Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Question about Act 2 Shadowheart (massive spoiler warning)

I ask my question in the story progress section.


If you give Nightsong to Balthazar in Act 2 and he then takes her with him, Shadowheart leaves you permanently.

I've always taken Shadowheart with me so far, i.e. played the story to kill the necro, but I've always been interested in how the whole story actually continues when you hand over Nightsong to Kethric?


That's when you connect with the evil permanently, so to speak.

But what happens to the whole story then?

I've only tried it as far as seeing Shadowheart leave me. But I always wanted to have her with me and then I did it differently again.


If you let Shadowheart go, what exactly happens next?


How does the story continue at the tower? And how will the continuing story be realized in general?


The way I see it, at the end of Act 2 you still have to kill Kethric in the form of the image of his god. And then move on towards Baldur's Gate, where it's the same either way?

Or what else happens in between for this to happen, or does the whole thing continue in a completely different way?


Thanks for the info.

I'm also asking because I'll probably play Shadowheart next time, too, and not let it run away. But I just want to know.

I've rummaged around on the net a bit, but haven't found an answer. Apparently everyone is taking Shadowheart with them^^

You should not give Nightsong to Balthazar. Kill Balthazar near the Gauntlet of Shar and do not leave him for the Nightsong encounter as this is a much more difficult place to fight him

The moral choice is whether to have Shadowheart go through with her mission to become a Dark Justiciar by killing Nightsong; or a redemption ark where she saves Nightsong and becomes the forsaken of Shar. Both stories are quite interesting and should be experienced at least once IMHO.

I like that Larian have given a Dark Justiciar tag on the character sheet when taking the evil path. I think it would be cool if she correctly becomes a priestess of Selune when choosing the light path.

My thoughts on character builds for Shadowheart.

She shines as a Cleric of course and can be played though all the way with 12 levels of Cleric. The Trickery Domain is probably the worst in the game (seriously, how can so many of the abilities rely on hiding in shadows...and the domain not come with the skill to hide in shadows?). Respec her using Withers as either Life, Knowledge, or War domains depending on how you plan to use her in your party. Perhaps rebalance her ability points a bit in the process.

She is even better as a multiclass cleric/wizard. The ability to learn spells from scrolls allows her to learn higher level spells. Respec her using Withers to have high Int and Wis. In addition to opening up more magic options, she will become much better at hitting with her high elf granted cantrip with higher Int score. Abjuration school will help her to survive longer, but Necromancy school can be nice for a dark playthough (perhaps have her also read the Necromancy of They in this case).

A multiclass Paladin / Cleric is also quite nice. This allows her to be a bit more useful melee with 2x attacks and smite options. This is a good combo when going for the Dark Justiciar path (and also fits thematically for role playing). Oath of Vengeance or Oathbreaker are both good choices. a 5 Paladin / 7 Cleric split makes for a potent end game.

Regardless of the class options, make sure to get the Warcaster feat. It is one of the most useful feats in the game for her giving advantage on concentration checks to keep Spirit Guardians going or perhaps buffing your melee tank with a Haste spell.

I usually play Shadowheart as an Oathbreaker Pala when I make her a Justiciar anyway. I've downloaded a mod that upgrades the domain Trickery a bit, because then the domain bonuses are swapped and the abilities are adjusted a bit, which works really well that way and not OP.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/974

When I play her as a Good and change to Selune, I usually play her as a healer Domain of Life, War or Light.

I tried her as a Druid once, but that didn't work well. She was more coherent as a ranger/beastmaster, but actually too far away from her RPG role.

I have to say that I let my companions all fight with a mod via an AI, except for very difficult situations or where logic is needed that the AI doesn't know, such as in the Shar trials, where you have to fight your own mirror images and better not attack the others.

Then you simply switch off the AI. Otherwise, the whole thing works pretty well and gives the companions a real soul.
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/4351

But what I'm really interested in is how the story continues if you don't kill Balthazar and hand Nightsong over to Kethric. I know that Shadowheart will then leave the group permanently, but I've only tested it until then. Then I reloaded and kept Shadowheart.


But I'm interested to know if anyone has ever delivered Nightsong, Shadowheart leaves the group and what happens next? Because then a completely different sequence would have to happen in the tower with Kethric, and how does that actually extend to the game?

You return to Moonrise Towers and everybody is still friendly, congratulating you on a job well done. Depending on your choices with Isabelle, Z'rell will criticize or congratulate you. But no matter what, you will get access to the rooftop where you will meet Ketheric. Again, depending on your choices with Isabelle, he will be more or less happy with you. It's pretty clear though that even his benevolence is just a facade to lure you to the Absolute.

You will then be sent to the altar at the top of the stairs to pray. If you do that, a tentacle will appear and teleport you and your companions away to the Mindflayer Colony right into a bunch of "flesh cells". Here you will meet Balthazar again who laughs at your gullibility and wants to experiment on you. A fight ensues and the rest goes on as usual.

Thank you.


Of course, it would have been really great if you could have made some progress with the bad guys as well, with a completely different story twist and then through the game. It would probably have been a mega extra effort, but would have given you a real crossroads during the game.


I know this from the old Might and Magic part 7, where you really choose a side in the middle of the game and then all the classes split up and completely different special classes with good and evil with completely different stories and sometimes talents and an opposing story to the other side good or evil.

That was very well done and coherent at the time.

It would certainly have added a lot of depth and excitement to BG3.

But the effort would certainly have been another 30% greater, with a different story and different zones and what's involved.

But of course that's a huge draw.


Ok, then I know for now and I see it more like this, if you really want to pull off evil completely, you're more likely to lose some content until then at least. Because what you lose is what you don't actually gain. Good thing I always kept Shadowheart after all^^...

I always wanted to play the evil side, but the loss is too big, it seems to me.