#probably a college of swords bard i think

[danielnelsen]

not expecting 7 more votes in the next 5 mins, so it looks like bg3 murder hobo wins! i guess it’s fair to kill everyone when my next planned run will have me going out of my way to save everyone for a few achievements

ok im definitely waiting for patch 8 for this run ive been planning. so in the meantime

[artbysconnor]

The DnD party from Wildlife SMP in Episode 1! I just couldn't help trying my hand at these designs, since it combines two of my favorite things currently (Dungeons and Dragons and the Life Series) . Lizzie - Goliath Champion Fighter

BigB - Halfling Circle of Dreams Druid

Ren - Fairy College of Lore Bard

Jimmy - Half-Elf Oath of Redemption (Or Oath of Glory?) Paladin

See below for design notes!

Lizzie:

I knew Lizzie would be a Goliath, and was torn between giving her a martial class or making her a War Cleric. In the end, party composition won out, and she ended up a Champion Fighter, but I kept the half skirt design from her cleric thumbnails and gave her a big ol' mace. Given her pink hair is so iconic I didn't want to go full bald, so I made her hair long along the scalp and tied into two buns and a ponytail (not realistic, but it works in the drawing so I'm sticking with it!). I tried to put butterfly wings in her tattoos by her eyes, and added some flowers to further the fairy vibes on her armor and bring in the light blues from her skin as well.

BigB:

I probably was the least sure about what race and class I wanted to go with for BigB. He fluctuated between a Twilight Cleric and a Druid, and between Gnome, Dwarf, and Halfling. I ended up going with a Halfling to match his easygoing attitude, and leaned into his association with the Pale Garden as perhaps a caretaker and watchful hand over the Fey-like landscape as a Dream Druid. I knew I wanted his staff to reflect that by containing a creaking heart, but I also made his armor woven bark from the exteriors of the black and white trees, with flickers of the orange creaking magic within it, and kept his palette somewhat subdued and faded compared to his more saturated normal palette.

Ren:

Our bard Ren is probably the least detailed here on account of scale, but I put just the same amount of thought into his clothes, too! I wanted to work in little details that make use of materials that would be big for his small racial size as a fairy, such as a button for a poleyn, sewing pins for tuning pegs on his lute, and oversized ribbon ties on his costume. The main costume (a doublet and flouncy pants) is inspired by flashy, slashed Renaissance fashions - I think they suit a bard with a bragadocious energy like Ren. I added a tiny 'wolf pelt' as a cape that was probably a rat or perhaps an ermine, and his sunglasses are cut and polished crystal.

Jimmy:

Jimmy, our normal-sized normal man, was always a paladin in my mind. I wanted to put him in predominantly pretty heavy plate armor, almost like he's trying to protect himself at all costs, and pull in references to canaries and birds with the wing motif and feathered plume on the helmet and cloak clasp (and sword, which is now hidden behind BigB). The gold linear details both reinforce the pieces and provide a flash of yellow in his design to balance the cool blues and silvers, and his unpictured shield in my mind has the image of a great golden bird being pierced through the heart by an arrow or spear of some sort - a tragic house crest that Jimmy seeks to bring to glory.

[whatisamildopinion]

Have we (the fandom) considered that any of the Rat Grinders subclasses were "suggested" by Porter? And if so, what do you think the different ones could be? Because no way would Ruben be a whispers bard with how he was before being rage-starred.

oh boy. oh boy. I certainly had not considered that (I fear I'm less obsessed with the ratgrinders than the average fantasy high fan) BUT this is a fascinating idea and I will admit it has me Thinking. so. here's my subclass change (or lack of change) ideas:

KIPPERLILLY:

this girl was always a Mastermind. she walked into school with her adventuring party name picked out and a four year plan of how best to game the system. she then proceeded to Get Got by a combination of Evil Teacher Plot and her own worst instincts, but I don't think Porter suggested her subclass. I think she was one of those kids that said "I'm gonna be a Mastermind" when she was like six and meant it with her whole entire heart. There's a reason Porter noticed her first.

RUBEN:

oh boy. I struggled with this one but you're so right, that boy was NOT a whispers bard before Porter happened. not with his jack johnson banana pancakes music. I toyed with the idea of Glamour or Eloquence, but I suspect he was probably College of Creation first. the most aggressively uplifting, not-combative bard college he could find. he probably used the Performance of Creation feature to just summon board games whenever he felt like it. the high five heroes were always very split on whether the constant uno games were endearing or annoying. Porter pushes, even before the rage star, for a subclass switch. Creation isn't angry enough. it doesn't go well with his god of endless, fiery vengeance. Whispers would be better, wouldn't it, Ruben? stronger. don't you want to take care of your party, Ruben? don't you want to do what's best for them? Ruben doesn't actually switch until after he's been rage-starred. his subclass changes without him even meaning it to happen. he tries to create things and they come out wrong. he's different, now. creation tastes weak. he's so angry. he doesn't want to make things anymore. he wants to break them. Porter gets what he wanted.

IVY:

like Kipperlilly, I suspect that Ivy also already had her subclasses picked out. Gloomstalker is a great subclass, and my impression of Ivy is that, even before all the rage star stuff happened, she was kind of. trying to be Not Like Other Girls, if that makes sense? like, one of those girls that's more inclined to be clique-ish and snippy, who likes to be feminine but hates the idea of being like other people, so she picks an "edgy" subclass to feel different. Now, the thing I do wonder about with Ivy is whether or not her multiclass was a result of Porter and the rage star. I can very easily see Ivy being just a ranger before the rage star. it seems like she leans toward the more magic-focused aspects of fighting, but consider: she picks ranger because she loves archery, because she likes the aesthetic, because she wants to fight but she doesn't want the ugly, up-close nature of fighting with a sword or an axe or a knife or even her hands. and then, post rage star, she's so angry. angry enough to want it, suddenly, that ability to fight ugly, to push herself further. ranger isn't enough anymore. so she multiclasses, and picks the subclass that dovetails best with her ranger features: Arcane Archer. it's just practical. she doesn't want the subclasses that allow her to guide her party members, like Battle Master. that's kipperlilly's thing. Ivy just wants to be able to make it hurt when she hits something. Porter doesn't suggest her subclasses, but his presence ends up influencing it anyway.

OISÍN:

best friends in all aspects, I think Oisín falls under the same category as Ivy. subclass he chose that comes back Wrong when he does. Oisín wants to understand the world by understanding how to make things. he wants to understand how things come apart by understanding how they come together. he's got some dragon heritage going on in there, and it makes him more interested in the tangible than the intangible. he shys away from the more abstract subclasses like chrononurgy, enchantment, illusion, divination. they just don't interest him. for the same reason, when Porter tries to suggest War Magic, he gives it a shot. he tries, really, for the sake of their mentor who he thinks has given them so much. but it doesn't stick. it's too abstract. it's not concrete enough for him. (this is, incidentally enough, part of why he's so impressed with Adaine wizards who have these types of subclasses. he doesn't know how they can do it, and it's a source of intense admiration for him.) he loves conjuration. it's the thing he's good at and the thing that interests him the most. then, after the rage star, it's a source of obsession. any attempts to get him to change subclasses only inspire fury. somewhere in the back of his mind, he's holding on to it as twisted proof that this can be normal, that this can be fine. see? look. he's not that different, is he?

MARY ANN:

Porter considers trying to get Mary Ann to be a Zealot barbarian. but before the rage star, she's just doesn't care. she's along for the ride because her party is. she has her interests, her games, her own entertainment, and that is, for the most part, separate from how she interacts with the school and with her party. plus, there's the pesky problem of trying to explain to the school what god, exactly, she is a zealot of. in the early days of the plan, it's far too soon to risk some of the more cognizant teachers from noticing what's happening. Mary Ann is profoundly disinterested in the goals of the mission and honestly, Porter is fine with that. he knows where his plan is going. she'll be with them one way or another, by the end. and after the rage star, her Berserker habits go from average for a barbarian to feral. she's uncontrollable in battle. she's everything Porter wanted, and he barely had to change anything at all.

LUCY:

lucy. oh god, lucy. to start, I don't think we ever actually learned her official subclass? someone can correct me, if we did. but without further evidence, I think her subclass originally was Peace, following her interpretation of Ruvina as a goddess of holding each other through the cold. Porter fucking hates it. he tries so, so, so hard to get her to switch to War. he almost succeeds. like Oisín, she tries it. she tries to want it. it's for her party, right? it's for kipperlilly. she can do it for kipperlilly, for her friend who wants this so badly. it doesn't matter how deeply the magic tastes like rot and flame. she can want that, right? (she can't.) the subclass change is part of the paperwork she files along with her change of deity. she submits it and then realizes that she can't. that she won't. that it's not worth it. Ruvina, what have I become? what are we becoming? this isn't what I believe in. this isn't what peace looks like. why would I ever choose this, when the magic tastes like this? when it feels this wrong? she tries to tell kipperlilly. she tries to apologize. and her party kills her for it. in the afterlife, everything is rot and flame. but why would she choose to go back, just to have the same thing? she's a cleric of Ruvina. she decided that she would never change that when she took back the paperwork. she's not changing her mind now. not even for kipperlilly. she can't. she won't. it's the first time she's ever not done something to make kipperlilly happy. lucy sticks to her guns. (later, after far too long wandering through endless rot and flame, a doorway full of cool twilight opens up before her, and she takes it. a hand to hold in the darkness. really, cassandra isn't all that different from her own goddess.)

BUDDY:

Porter doesn't have to suggest it. He doesn't have to suggest anything. When Buddy wakes up, his chest is full of flames, and the hatred that has been fed to him by his own church for years transforms his subclass in the instance of his resurrection. like he said, he worships a god of War.

[aeonknight]

People keep talking about Fantasy High Senior Year and what it might be. Here's my hot take. I don't think we need or should have a Senior Year. The bad kids are at the ends of their arcs, they don't have anywhere to go, really. Everything that's been set up has payed off. There's nothing to do in Senior Year.

Fabian is living up to his father's legacy and is an amazing sword fighter and is living up to his mother's by being a bard, plus he's accepted Gilear as his step dad. Whats his arc for season four? Having younger siblings? That's not a strong enough foundation for a season arc.

What about Fig? She's found love, she's found something she REALLY enjoys doing in life and a fulfilling existence, to the point where she doesn't even want to go to Agueforth anymore and Emily has expressed a ton of interest in retiring the character.

Riz's arc is all about learning to let go and to let himself drift away from the rest of the party, and he's done that by now. He's realized that always trying to be the best is not good for him via seeing himself in Kipperlilly. He needs a break, not another season of hard adventuring.

Kristen is all about recruiting people to the church fo Cassandra. When they inevitably defeat Ankarna and she's restored, the two religions are very likely to merge. At that point she'll have converted Fig and she's well on her way to recruiting Bucky and maybe even Buddy by the end of the season, and she knows now that a church with only a few dedicated members is possible, and she's seen in Wolfsong that expanding it is not always for the best.

Adaine's arc was about breaking away and living independently from her parents, learning to be an adult. She's fully done that. She's employed as the Elven Oracle full time, she's reconnected with her sister, and she's found a new family to love. Forcing her to go through another season when she's already grown up makes no sense.

Finally, Gorgug. Gorgug's arc has been about learning how to handle his rage since the very beginning, season one episode one. He's done that. He is the first person in history to be able to concentrate on spells while raging. He's learned to harness his rage and turn it towards protection instead of harm, and he's recently made the connection with his parents even stronger.

None of the Bad Kids have anywhere to go. Even though they have futures, stories to tell, those stories aren't going to happen in high school, and they're probably not going to happen together. There is no world in which the Bad Kids need a senior year, and I suspect that the ending of Junior Year will see them all either quitting school, graduating early, or graduating normally and going to college in an epilogue. They'll stay friends for life, maybe. Or they'll grow apart because who you are in high school doesn't define you. But they'll all live fulfilling and joyous and happy lives, finally free and self actualized.

[wilimia]

I'm just messing around and assigning DnD classes + subclasses to the Lu boys and I want them all to be different classes. So some of these aren't the best fit but I'm trying me best :')

Time - Warlock his patron is probably the Fierce Deity. Not sure which subclass is best between hexblade (Fierce Deity sword) or the great old one...

Twilight - Druid circle of moon I'm very hesitant towards this one. Druids are heavy magic users but I didn't want to make Twi a lycanthrope. Circle of moon makes it more combat focused so that makes it work a bit more.

Legend - Bard He has the harp of ages and I feel like the stereotypical snarky bard fits Leg. I'm unsure of which college fits best tho... College of Lore or College of Swords seems like the best ones to me.

Wind - Rogue Swashbuckler this one's pretty obvious to me. Wind's good at sneaking around and swashbuckler is as pirate you can get.

Wild - Ranger Horizon walker Ranger felt pretty obvious to me but choosing a subclass was a lil challenging. Hunter and monster slayer fit pretty well but I thought horizon walker was a bit more fun. It fits pretty well with how combat works in BotW with flurry rush.

Hyrule - Sorcerer Divine soul at first I thought cleric. But I think this is better. It's a good combo for healing and you get access to a lot more different spells with the divine soul subclass. Plus i don't think Hyrule would be devoted to a deity like a cleric would.

Four - Artificer Forge adept forge adept is a home brew subclass but a armourer artificer didn't really fit as well. I was pretty sure that I wanted Four to be a artificer so when I found the forge adept subclass it turned out pretty good. If not an artificer, a Echo knight fighter would work pretty well too. (But Wars fits better as a fighter so artificer it is)

Wars - Fighter Eldritch knight eldritch knights have extended reach in combat and can deal damage to many foes at once which fits well with Hyrule warriors combat.

Sky - Paladin Oath of the crown with his connection to Zelda and them basically founding Hyrule this felt like a good fit. As a paladin with an oath to the crown you get tenets and one of them is courage sooo

[purplecatghostposts]

*Leans into mic* If Wyll never made a deal with Mizora and/or after he breaks his pact with her, I think he would make an excellent Bard and here’s why.

Wyll’s highest stat is Charisma, which Bards use to cast

Bards are full casters which means Wyll still gets to keep his spells AND get plenty of them!

Among the list of weapons a Bard is proficient with, a Rapier is among them

Bards are best known for their Bardic Inspiration and Wyll is the perfect companion to give this to because he’s already very encouraging and giving him a magical means of aiding people with said encouragement would be perfect

Wyll would get healing spells which means Shadowheart wouldn’t be the only Origin Companion with them on the team

Bards are a very supportive class and I just think Wyll would enjoy that, especially if this is after being a Fiend Warlock, a very self serving class. The change of pace would be something to get used to but probably welcomed

The Bard Subclasses Colleges of Valor and Swords would be extremely fitting for Wyll considering both deal with Bards being able to be more physical fighters so he could help out on the frontlines OR stay back and provide help from afar, making them very well rounded. (Personally I think he would make a great Valor Bard but Swords Bard is also great for him)

Wyll would get Vicious Mockery. He would be hilarious with it.

Bards don’t need to play instruments to be a Bard, they can both use their way with words to cast spells OR use other forms of art if they so wish. Not only is Wyll charismatic but he loves to dance. He could cast spells while he dances. It would look amazing

I just think Wyll would make for a good Bard. Look at him. He would enjoy the class immensely

Thank you for your time. All of this came to me after I was trying to figure out an AU in which Wyll never met/made a deal with Mizora and was trying to figure out his class. I know you could argue Paladin but they rely a lot on strength, which Wyll is not known for, and Bards are way better for Charisma and Dex! Plus Paladins are half casters and I think Wyll deserves MORE spells actually.

[jayoftheorb]

Had some thoughts about the bad kids class swap, so here's my headcanons about them all if they were bards (very rambly, I'm bad at writing)

Gorgug- when he was small he would play on the pots and pans like drums and his parents wanted to encourage his creativity. Has tried probably every instrument his parents could find or make, it's metalwork. Gets really into drums and some string instruments, can't play alot of brass cuz of tusks but trumpet is easier, French horn is even harder because of the delicate trigger mechanisms, gets really good at clarinet for some reason, so good that it's his secondary instrument in case he breaks all of his drumsticks (true percussionists have like ten spares, sticks break too easy)(and also fiddle, he can play fiddle really well)

Adaine- learned viola because her parents made her, ended up really liking it, switched to "violin" (plays fiddle, can't call it that in front of parents) think Lindsey Stirling, parents got mad when she became a Bard instead of wizard even though they pushed her to learn and get better, hits her dad w fiddle and kills him, her fiddle in s/j year is a gift from fabian and its practically indestructible(gold, made by telamine, theres a side quest where she kicks the devils ass at fiddle)

Fabian- Really likes sea shanties, starts out dancing with his pa, does alot of 2 and 4 steps, lotta linedancing before getting into elven dance, could be a real good master of ceremonies when he starts hip-hop dancing, is in the college of swords but its very piratey, learned fiddle for fun but actually really enjoys it especially the slower more classical melodies favorite spell is suggestion

Kristen- acoustic guitar. Can also play piano but doesn't want to lug around a keyboard. Has a lovely voice but prefers to let her guitar do most of the work, wanted to be a paladin(to helio) like her parents for a while but becomes a paladin of Cass in the nightmare forest, it's wild. When she meets tracker at the black pit they bond over only really knowing worship songs and tracker gives her a book w/ rock sheet music (classically trained) she steals an electric guitar from the black pit and stashes it at fabians house for a while till she moves in with track and jawbone

Riz- (most excited about this one) goblin music is chaos, idk alot about indigenous music, but I like it, riz does alot of throat singing and body drumming, alot of odd noises, his dad used to sing him to sleep, kinda sounds like Tibetan throat singing with alot of clicking and hissing and all that (need to do research) the other bks like it alot, when he gets more comfortable he starts doing more metal (kinda like korn) struggles alot with connecting to his heritage (personal hc; 3rd gen goblin imigrant, sklondas ma came to bastion city for a new life when the rangers moved in on the mountains of chaos, poks dad moved from the other side of spyre (idk) Pok lived in elmville for his whole life, moved to bastion to work for the government culture outreach program, met sklonda, moved back to elmville, had riz, got eaten by a dragon)

[cassafrasscr]

Hear me out. Orym absolutely has a type, and it’s himbos.

For the sake of clarity: Himbo = big, strong, kind, and dumb as a post. 😂

To be clear, I know Orym’s INT stat is nothing worth writing home about at 13. He’s technically above the civilian NPC average of 10, but he only gets a +1 modifier. HOWEVER... when you compare Orym to the rest of his friends, he's consistently among the smartest in terms of stats. He's literally tied with MISTER for the highest INT in the Crown Keepers, lol.

Will - Granted, we don't really know very much about what Will was like, but we can extrapolate based on a few crucial details. Will trained in swordsmanship with Orym, and they were in the Tempest Blades together - meaning Will's class was probably Fighter (maybe multi-classed with Druid, but definitely at least a Fighter). If that's the case, INT was probably his dump stat.

Will was half-elven, so probably tall (not that the bar is very high for Orym at 3'3"... literally).

He probably also had decent strength. Especially if he was anything like Derrig, who had a STR stat of 18.

Dorian - Sweet, gentle, and charming. Tall (around 6 feet), with surprisingly high STR for a primary spellcaster (College of Swords Bard, baby!)

Not unintelligent per se (he's technically above the civilian average of 10), but not especially bright by PC standards. Has an INT stat of 12, which is 1 less than Orym’s. Definitely at least an Honorary Himbo, if not a True Himbo. Plus, his brother Cyrus is definitely a himbo, so clearly it runs in the family.

Ashton - I think most people wouldn't classify Ashton as a true himbo, and I am inclined to agree. Himbos are typically nice to people, and Ashton is not particularly nice before you get to know them. That said, Ashton is kind, particularly to people in unfortunate circumstances ("Never steal copper", how gentle they were with Professor Sumal after Ludinus scrambled her brain, etc.)

As Orym said to Ashton in e79: "Despite your stony exterior, you have a soft heart."

Ashton stands at 5'10" in his regular form, and just shy of 8' in his newly revealed Titan form, so he ranges from tall to Xtra Tall. And as a Barbarian, STR is naturally their best stat. Ashton actually has pretty decent intelligence for a Barbarian, with an INT stat of 12 (same as Dorian), but it is also still lower than Orym’s by 1.

Dariax - I'll be honest, Dariax is really only here because Orym once confessed to checking out his butt and liking what he saw, lol.

ANYWAY, Dariax has peak Himbo Energy TM. He's a little chaotic, sure, but Dariax is friendly, affectionate, and surprisingly charming. His STR is actually decent for a Sorceror at 14. Plus, with an INT of 8 and a WIS of 9, he is officially in Dumb-as-a-Bag-of-Hair territory, lol. Dariax isn't super tall, being a Dwarf, but Dwarves are still taller than Halflings by around a foot on average.

So yeah. Orym likes men, and he likes them tall, strong, nice, and none too bright. 😂

[callofdudes]

Dropping all my AU thoughts on you. (Lovingly) pt1??

Hunger Games AU: All of 141 bring previous victors from their games who find solace with each other in the capital. Would go through what they experienced in their individual games and how they won. But when the victors face off comes they all have to work together to end the games permanently.

Skyrim AU: Ghost works with the Dark Brotherhood. Johnny is 1000% a Companion. Gaz is a bard who is also attending the College of Winterhold to become a mage. Price is either a leader of the Companions, or he's a captain of the Imperial Guard. Don't exactly have a proper plot. And Gaz is obviously a redguard. Price is definitely a Nord. John is probably a mix of either Breton and Nord or something. It just makes sense. And Ghost is an Imperial. It just makes sense and I can't explain why!

Or, another Skyrim idea: Johnny as the dragonborn and Simon as a Daedric Prince of Akotosh who chooses to serve Johnny after doubting Alduin's reign.

Transformers AU: It could go either way, I envision it with Ghost as a Tranformer. He's the last of his squad who escaped captivity (I hope you catch on) and is sent to earth to protect Intel and find a place to stay. Runs into the annoying Scottish mechanic when his paint is dinged up. Or Simon as the angry mechanic who does not want to fix this alien thing that keeps yapping all day.

Rise of the Guardians AU: All the characters are there. If Y/n was present in this I'd make Ghost the angry easter Bunny who "hates his job". But if they weren't he's hands down Jack Frost. Sorry. Gaz can be Sandy (sandman) we all know who Price is, and Johnny can be the tooth fairy. If you know why, you know why.

Obviously a httyd AU: because everyone needs one. I'm already conjuring up things for Ghost's backstory it's insane.

Gaming AU: Price is a moderator for a large gaming community channel and streaming platform. He greenlights a lot of games that go through and plays them occasionally. RDR games and those likes. Johnny and Gaz definitely play the sims together. They'd play those games like Lethal Company and such. They try to play horror games but it doesn't always go well. Simon, (known to fans as Ghost) wears his mask or has one of those cool avatars. Plays horror games religiously and first person shooters which has attracted a glamorized following. Friends with Price and that's how he ended up getting together in the streaming group with Gaz and Johnny. They're annoying, but ok, they're cool.

Assassin's Creed AU: I've been working slowly on this for a while but Johnny as a sword/bow for hire whose work has slowed in the city he's at. So he packs up with friend Gaz who is going to a different city to study as a medic. Price is probably the king of said place. (I'm thinking of setting up in Greece or we're going to old Britain.) And Ghost is our famous assassin. And they meet and some stuff happens!

Not sure what to call this one (AU) As a young kid Johnny was diagnosed with ADHD and went to weekly day camp for kids like him. It wasn't particularly boring and Johnny had lots of fun. Until a new kid who is very socially awkward and reclusive starts coming. He's quiet and fidgety and doesn't make much eye contact. Johnny wants to be his friend. The story where Autistic Simon and ADHD Johnny become inseparable childhood friends.

Winged AU. I did a little thing on this a couple months ago. Some 30% of the popular are born with wings. Johnny is one of them. He's incredibly proud of his wings and it gives him some advantages and disadvantages in the military. Simon seems to hate Johnny for the sake of it. But every time Simon sees John's wings, he remembers the scars on his back and the pain of when his wings were torn off...

[the-director]

My Tav Calder! He is a half drow bard.

Bonus info specifically: (contain spoilers for the endings and epilogues.)

Gale: when I started playing Calder (he is my second playthrough) I had the intention of romancing Gale. So I pursued him hard. And then... oh and then karlach came onto me. And I fell. Hard. Had to break up with gale. I think that. In the story of this playthrough, this breakup is the reason why I wasn't able to convince him to give up the crown.

Lae'zel: despite being a bard, Calder does enjoy a good fight as I picked college of swords for him. But that is not the reason why they are friends, they are friends because they relate to their pasts. Calder does have a noble background, but he was also sold into slavery (long story short he is in a bit of a zuko situation. But instead of finding the avatar, he got sold and is told to "work to earn his place among his family") so. They both understand the weight of high expectations. But also I like their dynamic due to what lae'zel says to you in the epilogue if she goes with Orpheus. That you taught her diplomacy, and I think that's very fitting for her and Calder (or rlly with her and a bard/high charisma/pacifist tav)

Shadowheart: honestly I feel like shadowheart is so... older sister? The way that she tries to be above everyone, the way she is so sparky to you, but also becomes loyal and trusting of you. Idk it reminds me of older sisters in like early 2000s movies. As a result, when I'm not romancing her. I tend to view her and my tav as feeling a kinship to eachother. I think this is also because of both of them being half elves.

Wyll: I actually have a lot of thoughts about Calder and wyll, specifically because of Calder growing up in this rich upperclass family, they probably met eachother while they were younger, or at least both of them are aware of their families (I'm still deciding how old I want Calder to be, and how long he was a slave) so there's like. Both of them know eachothers childhoods, but then both have to wonder "what happened to you for you to wind up here" I imagine they have a heart to heart with wyll talking about the pact and getting sent away by his father, and Calder talking about his wild magic that got him rejected by his family and then further being betrayed by them.

Another component of this relationship is the "karlach protection squad" I feel like it's basically canon that wyll and karlach, whether or not they romance eachother, will be very close and have a friendship together. And so especially with karlachs infernal engine, they both feel this need to protect her, to find a way to save her life. Which is just. So neat yknow? This strong durable character who is yet so vulnerable due to this replacement for a heart she has, something imposed against her. That she tried to make work for her, and it did, for a bit. Until when she finally thinks she can get her life back. She instead finds she's a dead girl walking.

Anyways. Both wyll and Calder are devoted to her in this way. And so even though they're kind of in that space of "so similar to eachother that we hate eachother since we can see every fault and flaw that we hate about ourselves in the other" they put aside their similarities and work towards this goal.

Astarion: Calder is, ngl, highly morally dubious. He is. Incredibly two-faced, or more precisely 6 faced. He's very much a people pleaser, a liar one may call him. He breaks every law for his own gain. Which astarion can get behind. Calder reads astarion like a book moreso than anyone else, which is why Calder trusts him. Astarion may be seen as "untrustworthy" but Calder trusts because he knows what he does, he can rely on that. I'm thinking this is especially in the early game. Where Calder might not have been too sure about the other ones and their true intentions.

I think, perhaps this trust is also due to their shared background. Of course I made calders backstory specifically so that it could parallel everyone else's and deal with the similar themes of "lack of autonomy" and "authority" and so on. But I think other than wyll, calders background is the most like astarions. And so since he is familiar to this. Desperation and fear for safety that astarion feels all the time. That is why he *knows*

Halsin: Remember how there was that glitch where gales approval was super easy to get, and as a result he would hit on every single tav regardless of how much you talked to him and as a result he came off as a huge creep and people hated him? That's how I feel about halsin.

Jaheira: similar to shadowheart, but in this one I JUST. LOOK AT JAHEIRA AND I HEAR MY MIND GO. "PLEASE ADOPT ME" if she adopted me everything would be right with the world (it wouldn't but) my mommy issues. Just. (I have three moms, which one would think would mean I have no mommy issues. No I just have three different types of mommy issues)

Anyways. Seriously. I think that at first Calder would kind of have the karlach fangirl moment, he wouldn't externalize it. But it would definitely happen. Overtime though they develop the bond of cub and crow. And I think. The definitive good ending for Calder is one where he joins the harpers. (I'm just now realizing that then he would be Chris pines character in dnd and karlach would be that one barbarian lady)

Karlach: she snuck into my heart, and I think she snuck her way into calders too. I think at first, it starts with passion, it starts with warmth and comfort in eeachothers arms. Then it evolves into late-night talks around the campfire. Of him singing her favorite songs, telling her favorite tales. Maybe they do it together. Him on his lute and just her singing. Or them acting scenes together. I imagine them fighting together, him inspiring her, healing her maybe, her defending him and beating anything that hurts him into a pulp. I imagine them entering the city together. He took the tadpole, she is so worried for him. She tries not to let it show. His ego is bruised. He's hurting inside. They open up though, they find solace in eachothers arms again. That one scene happens, they talk about the future they'll never get. The cabin, with the goat. Oh how he wished he could perform for her forever.

I finished the game before patch 5, before going to hell meant finding a cure. And even then, I think Calder wouldn't force her to go. I think Calder always gets wyll out of the contract and wyll decides to be Duke. And so she dies. On the docks.

And Calder is ruined.

But he develops a plan. Undo timeline.

[nerdalmighty]

BG3 Tag Game!

I was tagged by @khywren!!! Thank you!!!!!!

I'm going to tag @vanilkaplays @okthisway @maladaptive-menace @riddlerosehearts @starkspi and anyone else who wants to play along!

Favorite romance: It will surprise no one to know that it's Astarion. I find his backstory so incredibly interesting and I love his dumbass personality. At the end of the day, he just wants to do whatever is the most hilarious and I adore that. I especially love how soft he gets when you get together in Act 2. I could go on and on but I'll never be able to fully articulate my love for him.

Favorite class to play: Bard! I love that they're really the jack of all trades and are pretty good at everything, including spells and sword fighting. Persuasion and deception are SO helpful in this game, plus playing music to distract crowds and cause shenanigans in Baldur's Gate is wonderful.

Favorite NPC: I think Raphael. While yeah he absolutely SUCKS, I'm obsessed with his obsession with his own voice. He's a thespian, he's a freak, he's an idiot. I love it. But yes, I did kill his ass.

Favorite song off the soundtrack: Probably the Harpy Song. I listen to it a lot in my spare time, especially when I'm working on a specific fic I'm attempting to write. I'm a big fan of haunting melodies and, unsurprisingly, the concept of hypnotizing music.

Tell us a little about your Tav: I wrote a pretty long post about her here, but my Tav is named Birdie and she's a bard who was born and raised at the Water Queen's House. Previous iterations of her had her as a siren (hence the deep love of the Harpy Song), but I'm still not 100% sure if this version of her is. Basically, she's a mermaid ass goof whose main gang of idiots include Astarion, Gale, and Shadowheart. Chaos often ensues.

Something you wish was in the game: I know this game is huge. I know there's probably stuff people haven't even discovered yet. But god would I love some more camp animations. More interactions between the companions AT camp. Cut scenes where there should probably be cut scenes (The second time Astarion drinks your blood, Wyll celebrating the defeat of Ansur, etc). I really really love this game, but I'd love to hang out with my friends EVEN MORE.

Do you create fanworks? Share something with us: Oh boy I'm TRYING. I've never really written fanfiction before but the stupid vampire has inspired me to do so. I'm in the process of writing two different fics (one multi-chapter, one one-shot on the longer side) and am having a blast but I'm not sure if/when I'll post them. I've noticed my writing style is very similar to the way I write scripts, which is what I went to college for, so they're full of dialogue and quick, dumb banter. It might not be for everyone, but I'm having The Most Fun! Let me know if you'd maybe want to see more? Here's a silly excerpt from the one-shot (she may or may not get smutty later on 👀):

There was no sign of the vampire, save for an open hatch beneath the stone of the tower leading into what you presumed was a cellar of sorts. Off to the side was a discarded set of Thieves’ Tools. Yup, that’ll be him.

Rolling your eyes affectionately, you began to descend into the basement below. 

Before you could even make it to the bottom, however, you heard Astarion’s voice tinged with annoyance. “Don’t bother, darling. I was just coming back up.”

You paused on the ladder and looked down at him. “That bad?”

“Eh, a few coins, some food. Nothing worth risking one’s life over. Foolish gnome.”

“Shame,” you pouted down at him, not an ounce of real sympathy behind the word.

He smirked as he met your eye. “Go,” he said, indicating you should climb back up the ladder. “There was a rather large amount of smoke powder though. That could be fun.”

When you emerged back into the early evening air, you turned to help Astarion out. “Maybe you can blow up a quaint little gnomish village.”

Astarion’s eyes glittered with delight. “Oh, do you think there’s one around here? That would be- Oh. You’re joking.”

You nodded.

“Gods, you’re no fun.” He sighed dramatically and then started back towards the Blighted Village proper. 

You scoffed in mock offense. “I’m a lot of fun!”

Astarion tsked. “If you have to say you’re a lot of fun, odds are, you’re lying to yourself.” He shot a challenging half smile at you from over his shoulder.

“How dare you,” you laughed.

“Such a pity, too,” he went on. “Aren’t bards supposed to be entertaining?”

You made a sound of agony, which had Astarion fully turning back to look at you. You threw a hand to your heart and staggered towards him. “You wound me, Astarion. Look upon me with pity and remember me fondly!” You set an arm on his shoulder and let your body weight go, as if collapsing from a killing blow. 

Astarion was quick to catch you under your arms. He made a show of groaning about how heavy you were now that your body had gone completely limp. After you’d hung loosely from his grip for a few seconds, he finally yielded. “Alright, enough.” 

You resumed control of your body and stood up straight, a smug look on your face. “I’m fun.”

“Dramatic.”

“Theatrical.”

“Annoying.”

“Endearing.”

“Loud.”

“Enthusiastic-”

Just then, a loud howl came from a barn a little ways off. 

You and Astarion eyed each other.

“Was that you?” Astarion asked.

“‘Was that me?!’ I’m not THAT loud.”

“Could have fooled me.”

You rolled your eyes. “Come on.” You started in a light jog towards the barn.

Astarion groaned. “You can’t be serious.” He caught up with you easily. “Haven’t we done enough heroing for today?”

You looked at him thoughtfully. “One more act of heroism probably won’t kill you.”

“It might!”

“Oh, now who’s being dramatic?” You came to a stop at the double doors.

“I-” Astarion floundered, then pursed his lips and crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought.”

[racefortheironthrone]

Which X-Men (or X-Men-adjacent characters) do you think are the best fits for each of the core D&D classes - in a sort of "using this character to illustrate what the class is" way? Leaving out artificer, if only because that's so obviously Forge.

This is hard, because I would describe a lot of X-Men characters as Sorcerors both in terms of how and where they get their powers, but also a lot of the subclasses work very well with the various mutant gifts. Most psychics (Charles Xavier, Jean Grey, Emma Frost) would probably work best as Aberrant Mind Sorcerors, for example (although Kwannon probably works better as a Soulknife).

For Rogues, there's no question that it Gambit, cher.

For (Berserker) Barbarians, it's absolutely Logan.

For Fighters, I'd go with Cyclops (a ranged Battlemaster who took all the Warlord manuevers).

For Warlocks, I'd go with Nightcrawler as a Fae Pact Bladelock.

For Druids, you absolutely go with Storm - although most likely, you'd build Storm as a Druid/Tempest Domain Cleric multiclass - although Rictor is not a bad pick either after he hooked up with [A] and got into mutant magic and druidism.

For Bards, I'd go with Doug Ramsey as a College of Lore guy. (And in keeping with the Bard stereotype, Doug's a transhuman bi-poly twink who's secretly a schemer and political operator behind the innocently slutty facade...)

For Paladins, I'd go with Betsy Braddock, since choosing between the Amulet of Right and the Sword of Might to embody the mystical bond between the land and Otherworld is very very much an Oath of the Ancients moment.

If we're going with Rangers, I would definitely go with Dani Moonstar as combining archery powers with animal companions - although I'm not sure whether she'd be a Fey Wanderer (heh) or a Gloomstalker.

For Monk, I would actually go with Kitty Pryde as a spin on a Shadow Warrior build, considering her time training as a ninja under the demonic Ogun and her current incarnation as the vengeful Shadowkat.

And for Wizards...that one is hard. Probably Amanda Sefton.

[bloodyshadow1]

just my feelings on the bad kids and their class levels/classes right now. It's just my opinion, I am not bashing the multiclasses or the players choices

Adaine- Love it, she's an 11th level wizard, i get that multiclassing can be fun, but for some classes it's just better, imo, to just stay the course because having access to upper level spells can be more useful than a multiclass. I'm sure there's a broken wizard multiclass, but I think it just fits her better to stay a wizard throughout. Sometimes with full casters, I could see dipping into monk or Barbarian for the ac buff, but neither would help her so It's probably best for her to stay a wizard since she has access to 6th level spells since leveling up

Kristen- Same as Adaine, I personally like full casters to stay the course and keep on keeping on. again I'm sure there's a broken cleric other class build, like Saccharina from ACOC, but I'm not sure anything other than paladin would fit Kristen. A lot of her issues are mental and Tracker was right about her not wanting to do the boring stuff. I like her having to discover what she wants out of being a cleric rather than her dropping it because it's not exactly what she wants for something new.

Riz- 11 levels of rogue, though from the beginning of the season he's now an arcane trickster instead of an inquisitor which I think is more helpful and just a better fit. He's still a detective, but he's also kind of a secret agent so having access to magic helps and fits his character growth. Also he never really used a lot of the inquisitor abilities that often and his perception wasn't that good to justify the subclass. I'm also glad he is staying a full rogue so far, I think given the mechanics of Junior year so far, it would put a lot of strain on him to try and do more than just a single course track

Now for the multiclassers

Fabian- I think both taking levels of bard and going from champion fighter to battlemaster was the best choice for him. I think overall he was a fighter because he was taught to be one, but overall the boy is a bard at his core. The flourishes the spells, the charisma proficiency, they're what Fabian wants more than what he gets from being a fighter. Fabian has always wanted to be popular and stand out while being a great warrior and a swords college bard fits that better than being a fighter, a class he seems to have very little attachment to. Currently he is a 6 fighter 5 bard, since he was a level 8 fighter and gave up 3 levels to take in bard when he was depressed he has boosted up 2 levels in that class vs 1 in fighter. After the initial class level trading he hasn't decreased his levels in fighter, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does in the future.

Gorgug- this is where I get a bit critical, I don't really know if Artificer Barbarian is a good multiclass. I've seen some people say it's amazing while others say it's terrible, I have no clue. from what I can tell it doesn't look like it's super good, it's a support class and a tinkerer so it does fit Gorgug, but I don't think it really is that efficient with the Bad Kid's party comp. Fabian and Gorgug were the front line fighters, Gorgug being the tank and DPS while Fabian was a striker dps with a good hp pool and ac, but Barbarians soak up damage better than any class. It's also hard to be a caster (even a half/third caster like Artificier, and be a barbarian because you can't cast spells or even concentrate on them when you rage which is obviously a problem. It's just hard to imagine gorgug as an battlesmith, which I assume he is, since other than the steeldefender it doesn't give him anything he doesn't already have as a barbarian. We also don't know any of his infusions so it's hard to really be attached to Gorgug as an artificer when we don't really seem him artifice. That being said, he's Zac's character so whatever he wants is gonna happen. Since Gorgug has been trading an additional level in barbarian for artificer (6 barb/5 art) I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually drops barbarian all together. I think a barbarian is more useful, but I can understand why Zac would want Gorgug to go down the artificer path instead and I support it.

Fig- Honestly, Fig's multiclassing is the strangest to me because I can't really wrap my head around it. She so far only has 2 levels of warlock to her 9 of bard, even last level up she took another level of Bard, the two levels she took of warlock were in freshman year and she never really looked back. That being said, from the recent eps, it seems like she likes the warlock classes better, she isn't even sure if she wants to be a bard anymore. which I find kind of a shame because she also liked the 1 bard class she took. Emily is a master multiclasser so I'm sure Fig is gonna be great whatever and will be who Emily wants her to be. I'm hoping she doesn't become a paladin because, even if it's to replace her levels in Bard, despite hexblade being one of the best combos with paladin. It just feels like Fig as the character took levels/are planning to take levels in other classes to make other people happy. She became a warlock because she found her devil father and wanted to be closer to him, she offered to become a paladin for Cassandra to help out Kristen, but I think that's selfless, but it doesn't help her as a person. Sometimes you can be too selfless to a point where it's bad for you. Emily can of course do whatever, but I'll be a bit sad if has Fig giving up on being a bard. Like with Kristen it seems like Fig just doesn't want to do the uncool stuff and that's gonna be with anything she tries. I think she's running away from what she wants herself to be to make things easier/more exciting and I think it's going to backfire.

I will also say, it's not exactly fair for Brennan to poison her bardic abilities. I'll say more on the topic on another post but it's still how I feel.

[leofrith]

hii so i‘m way to invested in everyone‘s baldurs gate plays. can we see your tavs? I would love to see them haha😭

YESSSSSS i will happily take any excuse to talk about my tavs. 🥰 i'm sorry this took so long. i wanted to have their Lore™ a little more set in stone before answering this, but then i proceeded to make uhhhh 2 more tavs and a durge. 🤡

i am listing my characters in the order i created them. they're all good/neutral aligned because being mean in video games makes me break out in hives. aaaaand this is going under a read more because it got really fucking long. 🥴

marqwyn stoneheart

race: human

class: eldritch knight fighter

background: soldier

romance: gale

my first tav who i adore. ❤️ i stole her name from the very first character i created for a now abandoned dnd campaign (though she's nothing like og marqwyn). she's a former flaming fist who left their service due to the corruption she witnessed there. after leaving the city she became an independent soldier for hire—but she's a terrible mercenary because she's a bleeding heart who will help people because they need it, regardless of whether they can pay her or not.

she has dragged the party into many an unnecessary brawl because her charisma is literally in the negatives. we love a girl incapable of talking herself out of Situations. she also used to have two brown eyes before deciding to get herself volo'd during a brief moment of desperation-fuelled insanity.

her backstory has changed a lot since i first made her, mostly because i didn't really have anything in mind when i started playing. 😬 i also had no fucking clue what i was doing when i first started and it certainly shows (tons of missed content, didn't take enough long rests, completely missed lae'zel for the first ~30 hours of gameplay, have done quests in an extremely questionable order, etc.).

i romanced gale with her because the wizard had me by the jugular the second he opened his mouth, and buff wife who hits things with her big sword and her squishy wizard husband who casts counterspell is something that can be so personal. that being said, i do want to rework her character and do another playthrough with her, probably romancing wyll, because her playthrough is a mess.

i will now dip into the alternate canon that lives in my brain in which my next three tavs are allowed to coexist, so just stay with me here and trust in the vision ajgjsdgf

meadow moonwillow

race: mephistopheles tiefling

class: storm sorcerer, bard of the college of lore

background: entertainer

romance: karlach (or enya in the canon that exists in my head)

i made her specifically for my karlach romance run, because best girl deserves a little sunshine to match her own. meadow was born to play gigs in dive bars, but was cursed with a natural talent for magic. 😔 she'll use it because it's useful in a fight, i guess, but she'd much rather insult people to death. if there is shit to be disturbed, she will disturb it.

her and gale are best friends, because i think having some friendly spell caster competition with his bestie who (begrudgingly) lets him teach her wizard spells would be good for his mental health. her and wyll butt heads a bit at first, mostly because meadow's way of trying to comfort people is through humor, and her attempts to make him feel better about his new devil form come off as insensitive (inspired by the way i accidentally insulted wyll at the tiefling party in my meadow playthrough by joking that i was jealous of his horns. king i swear it was meant as a compliment!! 😭). eventually they become really close, which is certainly a necessity when you're both going on a vacation to hell with no set end date.

also my choice of name for her definitely has nothing to do with the fact that i am in the middle of watching the sopranos. definitely not.

landric sparrowsong, "the wrath-bringer"

race: human

class: oath of vengeance paladin, tempest domain cleric of ilmater

background: sage

romance: gale

his backstory is probably the one i've thought about in the most detail, mostly because he's a walking tragedy and i live for that shit. 🧍🏻‍♀️

he was once a school teacher and wasn't much of a fighter at all before his little village near baldur's gate was razed to the ground and his wife and (or so he thinks 👀) daughter were killed, at which point he took up his oath of vengeance. his favourite pastimes now include self-sacrifice and violently murdering evildoers, hence the "wrath-bringer" epithet.

he has been alone—mostly by choice, because he can't lose any more loved ones if there is no one left alive that he loves—for over a decade by the time he's infected, but the forced proximity means the companions very quickly get under his skin. he's very protective of meadow especially (when they're both in the party at the same time in the universe that exists in my head) because she reminds him of his daughter.

he is god's favourite sacrificial lamb, and is consistently the first to go down in a fight (inspired by me, constantly getting him killed by taking far too long to figure out how to play a support class). naturally i paired him with gale because i think the idea of a guy finally opening his heart to the love of another after over a decade of self-imposed solitude out of fear of being hurt again, only for gale to decide to take on a suicide mission just as they're finally realizing their feelings for one another, is soooooo good and tragic. ☺️

he has a soft spot for children, but being around them makes him sad and withdrawn (for obvious reasons), something that the companions notice pretty quickly once they get to the grove and see his cold exterior totally melt around the kids there. he carries a journal which he adds to often, either little blurbs or sketches of people he meets in his travels, ever observing from afar as an outsider.

he was actually a war cleric of mystra when i first multiclassed him because the idea of this man finding solace in his goddes during the worst years of his life only for that same goddess to tell the first person he's truly loved in years that he needs to kill himself is sooooo. anyway. but i decided to change it because war domain just wasn't doing it for me and also have you seen ilmater's whole deal?

also if he bears a close resemblance to my favourite unromanceable assassin's creed npc, that's just a coincidence (lying).

enya sparrowsong

race: human

class: beast master ranger/circle of the land druid

background: urchin

romance: lae'zel (or meadow in the canon that exists in my head)

enya is landric's very alive daughter. i made her in the character creator with no intention of actually doing a playthrough as her, which is a lie i tell myself every time i open the character creator. 😔

ideally she would not even be filling the role of tav at all, but that's obviously not an option for an actual playthrough. she spent her childhood hunting and gathering in the wilds and later pickpocketing her way through the darkened alleys of baldur's gate to survive. in the version of her backstory that lives in my head, she eventually caught the attention of jaheira (by trying to rob her), who then took enya under her wing. the harpers became a family to her, and she is with them in the shadow lands when we meet them at last light in act two. also depending on my mood on any given day, enya and meadow are either bitter exes or couple of the year.

she is generally very abrasive with most people she doesn't know well (her and lae'zel are very perfect for each other), but has a soft spot for animals and orphans. she likes her solitude and it takes a lot of effort to earn her trust (there's a reason she's survived alone as long as she has) but once you do, she's ride-or-die.

she has a raven companion and her preferred wild shape is a wolf, but i've also had a lot of fun using her wolf wild shape and a wolf companion for twice the mauling in combat (and twice the torment for shadowheart—thank you sam for pointing out that she would fucking hate this 😭). i also like to think that she's been helping shadowheart get over her fear of wolves.

her relationship with her dad is deliciously complicated!!! but that's for another post.

idunn

race: high elf

class: necromancy wizard/gloom stalker ranger

background: haunted one

romance: astarion

i haven't played as her much yet, and she's my first durge so i don't really know a ton about that whole background. but her brain is currently scrambled egg and she doesn't remember her past so i figure it's fine if i don't know anything about it either.🧍🏻‍♀️

she's trying so very hard not to kill people, and making up for the lack of murder by being incredibly rude to everyone she meets [astarion approves]. i named her idunn because i like the name but also in large part because i think associating the dark urge with the norse goddess of rejuvenation and vitality is really funny.

aelius lucilius

race: drow half-elf

class: light domain cleric of selune

background: acolyte

romance: shadowheart

he's my newest tav and the one i've played the least, so i'm still working out his backstory. i honestly just really wanted to romance shadowheart as a selunite, which is working out great so far because the shar is already out of the bag and now she loudly and openly hates his fucking guts. 🤪

[carriehobbs]

every day i am so grateful that you enable me. ocposting is my favourite hobby in the world

(these are probably not the best screenshots i have of seraphine but they are my favourite screenshots of seraphine. i love her little scooby doo peek-around-from-behind-the-door)

seraphine is (one of) my redemption durge and she's a drow college of lore bard who i have romancing astarion. i said specifically that i wanted to talk about the way that she and astarion are mutually (and, in some cases, not-so-secretly) using each other in their act 1 romance, but to make that make sense, i'll have to explain a little bit about her.

one of the things that (as her player) sets her apart from my other tav/durge runs is that seraphine is really rather pragmatic (and a little ruthless) in her approach to handling problems. she gets off the nautiloid and knows only two things about herself: that she has an illithid tadpole in her head and that she has violent and inexplicable urges. whereas juno (my other redemption durge) immediately responds to her dark urges with revulsion, seraphine compartmentalizes that shit until act 3 (thereafter she handles it so badly she tries (and fails) to break up with astarion). it's not that she likes the urges (and she certainly doesn't like that she has these seemingly external forces trying to make her do things she does not want to do - if she's going to murder her way across the sword coast, it should be because she wants to do it, not some unwanted urge), it's just that she has bigger problems that require more attention than fretting over if she's a bad person. specifically: 1) not becoming a mindflayer, 2) not slaughtering her way through the countryside uncontrollably, and 2.5) in case she does slaughter her way through the countryside, finding a way to make sure her newfound allies with an unfortunate amount of morals do not kill her for it.

see, seraphine recognizes that power doesn't just come from who has the most money or political pull or even physical power. there is power in being liked, and there's power in being owed. and the way she sees it is that, if she fails to resist her urges and does kill someone, if she's built up goodwill with her companions who like her and feel like they owe her for helping each of them with their personal troubles and being an all-around-good person (helping the tieflings in the grove, etc.), they will be more likely to forgive and ignore her own issues (and, to her credit, this does work: she gets caught after she kills alfira and, while they disapprove, no one tries to kick her out of camp or kill her. she just gets the verbal equivalent of a slap on the wrist).

so when astarion approaches her and starts flirting with her and suggests they have a sexual relationship, between him coming on way too strong and the fact that she's actively endearing herself to everyone else in the camp using similar tactics, she can easily spot his attempts to manipulate her. at this point in the game, she's figured out what will make the other companions like her, but she's only just figured out how to handle the issue of astarion (in her playthrough, he propositioned her immediately after handling the gur hunter in the swamp, which is the introduction of the cazador-is-looking-for-astarion plotline). and when astarion propositions her, she realizes that she doesn't need to figure out how to get astarion to like her, or how to make him feel like he owes her. he's handed her on a silver platter a way to manipulate him into needing her, such that he will tie his own fate and his own safety to hers (and, if she goes down, he loses his protector, so he better be inclined to prevent her from going down if need be).

i think it's important to mention that seraphine does actually like astarion (because i definitely just made it sound like she doesn't). they're not super close at this point, but she genuinely enjoys his company. he sees the world in a similar way (not perfectly similarly - she wants to shake sense into him when he disapproves of helping people because she's playing the longest con of her life and he's not getting with her program), at least in terms of wanting power (so that he can have freedom). she also finds him funny and she gets his sense of humor. one of my favourite moments in the earlier stages of their relationship is when astarion runs pickup lines past her and she's having a grand old time giggling like a schoolgirl at the melodrama of it all. so she's using him, but she does also like him. just as he's using her, but (in time) comes to like her too.

(an odd note, as well, that doesn't really fit into this but is tangentially related: seraphine starts helping with the companion's personal quests because she needs them to like her and, over time, helps them because she grows to like them as people. but it always feels like she is helping them with their problems. but with astarion, freeing him from cazador always felt like their problem together. it was something she felt actively and equally involved in, even from the start, even if she didn't understand it. in fact, in astarion's act 2 romance scene where he tells you that he has real feelings for you, seraphine realized in that exact conversation that she had real feelings for him too, and all of her behaviour very quickly made sense.)

so it's in this fashion that seraphine and astarion are both using each other in act 1 (and into parts of act 2). seraphine fully knows that she is trying to manipulate him and that he's trying to manipulate her. astarion, on the other hand, doesn't. (i think that, as a character, he would be socially savvy enough to put together what was going on, but the game itself doesn't seem to anticipate that players might take this approach to his romance. i think that's why, in astarion's act 2 romance scene, you have the option to get mad at him for "revealing" that he began your relationship with the intent to manipulate you, but have no option to tell him that you were manipulating him too. so canonically, astarion didn't know that seraphine had figured out his game. i headcanon that she does eventually tell him this - maybe in act 3?).

of course, as their romance progresses their feelings for each other change and the manipulation tactics disappear and they're just two people who love and care for each other deeply. as i get closer to the end of act 3 in seraphine's playthrough the more i am convinced that they become strangely domestic post-game.

[sylvienerevarine]

Sophrine Aulette's Skyrim Encyclopedia (Part 2)

ok i guess i'm not done with this series yet. it may take a while. i keep thinking of new jokes.

Part 1 is here.

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Blades

If you’ve ever met a Blade, no you haven’t (that was a joke, because they’re secretive). The Blades were originally founded as a dragon-slaying organization, but eventually expanded into other areas like bodyguarding and espionage. They got their name from using swords, which generally have blades.

Some notable Blades include:

Caius Cosades, who according to my Nana Sylvie’s memoirs never wore a shirt and drank a lot of skooma

Baurus, a fellow from the end of the 3rd Era who impressively survived the entire Oblivion Crisis

My distant great-aunt Sacha Llervu, Martin Septim’s best friend, who had a knack for closing Oblivion Gates and committing petty crimes

Delphine Fitzhubert, who is sort of my friend, except she’s still cross with me for being polite to some dragons. She’ll come around eventually.

Draugr

A draugr is a person who was alive at some point, but is now an undead sort of thing with a terrible complexion. There are a few different stories about how draugr came to be–many of them worked for dragon priests and became undead so they could keep doing their old jobs forever, and apparently some on Solstheim were cursed because they ate other people. Nasty stuff. Unless you’re Bosmer, I guess.

The good news about draugr is that they’re not terribly bright, as is proven by the fact that they can’t solve the puzzles in Nordic ruins. If you know the voice-projecting Shout like I do, you can just call “Who wants free mead?” from somewhere else in the room, and then sneak by while they’re trying to find the free mead.

Palace of Kings

I’m not allowed in here anymore (see Stormcloaks).

Stormcloaks

The Stormcloaks are a political movement based out of Windhelm, and are led by Ulfric Stormcloak (which is how they got their name). They have some pretty good ideas (make Skyrim independent, stop religious persecution, annoy the Thalmor) and some very bad ones (being horrible to Dunmer and Argonians and anyone who isn’t a Nord, really).

I once met Jarl Ulfric and pointed out some of these bad ideas to him, and he banned me from his palace. There’s gratitude for you.

Talos

You probably know about Talos from the park in Whiterun, where that fellow Heimskr is always shouting about what a good lad he was. There are two main theories about where Talos came from: either he was born in Atmora and moved to Skyrim as a young man to take Dragonborn lessons, or he was born in High Rock and did a lot of complicated political things. My grandparents favor the second explanation, since they’re very patriotic.

Wherever he came from, we know that Talos later went around conquering and uniting any piece of land he came across, and set up what we now know as the Third Empire. Somewhere along the way he changed his name to Tiber Septim, in order to match what the money was called.

Many people believe that after Talos died, he was promoted to a member of the Divines. Just in case any of the Thalmor are reading this, I’m legally required to state that this did not happen and humans can’t become gods, because we simply don’t have the intelligence for it. Unlike the average Thalmor officer.

The Throat of the World

The Throat of the World is the tallest mountain in Skyrim and by extension Tamriel. They might have higher mountains in places like Akavir or Atmora, but no one really bothers about those places. It’s unclear how the TotW got its name, since people’s throats aren’t typically very pointy or covered in snow. My guess is that someone from the Bards’ College thought it up. The only place on the Throat to get a bite to eat is High Hrothgar, the home of the Greybeards. While the monks don’t offer much in the way of conversation, they’re very kindly old men, and won’t shout at you for accidentally falling asleep in their library and drooling on their copy of Songs of the Return.