Originally Posted by AmayaTenjo
Originally Posted by Sobocles
Okay, so are you okay with Halsin's behavior in the game?

Yes and no. There's behavior that I do like, or I wouldn't like him in the first place. I'm head over heels in love with the man. But I'm not ok with him inviting himself into sex with people he's not in a relationship with, or at east hasnt had previous consent for sex. Who tf bring up the idea of an orgy with friends for the first time in a scenario like that? If he was interested in group sex with Tav and friends why wait to be in a brothel? If he wants to sleep with the drow twins that bad he can just pay for it and do it himself.. Im not okay with him flirting with SH when hes not in a relationship with her, shes in a relationship with Tav, and Tav already turned him down.

Originally Posted by Sobocles
Do you endorse it?
Not really.

Originally Posted by Sobocles
Do you think the polyamorous proposal he makes to the player is well written
Yes, I think his proposal is fine. Its after the proposal I have issues with. With Astarion in particular: Astarion clearly is giving off vibes he doesnt fully consent to the situation, and doesnt participate in sex with Tav, let alone sex with Tav AND Halsin. With Halsin's emphasis on consent and him being poly and sexually experienced, I dont understand how he can be that oblivious to Astarions discomfort. Tav as well, they should both be able to sense that Astarion isnt okay, its never addressed, and it completely invalidates the emphasis on consent. Consent doesnt matter if Halsin and Tav get what they want. The whole poly thing was handled badly imho. It was rushed and not thought through, because they needed to justify his late romantic addition to the game without pissing off players and ruining the relationships they spent the last 2 acts building. His reason for being non mono is stupid and incorrect; he basically says its not natural which is a load of crap. Both mono (seasonally, for life, etc.) and non mono matings happen in nature. He says this because the writer doesnt seem to understand nature or druids. If we are gonna go the Wood Elf culture route: why not just say that? "Its just my culture", if its just how he chooses to live why cant he just say "I choose to not be mono". But if its really not for him as he says why does he tell Tav "I only want you"? If he only wants Tav, that implies he wants to be with Tav, he doesnt seem interested in others, and if Tav only wants him back then its done. They only want eachother. This may change later like in ANY relationship, but it doesnt need to go further than that if thats how it is. If he is the only one romanced by Tav, he makes no effort to romance/sleep with anyone else. Why not? IF hes poly why wouldnt he bring someone else in at some point in the game? When he is romanced by Tav, he wants Tav to persue others even if Tav is mechanically locked out of the other romances; he still makes no effort to be with others. Its almost like he wants Tav to be poly, or is using him being poly as a way to hide that he wants Tav to sleep with others. Hes only poly through Tav when Tav is poly, he does not pursue anyone unromanced on his own, he only goes for people that are romanced to Tav. If hes poly he doesnt need to push Tav to be poly when he can just go be poly himself but he wont do it. IF hes poly how come he is only poly with people who are in a relationship with Tav? Wouldnt it make sense for him to pursue people on his own and get consent from Tav to bring them in? Im fine with him being sex positive, Im fine with him being open to share, and Im fine with him being poly in concept. But he doesnt ACT like it. Plus he wont even define the relationship as poly, or a relationship at all as far as I know unless they did an update. "What we have is fluid" bullshit, and goes against the initial proposal. There has to be a relationship definition or theres no consent, how can you consent to something that isnt clear and defined? If he wants a poly relationship he needs to acknowledge the relationship as poly, not refuse to define it, he could say "I enjoy our relationship, I care for you and so and so dearly" instead of "I only want you, but I want others to find happiness with you" its mixed messages. And if the excuse is "Oh he was added last minute they diddnt have time" then they shouldnt have ever gone down this route to begin with then. Even then, he says stuff like "My heart is not easily moved" or something like that. He can still be poly, but it seems strange to me that all of the sudden, if he doesnt fall in love easy, that hed suddenly fall in love with 2 people. Which leads me to my next point:

Even in the polyships, hes the side piece. Hes only there for Tav and Astarion/Sharts sexual pleasure and thats it. The game and the fans can call it a poly relationship all it wants but thats the truth of it. Hes not an equal member of the relationship. If he was hed be with them in their epilogues. Hed be with Tav and Shart on the farm. Hed be with Tav and Astarion in the city, or they would be with him and the orphans. Its not 3 people in love with eachother, which is what I assume they were attempting to do, o rtrying to LOOK liek they were attempting to do, but failed miserably.

If its just for sex, and isnt a poly relationship, why does his romance dialogue seem to say otherwise? This means that either Halsin is using Tav and their partner for sex under the guise of a relationship, which he diddnt get consent to do, or Tav and their partner are using Halsin for sex; which just makes me sad because he is my beloved, not a sex toy.

His epilogue seems to fix the biggest issue I had with him which was, even if solomanced, he up and leaves you with no option to join him. He basically breaks up with you ontop of all the mixed messages and games he plays.


Originally Posted by Sobocles
or that you can only talk about his past with the drow if you engage in an orgy with him?

I hate this whole scenario. It was handled so incredibly badly that even though they kind of fixed it for many people the whole concept is tainted for me. This should have been addressed BEFORE hiring the drow.

Originally Posted by Sobocles
What improvements would you suggest for Halsin currently?

-cut the Drow SA plot; it adds absolutely nothing to his character, doesnt come up outside of Sharess' Caress and we have plenty of other characters with SA to deal with. It was handled so incredibly badly I really feel that it is actively harmful. If it MUST be kept, it COULD come up when you go to the Underdark.

-cut the chimera banter. I dont know much about DnD Chimeras but Im assuming theyre like beasts/animals, and Halsin implying hes slept with one is controversial alone, but he is a DRUID. AN ARCH DRUID. Can you imagine if he had the same banter about the Boar in the grove?

-I want them to explore more of his playful side, I want to laugh and have a little fun with him.

-He needs at least 1 long rest cutscene before act 3 if romanced, maybe something to do with nature so they can connect on a common interest. I have several ideas for some that Im going to explore with Fanfiction that take place over the course of the end of the Tiefling party to Act 2, as well as dialogue.

-he needs more dialogue, and they need to move his existing dialogue around. Theres no reason for him to open up about himself so late. Do we really need to wait until Thaniel is rescued before he tells us he likes Honey, ducks, how big he is, and how he got his scars?

-He needs to be able to control his bear form. His inability to control it comes up twice, once in the goblin camp and in his sex scene. In the goblin camp he warns that he bear might get aggressive and to not bring him along if you want to sneakily kill the cult leaders, which never happens ever in game when you actually play with him. Even in the battle at Last Light Inn he seems to be able to control it just fine. In his sex scene hes just so horny he loses control. He is an ARCH DRUID, not a were bear.

-cut down on the sex just a little bit. I love that hes open, enthusiastic, energetic, etc etc. But as it is its creepy and predetory.

-If Tav is solomancing him then the whole poly bit really doesnt need to be brought up at all. If he only wants Tav as he says, and Tav only wants him, then thats all there needs to happen. None of this our relationship is fluid non monogamy isnt for me dialogue needs to happen. IF you ask him about the relationship solomanced, it needs to reflect that they are solomanced.

Also this:

Originally Posted by Gandalfthefool
I have no problem with Halsin being into sex, my problems are that's all he has. Not to mention he just flirts with Shadowheart even though I have no relationship with him, you can only learn about his time as a slave if you have sex with the twins, (unless your a drow tav), he has nothing else. It comes off as the writers doubling down on the early access players thirsting for him. He didn't turn out well imo. I agree with others that he feels more of a parody of himself from act 1 or 2 in act 3.

Hello, thank you for responding. I see that a lot of Halsin's fans came because of the question I asked, that's fine, in fact, I did it on purpose as I knew that would happen xD. I wanted to raise the discussion a bit with people who think differently. I see that despite your love for the character, you were very critical of him, which I appreciate because I also tend to be very critical even of things I like when I see something isn't quite right. I liked it because you looked at the problem not only from Halsin's perspective but also from Astarion's, out of all the people who commented your comment seemed the most complete, thank you for sharing it, regards.