Originally Posted by Tarlonniel
For me, everything goes off the rails character-wise at the party. The first time I actually managed to trigger his romance, I was really enjoying it until this one-two-three punch:

1) After some minor flirtation and stalling the PC romantically for days, on the night of the party Gale decides to go from 0-60mph in terms of physical intimacy, even if the PC has explicitly indicated that they want to take things slower. It's either sex or the end of the romance.

2) The next morning he reveals that he's still-maybe-probably in love with someone else. A goddess, no less. AND he hid this from the PC because he knew it might be a problem and he wanted that sweet booty.

3) Immediately afterwards, he reveals that he's a walking high-yield explosive and a serious danger to everyone around him, especially if those people are ignorant of his explosiveness. Which everyone basically has been until that moment.

One of these things? Not so bad, I can work with it. Two of them? Eh... sketchy, but I can make allowances. All three? Gale has crossed a line in the sand for me. YMMV, of course.

Interesting discussion. I've never been able to go very far in the romance because he annoys me so much that I end up either starting a new game or telling him to leave. (which is difficult to do -- I was only able to do it by reading his mind and telling him I did)

I think he's a very modern, very normal type of evil. He's someone who is willing to do terrible things while telling himself he's a good person. While we're all bathing in the Chonthar, this Dude is swimming in de Nile. As @Dez said he's almost too real to life. I think he must be based on someone's ex. (or at least I hope they are an ex and not a current)

Why I really dislike him (but agree he's well written)

1. The approvals come too quickly and too easily -- this is someone buttering me up

2. The voice actor is really, really good at conveying insincerity. His statement are almost but not quite believable. I know all the voice actors are performing but this actor somehow broadcasts that his statements are performative.

3. The "I've come to trust you" conversation is the nail in the coffin. "I've come to trust you, now I need you to trust me" Okay, Gale, asking right after you made dinner is a level of manipulation I'm willing accept. But this?! Making me feel guilty if I refuse issue to blind promise? Where is my the option to say:
Quote
"If you truly trusted me you would divulge any information without trying to extracting a blind promise. 'Trust' means trusting me with your secrets -- come talk to me again when you do, truly, trust me"
And if you do go along with then emotional coercion and agree he doubles down -- if I don't do what Gale wants I will no longer be the lawful good hero he is building me up to be. Now I somehow agree with that my sense of worth is connected to some image of me that he controls.

Fuck you Gale. Screw your shot gun wedding promises. Try plying your seductions on someone a bit more gullible. I'll be the one deciding if I'm living up to my own standards thank-you-very-much.

I'll eventually play through to get the story but probably only after full release.

On @Aishaddai 's musings --

my best guess is that he is lying about his motivations in finding the orb in the first place. I think it's an Icarus story. Mystra is second only to Shar in terms of raw power. If an ambitious young man becomes a chosen in his teens how he fly any higher than that? And the answer is to tap into the power of the Netherese arcanists. And the only way to do that is:

a. Time travel
b. Use the shadow weave

And Mystra only lets people use the time travel spell if they pledge not to alter the past so that's out. So if Gale wants more power he's going to have to find a brand new lover. Enter Shar and the shadow weave. Now it's never been clear if the Shadow Weave is a copy of Mystrl's weave, with spells that go up to level 12, or a dark reflection of Mystra's weave but I'm going with option (a), a potentially more powerful weave; the shadow weave is a copy of weave 1.0, the one that Karsus used to become a god for a few minutes.

Mystra didn't leave him, Gale left her for Shar because his ambitions were as boundless as Karsus' own. Now we don't know what the rules for the shadow weave are in 5th edition but in 3rd anyone who used the shadow weave would lose 2 wisdom points and these could only restored by a cleric of Shar. This could explain Gale's flirty comments when first meeting Shadowheart -- she could have the power to restore some of what he has lost. Perhaps Shar sent him instructions to find someone with eyes like SH.

Last edited by KillerRabbit; 31/03/21 07:36 PM.