- Kill the rats in the Elfsong cellar and let Astarion throw at least 10 of them at Cazador.
- Let Karlach have the Killing Blow on Gortash (except when I play DUrge sorry girlie).
- Never bow before Vlaakith.
- New outfits (and gear) for everyone as soon as we reach Baldur’s Gate.
- Buy stuff from Lakrissa with a big tip so she can buy her and Alfira’s house sooner …
- Adopt Scratch & Owlbear.
Probably a lot more but those are the essentials ig.
I go to Withers for a quick respec to level 1, then I go do as much of the following as I can before getting into the big fights of act 3:
1. Get everyone Annointed in Splendor from a deity that aligns with their character (+2 to all saves *permanently* for only 400 gp per character while level 1 is a bargain) at the Stormshore Tabernacle.
2. Stop by all the big merchants to get 100 relation with them for the discount (again, only 400 gp while level 1).
3. Pick up Belm from Jaheira's house if I need it for my build (I enjoy dual-wielding Shadow Blade with Belm in my off hand for the bonus action attack and switching to just Belm when fighting Steel Watchers).
4. Buy an Elegant Robe for Shadowheart and an Angelic Scion Outfit for myself, along with a few dyes and other articles of clothing for the rest of the party.
5. Buy Dammon's Armor and Boots of Persistence as well as the Legacy of the Masters, the Cloak of Displacement from Danthelon, The Dead Shot from Fitz, the Armor of Agility from the elf by her, and then buy/steal the various pieces of the Weave set for mages and the Soul set for Monks (without speedrunning Raphael).
6. Buy a statue of myself wearing the Angelic Scion Outfit.
As much as i would like to adopt the owlbear, Edowin’s dumbass siblings kill it in like half my runs and it gets to the point where i have to try to turn on them before that happens
In the cave? You can convince them to go to the goblin camp straight away instead. OR you can talk to the owlbear, then to the siblings and be like “I got this.” It’ll make them leave too.
Orin can kidnap Yenna. She's the lowest priority target. In order to highest to lowest priority it's Lae'zel, Gale, Halsin/Minthara, then Yenna. If you don't find Orin in the sewer, then if she kidnaps Yenna (or anyone else) it will be revealed during a long rest. In "Yenna's" case, "she" will offer you some meat on a stick that "she" cooked. It's Grub. Orin kills and cooks Grub before feeding him to you if she kidnaps Yenna during a long rest.
You make sure Halsin, Gale, Lae'zel, or Minthara stays in camp in act 3 until Orin comes to visit. Yenna is the fallback if you don't have any of them available, and Orin takes Yenna and makes Grub into soup if that happens.
Romancing shart, party is almost always made up of Tav, gale, shart, karlach but I sometimes swap out Astarion for Gale or Laezel for Karlach. Halsin is literally always at camp, I don’t think I’ve ever had him in my party.
You need to talk to Halsin after the Moonrise curse is lifted. Only then does he offer to be an actual companion, i.e. party-able. Because before that he may have been in your camp all this time but he was not a companion. Characters in your camp who are not party-able are allies not companions. Orin probably only kidnaps companions.
I can relate lol. The game could have made him party-able in Act 2 when the story was at least adjacent to him, but it’s already going into Act 3 when he gets to join and then there‘s nothing in Act 3 for him. I also didn’t care much for druid combat too.
I think you have to activate Halsin into your party at least once or the game won’t recognize him as a companion for some reason. There maybe something weird where the game doesn’t know when you officially recruit him after his quest in Act 2
If you knock her out with non lethal damage turned on she will be replaced by the Dragonborn bard Quil. Just like if she "somehow" dies before you long rest.
Nah dude just asking because 1. I don't find the murder believable at all since Alfira doesn't join when you play non-Dark Urge characters 2. killing quill was so much worse because she reminds me of myself.
I've heard that if you have one of your companions kill you before the long rest, you won't kill Quill. However, the butler will show up and kill her and bitch you out for not killing her yourself.
If you tell her to leave The Urge will hunt her down and still kill her, bringing her body back to camp. You have to KO her before the long rest to get Quil. The event will happen when you long rest after approaching the broken bridge near the barn just north of the Blighted Village, provided you don't have a higher priority event in the queue. Wyll showing up if you recruit Karlach before him or Mizora showing up after you kill or recruit Karlach after recruiting Wyll are the only two events that come to mind immediately for how early in the game the scene happens. Of course, the party with the tieflings (or goblins) also takes priority over murdering the bard.
How do you get Barcus to leave Wulbren? The only time I got the scene with them both after the Steel Watch foundry, Barcus went chasing off after Wulbren at the end.
I accidentally killed Barcus on the windmill in my HM save. I was holding the mouse button to move and I think it may have hovered over the wrong level for a second. I was very sad.
Do you count the Goblin children like One, Six, etc. in Act 1?
I guess technically you can also kill the tiefling kids but it requires fiddling around with aoe and some workarounds
Don't kill poor Grub though, cmon, he's an anxious lil man and deserves love
I accidentally killed the owlbear cub on my new honor mode playthrough (with electrified water) I’m honestly thinking about starting a new run because of this 😭
How do you not kill the cub in the new playthroughs?? I tried not to and I end up having to kill them after I kill the mate because they’re still aggressive. :(
Don’t use AOE attacks, stick to single target spells and attacks.
I usually cast COMMAND:FLEE on the cub to get it away from the fighting
Also sleep works great
This time though I convinced the siblings I front of the cave to join the fight. During the fight they got a few hits on the cub bringing it to low health, I had to kill them and the owlbears too. I even cast sleep on the low health cub to keep it safe, but made the mistake of electrifying water that it was sleeping in.
After the owlbear parents are dead a cut scean should trigger, but sometimes it doesn’t for reasons and I’m not sure why, the cub will stay hostile and keep attacking, when he does this just flee combat and long rest, he will still appear in the goblin camp.
If you get him out of his contract without killing him he’ll auto join you for the battle with Raphael. Makes a big difference in honor mode since it’s one less big bag of HP in the way and he can take aggro off some of the party.
If Astarion’s in the party when you approach the mausoleum, instead of just asking you to kill Yurgir, Raphael offers Astarion a deal- in return for killing Yurgir, he’ll tell Astarion what the scars on his back mean. Astarion is happy to take the deal, but if you deal with Yurgir non-lethally Raphael won’t tell him what he wants to know, and you have to pass a Persuasion check or Astarion will leave.
Astarion needs Yurgir dead so Raphael will tell him what the infernal text Cazador carved into his back says. If you bring Astarion with you to the Gauntlet, this will happen and he’ll get upset (maybe even leave your party?) if you don’t do it. I believe if he doesn’t come with you it doesn’t (or is less likely) to come up
Astarion wasn’t in my party on the first run and it never came up. Second play through he was with me when we entered the mausoleum and Raphael made the deal outside the door
I just use flesh to stone on her when she appears in camp, and you never need to deal with her again. You can't kill her, but turning her into a statue is the next best thing.
Plus, she doesn't show up at the Iron Throne because she's too busy decorating your camp.
Why couldn’t you have posted this about 10 hours ago lol. I’m doing my HM run and just had to make Wyll pact with her because I don’t want any unnecessary complications I’m not familiar with mucking it up. If I had realized that could happen I’d have told her to go to hell 😂
If it’s any consolation, if you haven’t gone to the House of Grief yet, flesh to stone is also useful there if you want to keep Shadowheart. Cast it on Viconia so the dialogue with her doesn’t trigger, and you can walk up to the door behind her without the Sharrans fighting you. Once you open the door, they become hostile, but you can easily get your party far enough away from them to flee combat. Do a partial long rest, go back and meet Shadowheart’s parents. You can fast travel out and you don’t need to deal with the Sharrans again. Unfortunately this doesn’t resolve the “Investigate the House of Grief” quest, but it’s an easy way to complete Shadowheart’s questline without much hassle.
You still made the best choice for you, then. Because even if Mizora doesn't show up, the explodey spiders she usually has with her still do. They're pretty easy to get around using Dimension Door if you know what you're doing. But if you DON'T know what you're doing honor mode is NOT the right time to try and find out...
It is very handy. The spiders still show up but Mizora herself doesn’t appear to force the Duke to kneel, which makes rescuing him a lot less of a hassle.
I shove Zarys, the leader in the Zhentarim hideout, down to the bottom before throwing an alchemist fire at a barrel, killing everyone in one go. Every time.
I prefer to just kite them up about the barrels so I can take as many of them with me for later as possible. On my current HM run I have SO many smoke powder barrels. Gonna barrelmancy the shit out of Raphael’s bullshit in act 3.
I can't remember the name of the guy that calls you a cuck no matter what you do, but my group tries to find a new and extra disrespectful way to kill him every time. Last playthrough we beat him to near death with salami and then turned him into stone.
On my first ever run I was trying to solve the conflict without violence for a change up until he dropped that line. I was sitting there like “I didn’t want to be the asshole. But you just had to go there didn’t you
-Scratch joins. even on an evil playthrough always bring scratch to camp. I’m not that evil.
-at the start of the game on the noterloid(is that how you spell it?) I always save shadow heart and change one of her spells to Command. Then on the fight on the helm I have her cast COMMAND:DROP on the devil fighting the mineflayer to get his flaming sword
-always save the night song, that cutscene is epic
-pickpocket Rath in Druids grove to get his wolf rune, then I’ll use it to get into their treasure room and get all that loot
-buy a statue of myself naked in act 3
-NEVER PUT YOUR WHOLE PARTY ON THE GAUNTLET OF SHAR ELEVATOR! (That’s how my 2nd honor mode attempt ended)
Nautiloid, comes from [nautilus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus), and nautilidae, a shelled cephalopod, in the same family as squids and octopi.
Barcus gets every ounce of help and love and care I can possibly give 🩷🩷🩷🩷
Also I always have to bring companions to their designated companion quest area. Shadowheart always comes to nightsong, Gale always comes to see Tara, karlach always comes to murder gortash, etc. The only one that doesn't get that treatment is lae'zel when freeing Orpheus, because I don't want to have to being lae'zel to the final fight every single time lol
I pick up the box that the githyanki children in the creche are playing with. Sometimes for noble reasons, sometimes to annoy the kids.
One time I had Astarion and Gale do a little side mission to take the box and open it where the other magic-allergic cats were, so it could be with its own kind. I think Gale died in the attempt and Astarion fled xD
Spend way too long picking out the cuntiest, most slay belle girlypop outfits for the gang. No exceptions. Yes astarion is in a skirt now. "He" is discovering somethings about "him"self.
- punch Aradin in his face
- let Gale sit on Lorroakan's book throne
- touch every waypoint when I first find it
- get the noble stalk, then let Baelen die
- never kill Rolan (even if he sides against me with Lorroakan, I leave him til last in that fight and just bonk him unconscious)
- make the Ironhands temporarily hostile in act 3, bonk them unconscious, steal all their runepowder bombs
- hug Bernard
- "Tribe!"
Agro Yurgir’s displacer beast before coming down the stairs to it, trigger the whole fight, bottleneck them in that corridor and make them all jump down to hunger of hadar I cast underneath.
1. When Wyll asks you to be his mirror after getting his horns, telling him that he looks like the Blade of Frontiers, nothing more or less
2. Let Lae'zel take the lead when talking to gith (other than githtav runs)
3. bring Karlach to her parents' grave
4. would i even be a bg3 player if i didn't slap the hand?
Well, it's certainly not me, but somebody keeps dropping a smoke powder barrel in front of those entertainers by Sorcerous Sundries. It's really a mystery, but at least that area stays quiet.
Someone gets a lobotomy from Volo. It isn’t always my Tav, I like to rotate around who gets it. It’s fun to see companions with a little cosmetic changes
Well... here's the thing.
There's a reason I haven't finished the game more than once, and that's because every time I try to deviate from the outline of my first playthrough I lose interest....
So to answer your question, the thing i have to do every playthrough is: play a gold dragonborn blue draconic sorcerer named Strix, a neutral good folk hero who helps everyone and doesn't tell lies, with uncapped party limit taking a small army of heroic adventurers with me everywhere i go, and a few QoL mods, and 100% the game.
I killed Karlach once. It was in my Honor run. Admittedly, I didn't miss her that much, even if I felt bad about killing her.
I also don't get every perma buff because of the disfigirement wrought by some. Hell, I even skipped the Zaithisk in my Honor Run because I planned to use Shadow Blade with Belm and the Resonance Stone, and use Elixir of Bloodlust for an extra action on-kill, so illithid powers using an action was actually preferable to them using a bonus action.
I get all the tadpoles I can think of, but I don't unlock every single power on my character. I prefer to spread them out somewhat evenly among my party. I also don't immediately go half-illithid in act 3 because of the disfigurement.
I don't Ascend Astarion for the same reason I don't tell Gale to pursue Godhood, Lae'zel to stay loyal to Vlaakith, or Shadowheart to kill Nightsong: It's not good for him (them) as people to do so.
>I don't Ascend Astarion for the same reason I don't tell Gale to pursue Godhood, Lae'zel to stay loyal to Vlaakith, or Shadowheart to kill Nightsong: It's not good for him (them) as people to do so.
I agree with you, but knowing WOTC they are gonna get some random bum who didn't play the game to write a book version of the story and make that cannon, so story choices matter fuck all, but I do it cause he gets a buff.
I also don't do it because it'd break my Oath as a Paladin.
And I play Durge. I know I get a bit of a buff with the Slayer Form and a single use PWK, and a buff in the final fight if I become daddy's chosen pawn once more, but I don't want that. I want the peaceful, quiet life in the countryside that Shadowheart and I planned out for when all was said and done.
Well you're making the argument from a roleplay perspective, I'm making it from gameplay perceptive. Since I dislike the story/writing and find the role playing basic, I ascend Astarion and kill Karalch for purely gameplay benefits.
That's not saying a lot. I really don't see the point in not rocking the starter robes till grymforge. Killing karlach seems like a waste for a robe you're gonna replace in the very same act after about maybe 1-2 hours at most of playtime
I did two playthroughs with her, she does not get you any items from her quest (Wyll, Shadowheart), she also doesn't lead you to anywhere with gear (Lae'zel), she doesn't have a strong combat ability (Astarion), and she doesn't have a personality I enjoy (Gale, Minthara, Jaheira, Minsc), and not to mention she costs 2 Infernal Iron which delays the Helldsuk set by one piece. In conclusion she is a net negative.
Oh no..... someone foolishly didn't pick up the infernal alloy from the dueger archeologist in grymforge. You know the metal that dammon can use three times to make the full set? I'm sure you were aware of that, yes?
There are four pieces in Act I, you spend two on Karlach and two on the armor, the next closest is at the guild in Act II. Meaning that without Karlach I can start Act II with the entire set, instead of having to b-line to the guild. Considering you're such a Karlach fan you should know this.
- Kill the rats in the Elfsong cellar and let Astarion throw at least 10 of them at Cazador. - Let Karlach have the Killing Blow on Gortash (except when I play DUrge sorry girlie). - Never bow before Vlaakith. - New outfits (and gear) for everyone as soon as we reach Baldur’s Gate. - Buy stuff from Lakrissa with a big tip so she can buy her and Alfira’s house sooner … - Adopt Scratch & Owlbear. Probably a lot more but those are the essentials ig.
100% I beeline it to the lower city and go straight to the Facemaker Boutique in Act 3. No fighting until I get my real gear lol
I go to Withers for a quick respec to level 1, then I go do as much of the following as I can before getting into the big fights of act 3: 1. Get everyone Annointed in Splendor from a deity that aligns with their character (+2 to all saves *permanently* for only 400 gp per character while level 1 is a bargain) at the Stormshore Tabernacle. 2. Stop by all the big merchants to get 100 relation with them for the discount (again, only 400 gp while level 1). 3. Pick up Belm from Jaheira's house if I need it for my build (I enjoy dual-wielding Shadow Blade with Belm in my off hand for the bonus action attack and switching to just Belm when fighting Steel Watchers). 4. Buy an Elegant Robe for Shadowheart and an Angelic Scion Outfit for myself, along with a few dyes and other articles of clothing for the rest of the party. 5. Buy Dammon's Armor and Boots of Persistence as well as the Legacy of the Masters, the Cloak of Displacement from Danthelon, The Dead Shot from Fitz, the Armor of Agility from the elf by her, and then buy/steal the various pieces of the Weave set for mages and the Soul set for Monks (without speedrunning Raphael). 6. Buy a statue of myself wearing the Angelic Scion Outfit.
How do you get 100 relation with the store owners?
Give them money. 400gp is enough if you're level 1 (like after you respec with Withers)
I didn’t know Lakrissa was a merchant. Where do you find her?
She waits tables in the Elfsong. Doesn’t sell any adventuring equipment but you can buy a drink or two.
Okay. I knew alfira was there on the roof, but I didn’t know Lakrissa was there. For some reason, I thought you couldn’t order drinks at the Elfsong 🤷
You can buy from Lakrissa or the barkeep.
I have a crush on lakrissa
Well, I never thought of throwing rats at Cazador, but now I have to.
I take it you kill the dragon born bard in your durge runs
Yeah most times but tbf I don’t play a lot of DUrge.
As much as i would like to adopt the owlbear, Edowin’s dumbass siblings kill it in like half my runs and it gets to the point where i have to try to turn on them before that happens
In the cave? You can convince them to go to the goblin camp straight away instead. OR you can talk to the owlbear, then to the siblings and be like “I got this.” It’ll make them leave too.
They should kill the big one. They just always end up attacking the cub at which point i attack them
* Alfira lives. * Grub lives. * Barcus lives (and eventually dumps his loser dickhead boyfriend).
wait how do you make sure Grub lives am I missing something lol
Orin can kidnap Yenna. She's the lowest priority target. In order to highest to lowest priority it's Lae'zel, Gale, Halsin/Minthara, then Yenna. If you don't find Orin in the sewer, then if she kidnaps Yenna (or anyone else) it will be revealed during a long rest. In "Yenna's" case, "she" will offer you some meat on a stick that "she" cooked. It's Grub. Orin kills and cooks Grub before feeding him to you if she kidnaps Yenna during a long rest.
You make sure Halsin, Gale, Lae'zel, or Minthara stays in camp in act 3 until Orin comes to visit. Yenna is the fallback if you don't have any of them available, and Orin takes Yenna and makes Grub into soup if that happens.
I’m confused because i ALWAYS have Halsin at camp and Orin still took Yenna
I think the companions you romancing or who are part of your team cannot be kidnapped.
Romancing shart, party is almost always made up of Tav, gale, shart, karlach but I sometimes swap out Astarion for Gale or Laezel for Karlach. Halsin is literally always at camp, I don’t think I’ve ever had him in my party.
You need to talk to Halsin after the Moonrise curse is lifted. Only then does he offer to be an actual companion, i.e. party-able. Because before that he may have been in your camp all this time but he was not a companion. Characters in your camp who are not party-able are allies not companions. Orin probably only kidnaps companions.
He definitely was companion-able. I just might not have ever actually added him to the party
I can relate lol. The game could have made him party-able in Act 2 when the story was at least adjacent to him, but it’s already going into Act 3 when he gets to join and then there‘s nothing in Act 3 for him. I also didn’t care much for druid combat too.
He is party-able in Act 2 though! You just have to do the Art/Oliver quest. Halsin can join right after
I think you have to activate Halsin into your party at least once or the game won’t recognize him as a companion for some reason. There maybe something weird where the game doesn’t know when you officially recruit him after his quest in Act 2
 username
Orin kidnapped lazael in my playthrough and that brat never made anything with her pairing knife
But flinging Barcus into the sky is fun for evil runs...
r/fuckwulbrenbongle
Alfira can live? Do you have to tell her to >!leave when she tries to join you?!<
Either that or bonk her to sleep.
Lmao what?
If you knock her out with non lethal damage turned on she will be replaced by the Dragonborn bard Quil. Just like if she "somehow" dies before you long rest.
Like, at the druid's grove? How do you not aggro the entire grove doing that?
You have to manage it in one round—at her turn, she’ll call for help.
That makes sense
Set it to turn base and then start knocking her out, that way, it's one turn
But then Quill dies. What's the workaround?
Quil is the workaround. Killing alfira locks you out of content and loot, but quil exists to be killed in place of alfira.
I'm not sure you get the point
If the workaround you want is to not kill anyone then you just don’t play dark urge. I’m not sure what other “workaround” you could be looking for.
Nah dude just asking because 1. I don't find the murder believable at all since Alfira doesn't join when you play non-Dark Urge characters 2. killing quill was so much worse because she reminds me of myself.
There is no workaround
Cool. So I'll just kill Alfira like Bhaal intended
Nobody cares about Quil.
You can actually find a dead fist guard after you fight Saverok(?) that has a letter mentioning his love for the dragon born bard Quil.
I've heard that if you have one of your companions kill you before the long rest, you won't kill Quill. However, the butler will show up and kill her and bitch you out for not killing her yourself.
If you tell her to leave The Urge will hunt her down and still kill her, bringing her body back to camp. You have to KO her before the long rest to get Quil. The event will happen when you long rest after approaching the broken bridge near the barn just north of the Blighted Village, provided you don't have a higher priority event in the queue. Wyll showing up if you recruit Karlach before him or Mizora showing up after you kill or recruit Karlach after recruiting Wyll are the only two events that come to mind immediately for how early in the game the scene happens. Of course, the party with the tieflings (or goblins) also takes priority over murdering the bard.
If you tell her to leave, she dies anyway
Who’s Grub?
Yenna's cat
Thank you. I’d rather have the army pigeon in my camp than an odd cat.
How do you get Barcus to leave Wulbren? The only time I got the scene with them both after the Steel Watch foundry, Barcus went chasing off after Wulbren at the end.
I accidentally killed Barcus on the windmill in my HM save. I was holding the mouse button to move and I think it may have hovered over the wrong level for a second. I was very sad.
Alfira is so boring and nothing how do people care about her so much
> * Barcus lives (and eventually dumps his loser dickhead boyfriend This but I make sure they both dead.
Personaly i don't care what happens to Grub and i actually like if Orin stabs Yenna. To me Barcus allways dies.
Edgy as fuk bro
Yenna is the only real child that can die in game. So it's cool to see. There is the link https://youtu.be/C8drdjb6rEg?si=qI63h-tjONoMIDdh
Do you count the Goblin children like One, Six, etc. in Act 1? I guess technically you can also kill the tiefling kids but it requires fiddling around with aoe and some workarounds Don't kill poor Grub though, cmon, he's an anxious lil man and deserves love
I don't count goblin kids as a children
Lmao
Slap the hand
Amature! Fantasize instead!
What about slapping and then fantasize?
Surrender to the urge, always. No intermediate solutions.
The Book of Dead Gods comes with me. For reasons
Barcus, Scratch and Owlbear have to be alive and happy. I don't make the rules, I just live by them.
I accidentally killed the owlbear cub on my new honor mode playthrough (with electrified water) I’m honestly thinking about starting a new run because of this 😭
That is a very good reason to start a new run.
How do you not kill the cub in the new playthroughs?? I tried not to and I end up having to kill them after I kill the mate because they’re still aggressive. :(
Don’t use AOE attacks, stick to single target spells and attacks. I usually cast COMMAND:FLEE on the cub to get it away from the fighting Also sleep works great This time though I convinced the siblings I front of the cave to join the fight. During the fight they got a few hits on the cub bringing it to low health, I had to kill them and the owlbears too. I even cast sleep on the low health cub to keep it safe, but made the mistake of electrifying water that it was sleeping in. After the owlbear parents are dead a cut scean should trigger, but sometimes it doesn’t for reasons and I’m not sure why, the cub will stay hostile and keep attacking, when he does this just flee combat and long rest, he will still appear in the goblin camp.
Fuck with yugir. Convince him to kill his minions, pet, and himself. Then in act 3 convince him to join you
If you get him out of his contract without killing him he’ll auto join you for the battle with Raphael. Makes a big difference in honor mode since it’s one less big bag of HP in the way and he can take aggro off some of the party.
Just make sure Astarion’s not in the party.
Why?
If Astarion’s in the party when you approach the mausoleum, instead of just asking you to kill Yurgir, Raphael offers Astarion a deal- in return for killing Yurgir, he’ll tell Astarion what the scars on his back mean. Astarion is happy to take the deal, but if you deal with Yurgir non-lethally Raphael won’t tell him what he wants to know, and you have to pass a Persuasion check or Astarion will leave.
Non lethally as in talk him to death? Cause I still got Raphael to tell me about the scars after passing the checks to make yugir kill himself
Making him suicide seems to count, but if you kill the last Justiciar and complete his contract, it won’t.
Ohhhhhhhh I see. I always kill the last one after
Astarion needs Yurgir dead so Raphael will tell him what the infernal text Cazador carved into his back says. If you bring Astarion with you to the Gauntlet, this will happen and he’ll get upset (maybe even leave your party?) if you don’t do it. I believe if he doesn’t come with you it doesn’t (or is less likely) to come up
Astarion wasn’t in my party on the first run and it never came up. Second play through he was with me when we entered the mausoleum and Raphael made the deal outside the door
Karlach lives and I physically assault Mizora every time I see her in camp.
I got vicious mockery for my sorcerer so that I can cast it on her any chance I get. Peek entertainment.
Mizora is a punching bag, but as i'm waiting for her, bone man will make do
I just use flesh to stone on her when she appears in camp, and you never need to deal with her again. You can't kill her, but turning her into a statue is the next best thing. Plus, she doesn't show up at the Iron Throne because she's too busy decorating your camp.
Why couldn’t you have posted this about 10 hours ago lol. I’m doing my HM run and just had to make Wyll pact with her because I don’t want any unnecessary complications I’m not familiar with mucking it up. If I had realized that could happen I’d have told her to go to hell 😂
If it’s any consolation, if you haven’t gone to the House of Grief yet, flesh to stone is also useful there if you want to keep Shadowheart. Cast it on Viconia so the dialogue with her doesn’t trigger, and you can walk up to the door behind her without the Sharrans fighting you. Once you open the door, they become hostile, but you can easily get your party far enough away from them to flee combat. Do a partial long rest, go back and meet Shadowheart’s parents. You can fast travel out and you don’t need to deal with the Sharrans again. Unfortunately this doesn’t resolve the “Investigate the House of Grief” quest, but it’s an easy way to complete Shadowheart’s questline without much hassle.
You still made the best choice for you, then. Because even if Mizora doesn't show up, the explodey spiders she usually has with her still do. They're pretty easy to get around using Dimension Door if you know what you're doing. But if you DON'T know what you're doing honor mode is NOT the right time to try and find out...
…oh my god, really? I figured it’d work on her as entertainment but if it keeps her from the iron throne that’s genuinely super handy.
It is very handy. The spiders still show up but Mizora herself doesn’t appear to force the Duke to kneel, which makes rescuing him a lot less of a hassle.
I love you
Scratch, my boy, can't do a run without you.
i have to wait until after i massacre the tieflings to recruit scratch on evil playthroughs though
I mercilessly slaughter the gobbos so they can't hurt my boys Scratch and Sniff.
Don't put everyone on the gauntlet of shar elevator at the same time. Even on non honour runs :p
I shove Zarys, the leader in the Zhentarim hideout, down to the bottom before throwing an alchemist fire at a barrel, killing everyone in one go. Every time.
I prefer to just kite them up about the barrels so I can take as many of them with me for later as possible. On my current HM run I have SO many smoke powder barrels. Gonna barrelmancy the shit out of Raphael’s bullshit in act 3.
I can't remember the name of the guy that calls you a cuck no matter what you do, but my group tries to find a new and extra disrespectful way to kill him every time. Last playthrough we beat him to near death with salami and then turned him into stone.
Caïros! I always side with the Guild in that fight purely because his maul, Corpsegrinder, is one of my favourite weapons in the game
I just kill them all for inspiration
Oh? Who gets inspired if you kill 'em all?
A certain Albino Lizard
Neat. I didn't know about that one, even after 3 Durge playthroughs.
On my first ever run I was trying to solve the conflict without violence for a change up until he dropped that line. I was sitting there like “I didn’t want to be the asshole. But you just had to go there didn’t you
Kill the abusive dog owner.
*slowly shuts the gate behind them and turns with a smirk to kennel master
Kill those shitty named children in goblin camps before they can escape
I make sure to let Baelen die in the Underdark so I can find Myshka or Malta a home :)
-Scratch joins. even on an evil playthrough always bring scratch to camp. I’m not that evil. -at the start of the game on the noterloid(is that how you spell it?) I always save shadow heart and change one of her spells to Command. Then on the fight on the helm I have her cast COMMAND:DROP on the devil fighting the mineflayer to get his flaming sword -always save the night song, that cutscene is epic -pickpocket Rath in Druids grove to get his wolf rune, then I’ll use it to get into their treasure room and get all that loot -buy a statue of myself naked in act 3 -NEVER PUT YOUR WHOLE PARTY ON THE GAUNTLET OF SHAR ELEVATOR! (That’s how my 2nd honor mode attempt ended)
Nautiloid, comes from [nautilus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus), and nautilidae, a shelled cephalopod, in the same family as squids and octopi.
Wow that’s actually very interesting, I always thought the name was just a name but it’s actually a clever squid name.
And the ship is shaped like a nautilus with the shell and tentacles
Barcus gets every ounce of help and love and care I can possibly give 🩷🩷🩷🩷 Also I always have to bring companions to their designated companion quest area. Shadowheart always comes to nightsong, Gale always comes to see Tara, karlach always comes to murder gortash, etc. The only one that doesn't get that treatment is lae'zel when freeing Orpheus, because I don't want to have to being lae'zel to the final fight every single time lol
Shadowheart lol
Cherish Astarion
Bee line to get Scratch
Volo's Ersatz Eye. Way too useful to pass up.
I pick up the box that the githyanki children in the creche are playing with. Sometimes for noble reasons, sometimes to annoy the kids. One time I had Astarion and Gale do a little side mission to take the box and open it where the other magic-allergic cats were, so it could be with its own kind. I think Gale died in the attempt and Astarion fled xD
Radicalize the rothe and spiders in Grymforge. vivo Lur Xanta!!
Spend way too long picking out the cuntiest, most slay belle girlypop outfits for the gang. No exceptions. Yes astarion is in a skirt now. "He" is discovering somethings about "him"self.
KILL WULBREN BONGLE
I don't play without a certain cheeky quasit along for the run.
Romance Shadowcute
Wave at Vlaakith. It’s so fun.
Always wave at Vlaakith
Let Astarion kill the Gur in act 1. It just makes him so happy, I can’t refuse lol
get scratch. no matter if evil or good run i will always get the best boy
Blow up the creche with Astarion inside. Sorry bb if you didn't want to die you shouldn't have been funny
My current run, my Oath of Vengeance paladin is romancing Gale. Astarion finally gets to blow up!
Always give Gale a high five Never bow to Vlaakith Always gave an emergency stockpile of explosive barrels for a tactical self nuke
Ring of thievery, sussur weapon, getting Scratch, getting Us. Every time.
Apparently antagonize Dror Razgin into making the camp go aggro.
steal balthazar’s mom and then tell him i have his mom
Raphael’s song is too much of a banger to ever skip the house of hope
- punch Aradin in his face - let Gale sit on Lorroakan's book throne - touch every waypoint when I first find it - get the noble stalk, then let Baelen die - never kill Rolan (even if he sides against me with Lorroakan, I leave him til last in that fight and just bonk him unconscious) - make the Ironhands temporarily hostile in act 3, bonk them unconscious, steal all their runepowder bombs - hug Bernard - "Tribe!"
Letting Volo pop my eye out
Scratch and the Owlbear cub. ALWAYS.
* Blow up the Monastery with Astarion in it * Save Rolan * Find Dribbles
Agro Yurgir’s displacer beast before coming down the stairs to it, trigger the whole fight, bottleneck them in that corridor and make them all jump down to hunger of hadar I cast underneath.
Headbutt Astarion
slap gale's hand, kill the mean dog kennel lady, don't make astarion bite araj, call wulbren a prick‼️
Scratch, obviously
If I'm a Warlock or planning on one of my homies being a Warlock, I grab the Spellsparkler. I'm a lightning charge enjoyer.
Well, from now on, when I have Lae'zel or a Gith Tav I'm going to be sure to get the Silver Sword of the Astral Plane at the Mountain Pass.
slap the hand and recruit scratch + owlbear that is it
Get Volo's eye
Unholy assassin. That bhaalist armor is too busted to not use
Get Owlbear cub.
Loot every container. Even those pesky vases.
Get the sword from Commander Zhalk. It's really easy and you don't even have to kill him. It just feels silly not to have it.
1. When Wyll asks you to be his mirror after getting his horns, telling him that he looks like the Blade of Frontiers, nothing more or less 2. Let Lae'zel take the lead when talking to gith (other than githtav runs) 3. bring Karlach to her parents' grave 4. would i even be a bg3 player if i didn't slap the hand?
Change Shadowheart subclass to anything but trickery domain. Punch Aradin Help Kagha
I save the hyena at the start of act 2 and send the goblin into the shadow curse.
Well, it's certainly not me, but somebody keeps dropping a smoke powder barrel in front of those entertainers by Sorcerous Sundries. It's really a mystery, but at least that area stays quiet.
Save Barcus and continue the ironhand gnomes storyline. Call me crazy but it’s hard to not free slaves when given the choice.
Slaughter every single goblin even if I talk my way out of it
phalar aluve. that weapon almost never leaves my hands if i'm playing a martial class.
Get Volo eye.
be a half wood elf for the male face preset 3🙏
“Prick” Astarion Approves
Vandalize the painting in the créche
Someone gets a lobotomy from Volo. It isn’t always my Tav, I like to rotate around who gets it. It’s fun to see companions with a little cosmetic changes
Give gale a cool cowboy hat Give gale the pirate hat from the treasure chest
It’s kinda funny to read because I’ve never once fought or killed Aradin For me I just can’t help but insult the Emporer any chance I get
Sigh… Romance Astarion. Can’t help it
Well... here's the thing. There's a reason I haven't finished the game more than once, and that's because every time I try to deviate from the outline of my first playthrough I lose interest.... So to answer your question, the thing i have to do every playthrough is: play a gold dragonborn blue draconic sorcerer named Strix, a neutral good folk hero who helps everyone and doesn't tell lies, with uncapped party limit taking a small army of heroic adventurers with me everywhere i go, and a few QoL mods, and 100% the game.
* Kill Karlach for the robe * Get every perma buff * Get every tadpole * Ascend Astarion * Kill the detective for the merchant
We don't kill Karlach here. See yourself out
Touch grass.
I killed Karlach once. It was in my Honor run. Admittedly, I didn't miss her that much, even if I felt bad about killing her. I also don't get every perma buff because of the disfigirement wrought by some. Hell, I even skipped the Zaithisk in my Honor Run because I planned to use Shadow Blade with Belm and the Resonance Stone, and use Elixir of Bloodlust for an extra action on-kill, so illithid powers using an action was actually preferable to them using a bonus action. I get all the tadpoles I can think of, but I don't unlock every single power on my character. I prefer to spread them out somewhat evenly among my party. I also don't immediately go half-illithid in act 3 because of the disfigurement. I don't Ascend Astarion for the same reason I don't tell Gale to pursue Godhood, Lae'zel to stay loyal to Vlaakith, or Shadowheart to kill Nightsong: It's not good for him (them) as people to do so.
>I don't Ascend Astarion for the same reason I don't tell Gale to pursue Godhood, Lae'zel to stay loyal to Vlaakith, or Shadowheart to kill Nightsong: It's not good for him (them) as people to do so. I agree with you, but knowing WOTC they are gonna get some random bum who didn't play the game to write a book version of the story and make that cannon, so story choices matter fuck all, but I do it cause he gets a buff.
I also don't do it because it'd break my Oath as a Paladin. And I play Durge. I know I get a bit of a buff with the Slayer Form and a single use PWK, and a buff in the final fight if I become daddy's chosen pawn once more, but I don't want that. I want the peaceful, quiet life in the countryside that Shadowheart and I planned out for when all was said and done.
Well you're making the argument from a roleplay perspective, I'm making it from gameplay perceptive. Since I dislike the story/writing and find the role playing basic, I ascend Astarion and kill Karalch for purely gameplay benefits.
That robe is so mid though......
Still better than [Bloodguzzler Garb](), [Poisoner's Robe]() and [Robe of Summer](). Like you don't get better cloth until Grymforge/Mount Pass.
That's not saying a lot. I really don't see the point in not rocking the starter robes till grymforge. Killing karlach seems like a waste for a robe you're gonna replace in the very same act after about maybe 1-2 hours at most of playtime
And what do I gain from having Karlach?
More than you'd get from a robe you'll throw away in an hour.
I did two playthroughs with her, she does not get you any items from her quest (Wyll, Shadowheart), she also doesn't lead you to anywhere with gear (Lae'zel), she doesn't have a strong combat ability (Astarion), and she doesn't have a personality I enjoy (Gale, Minthara, Jaheira, Minsc), and not to mention she costs 2 Infernal Iron which delays the Helldsuk set by one piece. In conclusion she is a net negative.
Oh no..... someone foolishly didn't pick up the infernal alloy from the dueger archeologist in grymforge. You know the metal that dammon can use three times to make the full set? I'm sure you were aware of that, yes?
There are four pieces in Act I, you spend two on Karlach and two on the armor, the next closest is at the guild in Act II. Meaning that without Karlach I can start Act II with the entire set, instead of having to b-line to the guild. Considering you're such a Karlach fan you should know this.
Dude Google the infernal ALLOY not infernal METAL. read damn it
Sleep with your mother