My head cannon is the following:
- Durge - was Bhaals chosen and started the whole sieze the crown and control the elder brain plan with Gortash. Then they get stabbed in the brain and tadpoled by Orin. This resets them to 1st level and they can choose to be good and forsake Bhaal this time. Can be explained just on the brain injury.
- Gale - between the orb and the tadpole he loses his old abilities, maybe Mystra took them away as well. Can be explained without relying on the tadpole.
- Astarian - Should have been a Bard, wasn't high level before the tadpole got him.
- Wyll - He was exagerating all of his exploits and fame. Did anyone ever actually recognize him as 'the blade of the frontier' or is that the name the ponce gave himself?
- Karlach - When she left the service of Zariel she lost her power along with the tadpole effect.
- TAV - just a nobody snatched off the street
- Shadowheart - tadpole effect
- Lae Zel - She starts off trained from her schooling but is a young warrior that was out to prove themselves.
Starting at low level can be explained for all the characters. Shadowheart is probably the hardest to explain as you only have the tadpole effect to work with, the rest all have a primary reason as to why they lost their old abilities.
