Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General How is Gale even alive?

The writing in this game tends to go for grandeur rather than logic.

Tadpole weakening the subjects does not make sense. Why would they want their mind controlled true souls weakened? How would powerless slaves ever be worth the effort? Minthara and Ragzlin are not level 1.

Also, companions who boast and complain about having been really powerful, when they are in fact casting 1d10 Fire Bolt at goblins, are not very likable. Never liked that Gale introduction scene where a level 1 Wizard pretends to be all that. Even if he actually was a powerful Wizard who lost his power, the scene is poor. He was abducted, lost his power, tadpoled, ship crashed into wilderness from Hell, alone, level 1, Mind Flayers around yet he's entirely casual and seems to be in a good mood.

Gale is enjoying the adventure and perhaps wondering if it will get him layed ... His ex is a hard girl to impress

I agree with you on this point, which is one reason I'm looking for alternative explanations for the companions' power levels. And while they may not be perfect, I think they exist.

With respect to the overly epic back stories of our companions, I'm not so fussed. Okay it's not realistic, but I'll sacrifice that for the sake of some ripping high fantasy yarns as we get to know them better, especially if those tie in with other elements of Forgotten Realms lore and help me learn more about it.

Besides, it looks as though they're going to have to be able to hold up their heads next to Minsc and Jaheira who were level 30 odd last time I saw them. Okay, not true as I did read the more recent Minsc comics and the third one has a mocked up character sheet for him at level 6, implying statue Minsc might have started out at around level 4 if each adventure constituted a character level. But I have no idea how they can make Jaheira convincingly a full companion at a comparable level to our party. If the answer was that she got nerfed by a tadpole I will be most disappointed! In that case I think I'd prefer her to be a powerful advisor and quest giver than a companion, but I guess I should wait and see what story line Larian have in mind.

Why are we all level 1? uh...something something interrupted ritual something... I'm sure like all amnesiac protagonists, we're not gaining levels but remembering them or something.

I try not to get too attached the character sheets of a recurring character, I'd like to believe in peacetime people can lose levels of adventuring classes, maybe Jaheira traded in her fighter levels for some levels in Expert(Meddler) now. Not that Jaheira seems to have put the breaks on, who knows.

its a bit of a stretch to think every person has reason to be level 1 imo

a 100 year vampire hasnt made enough xp of rats to at least get to level 2?

a gith warrior wouldn't leave her training grounds higher level then 1?

a warlock thats has been in multiple fights (and won battle after battle) loses power just because his patron has been kidnapped, even though she wants him to save her?

it makes sence if gale was de-leveld by his godess,

but it does not explain the others low level really

is Karlach who fought hordes of demons in hell gonna join your party at level 2 if you run to her as soon as you get off the ship?

the only explanation is the tadpole , unfortunately imo its pretty bad wrighting, because if you were going to make a mind control army, you would want your army to be strong, and it seems like the other "true souls" have not been deleveled, unless ofc rag and co, went on a training montage ,rocky theme song playing around the goblin camp

I don't know... I would rather take my chances on mind control over a weaker version of the person and only after I have them in my grasp would I unlock their potential. Makes perfect sense to me.

Maybe a little late for the debate ...

But have any of you concidered that levels are just game mechanic, that have nothing to do with your character? O_o

Well your companions do feel less powerful - most of them Express that along the way, maybe with the exeption of Astarion, who actually feel more powerful ( probably because he can walk in the sun and enter Houses uninvited now).

It cou have to do with the indoctrination process being interrupted for the party members. It's not a great explanation, but one, that might work.

Of course it's a game mechanic, but the characters (even ours if we give them background) had lives before, some of them quite epic, so having them on lvl1 is just strange...thus why everyone tries to make it make sense

Maybe i didnt expressed myself properly once again ...

I didnt mean that levels have no meaning!
I wanted to say something like our backgrounds, or starting stats have meaning aswell and levels simply are not everything.

Obviously we will start at level 1, bcs that is where the game starts ...
So ... i gues what im trying to say is that maybe you are looking for reason where there is none. :-/

Did they tho?

Shadowheart had Format:#C ... that alone should be perfect excuse for loosing all her experience.

Astarion never even had any to begin with ... bcs his whole life was about "show on party, wait until some noble hit on me, take them to my master" ... i believe he could be quite experienced Vine taster, or party maker ... but hardly an adventurer.

Gale have it simmilar as Shadowheart ... i mean, his "orb" litteraly consumes magic. How can anyone presume he would still be powerfull wizard with this?

As for Lae'zel ... well, she certainly claims to have super elite training ... the problem is that is just how she sees it, it can be exactly the same training as your Tav Fighter have ... but hers is still better in her eyes, bcs it was done by Githyanki who are supperiour.

And Wyll? Wyll is a fraud and i quite honestly dont believe single story he tells about him ... and i really, really, REALLY hope that later in game we find out that he actualy never done any of those heroic deeds, that it was all just stories Myzora was telling discuised as Bard.

Minsc was statue for hundert years, woulnt surprise me if his moves would get little ... rusty.

And Karlach was used to hell powers, that she can no longer acess ... thats just the same as Gale.

Quite honestly, when i read this all ...
Im surprised someone presume they shouldnt be level 1.

How is that english saying: As long as the glove fits ... or somerhing like that?

But if it doesn't fit you must acquit.

You quite literally gave us your take on why they have level 1

It's not explained in game so far so we all make up our own reasons why people who have been around some time are at level 1 because logically speaking, as someone already stated, killing rats should give you at least some experience. And yes, once agaian, I realize it's a game mechanic but we do what we gotta do to put the story 'right' in our heads

Harmless fun.

Did i?
I mean ... yeah, you are 100% corect about Wyll, well, more like 75% since his old Flaming Fist captain acused him to be fraud :P ... maaaaaaaybe Lae'zel, where i just connected dots provided by game ...

But all other cases we were litteraly told ingame. O_o

But even if ... what else can i give than my own take after all, right?

Well, I agree that the non-tadpole explanations aren't 100% convincing, but as you say nor is the tadpole one.

Of course we all know that really Larian's writers just need some way to explain how our characters/party all start at a low level while still giving them interesting back stories, but as I'm all for interesting back stories and accept the need to have our party all at a reasonably low level to start with, I'm perfectly okay to handwave the - relatively minor in my view - implausibiities as long as Larian have a decent stab at making it narratively plausible.

Personally, based on what we know so far, I find the non-tadpole explanations more compelling than the tadpole one, but I can see why someone might lean the other way. And it's still early days, and I expect new information will come to light in later chapters that may well change my mind.


Yes, exactly

I always thought that his former Flaming Fist captain maybe knew or had a suspicion that he is a warlock, and that the fraud part was about Wyll not achieving all his heroic deeds on his own.

But I like this interpretation even better. If Wyll's stories would be mostly made up or highly exagerated, this would be a really interesting start for a character development, becoming the hero he pretended to be.

That's what I thought, or rather that she'd known him while he was a useless waste of space and has reason to be suspicious of what he did in order to become a hero.


Hmm. While I'd be more surprised to find out that Wyll's exploits hadn't been exaggerated to some degree than that they were all perfectly true, I'm not getting the vibe that it's all a sham, and particularly not one that he (or Mizora) is behind. Perhaps naively, I believed him when he told me that he agreed to the pact to get power to make a difference (or at least kill goblins) and didn't get the sense that what he really was after was fame and to be thought of as a hero rather than be one. I guess we'll see .

I think our Wyll's exploits are true, for the most part, maybe with some slight exaggerations for dramatic effect (I think he seems to like a bit of theatrics 😉).
But as a thought experiment, if he mostly pretended to be a hero and then has to live up to these expectations and become a hero, that would also be fun.

But it could be an interesting backstory idea for a new Tav, maybe with the charlatan background.

I believe Wyll, too, I think hat he genuinely wants to do some good and help people, and that he only agreed to the pact with good intentions, to prevent others from suffering, and also to be able to take revenge. He seems to be a bit impetuos at times, and I think he also enjoys the role as the hero "The Blade of Frontiers", but I think he really wants to make a positive impact.

I don't think that he would correct it if others exaggerate his exploits, but maybe not even out of self-interest, but because he thinks people need a hero.

Yes, it is a bit suspicious if someone you know as a maybe not very talented fighter who is also not very disciplined suddenly becomes a famous folk hero known for his swordsmanship 😁

Indeed! And I suspect that there might be more to the story of the raid where Wyll lost his eye. I can't recall what he says about the raid exactly, but was he in the Flaming Fist at the time? Did he somehow screw up and she knows and blames him for deaths of civilians and/or his squadmates? That would perhaps help explain why she can't see him as a hero.

Well ...
I gues this is also possible.

Maybe i was just hoping for some less typical story.