Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Story Logic for a Githyanki Durge Paladin?

The title says it all. How would a Githyanki Dark Urge Paladin make sense within the logic of the game/story? I’m currently playing through as an elf cleric/bard resisting Durge, romancing Shadowheart, in balanced mode. I want to do something completely different after I finish this playthrough. Namely, playing as a Githyanki (still resisting) Durge paladin, romancing Lae’zel, in tactician mode.

Has anybody played this combination (or gith/paladin or gith/Durge combos) and how did you justify it storywise?

I don’t mind starting as a different class and then having a conversion of sorts. It’s what I did with my Durge cleric. Act 3 spoilers are okay since I’ve already played a decent portion of act 3 on my cleric/bard Durge run. Thanks!

Oath of Vengeance. Fits with Gityanki being LE. IMO.
For the love of all that is holy - the psycho Minthara was a Paladin of Llolth, then a Paladin of Absolute. And if you recruit her she is a Paladin of ... something.
So a Paladin of Vlaakith (or some other Gityanki thing - Tiamat, Orpheus, Bahamut, Scratch etc.) is not outlandish. For the Evul! feel you can go Oathbreaker 3 minutes out of the Nautiloid. You'd have to endure the dialogue with the Scottish guy, though ...

As to the Dark Urge side - that's up to you

I don't think starting as a paladin makes any sense for a dark urge character. This person doesn't remember anything, has a terrible past, but somehow carries the power of a vow with no memory of having made the vow? This kind of approach is dead on arrival, imo.

However, again imo, it makes sense for a dark urge character to take a vow somewhere along the course of the journey. To set aside the past and dedicate the future to a cause. I'd argue that the moment this happens should be of vital importance to the character and the vow.

Doesn't this apply to at least half of the classes?
How can the amnesiac remember being a priest(ess) - and of what Diety, his or her patron - if warlock, etc.

And some of the mess with Paladins in BG3 can be laid at 5ed's door.

IMO it is impossible to play a Durge and be a Cleric or Paladin of a Neutral or Good Diety and not "fall". In tabletop you'd be deprived of your divine given powers very quickly. But in BG3 - Cleric of e.g. Ilmater or Lathander for Durge - no problem ...

I don't think Dark Urge works at all with Cleric, Druid, or Warlock either.

The chosen of Bhaal was a priest of... it makes no sense.

The chosen of Bhaal had a pact with... it just doesn't work.

The dark urge is more than just an evil compulsion. Even though the character can't remember the past, the past still existed and comes out through gameplay. Anyone can play whatever they like, of course, but if we're talking about RP'ing choices that make sense then it might be best to avoid certain classes.

Hear! Hear!
Good point about Druid - although they are Neutral on the Law-Chaos axis, they can be squirrel kicking (it attacked me first!) Evil.

I tried to play a Dark Urges resisting Durge but murdering Alfira broke me. Durge is not for me, at least for now,

I’ve actually had a really good time playing a cleric of Selune as Dark Urge. I started as a Bard, and then headcanoned certain transformative events. So if I were to play a Paladin, I would start as something like a fighter, and then headcanon in the same way. So, yeah, STARTING as a cleric or paladin wouldn’t work for me, but BEING a cleric or paladin works great for me, at least, from my own storytelling standpoint. I’m fine with mixing Dark Urge with a Paladin. I guess what I’m more perplexed about is the synergy of Githyanki with Dark Urge. Since you all have made a good point that githyanki and the Paladin class are perfectly compatible.

Theoretically being a githyanki is not a problem. Durge is Bhaalessence made into a being,a tool for Bhaal. If he decides, that tool should be githyanki for whatever reason, then that is it.
Classes, I would do the same, start as a fighter or rogue and switch to the classes you want along the road. Cleric of Selune is an easy one, since you find traces of her everywhere. Paladin would make sense after the murder, when you swear to resist from now on. Even warlock can make sense, powerful beings might be interested in securing the chosen of Bhaal, before he is able to reclaim you. I mean,you could even headcanon for a fiendlock, that you become Raphaels warlock. The game doesn't address it, but given, that he knows, what you can do and probably want to piss off Gortash, your former partner in crime, it could make sense.

All Paladins start with a book of oaths in their pack. All the Durge has to do is read it upon waking in order to figure out s/he is one.

That having been said, Oath of Vengeance is the way to go unless you want to break your oath.

No memory of a vow. Overwhelmed by dark murderous urges. But here's this book. Now I've got paladin powers.

Doesn't work for me. Your mileage may vary.

Idk I feel like you can pick any class and tell any story, as long as you’re willing to think creatively enough about it. Like, if someone wanted to START as a Paladin of vengeance, then they could tell the story— and this is just one example— And then down the line, they wake up with this oath of vengeance, and they don’t remember why they swore it, or why these thoughts of vengeance are swirling around in their head to begin with. One of the first options you can choose as Dark Urge when you wake up on the nautiloid is to curse those who did this to you. You already have the subconscious desire for vengeance, canonical in the game.

Alternately as Dark Urge,And yes, you wake up and you have this oath, and you don’t know where it came from, but unraveling the mystery of the existence of that oath is part and parcel of unraveling the mystery of yourself!

And then, perhaps, on the journey through Acts 1 and 2, the (resisting) Durge could suspect that their power might come from this, that, or the other deity, or want to make a vow to a deity who can help them resist the urges. Maybe they want to reject whatever mysterious being empowered them in the past and turn to a new deity for power and protection. And so there can be a transition, from one type of paladin to another, if you wanted to re-class the paladin, and what type they are. So basically what I’m saying is, the only limit to what you can do with the Durge is the limit of one’s imagination. I’d be hesitant to shut down anybody’s ideas.

Thanks everybody for your responses! They have been helpful, for sure.

Well, sure, it wouldn't work if the book was just sitting in your pack for no reason. The idea is that it is there because that is what you were before the memory loss, and reading the book reminds you of that fact.

I think it could definitely work with an oath of vengeance! Probably not oath of the ancients or oath of devotion, though. At least as the “character creation” screen starting class

Yes, you're probably right.

But there's aways divine intervention if you're really set on playing whatever. Durge was in the pod unconscious for a bit, any god could have visited them then.

I use that excuse as to why my Durge is a Seldarine drow since drow must choose who they worship at character creation by way of their subrace. And you could always take one level into Cleric for the character tags after they "find religion". One level in the War domain worked well for my Ranger.

I mean, I could see that, if you thought up a semi-elaborate scene of being visited by a deity in a vision in the pod. If you play as an elf Durge, they do say “Corellon preserve us” after seeing the woman transform on the nautiloid. So there does appear to be an awareness of other deities. Although you could also argue that it’s simply an inconsistency that the developers didn’t account for? I think I’d personally go for oath of vengeance first, though, if I wanted to do a Durge paladin. Then change it up later!

IIRC during torture/mind flaying Minthara - that poor, sweet, little innocent thing! - cries out for Mommy Spider Queen.

Once she is recruited she explains how, even though now serving a THIRD cause, she still has all Paladin powers (in spite of abandoning TWO dieties). The explanation went over my head, though :P

Can you be a “good” Githyanki? Like do they always have to be lawful evil, evil in some other way, or neutral? Sure, a githyanki can be the Durge. But what are the odds, from a roleplay perspective, that a githyanki would be a RESISTING urge, rather than someone who embraces the urge?

I guess I’m thinking of that poor kid in the creche who kept getting beaten because he was “weak” and compassionate. He seems so unique. How did he end up like that and how would another githyanki end up like that?

And I don’t think that Lae’zel is truly evil. Just, very principled, occasionally impolite, and obnoxiously strong-willed. Or would I just need to play another race like a halfling if I wanted to do a resisting Durge?

Any race can produce a non-asshole. The Poster Boy of this is Drizzt D'Urden :P
So, even a Git'yanki need not be a murderhobo :P