Baldur's Gate III Announced - ...and it's coming to Google Stadia and PC

[Scream Aim Fire]

I’m just starting my first campaign. Gonna go with balanced this run to enjoy the story, then probably a Durge and Honor. I’m drawn to Half or Full Woof Wood Elf Circle of Land Druid for RP, or some type of Bard (prob High Half/ Elf or Tief) for the high CHA to get the most dialogue. Open to comments and suggestions!

This is (sorta) my plan as well; finish up my first run with a regular Tav party, then go for a Durge playthrough, and after that... who knows? Seriously thinking about going on a chaotic murderhobo-like "Inquisitor" run like someone mentioned a while back, running solo and killing off some of the more disgusting characters, like the incest twins.

My only issue is that I can never pick a build/party comp and stick with it; there's plenty of options and ways to run the game, after all. Main Tav run is Moon Druid; just need to actually sit down and complete it is all. After that, it'll be a Durge Bard run (...Dirge joke). No idea for the Inquisitor, though, given that the class I had in mind for it (Paladin) is WAY too easy to break. Seriously, you shouldn't become an Oathbreaker so easily, it's honestly really stupid...

 

[Cheeseknife]

So, was thinking it'd be cool to make a Mephistopheles Tiefling Sorc since that Flaming Scimitar racial scales with Charisma. Then. come to find out, that you also need scimitar proficiency on top of the Charisma to use it optimally. So, unless you multiclass or pick a feat, this means Bards and Paladins are really the only classes that will make it worthwhile. Really horribly designed subracial ability, to be frank.

Should've just given them Aganazzar's Scorcher and been done with it. Or maybe resistance to Frost since Mephy is from Cania.

 

[The Cheese Aisle]

So I started my playthrough. I got so caught up that I forgot to prepare Shadowheart’s spells before starting the fight

Spoiler

in the hull of the mindflayer ship so that I could command Zhalk to drop the Everburn blade (this got spoiled for me a while back so I figured I’d grab it). I instead tried blowing him up by surrounding him with the purple containers of I-forget-what-they’re-called to do some tactical damage, but the mind-flayer attacked my Tav (I guess because I wasn’t going fast enough?!) and blew up my party -and himself- before I had a chance to move them out of the way. I had to dash to the lever with my only remaining party member surrounded by the other commanders at this point and got interrupted by some attacks of opportunity, but I made it.

I thought about save-scumming, but I think I’m just going to let the chips fall where they will this playthrough.

Seriously thinking about going on a chaotic murderhobo-like "Inquisitor" run like someone mentioned a while back, running solo and killing off some of the more disgusting characters, like the incest twins.

My only issue is that I can never pick a build/party comp and stick with it; there's plenty of options and ways to run the game, after all. Main Tav run is Moon Druid; just need to actually sit down and complete it is all. After that, it'll be a Durge Bard run (...Dirge joke). No idea for the Inquisitor, though, given that the class I had in mind for it (Paladin) is WAY too easy to break.

Killing the what now? Anyways, it’s funny you should mention that because I thought of doing something similar. And I can relate. The common advice around the net seems to be to just choose what resonates with you / your RP, which I definitely agree with to an extent, but I’m learning that I personally benefit from a bit of structure as far as things like after I have a starting point go, for example like what races mesh well with what classes if I already have a class in mind. Anything more serious and I’m prone to get analysis paralysis butI can’t just pick things that I like at random either though, otherwise I have a nagging in the back of my head.

I really do try to avoid tumblr since it makes me lose brain cells, but sometimes I go there and see things like art titled "Cazador Szarr At Ihop Not Impressed By Any Offerings On The Menu" and I start to think maybe a brain cell or two might be a fair exchange.

https://www.tumblr.com/barbatusart/743533752430510080/cazador-szarr-at-ihop-not-impressed-by-any

https://archive.ph/mw73R

When I read your post I thought to myself “I avoid tumblr for the porn” and I shit you not the post below the one you linked is that same character in a jock strap

 

[FatalTater]

Does it really count as porn if it's that ridiculous?

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

@ipoopbuttholes Yeah, someone discovered a pair of incestuous prostitute twins that you can optionally have sex with a few pages back. It's stuff like that in BG3 that really inspired and encouraged my "Inquisitor" run and such; of course, with how the different classes are all handled in BG3, it makes things a bit more complicated. Not to mention, need to decide whether I should be running loud or stealthy; given that it's going to be a solo murderhobo, I'd say playing it smart is key, though rushing ahead like Hotline Miami does sound entertaining...

Decidedly not helping is my love of writing; even for one-shot characters, I tend to be rather autistic with details and such, to the point where it's a miracle that I get anything done at all. And unfortunately, this Inquisitor is no exception; going to leave some thoughts below.

Spoiler: Inquisition Ideas

For starters; I found that I have a fondness for melee combat, personally; that said, I do like to try and keep a balanced team comp at all times, since having a good mixture of melee, magic, ranged, and general utility can carry you pretty far. Granted, since this "Inquisitor" is going to be a solo, it means that I'm going to have to cut corners, get creative, and try and find what's usable.

I originally had the idea to take an idea from some other threads and run a witch hunter; given how a lot of freaks these days usually try and act like demons and blood magic and similar are "not evil, just misunderstood", it seemed like a fun idea to roleplay a murderhobo looking to cease said heresy. Of course, I had issues with it; Paladin Oaths are poorly handled, while I had trouble getting into playing as a Cleric, for some reason.

Granted, Oathbreaker still works; it still does have a few light/holy skills at its disposal, and I've seen woketard stories whose "conservative villain" characters had similar dark magic and designs. But, that might be a bit too autistic for an Inquisitor, so...

Basing it around the Counterspell ability is another idea, though I was having a bit of trouble deciding which mage class to use.

Yet another suggestion taken from some other threads was to instead focus/theme the character on Strength, or physical fitness; like Barbarian or Monk, just heading into an area and pillaging everything.

Running a Druid is another idea - I am VERY fond of Wildshape, admittedly - though after dealing with tons of hippie shit in different games, I'm hesitant. Granted, it worked a bit for Werewolf: the Apocalypse...

Then came the matter of race. Was going to be running a Dragonborn, for a number of reasons, but I'm still deciding on scale color and breath element. Current design is a black dragonborn with acid breath, though I was also thinking running a fire dragon ancestry instead, maybe a white/albino dragonborn design for reasons? Dunno, plenty of ideas to run...

Also... Tav or Durge? The latter gets more abilities, including a stealth cloak, but Tav feels more like a classic D&D character with more flexible design choices.

Anyways, feel free to comment on the above autism. Any ideas, suggestions?

 

[Triple Flutz]

Just encountered an issue I never have before- upon entering the Mountain Pass, I receive the condition ''Enemy of Justice'' which has various NPCs (Lady Esther, Harpers, Creche people) turning hostile to my PC on sight. Very annoying because I would really, really prefer to buy from two of the merchants without leaving the face of my party outside, not to mention the fact that the people at LLI include useful characters and ones I actually like and would prefer not to have to kill. I might be locked out of further progress until this is fixed which sucks, but whatever.

Spoiler: Spoilers/More specifics about the bug

I'm thinking about just having Wyll (high CHA = cheaper prices) and 2 other members going in the Creche and to Esther to buy the equipment I'm interested in and then just setting things up so that my PC enters when I'm ready to fight my way to the Inquisitor, but I do much prefer for the fight to happen from the Inquisitor, to the bridge, to the rest of the Creche for immersion purposes. This doesn't solve my issue with the Harpers turning aggro, however, and having to kill the Tieflings whose stories I enjoy following would rob me out of a lot of enjoyment since I'm a faggot and hate doing evil playthroughs. I've killed my PC and had Withers resurrect her, which did remove the ''Enemy of Justice'' marker... but it ends up being reapplied as soon as I go back to the Mountain Pass, and it strips my Loviathar's Love condition which has proven useful before. I might tinker around a bit tomorrow and see if killing/rez/moving to the Shadow-Cursed Lands directly keeps the marker off, but if it triggers again, I'm just going to wait until it's fixed which sucks as I'm having fun with my first pure Sorcerer build.

 

[SIMIΔN]

Well, I restarted my Durge run for a halfling bard due to losing my oath, Laezel and the camp visitor.
I've reached the Raid/Defend dilemma scene, but I'll take a break until the mountain pass is fixed.

Here's the camp scene I got after pre-emptively knocking out a certain potential visitor.

Spoiler: Early Durge Spoilers

 

[The Cheese Aisle]

I do like to try and keep a balanced team comp at all times, since having a good mixture of melee, magic, ranged, and general utility can carry you pretty far.

Granted, since this "Inquisitor" is going to be a solo, it means that I'm going to have to cut corners, get creative, and try and find what's usable.

I haven’t learned enough about the mechanics of the races/classes yet to make a specific recommendation as I’m still very early game due to my irl schedule, so take all of this with a grain of salt. That being said, why solo? From what I’ve read, several companions won’t give a fuck if you go murderhobo. Or are they included in the purge as well? And if you don’t go solo, from what I’ve gathered from my own searching for the perfect comp (I have JRPG autism), it doesn’t matter as much in BG since it’s easy enough to beat with whatever. Definitely let me know if that’s not the case though, and idk if that applies to honour mode.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

That being said, why solo?

Honestly? I just like running solo in games; doesn't really matter in any game, like Skyrim, Dark Souls, Divinity, etc. I just really like the idea of playing this lone fighter against the world. Even when it's not recommended; gives a fun challenge, as well as story potential.

Dunno about any of the companions really being on the chopping block; admittedly, the only one I was considering is Halsan because of the "bear sex" thing, and even then, I'm still on the fence.

 

[Triple Flutz]

Honestly? I just like running solo in games; doesn't really matter in any game, like Skyrim, Dark Souls, Divinity, etc. I just really like the idea of playing this lone fighter against the world. Even when it's not recommended; gives a fun challenge, as well as story potential.

A couple people I know have completed solo Honour Mode runs as well as solo-with-restrictions (ie. no long rest, no consumables, no barrelmancy, no respec, you get the type) so it's definitely possible. I'm probably going to do that in a bit, I think I probably need a few more group HM wins to feel confident enough in my knowledge of the game, but it appeals to me as well. I probably wouldn't do an Inquisition challenge since I like to remain flexible as far as roleplaying options go, but I get why that would be fun. Armour of Agathys + Abjuration wizard seems like an especially viable and fun solo run, so I might start there.

I've reached the Raid/Defend dilemma scene, but I'll take a break until the mountain pass is fixed.

I sent in a bug report for my Enemy of Justice bug and received a response basically 30 minutes later saying they were aware of the bug and actively working on it, and it should be fixed in an upcoming hotfix. I ended up just completely ignoring Act 2 and doing my purchases at the Creche with Wyll as the face before entering with my character and murderhoboing it, and sending him to Esther for the same. I then created a save and traveled to Act 2 through Grymforge, and the Enemy of Justice debuff was gone and the Harpers are cool with me again, so it might be that it only triggers at one of several places and then not in the others. It does reappear if I travel back to the Mountain Pass, so I'll just never visit that area again. Others have reported receiving the debuff whilst entering Act 2 which is far, far more crippling if you don't want everyone at LLI AND Moonrise Towers to attack you on sight, so maybe it was a small mercy I triggered it at the MP.

 

[Cheeseknife]

This message has been popping up after the most recent patch.
I am not certain which mods are doing this at the moment, but I hope Larian won't pick and choose which mods they will support or not in the future.

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

View attachment 5775026
This message has been popping up after the most recent patch.
I am not certain which mods are doing this at the moment, but I hope Larian won't pick and choose which mods they will support or not in the future.

Larian doesn't have control over mods. Update your mods, wait until modders update their mods, or roll back your game to when your mods worked and wait until the previous options are available.

 

[Triple Flutz]

Recrudescence of an old bug- if you want to recruit Minthara, be sure you bring a moonlantern to the Moonrise Towers as she might, upon being recruited and escorted beyond the broken bridge, fuck off into the shadow curse and up and die. Withers won't offer to revive her, either. I basically just followed her wild frenzy around until she disappeared off my map, immediately warped to camp, and made sure her tent was there.

 

[Sniperwoof]

What's the trigger for the emperor wanting to fuck you? Because he didn't do it in my paladin playthrough but now he wants my Durgussy so fucking bad.

 

[The Fair Lady]

What's the trigger for the emperor wanting to fuck you? Because he didn't do it in my paladin playthrough but now he wants my Durgussy so fucking bad.

Were you rude to him in your other playthrough? I think he comes onto you if you’re friendly/trusting and comfort him about Stelmane. He also really likes it if you agree to evolve and keep using your tadpole’s powers, but I assume it’s mainly being nice to him that does it.

 

[Male Idiot]

That's odd. For me, I went straight to camp after talking with Minthara, and she was there in camp. Swapped her in team just to be sure.

 

[Triple Flutz]

That's odd. For me, I went straight to camp after talking with Minthara, and she was there in camp. Swapped her in team just to be sure.

I've never had this bug happen before and this is by no means my first run, and I brought it up to someone who said Rolan did the same in their current playthrough (Running into the shadow curse and dying) so whilst I'm unsure as to what triggered the bug, there does seem to be a risk. Said friend told me this is an old bug that might have been reactivated by the changes made in Hotfix 20, but who knows. I keep a backup of my HM runs in case of bugs (I'm fine with a run being over due to my stupidity, but not due to the game misbehaving lol) so I was able to replicate the Minthara issue thrice before trying out the Moonlantern escort until she despawned, and that was the only time she stayed alive. I examined her as when she was dying all three times, and she had the Pixie Blessing condition, and I once manually applied it and she still died, so this is definitely a malfunction of some type.

 

[Male Idiot]

To be honest, I'm not sure why they didn't just had her teleport to camp. With the shadow curse, things bug up easier. I had the drider get stuck with the harpers in their fight as well on my recent durge run.

 

[Kane Lives]

Were you rude to him in your other playthrough? I think he comes onto you if you’re friendly/trusting and comfort him about Stelmane. He also really likes it if you agree to evolve and keep using your tadpole’s powers, but I assume it’s mainly being nice to him that does it.

I rejected all use of tadpole power but was cautiously friendly/neutral to him and he came on to my monk Tav. So, definitely friendly responses.

 

[SIMIΔN]

What's the trigger for the emperor wanting to fuck you?

Not stabbing your dream guardian when Vlaakith asks you to