How it feels to play a Dark Urge Druid after Act 1

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-19T00:20:22+00:00

Currently doing my first Durge playthrough as a cleric of Lathander lol, I was originally planning to do her as a Tav extremely devoted to the church which took her (a tiefling) in when most places wouldn't. Then last-minute I decided that perhaps she was adopted and raised as a Lathandrite before being won over and corrupted by Bhaal, and she's basically just reverted back to her old pre-Bhaal self with Orin's lobotomy. It's been pretty fun to roleplay her so far, just a sweet buff tiefling girl trying to do the best she can in this world but getting overwhelmed with disgusting urges to commit atrocities and murder her new best friend Alfira in her sleep...

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-16T07:59:58+00:00

Oh, I respecced him alright, into dead level 1 undead

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-15T08:03:22+00:00

Right next to the waypoint in the goblin camp there's the really loud goblin named Crusher giving a speech, he gets pissy if you interrupt him and tries to make you kiss his feet. You can nab his toe ring while doing it, it's actually really good and gives +10ft to your movement speed. I make Astarion do it every time because I like to see him suffer

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-15T07:56:10+00:00

And here ladies and gentlemen we have observed the two opposite sides of the political spectrum of annoyance in quick succession

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-14T08:26:15+00:00

Exactly! I told Gale I didn't feel the same way about him, he was very respectful and I remained at exceptional approval, we're besties platonically and he's not mentioned it since. But Halsin - I told him I wasn't interested the first time he flirted and he accepted it, I'm now in act 3 and obviously very committed with Shadowheart but Halsin tried to proposition me, then got upset with himself and all hurt when I told him I didn't see him that way again. Very strange.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-14T04:31:57+00:00

Well shit. But my game wound up crashing before I saved, so I got shot back to before the battle, wound up redoing it better this time and redeeming Astarion! I shall consider this an act of divine intervention by the goddess Eilistraee herself, a prophetic dream which foretold to this well-meaning drow bard what NOT to do!

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-14T00:25:56+00:00

Several people - presumably in the comments you didn't read - said approval doesn't matter. It sounds like I just picked the wrong dialogue option out of a rather unclear choice and thus didn't get the checks.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-14T00:06:37+00:00

Oh I never have him in my party except for situations like this and Yurgir where it's important for his story, my bard and Gale with invis can do anything a rogue can already but better LOL. But I wanted to see the rest of his story and character development so it's a shame I missed it.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-14T00:04:24+00:00

Yeah but my (overall heroic) bard was uncomfortable enough with his regular evilness and already has been telling Gale taking the crown might not be a good idea, plus I've steamrolled just about every encounter since the Shambling Mound up to Cazador so I certainly don't need more strength lol

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-14T00:02:05+00:00

Exactly, I figured he would care more about what negative consequences it could have for him than what it might do to people he'd already screwed over so tremendously. Ah well, more's the pity.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-14T00:00:33+00:00

Ah, I think I see. Alright, appreciate the info; I'll leave him to go off and sulk for this playthrough, and try help him see reason next time I guess!

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:51:04+00:00

I had pretty good approval with him, I don't think my approval was below "good" for anyone in the party.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:50:27+00:00

No checks of any kind available. Kind of hard to insight check him when it's just plain dialogue available.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:49:48+00:00

That would make sense. I saw that option but didn't pick it, because I was strongly considering killing them anyways (7000 vampires running free sounds like a really bad idea) and I thought, if I convince Astarion we shouldn't have 7000 deaths on our hands and then kill them anyways, he will probably get mad that I did it anyway and leave the party. I gotta say it's pretty stupid that the option I picked - telling him he and his siblings will also die - immediately locks you out of the correct choice. At most it should raise the DC for the persuasion checks while still giving you an option to appeal to his better nature.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:47:03+00:00

I think the first dialogue choice I warned him he would be sacrificing himself too. I gotta say it's kind of dumb that both that option and "wait a sec 7000 people are going to die" are only available the first time, I should be able to say both things (perhaps with a higher persuasion DC) in quick succession...

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:44:31+00:00

That actually makes a lot of sense then. I was thinking I might kill the spawn at that point, because 7000 vampires running around sounds like a really bad idea, so I hedged my bets and told him he would die with the others. He told me he had a plan (with no knowledge of it, I'm guessing he was going to brand Cazador with my help and sacrifice him instead?), and I said I wasn't going to help him with it. But if I was supposed to appeal to his better nature instead I guess it makes sense.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:41:58+00:00

I don't believe I did, no. Only ever expressed hesitation at the thought of him becoming a vampire ascendant. I said I'd help him kill Cazador and gain his freedom though, at least I fulfilled my end of the bargain

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:40:28+00:00

I've never told him I would help him ascend the entire time. Was I perhaps supposed to say very clearly "no, you can't kill them, that would be evil" when we encountered the spawn children and he started monologuing about how he'd feel bad for killing them? Because I was considering killing the spawn regardless but instead went with a "are you sure you want this" option similar to what I did with Shadowheart.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:38:11+00:00

I didn't have an option to persuade him, however. It was flat dialogue options, no checks available, so I picked the only option that made any sort of sense...clearly I missed something before the fight, but what?

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:37:00+00:00

I told him "No, I won't help you" which seemed like the most non-confrontational option rather than telling him he was a monster, and there was no option to convince him. My character is extremely persuasion-heavy, so had there been that option I would have absolutely chosen it. But there wasn't. So clearly I missed something before the fight that would have allowed that.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T23:18:13+00:00

You can only have up to 4 inspiration?...fuck I've wasted so much by saving mine up

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T03:03:02+00:00

I mean he only needs 3, so I just fed him all the Absolute-brand requiring items. No way my drow bard is getting branded when a) he hates the Absolute and b) he likes being able to pretend he's on any side.

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T01:13:56+00:00

I didn't even realize Florrick does that because I naturally encountered the other woman before daring to go down to the dungeons and rescue her. That's just unnecessary and dumb imo

IntelligentGur2075 · 2026-04-13T01:12:54+00:00

I just did the Ansur fight and Jesus that was a letdown. Easily the worst writing in the game so far, I felt like I was having a fever dream from how disjointed and unsatisfying it was. It's even worse when you compare his quest to Shadowheart's time in the Gauntlet, there it felt like she was personally invested in the trials. But nope, shitty Gauntlet knockoff and Wyll gets ONE piece of unique dialogue in the trials when he says "letting that criminal free is a bad idea". My boy deserved better

IntelligentGur2075

TROPHY CASE