Larian Banner: Baldur's Gate Patch 9
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Joined: Aug 2024
E
Elly Offline OP
member
OP Offline
member
E
Joined: Aug 2024
If your character got to be in the game as a companion, in what different ways could their personal quest play out? What are the decisions Tav would make along the way to influence them one way or the other? Which one is the happier resolution for them? I'm curious!

Joined: Dec 2020
veteran
Offline
veteran
Joined: Dec 2020
That is hard to answer, since I normally make my characters pretty independant, which means, they won't let themselves get influenced a lot.
Out of the basket I can think of one character that might have a different way depending on what decision Tav makes: Miss Adalind Clover, my shield dwarf clockwork sorceress. She comes from a proud family of artificer in BG and became a clockwork sorceress herself, since she developed magical talent and wanted to use it in familiar ways. She herself worked as a private detective, but her family are with the Gondians. She was investigating a murder series by Bhaalists on Orins orders (she didn't find out about Orin, just about a Bhaal cult being active again - you know: Springtime, the crazies are coming up again smile ) and came too close to discover the whole Absolute plot, so she got shipped away to get tadpoled and put to work.
So she pretty much is motivated to put an end to the cult, but her priorities shift a bit, when she finds out, her family is basically enslaved by Gortash to work on his steelwatchers (for more drama, her brother could be one of the hostages in the underwater prison). So her good path will be to free the Gondians, maybe help them make peace with the Ironhands on Barcus behalf and stop Gortash, orin and the whole plot. Her really evil path would be to follow a powerhungry Tav to make a pact with Gortash and take control of the brain. For the evil path, I would say, Barcus has to be dead and Tav had to put in a lot of persuasion work. Her normal way would be the good way .


"We are all stories in the end. Just make it a good one."

Doctor Who
Joined: Feb 2022
Location: UK
Volunteer Moderator
Offline
Volunteer Moderator
Joined: Feb 2022
Location: UK
Yes, this is a tricky one. Of course Larian intentionally wrote the companions/origins and Durge specifically so they could go in different directions, but I confess it's not something I've generally considered when constructing my own characters. But now the question's been asked, I'm pondering options for characters that could develop quite differently depending on the rolls of some dice and what those key rolls might be!

Of the Tavs I've played so far.

  • My first tiefling Wild Sorceror/Rogue was more chaotic than good, but believed in freedom and hated authority and those who exercised power over others so the specific flavour of evil on offer was never going to be tempting to her. I think for her the crux point was not visiting the Mountain Pass but instead travelling through the Underdark, which meant that Voss didn't show up in camp and she didn't have enough influence with Lae'zel to get her to renounce Vlaakith. That meant that she had no knowledge of a Gith resistance or even that anyone else knew that Vlaakith had imprisoned Orpheus and wasn't actually Gith's chosen heir, and therefore believed Orpheus was the only hope of freedom for the githyanki. Had she known Voss was fomenting rebelliion, and had Lae'zel been part of it, she may have let Orpheus become a mindflayer to defeat the Netherbrain and she might have lived happily ever after (though not with Wyll who showed himself not to know her *at all* by proposing marriage after less than a couple of months - given a couple of decades or even a couple of years she might have come round to the idea!). As it was, she felt she needed to make the sacrifice and ended up taking her own life rather than live as a mindflayer.
  • My second Jack of all Trades run was probably only going to go one way. My halfling's prime driver was knowledge, and while she might have been curious as to what controlling the brain felt like she had zero interest in domination. She did lose a roll to try to avoid consuming the Astal Tadpole, and had she not become half-illithid she may not have taken the final step, but even if she'd succeeded I think it would only have been a matter of time until curiosity got the better of her.
  • My third run with a devotee of Eilistraee was never going to have an "evil" ending either, though I guess it could have been a bit darker if things had gone differently with Astarion. I'd intended them to romance him, but either through too low approval or making wrong choices, Astarion wasn't interested so I ended up roleplaying it as unrequited love. And unlike in my first two runs, Astarion actually wanted to ascend, and being unsure about releasing 7000 spawn my character probably would have supported him rather than kill him had they not managed to persuade him out of the idea. But I'm not sure exactly how that would have affected the outcome.
  • My monk/cleric of Ilmater is still at the beginning of act 2, but agan I don't really see any big turning points that could lead him to want to dominate the brain. He's all about the simple pleasures and peaceful life, so brain domination isn't slightly tempting. I'm hoping that he'll be able to settle down happily with Halsin and raise orphans and heal the shadow-cursed lands, but I guess it's still possible that Halsin won't find Thaniel in which case his HEA may not come and he'll probably just drink himself into oblivion once it's all over - or maybe without love and hope to tie him to life he'd make the sacrifice and become a mindflayer even at the cost of his soul.
  • My divination wizard/cleric of Mystra is a star elf whose motivations include a desire to find a way to protect her home realm from invading aberrations. She's probably going to be the most conflicted, given the potential power of the crown to help in that fight, her devotion to her goddess and her growing relationship with Gale are all in some tension.


Thanks for asking the question! As you can see, it got me thinking smile Though admittedly more about my characters as origins than companions. I'll have to ponder that some more.


"You may call it 'nonsense' if you like, but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!"
Joined: Aug 2024
E
Elly Offline OP
member
OP Offline
member
E
Joined: Aug 2024
Thank you both for the answers! They were fun to read smile

Joined: Feb 2024
journeyman
Offline
journeyman
Joined: Feb 2024
Since I stayed clear of meta knowledge during my playthrough, I guess my (gith necromancer) Tav was influenced by her companions and followers a lot! It was almost as much fun getting to know the character I was playing, as was getting to know the others. As a DM, it was also valuable to see how the Githyanki narrative had developed since AD&D 2e. When I started, Sava was supposed to be a brutal astral raider who got caught up in the whole thing. Teamed up with a
vampire and an evil priestess, Sava's journey seemed slated to become a bad-does-good kind of story, but this lasted until we ran into Wyll, Karlach and later Halsin. My in-game explanation for Sava getting soft (for a githyanki) was the connection to her good-aligned allies through the "tavpole" which itself seemed to have a personality as well. As if sometimes the voice, that was speaking from Sava's mouth, was not her own. This slightly schizophrenic state manifested in Sava bringing brutal strategies to the lance board, but then often softening up tactics, much to Astarion's dismay. Sava's excuse to herself was that wisdom and a broad roster of allies was a more effective weapon than sheer power.

Joined: Mar 2024
T
member
Offline
member
T
Joined: Mar 2024
The only game I've completed before, Myrna Brandybuck the halfling bard, good with a bit of chaotic. She's been helping with the reconstruction, performing to rather larger audiences than before, and joined the Harpers in the hope of a new adventure one day

Joined: Oct 2024
Location: Coventry, UK
stranger
Offline
stranger
Joined: Oct 2024
Location: Coventry, UK
My characters are always a bit boring. Because I like comfy things. I know a lot of people put their OCs through trauma, but not me.

My Tav is a tiefling sorceress. In the game, it seems like our Tavs are Baldurian. But I headcanon she rather grew up off the grid with her parents. She had a quiet childhood, loving parents, and no siblings. She only moved to Waterdeep to train and find work to save money and move her parents to the city as well. As they are getting older the forest is too remote for medical help if they ever need it. I can totally see her getting abducted by the Nautiloid, while she was doing some mundane job.

However, how my playthrough ended, would absolutely ruin her plans for moving her parents to a better place. But I am going to put that in spoilers.

I romanced Karlach. And I couldn't let her die on her own terms, so we moved to Avernus together. So far from taking care of her elderly parents LMAO.
I headcanon that eventually they find a way to fix the engine permanently so they can move back to Baldur's Gate. Move in the elderly parently of my Tav and live happily ever after.

Joined: Feb 2024
journeyman
Offline
journeyman
Joined: Feb 2024
Heh, it wasn't really an option for a Githyanki, but I usually prefer "boring" organically grown characters with everyday problems over born heroes and villains. One of the fantasy tales that influenced me most starts with a Hobbit whipping up supper and minding his own business. BG3 holds a lot of trauma in store for characters, so comfy origins are a great contrast.

Also, we need Dammon, Helsik and the Gondians to fix Karlach's heart, leave the Absolute to Omeluum and then party even harder at Reunion Camp.


Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5