Im sorrry, but i dont quite understand some of your points so i need to ask ... maybe its bcs im quite new to DnD ... but:
[*]The contrivance. There are a number of times during the story that NPCs or companions will just know things and it's either poorly explained or not at all. A good example is Halsin. While I like him as a character, he should know nothing of Illithids, ceremorphosis, or their tadpoles. There's no indication any significant amount of time passes between the abductions in Yartar (the opening cinematic) and the crash. Whatever is going on with The Absolute is incredibly recent yet this guy knows an awful lot that shouldn't be discernable from one dead tadpole.
Why cant Halsin know aout Illithids? I thought that ceremorphosis is common knowledge.
Also maybe im wrong, but i believe that tadpole he gets from that Drow was quite alive in that moment ... simmilar as that one we see getting out of that Dwarf. Wich kinda allows some study ...
Then, when he was captured and delivered to his cage within temple of goblin camp (unless they take him trough Underdark, wich i see inprobable) he had to go around that Absolute goblin priest (Gut i believe?) and she dont shut up for a second.
One dont need to be any scholar to connect the dots here ...
Tadpole was alternet with *some strange dark magic* ... Drow that was carrying this tadpole in his head, was leading pack of goblins ... in goblin camp they was forming some sort of cult, praising something called Absolute ... and then protagonist showing up the same marks of that *strange dark magic* telling him that he have tadpole in his head, but yet its dormant.
Halsin seem to be inteligent enough to understand that there is something going.
[*]Acknowledgements of character specifics. A fancy way of saying "Make character creation options matter." An example: I made a Cleric of Kelemvor (Light domain because Grave isn't available). Kelemvor and his clergy detest undead. One of their highest tenants is to destroy them. The skeleton we pop out of the chapel has two [Cleric of Kelemvor] tagged dialogues (one at the chapel and again at camp), but Astarion? If I roleplay this character accurately, she should smite him where he stands; an excellent opportunity for some really challenging decisions or divine guidance. Instead, it's the same as any other. So, I killed him because the only other option was to ignore his vampireness; something a devotee of Kelemvor, as well as many Paladins, could never do. Interactions like these need to be examined. Give me a reason to keep him around (or at least someone else who can pick a lock) like was done with "Talkative Skeleton". Spooky Skellybones alludes to having some actual connection to the Lord of the Dead himself.... and he's invulnerable so there's that.
Here i dont quite understand what do you compain about. :-/
As dedicated cleric you should kill vampire ... and you are allowed to kill vampire. So everything is good, isnt it?
About talkative skeleton ... well, feel free to corect me if im wrong, but isnt graverobbing kinda against moral code of dedicated cleric? :-/
Or do you complain about that people dont *need* to kill Astarion, if they dont want to?
If so ... i believe that is not to harm here, after all ... there is many (and i believe you know as many) players who dont play his, or hers character as acurate as others. :P
Personal Note: From the same Kelemvor Cleric character I had, choosing to kill Connor forces me to fight a distraught, pregnant woman. I opted to knock her unconscious and leave the quest unfinished (she disappears after a long rest). This fight should end immediately after Zombie Conner is dead. Mayrina can hate me and run off, but I don't need to explain why potentially killing a pregnant woman on a good character is all kinds of wrong. I'm just glad I remembered the ability to knock people out, because her violence giver her condition was surprising, to say the least.
Interesting ... i breaked the wand, so he cannot be ressurected ... it seem to me like something your cleric should do aswell.
But her reaction on killing zombie husband seem to me acurate, extreme for sure, but acurate. She dont seem to care about that child so much after all. :-/
