It always bothered me about Shadowheart how she's all "I have so many secrets but I won't tell you anything". She's acting like a complete amateur, more drawing attention than avoiding it. If she's a secret agent of Shar on a secret mission of such a high caliber she would assume a false identity like a pro and stick with it. Instead, she introduces herself as Shadowheart which sounds exactly like an ominous Sharran alias and has Sharran symbols all over her gear. Why don't we get a Religion check to recognize that? The rule of cool does not apply here, it's just dumb. And they are completely ruining the chance of having a strong reveal scene later. She's the perfect example how having her as an optional "Origin" PC ruins all surprise and powerful storytelling concerning her character. And why ruin it? Does someone actually not want to create their own character in D&D?? Astarion is the same. Loadscreen art and in-game description just bluntly reveals everything Tav wouldn't know. But even the "Origin excuse" is not good enough for Shadowheart's senseless behavior.
If she's trying to get away with a stolen artifact as the sole survivor of her task force, she should first ditch all the obvious Sharran gear and call herself Karen from Baldur's Gate.
I think the idea here is that she understands there needs to be some sort of truth to this relationship for it to work at least on a barebones level, so she makes herself private while not outright lying because omission is a different kind of lie. And even with all the tells, I have been playing dnd with some friends for years and they have no clue about Shar, let alone her symbolism, so I can see how people would not care for this change at all. That said, I agree that it doesn't seem proper, especially for those who know.
About the origin characters, I beg to differ! Options are always nice and I see them there as a plus. Playing God of War is great, but would it work the same if Kratos was a built character? Part of the thrill is to discover these character's identities instead of building one, so even in dnd you still want to know about Elminster instead of creating one.
I am, for the fun of it, turning it into a Tabletop campaign, so I rewrote Astarion's meeting. Only IF the PCs are jerks to him does he pull a knife. Otherwise, he pretends to be a noble elf from Baldur's Gate, dreadfully afraid of everything. Only after the tadpoles connect their minds does he reveal that he is a rogue who serves a Thieves' Guild under his tyrant master Cazador. Various skill checks can give players hints that there is definitely something more to him.
As for Shadowheart, she has the armor and circlet, but she lies and says she serves Melira Taralen, a minor elven goddess of bards and minstrels. Melira is a member of the Seldarine. Although she has no true foes of her own, she is opposed to the drow and goblinoid deities. She has a friendly rivalry with the god Milil due to some similarities with their portfolios. Melira Taralen is Chaotic Good, her symbol is the lute, and she dwells on the plane of Arborea. She is a lover of poetry and song, and her domains are knowledge, life and trickery. If she tells this lie, a DC 15 Religion check will tell a PC that her story doesn’t add up. Nothing about her apparel speaks of Melira, and there’s no way she could use her cleric spells and such without a proper holy symbol of Melira. An opposed Deception (Shadowheart) versus Insight (PC) could also let the PCs know that she’s lying.
And, on top of that, I allow the PCs to roll to see if they recognize the armor as Sharran. If they succeed, they can call her on it and she'll lie again and say she acquired the armor in some ruins. If they press the issue she will eventually give in and admit she's a Sharran, and it could lead to a conflict between the PCs and her right at the beginning of the game.
As for her having such tells, I wonder if that's actually going to tie into her backstory. The armor is VERY similar to the Dark Justiciar armor you find at Grymforge. Could she actually have been raised from the dead? Was she, perhaps, the Unclaimed mentioned in the book? When she awoke, was she already wearing the armor she'd died in?
Either way, I agree. Both of their intros need cleaning up. They just don't make sense, especially Astarion's. He's all alone, and dressed like a noble, but he decides to trick you and put a knife to your throat? Wouldn't he try to be more deceptive and crafty, trying to get info from you in a more subtle manner?
Oh my! The thought of the effort to turn this into a campaign makes me tired already. I hope you can succeed where I didn't even try! hahaha. That said, its an interesting way of garnering feedback for a story, no? Your players might have interesting solutions or ideas.
And you do raise valid points regarding her background and I hadn't thought of any of that but it is possible. Still at least 6 more months of waiting unfortunately!
