Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What Companion don't you Trust?

All good ^.^ this is friendly and I think we're going to keep seeing the situation differently, but that's okay. Even if I'm wrong (and I may be, when the full game comes out).... I'll stand by the way I feel about these particular things, and blame Larian for what I will most likely call poor writing <.< >.>

Anyhow... I see his flaws as overconfidence, ego, a bit of social awkwardness, but enough self-centred self-assurance to believe that he's actually smooth and charming all the time. He's more insecure than he wishes to let on, because even after all this time, the blow to his confidence has him over-compensating. The more recent loss of the greater majority of his power has left him in a position where his raw intellect and experience are what he must fall back on, so he Must believe that they are tools that are up to solving any and every problem he has – his own sense of self-worth depends upon it… and there Is a very big self-worth wound lurking beneath his academic bravado. He used to have a healthy level of self worth and self love (along with an unhealthy degree of ego and pride), but right now he doesn't, and it's eating him alive just as much as his shadow orb is. That's my take anyway... none of that is malicious or deceptive, to me.


You say that... but I don't really feel you do that successfully, at least not for me, not yet. I agree that the lack of further dialogue to talk him around without the promise is probably deliberate and an element of his current character, I'm just saying it would look better for him if we cold have that conversation.


No, it's a security blanket for him – it's not about you at all, and it does not give him ANY control. He knows that if he tells you, and he's incorrect about whether you will accept that, and not freak out about it, or do something rash... then the promise itself means nothing; if he's wrong about you, then that promise will not stop the things he's worried about and it won't serve any purpose or hold any value... and if he's right, and you are trustworthy, then the promise is also meaningless because you're not going to freak our or act rashly anyway. It's purely a security blanket for him, because he feels better having that promise there before he tells you about the biggest source of shame and personal failure in his life – and that is exactly what he is telling you about; his biggest failure and his greatest shame, and the way in which it is continuing to make problems for him and everyone around him, and is making him a burden, when he's used to being the one with all the answers and all the power. It's a big thing to admit you need help with, for someone like him.

We'll have to disagree about the escalation – from my perspective, what he tells you from the outset, is that he needs magical artefacts – plural – to feed this hungry chunk of weave, and that if he doesn't keep it fed, continuously, it's going to do some real bad things. He lets us know that the more powerful the artefacts he feeds it, the better. That is where we stand, after he comes to us with his need – and that is exactly where we Stay – no escalation.

My general experience with Gale is usually tossing him the sword as the very first artefact he shows interest in, and then him contentedly telling me that he's good for the rest of the act. And he is. It doesn't come up again, he doesn't ask for more. When you give him an artefact that isn't enough to hold it off long term, he tells you immediately; he tells you that it will keep him safe for a while, but he'll need more soon. This is not new or escalated information – he has already told us that he needs these on the regular.

You said that you cannot get by with just giving him all the other artefacts that show up on his list, and not one of the major ones – that hasn't been my experience, personally. If you regularly feed him lesser artefacts, does he still feel compelled to stake his soul with Raphael over the matter? That hasn't been my personal experience, and I'm sure it wasn't that way a few patches ago.



But he didn't say that... YOU put those words in his mouth; they don't exist except in your interpretation.


Perhaps our perspectives are different here because this has never really affected me, personally – I'm unemployed and live on a disability pension, but I do donate to a few different organisations, to the limit of my capabilities and to the extent I want to; there are several others I support without giving money to, and I juggle a bit depending on my capability and breathing room. When they ask if I can donate an extra $5 to their cause, or if I could be persuaded to to make an ongoing sponsorship payment, I tell them that no, I can't. That's all there is to it; my self worth is not called into question by this. I know that I'm doing as much as I can, or as much as I feel I wish to – nothing they say on the other end has any impact on that, for me.


I'm curious about this... I watched the section from 26-29, where he's told you that he needs to eat powerful weave strands, by way of artefacts, and you're questioning him on the topic. Nowhere during that did I feel him calling into question my value or self-worth as a person, or casting shade on my goodness as a person – it was just a question and answer session where he gave honest, but reticent and short answers about his condition and his needs. When you tell him you're not ready to give up the one he identified, he says “Okay, that's fine – but please do keep on the look out for others; it will save my life, and faerun is full of them – though they're usually protected (again; up front telling you that there will be danger, most likely, in trying to acquire more, not escalating to that risk after the fact). What part of this exchange, to your perspective, is him casting shade on your status as a good person?

He denotes the value points that they would otherwise hold for him – that they are artefacts of power, history and magic – when conveying that he understands that what he is asking of you is a lot – he's not accusing you of being power-seduced at all... again, I feel that's you putting that interpretation there where it simply does not exist at all.


Well, you can also sacrifice him to Booaal. I only regret that you cannot whisper to him that it's a clever ploy since they'll kill him, then all die in his body's necrotic aura, and then you'll rez him after – and ask him to trust you.



Yes – If he runs out of options, and no-one is willing to help him, he assesses what his choices are, and he chooses – unsurprisingly to me – the one that endangers ONLY himself, and his immortal soul, and no-one else.

He does not vindictively let himself blow up and take everyone with him, he does not steal artefacts from you and consume them on the sly, and he does not tear off into the wilds on the blind hope of finding one himself, without any leads or reliable information indicating that he will be able to in time. No... he does the thing he clearly did not Want to do as a first choice, now because it is his only safe contingency plan left... he stakes his own soul, and no-one else's, with Raphael to help his problem.

If anything, this paints him in a better, if more desperate light, than any other choice. What would you, as a good and honest person, do in his position: you've got a ticking clock that will devastate a huge area and kill countless people, your companions have in their possession, but have refused you the tools you need to keep this danger at bay, and now you can feel your time is running dangerously low. Your goddess is not listening, your normal magical powers are reduced, and you're a long way from a major magical hub, with no way to get to one quickly. You know quite a lot about fiends and their interactions, and you know how devil contracts work, and you know one is watching you particularly right now; you don't know if you can beat one at its own game, but you know it's possible for the clever, and you believe you are very clever. What do you do? Clock's ticking. What does a good person, who cares about the lives, souls and rights of others, do, here?


As a player, I still do think you're putting something there that doesn't exist – and if it did exist, we should get the same tools checking it like we do for other deceptive followers when they deceive or mislead us.

On the subject of Mystra...


What he did in folly, was what caused her to abandon him almost completely. What he is doing may be antithetical to what he should be doing in her name... but what would you have him do instead? What option does he have, to not do that? It's not a choice that he can make, so it's also not something we can hold against him.


Gale does these things, right now, in act one. He shows a deep love and fascination with all things magical, at almost all times, he encourages others to try and to experience magic, and he is always happy to educate, explain and teach any who show an interest. He does not tell the barbarian “Oh it's complex magic, you wouldn't understand” - he teaches you what he is doing, gives you the correct terminology to talk about it, and encourages your interest in it if you show any at all.

He also shows us that he has taken the time to develop new spells – and just look at the spell he created! The one he shows us is one that allows other people, without a natural connection to the weave, to feel and experience it directly! That is what he chose to create. It's not a spell that exists in any textbook, and it's beautiful, yet benign; it's art. Love of magic and the eagerness to share that love of it with others positively oozes from his pores at every turn.

It could be said that he oversteps the line of pride, and uses magic for minor and frivolous things, but I don't really hold that against him, personally – though if he was really bad at that in his heyday, that may have been what led Mystra to grow bored of him and move on.

Right now, he is the unwitting gatekeeper of something destructive, and he feeds that thing to prevent it being more destructive... but he is not the one destroying magic. He is responsible for it, and he's paying a heavy toll for his foolishness and his pride.