Hi, I've got other ideas I would like to share!
What I realized during my playthrough is that roleplaying my Tav felt a bit empty and the character seemed somewhat soulless. Then came the realization that it was because even though I can customize the appearance of my Tav and later make many choices in the game, I can't really tell my character's past story, it's not grounded in plot and world. The first time I felt like that, was during the first meeting with Astarion when he asked about who we were and we couldn't really answer this question with more than a "we are whatever you imagine us to be" kind of response which broke my immersion a bit. This was a good moment to let us use some kind of class or background-based choice as an answer even if only for fluff of roleplaying.
I know backgrounds have already been used in the inspiration system, but personally, I would love to see them also have more impact on our Tav dialog choices or how NPCs react to us. It would make our character more grounded in the game's world. This would also be a good pretext and provide more occasions to interact with companions, maybe even share some things and feelings with them - bonding along the journey between acts.
Think about how cool it would be if You chose
Soldier background, then in the creation screen was provided with another three choices of what kind of soldier and then choose that You worked for Flaming Fist... and later in the story NPCs from said organization would react to this like "wait, I know You, we worked together in that one district once" or something like that. You choose
Criminal one? Got three other choices, one of them... maybe you were a thief working for Zentharims? Another whole different experience while interacting with those characters! It could also give you an edge over other Tavs You play, for example lowering a bit DCs of social interaction rolls with said organization if You have a good relationship with them. This would completely change how you feel through one gameplay and another. One sorcerer charlatan would experience an entirely different story from that sorcerer sage!
With this, we can go further with another idea. Dark Urge's origin story is heavily grounded in the main plot, but their background is entirely about their urges, giving them special subquestlines while making them fully customizable in character creator. Why not give all those Tavs their justice and also present them with small subquestlines based on their chosen background? Of course I don't even imagine that they would be as fleshed out as in the case of DU or other origins. They don't have to be big and meddle in the main plot too much even; it might be a simple delivery mission or a simple kicking of a few butts in the narrow alley of Baldur's Gate's streets because of some old gangery quarrel. Just let it feel personal for Tav, let us feel that our character really belongs to that city... or maybe not! A great example of implementation for this kind of questlines is what was done in Solasta, which really made me enjoy that game a lot more and made me more engaged in the story and I think this is also what makes DU origin enjoyable. All other origins have their special subquestlines that give them more depth and connect them with the world around them - I think custom Tavs also need something similar. That background connection and grounding. This could be another chance to make companions more talkative with our character and reactive to the person who happens to be Tav in more engaged ways too.
Well, that's it, thanks for reading!
