Larian Studios Forums Divinity General Discussion What races are planned for Divinity and party size? Expecting more or less?

To be fair, the same is true for all of BG3's cast besides Lae'zel. (Karlach's being a Tiefling is only relevant in that it gives a reason why she could survive in Avernus and the burning heat of her Infernal Engine heart - Beyond that, she could be anything).

Heck, even the Emperor being an Illithid feels kind of phoned in, even if it makes it into story it doesn't have any real relevance to the character (Especially given his stance of not being interested in becoming human again, so it's not as if his transformation has given him something to overcome...). Like, they could have literally have kept him as your Guardian throughout the entire game and nothing would really change for his characterization (If anything it might have improved things because then the choice between Emperor and Orpheus would be less ridiculously one sided, because instead of being a decision between Mr Evily McEvilface and Mary Sue, one of the characters is just a plain old adventurer who helped you out instead of an evil mastermind manipulating you for their own purposes)

It's one of the disappointing aspects of BG3's writing.

Though, DOS2 was much better in that regard. Fane being an Eternal, The Red Prince being a Lizard, Beast being a Dwarf and Sebille being an Elf were much more integral to their characters and stories (Of course, Lohse and Ifan both being human was, as is typical, completely irrelevant)

So it's not as if Larian cannot write race relevancy into characters. They just opted not to for BG3 outside of Lae'zel.

We had that with a certain male druid elf, who basically was just a romance without story.

When you eventually arrive in Baldur's Gate together, he's maybe a bit like Sandy Cheeks, out of his element but still part of the gang. Most druids would even suffer debuffs, if staying in urban areas for too long. In the first two acts he is quite heavily involved in the story, though.

I'm looking forward to Larian's take on scaly folk. If I remember correctly, Dragonborn were introduced into D&D during 4e, with no context given and a description saying they just happen to resemble the dragons to whom they are not related, however. Typical WotC-slop. The continent/scenario they came from only existed in 4th edition and was apparently completely retconned away for 5e. There were several draconic races in 2e and earlier, even ones available as player races, but they weren't native to Faerûn. So, while I did enjoy some of the dragonborn NPCs on the humorous side, I'm quite glad they weren't overdone in BG3. Now I hope the BMG brings back puzzles!

Despite no ancestral links to the mighty creatures, these dragonborn share the charcoal colouration and fizzling, acrid breath of black dragons.

Well, for dragonborn I only had the information from BG3, I think.


They do have their fans, so fair game. I'm just glad they were as rare as they were.

As for me, I expect Larian to follow its standardized route now, no proper innovations or risks on their part are to be expected.

why did they start with a Diablo-like if their dream was a TB game? And make then another one, then Divinity II and then Dragon Commander... that's nonsensical

Considering how pornography and sex sell worldwide, there was no risks taken including those. Quite the opposite.

As for races, it's not like we could already play non-standards races in other D&D titles. I'd say they could have bring a lot more.

I can't help but wonder how much of Lae'zel's popularity comes from Devora Wilde's voice acting. If she had spoken like  Ghustil Stornugoss, or quartemaster  A'jak'nir Jeera, that might have reduced the attractiveness, IMO. Her voice and facial movment are really well done. I WANT to go talk with her because she's fun.
And Karlach, despite the tail and the horns, her face is really beautiful. And her humor , sadness and genral way of being make her very likable and "human".

Were they pushed to really alien manners of speech and manners in general, my guess is that they would be far less popular.

It's almost certainly a factor. A voice can either enhance or detract from a specific character. Not just in terms of the quality of the voice acting, but how often you hear the same voice actor or actress in a role.

I really like Jennifer English and Ben Starr, for example, though at the same time I dislike how present they are due to their success. As talented as they are, it's immersion breaking when the protagonists in multiple games basically end up with the exact same voice that is quite obviously 'them'.

This is also the case with visual acting in movies and TV shows. Certain actors and actresses can be near unrecognisable across different roles in their career, whereas others end up essentially just playing the same character over and over again.

I also think some voice actors and voice actresses do not do themselves any favours by embracing the more parasocial elements of any given fanbase, especially when weighing in on controversial and divisive issues.