#gale has a dadbod

[bosspigeon]

BALDUR'S GATE CHARACTERS WHO I WILL BEGRUDGINGLY ALLOW TO HAVE ABS:

Lae'zel - she's strong and lean so her abs are visible mostly due to her having very little body fat. Still aren't really obvious unless she is actively working out/flexing. Arms, legs, and back are insanely shredded. One of those tiny twiggy-looking people who can somehow bench press a cow.

Wyll - yes he's got 8 str but abs are not an indicator of strength so much as an indicator of a very specific type of workout that is more for aesthetic than function. Wyll has the vibes of someone who works out to maintain a specific look as well as a degree of general fitness. You'd likely only see his abs if he's flexing/for his instagram thirst traps. He is like a fancy bird to me.

Withers

while i am hoping i can get past this crashing issue without completely sacrificing mods, i am willing to sacrifice most of them except for the ones needed to remove abs from basically everyone because i don't believe in abs from a moral or religious standpoint

[spiderskronichles]

I'm so sorry, (actually not at all,) but it has to be said, Gale and Gortash (to me... in my twisted little gay brain) DONT have abs, they are either

A. Little twink men, who are skinny scrawny sexy babes.

Or

B. Hot dad bod havers (both of them are bee keeping age...)

And No I will not be taking criticism!!

-Spider

[dylawas-reblogs]

Larian is wrong. Gale does not have a six pack. Gale does not have abs. Let me propose what's really going on with that dude.

First, let's look at the fighting style of the wizard. Yeah, they have a quarterstaff, but those are usually a last resort defense and not a primary form of attack. You still want to have the upper body strength to swing one around that's decently enough made to not snap like a twig if you've got to defend from an axe in a pinch, so they're not light, but it's not like he's bench pressing with the thing either. He's also not twirling it like a baton, or using it in a martial manner like a monk would, but that's where the other component of a wizard's fight style comes in; casting spells.

I'm not going to pretend I fully know/understand all the intricacies of magic and spellcasting in the Forgotten Realms, I play DND but we ignore that spell component bullshit. Somatic and verbal components still matter, but material? Ppf. Fuck that. All that is to say, take what I'm gonna suggest with a heap of salt.

Pretty much every spell in existence has a somatic component, meaning you move your arms and hands in a certain way to make it happen. So wizards may not be doing much heavy lifting, but they're still moving their arms a lot. Probably having to brace themselves to cast more powerful spells, too. And you can still very much build some muscle tone even if you're not throwing around bags of sand. Gymnasts and swimmers come to mind in this particular instance. Like yes I'm sure they train in other ways (and I know they rely on core and leg strength way more) but you can't tell me none of their increased arm strength comes from doing their actual sport.

And hell, as I was typing that out, maybe wizards do have arm-specific strength building exercises they do outside of spell casting. At the very least they're doing some hyper specific things with their wrists and fingers. Violinists do finger strength building exercises. That's totally not out of the question. It's likely, really.

Posture is also important for a wizard, not just because good posture keeps you alive in most dangerous circumstances in general, but it keeps you properly balanced to cast, and cast accurately. Given Gale's reprieve from the public eye for a year, though, this aspect has admittedly probably taken a little hit, and changes in posture can change the way a body's weight is distributed. And I want to make it very clear-- I don't think this man is thin. Especially not now, not with time and age. But I also don't think he completely stopped keeping up with his spellcasting, either. He'd want to keep his mind, tongue, and fingers sharp. This man doesn't do core exercises, mind, but he probably only spent the first few... Weeks? Maybe a month or two-- wallowing. You can take the wizard out of the spells, but you can't take the spells out of the wizard. He was trained to cast with efficiency and precision, and he'll keep doing that, so his posture, and therefore core strength, wouldn't completely lapse. In short, tummy plush, but likely not round.

Now, everything beneath the belly isn't as important for a wizard's needs, so I'm going to skim past them a little to get to my conclusion, but to summarize, if he has cake it's not because he was doing squats, if his thighs are thick it's not because of muscle, and we all know this man's knees are dogshit. There's a reason one of his canon lines is, "Given my propensity towards verbosity, it surely can't be a surprise that I have a practiced tongue." Suureee bud you can use that as your excuse for being a cunning linguist instead of your knees.

In conclusion, all of this is to get to the point that Gale does not have abs. Gale is, in fact, closer to dadbod, with some pretty decent upper body strength.

Oh yeah and he's hairy. I don't make the rules sorry.

[junuve]

Despite what the game and canon tells me I KNOW that Gale has a dadbod and that Astarion is short (fits in a holster). Trust me. I'm right.

[bitchesgate3]

I don't talk about my attraction to mascs much on this blog because it would terrify most people. From some attraction to most:

pretty boy who banters well (Astarion)

aggression issues but would never fight me (EA Wyll)

pretentious nerd who is wrong all the time (Gale)

pretentious nerd who is wrong all the time - asshole ver. (EA Voss)

butch/stud unmoved by emotionality (my own oc Acer)

femme-attracted bear who is a big softy (Halsin w/ dadbod and bear hair mods)

horrendous beast who has got the right body (Yurgir)

fine specimen who is both a great conversationalist and a big boy (Lump the Enlightened)

[ryttu3k]

Didn't you hear? Baldur's Gate 3 is really a dress-up game.

Image got Rather Shrunk, so full size here. Everyone has armour (their default outfits), and two lots of camp outfits - the ones they actually wear in camp, and the ones they wear out and about in the city. All those who attended the coronation (everyone but Lae'zel, who was waiting to get abducted, and Minsc, who I hadn't got yet) also had an outfit for that. And Tavias and Astarion had a colour change after Certain Events. Reject red and black!

Modded out the wazoo, check what I used beneath the cut.

Mods used

Body: Unique Tav (Tavias' full-body freckles), New Character Creation Presets WIP (Tavias' face, Elyon), Tav's Dadbod (Halsin and Minsc's bodies), No Abs (although it's not working on some? May be a clash with the Slim Male Body mod, which is no longer supported)

Hair: Bardic Hairstyles (Tavias), Gale's Wizardly Updo (...Gale, astonishingly), Romantic Long Hair for Wyll (I know this may shock you but it's for Wyll)

Accessories: Horns of Faerun (Tavias), Trips' Accessory Collection (Tavias' lip rings), Ghouls Custom Piercings (Shadowheart's earrings), Ghouls Vanilla Piercing Recolours (gold)

Outfits: Basket Full of Equipment (Karlach's camp outfit, Shadowheart's camp and civilian outfits), Astarion's Wardrobe (armour set), Draconic Sorcerer Gear (Tavias' armour), Citizen Outfits as Camp Clothes (Karlach, Wyll, Gale, Halsin, and Minsc's civilian outfits)

Dyes: Unlimited Dyeing (must-have!!), Extra Drake General (Tavias v1), Chromatic Dyes (Gale: Majesty), Dyes of Faerun (Tavias v2: Calimsham Fairytale, Wyll: Shining Stars, Karlach's camp outfit: Desert Sun), Extra Dyes for the Fashionable Folk of Faerun (Astarion v1: Decadence and Decay, Astarion v2: Mysticism, Karlach's armour and civvies: Blood and Divine Sweets, Halsin: Nature's Gifts ofc, Minsc: Coffee and Cream, all coronation outfits: Gilded Sentinel). Non-modded dyes include Feywild Green and Dun for Jaheira, Light Blue for Shadowheart, and Sinful Red and Bone White for Lae'zel.

To edit non-Tav/Durge characters, you'll need Appearance Edit Enhanced. I used it here on Astarion (eyeliner and earrings), Gale (extra earrings, sadly you cannot remove the Mystra earring), Shadowheart (short hair, earrings, different eyeliner), and Minsc (more piercings).

[sonderweave]

DON'T GET ME WRONG, I love chubby Gale. Dadbod Gale. Gale with a little cushion for the pushin'.

HOWEVER, I would like to submit for review, a Gale who starts out scrawny. A stick bug. Gaunt cheeks and ribs starting to show. The orb hungers. It started with his powers, and then it turned to enchanted objects, and now it's gnawing away at his very body.

Jump cut to the epilogue: the orb has been removed, Gale is happy in Waterdeep/Baldur's Gate/ Adventuring with his love. And NOW he's got a little tummy. The flush in his cheeks has returned. The dark circles under his eyes have disappeared.

In conclusion: weight gain as a sign of recovery, as a sign of being well-loved, and as a sign of healing. Thank you.

[railmegale]

Flabby dadbod gale supremacy

He probably naturally builds muscle easily and was in good shape in his glory days, but after sequestering himself in his tower for a while, he put on the depression gut.

Good thing he has those enchanted boxers that cast an illusion of ripped 6 pack dehydrated abs. Really comes in handy now that he's camping with a bunch of sexy young singles.

[maleficore]

@hylorien ask and you shall recieve!! it's a big one tho so lookie under the cut

UI and general must-haves

Diamond Dice - the prettiest dice

Infinite Dyes - self-explanatory, with no preview of how your armour is going to look like it's pretty much necessary unless you want to go broke

Extra Dyes - the Ocean Tides dye from this pack is my go-to, I just love it sm

Remove Bloodless VFX - makes for a less annoying capri sun experience

Camp Event Notifications - LOVE OF MY LIFE... there were so many cutscenes I have never seen before installing this mod and resting every time a notif pops up

Purchasable Camp Clothes and Underwear - to get Gale out of his jammies and put Shadowheart in something that does not look excruciating to sleep in

Party Limit Begone - I just hate switching people around, and yeah the battles become a bit easy but that's nothing switching to tactician can't fix

Dynamic Sidebar - a must have with the above mod because at some point the game makes you scroll through portraits and it's such a bother, plus it looks nicer to have the thing disappear unless hovered over

Some Melee Weapons On Hip - puts shortswords and a few other weapons on the characters' belt instead of back, has a version that adds visible shields too and that's the one I use because it's a bit weird for Shadowheart to seemingly pull her shield out of her ass during combat

Stackable Items - what it says on the tin, items that used to take up your entire inventory screen after skipping vendors for a bit now stack

No Intro - because it takes too much time lol

Contextual Dialogue Buttons - most only show when hovered over, makes for nicer screenshots when you want the subtitles visible (so no F10)

Gameplay

I try to not go too overboard on these and stick to stuff that's lore-accurate but

Paladins Deity - lets you swear your paladin oath to a specific god, a feature that's technically there, but unusable in-game for some reason

Immersive AI - rewrites combat AI for nearly every enemy so that they act in-character even when fighting, author has plans to add companions to the list too, but in the meantime...

Companions AI - it's a bit whacky and I admit they don't act the smartest when you turn it on, but it makes for a fun experience when you're playing the game for the 26737859 time and can't be bothered

Better Dark Urge - makes Durge actually feel unique to play, causes you to go whacko mode if you fail a saving throw during combat

Divine Soul - ngl I got this one for Durge specifically because I want them to be a sorcerer, but none of the subclasses available fit the vibe for me

Tiefling Claws - because it's cute and I think they should be able to

Half-Tiefs - not that lore accurate for 5e, but I like variety and being able to visually do whatever I want

Cosmetics

I'm not gonna babble much here, these are what they say lol

Unique Tav Custom Appearance - putting this one first because to me not having custom bodies show up on NPCs is a must, no more boobless Minthara when you make your Tav flat-chested

Horns of Faerun

Transmasc Top Surgery

Transmasc Clothing Pack

Ellian's Hair

De-Accessorized NPC Hairstyles

Loulette Heads

Vemperen's Other Heads

Male Heads - FF14 Emet-Selch - this is where Ezra's head model is from tehehe

Alternate Wyll Horns - because in vanilla he looks like a coat rack

Faces of Faerun

Astralities' Hair Color Supplement

New eye colours

Weeviljester's Ethereal Heads

Vessnelle's Hair Collection

New Character Creation Presets WIP

Ghouls Customization Compendium

Some Heads For Bodytype 2

Basket Full of Equipment

Transmog Enhanced - to put BFoE visuals on regular armour and camp clothes

Tav's Dadbod - I think this one is usable with Unique Tav, but I use it as a replacer to make Halsin chunky

No Abs for Companions and PC - restores balance to the force

Natural Breast Shape - I use the small version of this if I don't feel like making my character completely flat

More Mage Gear - for Gale ❤

I downloaded the Better Dark Urge mod to give the origin some more actual gameplay and the main feature of it is a small chance your character will lose control of themselves for a turn after making an attack. Which makes it an absolutely hilarious combination with the mod I use to have the companions act on their own accord during combat because it's like...

Ezra uses firebolt, fails a saving throw against the Urge, turns to a party member in a fit of bloodthirsty rage, the party member's AI goes "Oh fuck you, no you don't" and they immediately knock him flat on his ass 😂