Baldur's Gate 3: Quicksave is my favourite spell

[Corvinus85]

Finished. About 118 hrs. I had to make a tough choice with which I wasn't entirely happy, but it felt right in the end.

Spoiler

I became an ilithid. Too bad there is no cure.

As to the others:

Gale returned the Crown of Karsus to Mystra, was cured of the orb, and became a teacher.

Karlach and Wyll went to Avernus to kick devil butt.

Astarion (as Wert said) is Batman. Though considering how much he used the bow in my playthrough and that for most of it he had a hood on, he's more like a vampire Green Arrow. I had convinced him not to become a supervampire.

Shadowheart seems to have an interesting life adventuring and staving off Sharran assassination attempts.

Lae'zel is helping Orpheus fight against Vlaakith and making an alliance with another similar race.

Jahaeira is busy rebuilding BG while Minsc continues to fight crime.

Halsin is rebuilding the former shadow lands around Moonrsire Towers.

All in all a good ending for all the other characters except mine. It's actually funny that at the farewell feast there is a chance you may have to eat the brain of one of your companions if you fail a constitution check.

There is one aspect of the main battle sequence at the end which I didn't like:

Spoiler

After all that effort in developing all your companions, you're still just stuck with 3 of them at the end. Sure you can call on allies but those are either cannon fodder, or Nightsong and a couple of useful abilities. Why couldn't they have involved all the companions, like maybe have multiple battles "at the same time" in different parts of the city?

 

On 12/7/2023 at 6:55 PM, Werthead said:

 

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Jergal took the piss out of the Dead Three

 

Spoiler

Who is that? Withers takes the piss I never learned his true name. Is he a god, too?

 

On 12/10/2023 at 10:17 AM, Ser Lany said:

 

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When I hug Shadowheart she says I seem to have filled out a bit. I ask if she's calling me fat, and she says no, I just look healthy, very healthy.  I talk to Tara the tresseum, (Gale's pet(/friend) and she says she can sense a small part of Gale in our gathering. Tara also suggests that I visit Gale's mother and gives me the family surname, (that last part didn't initially fuel suspicions)

Is it just me, or is there a strong implication my character is pregnant? 

I mean think about it. How does an already trim, very physically fit woman "fill out" while fighting daily for her life in Avernus?

 

Doubt it

Spoiler

I played a male character and as I mention in another spoiler above, became an ilithid. Shadowheart makes the same comment about filling out a bit.

 

[Ser Lany]

13 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Finished. About 118 hrs. I had to make a tough choice with which I wasn't entirely happy, but it felt right in the end.

  Reveal hidden contents

I became an ilithid. Too bad there is no cure.

As to the others:

Gale returned the Crown of Karsus to Mystra, was cured of the orb, and became a teacher.

Karlach and Wyll went to Avernus to kick devil butt.

Astarion (as Wert said) is Batman. Though considering how much he used the bow in my playthrough and that for most of it he had a hood on, he's more like a vampire Green Arrow. I had convinced him not to become a supervampire.

Shadowheart seems to have an interesting life adventuring and staving off Sharran assassination attempts.

Lae'zel is helping Orpheus fight against Vlaakith and making an alliance with another similar race.

Jahaeira is busy rebuilding BG while Minsc continues to fight crime.

Halsin is rebuilding the former shadow lands around Moonrsire Towers.

All in all a good ending for all the other characters except mine. It's actually funny that at the farewell feast there is a chance you may have to eat the brain of one of your companions if you fail a constitution check.

There is one aspect of the main battle sequence at the end which I didn't like:

  Hide contents

After all that effort in developing all your companions, you're still just stuck with 3 of them at the end. Sure you can call on allies but those are either cannon fodder, or Nightsong and a couple of useful abilities. Why couldn't they have involved all the companions, like maybe have multiple battles "at the same time" in different parts of the city?

 

  Hide contents

Who is that? Withers takes the piss I never learned his true name. Is he a god, too?

 

Doubt it

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I played a male character and as I mention in another spoiler above, became an ilithid. Shadowheart makes the same comment about filling out a bit.

 

Totally agree on the first point.  Said the same thing to my S-i-L

Yes, that's him

and finally,   it is now an even weirder thing for her to say.

[ASOIAFrelatedusername]

18 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

 

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Who is that? Withers takes the piss I never learned his true name. Is he a god, too?

Spoiler

The original god of Death, Murder and Strofe, who relinquished his domains to the Dead Three (Myrkul, Baal, and Bane). He went on to serve Myrkul and his successors Cyric and Kelemvor (the current "main" God of Death, as Seneshall. You find "Withers" in an old ruined temple of Jergal.

 

[Werthead]

18 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

 

 

 

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Who is that? Withers takes the piss I never learned his true name. Is he a god, too?

 

 

Spoiler

Yes, Withers is Jergal, the ancient Netherese God of the Dead. He lost his position due to the combined machinations of Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul and was reduced to being just Myrkul's sensechal as the keeper of the book of the dead. After Myrkul died in the Time of Troubles and was replaced by Cyric, who was even worse, Jergal low-key worked against Cyric and had him unseated in favour of Kelemvor, the current God of the Deadd, whom Jergal has a better relationship with. As far as I can tell, Jergal goes off on a solo mission in BG3 to stop the Dead Three returning to their former positions of power, as he regards them as useless cretins.

 

[AndrewJ]

So as a new player on XBox... the game really seems to be pushing you towards using Ilithid powers. I've mostly been resisting so far (used it once to get an advantage in a conversation and relented when prompted to consume one of the worms after killing an opponent with one).

Without getting too spoilery...should I trust my gut and resist the temptation?

 

[aceluby]

11 hours ago, AndrewJ said:

So as a new player on XBox... the game really seems to be pushing you towards using Ilithid powers. I've mostly been resisting so far (used it once to get an advantage in a conversation and relented when prompted to consume one of the worms after killing an opponent with one).

Without getting too spoilery...should I trust my gut and resist the temptation?

 

Short answer is no, there is only upside, the only reason to resist is for role playing purposes.

[Stego]

On 12/15/2023 at 12:28 PM, aceluby said:

there is only upside

You get a grody squidface!

[aceluby]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:52 AM, Stego said:

You get a grody squidface!

True, but it doesn't impact anything, nobody even mentions it.  But like I said previously, you may want to choose not to use them for RP purposes. 

Spoiler

I do it because giving everyone flight comes in very handy during the last battle, plus there are some other really nice perks.

 

[grozeng]

So my computer can't handle the game, so I just got it for the PS5.  What is the best character class for starting/learning how to play?  I see all different suggestions online.

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, grozeng said:

So my computer can't handle the game, so I just got it for the PS5.  What is the best character class for starting/learning how to play?  I see all different suggestions online.

As long as you collect all of the companion characters in the first area (and it is easy to miss three of them), it should not be too much of a problem because they'll give you a wide base of options to choose from.

I'd usually suggest a pure fighter, as they don't have as many details to worry about and managing the mage, cleric and rogue you pick up will teach you the basics for a mage run-through later on. But it's not too much of a problem to go for a magic-using class. I'd probably not go for cleric in the first instance as having two clerics in the active party is a waste of time, ditto for two rogues. Two mages can be interesting (but possibly a bit on the limited side in terms of durability in direct combat).

[grozeng]

I was leaning towards Ranger as a Beastmaster or Paladin with the vengeance subclass for the first time.  I agree, in the old versions it was easier to be a fighter the first time to learn how to play and then be a magic user.

[Kalbear]

Paladin with oath of vengeance is one of the best overall things you can be, especially if you're not going to multiclass. I'd recommend not paying a lot of attention to wisdom and go higher charisma so you can be the face of your team but it depends on who else you're having in the party. 

Ranger/beastmaster is really not that strong, but it is fun and if it's what you want to play go for it.

[IlyaP]

44 minutes ago, Werthead said:

As long as you collect all of the companion characters in the first area (and it is easy to miss three of them), it should not be too much of a problem because they'll give you a wide base of options to choose from.

All possible companions that can be had are all met in Act 1, yeah? No one else comes along later? I recall that one emo AF dude in Act 2 who I ultimately ended up fighting in my first attempted play-through last year...

[Poobah]

7 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

All possible companions that can be had are all met in Act 1, yeah? No one else comes along later? I recall that one emo AF dude in Act 2 who I ultimately ended up fighting in my first attempted play-through last year...

There are a few other possible companions you can acquire later. Full spoilers:

Spoiler

Jaheira you meet in Act 2 but I think she's only actually available as a party member in Act 3 from what I recall?

If you have her and play it through correctly you can also get Minsc.

Minthara is available on all playthroughs since the latest patch (previously you needed to either be very evil or do some serious hoop-jumping) and this involves nocking her out in act 1 and then rescuing her in act 2.

 

[Kalbear]

Also, you can always hire hirelings and make them be whatever you want them to be if you need to. It's not nearly as fun, but it can come in handy and is also great for camp casting. 

[AndrewJ]

I'll second the Paladin option (I'm running Oath of Devotion). It's a little less vanilla than a fighter and can output some serious damage with buffs and Divine Smites etc, but not quite as complex as a full caster. And as Kal mentioner, the high Charisma lets you pass a whole lot of persuasion checks in conversations etc.

I'm also not sure there's an option for an NPC paladin in your party, that's readily available.

 

Edited to add: You do suffer fairly significant consequences for failing to uphold your oath, so choose it carefully. (And that's why I went with Devotion over Vengeance. I thought I'd likely be more forgiving of transgressions, rather than exacting vengeance for any wrong-doing)

Edited January 3 by AndrewJ

[Kalbear]

3 hours ago, AndrewJ said:

I'm also not sure there's an option for an NPC paladin in your party, that's readily available.

So maybe folks don't know this, but withers lets you respec anyone you want. Want laezel to be a paladin? Gale to be a barbarian? Astarion to be an ironic light cleric? You can do that.

Or you can hire a hireling. 

 

[IlyaP]

24 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

So maybe folks don't know this, but withers lets you respec anyone you want. Want laezel to be a paladin? Gale to be a barbarian? Astarion to be an ironic light cleric? You can do that.

Or you can hire a hireling. 

 

Something I can't figure out: how do you roll for your stats? 

[Kalbear]

8 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Something I can't figure out: how do you roll for your stats? 

Without mods you can't. It's point assignment only.

[Werthead]

20 hours ago, IlyaP said:

All possible companions that can be had are all met in Act 1, yeah? No one else comes along later? I recall that one emo AF dude in Act 2 who I ultimately ended up fighting in my first attempted play-through last year...

You acquire the core characters very early in Act 1, and can acquire more party-members later on but they are more optional.

Edited January 3 by Werthead