So line of thought with Act 3 of Bg3 and I guess dream scenario?
We choose a side, Orpheus or The Emperor
Turns out Orpheus isn't as hostile once you free him and actually you know. Talk to him like a person. And killing his jailer, The Emperor proved that you just want to be rid of this damned parasite. And if you kill the Elder Brain you can kill all the parasites it generated.
This would also have to be along the lines of "player didn't use any mindflayer powers or consume any extra tadpoles" giving that choice of a playstyle a valid option.
From there, you get have to get the Orphic Hammer to fully free Orpheus giving you more reason to actually strike a deal with Raphael. You know it'll end bad, but you would be able to get the Prince of the Red Comet on your side. Go back to camp, through the now permanently open portal to the astral prism, free Orpheus.
Then you get a new permanent party member who you can actually interact with and get to know (and let's face it, romance. This is Bg3 horney gunna be horny)
From there nothing major needs to really change. The elfsong tavern isn't brought up but you could still explore it and find the stuff if you wanted. And then hey the Gith Ambush could be a romance flag for Orpheus if you bring him along? Mutual murder of an enemy, so hot.
Another change I'd make is in the House of Hope I'd add something like a heart for Karlach. Or maybe a "perfected" copy of her Infernal Engine. You'd probably need to find an infernal mechanic like say Dammon and bring him to the House of Hope after defeating Raphael and then boom Karlach's heart isn't about to fuckin explode.
The vampire ascendant ritual? Well hey Nightsong had a talk with Mother Dearest and in theory a reverse flow of positive (holy) energy could undo the Vampisim. After all, what's a small miracle like that for a Greater Deity like Selune? (Side note making Astarion a cleric would be fucking hilarious)
Then you could still give Astarion his life back (he's an elf. He's only something like 250 years old. He has centuries ahead of him yet) and hey the two characters that DIDNT get a happy ending can get one
Last major change I'd make,
Ansur.
If you side with Orpheus you could try to find a way to revive him. Like say through True Resurrection. So you go to the Stormshore Tabernacle Church and talk to the head priest. Unfortunately he can't help you there. But if you had a Cleric of Bahamut? Maybe someone level 10 or higher the boon you could beg would be to bring back Ansur rather than the permanent bless status.
Otherwise hey there is a scroll of True Resurrection in the game.
You uh. Just gotta kill Gale to get the letter with it is all.
But hey you could also just like. Talk to Gale? Be like hey buddy, did you happen to have a scroll of True Resurrection on you? Ya know, just in case of your whole orb dealy?
And depending on how friendly you were with him he'd be like "oh right yeah I do have that."
Or he'd tell you to fuck off or that he doesn't know w/e.
You go through all his steps and boom scroll of True Resurrection. (And then possibly just go to Withers and Rez him)
Back to Ansur, use the Scroll and he's back in full force. He helps you out in the final battle and all that. Maybe joins your camp as a dragonborn (that again you can sleep with. I mean shit you can sleep with Mizura why not)
Yes ,I've way over thought this
Yes, I know it'll never happen.
But its a fun "what if" kind of scenario thats been running around in my head for a while. I do dearly love this game but Act 3 just feels so rushed and slap chopped together. How we are forced to side with the Emperor until the very end of the game always kinda rubbed me the wrong way. And if we are going out of our way to fight the "super boss" Ansur and getting all this extra lore... it feels kind of like a slap in the face that we are just automatically assumed to be The Emperors thralls, especially when you've done a playthrough of refusing to use the mindflayer powers or use the tadpole at all
