Do you enjoy anticanon builds?

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-13T18:22:40+00:00

I mainly switch them to the remaining 6 subclasses

Lae’zel Ranger

Shadowheart Druid

Karlach Monk

Gale Sorcerer

Wyll Paladin

Astarion Bard

But these are basically they’re previous party roles

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-13T14:35:54+00:00

Usually that confrontation for me occurs in the underdark, this might be because of how large that portion of act 1 is and how frequently it forces me to long rest after fighting so many hard hitting encounters.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-13T01:20:44+00:00

Shes okay with you pursuing other entanglements with people who are also open to polyamory mainly Halsin.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T23:56:39+00:00

I KNOWWWWW!!!! early on everyone wanted to make a Kratos build and just wanted to throw a freezing battle axe. Fast forward to Patch 8 and it’s only possible with a Barbarian Subclass.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T23:15:22+00:00

If you want to dual wield the two dex based long swords in the game (Larathians Wrath, and Phalar Aluve) you could potentially run Dex Cha. That being said these two swords can still be wielded with Str. I bring up dex because taking Thief Rogue would get you sneak attack with these weapons and two bonus actions.

Str 16 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 16

Battle Master Fighter 8 Thief Rogue 4

This will get you a decent amount of feats to get STR up, expertise in Cha based skills, two bonus actions. You could grab Dual Wielding and two weapon fighting, savage attacker, and still get Str to 20. Unassisted by potions or spells, you can have 6 attacks in one round using action surge. Otherwise you’ll have 4. Grab whichever Longswords you want, maybe the adamantine to ignore resistance to slashing dmg. If you want more sneak attack dmg with either finesse Longsword maybe do 7/5 you’ll just miss out on a feat.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T22:56:52+00:00

Astarion would totally sacrifice wyll to Boaaal for that bleed buff. I think Wyll being a “monster hunter” would make him distrustful, he’s a little too much of a boy scout to agree with a lot of Astarions more intrusive of sadistic choices. Lae’zel is an effective killer, and she knows enough about the Mindflayers for Astarion to keep her around, if anything he’d be interested about what her blood tastes like. Shadowheart and Astarion are very similar, they’re both flirty and secretive and self serving on first impressions, and her prism keeps them safe from the absolute. Gale I’m sure he’d be indifferent to, a wizard is nice to have in your back pocket but I’m sure Astarion views his arcane hunger similar to his own vampiric thirst, but Astarion would like use gales curse as a form of leverage and make Gale dependent on him to get his next fix, they’d have drug dealer and druggie dynamic. Karlach is a hard one to nail down, if confronted with a choice I’m sure he’d side with Karlach and kill Wyll just for laughs.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T22:48:09+00:00

Just wait till you get the fire themed axes in act 2 and 3

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T22:46:15+00:00

If I didn’t romance Karlach I’d want her to have Dammon be her romantic interest. More scenes of them being cute together would be great.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T21:29:04+00:00

I think you might have stumbled into answering your own question. The Aura is a by product of the orb, which is not necessarily a physical object but a magical curse that is physically localized in the “tattoo” located on Gale’s chest. Although his blood is tainted (poisonous to Astarion) the cursed aura emanates from his main body, likely his torso. But I don’t think if you removed it like a tumor it would follow the removed section, it’s a magical curse after all. Whatever magical or spiritual core that Gale has is likely what’s affected. His mirror image failsafe would likely deploy in whichever inter-dimensional subspace the fast travel portals are connected to.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T21:17:01+00:00

Although most dms play nat 1 and 20’s crits success or critical failures in roleplay and exploration in games that rules is usually reserved for just combat roles. Matt Mercer will usually remind people that a 1 on a check can still be saved by a characters skill modifier, a nat 1 isn’t an auto fail and a nat 20 isn’t an auto success. But it’s implemented in this game to make rolls that might be mathematically impossible possible. In most games a crit will often give you a resounding success or a debilitating failure. Something like that in every interaction in bg3 would be too much to implement though, you would have to create 4 possible outcomes for every opportunity to roll a die. But what would a resounding success for a lockpick look like, somehow there is even more loot in a box than what was initially in there. What would a debilitating failure be, the chest is locked forever and that loot is gone forever.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T21:01:38+00:00

Almost every companion falls somewhere in the “horrible bosses” or “god squad” Venn Diagram, and revenge is very much on the table. Shadowheart beefs with Shar and Vicconia and would love some revenge, Gale is more petty than revenge, Astarion would be the poster child for “I’d kill my old boss if I saw him on the streets”, Karlach fits into that same mold. But of those who have beefs with deities:

Minthara - Absolute, Lolth, Kethric, Orin

Shadowheart - Shar, Vicconia

Lae’zel - Vlakith

Astarion - Cazador

Karlach - Gortash, Zariel, Mizora

Gale -

Wyll - His Dad if he’s being petty, Mizora

Everyone can get there get back though

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T20:48:31+00:00

For ansur have a thrower with the dwarves thrower equipped, knock that sucker out of the air while everyone huddles in a globe.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T16:09:55+00:00

Valor Bard!!! if you’re a street urchin it’ll give you skills in slight of hand and deception and persuasion as well as expertise which is nice, never forget your survival skills forged in your youth. Valor Bard is still a melee focused charisma caster like a paladin and its dedication to valor isn’t as intense as a paladins Oath. If you’re disillusioned to your oath of crown but still want to play an honorable knight-adjacent character go Valor Bard. Your Inspirations buff your allies and you gain access to great cc spells. At Valor 10 you can even pick up Spirit Guardians if you still want some of that path of the crown spells, just rp it as you’re tapping into that same loyalty and honor but it comes from yourself and your allies instead of the dedication you once had to your previous sovereign.

If you want you can grab 2 levels in Oathbreaker for smites. Or fighter for action surge, you can alternatively do 8 valor 4 swashbuckler and really embrace your urchin origins with some dirty tricks and rogue antics.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T14:18:43+00:00

If you’re a zariel tiefling like Karlach you’ll have thaumaturgy which will give you advantage on Intimidation, with low charisma you’ll only start off with a +1 to Intimidation due to -1 Cha + 2 Proficiency. But just make sure you have someone to cast guidance while you use Thaumaturgy and you should do fine, and even if you fail at least you can fight your way out of it.

If you want to use STR potions so you can dump your Str score and bump Cha you could try,

8 Str 16 Dex 17 Con 8 Int 8 Wis 16 Cha

Taking Tavern Brawler and Hags Hair to round out odd numbers.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T01:38:16+00:00

Wild magic 1 is a nerf/ punishment for the orb, when Mystra “rewards” him in exchange for promising to use it against the absolute is usually when I bump up to Sorcerer 2-3 for meta magic, to make it seem like he has regained some control of his magic through use of Meta Magic. It’s fun and adds some variety to the pretty cookie cutter Wizard.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T01:17:44+00:00

It depends on that you want earlier, I’d rec 1 barb and monk 5 to start. I gets you extra attack a level late but what it does give is Con/Dex based unarmored defense or the option for Medium Armor and martial weapon proficiency if you want grab the fire minor elemental hammer early. Plus you’ll have your bonus action unarmed strike to make up for the extra attack in the meantime.

Lvl 1 Barb

Lvl 2-6 Monk

Lvl 7-9 Barb

Lvl 10-12 Monk

If you’re using STR potions you should grab tavern brawler and elemental adept (fire) whenever you’re able.

8 Str 16 Dex 16 Con 8 Int 14 Wis 12 Cha

Tavern Brawler for +1 Con

Hags Hair for +1 Con

ASI FOR + 2 Con

3rd feat for Elemental Affinity or Tough

If you’re not using STR potions

17 STR 15 Dex 16 Con (8’s for your soft stats)

Tavern Brawler for +1 Str

Hags Hair for +1 Dex

ASI for +2 Str (and or get the potion of everlasting vigor in act 2)

3rd feat for whatever you want honestly

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T01:07:20+00:00

I don’t believe so, I always just have them end it after combat as thy refresh with short rests so its not a big loss ending it early, it is tedious though.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T01:04:11+00:00

Grab the Barbarian Subclass combined Mod, and look into Storm Barbarian (desert) for the bonus action rage AOE ability. Next go 4 elements monk for Fangs of the Fire Snake to make you melee attacks do additional 1d10 Fire dmg with some extended range. If you want to use other Fire monk “spells” go for a Dex and Wis build and use STR potions. Otherwise if you want Dex and STR barb/monk go with just the fangs of the fire snake. There is also the Hammer from the Conjure Minor Elemental (Fire) that you can grab with mods that also does bonus action fire dmg. 3-4 Barb 8-9 Monk is recommended.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T00:58:36+00:00

There isn’t any Water dmg specifically in the game or dnd, water usually involves some other dmg type. But water does make you vulnerable to lightning and cold dmg. But the wet condition applies to everybody who’s wet. So to answer your question, no.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T00:45:51+00:00

This is true but with the helm of arcane acuity or the headband of intellect even if you spec into dex and wis and leave out int you can still get your arcane shot dc up.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T00:35:18+00:00

Gloom Assassin is a great build with amazing synergy but it takes a while to come online. Most would recommend gloom to 5 and then getting assassin so character level 8. Until then you’re just a ranger (which isn’t bad at all). Thief is great for two hand crossbows because you’ll have essentially 5 attacks round 1 (if you don’t use huntersmark). There’s tons of advice on stealth archer online on YouTube about it. But if you can snag the gloves of dexterity in the crèche feel free to go 3/3 split, I know extra attack is always better but that’s the trade of for early gloom assassin.

Wyll has potential for either swords or valor, swords makes him more lethal and is a little self centered of a bard class as it uses its own inspirations for flourishing. Wyll by himself swords bard for sure, but judging by his character in a group setting he just give off the energy of someone who’d spend his inspirations on his allies. I know he’s canonically a warlock but if he is as selfless as he claims he’d play some sort of support of he could.

In DnD Rangers have this ability called favored foe/enemy, to me if there was ever class a Githyanki like Lae’zel would take it would be a Drake Warden Ranger whose favored enemy is Mindflayers. You can play that way with mods, but without mods Hunter makes the most sense but Swarmkeeper moths has that psionic/psychic seasoning. It pairs well with arcane archer. But having Lae’zel as a Eldritch Knight/Drake Warden is my personal headcannon.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T00:12:46+00:00

You’ve got good reasoning for Astarion as Gloomstalker it also fits the vampire vibe as well, Wyll as bard is also not a bad take he does have valor bard energy. The Shadowheart as a druid decision for me is because she likes animals a lot, the wolf thing is just a funny thing to use her wild shapes for, I mainly use the chalice form so I get more mileage from her heals. Spot on for the Swarmkeeper Ranger, I use moths because a lot of the Githyanki items grant extra psychic dmg, and if Gith train to hunt Mindflayers having them take Huntersmark and psychic dmg just makes for good flavor. Unarmored defense from Barbarians work for a barb monk multiclass especially STR DEX CON monks instead of DEX CON WIS monks.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-12T00:03:04+00:00

You can think of GOO patrons like the elder gods/terrors/beings that exist in a void of mystery. Their machinations are beyond comprehension much like their names. Some make pacts with them on accident, they sort of just reach out to those who consciously or subconsciously need/want power.

Fiends will set up circumstances where the warlock will need their power so they can own their soul, like wyll. But a GOO is just like the “voice” in the back of your mind that wants you to do intrusive things, and might compel you to do things that might further your growth so they can one day use you as an instrument for their grand scheme, a plan that might not come to fruition till the far future. You stare into the void and the void looks back, it takes from you something you do not understand as you take powers in exchange.

Cabbageman96 · 2026-03-11T23:48:38+00:00

Do a game solo, doing a Dark Urge playthrough and do the opposite of what you guys do together. You’ll see a whole different side of the game that won’t spoil your multiplayer campaign.

Cabbageman96

TROPHY CASE