To an earlier mention of Minsc, who is our big n strong but not bright, beloved ranger, doesn't he hate Vampires so would he hate Astarion and have a similar dynamic that Shadowheart and Laezel have where the two hate whatever makes the other happy?
Maybe you will be forced to choose between Minsc and Astarion like you were forced to choose between Keldorn /Valygar and Viconia.
About the mentioned books: Lord of the rings was very progressive for its time and Tolkien singlehandedly made up many of the nowadays fantasy tropes. And Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire are so much more than 'revenge and war stories'.
And yes for feeding goodberry pie to Boo for approval.
Hmm, maybe, though I would like to finagle them both in the party, however tenuous. I didn't really like the fight to the death mechanic in the first BG BUT having some more noticeable conflicts could be interesting, especially if there were ways to navigate those conflicts with and without rolling AND they could reveal things about the characters. Laezel and Shadowheart should probably have a full on confrontation at some point, perhaps over the artifact Shadowheart possesses or how BS the creche idea actually is.
