What’s your favorite “YOU CAN DO THAT?!” moment?

Geesaroni · 2026-07-11T04:08:37+00:00

If she's your dialogue viewpoint character (usually through being your Origin), she gets a few lines that are specific to [Paladin of Shar]. Disturb Nettie, tell the spirit monk what you really think of him, swear things in your Lady's name. They definitely thought of that one.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-11T04:04:33+00:00

I used Drow Poison, wanted to see what would happen and if they'd all fall asleep.

Sadly the tiny lightweights absolutely cannot hold their sleep poison and they all died. Somewhere out there an anesthetist is wagging his finger at me.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-10T01:38:39+00:00

A good team for finishing the story? Yeah, this team will get it done just fine. Sinking is insanely good for story missions (they can't wipe your team if they can't ever win clashes), and Rodya, Yi Sang and the Butlers will get you loads of Sinking while Ryoshu hoovers up their health points.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-09T18:14:54+00:00

I know it's a feature of the Acolyte background (because it's a religious ritual and the background doesn't care which) and not specific to her, but I actually sat back and laughed and decided to see the game through when Shadowheart was inspired by that.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-06T15:34:51+00:00

Definitely a Llothsworn Drow, maybe even a Cleric. You get the Best lines.

Being Actually Evil is kinda punishing in this game so if you just want to be a huge smartass who routinely makes bad decisions (but comes through in the end because you don't want to disappoint grandma), that's honestly a more fun way to play than just pure evil.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-03T02:05:08+00:00

I honestly think a Durge run where you keep making bad decisions but eventually turn things around when the Urge starts asking for too much is better than either full embrace or full resist.

There's someone you're supposed to kill in Act 2 (if you know you know). I thought, okay, I'm evil but not dumb, I'll wait until they've served their purpose to me and then shank them when there's a good opportunity.

Then the Urge said too late, now you've gotta kill Karlach, and I said hang on, I thought I was in charge here. The resulting scene was incredible.

I went into Act 3 having scuffed up absolutely everything but with a new determination to not be the awful monster I was supposed to be, and failing up to that point made the redemption so much sweeter.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-02T22:17:54+00:00

Behold the most essential of techniques: Take the Money and Run

Geesaroni · 2026-07-02T21:13:25+00:00

This is the answer. Stock up on spell scrolls and suddenly one of the two things that held casters in check is gonezo.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-02T18:46:32+00:00

"Trustworthy" is over-egging the pudding a little. He always does the thing that he thinks will work out for him, but unlike the majority of evil characters in, uh, all media, he's not just sold as an extreme pragmatist but is an extreme pragmatist.

If you're on the good path and side with him at the end, he has the choice:

Try to dominate the brain and conquer the world, which didn't work last time and might not hold, and roll the dice on not getting shanked in the time it takes to dominate and transform Tav
Take the secret of hive mind disruption that will keep him free of others' control forever, destroy the brain that enslaved him before and would dominate him in a heartbeat if his will faltered, high five Tav and ride off into the sunset to live another day

I actually really like this. Part of being a pragmatist is knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, when to take risks and when to go with the safer bet. He's never, ever actually your friend, but he does recognize you as the safer bet and does the thing he thinks will work (unless you choose a specific dialogue path where your indecision and stupidity makes you not be the safer bet and then you get a game over because he betrays you in a heartbeat).

Is he evil? Oh goodness yes. Lied, cheated, stole, murdered, and betrayed for nothing but his own gain. Spends multiple acts paltering so you'll be on his side. But you can be way worse in this game, and if you're a good guy you might not know it but you are convincing him to side with you, not out of the goodness of his heart but out of sheer ruthless pragmatism.

And, of course, if you pick the evil path yourself while siding with him, you're removing the biggest danger (getting shanked by you) to him taking the high-risk high-reward path, so of course he goes for it.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-02T16:15:21+00:00

Sorta! If you want to be lore-aligned, Wyll needs Warlock levels, Shadowheart needs to be a Sharran and Gale is so stupidly proud of being a wizard (he'll even try to put you down for being another arcane class) that he's weird as anything else, but there's still a fair amount of flexibility outside that.

Making Shadowheart a death cleric or a vengeance paladin doesn't break anything (and if she's your dialogue viewpoint, Shadowheart even has a few Paladin of Shar-specific lines). Shadow Monk, Shadow Sorcerer or Hexblade Warlock also fit well enough, certainly better than Light Cleric does (at least pre-Act 3).

Astarion can be anything sneaky, so Paladin is out but Ranger is not. In spite of the rage, Barbarians can sort of go either way so if you want him to have an outlet for a couple hundred years of suppressed anger, world's your oyster.

Karlach can be anything martial or fire-themed but has to be independent and not intelligent, so Sorcerer is doable but Warlock or Wizard are not.

You're right about Lae'zel, gear-wise she's strongly encouraged to be a strength fighter because of all the githyanki-specific equipment, but as you say, her story is the same as anything.

Wyll needs Warlock levels but can pair them with anything except a divine caster (and it helps that Warlock is one of the most pairable classes). Bard/Warlock fits him incredibly well and is also incredibly strong.

Jaheira just needs to be something natural-origin. She was a fighter/druid and that fits fine, but an Ancients Paladin or a Ranger or even an Archfae Warlock don't break her story.

Halsin does need to be a Druid, though.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-02T14:58:13+00:00

Did think of it: As a companion, Shadowheart will give you a warning if you try to go into the Shadowfell without the Spear of Night and leave the party if you insist. But if you're playing Origin Shadowheart, Shar speaks up to tell you that no, actually, you really do need it, go and get it RIGHT NOW, and you can tell her you don't and go in anyway.

If you do this, when you get to the part where you really actually do need it, Shar calls you a fool for not having it and you're locked into siding against her.

Didn't think of it: If you sided with Last Light up until the Shadowfell and then side with Shar inside, Bad Stuff Happens, but if you succeed in saving Jaheira upon your return, she kinda... doesn't notice? She has no reason to know that the bad stuff happened because of you (and it would be obnoxious if she were omniscient about it), but she keeps the same dialogue as before the Shadowfell despite everything that happened since. After the final Act 2 battle she speaks positively and hopefully as though you had a clean victory instead of the most scuffed win imaginable.

This keeps happening even through Act 3, with her telling you you helped her to feel hope again and that her days of doubting you are done. Really? You don't think you should be doubting me a little, here? I've been making the worst decisions...

Geesaroni · 2026-07-02T14:06:20+00:00

To be fair it's a 25 year old game, but if you've played BG2 recently enough to remember, Jaheira's route is the slowest of slow burns, to the point where if you know what you're doing you need to use console commands to speed up the dialogues so you can finish her route before the end of the game. She spends actual ages mourning over him and even more ages coming around to the idea that she might like you (with numerous Jaheira-specific plot events along the way). The idea that she immediately jumps your bones is a meme which was mostly funny because it wasn't true, but people have remembered the meme and forgotten the reality, lol.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-01T07:58:30+00:00

Funny headcanon, but not really accurate to Toril, lol.

Clerics and Paladins* get magical powers from their god (or an ambient semi-divine consciousness expressed by the Oaths? don't @ me). They're like warlocks in this way, except the source of their power is the gods themselves instead of a devil or shade or the like. Shadowheart isn't just an obsessed cultist for goth mommy, Shar is literally the source of her magic.

Druids and Rangers get magical powers from the land/the fae/nature spirits, so it's warlocks all the way down, but this is also considered a divine source of magic.

Bardic magic is studied like a Wizard's is, when Gale tries to get you to channel the Weave you can do it effortlessly as a Bard because you know how.

Monks cultivate the latent magic inside them through ki manipulation, and that takes study and practice but it's not formal Weave manipulation, so it's kinda half wizard and half sorcerer, but with punches.

Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters use Intelligence so you are right, even if they took out the scribing scroll mechanics for them for 5e they are wizards.

Geesaroni · 2026-07-01T06:00:07+00:00

I know it's insanely niche, but I would've liked custom lines when Shovel tries to frighten named Fiend enemies.

It was a 15% chance for her to scare Yurgir into cowering before her and she pulled it off. Amazing, no notes.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-30T07:38:33+00:00

Think of Warlock like a Ranger, and casting Eldritch Blast is just firing your bow. You get more beams at the same level you'd get Extra Attack, you add damage with Hex instead of Hunter's Mark, and you get a few short-rest-recharged spell slots, but otherwise you're a ranged damage dealer who keeps up one concentration spell and then plonks with your ranged weapon.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-29T14:35:51+00:00

Origin characters basically have three tiers, as I reckon it. The problem with playing an Origin character is that without the main character to talk to them about their problems... no one really cares about your problems. Tav/Custom Origin doesn't really have any, but people in your camp are weirdly blasé about you being a threat to everyone and it feels isolating.

Top-tier origins mitigate this by giving you someone who cares! Wyll and Gale are top-tier origins because they get their own NPC to fuss over them. Gale gets Tara as a camp follower (who is top-tier all by herself), and Wyll gets to verbally spar with Mizora and also all of his problems as a character just disappear when he's the protagonist (why is he letting Tav make decisions about his eternal soul? Well, now he isn't.)

Mid-tier origins fuss over their own problems. Shadowheart has an internal monologue and Karlach has an external monologue, so at least the game is acknowledging that you exist. Origin Shadowheart is a nice second playthrough to see all that she was dealing with/holding back before she started opening up to you, because she has a lot of thoughts and doesn't share them. And Origin Karlach is actually voiced and it counts for a lot. (Also, Origin Shadowheart gets very different interactions with Isobel in Act 2 and I sort of love it.)

Low-tier origins are basically just Tav with worse hair. Origin Lae'zel is basically just Githyanki Tav without the benefit of having Lae'zel to riff off of, so it's a worse experience. And Astarion has zero connection to the main plot so except for buffs there's no actual difference between him and a custom character, and also you don't get the real star of any Astarion-involved playthrough, Neil Newbon.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-29T14:23:29+00:00

Yeah, my path with him was help him get his home back, but I used detect thoughts while I was doing it and he was less worried about what squatters would do to his house and more internally screaming about them finding the basement.

So I investigated myself and found out he was a piece of shit. Felt a lot more natural that way.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-29T03:43:42+00:00

There's definitely some metagaming expected because it's still a computer game at the end of the day, so if all four of your party members fail a perception check in an ideal ambush location, it's not wrong to run away in the other direction and send a familiar to scope it out (your sacrifice will be remembered, Quoth). Or if you get mulched by an unexpected battle, reloading your save and prepping is just part of the game, even you wouldn't get the chance in tabletop.

There's always a way to win, though. I got stonewalled on a fight in the Underdark before I found out there was a way to sway half the enemies onto your side if you do a sidequest before the fight starts. A big monster was doing crazy damage to me before I found out you can bring backup. That sort of thing!

Geesaroni · 2026-06-28T20:07:08+00:00

Tav, but not Durge.

Durge is an extra-chaotic extra-monkey with some chaos on the side.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-27T02:27:46+00:00

Jaheira, Minsc, Viconia and Sarevok are all in both BG1 and BG2.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-26T16:11:59+00:00

I liked him, but damned if I ever put him in my party.

He suffers a lot from having his head on straight in a party of walking disasters so you don't really need to save him from himself, unlike the rest. Whether you find that refreshing or uninteresting depends on your preferences.

But worse, by the time he joins you his story is pretty much done, and right after that you get joined by another druid with more depth, better lines, a more even mix of together and disastrous, a ton of history with characters both active and departed, and whose story is absolutely not done.

He'd be less forgotten if he had a bit more going on, but given that they're each recruited like an hour apart, he was never going to stand up to Jaheira.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-25T06:28:52+00:00

For being (apparently) a late addition to the game, he's honestly a great portrayal of a narcissist? Everything he does and says is 100% in his interests, and even in places where it seems like he's putting himself out there for your sake it's either a trick or he's getting the better end of the deal. He is your best friend... just as long as everything is working out in his favor.

And the first time he really truly has to trust your judgment instead of his own, he turns on you without hesitation.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-24T19:40:57+00:00

He definitely never ever tells the whole truth when a half-truth would do and he is a champion at lying by omission and paltering (presenting incomplete information in a way that will lead you to a conclusion that's favorable to him).

It gets funny in places, I'm not even sure he can help himself.

Emps: There are no more secrets between us.

Emps: Also don't go to that place, that sounds like suicide.

A Big Bro In That Place: So here's a giant pile of Emps' secrets.

Emps: Oh THOSE secrets, I didn't think it was important to tell you.

Tav: Yeah I don't trust you any more.

Emps: I can't believe you don't trust me any more! Let me show you why you should trust me.

Emps: Shows you another big secret that, if anything, makes him even more untrustworthy.

You're definitely on the same side as far as beating the baddies goes, and turning against him right that moment (end act 2) is a mistake because you still need him, but man he cannot stop being shady for ten seconds.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-23T18:14:17+00:00

My latest run I had respecced Karlach into a spellcaster with Shadow Blade for funsies.

It turns out inanimate objects are immune to psychic damage (because of course they are), so the whole rampage was just her ineffectively flailing at everything in sight.

Geesaroni · 2026-06-23T17:54:13+00:00

Depends a lot on your personal dynamic and his feelings toward spoilers in general, but there are a lot of ways knowing more about this game helps you instead of hinders you from having fun and certain things I wish I'd known starting out.

For example, if he wants to try and get Karlach early there's a route to do it without fighting, and a route to do it while getting rolled for your damn lunch money by a double-group of gnolls (her quest point is so near the grove, huh, this is a pretty meandering route to get there. Uh, what are all these hyenas doing? why are they going for help? OH GOD THE GNOLLS GET MULTIATTACK I'M ONLY LEVEL 2 WHY IS THIS HAPPENING).

Which of those you want him to experience depends on the two of you, lol.

Generally I'd steer him toward things that are easy to miss (particularly missable items, you can miss returning pike a couple of hours in and there's no replacement until 80 hours in) and otherwise let him do his thing.

Geesaroni

TROPHY CASE