Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Problems with Halsin's character, advances, LI and general character interactions, etc.

Honestly, I don’t remember SH saying she likes to have sex with multiple people in the first act, where did you get that from? The closest thing she says is in Act 3 when you cheat on her with Mizora, where it can be inferred that she was encouraged to have orgies with other acolytes in the Shar cult.

I think the main reason why Halsin pisses off so many monogamous players (myself included) is precisely because he's not just attacking Tav (we're already used to "fighting off" the advances of other companions and it generally doesn't cause any emotion), but because he's threatening the person you care about most - your partner. I fundamentally did not watch this nasty threesome on youtube, because otherwise it would be hard to keep from "bloody revenge", which would be extremely unfair and would ruin the roleplay, since this kind of thing doesn't happen in my game.

I understand that there have been people who have been taking it way to far, but I hope that this thread doesn't get deleted, because of those few people, because I support the argument/suggestion. I hope we can let this be a normal conversation with no threats or insults to anyone. To be clear I have no problems with poly, just the way it's handle.

This is my first post in this thread, but I have been wanting to post here for a while.

In my opinion that it is really out of character for selune shadowheart to be ok in a poly relationship, it would for Shar Shadowheart but not selune Shadowheart. She doesn't have sex with you until act 3 it is a build up, of love and trust, she is not okay with being in a poly with the other companions, but then Halsin comes around and everything changes. I also think the same thing Karlach, astarion, Gale and if you ask to be in a poly with them with Halsin, even when you asked them there not okay with it, but they say yes just to not lose Tav. I just don't like the writing with Halsin's poly because it was poorly done.

The problem is that it feels force, the poly option doesn't feel natural or mature,it feels like they wanted Halsin poly at last minute but didn't really cared if it made sense or not. It felt like last minute because it didn't feel set up by any of the other companions except Halsin. I think they saw that people were thirsty for Halsin, and wanted to hop on that, but the writers took it too far to the point where sex is the only thing Halsin has in act 3. From what I read (and correct me if i am wrong) you can only talk about Halsin life as a slave if you did the drow foursome with him, (or if you are a drow yourself). That's just really weird and unnecessary, why do I need to have foursome with him and the drow twins to learn about his backstory. It just doesn't feel mature at all none of it does.

Same thing with drow twins, Lae'zel, wyll, gale is not okay with you cheating on them with Mizora (they breaks up with you). With the drow twins they refuse foursome/threesome (Wyll, laezel, and initially gale but you can talk him into it), but they don't say anything if you by yourself have sex with the drow twins. Why? Wouldn't they also be breaking up with you then, because they break up with you if you have sex with Mizora.

Speaking of Mizora, it really makes no sense for Shadowheart (selune or shar) be okay with sex with Mizora, even if she was okay with one night stands. Think about it, Mizora puts wyll through hell, and works for the person that tortured Karlach, no way Shadowheart would have respect for you after having sex with her. Once again no maturity or logic in these scenes at all.

sex, love, relationships are mature and great in the companion personal stories, when you finally get to shadowheart sex scene it feels mature and done respectfully, when you get to astarion act 3 sex scene, it is also feel mature, despite the fact it takes place in a weird location to have sex in, it all feels more real. However outside of that, like MIzora, drow twins, Halsin, there is no maturity, there is no respect for poly or any of the characters including Halsin in the writing, and feels force with the way they wrote poly into the game. Again I am fine with poly, but this is a terrible execution.

It all feels they just wanted more sex in act 3, but they did it badly. In the end I just want them to respect all of the characters and relationships whether it's poly or mono.

For me, the Selunite Shadowheart scene is one of the most beautiful I've seen in a video game. I didn’t even see it as lewd or an explicit sex scene (more explicit are the scenes of Minthara, Lae'zel, even Karlach). The Shadowheart scene seems more romantic (like Astarion's), she even tells you to turn around so she can undress, like wtf??

I'm not against Selunite Shadowheart joining the infamous brothel scene. In fact, there are two interactions with her that I actually like:

The first is when she refuses to participate in the brothel, which is when Tav hasn't slept with her.
The second is when she agrees and tells you, "If you're comfortable sharing, so am I."
Everything gets ruined again when Halsin enters. If Shadowheart had said something like, "I don’t mind Halsin joining us, as long as you're not against it," to me, this dialogue, THIS INSIGNIFICANT DIALOGUE, would have solved 95% of the problem.

I'm no expert in poly relationships, I don't like them and I won't pretend to understand them, but as far as I know, aren’t these relationships supposed to involve mutual agreement from all parties? But when you put disapproval from Shadowheart, Astarion, and Halsin when you refuse, doesn’t that go against all this?

you literally can tell her that there is no place in relationship for her when you talk to her about Halsin and she just says that she is flexible and will manage, what the hell?

This just keeps getting better and better.

As for Gale, maybe adding something like "I'd much rather get lost in a book with you." could be nice, sounds perfectly lame to the kinky crowd but if you know, you know.

What I find regretable about this is - again - that you cannot discuss his advances with your companions. If I remember correctly, it is suggested that should you decided to enjoy a bit of squid, the whole gang watches. This implies that they might also witness his angry outburst if you make his plan crumble and I really want to talk to my companions about this particular outcome - I'd especially like to talk to Wyll about it.

This conversation should indeed be in the game. It's weird you sleep with him and no one says anything. You can only have a conversation about it with Raphael of all people.
The Emperor calling you his puppet and admitting he'd been manipulating you is something that completely changes your dynamic with him and therefore affects the whole group.

The whole brothel situation is a mess but I think you should at least be able to get away from the relatively neutral "Agreement? What kind of agreement?" without negative consequences. At the moment there isn't even an option for your own character to express that they themselves aren't interested in that sort of agreement. I am not sure what it looks for Shart, but if I click the option with Gale as my character's partner, I have to be cruel to him to get out of the situation. I really don't like that, both because I do not want to be cruel to him and because I dislike how my character is characterised through this lack of an option to say "no" for their own sake.

As for Gale, maybe adding something like "I'd much rather get lost in a book with you." could be nice, sounds perfectly lame to the kinky crowd but if you know, you know.

I think they should expand dialogue options, like I want to talk about Halsin's proposal with Shart without agreeing with him in the first place, I want to have an option to say that you won't share. Why not extra options for all companions? Like you said for Gale. Why not options to talk about Astarion's feelings, because he dissociates? Why not extra option that you are not comfortable of including Halsin to Shart?

I think they should expand dialogue options, like I want to talk about Halsin's proposal with Shart without agreeing with him in the first place, I want to have an option to say that you won't share. Why not extra options for all companions? Like you said for Gale. Why not options to talk about Astarion's feelings, because he dissociates? Why not extra option that you are not comfortable of including Halsin to Shart?

Yes, Selune Shadowheart brothel reaction is fine to me when Halsin is not around.
I just kinda do not understand why Shar Shadowheart and Selune Shadowheart have almost identical reactions to all these "adventures"? We know that Shar SH ends up being "short amusement" or "fling" and she knows this, so she shouldn't feel threatened in all of these scenarios. It makes sense.

But Selune Shadowheart? She generally has low self esteem and tries to stick to Tav(and basically relies on Tav), shouldn't she be more threatened by these scenraios and be more sensitive? How does she know that Tav won't dump her and stick with Halsin(you literally can tell her that there is no place in relationship for her when you talk to her about Halsin and she just says that she is flexible and will manage, what the hell?)? Shouldn't it be like Spawn/Ascendant Astarion ascendant difference?

Yes, Shadowheart's reaction is simply bad writing. We could spend all day trying to find some sense or double interpretation in it, but the problem is that it doesn't have any. This has a name in scriptwriting, it's called 'Out of Character' (OOC), and I'm surprised that Larian fell into something like that.

P.S.: In the epilogue, Shadowheart is also insecure, so much so that she's embarrassed that the life she has with Tav isn’t interesting enough to share with the other companions (despite being happy with it).

Well if we're gonna get OOC moments from companions to entertain Halsin's nonsense, might as well have our characters act OOC themselves and willingly give him up to Orin or use some other way to permanently get rid of him. I personally get rid of him in Act 3 so I can cure the Shadowlands, remove a redundant party member, and have bait for Orin where nobody else gets hurt. Win win win scenario right here.

I think the difference between Haarlep, the drow twins and Halsin is, that with the former three, you get a proposal and just can say no and in Haarleps case the fight starts and in the drow twins case they just wish you a good day. But with Halsin it is just different - he is insisting and you get disapproves, where it doesn't really make sense.
I have no problem getting a proposal for romance, sex and so on, but if I said no once, I want the case to rest.

And Halsin is positioned as a "friend," as a companion. An adequate friend would ask you, "How do you feel about polyamorous relationships? And what is your relationship with ... (substitute your lover's name)?" And after hearing your answer, he wouldn't suggest anything to you. It doesn't matter whether a person is polyamorous or monogamous, what his personal sexual predilections are, he should respect other people's relationships, he should first find out the other person's attitude towards what he is going to suggest.

She is not that insecure.
I agree that it feels OOC, but the point of this thread is to actually improve that and to make it make sense somewhat.

Yeah, going to be taken prisoner by Orin is his main mission in Act III. Heck, I'm actually more comfortable when he's not in my camp. I want to take Mintara instead in the next playthrough, but the prospect of a massacre in the grove doesn't make me at all happy either...


For me, the main difference between the three situations is who the characters are. Haarlep is an enemy, an original enemy with his own "quirks", but that's just an enemy's speech before a fight, plus he's an incubus, that's his essence, he seems to basically just do that. After all, "fear the incubus, don't go to Averno". The brothel workers offer you their services because it's their livelihood, they see everyone who comes to them as a client. I had just a funny "interview" with them, during which I found out their history, how they ended up here, etc. And I left quietly. Maybe I'm too old-fashioned and principled a person, but there are some things I will never do with my hand in my game, even for the sake of a test, so I absolutely don't care what kind of story the developers came up with in the brothel for Astarion, it doesn't exist for me.

And Halsin is positioned as a "friend," as a companion. An adequate friend would ask you, "How do you feel about polyamorous relationships? And what is your relationship with ... (substitute your lover's name)?" And after hearing your answer, he wouldn't suggest anything to you. It doesn't matter whether a person is polyamorous or monogamous, what his personal sexual predilections are, he should respect other people's relationships, he should first find out the other person's attitude towards what he is going to suggest.

Question for those who have taken Mintara - if you don't get romantically involved with her, how does she behave? Does she offer anything "Halsin style" or is she fine?

You can’t improve what the scriptwriters have already included in the game just by writing opinions, haha. But what meaning do you give to Shadowheart’s contradictory behavior? Because I can’t see any, beyond saying that Shadowheart is horny and cares more about sleeping with Halsin, even if it might endanger her current relationship.