Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General The Garith Problem (spoilers)

I've played the game multiple times now and Gareth has been problematic. If you save Jonathan, Gareth's parents are affected and he is not happy. If you kill him, Gareth is not happy. I have not found a way to deal with this - perhaps there is no way; perhaps my build is not up to this particular task. What has happened every time was Gareth showing up at the Elf Temple in a rage. I've tried all the possibilities I was given and the end result is the same; one of two - help him or fight him. I have yet to save him if I help him but his ghost's statement is likely not much different.

So, is there some way of keeping Gareth happy? He was an honorable leader until depression kicked in, after all.

Interesting. . . .

MASSIVE SPOILERS : If you have not made it to Driftwood yet, do NOT read below.



Typically, one of the first things I do when I get to Driftwood is the "Counting your Chickens" quest line. Taking Peeper to papa takes me past the Gareth/Jonathan encounter. (Coincidentally, this will net you a LOT of exploration XP which means you can do most of the Driftwood quests at level 10 or 11. OK, I typically do the cows quest and phoenix quest while I am in the area as well.) I always have Gareth spare Jonathan. I believe I do have to make a persuasion check when I get to Gareth burying his parents bodies. The persuasion check cools Gareth down and get him a bit more level headed. That doesn't stop him from getting to the Elf Temple.

Gareth seems scripted to arrive there, providing he hasn't been killed. However, at the Elf Temple, I send my character with max persuasion (along with any persuasion augmenting items) to talk to Gareth. This allows me the option of talking Gareth out of attacking Alexander and going back to the Lady Vengeance or to feed his rage and aide him in killing Alexander. If you talk Gareth out of attacking, you can get the quest from Alexander to kill the Sallowman.

I suspect there might be something you are doing that skips the persuasion check at Gareth burying his parents bodies.

By the way, say what you want about Gareth, but through the story, he basically gets the rest of the seekers killed. Not sure if that makes him a villain or just misguided with good intentions. However, they do say the path to hell is paved with good intentions. This idea seems to fit several story arcs in DOS:2.

So, my build isn't adequate then. I do get the checks - I just can't pass them; sometimes they say it can't possibly be passed. It doesn't help that there's no logic in the checks - a high wits character should pass most wits checks but it seems more of a hard coded thing where you have to guess. Do you alter your character at the mirror? I have yet to do this but I think there are only 3-4 chances in the game to increase persuasion with at least one character generally starting with "1".

The main factor in persuasion checks is the ability level; the respective attribute can give a bonus (or penalty) of 1, which modifies the required level of Persuasion.

How does that apply to the various types (wits/strength/vitality/intelligence/etc)?

Persuasion tends to be based around what an individual person would most respond to. It's conversation-dependent. Some choices will have a more favorable chance to succeed. If you have 3 Persuasion, and the difficulty for that option is 3, you succeed.

If you need 3, have only 2 Persuasion, but it's a "[Strength]" check, and your Strength meets or exceeds the target Strength, you succeed as if you had 3 Persuasion.

Some options are just plain not going to work on that target, even if you meet the attribute check.

The problem of course is that you'll need to rely on instincts to decide what choices the person you're talking to will respond to best.

Aha! Thanks.

OK, one more: at the harbor near Arx, there's a cold room. Inside are some frozen people. If you save them, you are told to help yourself to a chest. Where is the chest?

That's what I thought; a small error - there's is none.

Isnt there a chest in a boat? Just thaw it out and pick the lock

There is but the key to that one is on one of the dead magisters and, not being in the cold room, it's not frozen. so doesn't need to be thawed.