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In Act 1, my character was disoriented and trying to get even a basic grasp on who she was. I started her off as a lute-playing bard in her cute little bard outfit and strictly red hair. Then she had a transformative moment early in the game where Selune appeared to her and promised to protect her and empower her as she struggled with her violent urges. (And she NEEDED that strength, because it would be bad to kill the people who could help her and who were counting on her.) So she became 1 level Knowledge Cleric of Selune and the rest bard.

In Act 1 my character slowly rediscovered herself (or perhaps discovered herself for the first time) by leaning in to the only information that she had about her past identity, that she was a bard. So since the joy of song had faded (as revealed in the initial Durge camp scene), part of Act 1 was about rekindling her joy in song/music. Romancing Shadowheart, I had Shadowheart learn how to play musical instruments from Alfira, and then my character taught her further by playing in camp some evenings. Doing this and performing for the tieflings with Shadowheart, at their party, contributed to restoring my character's bardic spirit, a sense of selfhood, her wittiness and verve.

Despite this, if you've played Act 1 as Durge, you'll know that you unavoidably (?) kill an innocent Dragonborn (gotta do what I gotta do for my girl Alfira) and continue to struggle with murderous impulses. She does her best to resist, with the guidance of Selune, repeating the dogma "all love alive under my [Selune's] light has my blessing." But over the course of Act 1, my Durge also realizes that she can use her murderous impulses for good and to protect the people she has started to care about.

Screenshots are of my character's appearance in Act 1.

Then at the beginning of Act 2, I imagined that my character was given a special charge by Selune to illuminate and, if possible, dispel the curse of profound darkness afflicting the Shadow Cursed Lands. It is VERY fun to play as a Light Cleric in Act 2. So I respecced my character to 1 bard (not leaving behind that aspect of her personality) and then the rest light cleric. I changed her appearance to reflect this reorientation in her priorities, donning new armor and refashioning her hair so that (to me) it was the color of moonlight. I just like the purple/blue combo with a touch of gold.

Of course if you've played Act 2, you'll know that you can successfully dispel the Shadow Curse, so my character succeeded in the mission entrusted to her by Selune. And throughout Act 2 (and Act 1 really), you get very interesting interactions with Shadowheart, and being a cleric of Selune in general gives you more investment in the conflict between Selune and Shar.

And as Durge in Act 2, my character continued to struggle (but more successfully and triumphantly) against her urges, and proficiency in Wisdom saving throws and high wisdom as a cleric definitely helped with this. (I.e., wisdom granted to her by Selune to resist.) So she's striving to continue to redefine herself as a good-natured bard and an agent of Selune's love in the world. And not collapsing under the pressure of the identity that her butler assigns to her. In this you get some fun parallels with Shadowheart's story.

Screenshots are of my character's appearance in Act 2.

Now I've just gotten to Act 3 and I've decided to integrate the two aspects of my character's new, hard-fought-for sense of selfhood, fully embracing both her identity as a bard and as a cleric of Selune. She has fully come into her own, so to speak. Whereas Act 1 emphasized her development as a bard and Act 2 centered on her development as a cleric of Selune, Act 3 integrates the two. She is currently 5/5 College of Lore Bard and Light Domain cleric.

I realize that this is not an optimal combo, BUT it's on balanced mode so I can basically do whatever I want and Lae'zel will murder everything in sight for me. <3 And Shadowheart as a full Light Cleric now (respecced her at the beginning of Act 3) will blast them to bits for me as well. <3 <3 <3 And I know that light isn't *technically* a domain of Selune, but close enough and I like the powerful offensive spells.

Screenshots are of my character's appearance in Act 3. She switched her hair color to a nice blueish-grey in solidarity with Shadowheart who doesn't necessarily like the new color of her hair. Plus, I just think it looks nice. Normally what I'm going for with any given character is an "adorable" look because, if I'm gonna have to stare at them for 80+ hours, they better be easy on the eyes!



Incidentally I think that Shadowheart's face is really cute here as well. ^^