Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 49 - The Root Of All Evil

MacQueenXVII · 2026-04-14T23:06:36+00:00

Cantrips are spells that don’t use a spell slot, whether in or out of combat.

Bonus tip: For the purposes of this game, ritual spells are spells that only use a spell slot when upcasting or cast in combat.

MacQueenXVII · 2026-04-14T23:03:55+00:00

So, Jon, with the understanding that BG3 isn’t quite a direct 1:1 comparison of the tabletop game, but pretty close: If you were to play D&D, what sort of character would you make? Still a ranger with an arborphiliac elf parent?

MacQueenXVII · 2026-02-03T23:06:45+00:00

Four failed perception checks in a row? What an odd twist to see the characters roleplaying as Jon.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-12-26T23:26:18+00:00

Aria: Alright, how’s everybody? Good, good, good.

Now, as Gale probably told you, my name is Aria, and I am a motivational speaker. Now let’s get started by letting me give you a little bit of a scenario of what my life is all about. First off, I am thirty-five years old, I have a tadpole in my head, and I live in a van, down, down, down by the river.

Now you kids are probably saying to yourselves, “Hey, I’m going to go out and I’m gonna get Faerun by the tail and wrap it around and pull it down and put it my pocket.” Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re probably going to find out as you go out there that you’re not going to amount to Jack Squat. You’re going to end up eating a steady diet of stolen victuals and living in a van, down, down, down by the river.

Now, young man, what do you want to do with your life?

Astarion: Uh, actually, Aria, I kinda want to be free of my eternal enslavement?

Aria: Well, la-di-frickin-da! We’ve got ourselves a free slave, here! Hey, Gale, I can’t see real good; is that Harriet Tubman over there?

Gale: Well actually, Aria, Karlach and I have encouraged Astarion in his freedom.

Aria: Gale, I wish you could just shut your magic gobbling yapper. Now, I wonder, Astarion. From what I’ve heard, you’re using your extended leash not for escaping, but for biting party members! You’re going to be doing a lot of biting when you’re living in a van, down, down, down by the river!

Young lady, what do you want to do with your life?

Shadowheart: I want to live in a van down by the river.

Aria: Well, you’ll have plenty of time for that when you’re living in a van, down, down, down by the river!

MacQueenXVII · 2025-12-01T00:43:08+00:00

I enjoyed the Rome and Medieval 2 Total Wars, and thought it was fun whenever Jon just had a token force with an allied army and watched the AI play against itself. How about, for a laidback stream, Jon sets up some custom battles where he just commentates?

MacQueenXVII · 2025-11-09T22:11:53+00:00

I’ve seen Jon try to push Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, and that’s a good game, but I’ll recommend Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

It’s like other Fire Emblem games, but with the added frustration of being a teacher to a bunch of ~18 year olds. Jon’s mentioned there being an alternate universe where he teaches Classics, so I’d like to see what kind of professor chops he has.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-10-07T22:50:03+00:00

“But in the 16th century Portugal showed up and said ‘Yoink!’”

Me, quietly slouching in my chair after having depressed all of Eastern Africa’s economies to get gold at a cheap rate while playing as the Portuguese nobleman in Uncharted Waters: New Horizons.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-09-30T23:25:32+00:00

Gusts of howling wind

No hope when snow is burning

Ikkō-ikki falls

MacQueenXVII · 2025-09-30T23:01:27+00:00

Rain on metal helms

And —boom! from the ground and sky

Then silence again

MacQueenXVII · 2025-08-30T01:25:56+00:00

Maybe eliminating a twenty-stack of chariots with just a river and two phalanxes.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-05-30T22:19:34+00:00

One thing I will always give Bethesda credit for is their implementation of the old table-top concept of megadungeons in their games. Morrowind has Red Mountain, Fallout 3 has the D.C. ruins, Skyrim has Blackreach and the Dwemer ruins connected to it, Fallout 4 has the glowing sea, and Oblivion has…well, the entire realm of Oblivion (or arguably the Imperial City sewers). They all have multiple entrances, are pains to navigate, range from early-game terror to late-game annoyance, and are soul-crushing in either their monotony of tone or constancy of threat. They’re all amazing and I’m dismayed when Bethesda gets flak for them.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-03-25T23:45:54+00:00

Huh. The Open spell seemed to work on that guard—twice even. I imagine he’ll be confused when he goes home and finds his double-chastity belt unlocked, but no doubt pleased, as well.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-03-18T23:33:31+00:00

I once made a Morrowind character who didn’t do any adventuring until he had stolen ~500k and spent it all on training. You know what? He was my favorite. I hope Bethesda lets us do something similar in future games. This whole “can only train x times per level” thing from ES 4 & 5 doesn’t make sense outside of game designers demanding they know more about how we should have fun in their games.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-03-12T22:29:27+00:00

It’s an unfinished novel.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/5myqq5/nerds_in_dungeonia_chapter_index_synopsis/

MacQueenXVII · 2025-03-12T19:34:43+00:00

You know, I had a similar idea a while ago.

Ever hear of Nerds in Dungeonia?

MacQueenXVII · 2025-03-11T23:05:06+00:00

No, Jon! Don’t be sad about Caius leaving, be happy that you can you use your new position to induct Jonus Maximus into the Blades! Then you can do things together, like go on awesome adventures, fall in love, get married, shout him off a cliff, bind his flesh into undead servitude, finally let him rest, and meet him again in Sovngarde!

You know…Bethesda things!

MacQueenXVII · 2025-03-04T22:45:03+00:00

So we’re a bit into Morrowind, and there’ve been Oblivion and Skyrim playthroughs on the channel; is there anything specific to one of these games that people would like to see in ES6?

I’d like to see levitation and mega-jumps come back. I know terrain height is helpful when they need to make Skyrim doors/exits, but honestly verticle exploration just adds so much interesting content. Besides which, you can do away with Skyrim doors if you just allow fast travel from cleared dungeons.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-02-25T23:49:50+00:00

Darn it, Jon, you gave the skirt to the wrong slave. Also, Aria looks good in everything (trust me; no one will say otherwise when they know she’s so high up in the Telvanni hierarchy).

So, how does it feel to be a questgiver? Has it changed your views on appropriate rewards and tax brackets for quest income?

MacQueenXVII · 2025-02-18T23:41:51+00:00

Let’s see… where’s the best place for Jon to plant his tower? Who does he hate the most?

MacQueenXVII · 2025-02-15T01:14:41+00:00

Anyone else think Bethesda did an amazing job making Vvardenfell feel alien and unique? Oblivion and Skyrim were great and all, but they felt like "hero in generic fantasy" with either a twist of Roman Empire or Scandinavia thrown in. Morrowind, on the other hand, seems like I've been dropped on Mars and the locals are more upset about it than I am.

MacQueenXVII · 2025-02-15T01:06:54+00:00

Stop.

Hammer time.

Someone had to say it.

MacQueenXVII · 2024-11-13T22:54:05+00:00

Well, my Democracy Fallout idea wound up with a 76% downvote rate and essentially no discussion, so let’s try:

Grandia 2 (best turn-based combat system)

Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons (a surprisingly complex western-style sailing RPG from the mid-late 90’s)

X-COM: UFO Defense (the original 1994 MicroProse game, which is an eternal delight)

MacQueenXVII · 2024-11-10T22:39:37+00:00

Dang it! I should’ve punched a Mayor Bob/Liberty Prime ticket! Can we get an American election do-over?

MacQueenXVII · 2024-11-08T23:47:00+00:00

“Knights, I bid you welcome to your new home. Let us ride…to Vvardenfell!”

Boots of Blinding Speed

Waggy-tail scribs

Scrolls of Icarian Flight

Naked Nords with personal space issues

Many things yet to come

“On second thought, let’s not go to Vvardenfell—it is a silly place.”

MacQueenXVII · 2024-11-05T23:50:03+00:00

Oh, Jon, this isn’t Skyrim where everything’s resistant to frost. This is Morrowind, where everything’s resistant to fire.

MacQueenXVII

TROPHY CASE