Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Focused Examination: Intimate Choreography with Small-sized Characters

Spooning positions can be set up in a number of different ways that will substantially change the tone of the pose, but generally speaking, a pose of close body-pressed intimacy invites slower, more intimate motion. The lovers can usually intertwine their legs and rub and caress each others' feet during the intimacy; the receiving partner can easily reach back to stroke most parts of their partner's body with their top hand, or use it to stimulate themselves; the giving partner can reach all of the interesting places on their partner's body with their own top hand, as desired; and while jokes are rife about getting horrendous dead arms from this position, the bottom arms can be moved into various positions that don't, in fact, pin or crush them, and provide access to other intimate touches or holds.



One of the most important aspects of these positions is actually that both partners can mutually reach most of the same points on each other's bodies at the same time – this allows for both intimate hand-holding, and also intimate and erotic 'guiding', to show mutual participation in intimate touches. For example – this is a rear-entry position, but the giving partner can also reach the receiving partner's groin from the front; so can the receiver, and having one guide the other here, showing what they need, is another layer of communication during the act that adds to the feel of it being two individuals doing something together, rather than one doing and one being done to.

This is not to say that it's entirely ill-suited to vigorous, fast-paced scenes, but for them to work well, the focus must end up being more on the act itself, rather than the intimate connection – so the act itself must be shot to draw that focus. This means the receiving partner would generally raise their top leg further, possibly planting their foot behind their partner's legs, while the giving partner may lean further back at more of an angle; this better makes clear physicality of the act. This is the version of the position you see most commonly in pornographic choreography.


This version of the position allows both partners to engage in much more energetic movement without the difficulty that a more close-locked body position can cause; both can actively push against one another freely without complication, and contribute somewhat to the control of the depth and pace of the love-making – though the giving partner has notably more control in this case.

It's not a tactful pose, and not one that can be used with incomplete models – even if the giving partner places a hand to obscure their partner's genitals, there's simply no real hiding the bits and pieces here, unless you use a shot that shows nothing at all and self-defeats.

The other point worth mentioning is that, generally speaking, this is not a comfortable position. More than the original pose, both partners will need to dedicate some of their attention to supporting themselves, and that occupies their arms, losing out on other opportunities for intimacy. A scene choreographer might want a kiss in this pose, to balance out the cruder elements, but achieving that is a crunch and is going to leave someone, possibly both, with a sore back or neck before long.

My personal opinion on this is that if the involved partners want something drastically more energetic, raw, physical or fast-paced and hungry than a more comfortable spooning position allows, they're far more likely to just change positions entirely – this style of pose is designed entirely for the sake of a viewing audience, not the participants, which is something worth bearing in mind if you consider making use of it.

So, what happens if we substitute in a small-sized receiver to this pose.



In the first image – Hey! Woah, woah, guys, cool it! Starting to look a bit dubious there. All fictional models represented herein are not real people, but if they were they would be mature consenting adults engaging in informed roleplay, I swear. Ahem. That's better.

It's a good place to point out, however, the extreme difference that hands make to a scene. Here, just a small number of changes to the orientation and posing of hands and feet – without even changing the pose itself – the entire tone and feel of the scene can be changed utterly based on what you do with the hands and feet of your models. I touched on this earlier, and have mentioned it lightly throughout, but this seemed like a good situation to give a tangible side-by-side. In the first image, the larger partner grips the raised ankle firmly, and envelopes the smaller partner's other hand entirely, giving the impression of pinning it to the ground. Their lower leg similarly pins the smaller partner's leg. The smaller partner reaches away with their free hand, dragging at the ground. These little details come together to create an image that can easily read as force or non-consent, or might be useful if restraint and helplessness was a deliberate element of the intimacy.

Conversely, in the second image, the larger partner supports the raised leg still, but it is a gentler hand pose that also works in some intimate contact – rubbing the sole of the foot. Their other hand is there not to pin, but to hold and support the smaller partner's hand, and the smaller partner is the one gripping on there. They use their free hand to reach for their partner, rather than away, adding intimate contact, and their lower leg is in functionally the same position, but now it is clearly lose and free. Small details that completely change the scene into one of intimate passion instead. Hands and what you do with them are an incredibly important aspect of any intimate choreography – you cannot forget this.

That aside, back to the actual pose in question. Having spoken about the elements of the more overt positioning, I'll leave that be and focus on the more subtle form that is more likely to be used in intimate choreography outside of pornographic material. So, let's try this again, starting with a smaller receiving partner.



So, while a direct translation may not look too troublesome, at first glance, the size difference here has a more pronounced impact than it first seems, and the result is that you're just not going to be achieving any kind of workable penetration like this, without substantial adaptations. There isn't any real way for the giving partner's hips to lower further, and attempting to compensate for this with simple re-angling isn't going to allow for any kind of functional movement between the partners.

In order to achieve a position where sex can comfortably happen, here, the receiver more or less has to lift their hips well off the ground; from a side-on position this is not easy, or comfortable to maintain. The giver can assist by partially lifting the smaller partner (like in the above images), but as well as occupying a hand, that would also become tiring quickly in this position. Alternatively, the smaller partner can 'hang' by putting one leg over their partner's far enough to lift their groin to a workable position, and supporting themselves between that knee while resting their weight on one shoulder – but this is still unlikely to be comfortable. This makes the pose more overt, by necessity, which will have an impact on the tone of the scene as well, but it does allow both partners to contribute more or less equally to the rhythm and pace of the action. As before, any attempts at kissing or close face intimacy will be a rather uncomfortable crunch for the larger partner – it's doable, but it's unlikely to look good unless shot very carefully. A slightly lesser known truth about shooting scenes like this in intimate choreography (and one I personally hate), is that these types of contacts are often shot in multiple parts which don't align; they'll want a kiss, so they shoot the actors kissing comfortably, chest up, because no sex can really be happening while that's going on, then cut back to action shots where that kiss would clearly be impossible, and so on... don't ever do this; it's grossly unprofessional, and a lot more visible that a lot of people who make that kind of content seem to think.

This aside, simply adapting this position into one that works still leaves your characters in a position that isn't ideal, and suggests other options. The practicality of the situation is that if your large giver and small receiver couple are looking for a position that starts like a simple spooning position, in moving to suit themselves, they'll be far more inclined to shift into other positions entirely.

The larger partner will be naturally inclined to lean over the smaller partner, and tilt their hips towards them as well, while the smaller partner may be more inclined, instead of raising one leg up, to roll their hips forward as well, to assist the angle – this just leads both partners to adopt a version of a giver-on-top prone entry position instead. If the giver is instead assisting their partner to lift up, the inclination will be more towards simply puling them over on top – at the same time, the smaller partner, if being assisted in that way, will naturally be inclined to twist their upper body back towards their partner as well, which suggests the same shift in position. The result is that where two same-sized partners might move to adopt a spooning position, a pair with a small-sized receiver may well be naturally inclined to adopt one of these two positions instead. A last alternative, if maintaining the side-by-side relation is considered necessary, would be for the smaller partner to settle onto their back, and place both legs up and over their larger-partner's hips – they still have to lift their own hips off the ground by a fair amount, but done this way they have more support, coming from both legs, and the weight on their upper back and shoulders is more evenly supported as well, making the pose far more comfortable and easy to maintain.



As well as being more stable and comfortable for the smaller partner, lying on their back with both legs over their partner's hips makes it easier for the larger partner to access their body in a comfortable way, while also allowing the receiver the same freedom with their own hands and creating a good set up for intimate guidance and touch-based communication – though it does make shooting a satisfying angle harder than the more overt versions of the pose. The tone of the scene can be changed substantially by whether the smaller partner keeps their legs together or apart; parting them draws more attention to the sexual action itself, and may potentially allow more to be seen, depending on the shooting, while keeping the knees closed creates a more tasteful tone, good for slower or more romantic sequences. If the larger partner puts their lower leg forward slightly, it can give the receiver some extra support; it creates a slightly more upward angled hip motion which is worth bearing in mind.

Though I can't comment on this too much – this adaptation is one which becomes unavoidably overt, regardless of your shooting angle, and requires complete models to work, if the smaller partner is male – there's no good way to tastefully obscure what needs to be there, and still achieve a satisfying shot.

For the larger partner, this adaptation has most of the same issues as the original pose – they can reach their partner for kissing or other intimate face contact, but it's a crunch. If the smaller partner is positioned to lie alongside but slightly angled outward from their partner, this angle is alleviated slightly. Their supporting arm will still be free enough to make intimate touches around their partner's head and shoulders – though much further risks obscuring the shot. One thing that is important to note here is that a kiss in this position will more or less necessarily be with the smaller partner leaning their face up and back, and the larger partner bending their head down to meet – this kind of kiss is nearly always characterised as a slow, intimate and above all romantic style of kiss. This isn't likely to be a problem, however, since the position itself virtually a slower pace and rhythm – it's not conducive to fast or frenetic love-making as you might find in a more rawly physical scene.

For the other two options that you might adapt this pose into, the first – both partners rolling onto their fronts, creates a prone position that is best suited to physically-focused, hungry, animalistic or raw sexual scenes. Both partners end up strongly restricted in their ability to act or contribute to the scene beyond the act of the sex itself, and the position provides good set up for fast, hard or deep action. The larger partner must support their own weight with their arms and legs here, or they'll simply crush and obscure their partner. The smaller partner has very little room to move or act at all, by contrast. The most intimate contact that can be managed, outside of the sex act itself, is hand-holding – even eye contact isn't really workable here. If your original scene was intended to be all about the sex, in the physical and raw sense, this is probably the adaptation to pick.

The other adaptation, with both partners instead moving to their backs, puts us into what is more closely an adapted version of a lying reverse cowgirl, but it is a pose that is inviting of a slow pace and close intimacy, so may be ideal if that was tone tone of the original spooning scene. This pose will generally be much more comfortable for both partners (unless your larger partner is a particularly skinny wizard who will be discomfited by the weight), and gives both partners full access to all manner of intimate touches and caresses, both independently of each other, and to guide with hands together if desired.

Much of the power to control the rhythm, pace and depth in this adaptation comes from the smaller partner, especially if they brace one or both feet, either on the ground, if they can reach, or on their partner's thighs. Movement from the smaller partner would flow from the feet and the hips, and the rhythm would be closer to a vertical angle. If, on the other hand, you allow the giving partner to lead, they lack much power to direct the pace with their hips alone, and so would more easily direct the pace with one or both hands on the receiver's hips, functionally guiding the scene by moving their partner, rather than thrusting up at them. In this case, the angle of movement would be closer to horizontal. This difference, based on who is guiding or controlling the motion, is worth accounting for.

This adaptation also invites hugs, and if the giver has something to support their head and shoulders (the ever helpful bedroll, etc.), then they can manage some face-to-face intimacy as well; worth noting here, though, that such contact will necessarily tone itself as romantic, and possibly a little playful, due to the angles involved.

So then, what about when it's the giving partner that is small?

When we attempt a direct switch here, with a smaller sized giving partner, we end up with a fairly familiar situation. In short, there's just no practical way that penetration is happening here, and the position is wholly unsuitable for any kind of intimate contact either – like this it just doesn't work.

In adapting it, you face many of the same problems that you face when looking to adapt other small-giver rear-entry positions, and all of the same considerations as discussed for them, above, apply here as well.

There simply isn't much the receiving partner can do to make the pose more functional, without changing to another position entirely. The small-sized giver only really has one practical option for adapting this position into something that can function, but it will still be quite limited.

Basically, for this pose, the only real option for adaptation is for the smaller partner to kneel, shifting to an upright position in the process – as as with other adaptations of this pose, the result is that it's not really a spoons pose at all any more. If the smaller partner kneels, however, finding the right height to make things work may be awkward; for a small-sized character like a halfling or gnome, kneeling up properly will put them out of good coupling height in the other direction, while lower kneeling poses begin to create uncomfortable, awkward or, it must be considered, photogenically unappealing situations.

Spreading the knees or thighs wide enough to accommodate their larger partner will end up looking unsustainable or crude, but adopting a more reasonable kneeling position makes actual physical motion (that might actually be achieving something at least) more or less impossible. So what can we do? The most comfortable and workable solution is for the giver to shift one leg forward of their partner, putting it between their legs, so they're more or less straddling the receiver's lower leg – this allows better balance, and a tighter 'lock'. This is easy enough for same-sized partners to do, but for a smaller giver, the straddle may actually be more challenging to make, and may also create a bad angle for penetration. To help, the receiver may need to straighten their lower leg almost completely, and bend their upper leg up further than would otherwise be necessary for a larger partner – these two tweaks resolve the problems caused by the size difference.


From here, visual contact and communication is much more comfortable for both partners, and the tone of the scene can be controlled more flexibly too. Movement can only come from the giving partner, and in a pose like this it's unlikely that a smaller partner will actually have both knees down fully – the result is that they'll be putting part of their weight on one thigh instead (with the knee and foot on that side provided support, but not actual force resistance), and this will affect how they move; keep it in mind. While the smaller giver will naturally control the pacing of the scene, the receiving partner has full access to their body for gripping, holding and intimate touches, so they can contribute to the motion of the scene by guiding and complementing, as in other similar adjustments. The pose is well suited to faster, more raw sequences; the smaller partner may be inclined to grip or grab forcefully naturally, which compliments a physically-focused pace, or, as our model seems intent on demonstrating, they might be tempted toward some spanking, if that's what you want to go for.

Surprisingly, this adjustment can lend itself to slower and more intimate moments as well, with a bit of careful shooting; the pose allows for good shots of the softer curves and gentler lines of the participants, and coupled with a slower overall pace and more intimate hand contact from the receiving partner (intimate face touches or back stroking are both good and quite feasible in this position) the adjustment can be made to work for more romantic or intimately focused scenes – though it still may be better opting for a better-suited position if that's the goal.