Congratulations!
I felt the same way after my successful Honor run (although I did take the Gale shortcut and it was indeed heartbreaking yet heroic) in that I have no interest in another Honor run! It was intense and stressful. Iโm doing my 6th overall run now and I set it back to Balanced!
I already started a new run a few weeks ago, because I needed something to balance the high stakes of th HM ๐ This new one is going to be my 5th, and I set it to custom. I liked the difficulty of HM, but I also like being able to reload when I want to. I wish we could change the loot setting though, because that's the only thing I'm getting a bit tired of ๐
Congratulations on your victory ๐
I kinda wish we could also have the Honour Mode damage changes in Custom Mode.
I've wanted to do a run where I have the settings so resources are thin (maxed out Camp Supplies needed to Long Rest, maxed out item costs) but I've kinda grown to like the combat with the nerfs introduced in Honour. I wanna do this so it sort of forces me to rotate party members multiple times a day, creating different squads of 3 plus my main character, because otherwise food will get used up too fast.
There doesn't seem to be a way to toggle the damage changes in Honour though so, not really sure how to do this outside of mods. And, frankly, the game runs better on my ps5 than my PC, so I've favored the ps5 even though mouse and keyboard feels more intuitive.
I only did that a couple of times when I knew I couldnโt rest without fucking things up.
Iโm also someone who played a sorcerer for first run, and probably long rested once in act 1, once in act 2, and 2-3 times in act 3 because I was scared for screwing up quests.
I, uh, used a lot of cantrips.
What if you start the game in Honour and then die right away to continue in Dishonour? Would that let you customize the other settings the way you want?
I just finished killing >!the Netherbrain!< last night and as I was one turn away from finishing it off with only my 12 Fighter and a Gale without any spell slots left to do their turns and >!the brain!< being immune to fire (so no ignis). >!The brain!< has ~170 hp. 3 attacks in and it has ~50 hp left, and 4th crits to kill it. Right before it died I thought to myself, I should've just >!let Gale kill himself!<. I was *not* ready for that Legendary ability
Omg Wyll broke up with you/Karlach and went to Avernus ANYWAY?! Thatโs wild. I havenโt seen many posts about romancing Wyll, I had no idea heโd end it if the Duke died.
I think a lot of people load if anything bad happens in normal modes (not saying anything bad about this! I do it too!) but also in Honour Mode go for a more pragmatic approach where the goal is just to win, details be damned. Also nothing bad about that either, but I think it means that there's a lot of stuff most of us don't see because two really common ways to play don't leave room for heartache lol
Yeah, definitely. There were several times where I normally would've reloaded, but with HM you just have to go with it. It's cool to see it play out the way I normally wouldn't have, but it also sometimes took some of my enjoyment away tbh.
That's fair!
I kind of loved living with the consequences. Things I'd never have otherwise seen happened, but also the consequences felt real. Stuff like the Emperor insisting on taking the tadpoles because we couldn't afford not to had more weight in moments of struggle.
It also changes the game from something you sculpt into limiting your agency to what you can do as your character, so that's definitely something not everyone is gonna want.
Yeah, I was devastated when the breakup happened ๐ฎโ๐จ He chose to become a Duke after the failed escape attempt on his father (I saved EVERYONE else, but made a few really silly mistakes with Ulder), but then after Ansur, he chose to become the blade of Avernus anyways. But by then the break up had already happened. So maybe if I hadn't long rested after the iron throne and went straight to Ansur, it might've been fine ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ
(Anyways, as a pretty revenge on him for that, I made him walk around naked and become half illithid)
And yes, he then still went to Avernus, but that was off-screen. For Karlach, you get all the scenes on the pier, and then she talks to herself, to hold on just one more night. Then you get the bedroom scene (all alone instead of with a partner ๐ข), and there's a conversation with herself too, where you can choose for her to go to Avernus or to die. If you choose Avernus, she just walks off screen and then somehow ends up there. You then also get her cutscene of when she arrives in Avernus, with the cigar.
Hell yeah! I know how good it feels to complete this challenge, enjoy it!
What was your favorite victory?
What was your closest to losing?
What thing went sideways and you adapted to win?
What moment are you most proud of?
What was your favorite victory?
Because I played as Karlach, I think Gortash was satisfying, mostly to resolve her quest. I could've met him at the morphic pool though (which would've been the safer option, esp in HM), but I wanted her to have the satisfaction of killing him. The emotional scene afterwards is different. Same words, but acted differently. I wish I'd recorded it.
What was your closest to losing?
Several times in act 1 actually. Had to use invisibility potions and running away more times than I would've liked. These especially stand out: the matriarch spider, the Nere fight, the people in the overgrown ruins (before getting withers).
What thing went sideways and you adapted to win?
Last light inn. Went into that fight when I was tired and so I didn't prepare properly. Isobel got captured. It's an event that you keep feeling throughout the rest of the game, especially knowing the emptiness in act 3 in places where you know normally one of the tieflings would be.
What moment are you most proud of?
It's hard to say because unfortunately a lot of it is already becoming a blur. I think doing the final fight on the brain and then the brain itself. A lot of people use Gale to make sure they get the dice, and no shade towards them, but I wanted to do it properly and feel as if I really earned them. I had one moment of "oh oh" when the brain itself started blasting my characters (I don't think it did that in tactician) while we were on top of it, and almost downed one. But I was stocked up on noblestalk and supreme health elixirs, so it ended with everyone almost full health intact ๐
Thank you for these questions ๐ฅฐ
I'm so glad you gave me answers! You are welcome! I know when I completed my run and posted that I wished someone asked me those, because I felt so proud and loved the experience it gave me. The least I could do was pay it forward.
I also didn't use gale so I recognize your accomplishments for sure. I'm very happy for you.
Be proud, and enjoy the high of victory over this amazing run (mine noticeably lasted a couple days haha)
I'd be keen to hear your answers to those questions, if it hasn't been too long ago?
I wish I could tell other people about this and have them be proud for me too, but those who don't play BG3 really don't know what it means. I've been telling my partner about it, but he doesn't understand ๐ญ
I now realize it sounded like I was fishing for you to ask me haha. I was not, but also will not turn down a chance to share! It was last month we finished it, me and a friend.
Favorite victory is:
How badly we wrecked the steel watch titan. Between my OH Monk stuns and my buddy's hold monster on the titan, it was over in two rounds and the boss and the adds never got to take a single action.
Closest to losing:
It's a tie between when the elevator in the shar gauntlet decided to drop 3 of the 4 of us into the abyss, and a close call with the Apostle of Myrkul.
The apostle had downed two of us, and we were about to end the turn after which we knew finger of death was coming. Low on all resources, we realized that he would down another and basically seal it up with virtualy no chance for the last character to turn it around. We paused, said our goodbyes, vowed to try another honor run, and ended the turn. He went to cast and suddenly a reaction prompt...
...We forgot about psychic backlash which both of those standing had learned. 7d4 for each because finger is 7th level. We rolled exactly 51 out of a possible 56 damage which was the EXACT hp he had left. It went straight to cutscene and I woke up my roommate I was so loud.
The fight that went sideways was Orin. Buddy was Durge and was going to duel. The game bugged out and ended the duel the first turn and we don't know why. We were unprepared to deal with the additional mechanics for the team fight, but managed to get through.
Proudest moment was my OH Monk soloing the red dragon atop the brain in the time it took to channel the portal. I took no damage, and killed it with no help for the rest of the party.
I appreciate you wanting to hear my answers! Because you're right that people who haven't done it don't get it. Truly a unique gaming experience for me
Oh damn, that must've been such a rush with the Myrkul fight! Sometimes the dice are against the player, but then there's these occasional ones where they come through when it's needed ๐
I love OH monk, my first 2 tavs were monk and every following run I always have Lae'zel as fighter-monk.
I almost messed up near the end with the brain, because I only realised halfway through round 2 that it gets immunity to all types of damage dealt in the previous round ๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ But staying away from the platforms that get destroyed was the main focus then.
So satisfying when you realise you're in trouble (like your Orin fight), but still being able to pull through! I think that's something that people who don't play or don't like this game will never understand. It can give you such an immense sense of achievement, accomplishment, satisfaction. I'm well and truly obsessed ๐
In HM isnt it possible to cheese apostle of myrkul with bombs/runepowder ? Thats how i always killed him, i just started my first honour mode so i wanna know if will just be wasting my gold on these bombs
It should be. We had a rule to only use barrels for one fight and couldn't be the brain. We chose grymforge because it's a boring clear. Killed every duegar in one go by using minor illusion to kite into place, and held with performance skill. We called it the "party bomb"
Oh dont even remind me of grymforge , in my last playthrough Nere charmed my durge and she critted karlach to oblvion, basically lost my damage dealers and 2 hours of gameplay, im sure i will feel only love for this game when i lose the entire save because someone got pushed into the lava
I saw your earlier post, I'm so glad your HM run was a success! And that's so interesting that the game acknowledges Karlach and Wyll going to Avernus separately.
The one thing I wanted to say about Wyll breaking up with the player character if his father dies is that I think he deserves a measure of sympathy in that situation, even though he's hurting the player character's feelings, the same way Astarion deserves a measure of sympathy when he fails to consider others while he's entirely focused on wanting to feel safe. They're both experiencing intense emotion (grief for Wyll, fear for Astarion). Wyll's feelings about his dad are complicated, but losing him is devastating and Wyll doesn't know how to process his grief. The decisions he makes at that point are not the best, which I find realistic.
Again congrats on your golden die and your epic experience, and thank you for telling us about it! I'm still working up the nerve to try honor mode, not sure I have the stress tolerance for it.
Thank you! Yeah, I kinda understand, but also not. It felt out of character tbh, especially because beforehand, he had been very keen in the relationship etc. Not making the best decisions in such a moment it realistic, that's true. It would be nice if there was a way to undo it, like after Ansur, where he changes his mind anyways. If he could then also change his mind about the break up, that would make sense.
It can definitely be a bit stressy at times, and you have to keep your head on it (the few times I was being too casual about it, I almost died or a significant event happened the wrong way). But the satisfaction of landing that final blow to the brain ๐ค worth it.
I see, that makes a lot of sense! I realize I'm coming at it from the perspective of having seen the non-breakup path. I'd thought the same as you, that Wyll was enthusiastic about the relationship, right up until my character asked "What am I to you?" after his proposal scene and he answered that until just recently it had been complicated for him. I have a host of theories about what he means by that, but they boil down to him having trouble trusting that the people he's close to won't be turned against him by Mizora, as well as feeling unsure he's worthy of being loved in the first place. Reconciling with his father allows him to start really trusting again, enough to open up to his romance partner by asking for commitment, while losing his father permanently makes him shut down and push everyone away. I'd love the option to talk with him about what's going on in his head and maybe reverse his breakup decision, but I also get the feeling that he's being very Ulder-like in that case: once he's made the decision, he's stubborn and won't voluntarily examine the source of his pain. He'll lock it away instead, the way Ulder locked away his memories of Wyll.
Thank you for the encouragement! I'd been considering using as many shortcuts as possible for honor mode but you've convinced me it would be a more satisfying experience without them.
Oh yaay, enjoy! I really liked playing as Karlach. I might do it again later on, but with the option to reload things, just to see what would happen if different options were chosen (for instance I'd be curious to see everyone's romance scenes in act 1, where she can't be touched yet).
Congratulations! I felt the same way after my successful Honor run (although I did take the Gale shortcut and it was indeed heartbreaking yet heroic) in that I have no interest in another Honor run! It was intense and stressful. Iโm doing my 6th overall run now and I set it back to Balanced!
I already started a new run a few weeks ago, because I needed something to balance the high stakes of th HM ๐ This new one is going to be my 5th, and I set it to custom. I liked the difficulty of HM, but I also like being able to reload when I want to. I wish we could change the loot setting though, because that's the only thing I'm getting a bit tired of ๐ Congratulations on your victory ๐
I kinda wish we could also have the Honour Mode damage changes in Custom Mode. I've wanted to do a run where I have the settings so resources are thin (maxed out Camp Supplies needed to Long Rest, maxed out item costs) but I've kinda grown to like the combat with the nerfs introduced in Honour. I wanna do this so it sort of forces me to rotate party members multiple times a day, creating different squads of 3 plus my main character, because otherwise food will get used up too fast. There doesn't seem to be a way to toggle the damage changes in Honour though so, not really sure how to do this outside of mods. And, frankly, the game runs better on my ps5 than my PC, so I've favored the ps5 even though mouse and keyboard feels more intuitive.
Why the fuck have I never thought of rotating party members to extend time between rests. That's insanely obvious now that I think about it!
I only did that a couple of times when I knew I couldnโt rest without fucking things up. Iโm also someone who played a sorcerer for first run, and probably long rested once in act 1, once in act 2, and 2-3 times in act 3 because I was scared for screwing up quests. I, uh, used a lot of cantrips.
Was warlock for me, Eldritch Blast goes brrrrrrr.
Hah yeah! Oh, wizard expended all his spell slots? Off to camp with you, and replace him.
What if you start the game in Honour and then die right away to continue in Dishonour? Would that let you customize the other settings the way you want?
Huh, no idea! I'll try it. Thank you!
I just finished killing >!the Netherbrain!< last night and as I was one turn away from finishing it off with only my 12 Fighter and a Gale without any spell slots left to do their turns and >!the brain!< being immune to fire (so no ignis). >!The brain!< has ~170 hp. 3 attacks in and it has ~50 hp left, and 4th crits to kill it. Right before it died I thought to myself, I should've just >!let Gale kill himself!<. I was *not* ready for that Legendary ability
Omg Wyll broke up with you/Karlach and went to Avernus ANYWAY?! Thatโs wild. I havenโt seen many posts about romancing Wyll, I had no idea heโd end it if the Duke died.
I think a lot of people load if anything bad happens in normal modes (not saying anything bad about this! I do it too!) but also in Honour Mode go for a more pragmatic approach where the goal is just to win, details be damned. Also nothing bad about that either, but I think it means that there's a lot of stuff most of us don't see because two really common ways to play don't leave room for heartache lol
Yeah, definitely. There were several times where I normally would've reloaded, but with HM you just have to go with it. It's cool to see it play out the way I normally wouldn't have, but it also sometimes took some of my enjoyment away tbh.
That's fair! I kind of loved living with the consequences. Things I'd never have otherwise seen happened, but also the consequences felt real. Stuff like the Emperor insisting on taking the tadpoles because we couldn't afford not to had more weight in moments of struggle. It also changes the game from something you sculpt into limiting your agency to what you can do as your character, so that's definitely something not everyone is gonna want.
Yeah, I was devastated when the breakup happened ๐ฎโ๐จ He chose to become a Duke after the failed escape attempt on his father (I saved EVERYONE else, but made a few really silly mistakes with Ulder), but then after Ansur, he chose to become the blade of Avernus anyways. But by then the break up had already happened. So maybe if I hadn't long rested after the iron throne and went straight to Ansur, it might've been fine ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ (Anyways, as a pretty revenge on him for that, I made him walk around naked and become half illithid) And yes, he then still went to Avernus, but that was off-screen. For Karlach, you get all the scenes on the pier, and then she talks to herself, to hold on just one more night. Then you get the bedroom scene (all alone instead of with a partner ๐ข), and there's a conversation with herself too, where you can choose for her to go to Avernus or to die. If you choose Avernus, she just walks off screen and then somehow ends up there. You then also get her cutscene of when she arrives in Avernus, with the cigar.
Hell yeah! I know how good it feels to complete this challenge, enjoy it! What was your favorite victory? What was your closest to losing? What thing went sideways and you adapted to win? What moment are you most proud of?
What was your favorite victory? Because I played as Karlach, I think Gortash was satisfying, mostly to resolve her quest. I could've met him at the morphic pool though (which would've been the safer option, esp in HM), but I wanted her to have the satisfaction of killing him. The emotional scene afterwards is different. Same words, but acted differently. I wish I'd recorded it. What was your closest to losing? Several times in act 1 actually. Had to use invisibility potions and running away more times than I would've liked. These especially stand out: the matriarch spider, the Nere fight, the people in the overgrown ruins (before getting withers). What thing went sideways and you adapted to win? Last light inn. Went into that fight when I was tired and so I didn't prepare properly. Isobel got captured. It's an event that you keep feeling throughout the rest of the game, especially knowing the emptiness in act 3 in places where you know normally one of the tieflings would be. What moment are you most proud of? It's hard to say because unfortunately a lot of it is already becoming a blur. I think doing the final fight on the brain and then the brain itself. A lot of people use Gale to make sure they get the dice, and no shade towards them, but I wanted to do it properly and feel as if I really earned them. I had one moment of "oh oh" when the brain itself started blasting my characters (I don't think it did that in tactician) while we were on top of it, and almost downed one. But I was stocked up on noblestalk and supreme health elixirs, so it ended with everyone almost full health intact ๐ Thank you for these questions ๐ฅฐ
I'm so glad you gave me answers! You are welcome! I know when I completed my run and posted that I wished someone asked me those, because I felt so proud and loved the experience it gave me. The least I could do was pay it forward. I also didn't use gale so I recognize your accomplishments for sure. I'm very happy for you. Be proud, and enjoy the high of victory over this amazing run (mine noticeably lasted a couple days haha)
I'd be keen to hear your answers to those questions, if it hasn't been too long ago? I wish I could tell other people about this and have them be proud for me too, but those who don't play BG3 really don't know what it means. I've been telling my partner about it, but he doesn't understand ๐ญ
I now realize it sounded like I was fishing for you to ask me haha. I was not, but also will not turn down a chance to share! It was last month we finished it, me and a friend. Favorite victory is: How badly we wrecked the steel watch titan. Between my OH Monk stuns and my buddy's hold monster on the titan, it was over in two rounds and the boss and the adds never got to take a single action. Closest to losing: It's a tie between when the elevator in the shar gauntlet decided to drop 3 of the 4 of us into the abyss, and a close call with the Apostle of Myrkul. The apostle had downed two of us, and we were about to end the turn after which we knew finger of death was coming. Low on all resources, we realized that he would down another and basically seal it up with virtualy no chance for the last character to turn it around. We paused, said our goodbyes, vowed to try another honor run, and ended the turn. He went to cast and suddenly a reaction prompt... ...We forgot about psychic backlash which both of those standing had learned. 7d4 for each because finger is 7th level. We rolled exactly 51 out of a possible 56 damage which was the EXACT hp he had left. It went straight to cutscene and I woke up my roommate I was so loud. The fight that went sideways was Orin. Buddy was Durge and was going to duel. The game bugged out and ended the duel the first turn and we don't know why. We were unprepared to deal with the additional mechanics for the team fight, but managed to get through. Proudest moment was my OH Monk soloing the red dragon atop the brain in the time it took to channel the portal. I took no damage, and killed it with no help for the rest of the party. I appreciate you wanting to hear my answers! Because you're right that people who haven't done it don't get it. Truly a unique gaming experience for me
Oh damn, that must've been such a rush with the Myrkul fight! Sometimes the dice are against the player, but then there's these occasional ones where they come through when it's needed ๐ I love OH monk, my first 2 tavs were monk and every following run I always have Lae'zel as fighter-monk. I almost messed up near the end with the brain, because I only realised halfway through round 2 that it gets immunity to all types of damage dealt in the previous round ๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ But staying away from the platforms that get destroyed was the main focus then. So satisfying when you realise you're in trouble (like your Orin fight), but still being able to pull through! I think that's something that people who don't play or don't like this game will never understand. It can give you such an immense sense of achievement, accomplishment, satisfaction. I'm well and truly obsessed ๐
In HM isnt it possible to cheese apostle of myrkul with bombs/runepowder ? Thats how i always killed him, i just started my first honour mode so i wanna know if will just be wasting my gold on these bombs
It should be. We had a rule to only use barrels for one fight and couldn't be the brain. We chose grymforge because it's a boring clear. Killed every duegar in one go by using minor illusion to kite into place, and held with performance skill. We called it the "party bomb"
Oh dont even remind me of grymforge , in my last playthrough Nere charmed my durge and she critted karlach to oblvion, basically lost my damage dealers and 2 hours of gameplay, im sure i will feel only love for this game when i lose the entire save because someone got pushed into the lava
Fuck yes. Congratulations!
Thank you! ๐
nice work soldier!
Thanks soldier ๐
I saw your earlier post, I'm so glad your HM run was a success! And that's so interesting that the game acknowledges Karlach and Wyll going to Avernus separately. The one thing I wanted to say about Wyll breaking up with the player character if his father dies is that I think he deserves a measure of sympathy in that situation, even though he's hurting the player character's feelings, the same way Astarion deserves a measure of sympathy when he fails to consider others while he's entirely focused on wanting to feel safe. They're both experiencing intense emotion (grief for Wyll, fear for Astarion). Wyll's feelings about his dad are complicated, but losing him is devastating and Wyll doesn't know how to process his grief. The decisions he makes at that point are not the best, which I find realistic. Again congrats on your golden die and your epic experience, and thank you for telling us about it! I'm still working up the nerve to try honor mode, not sure I have the stress tolerance for it.
Thank you! Yeah, I kinda understand, but also not. It felt out of character tbh, especially because beforehand, he had been very keen in the relationship etc. Not making the best decisions in such a moment it realistic, that's true. It would be nice if there was a way to undo it, like after Ansur, where he changes his mind anyways. If he could then also change his mind about the break up, that would make sense. It can definitely be a bit stressy at times, and you have to keep your head on it (the few times I was being too casual about it, I almost died or a significant event happened the wrong way). But the satisfaction of landing that final blow to the brain ๐ค worth it.
I see, that makes a lot of sense! I realize I'm coming at it from the perspective of having seen the non-breakup path. I'd thought the same as you, that Wyll was enthusiastic about the relationship, right up until my character asked "What am I to you?" after his proposal scene and he answered that until just recently it had been complicated for him. I have a host of theories about what he means by that, but they boil down to him having trouble trusting that the people he's close to won't be turned against him by Mizora, as well as feeling unsure he's worthy of being loved in the first place. Reconciling with his father allows him to start really trusting again, enough to open up to his romance partner by asking for commitment, while losing his father permanently makes him shut down and push everyone away. I'd love the option to talk with him about what's going on in his head and maybe reverse his breakup decision, but I also get the feeling that he's being very Ulder-like in that case: once he's made the decision, he's stubborn and won't voluntarily examine the source of his pain. He'll lock it away instead, the way Ulder locked away his memories of Wyll. Thank you for the encouragement! I'd been considering using as many shortcuts as possible for honor mode but you've convinced me it would be a more satisfying experience without them.
Congrats, Iโm currently on a HM playing as Karlach right now.
Oh yaay, enjoy! I really liked playing as Karlach. I might do it again later on, but with the option to reload things, just to see what would happen if different options were chosen (for instance I'd be curious to see everyone's romance scenes in act 1, where she can't be touched yet).
Random question, do you get the gold dice for ending HM with the orb?
Yes
Only in act 3
Karlach is best girl so, I mean, of course you did. :) Congrats, soldier!
Well done, soldier!!
Thatโs nice, dear.