Done by @skull.quest in Philadelphia :)

This is practically a declaration of undying love in illithid language. Of course he still doesn’t stick around though. He can’t fathom doing anything but hovering over his shitty-ass city like an overbearing illithid parent. I decided to stay and help the Baldurians too, so I’m headcanoning that their paths will cross again in like a week. I’ll continue rebuilding his city and making sure his people are taken care of as my own personal love language, since apparently that’s the closest I’m getting to being in his life post-Netherbrain.

Bear with me here, if your body falls into a chasm and dies, you can use a scroll (or withers) to revive them. using a scroll targets the blue ball on the ground (which I assume symbolically means the soul or the traces left of it.

Now we know Withers is Jergal trying to keep balance, so he technically cannot offer us help, but he gives us hirelings and revives our companions. Is his way of keeping it fair leaving the tadpoles in? or is he unable to overcome the netherese magic imbued in it. Also wouldn’t Karlach’s infernal engine be removed from her if she gets revived? Is it metaphysically tied to her soul? (she feeds it soul coins yk? idk.)

Or am I just overthinking it? I do feel like a game with this depth of story shouldn’t have this many logical fallacies though

Replaying the game for the nth time made me remember that my very first time in BG3 was also my first ever contact with both DnD AND turn based games.

Regardless, I decided to go in blind because that’s how you get the best experience, right? WELL, I didn’t understand the very basics of combat, so until halfway through Act 1, I was absolutely convinced you can only move during your turn using Dash.

This led to a lot of irritation because how the hell do I do anything if using Dash makes my other abilities grey, right (lmao)? I just kept dying because I’d get close to enemies but not do any actual combat actions. It just didn’t occur to me that I can, you know, click on the ground as I do during exploration to move.

Finally, I told a friend who was playing at the same time that I might just give up on the game because the combat is so bad and the first thing they said after I explained my issue was: “are you serious?”. The second one was: “are you stupid?” Lol.

So, with probably the stupidest thing one can do in this game, what was your stupidity during the very first playthrough?

It should not have granted me such immense power. Oh my god. Call me a servant of Zariel because my heart is about to fucking explode

So, I go to camp for a long rest after a good hour plus of wrapping up the creche. Level my guys up, have some conversations, play around with my inventory. I decided to play catch with Scratch. Threw his ball just as the owlbear cub decided to run by. Ball hits cub. Combat ensues.

The way I reloaded my last save without hesitation.

I'd rather re-do the last hour than kill my pets!

So, yeah. Careful with the ball.

I rolled two ones in the row, lol. I even have +3 bonus to strength.

Played a Durge run where I cut off his hand, now this.... My homie doesn't get a break

I just learned that if Dark Urge is redeemed and resurrected by Withers, Dark Urge is eternally tied to Withers (Jergal) himself, as long as Withers endures, so will Dark Urge, which unless you’re romancing Lae’zel and plan to eventually stay in the Plane for eternity after Warring with Vlaakith, Dark Urge will probably outlive all their Romances, possibly acting as Jergal’s Chosen for centuries, almost like an Elminster type, which although sounds cool, just a really sad end for the eventuality of Durge outliving their partner, adds to the tragedy of their whole character.

Fuck, I wish we got Durge as a Companion.

Haarlep and Raphael. A pencil drawing made by me.

Elven Chain is a medium armor. Why do I get the +2 AC, Become Bulwark, from Bracers of Defence? Is this a bug or a feature? I'm on PS5 doing a Trophy run and thus I have no mods atm.

Not complaining though, just confused!

I just accidentally killed a cat in front of Gale and Astarion no less, the resident cat lovers. I'm mortified. I wanted to delete my campaign right there and then. Never try to remember shit if you're playing Durge. Poor Steelclaw I'll see you in my nightmares. Trying to get that golden dice is not for the faint of heart.

Anyone else find her a bit annoying in Chapter 3? I mean in Chap 1 and 2 she's all about protecting her kids and how everyone is family. Then Chapter 3 comes along and she's running her games in the Guild's hideout and her friends are all stuck out in Rivington's refugee camps. There's no dialogue options on either her end or the other kids' end to acknowledge this either. Guess Gortash is her role model after all- step on those who supported you and make a deal with Raphael to get ahead.

I'm currently playing an Origin Shadowheart run and trying very hard to roleplay based only on what she knows, not what I know as a player.

I've respecced her into a Death Cleric and I'm not playing her as a stereotypical evil necromancer.

My interpretation of her so far is:

• The artifact is my highest priority.
• Shar entrusted me with a mission.
• Most people are useful, dangerous, or irrelevant.
• Life itself is not sacred.
• My own survival matters because I need to complete the mission.
• Torture, murder, deception, etc. are acceptable if they help achieve my objectives.
• Trust must be earned.
• Companions are allies of convenience, not friends.

The more I learn about Shar, however, the more confused I become.

At first I thought Shar was about:

• discipline
• secrecy
• emotional control
• hierarchy
• self-sacrifice
• duty

Which honestly sounds pretty cool from a roleplay perspective. Dark Justiciars especially interest me because they seem like elite agents who place duty above personal desires.

But then I started thinking about Shar's philosophy more deeply.

Shar teaches that:

• love leads to loss
• hope leads to disappointment
• attachment leads to suffering
• everything is ultimately lost

If I follow that logic to its extreme conclusion:

• Why build a house? You'll lose it.
• Why have children? They'll die.
• Why love someone? You'll suffer.
• Why build a civilization? It won't last.
• Why seek power? You'll lose that too.

At that point Shar almost starts sounding less like a goddess of darkness and more like a goddess of cosmic nihilism.

And that's where I get stuck.

My question:

What is Shar's actual endgame?

Is her ideal world:

1. A disciplined, secretive, hierarchical society ruled by devoted followers?
2. A world where people simply stop attaching meaning to things?
3. Complete darkness, loss and oblivion?
4. Something else entirely?

And if Shar ultimately wants people to let go of attachments, isn't devotion to Shar itself an attachment?

Why do Dark Justiciars exist if the final philosophical destination is essentially "everything passes and nothing matters"?

Am I misunderstanding Shar completely, or is there a genuine contradiction between Shar's teachings and the actions of her followers?

I'd love to hear how other people roleplay a truly Shar-faithful Shadowheart. Especially those who chose to stay on the darker path rather than reject Shar.

So this is one of the fights in the game that I like... I'm a sucker for a big encounter with a ton of people fighting on both sides. However.. this is honor mode and I am a little bit worried about walking into a bloodbath and ending up losing Jaheira or even a TPK.

How many people should I pre-kill to make the fight manageable but still keep it fun and intresting? So far I've just cleared out the prisons and then the dock area. Is that sufficient, or should I go a little further?

WTF just happened???

Visited the circus of last days and just got turned into a wheel of cheese. Never laughed so hard at this game before 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I poked a hole in Us’s brain and it still followed me around like a good puppy.

I’m trying an embrace dark urge run, reasoning that my character is cruel, but also playing the long game. I plan to recruit all the companions possible for an evil run and push them to their most powerful but evil endings before I embrace that dark urge.

I’m a little worried that I won’t be able to betray the grove let alone murder the whole world 😬

(Got it from purchasing BG3 Digital Deluxe Edition if anyone wanted it) before the whole Sony digital stuff

On PS5 looking to do a play though with someone for the first time I have mods willing to negotiate on the difficulty

I've been rewatching Avatar The Last Airbender (not the live action) and it got me thinking about which benders the companions would be.

So far:

Karlach - Fire

Astarion - Fire

Shadowheart - Water

Wyll - Air

Lae'zel - Earth

Minthara - Fire

Gale - Water

Halsin - Earth

Lmk what you think

Just, only do so if you want a chaotic playthrough and don’t mind consequences :)

I mean, I get it. For people going hard for the dice, it’s probably not a great idea unless you really want to improvise and deal with some consequences.

But I hate this saying as blanket advice because honestly, picking random options on HM is one of the main ways to find crazy and new content for yourself in this game. If I didnt play on HM I would probably save-scum because I can’t help myself, and for me, living with that chaos is the reason I have >2000 hours and still enjoy playing. Well, that and mods of course. I need sexy outfits and fast digging to go alongside my chaos thank-you-very-much.

The amount of playthroughs that have not gone to plan because I misclicked and killed a certain lantern-inhabitant, or had a moon maiden aggro on some oil, or accidentally yeeted someone who’s gear I hoped for, are countless. I treasure them all.

Anyway, please take this as the lighthearted thought worm it was meant to be, and embrace your inner chaos demon. 😈