP, gave the NPC 100% more HP compared to the game 30% more. I want the multiple saves for story stuff cause I'm still trying out new lines but also I need the combat to be harder.

Honour Feature Unlock

Tactician Plus (best for party limit begone tbh this file I'm doing just 4 to a party tho but in other files with everyone, I use the 150% HP)

[socialmediasocrates]

with pace and a fury defiant- intro and links

hindsight being what it is i really should have posted this sooner but i am very prone to getting excited about a project and forgetting that nobody but me actually knows what in the fuck i'm going on about anyway pretty picture and info below

with pace and a fury defiant is a (mostly) canon-complaint Baldur's Gate 3 fanfiction centered on the relationship between Astarion Ancunin and drow paladin Balafay alean'Arabani. What happens when two deeply wounded people fall in love? They dance around it for a few (tens of) thousand words and maybe require external intervention before one of them starts being honest--it's not even Astarion, this time! Novelties, lengthy diversions about the little miscellaneous details of life, and the mortification of being known abound.

It's mostly about learning how to be a person and how to love other people; it's a little bit about what happens when you learn to love someone only to realize that they've never learned how to accept it. It's also about drow politics, Elder Brains, and the world trying to end for the umpteenth time in the last couple hundred years.

This is the link to the series.

The parts active now:

GIRLFAILURE- local morons turned morons on an adventure dance around the mortifying ordeal of getting to know someone

GIRLBOSS- when you die and come back, wrong or right, you probably should actually address it

ah, it's more courageous to overcome- sometimes it takes a trip to the underdark and a run in with an ex to make you realize how much the people in your life mean to you (roughly following the remainder of Act I after the goblins)

Upcoming:

crowned by an overture bold and beyond- sometimes the thing you love the most is deeply and fundamentally broken, and that's alright; maybe sometimes our edges match (Astarion/Balalafay, following Acts II&III; some things could change)

there is no me without you- what happens after you save the world? you chase down the fool you saved it with (Astarion/Balalafay; post-game)

i will be your sword and shield- it starts in hell and it ends in hell, but in between there are flowers (karlach companion piece)

at worst the world will sing along- they're two of the most damaged, infuriating people she's ever met, and unfortunately she's in love with them (shadowheart companion piece)

run, run lost boy- the strange little man with mirrors for eyes has an infectious smile, and the problems only start there (gale companion piece)

call me the kintsugi kid- she never dreamed of princes on white horses until recently, but now she dreams of nothing else (lae'zel/wyll companion piece)

if we were young again- a knight and a thief married for love, but that was before the tribulations (zevlor companion piece)

no grave can hold my body down- and so the wizard fell head over heels for the knight; and so the knight stuck her foot in her mouth like seven million times (rolan companion piece)

still more glorious dawn awaits- the band gets back together (tentative sequel and epilogue for the whole party)

lmfao there's def gonna be others i'm obsessed i already have au's on the brain

Other links:

The pinterest and spotify playlist for the main fic

The pinterest and spotify playlist for sword and shield (karlach)

The pinterest and spotify playlist for run, run lost boy (gale)

[alicelufenia]

Had a nice long play session with Tavierra today, so here's the latest for my chosen of Eilistraee:

Met the Dream Visitor! Her appearance is the spitting image of Qilué Veladorn, cleric of Eilistraee and chosen of Mystra. Qilué famously bore such a striking beauty that she was often mistaken for Eilistraee Herself. She's also been dead over a hundred years, so Tav is pretty sure this isn't her.

She's VERY cute tho!

Am determined not to use the tadpoles. Except, specifically, to help her comrades. So far she's used the Illithid influence three times; to free Shadowheart, to see into Astarion's mind after he tried to bite her without permission, and to see Lae'zel's fears when she held a knife to her throat. Ironically, that means she's already used the influence power more times than Alice did in her whole playthrough LMAO.

Also unlike Alice, Tav went through with Volo's lobotomy

That look when everything is fine and you'll love the results.

Kaylin don't give your oc heterochromia challenge (impossible)

Confronted and fought Kagha and the Shadow Druids. No reforming her this time, she was horrible. Except I did have non-lethal on, so she got knocked out, and everyone talked about her like she's dead, but when Rath walked near her body he had the same banter he has with Kagha after she sides with us against the shadow druids. Very weird.

Realized I had fucked up the stealing idol quest by not accepting it when I talked to Mol about it the first time, so no Ring of Protection for me T_T

Back into the Underdark! We find our way to the beach coming from the south, so we meet the duergar before the Myconid colony. She's not going to help a bunch of slavers, but does take advantage of their assuming she's a True Soul to sneak past them and steal their boat.

We hit level 5 as we enter Grymforge and instantly everyone's power level spikes (even the multiclass party members). Hearing about Nere for the first time in Grymforge, Tav is intrigued by another drow True Soul.

Pictures taken seconds before a whole lot of slavers die (Wyll approves)

Between the slavers and dead Harper-aligned drow (who have historically been allies of the followers of Eilistraee) Grymforge is officially flagged for killing everyone (except Tav stops for architect nerd talk, those guys are alright). Gotta do it subtly though without alerting the whole fortress.

Shadowheart spikes the ale flagon with drow poison to kill two slacking guards, and the rest of the team busts heads in isolated corners away from patrols.

Had an unexpectedly difficult fight with the oozes on the way to Philomeen, as Gale's Wild Magic surge made his level 1+ spells heal nearby creatures whenever he dealt damage, so I stupidly targeted a weakened ooze with magic missile, and it HEALED the ooze to full instead (healing procced on each missile hit!) So yeah Wild Magic has been working out great on this Tactician run, highly recommended.

Encountered the mimics and have realized Wyll might be my strongest combatant so far.

Once Hunger of Hadar went down these mimics couldn't do SHIT and got eaten away over the course of 4 turns. Also if you're wondering how Karlach has a 95% on a throw, Tavern Brawler + Hill Giant Strength elixir is a really good combination <broken>

Gonna rest up and then plan how I'm taking out the rest of the fortress (I really don't want to fight Nere + all the duergar, even with the ones that can help us)

[blackjackkent]

Hector!

⚠️ - If this oc came with a warning sign, what would it be?

🌊 - Does this oc have a secret or repressed desire?

🍪 - What are their favorite scents?

Rakha!

🌈 - Do you associate any colors with them?

⚡ - Does this oc have any unusual or “irrational” fears?

🐸 - What’s this oc’s sense of humor like?

(Emojis OC ask game)

⚠️ - If this oc came with a warning sign, what would it be?

"Warning: Hidden Romantic Sap"

"Warning: Does Not Need a Weapon to Kick Your Ass"

"Warning: So So So So SO Tired"

🌊 - Does this oc have a secret or repressed desire?

The truth is, given the alacrity and intensity with which he ended up falling for Karlach, there is no way that a young Hector didn't spend at least some of his childhood daydreaming about romance. His thought processes in Prayers and Hellfire suggest to me that sex was never deeply on his mind in the general run of things; like a lot of my characters I think he is strongly demisexual. But I think there was a little part of him - and, given his upbringing probably a part that he was somewhat ashamed of and tried to suppress - that longed for a deeper closeness than anyone at the monastery could provide for him.

I don't think he would ever have been able to articulate this to anyone during his time at Silverlight but he probably does talk about it somewhat with Karlach later on and untangle his feelings about it a little.

🍪 - What are their favorite scents?

It's kind of on-the-nose for a Sage monk but Hector is definitely soothed by the smell of old books and drying ink. (I suspect Jaheira probably takes him, separately, at some point to the same Chamber of Illusions shop she took Karlach to in "The Two Sides of the Coin", just because the vibe would absolutely make him happy.

🌈 - Do you associate any colors with them?

Answered here!

⚡ - Does this oc have any unusual or “irrational” fears?

After this nonsense with Dolly Dolly Dolly, probably clowns. :P Or at least irrational rage.

In some ways Rakha is really not afraid of much besides her own mind, and has a tendency to throw herself into danger without a lot of thought. However, I could definitely see her being spooked by random stuff about the world that doesn't seem surprising to anyone else, just because she doesn't have any memory context for it. (Kind of like how Lae'zel is apparently freaked out by owls' hypermobile necks.)

So, off the top of my head, I'm gonna go with thunderstorms. BC let's be real - if you didn't know what was happening, that would be fucking terrifying.

🐸 - What’s this oc’s sense of humor like?

Rakha actually DOES have a sense of humor, but it doesn't come out very often, because often she's too preoccupied by other things to be very funny. But she does occasionally make jokes, and it's always in an INTENSE deadpan that takes people a while to figure out she's trying to make one in the first place.

[toxicnotebook]

Okay! So, the endings I got in BG3. Putting them under a cut so I don't accidentally spoil anyone:

Orpheus got turned. I didn't want to turn my Tav into a mindflayer- especially since I didn't upgrade my tadpole at ALL during this run- and I definitely wasn't turning Karlach, so the prince was my only choice. And I'm glad I did- I got a damn good heroic sacrifice plotline, and his mindflayer form is RIDICULOUSLY overpowered.

This bit of dialogue I got right before freeing him was funny:

Also Raphael you SON OF A BITCH:

Symbolic drawings, etched over a forgotten text. Two figures, one an imposing female with a regal aspect, the other, a Devil, his face twisted with wry charm. Their hands meet in the exchange of an artefact- the Astral Prism.

IT WAS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT. I'M GLAD YOU SLIPPED ON ICE AND HOPE GOT TO KILL YOU.

Speaking of Orpheus:

Lae'zel became the leader of the Githyanki rebellion, with a silver sword and a sweet red dragon! I also gave her the Githyanki egg:

She now has an adopted son named Xan. Awwwwww.

Karlach & Wyll went to Avernus together, and MAN I thought I fucked this one up for a hot minute. After Karlach had her heartwrenching breakdown after we killed Gortash, I panicked a little and looked up how to get her happiest ending. I was relieved that I had already locked in Karlach's good end by nudging Wyll to become the Blade of Avernus.

....and then she started burning up on the docks and the scene just kept going and going without any dialogue choices and I was like OH NO I MESSED UP SHE'S GONNA DIE. The RELIEF I felt when Wyll spoke up- MAN.

I high-key ship them now, btw. I love wholesome battle couples okay!! Oh, and:

GET MIZORA'S ASS WYLL, SHE SUCKS.

I was lowkey thinking of changing Wyll's class to ranger in my next playthrough, so thank you, Larian, for justifying that future decision

The one who got away, Shadowheart! The platonic hug is so freaking cute.

She now has a cute woodland cottage with her parents and five million animals- annnnnd the owlbear:

Best girl gets best floofball

Halsin runs an orphanage in the no-longer-Shadow-Cursed lands, and yeah. That totally suits him.

Gale's new job as a professor in Illusion Magic suits him as well. I was a little worried I would get a negative ending after I encouraged him to leave the crown in the sea, but nope! The orb is inert, he has a job he loves, and he didn't go back to his shitty ex. Yay!

Jaheira is busy assisting the rebuilding efforts in Balder's Gate, along with her children.

Minsc is... busy being Minsc

Minthara is plotting to topple Lolth with other drow rebels in the Underdark, and I could have CLAPPED when she said that, because:

I PICKED THE OPTION TO LEAD THE RELEASED VAMPIRE SPAWN IN THE UNDERDARK WITH ASTARION. Minthara's rebellion will have a unit comprised of vampires in my game's timeline, yes indeed.

Basically, I got happy-ish endings for everyone, despite thinking I had screwed up some of the routes. And I'm glad! As Astarion puts it:

A few more things:

This made me chuckle. I'm also going to ignore Scratch's canon ending- he was my Tav's familiar, that means he is HER dog, okay.

I just thought this was a nice easter egg

HE'S FUCKING JERGAL?? WITHERS??? HOW DID I MISS THIS. HOW.

...love that he's dunking on the Dead Three. You tell em, bone man!

[takofukkatsumi]

So, a cool story about me and my desperate romantic attempts in Baldur's Gate 3

Warning: this may include spoilers but only for Act 1

Another warning: to say I'm a pro at the whole "romancing game characters" thing is like to say the water is dry. My datesim experience narrows down to The Arcana, and my RPG experience - to The Wild Hunt, so...

My crush initially started to play BG3 like we usually play our games: one of us (mostly him, but not always) plays it and streams it in Discord, and the other watches, comments, has a vote in making choices and so on. But with so many content on the web and watching him play I decided I also want a copy. So I got one, created a character - Veulu, a drow druid - and joined the party about mid-Act 1. Here she is btw (I love her):

While my crush - I'll be saying Tellur, that's what he called his character, cause I don't wanna let out his real name - was trying to romance Lae'zel at first (and then Karlach after we met her), I got into this specifically for Astarion. After learning mild spoilers about his personality and backstory I decided that I NEED this silly sad rat for myself.

But since I've joined too late, I think that some bugs happened. E.g., Tellur (without me yet) found the boar and discovered that Astarion is a vampire; then Veulu discovered it when we met the monster hunter - but neither of us got the bite scene (which I have learned about from a friend, specifically @nadiasna7). The party progressed, I was trying to win approves and do at least something, but nevertheless this was Veulu's rating earlier tonight: neutral, and even a bit lower than Tellur.

It's very strange, but nevermind, said Nadia, I think you should still be able to start a relationship at the tiefling party?

So here comes the tiefling party. I try to talk to Astarion, carefully treading through the dialog... and he slaps me in the face with "Not you, I have standarts".

What the fuck, I say out loud.

I ask Tellur to try - maybe it's gonna be better for the game host who spent more time with him. He chooses other options and fails too.

I'm angry now. I angrily walk around the camp. I angrily flirt with Halsin and angrily kiss Wyll because there's nothing left to lose, right? Then the last of my patience runs out and I ask Tellur to reload. He obliges.

I initiate the dialog again. Tellur mentions that I have more options than he had? Thinking I have nothing to lose, I choose a silly answer.

He flirts back?

I tell him to ask for it??

He says pwease???

Good boy, says Veulu. What the fuck, say I out loud once again.

Did I have to act a prude this whole time or what? What's going on in his silly traumatized pointy-eared head?!

So I got myself a man but I still don't understand how.

Hopefully now it would at least be easier to get his approvals???????

[ciitrinitas]

still gonna be off socmed + discord for like another week or so, but some quick bg3 thoughts because it has my brain in a vise grip.

the only part of the early access i played was of a patch number i don't recall and over two years ago, so everything has largely felt very fresh to me in act 1! my early access impressions were also dead on because shadowheart is my favorite now like she was then. 🥺

i was set on romancing shadowheart until i found out about minthara's existence. morrigan-type meow meow vs. murder elf cultist lady. saved right before i met minthara so i could do another playthrough from that point to romance whoever i didn't pick, and uh...i talked to minthara once then immediately skipped off to slaughter an entire grove of refugees and druids to please my new wife.

karlach came up to my character to say she wasn't down with my slaughter-for-wife strategy, but i think wyll glitched? he just vanished without a word. disgust so powerful he transcended the code binding him. (something similar happened at the end of the blood of lathander quest where lae'zel had blipped out of existence after the fight from grabbing the mace. this whole instance of the fight was stupidly glitched for some reason lmao. i should not have been able to do the shit i was doing on that first attempt...) gale decided he wasn't really down for the slaughter, but he could tolerate it and stick around. : )

i'm accidentally having a wildly different playthrough to a lot of fans lmao. had no clue (or totally forgot) that astarion was a rouge, so i classed my character as a rogue, and...a two rouge party isn't a great choice. i like him well enough, but he's been largely chilling at camp in a silly hat while i run around with shadowheart, lae'zel, and gale. astarion was never likely to end up my fave of faves, but i think i might reclass when i go back to my old save to romance shadowheart so i can have him around...even if i already know i'll miss being able to lockpick things and sneak around.

i got so caught up in wrapping up loose ends before advancing to act 2 that i forgot that minthara and the journal say to go by the mountain pass into the shadow-cursed lands lmao. i wasted like two hours because i initially went by the underdark, but it was definitely neat getting to see jaheira!

speaking of jaheira, i am in trouble if she is a romance option because i am not immune to gilf. (but while i'd be super into it, i am sort of hoping she isn't because it makes more likely that minsc would be romanceable too, and woof...i am not keen on that.)

took forever to get minthara out of the moonrise tower, but i finally recruited her properly as of last night... let's go make our own cult and have it be better, new wife. <3

overall, i'm having a blast. playing on the story-focused difficulty has felt well-balanced in not keeping me stuck on any fight for too long, but still giving me a bit of a challenge. the general vibe where things are casually queer and the lack of weird sexism (or worse) is quite nice. i put over 30 hours alone into act 1 alone. people were not joking about the sheer density of things to do in bg3--nor has quality been skimped on! definitely some bugs, but it's been solidly stable for me! i'm genuinely impressed and really looking forward to playing more.