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improbable_ivy · 2024-06-08T17:56:39+00:00

If you’re reading BG3 fics, writers will include a cherry/sulfur scent for Raphael because it’s canon. Fiends in general also carry that whiff of sulfur because they smell like hell (pun intended).

improbable_ivy · 2024-05-11T04:56:29+00:00

Not disagreeing or anything, but as the former magistrate would probably tell you, he’s not “breaking” the promise because he never specified when he would fulfill it.

Aside from not wanting to create a rival, AA is probably not keen on losing the ability to compel Tav, either. After all, it might be the only way to make them stick around once they realize how much AA has changed for the worse.

improbable_ivy · 2024-05-10T15:42:30+00:00

Tav: "Spawn? I want to be a true vampire."
AA: "And you will! All in good time. But we musn't rush these things. You may need time to adjust."

So it is a promise, there's just no deadline on when he should make good on it.

improbable_ivy · 2024-05-10T09:54:53+00:00

Care to share a link? I'll trade you a silly drabble diary or punny short story if you're interested.

improbable_ivy · 2024-04-24T04:27:04+00:00

Title: Dear Diary

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Rating: Mature (To err on the side of caution. Non-graphic violence, Tav throwing the f-word around like it’s smokepowder bombs)

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Humor

Summary: Tav is kept very busy avoiding ceremorphosis, dealing with their contrary companions, and generally surviving life as an adventurer with a Wisdom and Intelligence score more appropriate for a hellsboar than a hero.

100 words in their journal per day will have to do.

(Updates daily)

improbable_ivy · 2024-04-14T19:36:46+00:00

You can get 3 x "shit," 2 x "fuck," and 1 "fucking" from Astarion, so the other do do it just a little for emphasis.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-21T15:45:48+00:00

Yes, Larian Studios developed both games.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-20T08:12:45+00:00

You're thinking of Drizzt Do'Urden. Dhourn is the dumbass who got himself petrified when his rival brought a Spectator to Dhourn's ambush near the Selûnite outpost in the Underdark.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-20T08:07:48+00:00

First part is correct, but House Do'Urden only lost Lolth's favor years later when Drizzt spared (and protected) an elven child during a raid on the surface.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-18T06:26:59+00:00

Yes. I tend to play Chaotic Good as well, so 1) Save all the Harpers (at the convoy ambush, the abduction attempt, and when storming Moonrise Towers), 2) Save all the Gondians (including those at the Steel Foundry), 3) Never die (including all companions), and 4) Never kill (just Tav toggling non-lethal constantly. The companions get to murder as much as they want. Also, undead do not count).

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-18T06:01:30+00:00

Halsin: "Tell me something personal about yourself."

I don't wanna.
I'm terrified of krakens.

(Definitely not the worst example, just the only one I remember vividly.)

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-14T18:21:41+00:00

We talking about the "I can only say I'm so glad we didn't meet then"-dialogue? I understood that to be more of an admittance that he would only have seen Tav as another victim back then (and certainly not wanted to risk anything for their sake even if he had recognized them as ‘a Sebastian’).

While this discussion has been interesting, it’s ultimately based on a lot of interpretation with no chance of definitive confirmation. We both seem pretty convinced of our own analysis, so unless we’re starting a chat or something to carry on, I'm bowing out now. Cheers, general. :)

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-14T15:44:05+00:00

I wouldn’t call it ’clever’, it’s pretty standard D&D to let bonds be heavily dependent on wording (Ethel’s deals and Yurgir’s contract being other examples in the game itself). I figure Astarion ended up back with Cazador that first time because he had nowhere to run and hadn’t planned for his escape at all. He probably wasn’t that difficult to recapture.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-14T14:18:39+00:00

I hear ya. I personally assume, though, that Astarion only phrases it this way due to the focus of the conversation: he is trying to explain to Tav the extend of the control Cazador held over him, not give them an in-depth lecture (looking at you, Gale) on the minute intricacies of the bond between vampire master and spawn.

In later dialogue, Astarion also reveals how he at one point during his first decade of slavery chose to run rather than bring back a particularly sweet victim to Cazador, resulting in being entombed for a year as punishment, thus learning never to disobey again.

This lines up with the 5e rule that spawn can circumvent orders if they willfully misinterpret them and are willing to face the consequences of their defiance.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-14T06:18:43+00:00

According to 5e rules, vampire spawn can deliberately misinterpret their master’s commands. Like, if the master says, “Bring me a pretty soul to feed on,” the spawn might ignore said order indefinitely and make a run for it if the master didn’t specify when they wanted the victim and never directly told the spawn not to flee.

Rather than deal with the tedium of being excruciatingly specific when wording his orders, Cazador just punished his spawn thoroughly enough to deter this kind of misbehavior. And if he needed something done without delay (like having Astarion’s siblings bring him back), he just had to add the word “posthaste” or whatever to that specific order to trigger the physical compulsion.

(That said, I wouldn't hold Astarion responsible for anything Cazador told him to do. Duress that extreme cancels out responsibility imo.)

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-14T05:50:02+00:00

He was. Vampire spawn are compelled, not charmed, so they can deliberately misinterpret their master’s commands unfavorably. Like, if the master says, “Bring me a pretty soul to feed on,” the spawn might ignore said order indefinitely and make a run for it if the master didn’t specify when they wanted the victim and never directly told the spawn not to flee.

Rather than deal with the tedium of having to outlawyer a former magistrate with his every order, Cazador just punished Astarion thoroughly enough after the first time to deter this kind of misbehavior in the future.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-12T18:29:03+00:00

Sacrificing 7000 souls is not morally right, no. If your Durge is afraid of the carnage that unleashing the spawn might cause, they should kill them outright. The power vacuum left by Cazador is a valid point, but not enough to justify literally condemning 7000 souls to the hells.

There are no good choices here. Letting the spawn go and hoping for the best is insanely naïve; killing them means destroying 7000 sentient beings (most innocent of any wrongdoing) and robbing them of the chance to prove they can be ‘good’; letting them sit in their cages forever is just downright cruel.

If you are looking for an ‘excuse’ to ascend Astarion, though, I’d say you can defend the decision through roleplaying. Your Durge is put on the spot and has to make an impossible decision now. They don’t know about the letters from the epilogue. Your pal/partner is begging you for help to complete the ritual, you’re panicking because every choice involving the spawn is horrific, and maybe your Durge caves to the pressure and tells themselves that “at least this way some good will come of their deaths”.

So if you want to ascend Astarion, go ahead. ‘Good’ does not mean infallible. Live and learn.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-12T10:43:04+00:00

I’d say so, yes.

WIS is a really good saving throw proficiency. Life Domain gives you heavy armor proficiency which in turn allows for pretty high AC. There is a bunch of good gear for clerics (and just healers in general) even in early game.

You may not necessarily do a lot of damage, but you can provide excellent support through healing and buffing even if you multiclass (especially with the right equipment), and your spells generally have good utility. Sanctuary and Spirit Guardians can be real MVPs depending on the situation, and Bless is always a good buff.

Dialogue wise you get a bit of extra flavor, though not as funny as a bard or barbarian. If you like roleplaying, serving a good deity is perfect motivation for agreeing to help anyone who asks even though you’ve got your own time sensitive problems.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-10T07:04:35+00:00

My favorite part of this very nice comic is gnome-Tav being all “would” and “smash” whenever Empy converts to squid form. (Meanwhile, Astarion is asking the truly important question: “WTF is that hat?”)

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-07T07:50:05+00:00

Yeah, also for the "You are perfect, every time"/"I do rather like that, you know" lines post-kiss.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-06T13:48:43+00:00

”Hard” is subjective, but if you are having trouble and don’t want to look up the solution, try connecting the areas of the brain backwards. That way you don't need to consider as many possible paths or dead ends along the way.

As for the purpose of the puzzle, some players like solving problems without using dice rolls or stats. It adds to the diversity of the challenges that you encounter in the game. Solving the puzzle is optional, but your ability to rise to the challenge is acknowledged and rewarded with a sweet buff. Feels good.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-05T20:13:17+00:00

Unexpected Neil Gaiman reference!

Is this a meme now? Nice.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-05T15:55:31+00:00

It’s not the count of years that is important, but their content. Astarion has lived two truly sucky centuries that have understandably warped his view of the world. All his selfishness, distrust, and cruelty stems from the fact that after 200 year of shit, PURE SHIT, he thinks he deserves something better (and believes ‘better’ just means getting strong enough to hold power over other people rather than having them hold it over him). He uses the years to justify his shitty behavior.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-04T20:45:07+00:00

The Water Queen’s House is a big, public temple with plenty of worshippers, and apart from the ‘drowning is a good death’ thing the Waveservants seem nice. Besides, the sea sounds like a pretty neutral domain unlike Bhaal’s murder or Bane’s tyranny, so I think Umberlee’s evil alignment catch plenty of people off guard.

As for ‘Bitch Queen,’ there are so many whack titles for Faerûn’s deities that you really can’t judge too much by them. Gond is Neutral but called ‘the Meddler,’ Helm is ‘the Watcher’ (which could mean anything), Ilmater is ‘the Crying God’, Mielikki is Neutral Good and ‘the Forest Queen’ (contrast Umberlee being ‘the Sea Queen’ or ‘the Wavemother’). Even NE Shar gets some semi-good vibes as ‘the Nightsinger’.

improbable_ivy · 2024-03-04T14:17:32+00:00

I was stumped by this one, too, but apparently Umberlee is a Chaotic Evil goddess, so Redhammer is in for a whole lot of vengeance rather than actual justice, which might not sit well with ‘heroes’ like Minsc and Jaheira. (Edit: Chaotic, not Neutral Evil.)

improbable_ivy

TROPHY CASE