Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Character Creation Feedback

No, in fact - that's never actually been any part of their description, at any point in the game's history.

The disproportionate bobble head is only one artist's depiction, and even within the 5e players handbook there exist several other far more realistic and believable depictions - it's just an unfortunate coincidence that that particular one was the one that ended up on the halfling race page.

There's also no actual danger of mistaking a halfling for a young human, in reality; young humans, unless they are literal 1-year-old infants, are actually taller than your average halfling, and have different proportions, to the extent that anyone living in a world with halflings in it as a people would not be incline or likely to make that mistake.

Just so as not to derail from Black Elk's thread here, however - There's a major thread that discusses halflings, how they are depicted and represented, and goes into detail about the models being used, and you can find it here: Halfling Feedback.

Yeah it was just a quick shop I did in GIMP. I wanted to try and strike a kind of compromise between the two versions, something that might be acceptable. The proportions in that image are actually quite a bit different than just scaling the Human frame by 1:2. If you're curious what that would look like, here is the same image with a human gal standing next to them rescaled to the same height (Human model is on the left, the current BG3 Halfling model is in the middle, and my Halfling is on the right)...



You can see there's a fair bit of difference there between the figure on the left (rescaled Human frame) and the one on the right, where I did the hack and slide hehe.

I grew up on the Hobbit cartoon myself, and I do think DiTerlizzi style Halflings have a certain charm to them. But when it's pushed too far in the extremes, they're just a bit too cartoonish to me, at least for a game with this kind of art direction. The bobble headers just don't seem like very realistic creatures, and they're too close to how Gnomes are being visualized. So I wanted to show something a little different there, but which would still probably be pretty recognizable as a Halfling. Something like that would satisfy, least for me.

I think the more important thing is just that it be relatively easy to tell the difference between a Halfling and a Gnome at a glance. Some might say, "well how much can a 5% rescale actually get you?" but 5% gets can get us quite a lot I think. People are pretty discerning, and our eyes quicker at evaluating this stuff than we'd probably be likely to credit. We also tend to over-estimate differences in scale. We probably think 5% is more like 10% or 15% if we had to guess, but then you go in and scale and realize how a little goes a very long way with this stuff.

Here I posted this in the Elves thread in General, but might as well stick it here I guess. I'm not sure where it comes from, I've seen a few similar side-by-sides floating around. The exact phenotypes/heights there aren't necessarily what I'm after for BG3 but it conveys how scale can be used with more nuance. That one shows a kind of standard range for height, but I'd try to give it a bit more differentiation than that even. Just going on the idea that if we can make it easy to tell the difference by scale alone, that makes everything else a lot easier. We don't need to have the faces being all gated in the same way, if the frame alone can convey the distinction between the fantasy races.



Here's an example of the principle put into practice for Elves. The Elf below is rescaled at 95% relative to the Human who she is standing alongside. Again, pretty good bang for the buck on a 5% rescale I think.



In the BG1/2 games the Elf avatars were notably smaller and more lithe than the Humans. With the shorty Races there it was easier to confuse, since Dwarves Halflings and Gnomes all had pretty similar sprites. Basically they had to use stuff like facial hair for Dwarves and Gnomes and big old floppy feet for Halflings to get the differences across. But in BG3 our models are much larger than the ones from BG1/2, so I think we've got room now to play with scale a bit more.

Here's another crude example with a Halfling an Elf and a Human all presented at the suggested scale in a Char Creation scene...



The difference between the Elf frame and the Human frame is pretty subtle, but still noticeable. Even with the flapper hairdo covering her ears, we can still pick out the Elf from the Human on account of her just being slightly smaller. I'm sure they could push it a bit further than that even, but I was just trying to get an impression going.

Now when see this ...
I wish for Character Creator to take this style.

I mean its all great changes ... but you can only see them properly when they stand next to each other.
If that Elf would be there alone she would still seem like human with pointy ears ... rather than slightly smaller and thinner human with pointy ears she is.

Having options showed in line like this would be certainly welcomed (at least by myself) to show better differences.
Same goes later for hair ... would be great to see at least two or three haircuts next to each other so you dont need to scroll through them all ...
Even tho in that case we would need some way to mark favourites and compare those only ... since seeing all 72(?) haircuts at once would be hardly usefull.

I totally agree with Black Elk.

When I first played BG3 I was not even aware that this is character creation so I pressed continue and suddenly I had a main char named Tav.

Character creation should be sequentially, so first you chose race/gender, then class, then stats, then skills/background, then the look and at last you have to enter a name.
Its OK if you can go back once you selected something, but you need to select something first.

Regarding class selection, we absolutely need to be able to see what this class will learn later, what subclasses can be chosen at what lv and what those subclasses will learn later.g

For sure! hehe

Oh oh just picture this (cause I'm out walking the dogs right now, maybe I'll cook it up later) Ok so rather than clicking the 'Race' tab and seeing some boring list, what if instead we saw 9 base-avatar exemplars, all standing in a row - Like the Revengers! lol

So instead of just Tav the High-Elf Barbarian, we'd see all 9 fantasy race proto-characters, one from each of the available options. 9 gals basically instead of just the one, or if you click to change gender they switch out to 9 dudes. All together so we can see how large/tall they are relative to one another and start to get familiar that way.

When the player makes a selection, perhaps they give out a nice bark.

Maybe the Human says something classic like "It Shall Be" or if you pick the Githyanki they give out a clutch curse in Gith the way Lae'zel sometimes does. You know, where the base avatar lets us know, "right on! good choice!" To me that would just be a lot more fun, where they're all standing together like it's "pick me!" in dodgeball or something haha.

Now when the player confirms their selection, the others disappear and we zoom in to focus on the chosen avatar. This forms the basis of what we'll get to tweak, so the base avatar is sort of our generic whoever (wearing a simple tunic say) but now that we're into the process, when we select our background (changes the scenery) or choose our voice, we're excited about that tab. And when we get to Class it's like go time show time, and we're all stoked about it as the next step. By the time we actually get to Appearance, we've got a concept going. Sure you might back all the way out to choose a different race at that point, but it's not like just hopscotching around as much.

I honestly think that selecting Starting Equipment would be the most entertaining part of this whole character creation process, because that part is like playing dress up, which is always a lot of fun. I just think it's a big missed opportunity to get the player into a creative mindset, so I really do hope they include that at some point.

Also, definitely agree that when we're in the Class selection tab, we need to get more information about how that class progresses. I don't think it needs to be insane on the details, but a nice visual like a branching tree that we can expand if we want to preview that stuff. It should be available at any time from the character sheet too.

Oh and just because I haven't mentioned it here yet, but I feel pretty strongly that we should be able to relaunch the "Appearance" screen from the actual game at any point. At least for the stuff that's purely cosmetic. It's annoying to have to create a whole new character if all you really want is another haircut, or to swap out a head or whatever. I think they should treat this the way Portraits or Colors or Sounds were handled in BG1/2, meaning you could switch those at any point from an in-game menu. We should be able to change our name or our voice too. I think the player shouldn't be punished for just being kinda capricious about that stuff, being able to change it on the fly might save a playthrough if it gets the player excited again, whereas making a mistake or being stuck they might just log out in frustration. So yeah, let the player just go back and make some changes to that stuff if it isn't a mechanical thing but just a cosmetic one.

I will touch on the order I use:

Class
Race
Abilities
Origin
Skills
Appearance


I think thats a better order esp for new players.

yeah let just forget the fact that i want to play a tall dwarf? or something small... i guess those don't exist or maybe a fat or a really skinny dwarf...

imagine if everyone would be the same height and shape, my height. Would save me alot trouble when buying shoes and cloths.

Yeah I could see that working as well, where the initial screen displays something more abstract.

Here's a rough quickie for what I meant about showing some Avatar exemplars to scale, as a way of selecting an initial race instead of just a list.



I couldn't quite squeeze them into the Char Creation screen without breaking the 4th wall into the cosmetics palette hehe.

Then I was going to try to take a cap Down By the River, before remembering that I couldn't collapse the mini map or any of the UI elements getting in the way lol. I'm also not sure it's possible to really replicate the camera angles we're shown in the Char Creation menu during the actual game, and it looked a bit wonk regardless. So here they are just sort of slammed into that first 'load em up' screen lol. Obviously the lighting is trash, and it's way too busy for a background, but whatever, you get the idea. Just stick em in a little scene together, and then when the player makes their choice, we can zoom in to work the deets.

@Black Elk: This sound like a good idea. I do not think we will get it, but it sounds good.
Regarding the last paragraph: Beeing able to go to the apearance selection for a new hair cut sounds fine in the game, but selecting a new head, name or voice does not.
Suggestion: You can go to a barber who changes your look for a few coins. You can find one in towns or you can recruit one for your camp. You can only make cosmetic changes (hair cut, colors, make up, tattoo), no mechanical ones.

@RumRunner: Race/gender must be selected first, class and background later.
First you select a generic member of this race, then the look changes because of class and background, then come stats and skills and finally apearance and name.
Today everything in games should be visualized. You cannot ask the game to show you a fighter without saying what race and gender the fighter should have.

Origin must be the very first selection: If you want to play as Astarion you are already set on a male elf rogue.

Yeah I had a kind of similar thought there, but then I'm not too terribly partial to the Origin Character concept to begin with I guess hehe. I think it sort of confuses the process to even have them included in the character creator menu. If the aim is to make it just quick, then perhaps we see the Fab 5 on the initial screen (displayed in a similar sort of way) where you click the Avatar of Astarion or Lae'zel etc and the game just instantly picks up there, but if you click Create Custom Character then the Fab 5 disappear and instead we get something more like the above. Cause honestly, for every player who likes to dive right in and doesn't want to bother with that custom stuff, or is just super into the idea of learning more about Gale, I'm sure there's another player out there who will happily spend 100 hours just chilling and making characters.

The reason I like the lineup angle, with some variation on display there and comparative scale, is because then it's sort of unmistakably a Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms game.

I mean when you see that view, you just know right away. Sort of like "Oh yeah, this is definitely D&D, cause it's showing me that classic survey line up, like we find in virtually every PHB that's ever been" haha. A bit like comfort food in that way. I'd imagine someone saying what's the point, or what's the difference? But I think there actually is something to that kind of presentation with a broader overview and first impression, even if it's providing the same imagery you'd get by cycling one at a time. It's just a bit more inviting and intuitive. A little less intimidating and slightly more engaging as a kind of first step or first push out the door.

Another thought to keep it interesting, perhaps rather than displaying the same Avatars every time, the game could randomly generate the 9 figures displayed. So you'd always have one of each Race, but maybe they use a different head say or different hair, or switch around their getups. If the player clicks to change the head (when they get to appearance), then it just reverts to whatever head was number 1 in the normal sequence. Just so the player doesn't have to search around as much, once they're familiar with the sequences. Sort of like now, where after doing it a few times you know when to click left or right to get what you want off the list, provided you recognize the one being displayed currently. But at least that way, every time the player clicks Custom Character they'd get a little presentation that makes it feel more, well, just more custom I suppose lol. Perhaps the Race in the middle changes each time too, so it sort of highlights one Race that way, but on a rotation. Like "hey! ever consider just going Gnome for a change?" And then maybe the player is gently nudged along in that way. These are little things, sure, but I think they could add up and play off one other to make the overall process feel more epic and with a more satisfying sweep.

It's not that I dislike the scenery we have now in the Custom Character menu with the waterfall, or dislike the idea of zooming in to just focus on the one thing only, one avatar, but after you've seen it a few times it gets a bit stale. I'm at the point now where I get annoyed seeing the Elf first up, even though I might like the face, or Barbarians, it just gets old. I'd like to see a different lighting arrangement sometimes with a different scene, like a dozen or so backdrops with a good spread, where the same basic processes could take place, just with some new flare. I feel the same way about the load screen art, and the Fab 5 banner. I was pretty blown away the first 5 times, but now I see them and it's lost a lot of that impact. I'd rather see load screens of random environments or animals or monsters or artifacts, or really anything, even if it's just slide reels of in game art assets there rather than the same digital paintings, because I know they're not dishing out for hella new artwork there probably. At least they could get some more consistent variety going that way and a reason for us to look up instead of just tuning out entirely hehe. Not exactly the same thing as what I mean here with the Custom Char stuff, but it's similar, in that I'd like to just see more going on, more previews, more variety, more quantity basically.

I'm all for the magic mirror in-game approach to Appearance adjustment. That's obviously much cooler than just a game menu, as long as it's relatively convenient and not just griefing the player for making a mistake or discovering 5 minutes later that wait, actually I don't like that voice at all, or the hair looked great but now that I see it 'in action' maybe there's some weird clipping or the color is off or whatever. Just let the player fix that, without having to relaunch or start all over again.


Ps. One final thought, but if it did display that way (with a lineup) you could actually just nixed the term Race entirely I bet, or really any technical type terms that could be kinda confusing. Top line could just say "Custom Character." And below each Avatar is a button that reads Humans, Elves, Dwarves etc. for each. When moused over a quick description line of lore appears. That way the player gets the idea that they are choosing a basic type of Avatar, not 'this specific Avatar.' If these randomly generated as a new visual each time that concept would be further reinforced. For people who are totally new to it, to D&D I mean, they don't have to trip about seeing a bunch of random numbers or wondering what Race or Class or Skills proficiencies and such all mean. Like all at once, just having a ton dropped on them immediately. Instead it's like "hey, Welcome to Dungeons and Dragons! See something that grabs you? Simply cick on it and then we'll start the show." Complete with some novelty barks and a simple animation when selected. I just think it's important not to overwhelm on the first screen, and weirdly this is a case where showing 9 avatars at once I think is actually less overwhelming (despite there being 9 of them rather than just 1) because cycling through a gang of tabs and having to hop around and piece stuff together like that with a bunch of text can be overwhelming. Get some natural pauses in there first, some places for the eye to rest, and some little fun elements that the player can control and visualize, as opposed to making it like Lists and Stats and Systems and Math and Matrices right away.

For stuff that is potentially confusing, put a "Use Recommended" button on every tab (at the top rather than the bottom of the page) but don't make all those choices for us in advance unless we click that button. Instead let the player build by adding and learning that way rather than subtracting or undoing. If that makes sense lol. Use the visuals to lead us into the text and the complexity and systems stuff, rather than the other way round, and definitely try to visualize or soundscape it as much as possible at each step along the way.

+1 What a great idea

i really don't give a ass how they look vs other races or in what order i pick what.

Just give us different body types i'll be happy with that, even if i have to pick and click though 100 tabs to get it. But i guess a few body types are still to much to ask in 2022? It gives way more value to Character Creation than anything we see here IMO.

Oh, there's one of the male dwarf faces that has double chins and droopy eyes. A bigger beer gut would go perfect with his look.

So regarding Body shape, I think we need a minimum of 4 phenotypes otherwise they're just not covering the bases at all. I'd prefer more myself, but at least 4.

These should not just be stretches or compressions of the same standard shape, but actually differently shaped bodies. To put it another way, I don't want the bodies to look like generic muscle suits or body balloons that are simply being inflated till they pop or having the air let out, but where the distribution of the weight and the overall impression of the shape is more distinct.

I recognize that there are some limits here to what will still be recognizable during gameplay (ie ISO at Max zoom out), but because there are so many cinematic cutscenes and dialog views, having every body look the same is pretty disappointing.

I would like 4 or more builds for each Fantasy race, and for height I would like a range with 4 or more heights where there is no overlap. Put another way the shortest Dwarf, should still be taller than the tallest Halfling. Right now they are basically reusing the body models way too much. For example the current BG3 Halflings and Gnomes are basically identical, with only the ears to distinguish them. What I tried to do above with the re-scales, was to make sure that each race (and particularly the shorty races) would be standing a head taller/shorter and with different proportions (skull size to body, or overall body shape) so they are not identical and are unlikely to be mistaken for one another at a glance. The 3 figures looking straight forward in the line-up above, the Human, Tief and Half-Elf, all have the same phenotype at the same height. I'm ok with that, because Tiefs are very distinct from Humans in the visualization, and Half-Elves are essentially just Humans with pointy ears (least in the BG3 conception) but for everyone else, we should have a different visualization/height to make it easy to tell them apart. This isn't just for the PC's own benefit, but also to make the gameplay better with the enemies easier to recognize by type. You know, so you're not casting Sleep on a group of Elves thinking they're Humans or whatever. It's as much for that as just satisfying the desire for a unique visualization in the abstract, although I admit the latter is why more why I'm here haha.

I understand why they are doing it the way they are currently, because it makes it very simple to reuse the same art assets/models/animations for everything, particularly armored appearance, but I think that is a mistake, because it makes BG3 look like pretty much every other generic fantasy RPG out there, and gives the impression that they really took the easy way out in the art department.

D&D is supposed to be about characterization and all the nuances there. Also, because there are no more portraits and such, the Avatar really needs to fully assume that role here, offering enough variety to at least capture the essence of a character concept. So if the player has in mind a featherweight Dwarf who is the tiniest he can be, or a very tall and portly Dwarf with a big ole gut, there should be a way to visualize that during character creation, at least on some level.

I don't think this is a situation where the one thing is necessarily more important than another, but there should be some degree of parity. Meaning if you're going to give us 60 haircuts and 100 skin tones with like 1000 possible color combinations, that's great, but if there are only a handful of faces, and a single body phenotype the result is still going to be very limited.

If they don't do any more work, I think we are likely to see just 3 Phenotypes at launch, Standard, Thin and super Buff (where Thin looks like the current male Githyanki body, and Buff looks like Halsin) but they need one for Thick/Heavy-Set that doesn't just make the PC look like a truck. Something that actually changes the shape there. I'm not a 3d modeler, so I can't provide a ready example of what a Dwarf with a belly should look like compared to their standard barrel-chested look, but I'm sure one could imagine. You know, a Bombor, or that shirtless Dwarf with the big gut drinking from his mug in Durin's hall during that scene in RoP ep 2, basically. You're not mistaking him for the other Dwarf he's standing beside, because they made an effort to visualize him differently. BG3 needs to give us more of that in Char Creation, so our creations can feel unique.

ps. quick follow on, but for the actual humans, for the phenotypes I think should include 6, showing one with gigantism and dwarfism, but make that look totally realistic e.g. show me Fezzik and Willow for that. I think that would be cool. I feel like there are enough Fantasy movies to justify doing this and it would be a nice nod. Andre the Giant or Struycken shouldn't have to be Half-Orcs is what I'm saying, and the Time Bandits and Tyrion should obviously just be human as an option too. I guess that's more of a moonshot, like right now we only have the one body type, so pushing for 6 is maybe a stretch I'll grant. But that's kinda my general theme for BG3, so why not. I'll make an inclusivity argument for that one, if it gets us two more. You know I pine for the party of 6, and chances are good that 6 is better than 4 whenever I can think of a reason. So there ya go lol.

Regarding the next field Class. So I have more to say here, but I just want to start by making the simple suggestion that choosing a Class not be reduced to choosing an outfit/look. Here again I feel the initial visualization pushes the player into more of an appearance choice, when this choice is probably the most significant mechanically and needs a fair bit more in the presentation. I agree on some level (from a teaching the game standpoint) that it makes a certain sense to float class as a first choice, if only because it's so involved and would probably benefit from some kind of introductory spiel. But I also think that for a game like this, it's perhaps too much to hit the player on the head with as the number 1 decision. It probably is the number 1 decision in the sense that it's the most important decision being made in terms of the subsequent gameplay, but to also be first in the sequence of decisions is a somewhat taller order I think, and it is trickier to visualize in the abstract.

I used the different class outfits in the lineup to give some variety (and since that's all I had), but I think for BG3 I'd follow the order suggested at Beyond. Except that perhaps "background" rather than being it's own initial tab might instead display within each tab, just repeated with the button always present to the bottom right or whatever. The idea there being that as you go along visualizing your character, you could change your "Background" at any point there and it would literally change the background of the scene! So if there are 11 backgrounds we get 11 Char Creation environments with different embellishments or lighting and such, which each play off their own background/origin theme. I just think that would be cool as all get up. Or similar, perhaps Voice and Charname is the same sort of deal, always up, and when you click the button, whatever your current avatar is looking like, they'll do a voice bark and we see that animated. For class I would love to see some animations as well. Basically a way to preview a flourish of some sort that is Class or Class skills thematic. Or maybe a vfx type thing where it makes sense. Again to give visual feedback for the choices being selected.

Right now the Avatar presents essentially as a mannequin or maquette, but I mean making it more like an animated puppet or marionette where the player has some strings to pull there, each choice being a kind of string I guess. I just really love the idea of a character creator giving us feedback in that way, where our character puts on more of a show. My ultimate ideal would be a merger between the concept of the Avatar and a Character portrait in that way, but where the portrait doesn't mean a 2d painting, but rather like the full persona. I'd absolutely love it if we could replicate some of the expressions or tenors we get during gameplay, but made into a sort of Avatar emote builder. Because if you could combine something like that with starting equipment Dress-Up, then the character creator is essentially it's own mini-game/creative character design suite. I think a D&D game that did that well would just mop the floor for sure, and be instantly heralded as the ultimate hehe.

Oh also, anyone remember these things...?



How cool would it be if within the Class tab there was a little mini "Complete [insert Class] Handbook" like those oldschool tomes of great value? haha! Not that we'd have to read the whole encyclopedia there, at that point, but just the idea that one could sort of page through and get a cool presentation if they wanted to learn more. Same thing could then hangout as a button in the Char sheet, and in that field you could do the branching trees that show the big Class level breakpoints and such, or just have descriptions with some color. I feel like it could present as a sort of BG3 popup book though. Being the 2020s and all, with the clear eye vision, you know where the illustrations actually come alive, and the wolves are actually howling this time hehe. Basically I imagine a kind of BG3 built-in codex that could fuse all these things together. Into a modern cliffnotes presentation though, that is more BG3 FR themed, but one that still has that sort of color to it and where the player is actually playing illustrator a bit. Not that it needs to hit the player over the head with a brick of info, but if they want to I mean, let it expand out and show some legit deets. Least for the Char creation and Avatar up part. That would be rad!

Just as a small aside to this, as a curiosity more than anything else - if we were to go by Wizard's proposed publication for their new one D&D content, the difference in height between halflings and gnomes has been more substantially settled. In that document, they've defined halflings as standing between two and three feet - so they average around 2'6", while gnomes are three to three and a half - so averaging around 3'3", so, in the new document there's be a good head's difference between them on average (and the halfling in the comparison would need to be even smaller ^.^)

Some time ago there was suggestion around here to allow us pick our starting gear ...
Repeated and reminded since then quite often ...

IF Larian would decide to listen to this desire, and actualy allow us to pick our starting gear right in character creation ... then our character could be stripped into underwear, or wearing some common clothes, like simple shirt and pants, just like those Fishers we meet on the beach do.

Since we would pick gear on different tab anyway.
And looks of our class wouldnt misslead our decisions.

Yeah, I mean it could just be so cool if done up proper! I can envision players just going nuts with regular clothing and basic equipment arms and armor (perhaps even a rope or a torch hehe) and just really enjoying that as the final stage of visualization to complete the starting char concept. It comes up time and again, so I hope they do it.

Just thinking on the Class part, and especially basic features like abilities and spells, so I was watching Aestus' videos just now mentioned in the gen section (thanks snowram) and I liked the way some of this material was tutorialized there. I wish the game could do something like that within char creation at that screen, not necessarily on that level of depth but just more basic concepts. I'll use this as just a super quick example that I liked in the early Cleric vid from patch 7, describing the difference between Cure Wounds and Healing Word...

Starts here at like 10.47.00 right after getting blessed



Done up like that in a simple frame of ref that the player would probably find useful. Or perhaps something in the organization or display which does a little riff on situational/non-combat oriented spells vs more combat themed spells. Where the game kinda tells the player which things are what, like buffs vs attacks or concentrations spells and the like, just even into the representation - say grouped on the left or right, or in different rows or columns. The info is there, but the little icons and relationships may not be meaningful to player who hasn't yet played or who knows the D&D in advance. The idea being that within the prepared spell menu of char creation the player would be given the sort of hint - that there are some spells which it is best to have at the ready pre-combat or within combat and some that are more post combat oriented or non-com style. Just so the player can get a brief primer in that way. I feel like each class could get a similar sort of treatment, the super cliff notes version of the class handbooks basically, but where the connection to the gameplay would be sort of laid out more. Or in use recommended defaults (with a button say, which I'd prefer), where the game doesn't just pick what's best us but also sort of editorializes why in a tooltip and gives a little breakdown, and made clear by the row/column, which could expand if the player wants to preview the class at a further stage of progression so it could work in the char sheet that way as well. Anyhow, just thought those were cool, so had to mention right quick!

ps. I'd have made the halfling even smaller honestly. I feel like they should look as if they could do some kinda tumble roll/dive through an average sized human's legs, since that's such a signature sort of halfling move. Even if the animations didn't show it, I always pictured Montaron going for the femoral artery. "Faemoral Arterie" is also the name of his main halfling love interest in my head cannon lol. That gal in the lineup could probably just barely make it happen. Maybe if she was put up next to the male Human avatar which is slightly taller in default? Basically in every instance the males are taller, except for with the shorty races. I wonder whether that's necessary though? I guess it follows the general averages for Humans, but it's still pretty pronounced there. I think they could dial that back a little as well, because by making the male and female avatars of a given race a bit closer in height, then the differences between the various fantasy races from each other would probably be even clearer at a glance.

Here is another random aside, (they're probably all going to be random asides now honestly) but the Circlet of Fire thread just made me remember, so I wanted to jot it down right quick. It would be cool if the game provided a pronunciation Guide for some of the proper names/terms that are unique to Faerun.

So like in the case of a Priest's Deity show that parenthetical right next to the written name, or better yet have the Avatar say it as a bark like a little invocation prayer. English is not a phonetic written language, and it's particularly unforgiving when fantasy writers get ahold of it and start just going to town, like was the case with Greenwood sometimes hehe.

When I first saw the name Sune, I pronounced it like Rune with one syllable lol. Quick anecdote - So before spending years learning Ancient Greek, I struggled mightily with pronouncing many Greek names in English translation. Ancient Greek actually is a phonetic language, and once you know it, it's pretty easy to tell how to pronounce everything, but if you don't it can be very tricky and intimidating. I used to get embarrassed as an undergrad, way back when, before I hit my stride with this stuff. I have a very distinct memory of not knowing how to say the name of the historian "Thucydides" and when I pronounced it the way I thought it was supposed to be pronounced in my little presentation in front of class, a lot of my peers just laughed out loud and made me feel like a complete dumbass. But then my teacher did something I will never forget. She complimented me on my report, corrected my pronunciation, and then said that the fact that I mispronounced the name indicated to her that I had actually read the material rather than just parroting something I'd heard someone else say about the subject. Suddenly my embarrassment was washed away, and the students who laughed kinda shut up on the spot lol. I share that now, just because D&D and FR has so many wild spellings and weird words, and when we get to those it'd be great if the game let us know how they're spoken. Hopefully everyone can pick a god at some point, instead of just the Clerics. It's a minor thing, but I'm into minor thing territory now, cause I think those do add up somehow hehe.

When we get to starting equipment I'll have to bump the other thread too, but just know I'm in full agreement there as well!

Best Elk

I think for proper pronunciation guides, they'd first need to give us an actual information source to access in game - a bestiary, a lore data base, something... Which I'm definitely not against, just not optimistic about ^.^

((to be fair, Sune's tailing vowel sound is minimal and can be pronounced in heavily reduced way and still be considered legitimate - all the better to make certain jokes work <.< >.> ))