#it's a ranger subclass that can face

[greymouse42]

okay but what dnd class is Mal if not a Paladin?

.... Okay okay okay. Like. I see the Oath of the Crown Paladin allegations, I see them. I am not even contesting them.

However, may I propose: Fey Wanderer Ranger

[janamensch]

Ilmera knight OC!!! This is Ser Valerie, she’s a knight errant from the Suncrest Isles!

[bg-brainrot]

As @cosmicchocomuffin suggested!

Which class/subclass each BG3 character would play in D&D (with a little explanation):

Astarion: Draconic Sorcerer - he would pick a character that comes with power innately, no god, no pact, no strings attached, and he would pick draconic for the eventual flight. Also he would want a high Cha character so that he can attempt to be the face of the party.

Gale: Artillerist Artificer - he would pick another Int based class of course, and, as for Artillerist, he still enjoys being useful, so he'd like the fire power this subclass affords. He would take time every day to ensure his infusions are prepared for the day, not allowing the party to proceed without them.

Karlach: Circle of the Moon Druid - she loves animals and nature and would love to transform into them, but wouldn't want to deal with all of those pesky spells, hence the Circle of the Moon. She would definitely be the cause of half of the chaotic druid wildshape memes online.

Lae'zel: Way of the Astral Self Monk - she would pick monk because they're respected martial warriors, pick the subclass because of its potential to reach enlightenment. But to the surprise of no one, she actually gets really into her character to the point of drawing a blade on the DM (Withers).

Shadowheart: Assassin Rogue - the classic lone wolf class and given all of her Sharran training, she would pick this subclass for the ease of roleplay it offers, with its disguise and mimicry. She starts out aloof, but quickly divulges the entire 12-page backstory she created for her character.

Wyll: Monster Slayer Ranger - he heard people looked down on rangers and decided to give them a chance, then he saw Monster Slayer was an option and knew he picked right. The actual face of the party, simply because he's the only one capable of staying on track-- however, put him in front of a cool monster and you've lost him too.

Non-Origins:

Halsin: Nature Domain Cleric - as someone who loves to help others, he would pick a class with a greater lean to the healing side of magic and with a bit of the same druid utility, then pick the subclass to still have that connection to nature. He will happily go along with whatever the party wants to do, and has ended up in jail a few times for it.

Minthara: Order of the Profane Soul Blood Hunter - she would love a class that's willing to go to any extent to defeat their enemies, like a blood hunter, and the order of the Profane Soul just cranks that up all the more. She would be the classic murder hobo of the group if left unchecked, but she will back off when the rewards are good enough.

Jaheira: Battle Master Fighter - she would go for a classic, reliable class like fighter, with a subclass that utilizes her battle knowledge like Battle Master. She is definitely a guest player, who the DM taps in for a difficult boss fight or arc, so she somehow still ends up the mentor figure in the game.

Minsc: Path of the Beast Barbarian - he wouldn't play something too complicated, hence the Barbarian, and he would love to understand Boo better, so he'd pick the subclass for the Beast abilities that come with this subclass. He would never quite know what he's doing, but makes the best accidental one liners at the table so no one minds helping.

Disclaimer: I only picked stuff I at least have the sourcebooks for. While some extra stuff looked cool, I wasn't familiar enough to get the vibes properly.

[parallel-2-anywhere]

D&D Cartoon Characters As MTG Cards

Was it the D&DBeyond free adventure where the carton kids were the pregens? to coincide with the new Players Handbook? Was it a Brazillian car commercial that stirred a long dormant foreign fandom? Was it my friend @bubblytarts slowly being dragged into Magic the Gathering kicking and screaming? In any case. I decided to try and think what legendary creatures from throughout Magic The Gathering you could Secret Lair style reskin for the kids from the Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon! All of them are going to be legendary creatures who can pilot their own deck. Join me!

Starting with Sheila!

Sheila the party rogue could of course turn invisible via her cloak. So Etrata, Deadly Fugitive working with cloak to turn creatures face down while also caring about assassins (a rogue subclass) was peak. It had to be done!

Next is Presto!

Presto having the random item hat could have been Delina Wild Mage, but consider. Using Averna to build a cascading shell into wild cards and having Delina in the 99. Also pair with Flamekin Herald (who you could make Varla from the one episode) and give the commander cascade!

Next is Bobby!

For Bobby the Barbarian my thought was Maarika (who yes I know was first Zangief but shhh). The fact excess damage is turned into breaking stuff feels perfect for the club he gets and you can put the Secret Lair Crash Through for Uni in the deck to get double duty of the excess.

Next is Diana!

Diana I wanted to make a monk proper because like. Yes her title is acrobat but... ya know. And that led me to Prowess and Narset, Enlightened Exile! You can make the exile aspect into being on another world, but honestly I think any prowess commander can do here!

Next is Eric!

For Eric. I admittedly struggled a bit, BUT I ran into Jared Carthalion, True Heir. The Monarch mechanic feels right for an Eric card to play into. Several episodes of the show temporarily tempt Eric with or properly give him power and authority over the others, like the time he became Dungeon Master for a day. And the ever changing head of the monarch works very well for that. Added to the fact that while you are the monarch nothing hits you is perfect for the shield!

Next is Hank!

For Hank I was gonna do the ranger aesthetic, but more than class, Hank is "team leader boy." SO I went with Tazri, Beacon of Unity. Cuz a 5 color commander that can bring out the party is perfect, caring about the card types that mirror the titles they were given, and also it cares about the party mechanic and gathering the gang and their allies. Something well within the purview of a good team leader!

Finally Venger!

For Venger affinity for artifacts is the funniest mechanic to give the bbeg who spent the whole ass show chasing after 6 or so magic items. The fact that Rakdos also lets you bring in Beholders, Goblinoids, Slaad, Giants and other classic D&D Monsters from both the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms and Battle for Baldur's Gate. Things like Asmodeus, Acererak, and even more villainous icons of the Realm along with powerful artifacts!

And that my friends are my picks! I hope you enjoyed them..............

Psych! Doing one more for Niko!

Niko is from Stormwreck Isle and then the adventure of Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn. Designed mostly to ensure there was a healer class for mechanic reasons all we have about Niko is a throw away line about being "new to the D&D multiverse". so how do I use that?..

SIMPLE. So I hear "New to the multiverse" and I think "Flip Walker" showing a newly sparked planeswalker! So. Looking through the existing Flip Walkers I settled on Tamiyo! Focusing less on dealing damage and more about protecting other planeswalkers and gaining informational advantage seems like the kind of thing someone new to the multiverse would focus on. Plus caring about spells when they flip into a planeswalker adds to them being a caster class. It's kind of a stretch but hey. I had so very little to work with.

And with that. For real. I am finally done!

These are only my takes though. What would you set these characters as as commander cards, is there one of them you wanna build? What would you put in their deck? Let me know! If I do end up brewing any of these I will post decklists via Moxfield! :D

[cloaksandcapes]

A magic item for use in Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition tabletop role-playing game. This is a homebrew magic item created by Cloaks and Capes.

Band of Life Bond

Ring, rare (requires attunement by a Ranger)

“A silver-wrought ring that bears the face of a ferocious and cunning predator.”

While wearing this magic ring your Speed increases by 10 feet when you are within 30 feet of your beast. Additionally, if your beast gives you the Help action on Wisdom (Survival) or Wisdom (Perception) checks you treat any result lower than a 9 as a 10 on the d20.

You can use a Bonus Action to speak the command word of this magic item and create a magical Abjuration bond with your beast. For 1 minute, you and your beast gain a +1 bonus to your Armor Class, Advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and if you take damage from an attack or spell, you can split that damage with your beast if they are within 30 feet of you.

Once you use this property of the ring, you cannot use it again until the next dawn. While this property is in effect, and until it recharges, the ring does not grant its other magical benefits.

~ ~ ~

If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting our team of four on Patreon. Get access to over 750+ Magic Items, 10 Subclasses, and plenty of Monsters, VTT Tokens, and more. We also have a free tier!

[bettsfic]

bg3 build: beast priest (shadowheart respec)

i'm playing around with some new builds! after scrounging the internet for good build guides, i didn't find any that i thought were interesting. in my current playthrough, i'm trying to respec all the companions to be the classes they would have chosen without their various traumas.

the beast priest is my respec for shadowheart. if you haven't noticed, shadowheart's basic build isn't great. when you find her, she's already level 1, which means the game chooses her subclass for you: trickery domain. and that doesn't make sense at all, narratively or for the stats she's been assigned. so to make her a good trickery domain cleric, you would want to respec her anyway just to fix level 1.

but i don't want her to be a trickery domain cleric. i don't even want her to be a healer. i want her to be an emo bird girl. the Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way of bg3, emphasis on raven. by endgame, we learn that shadowheart loves animals and nature, and she's a bit of a rebel (my graffiti queen). without having been kidnapped by the mother superior, i can see her either noping off into the woods or staying in the city to be the type of person who accidentally acquires really a lot of cats. so my goal is for her to have lots of animals, do a fuckton of damage, and fight off the darkness with lots and lots of light.

you can find the full build on eip. more detail and a level by level breakdown under the cut.

the beast priest build involves taking 6-7 levels of beast master ranger and 5-6 levels of war priest cleric. you start off as a ranger, because rangers have great early game damage and are also imo the easiest class for beginners. you stand in one spot and you shoot stuff. you can also get Harold (crossbow) pretty early on and it can be your main weapon through most of the game. it does insane damage and casts Bane.

i'm not familiar enough with armor and weapons to include recommendations in this guide (beyond Harold. get Harold). that is too much for me to keep track of, and i swap things out a lot. use whatever you find most helpful and/or looks the coolest. you probably can't use this build for lone wolf tactician or anything, but i do think it's very fun for an explorer or balanced playthrough, and it fixes a lot of the problems in shadowheart's base build.

this build does a few things:

uses war priest weapon buffs to increase ranged damage

minimizes concentration spells to prioritize ensnared strike and hunter's mark

backup heals (unfortunately this means either respeccing another companion to take on main healing duties or building a main heals tav. i'm working on a bardadin build for this very purpose. there is also always halsin, but he takes a while to acquire)

it's very beneficial to astarion that the bird can blind enemies near him so he can gain advantage to sneak attack (i'll share my build for him too eventually; he is also part ranger)

toolkit against undead (guardian spirits is a must)

important team utilities like guidance

what this build can't do:

be the "face" of your team, by which i mean initiate dialogue. we have no charisma or proficiency in anything related to talking to people. we are a gloomy emo girl sequestered to the back of the group and we shoot stuff and hang out with our bird

steal shit, disarm traps, lockpick. i mean, you can, but you'll probably have another character better equipped for it. we'll be wearing medium armor or heavy armor (optional), so we'll have a disadvantage on stealth anyway

here's how i've broken down each level:

initial build

if you're respeccing shadowheart, you won't be able to change her race or background, which means she'll remain an acolyte and have proficiency in insight and religion.

if you're making your tav a beast priest, you should choose whatever background and race makes sense for your character's narrative. the caveat being, as stated above, stealth and sleight of hand are kind of useless here, as well as dialogue proficiencies like persuasion, intimidation, deception, performance, etc.

what *is* helpful is having proficiency in the things you walk up to and go "oh shit, what's that?" so survival and perception are pretty important. folk hero and outlander are therefore both good background choices, but again, what's important to me in a build is that the story makes sense.

note you will not need investigation because we'll be taking bounty hunter as a favored enemy.

level 1: ranger (1)

proficiencies: survival, nature, animal handling (see above for more explanation; really just take whatever you think will be useful)

favored enemy: bounty hunter

bounty hunter gives disadvantage to enemies hit by ensnaring strike. very helpful for astarion and your companion. however, it's sometimes difficult to choose when to use hunter's mark versus ensnaring strike.

natural explorer: beast tamer

all of these are kind of useless, tbh. but i chose this one because early game, your companion dies very easily and this way you'll be able to bring it back without using a spell slot.

from my understanding, in EA you could either have your summon pet OR your companion out, not both, but in full release you can now have both summons out at once.

level 2: ranger (2)

fighting style: archery

we are going to be very far away from our enemies and Harold is going to be very dear to us.

spells: hunter's mark, ensnaring strike (ranged)

both spells require concentration so you can only pick one. ensnaring strike gives disadvantage to an enemy but hunter's mark does more damage, and your companion does more advantage to it as well. for cc situations, i'd choose ensnaring strike; for taking down one big dude at a time, hunter's mark. hunter's mark can be recast as long as you maintain concentration.

level 3: cleric (1)

deity: any (if you're respeccing shadowheart, your deity will remain shar)

domain: war domain

cantrips: guidance, sacred flame, light

the only one that's important here is guidance. the other two can be whatever your party needs most. the reason we're taking one level of cleric early and the others later is because guidance is a must. if someone else on your team has it, or if you have a bard, you can stay as a ranger until 5.

level 4: ranger (3)

subclass: beast master

spell: cure wounds OR speak with animals

for shadowheart's respec, i would say cure wounds so that she can start subhealing. however, if you don't have anyone in your party who can speak to animals yet, that's pretty important. the strange ox you meet in the grove provides a lot of endgame help, and it's fun talking to the owlbear and scratch.

level 5: ranger (4)

feat: resilient (wisdom)

taking resilience in wisdom gives us a proficiency in wisdom saving throws, which we'll need for both cleric and ranger spells.

level 6: ranger (5)

spells: anything that would be most helpful to your team.

you probably already have somebody who can cast longstrider as a ritual spell. enhance leap is helpful although this is pretty late in the game to be getting that. i try to avoid concentration spells because of hunter's mark and aoe spells because astarion and karlach are always in the thick of it and i don't want to hurt them.

what's important this level is that your companion's AC and damage increases, and it gets an extra attack.

level 7: cleric (2)

you get turn undead and guided strike this level. both are very useful, particularly guided strike. nothing to choose though.

level 8: cleric (3)

new spells! these can be prepared based on what you think you'll need for a given scenario. lesser restoration is a must if you're letting astarion bite you every night. but if that's the case you probably already have it.

level 9: cleric (4)

cantrip: whatever's most helpful at this point

feat: ability improvement (1 in wisdom, 1 in dexterity)

if you have auntie ethel's hair, then you might want 2 in one or the other.

level 10: cleric (5)

here's where you get guardian spirits, which is the single most important mid-game spell you can have (although in this build you get it pretty late). make sure when you cast it, you have as many movement speed spells and potions you can get. you're going to cast it and run around like mad killing everything.

level 11 & 12: ranger OR cleric (6 & 7)

here's where you have a difficult choice to make. your last two levels can be ranger 6 and 7, which will give your companion a huge buff. or you can choose cleric 6 and 7, which will give you war god's blessing, which gives you a +10 attack roll to give to someone else on your team.

you an also do cleric 6 and ranger 6, which will grant you war god's blessing AND allow you to take ranger knight as a favored enemy, which gives you the ability to wear heavy armor (if you want that). you can also gain resistance to cold, fire, or poison, but since you encounter all of those things in pretty equal measure, i never know which to choose.

i think it'll depend on what sounds more fun to you. personally, i think seeing my animal companion destroy everything is very fun. but if you enjoy reactions and buffing your teammates, i can also see wanting to stick with cleric through the end.

unlock to level 20

you might be thinking it's not worth it to only take two half classes instead of one whole one and lose out on late game spells and abilities. and i agree with you completely. my favorite part of beast master is when your companion gets two special abilities at 11. if you're playing completely vanilla, this is the major sacrifice of multiclassing. you're prioritizing creativity and cool combos over fancy spells and abilities.

but if you install a mod that lets you level to 20 (no class can go beyond 12, but you can multiclass to 20), you can take 11 levels of ranger and 9 levels of cleric. level 11 of ranger maxes out your animal; level 8 of cleric gives you divine strike, and level 9 gives you flame strike.

i didn't find anything from 10-12 in cleric very helpful. there's divine intervention which you can only use once in the game, ever, and i used it at a very integral time and it didn't do enough. heroes' feast is helpful but halsin has that too. heal, which should be the best healing spell in the game, is currently bugged and i don't know when they'll fix it.

you could also do level 12 of ranger for the extra feat if you don't have both wisdom and dexterity to 20, and stay at 8 for cleric.

if you do unlock to level 20, i would download the double xp mod (although i haven't gotten mine to work yet) so you can get to 20 at about the same pace you get to 12 in vanilla. this obvs is extremely unbalanced and makes you very very OP but that makes the game more fun for me. and anyway, if it gets too easy you can always play tactician or honor mode.

i hope you found this helpful! i'll probably be tweaking and updating it as i go. i'm working on respecs for astarion, karlach, halsin, jaheira, and wyll right now. gale, lae'zel, and minsc i'll be able to look at once i play around with them more. i haven't used them much yet in my teams.

if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send me an ask!

[wyllzel]

🔗 Link to Google Doc.

This is how I built Vampire Ascendant Astarion in my latest Tactician playthrough. As a dual-wielding Gloom Stalker Thief, Astarion has his canon Rogue flavoring with the added bonus of the Ranger class’s Extra Attack and other sneaky, more martial abilities.

I like to run Astarion as a Thief Rogue, but Assassin Rogue also works well (though possibly with different gear – for example, you may want to use a longbow instead of dual hand crossbows).

The vibe of this example of a Gloom Stalker Thief is a stealthy, consistent damage dealer. When you reach Act 3, Astarion can focus on a 100-200 HP enemy and take it out (or at least whittle it down) easily. Or, he can spread his many attacks across lower HP minions and take out a bunch in one round.

Ranger has some good control-type spells, but I primarily run the Gloom Stalker Thief as a ranged martial.

This build is not reliant on elixirs, illithid powers, or mods. While I don’t think this multiclass is dependent on gear, the gear I’ve listed will go a long way in ensuring Astarion is a very competent machine gun. 🤗

Disclaimer: While I tried to powergame as much as I could with this build, I also wanted to keep it easy to follow and fairly thematic. I'm not claiming that this is the most powerful Vampire Ascendant build ever!

(Fair warning: Possible spoilers ahead!)

Levelling

I like to start Astarion out in Rogue for the canon flavoring and Extra Bonus Action (Thief Rogue Level 3). But once my party reaches Level 5, I’ll go to Withers and restart Astarion as a Ranger instead for the Extra Attack (Ranger Level 5).

How you progress in the levels is up to you – I recommend reading through the BG3 Wiki pages on Ranger and Rogue and see which of the classes’ benefits you think are most useful! These are just my personal preferences. I’ve also added a star (⭐) next to each of the features I tend to prioritize or take advantage of.

To start with, this is my Astarion’s base stats:

Astarion’s Wisdom Score should be higher than his Intelligence score; any spells he’d be using are Ranger spells (and Rangers cast off Wisdom).

This build guide assumes that Astarion is not the party face – therefore, it’s fairly safe to dump his Charisma stat.

Level 1: Rogue (Level 1)

Sneak Attack ⭐

Select:

Expertise: Stealth, Sleight of Hand

Level 2: Rogue (Level 2)

Cunning Action: Dash

Cunning Action: Disengage

Cunning Action: Hide

Level 3: Rogue (Level 3)

Improved Sneak Attack Damage (+1d6) ⭐

Select:

Subclass: Thief

The Thief subclass has the following benefits:

Fast Hands (Extra Bonus Action)

Second-Story Work (Resistance to Falling Damage)

Level 4: Rogue (Level 4)

Select:

Feat: Ability Improvement (aka ASI) = +1 DEX, +1 WIS ⭐

This should take his Dexterity to 18 and his Wisdom to 16.

Level 5: Rogue (Level 5)

Proficiency Bonus

Improved Sneak Attack Damage (+1d6) ⭐

Level 6: Ranger (Level 1)

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple weapons, martial weapons

Armor Proficiencies: Light armor, medium armor, shields

Select:

1st Favored Enemy: Bounty Hunter

1st Natural Explorer: Urban Tracker

Level 7: Ranger (Level 2)

Select:

Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting ⭐

Spells: Ensnaring Strike, Hunter’s Mark

The Archery Fighting Style could also be good, but I run Astarion as equally reliant on his standard Actions and Bonus Actions – therefore Two-Weapon Fighting works for my build.

Level 8: Ranger (Level 3)

Select:

Subclass: Gloom Stalker

Spells: Fog Cloud

The Gloom Stalker subclass has some awesome benefits:

Dread Ambusher (Extra Attack during the 1st round of combat) ⭐

Dread Ambusher: Hide (Basically another Cunning Action: Hide)

Umbral Shroud (Become Invisible if Obscured)

Superior Darkvision (Darkvision is now 24m / 80ft)

Disguise Self (Gain the ritual spell Disguise Self)

Dread Ambusher, Umbral Shroud, and Superior Darkvision are probably the best features for the stealthy machine gun Gloom Stalker Thief.

Level 9: Ranger (Level 4)

Feat:

Sharpshooter (-5 to Ranged Attack Rolls, but +10 to Ranged Damage Rolls) ⭐

Level 10: Ranger (Level 5)

Extra Attack ⭐

Misty Step (from Gloom Stalker Subclass) ⭐

Select:

Spells: Spike Growth

Level 11: Ranger (Level 6)

Select:

2nd Favored Enemy: Mage Breaker

2nd Natural Explorer: Wasteland Wanderer: Fire

I selected Mage Breaker because I had Astarion’s backstory in mind – Cazador, Astarion’s ultimate antagonist, is primarily a caster during Astarion’s final quest battle. However, True Strike is a notably unhelpful cantrip, so you may want to choose a different Favored Enemy.

I selected Wasteland Wanderer: Fire because Fire is a common Damage type that enemies dole out. For the same reason, Wasteland Wanderer: Poison is also a good selection.

Level 12: Ranger (Level 7)

Select:

Spells: Silence

I picked Silence since it’s almost always useful, but if you have a Cleric (or another caster with access to Silence) on your primary team then you may want to pick a different spell.

Alternatives…

If you went 4 Rogue / 8 Ranger, you’d lose Rogue’s Uncanny Dodge and additional 1d6 damage on Sneak Attack (Level 5) – but gain Ranger’s Land’s Stride: Difficult Terrain (Level 8) and an additional Feat (Level 8).

If you went 5 Rogue / 5 Ranger / 2 Fighter, you’d lose Ranger’s additional Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer (Level 6), and additional spell (Level 7) – but gain Fighter’s Second Wind, Fighting Style (Level 1), and Action Surge (Level 2).

I picked a lot of offensive Ranger spells, but the Ranger class also has some great buff spells like Longstrider and Enhance Leap.

Final Composition

By Level 12, Astarion should have the following notable qualities:

Extra Attack and Extra Bonus Action, resulting in 4 possible Attacks per round.

Sharpshooter: On a ranged weapon hit, deal an extra +10 Damage.

Sneak Attack: On a Sneak Attack hit, deal an extra 3d6 (3-18) Damage.

Two-Weapon Fighting, which adds your Ability Score Modifier (+4) to the damage of your offhand attack.

Gear

I like to equip Gloom Stalker Thief Astarion with the following gear. The evil flavoring on some of the pieces (Helldusk, Bhaalist) definitely adds to the ambience of a Vampire Ascendant Astarion.

I’ve made a small note of why I equipped each piece of gear, but you can visit each Wiki link for the full benefits on each piece! None of this gear is really necessary (except maybe the Risky Ring), but I do recommend having Astarion dual-wield to take advantage of Thief Rogue’s Extra Bonus Action.

Headwear: Marksmanship Hat

+1 to Ranged Attack Rolls

Also, he looks cool in it. LOL.

Armor: Bhaalist Armor

Aura of Murder: Enemies within 2m / 6.5ft become Vulnerable to Piercing Damage (unless they are Resistant or Immune to it)

+2 to Initiative Rolls

Cloak: Shade-Slayer Cloak

Reduces the number needed to roll a Critical Hit while Hiding by 1

Handwear: Helldusk Gloves

+1d6 Fire Damage per Weapon Attack

+1 to Weapon Attack Rolls

Footwear: Helldusk Boots

Any boots that give Astarion the option to position himself more aptly are excellent. For example, the Disintegrating Night Walkers or Spaceshunt Boots are also very good.

Amulet: Amulet of Bhaal

On a hit, inflicts Bleeding on targets that have maximum HP

This feels very apt for a Vampire Ascendant.

Ring A: Risky Ring*

Advantage on Attack Rolls

Disadvantage on Saving Throws

*This ring is extremely important to the build, IMO! The Advantage on Attack Rolls does a lot to offset the -5 to Attack Rolls from the Sharpshooter feat.

Ring B: Caustic Band**

+2 Acid Damage per Weapon Attack

**This ring can add up to +10 Acid Damage, since you have four Attacks and an additional attack on your first round of combat from Dread Ambusher. However, this +8-10 may not be negligible by the time you reach Act 3 – instead, the Killer’s Sweetheart ring (basically one free Critical Hit on demand per long rest) may be more overall effective.

Melee Main Hand: Crimson Mischief

+1d4 Piercing Damage when you have Advantage on targets with <50% of their HP

+7 Piercing Damage when you have Advantage on a target

If you’re wearing the Risky Ring, you’ll almost always have Advantage, so the added Piercing Damages are basically a guarantee.

Melee Off Hand: Rhapsody

Scarlet Remittance: Gain +1 to Attack Rolls, Damage, and Spell Save DC for each foe you slay (up to +3)

Sweet Bloodletting: Possibly inflict Bleeding when hitting a target with this weapon while Hiding or Invisible

Rhapsody used to belong to Cazador – so I find it thematically fitting for a Vampire Ascendant Astarion to now use this knife. But if you’d rather avoid it, Knife of the Undermountain King is also a good one!

Ranged Main Hand: Ne’er Misser

Deals Force Damage rather than Piercing Damage

Gain one use of Magic Missile Level 3 per Short Rest

I like this hand crossbow a lot because some enemies are Resistant to Piercing Damage – but very few (if any?) are Resistant to Force Damage. But since it doesn’t deal Piercing Damage, this hand crossbow won’t benefit from the Bhaalist Armor’s Aura of Murder.

Ranged Off Hand: Hellfire Hand Crossbow

+2 Weapon Enchantment

Hellstalker: Possibly inflict Burning when attacking while Hiding or Invisible

Damage Numbers

After you finish leveling and equipping Vampire Ascendant Astarion, your final Damage stats should look something like the following table. When calculating these numbers, I assumed the following: 

The target isn’t Resistant to Piercing, Force, Acid, Necrotic, or Fire Damage

No conditional Damage on Crimson Mischief

Sharpshooter is toggled on

(I tried to calculate the above numbers by hand… So apologies if my calculations are fudged due to an incorrect understanding of Damage rolls, haha! This should be approximately correct, at least.)

Example: Combat Against Githyanki

For an example of how this build plays, here’s how Level 12, Vampire Ascendant, fully equipped Gloom Stalker Thief Astarion did against a group of Vlaakith’s githyanki warriors (Elfsong Tavern) in Tactician:

Here, Astarion did 43+75+26+35 Damage, or a total of 179 Damage in one round. (And that’s with four Attacks instead of five.) This is pretty standard for how my Act 3 combats tend to go, so I think this is a fair representation of this Astarion build’s abilities.

Conclusion

Of course, there are many other builds for Vampire Ascendant Astarion that can also do ridiculous (if not far more!) Damage. For example, some powergamers will class Astarion as a Monk (usually with the Tavern Brawler feat) – whether that’s Way of the Open Hand for maximum Damage output, or Way of Shadow for more vampiric vibes – with a multiclass dip in Thief Rogue for the Extra Bonus Action. This gives Vampire Ascendant Astarion a standard six Unarmed Strikes per round of combat; he adds 1d10 Necrotic Damage to each of those for an additional 6d10 Necrotic Damage total.

And, of course, even without the Vampire Ascendant trait, this build tends to do a good deal of Damage and can work for any character (whether that be an edgy Tav, the Dark Urge, or a different Companion). For example, a lot of the infernal gear might be cool for a post-Pact Ranger Wyll.

Thanks for reading, and hope this gave you some ideas for your ranged martial builds! :)

[ranger-jahen]

Your Tav/OC as a party member: Get to know Jahen

Class: Ranger (Canon subclass: Dread Ambusher)

Race: Half-Elf

Background: Outlander

Voice: Tav 7

Where to find him: Between the Nautiloid crash and the Overgrown Ruins, kneeling in the underbrush and picking herbs. When you speak to him he tells you that he's been scavenging for basic supplies. He can be recruited through a dialogue about needing someone on your team who can help navigate and forage in the wilderness.

Approval Conditions: Successful medicine checks, successful mediations during conflict, asking for his opinion in survival scenarios, providing aid to allies or refugees, showing caution when interacting with the Dream Visitor, sarcastic or hyperbolic humor.

Disapproval Conditions: Abject or senseless cruelty, aiding antagonistic characters, agreeing to Raphael's soul-binding deals, betraying allies, tampering with dangerous powers needlessly, using your illithid powers on him without his consent.

Betrayal Conditions (cause him to leave the party): Killing the tiefling refugees, allowing Last Light Inn to be destroyed, bombing the Steel Watch foundry with the gnomes inside, letting Orin kill her victim or becoming Bhaal's Chosen.

Personal Quest: The Lonely Ranger - as time passes, you will learn that Jahen has almost no friends or allies to his name. His childhood was loveless, his escapades as a ranger have kept him at arms-length from most communities, and he has not made efforts to change this out of a deep-rooted fear of not belonging. As your rapport increases you will have quest-related chances to affirm your friendship, his merit as an ally, and your confidence that he will have an important role to play before all is said and done. His quest will culminate in him deciding to confront an old enemy of his in the city, someone who preyed on his good will and tricked him when he was young, and believes themself to have gotten away with it all these years. Now that he has friends he trusts at his back and a newfound self-respect for who he is and what he's about, he will rise above his past grudges and be ready to face his future head-on.

Greetings:

Platonic High Approval: "Look what the cat dragged in." · "There you are." · "What's cookin'? Hope it's something good." · "Good to see a friendly face coming my way."

Romanced High Approval: "You've been thinking about me too?" · "Do we have a little time? You'll have to tell me if not or I'll get sidetracked." · "Hope that smile is for me."

Medium Approval: "Can I help with anything?" · "If you need something, just let me know. Can't promise anything but I'll do my best." · "Wanted to let you know I found something. Thought it might be useful, so I put it by your pack." (places random herb in your alchemy inventory. this greeting can happen at medium approval or higher.)

Neutral Approval: "What is it?" · "Something wrong?" · "Oh, hey. Something on your mind?"

Low Approval: "Ugh, what do you want now?" · "This had better be good." · "Don't know what that look on your face is about. Maybe I shouldn't care though."

Party Dynamics:

Jahen will have lots of positive and adventurous banter with both Wyll and Karlach. If the player reaches high approval with both Jahen and Karlach by Act 3, Jahen will have a banter with her where he will tell her he wishes he’d known her when he was younger, as he could see himself being better off with a friend like Karlach in his life. She will reply that she adores him too and feels the exact same way.

Jahen will be cautious but generally respectful to a pre-act-2 Shadowheart in his party banter. His post-act-2 banter with her will depend on what choice she made and how it affected the Shadow-Cursed Lands. A Dark Justiciar Shadowheart will receive terse but civil dialogue with him if she attempts to engage him in conversation. A Selunite Shadowheart will see a marked change in his disposition towards her as he will become warm, protective, and proud of her.

Jahen and Halsin will have a great deal of party banter that revolves around discussing the natural world and the various things they each enjoy about their respective roles in the party and their lifestyles. The two of them will also tend to flirt with and tease each other if the player is not romancing either of them (or is romancing both of them.)

Jahen will have numerous party banters with both Astarion and Jaheira that entirely revolve around giving each other shit or snarking about some of the less-than-pleasant aspects about the journey so far. In some cases Jahen and Astarion might get so wrapped up in gleefully sassing each other that the player avatar will interject to tell them to pipe down or put a lid on it, in which case they will both reluctantly concede.

Jahen will often ask after Gale’s wellbeing in act 1 party banter, but will tend not to have much to say to him during act 2, other than an occasional quiet comment about how important Gale is as both an ally and a friend. Gale will recognize Jahen’s attempts to dissuade him from using the Orb and will politely deflect each time. By act 3, Jahen will have resigned himself to an occasional, friendly, exasperated “Gale…” each time his wizard friend starts raving about a new powerful artifact the player might have discovered.

Jahen’s banter with Lae’zel will tend to involve him welcoming her to talk about her culture and experiences as he is very curious about her and her life thus far. If she says something particularly horrendous even by the party’s standards he will diplomatically end the conversation with something like “I see” or “Is that so?” and decline to comment further.

Most of Jahen’s party banter with Minsc will revolve around Boo. They may both be rangers but they have little in common beyond their fascination with friendly creatures.

If Minthara is recruited during a campaign that does not involve killing the tieflings (as this choice will cause Jahen to leave the party), he will rarely be inclined to chat with her unless she is specifically talking Karlach up, in which case he will join in. If Minthara addresses Jahen directly she will tend to comment on what a waste his aimless life is, to which he will reply tiredly that he knows she thinks so but he doesn’t really care, and tell her to save her breath. She will then surprise him by overtly approving of his disdain regarding her opinion of him.

Act 1 Companion Scene:

You will find Jahen up late at night, sorting herbs into satchels and preparing small bundles tied with twine that he's laid out atop a flat stone at the edge of camp. You can either approach him directly or roll a check to sneak up on him (DC 18.)

If you successfully sneak, you will startle him and he'll playfully rant at you a little for messing with him, but other than a few lines of funny dialogue there won't be much impact on the rest of the conversation. If you unsuccessfully attempt to sneak, he will chuckle under his breath and tell you he can hear you and to come out and talk to him face to face.

When you ask him what he's doing, he will tell you that in a camp this size, he thinks it will be useful for there to be a sort of communal "medicine cabinet," which you or your other companions can come to collect "remedy bundles" from at any time ("Just crush them up together with some water and heat and you'll have the potion or antidote you'll need," he'll tell you.)

If you ask him why doesn't he just have people come and ask him for remedies, he'll answer in a way that shows a deep understanding of others and those who may want for privacy: that sometimes people don't like to show weakness or may even feel too ashamed to ask for help directly. Having something pre-prepared like this takes the pressure off of having your needs met when you're in pain or unwell.

If you ask him how he'd know to think of that, he will admit to you that he's had a strange condition ever since he was a child; a condition that can cause him to be overcome with intense fevers at night that seem to miraculously evaporate in the morning. He's never been able to find proper medical help because the symptoms sound too unusual to match any known illnesses, and he's been accused of imagining things or even making things up. He himself has been ashamed to ask for help in the past and he wants to make sure that no one he calls a friend ever has to worry they'll find themselves in a similar position.

If you tell him it does sound like he's making things up, he will disapprove (-5), and tell you sadly that he thought you might understand, but he apologizes for taking up your time (this will end the scene.)

If you instead ask if there's anything you can do to help, he will laugh lightly and tell you that if you think of anything, he would be all ears. After a moment of hesitation he'll add that he's a little afraid that if he comes down with a fever any time soon, the others in your camp will jump straight to the conclusion that he's undergoing the transformation and becoming a mindflayer. At this point, he'll ask you if you'll give him the benefit of the doubt and refrain from attacking him or keep your other companions from attacking him until and if you're completely sure it's the transformation and not his condition.

If you agree to protect him if he becomes vulnerable like that, he will approve (+5) and thank you for having his back. If you agree to protect him but also protest that you don't like the thought of having to kill him, he will approve (+3), but tell you that while he truly appreciates the thought, he would not want to live as a mindflayer - especially if it means he might become a threat to you or your other friends, as he is beginning to care for you all. If you tell him he's on his own if this comes up, his approval with you will not change but he will comment sadly that maybe he should have expected as much.

Regardless of your dialogue choices, a "medicine station" will become a permanent fixture at your camp following this scene (until and if Jahen leaves your party.) You can interact with the medicine station once per long rest, and chose a benefit-based potion of any discovered type to add to your inventory. (The station cannot be easily "farmed" however, as it will not reset unless certain conditions are met in-between rests. On explorer difficulty: an update to any active quest. On balanced difficulty or higher: any member of your party having lost one-third of their hit points (or more), expended half their spell slots (or more), or received any negative status condition at some point during the day.)

Act 2 Companion Scene:

You notice that Jahen isn't at camp and find a small trail that leads down a hill into a grassy clearing. As you follow it, you begin to hear notes from a musical instrument, and shortly after, you pick up the sound of Jahen singing.

You will find him sitting with his back to a tree playing a small kalimba, one that's a little rough around the edges as if he might have made it himself. He will stop singing when he spots you and ask you if you came to find him for anything important.

At this point you'll have a few different dialogue options to explore and questions to ask. If you ask him about his kalimba and his singing, he'll tell you it's a way he's learned to pass long nights by the campfire during the years he's been on his own, that it brings him some comfort and gives him a reason to keep reading books and finding new songs to sing. If you ask him how long he's been on his own, he will give you a rough timeline of his life, starting with how he and his older brother lived as latchkey kids in a dubious shack that belonged to his father in Baldur's Gate. If you press him he will admit that there was no real love in his family and the arrangement was more or less what was most convenient at the time. When asking further questions you'll find out that when he prepared to move out at the age of seventeen, neither his father nor his brother cared enough to even properly tell him goodbye, and that he learned basic survival skills from a Hedgedruid who passed through the area before he struck out on his own into the wilderness. The rest of what he knows is mostly self-taught, and he travels around the Sword Coast, doing his best to help whoever he comes across. If Wyll is in your party, Jahen will have an extra dialogue line about how he heard of the Blade of Frontiers years ago since they live similar lifestyles, and that he's really enjoyed the chance to get to know him face to face.

If you tell him his singing is bad he will laugh, approve (+1), and tell you that's why he walked away from the camp to do it. If you tell him you like his singing he will be surprised, approve (+1), and then quickly tell you with some humor that he hopes you won't expect him to take up the bard profession as it's a quiet pastime for him and not something he likes to do for attention. if you tell him to stop with the theatrics, that he's nothing special and that he'd better come back to camp before he pisses you off any more, he will disapprove (-3) and quietly get to his feet to follow you back (this will end the scene.)

After you've asked about the music and he's told you about how it became a hobby of his, you can point out that he's among friends now, and ask why come out here to play and sing if he usually does this when he's lonely? He will answer that the Shadow Curse is weighing heavily on him; he is struggling with the unnatural gloom twisting the lands, and he will express that he hopes your band can do something to help. if you tell him it sounds like he needs someone to talk to about what he's struggling with, and that he should feel okay to come to you with his burdens because you care for him, he will approve (+8), become quiet and emotional, and tell you that he's never had anyone before that he could just talk to if something was on his mind. After the conversation finishes he will tell you warmly that his heart feels lighter and he's ready to go back to camp.

You can also choose to tell him that he shouldn't expect special treatment, that no one is enjoying themselves right now and that's no excuse to wander off and make himself a liability. If you choose this option he will agree with you sadly and say he's ready to come back to camp.

(If your player character also has high approval with Shadowheart and has not yet completed the gauntlet of Shar, you will have the opportunity to ask him what he thinks about her involvement with Shar and how that impacts his view of the curse. Jahen will tell you that he cares for Shadowheart and doesn't want to see harm come to her, but that he believes she's been deceived and led down a dark path that doesn't reflect her truest self. He will say he hopes she can find the courage to turn away from what is hurting her rather than continue to embrace it.)

If, during his Act 1 Companion Scene, you explored the conversation far enough to learn of Jahen's condition, he will stumble a little when he gets up to follow you back to camp. You can choose to ignore this to end the scene and you will get no approval changes, but the next morning your other companions will remark that it seemed like he wasn't well the night before (with some commenting warily about potential mindflayer symptoms), and you'll find he has an "off balance" debuff until your next long rest. If you did not learn of his condition earlier through conversation, you will not get a chance to question him about the stumble but he will still receive the debuff the next day and he will proceed to explain his condition to you that morning.

If you don't ignore Jahen's stumble and instead ask if he's alright, he will admit to you that he might have a "bad night" coming on, and that he'd better get to his tent before he inevitably passes out. Once back at camp, you can choose to either tend to him yourself (by getting water for him or bringing him some herbs - dialogue only, no effect on camp supplies), or if Halsin is in your party, notifying him that Jahen needs help. You can also choose to tell Jahen goodnight without offering him help (he will give you a friendly dialogue reply, but this will result in him receiving the debuff.)

If you choose to tend to him yourself, you will have an opportunity in the morning when he's back on his feet to verbally tell him you're glad he's feeling better (+3 approval), give him a friendly hug (+5 approval), or lean in for a kiss (+5 approval.) (this will start his romance if you have not done so already at the tiefling party in act 1.) regardless of your choice of verbal or physical affection he will receive you with immense warmth and will tell you that you are the first person who has ever cared this much for him, and that he hopes he can be as good a friend to you as you have been to him.

You can also choose to tell him now that it's morning he'd better suck it up and get going, and in response to this he will give you a weary laugh and a wordless salute, with no approval changes. If you tell him he was a waste of time and that this better not keep coming up, he will disapprove (-5) and say he'll make sure it won't be your problem again. As long as either you or Halsin helped him the night before he will not receive a debuff the next day.

After this scene plays, you will have an occasional opportunity to check in on him during a long rest when another companion makes a remark about him not looking well. He will not receive the status debuff again but checking in on him will net you a couple more +1 approvals before late game. If you ignored or chastised him in the larger cutscene, providing him some help during these passing checks will ensure he doesn't die during the endgame.

Act 3 Companion Quest:

When visiting the Guild Hall in the sewers at any point during Act 3, a brief interaction will play if you have Jahen in your party where an unnamed NPC will leer at him or possibly threaten him. The next time you’re back at camp, you can prompt him for answers regarding this strange interaction, and he will tell you about an event in his past that he carries great shame over.

When he first struck out on his own after receiving survival training, he didn’t immediately leave the area and instead kept a tight circuit around Baldur’s Gate, where he helped travelers in need on the roads or brought supplies to and from the trading outposts to earn some gold. In time, citizens in the area came to know him for his helpfulness and resourcefulness, and before long there was a group of street urchins who would seek him out to ask for training of their own to forage and learn to survive.

Jahen was eager to pass his skills on and happily taught the kids everything he knew about medicines, wild foods, and carefully instructed them on dangerous lookalikes to keep them safe. But in little less than a year, his eager pupils stopped coming around and he was certain something was wrong.

Jahen began to investigate their last known locations and learned to his horror that the younger ones had been abducted by a man who was building an underground drug channel of sorts. The man had enlisted the help of the kids with promised coin and then put them to work by force in his budding organization once they knew enough about herbalism to better serve his for-profit interests.

Outraged, Jahen set out to free those abducted, but only managed to retrieve one or two of them before he was overwhelmed by a retaliatory force of hired muscle and beaten to death’s door, barely managing to escape with his life. With no allies of his own to call upon to attempt a second rescue and a seething threat from the growing organization to keep his distance or face their forces again, Jahen left Baldur’s Gate in defeat and regret. He’s kept to other areas of the Sword Coast ever since in order to avoid stirring up the situation anew.

At this point the player can tell him that he has friends and allies now and it’s time he get the chance to face down his past regrets. He will fiercely agree, and mark on your map the location of the shipping dock where this organization stocks their cargo and conceals a hidden entrance to their base.

You can also trigger this conversation if you complete the House of Grief questline first and investigate the supplies cache behind the counter. You will learn that in addition to magics and boons from their goddess, devout Sharrans have been making use of specialized elixirs and poisons to subdue and erase their client’s memories. You will unlock a journal entry to investigate the source of the potent alchemical flasks and Jahen will gain an exclamation mark to tell you he thinks he knows something about this.

This dungeon requires some preparation as the antagonists will make frequent use of a wide array of unusual poisons and negative status effects. It is recommended to give each of your active party members an elixir of poison resistance ahead of time and keep at least a couple bottles of antidote in each of your inventories. Thankfully you don’t have to worry about freeing the hostages mid-combat and can do so afterwards once the commotion has died down.

Post-battle, Jahen’s final personal cutscene will play, the conditions of which will depend on his level of approval towards the player character and their overall decisions in-game during their campaign. In any scenario however he will be able to claim many of the organization’s resources for himself, and back at camp, will indicate that he’s discovered a lead to start researching his condition in some of the medical literature that was stashed in the organization’s base. The player will be able to loot a crossbow from the corpse of Jahen’s old enemy with a unique bowstring that retains applied coatings for 3 turns each instead of the default 1 turn. There will also be an opportunity to acquire an alembic that will enable the player to combine effects of different elixirs.

Unique interactions in game areas:

Underdark - if you have Jahen in your party when exploring the Myconid Colony in the Underdark and open a dialogue with him, he will express enthusiastic fascination with this incredible new and different system of natural organisms that he’s never seen before. He will talk about wanting to collect samples to study them, experiment with making potions, and forage for unusual food sources. You will have the opportunity to approve of his curiosity but caution him not to make himself or anyone else sick, and he will laugh and assure you that he knows his methods very well and there won’t be anything to worry about. You can also choose to tell him this isn’t a field trip and to stop poking around like an idiot schoolboy. He will be crestfallen, but will meekly agree to heed your wishes and fall back in line.

His approval will not change in either case but if you choose to chastise him you will not receive a boon at your next long rest, courtesy of Jahen’s experiments.

If you do support his interest, then at your next long rest when selecting your camp supplies, you will have a choice to select either a “Colourful Potion” or an “Aromatic Mash.” The potion will give each of your active party members an extra +15 hit points until you either lose them in combat or take another long rest. the food mash will impart a unique “fortified” condition that gives each active party member a +2 bonus to strength, dexterity, and wisdom checks until the next long rest.

Wyrm’s Lookout - if you open dialogue with Jahen at this Act 3 interlude campsite before initiating the cutscene with the Astral Prism and his approval with you is medium or higher, a unique cutscene will play where you will happen upon him waist-deep in the berry bushes that cluster around the campsite. His face and hands will be so splattered with red berry juice that you’ll have the opportunity to remark that he looks like he’s covered in blood, and he will laugh, approve (+1), and offer up a basket of berries he’s been picking ever since everyone settled in.

If you accept his offered basket then you will receive 100 raspberries for your camp supplies and another +1 approval from him. If you tell him he should keep the fruits of his labor and the rest of you have plenty, he will receive a unique “satiated” condition for that night only, which may come in handy if you have him in your party when entering the Astral Prism (he cannot be surprised, frightened, or moved against his will.) You can also decide to share the basket between just the two of you (approval +5) (either friendship or romance), in which case you will both receive a one-night-only condition of “contented” (neither of you can be frightened.) If Jahen’s romance is active and you choose to share the berries between the two of you, he will lean in to kiss you just before the end of the scene and comment on your lips tasting like sweet berries.

When he offers his basket you can also choose to ignore the sharing options and instead tell him he looks ridiculous and that you hope those berries are poisonous to teach him a lesson about digging around in the bushes. He will become angry with you, disapprove (-5), and tell you the first rule of foraging is to never put anything in your mouth that you’re not absolutely certain is safe. He will then remark bitterly that you clearly think nothing of him or the few skills he can offer. If this approval change moves him from “medium” down to “neutral” approval, he will make an additional jab at your intelligence given that apparently you don’t recognize an ordinary raspberry when you see one.

If you do harshly reject his berries in this way he will evidently not continue to eat them off-screen as he will not receive the “satiated” condition for the night, but there may be some dialogue from either Halsin, Wyll, or Karlach the next morning about Jahen coming by to share his freshly picked fruit with them.

All of Jahen’s personal cutscenes will play, regardless of whether the player character is in a romantic relationship with him or not, but his dialogue will differ between his platonic and romantic paths and he will have some unique animations regarding his inclination towards physical affection if romanced. In addition, once his romance has been activated, he can be approached during any long-rest and requested to share his bed with the player. If his relationship is kept platonic and he reaches “very high” approval with the player (or higher, to “exceptional”), he can be approached at camp and asked for a hug at any time. His hugs will typically be very warm and he will clearly enjoy giving him, unless he has been “hardened” over the course of the game, in which case his hugs will become more somber.

Endings:

Bad Ending 1: If the player character runs a campaign that does not drive Jahen away from the party completely but still prioritizes broadly antagonistic choices, Jahen's outlook on the world will harden over time and he will adhere more strongly to his distrust of society rather than learning to seek community and trust his friends with his burdens. His personal quest will end with him choosing to take over his past enemy’s business rather than end it, in order to acquire the resources he needs to start researching his condition. He will start to earn a reputation by endgame as an up-and-coming Undercity figurehead, and he will make adjustments to the organization to make it less predatory, but you will also hear occasional rumors that similar nefarious figures think he's too soft to be cut out for the role because of this and have plans to move against him if his guard ever comes down.

Reaching this ending for Jahen will almost always end his romance. He will either break up with the player coldly and tell you he doesn't have time to entertain you anymore with his new goals in his sights, or if his approval is still high, he will break up with you regretfully, and mention that he can no longer afford to have obvious weaknesses. If his approval is still high, you can pass a persuasion check (DC 15) to convince him that you're anything but a liability and will only make him stronger in the long run. He will accept this and will thank you for staying by his side despite it all.

At the epilogue party, depending on certain circumstances met during the game, Jahen will either reveal:

that his rivals have taken their chance to move against him and he is more or less a fugitive, having made powerful enemies in Baldur's Gate and having little recourse to fall back on.

that he has risen to meet these challenges and has been ruthlessly cutting down his enemies for the past six months in order to come out on top. He will be noticeably colder and more cruel during this conversation, regardless of his prior approval or romantic status with the player.

* This ending is extremely difficult to get by accident as it requires careful micro-managing of his approval changes to enable the player to both establish trust with him while also not driving him away through antagonistic approval hits or outright evil choices before the endgame. If you wish to roleplay this ending it is recommended to follow a guide to help navigate strategic points to take Jahen in and out of your party.

Bad Ending 2: If a non-hardened Jahen's condition is repeatedly ignored and uncared for, his illness will interact poorly with his illithid infection and he will die after facing the Netherbrain when the tadpoles are destroyed, as the residual psychic energy overloads his weakened body and tears his mind apart. If the player character has him in their party and has medium or higher approval with him despite neglecting his wellbeing, he will tearfully tell them goodbye before he passes on and will say that he's at least glad he was able to be of some use before the end. If his approval is neutral or lower he will die with a wordless scream of pain as the narrator describes what is happening. If he is not in the party then he will die off-screen and another companion will tell the player what happened.

Neutral Ending 1: If a good-aligned player character made sure Jahen's condition was cared for but his personal quest is not completed, he will return to his familiar ranger lifestyle post-game and put some distance between himself and Baldur’s Gate once more. At the epilogue party both he and a few other companions will remark that he has kept in touch with them and that it’s good to have friends to have each other’s backs when the going gets tough. If the player encountered Jahen’s unique Underdark scene, did not ascend Astarion, and released the vampire spawn into the Underdark, Jahen will instead mention that he has specifically kept in touch with Astarion and the Gur, and has helped with keeping tabs on the spawn. Astarion will also have some unique dialogue about Jahen lending his efforts to the Gur’s cause, but admit that he’s got some concerns about Jahen’s condition seemingly worsening over time.

Neutral Ending 2: If Jahen's personal quest is completed and he has high approval with the player character, he can be convinced to become a mindflayer for the greater good in the endgame. However, once your victory is secure, he will choose to end his own life and cannot be persuaded out of this choice. Before he dies he will thank you for being a friend to him and say that he hopes you and your friends will keep looking out for each other, because he's come to view your bonds as very precious and he wouldn't like to think of this as the end of the family you've made.

Good Ending: A non-hardened Jahen gains trust and assurance in relying on others outside himself so he doesn't have to shoulder his burdens alone. After confronting the mastermind behind the mistakes of his youth, Jahen chooses to dismantle his organization and distribute important resources to all who were price gouged or blackmailed in the name of profit or power. In doing this he begins to acquire many helpful resources and valuable friends himself, and gains prospects to begin researching his own condition - the main lead he finds is that it may be related to something in his heritage with regards to his biological mother, whom he never knew.

Epilogue 1: If Karlach is in the party and agrees to go back to Avernus with Wyll instead of burning out at the end of the campaign, and the player character volunteers to go with them, a romanced Jahen will also accompany them to the Hells.

Epilogue 2: If Jahen was romanced and the player character does not volunteer to accompany Wyll and Karlach back to Avernus, then Jahen will ask the player character to come with him back to the reclaimed lands that Halsin is returning to. Jahen's epilogue will then involve a few sequences of him and the player character contributing to the rebuilding of Reithwin and Last Light as well as following the lead collected on his condition from the end of his personal quest. If Halsin was poly romanced there will be some unique romantic dialogue. If not, there will still be a strong indication of warm friendship between Jahen, the player, and Halsin in the ending scene. Regardless of poly romance status, Halsin will have a couple of unique humorous lines about how he knows Jahen loves the kids but it’s hard to trust him alone with them as he keeps accidentally teaching them to swear.

Epilogue 3: if Jahen was not romanced, he will return with Halsin to the reclaimed lands to help rebuild and will also begin investigating the lead on his condition collected from the end of his personal quest. There will be some bits of dialogue at the epilogue party that imply/hint that he and Halsin have entered an open relationship with each other.

[thehomelybrewster]

How to Play a Force User in 5e?

One aspect of character building for 5e I enjoy is trying to replicate character archetypes that aren't obviously represented by a single (sub-)class into 5e. And Tulok the Barbrarian hasn't helped matters (check out his channel, it's fun).

Anyway, one of my favorite things is Star Wars and naturally I love Force users, and 5e offers a handful of combinations that work really well for it.

So here are some! Note that with most of them the Telekinetic feat is recommended, and the Telepathic feat also often works well.

Intelligence: Psi Warrior Fighter + Wizard

This one is basically ready-made. You get psionic abilities and you unlock really fun stuff as you level. However, since the Psi Warrior uses Intelligence for their features, that means you'll have an easy time multiclassing into wizard!

Both War Magic and Bladesinging are excellent additions. The former is more generic and synergizes well even with medium or heavy armor, while the latter is generally more powerful, but is often restricted lore-wise and pigeonholes you into wearing light armor only. It also works "best" with Psi Warrior if you take less than six levels in wizard, because at that point Bladesinging gives you Extra Attack and that obviously doesn't work with a fighter's Extra Attack (though you'd still gain the ability to use cantrips within your Attack action).

In general this build is bulky and uses magic for versatility, making an excellent frontline warrior. Also if your GM ain't no fan of the psionic subclasses, then Eldritch Knight is also fine.

Intelligence: Bladesinging Wizard + Samurai Fighter

Yes, another fighter + wizard combo, but one with a different flair. This would really lean into Bladesinging and use Samurai Fighter for its excellent Fighting Spirit feature at 3rd level (and Action Surge at 2nd). With Fighting Spirit you can give yourself advantage on attack rolls and gain temporary hit points, very appropriate in the "letting the Force guide you" sense. After that this build would focus itself entirely on wizard levels. Still, the 7th level Samurai feature Elegant Courtier is excellent, and if you only want to take four or five levels in wizard, or don't a redudant Extra Attack, snatch that up, too.

The levels in Samurai enhace the face archetype that a Jedi as intergalatic peacekeepers embody excellently.

This build is likely squishier than the prior one, but still not that squishy. It really depends on the level mix. Also note that Elegant Courtier works based on Wisdom, so that segues into...

Wisdom: Fey Wanderer Ranger + Samurai Fighter

The Fey Wanderer is the best ranger subclass to get the feel of a Force user for sure. Since it heavily focuses on charming foes and resisting charms yourself, it sells the stalwart moral stance of a Jedi and the classic Jedi mind trick quite well. Otherworldly Glamour makes you an excellent party face, and Wisdom feels the most intuitive among the three mental ability scores for a Jedi to prioritize.

For Samurai, just see the section I wrote for the prior entry, it's just really, really good, and those first three fighter levels are just a wonderful addition to any build that can afford them.

This build is also the best way to emulate a Jedi who is very connected to nature, like Kanan Jarrus or Ezra Bridger, since druid has too specific a fantasy to work with that.

Wisdom: Peace/War Cleric + Fey Wanderer Ranger/Samurai Fighter

The cleric also provides an excellent foundation for a Jedi character, and the War Domain and the Peace Domain especially. Both really fit the ideals of Jedi, the former obviously more of a Clone Wars-era Jedi general (or a Sith), while the latter fits the High Republic-era or the old Expanded Universe restored Order really well. Special shoutouts to War's Channel Divinity: Guided Strike and Peace's Implement of Peace features, those really feel appropriate.

Cleric spells work really nicely as Force abilities, and thus work as a great foundation. Now you can easily add either the Fey Wanderer or the Samurai on top of that to either go deeper into the role of a skilled negotiator or a mighty warrior, all while having a fairly easy time with multiclassing.

Charisma: Aberrant Mind/Divine Soul Socerer + Paladin

The sorcerer represents nicely the inherent nature of Force-sensitivity and both the Aberrant Mind and the Divine Soul fulfill the aspects of mental prowess and a special destiny respectively.

The paladin levels meanwhile enhance your melee capabilities, as well as your spellcasting and healing. Virtually any oath works here. Ancients provides a bit of Kanan Jarrus/Ezra Bridger/Bendu vibes, Conquest and Oathbreaker are very Sith, and the others all work for Jedi in general.

Ingnite your lightsaber with your smites, and you'll have a good time. Plus, as a Charisma-based build, you'll make an excellent face, of course.

Charisma: Great Old One Warlock + Paladin (or maybe Bard?)

We've reached the final one! The obligatory warlock-paladin multiclass. A wonderful combination. Now I'm deliberately excluding the Hexblade due to flavor, but the Great Old One is a wonderful patron for a wannabe Jedi to have. For you that patron are, basically, Medichlorians. You are more attune to them than other people (or so you think?), and thus you gain special psychic powers associated with them.

For the paladin aspect, s. the prior build. All of that also applies here.

Addendum: Even bard might be a nice option to add to the Great Old One. Bardic Inspiration can easily be interpreted as using the Force to subtly move or stabilize your allies during an Athletics or Acrobatics check, or as a minor Jedi mind trick in social situations. College of Valor and College of Swords are very good choices for this multiclass build to enhance your melee capabilities.

Addendum: On Monks

I did consider whether monk would work, maybe with the Fey Wanderer Ranger it'd be okay, and then I'd probably go with Way of Mercy but monk is too weird of a class to work well... But the 2024 rules revision monk might be just the trick for that! We'll see what that looks like. In terms of how short rest-reliant monks are, a warlock-monk build would make sense, but since the Playtest 5 warlock was thoroughly rejected, Wisdom-based warlocks will never happen in this game (until we get a proper 6th edition?)...

[bigolbard]

The Legends of Apex but they're DnD

I like Apex a lot. I like DnD a lot. I couldn't sleep last night, so this happened. Some of them are based on personality, others on mechanics. Some of them also get subclasses because fuck you, I make the rules. Read on at your own risk.

Bloodhound. A lover of nature and beasts, and an expert tracker. Bloodhound is a RANGER.

Gibraltar. Incredibly tough to hit, wields a shield, and can unload massive damage when needed. Gibraltar is a PALADIN.

Lifeline. A medic, but not the best medic. Reliable healing with the ability to revive while still fighting. Lifeline is a DIVINE SOUL SORCERER.

Pathfinder. Incredibly mobile. Likes to push fights quickly, but can disengage just as quickly. Is into hand to hand combat. Pathfinder is a MONK.

Wraith. Gained the ability to travel between dimensions. Harnesses a power that is now innate. Wraith is a SORCERER.

Bangalore. Boring at first glance, but full of interesting potential when you really take a minute to think about it. Was a soldier. Bangalore is a FIGHTER.

Caustic. An incredibly intelligent individual who is very good at making alchemical substances. Caustic is an ALCHEMIST ARTIFICER.

Mirage. Tries a little too hard to be funny, but is genuinely charismatic. Likes to be the center of attention, but is still quite intelligent. Mirage is a BARD with the Artificer Initiate feat. (He could also be a Trickery Cleric, depending on if you value personality or ability.)

Octane. Reckless, aggressive, and fast. Fight first, think later. Octane is a BARBARIAN.

Wattson. An electrical genius who uses their inventions to gain the upper hand. Wattson is an ARTIFICER.

Crypto. The poster boy of edgy backstories that the DM had to go through great lengths to un-edge. Incredibly paranoid. Crypto is a ROGUE.

Revenant. Sneaky and stabby. Revenant is also a ROGUE. (An Assassin Rogue, to be precise.)

Loba. Sneaky and steal-y. Loba is also also a ROGUE (A Thief Rogue, to be precise.)

Rampart. She makes things by hand and kills things by hand (using the things she made by hand). Shiela is literally an Eldritch Cannon. Rampart is an ARTILLERIST ARTIFICER.

Horizon. Arguably the most intelligent Legend in the games. Clearest proficiencies are in gravitational science and related fields. Likes to create black holes. Horizon is a SCHOOL OF GRAVITURGY WIZARD.

Fuse. Sold his soul for fame and fortune. Has a projectile weapon that never runs out of uses and does good damage. Fuse is a WARLOCK.

Valkyrie. Chaotic as hell. Wants to seduce everyone. Successfully injected herself into a blossoming relationship and faced no consequences. Valkyrie is a BARD.

Seer. A cursed child who isn't actually cursed. Defined by the events of his birth, which spawned a legend not necessarily deserved. Seer is a SORCERER.

Ash. A trained fighter who prefers swords over guns. Incredibly skilled at murder, but can also tear through space, appearing to be in two places at once. Ash is an ECHO KNIGHT FIGHTER.

Maggie. Will fight anyone and anything at anytime. When she rages, no one is safe. Maggie is a BERSERKER BARBARIAN.

Newcastle. Will protect you and pick you up if you fall. Has a shield, and knows how to use it. Kind of a dork, but in a good way. Newcastle is a CLERIC.

Catalyst. An area control specialist who's very in-tune with nature, astrology, and spirituality. Catalyst is a CIRCLE OF THE STARS DRUID.

Vantage. A long-range sniping specialist with an animal companion. Vantage is a BEAST MASTER RANGER.

Ballistic. A master of arms with a knack for poetry and the classics. A refined man with refined taste and did I mention a whole lot of guns. Ballistic is a SAMURAI FIGHTER.

[rose-of-oz]

TELL ME ALLLL ABOUT YOUR BG3 OCS!

AHHHHH, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING!! Okay, so as I said, I don’t have actual appearances for my babies since I don’t have the game, but I will happy give you some info about them.

I have five OCs currently planned:

Raven Waters (they/them), Wyll ship. Human bard, College of Lore subclass, with an urchin past. Grew up on the streets of Baldur’s Gate after being orphaned at a young age and became a decently well-known entertainer when they got older, performing at festivals and every tavern and inn in the area. Very cunning, sarcastic, and good at reading people, and is very unhappy about being snatched off the street only to have a worm stuck in their brain. Cares about people sort of in the way Astarion does - reluctantly and with no small amount of complaining but very deeply - and even though they don’t think much of Wyll at first because they don’t trust nobility or anyone wealthy, it doesn’t take long for them to become endeared by him. Also becomes absolute besties with Astarion because they literally laugh in his face when he tries to seduce them and once he gets over that they have fun judging people together. (There is also definitely an AU where Raven is dating both Wyll and Astarion, but they’re officially a Wyll ship.)

Amalal Quavein (he/they), Astarion ship. Seldarine drow and cleric of the Light Domain for the goddess Eilistrae with a sage past (he’s a huge bookworm when they can get his hands on some), and has been travelling around Faerun since they were just young, trying to find allies to assist in the Seldarine drows’ fight against Lolth and helping everyone he can along the way, before they get snatched up and taken to the nautiloid ship. He’s a total sweetheart who loves caring for people and fighting against tyrants and darker forces, but they’re also a bit socially stunted from being alone on the road for a lot of his life, which can lead people to think he’s naïve even when they aren’t. Astarion definitely thinks this at first, and thinks seducing Amalal will be easy, but really he’s just one of those people who always chooses kindness and doing the right thing because they want to make the world a better place and that’s the best way he knows how to do it. (They’re also asexual, which is very funny given Astarion’s whole seduction thing because not only is Amalal unfamiliar with seduction as a concept but he genuinely Does Not Feel Sexual Things, so they’re painfully oblivious to Astarion’s attempts the whole time.)

Nifara Reedwood (she/her), Gale ship. Strongheart halfling ranger, of the hunter subclass, with an outlander past who was raised in the wilderness and therefore has a very strong connection with nature. Travels all around Faerun hunting and tracking creatures from other realms, making it her personal mission to keep any kinds of invaders from attacking her realm and harming its nature. Also has a very strong bond with animals and is resistant to poison due to all the she’s spent in Faerun’s swamps. A complete and total badass, but is also kind of socially stunted due to all the time she’s spent alone on the road with only animals and the creatures she hunts. Brutally honest and has a quick temper, but also one that’s quick to calm back down if there’s no need for an actual fight, and although she’s slow to trust people would gladly kill and die for those she cares about and absolutely will not let them talk bad about themselves. (Very nearly smacks Gale for not believing he’s worth more than his magic and service to Mystra and calls him an idiot for it more than once, and then somehow that wanting him to think more of himself turns to catching feelings and she’s just like, “Ah, shit”. It’s fine, though, because Gale comes to love her too.)

Nisa Mournspire (they/she), Halsin ship. Mephistopheles tiefling paladin of the Oath of Devotion subclass, with a folk hero background. Adopted when they were a baby by a human couple, but never felt truly loved by them since she wasn’t their blood child, even if they’d given her their last name. Devoted themself to prayer from an early age as a way to feel some kind of belonging and purpose, and took her Oath and set out from their village to travel around and help people when she was only twenty years old. Gained a bit of a reputation around all of Faerun for their heroics, and eventually came to be known as The Horned Warrior. Taken from Baldur’s Gate by the Mindflayer’s goons when she stopped in for the night, and doesn’t hesitate to recruit Karlach and Lae’zel when they’re all on the beach, seeing defeating the Mindflayer and removing the parasites as yet another mission they’re committing to. Very warm and compassionate, able to make friends almost everywhere she goes, and fears almost nothing if it means helping others. A bit of a hopeless romantic who wants to find true love, but also isn’t against brief flings. Does sleep with Astarion once or twice (but they’re incredibly good about it and makes sure he feels good too, because she can tell he’s not used to that), but definitely takes a liking to Halsin very quickly after meeting him and spends a good amount of time staring at his biceps (which annoys Lae’zel incredibly because that should not be the focus right now).

Ellora Keyvaris (she/her), Karlach ship. High Elf half-elf wizard of the Conjuration School subclass with a noble background. Grew up in a wealthy family that was very devoted to maintaining appearances and always trotted her out to social events, but she was much more interested in magic and the study of it, more than happy to spend her time in her home’s library or at the local magical college learning conjuring spells from the professors she’d paid for private lessons. When she learned her family was planning to betroth her to an elf nobleman, she ran away to Baldur’s Gate, where she intended to live a quiet life and continue studying magic before she was kidnapped and infected with the parasite. Ellora is a very quiet and bookish person, but that doesn’t mean she’s timid; she has a sharp tongue and isn’t afraid to stand up for herself or others and say what she thinks. She struggles to connect to her companions at first, with the exception of Wyll since they were both raised among nobility, but she eventually makes genuine friends out of all of them, which means a lot to her because she’s never really had friends before. (She’s also a hopeless lesbian who falls in love at first sight with Karlach and thus is very sad when she can’t touch her, because she very much wants this large muscled lady to be able to pick her up.)

Anyways, yeah, those are my BG3 babies!! Thanks so much for asking about them, and if you have any more questions about any of them feel free to ask!!

Again tagging some of my other BG3 moots: @hiddenqveendom, @endless-oc-creations, @astarionbae.

[tiny-chubby-bird]

ffxv in bg3

so i kind of fell back into ffxv and ever since playing bg3 i can never look at the word and name ignis the same. but so i got into thinking, what class would ignis be if he were in bg3? who would he potentially romance? i myself decided on making a knowledge domain, ilmater deity cleric ignis, but i was also considering making him a rogue or wizard. maybe i'll multiclass him in the future. he uses daggers, a lance/spear and elemancy in fights, so he needs spells and be able to use daggers and spears. also, since he's the mom of the group he's the one healing everyone during fights, so cleric felt the most fitting out of everything, though i was unsure about which deity he would maybe worship since i don't rlly see him as a religious person. i chose ilmater mainly because of the whole "taking on the pain/suffering of others," y'know, the whole scene where ignis is ready to sacrifice himself for noctis and losing his eyesight. nothing else rlly sounded fitting. i wasn't sure about the domain either but ended up going for the knowledge domain since it felt the most fitting and gives him some extra proficiency points (i think). as a romance option i could maybe see ignis and gale, the cooks of the group, intelligent and well-read, talented in what they do, idk. i also made ignis a half-high elf, that felt very fitting for him and also the face option was the closest to what ignis looks like in-game. i also chose the noble background for him since he was raised alongside noctis to be his adviser, so i felt noble was as close as it gets.

anyway, the whole thing got me into thinking how fun it would be to play with friends and you all just make one of the ffxv boys and then just have the whole gang together. gladio would be the fighter class, maybe paladin but i feel like fighter is the most fitting. idk which race, i could almost see him as a tiefling maybe, otherwise human or maybe even half-orc. prompto could go half-elf as well, maybe half-drow for some angst and fantasy racism. also ranger class seems fitting for prompto, mostly using ranged weapons (bow, crossbow, etc.), maybe beastmaster subclass? but gloomstalker could be badass for him too. noctis is the hardest for me to decide, but i could also see him as half-high elf. since he isn't physically strong like gladio, idk how i feel about using the fighter class for him. sorcerer feels a little fitting so he would have a natural talent for using magic, maybe storm sorcery or draconic bloodline, but since noct mainly fights with weapons in ffxv it would have to be a multiclass with something more physical as well, though the strength stats would make that kinda problematic.

as for romance for the other boys, i could see prompto and karlach making a really cute couple. also prompto and astarion for angst and healing. shadowheart and noctis i can mainly see as friends, idk i have a hard time seeing noctis romancing anyone from the group but him and shadowheart for the moody goth/emo vibes lmao. gladio and lae'zel i really like, both passionate, strong and skilled fighters. and like i said, gale and ignis. wyll and noct would probably have a lot of topics to bond over too.

anyway here's my bg3 ignis.

[sky-whale-creations]

Out of curiosity, how happy are you with the balancing of the Vessel? I showed it to my DM a while ago as a 'hey if I had known about this at the time I would have liked to make that my character, what do you think?' thing and he was very unsure about it due to a lack of DMing experience, and another player straight up called it overpowered. Have you found it to be like that at all?

So here’s my run down of experiences and opinions on it

1: I have played a Vessel in 3 one shots now, tweaking them a little each time

2: I have run a vessel multiclass for a player for quite some time now, her party includes a monk and rogue

3: I currently place a vessel pc with another party member, we are the only martials, and with a sorcerer, druid, and bard

From my experience, Vessel does three things very well. Its tanks damage very well and it does solid damage. The choice of subclass adds great utility with a focus, either being a face or some tricky little powers or something like that to augment them a bit with synergies and such

For the ranger/vessel I run for, we are very late in the game and is consistently touted as the tank slower than her party but with great damage. Her subclass, Dire Bloom, along with her magic items have choice have kinda given her all that she could ask for. She can defend her allies, crowd control with her subclass or spells, heal a bit, and with various ranger plant spells for bonus uses. She’s a real cornerstone for solutions and can help with anything, very well rounded. 

For the one I play, I am a Destroyer and my party member is a Dragon vessel. The sorcerer also has a 3 level dip into vessel. In this party, as the only martials, I think they stand great. They soak up attention and do well in combat, tackling problems before they hound the casters. We have been challenged plenty over time. Thematically, however, there has been some overpowering as the DM has stressed the very high side of the importance to the 3 vessels, notably the other 2 and not me lol. Our stories have a bit more sway and loose ends, not that the other characters don’t, but the baked in conflict of vessel and choosing narratively important entities has gravitated larger plot threads around them

Overall I have had good experiences with playtesting. A big issue with a lot of martials is a lack of versatility and utility. A wizard has endless options, a fighter does not. At my table and the table I sit at, we have stressed giving martials more things to do. My monk has additional ki features, my rogue has a homebrew system someone made called debilitates to spend sneak attack dice on special effects. In a party with just the 2 vessel martial characters, I have not felt anything out of the norm

But that is not what happens at all tables. Some tables make no concessions to martials and like them as they are. And that’s ok! My friends and I have just customized our game a lil with options for them. So mechanically this could pose a problem for your say, champion fighter and berserker barbarian, as a vessel can easily fill those roles and have tools to be something besides a sack of hit points

On the topic of being overpowered in general though, that’s fair, there are some places that could use fine tuning and I have gradually over time. But there will always be slightly unbalanced things

If you introduced the barbarian for the first time, people would call rage overpowered. If you introduced paladin auras and smites, people would call them overpowered. Same for rogue and monk evasion, just avoiding all dex damage on a success. Same if you suddenly introduced spells, especially the crazy 7th, 8th, and 9th level spells

Classes get plenty of defining and strong abilities, for sure, and that is a very fair concern

I’m so glad that you want to play the class! Your friends are not without good reasoning and I think your GM is beyond fair to be unsure of running a homebrew class. It sounds a bit weird to say, but as a person who has been playing for years, I think it would be the best to save your GM the worry and allow them to learn the vibe and flow of the game themselves before introducing something entirely new to the game

I hope this helps! <3

[rainbowmancer-gwen]

Incriminating data

Callsign:- Shorty (She/Her)

Gender:- Transfem

Sexuality:- Queer, Pan, Poly

Level:- 34

Class proficencies:- Mage, Ranger, Decker, Face, Monk

Subclass:- Rainbowmancer (Color mage/ Crafter)

Muticlass:- Capoerista (Afro-Brazilain martial arts, Capoeria)

Secondary Allias:- Furry, fox fursona

STR- 10

DEX- 12

CON- 15

WIS- 13

INT- 18

CHA- 16

Irl skills:-

Mini painting- Painter for Bea DnD games- Petone Wellington

Dungeon master:- DnD (5e, 3.5, 2nd,ADnD, Animal adventures), Shadowrun (3e, 4e, 5e, 6th world), Cy-borg, Dungeon Crawl Classics.

Capoeirista:- Recently obtained Green/white Cordão. Afro-Brazilian dance fighter

Registered Nurse- NZNO, Mental health, addiction and intellectual disabilities services, eating disorder recovery.

Ex Paramedic- Frontline 111, event medic, patient transfer.

Ex Operating theatre assistant- surgical goodness, goobies, gore and gross stuff.

Flaws:-

ADHD, Dyslexia, Fatigue, Chronic pain, workaholic.

Sup! I'm Gwenllian. I work myself too hard and paint stuff when I can. I think I'm pretty good at it. I'll probably use this Tumblr to find artists I like, get ideas for painting minis for DnD, Warhammer and other tabletop games.

@macrotiis is my partner <3

[dreamywritingdragon]

Rook Questionnaire

Onto the next one of the bunch, Len!

Original post here

1: Where in the Thedas is your Rook from?

Ferelden, in the Warden outpost their mom was stationed in

2: What is your character's alignment?

Lawful neutral

3: Race and subclass?

Elf, rogue, Veil ranger

4: If your Rook was a companion, where would they be found?

Cuddling Assan, hanging out with Davrin

5: What emotion did they usually pick?

Though

6: What companion are you platonically close with?

Bellara. Veil Jumpers stick together, and Bellara is fun to be around. Len likes to hear her babble about her stories, and, hey, someone's got to help her make sure that artefact doesn't blow up!

7: Romantically close with?

Davrin. It took them some time, because Len is initially distrustful of Wardens (complicated relationship with their mom, Warden Commander Mahariel) and can't believe they're falling for a Grey Warden??? No, that just won't do! But Davrin is charming, and fun, and Len loves their little forest walks...

8: Who are they suspicious of?

Solas and Lucanis

Solas, because that's Fen'Harel, Len was raised with Dalish tales, they kinda know what's up. Plus, he hurt Varric and tried to tear down the Veil, so...

Lucanis because he's a Crow. Crows made Len's dad's life hell (Zevran, hi :) please come pick up your kid, they're picking figths with a trained killer), and again, with all the stories Len heard growing up, they're gonna side-eye that demon-possessed assassin for a long time.

Despite being on thin ice, Davrin gets a free pass thanks to Assan being just so cute.

9: Does your Rook get along with their chosen Faction?

Not anymore. When Len first joined the Veil Jumpers, they liked the feeling of closeness and family, kinda like that clan their mom keeps talking about. Even came to see Strife as a father figure. But then...Len feels like Strife betrayed them, casted them out, and they have a hard time forgving him.

Some of the Jumpers are ok, though

10: Are they proficient in playing any instruments?

Zevran taught them the mandolin when Len was a kid. They don't play anymore

11: Weapon of choice?

Bow

12: What is their orientation?

Pansexual

13: What are their thoughts on killing? Is it a necessary evil or do they enjoy it?

Will avoid it if they can. They saw their parents kill a lot, and that shit sticks

14: What hobbies does your Rook have?

Len likes to weave baskets and wreaths out of twigs.

15: What NPCs do they like? Which one's do they dislike?

Has a difficult time with Evka and Antoine, because they're Wardens, but eventually warms up to them, because Davrin trusts them. The Crows can all go die in a ditch, though.

Len likes Isabella's stories.

16: Do they have a favorite creature in the Thedas?

In typical Dalish fashion: halla :p

17: Do they enjoy life as an adventurer?

Yep! They left home at sixteen, in an act of teenage rebellion, and never looked back!

18: What would your Rook be doing if they weren't recruited by Varric?

Len would have left Ferelden either way, probably still joined the Veil Jumpers and helped stabilize Arlathan Forest

19: How do you think they'll meet their end?

Either old and happy in the house they built with Davrin, or defending the people they care about

20: Would they side with Solas or fight him?

Fight him. I initially planned to get the Solavellan ending, but Solas' face is just so punchable, and it made more sense with Len's arc

21: What is your Rook's favorite ability?

Double daggers going swish

22: What languages is your character fluent in?

Fereldan, probably a bit of Orlesian. Zevran taught them some Antivan, but Len hates using that language. Still slips a mierda every now and then

23: What do they do after an absolute crisis?

Regroup and think

24: Does your character believe in the afterlife?

Nope. Once you're dead, you're dead, and that's better that way

25: What specialization best represents your Rook?

Veil Ranger

26: What animal best represents your Rook?

A fox

27: What was their life like before the events of Veilguard?

Artefact hunting in Arlathan

28: Is your character the de facto leader of the party? Or do they consider someone else to be the leader?

Oh yes! Len likes taking charge, and would see themselves as the best possible person to lead their team

29: If you could choose a different faction for your Rook, which one would they have joined and why?

Either they get tainted during their childhood and have no choice but to do the Joining (anngssstt! becoming like their mom, bleurgh), or they'd join the Lords of Fortune: adventure, friends, danger...fun!

30: What's your favorite thing about your Rook?

The backstory I gave them! Also, it allowed me to choose "sharper" options, and I like playing a character who's rightfully angry :)

[magicisrealandsoismyally]

How to end up getting one of your friends absolutely screwed over in a dnd game

Step 1: Make a ranger with high wisdom as your first ever pc

Step 2: Notice we don't have a dedicated face who can can make session and/or is confident irl

Step 3: Decide to go feywanderer as his subclass

Step 4: Have your friend join the campaign with a satyr bard who is the definition of cringefail bisexual man

Step 5: Write an extremely evil family of archfey connected to your pc's family to justify the feywanderer

Step 6: Watch your dm go "yeah we can get silly with Them"

Step 7: Cut to two years later, when your feywanderer and his boyfriend have been temporarily retired as characters and are trying to revive their gf (even longer story)

Step 8: Said satyr bard also gets temporarily retired and searches for the two of them

Step 9: "Hey Magic, could I make a deal with Her to find out where the two of them are?" Step 10: oh shit Step 11: Cut to a discord call a week later between me, the friend, and the DM

Step 12: Watch a man offer "anything" to a fey and die inside a little List of things Ginkgo has currently given up, which Wit can take at any time (there is more): - his music - changing his appearance in minor ways - two of his memories - a mimic of his voice - a functionally infinite IOU