BG3 Honour Mode: strategy & tactics (many spoilers)

[Black Elk]

This is easily one of the more frustrating battles in the game I think. The Bhaalist assassins ambushing us at the bank.

Like please show me just how worthless the "Detect Invisibility" spell truly is lol.

It's as if the encounter was designed to showcase all the cracks in the stealth/counterstealth game. Detect Presence from the random neutral NPCs working practically every time, just not for some reason when the enemy is standing right behind me? Also this punk trying to hide behind the curtain... Good thing Wyll learned his lvl 5 smite!

Similar to the Gauntlet of Shar, the Iron Bank showcases one of the more annoying puzzles in the entire game as well. I suppose at least nobody is going to die on an invisible bridge here, but again why showcase the group/ungroup and party movement jank trying to hit these dialtones? The only thing more ridiculous are the rooms that have like 50 floor panel traps, none of which will go off unless someone tries to click and disarm one. It's like after people complained so much about characters randomly walking into traps, that they just gave up and made it so that nobody ever walks on one. Just kinda goofy, like it could have been a whole thing, instead just sort of a joke. I think a game like this would have been much better served by us setting traps as opposed to disarming them, and trying to ambush rather being ambushed, but I guess it's whatever. I wanted to start doing Beck style maneuvers to smash our instruments into random wall fixtures, or casting thunderwave into a crowd of my own party members just trying to get a reveal once per round. Felt like a fairly pointless timesink for an otherwise potentially fun heist.

What really screwed me though, is that I gained a level right before entering the Vault. For some reason the prepared Priest spells for my Multi-Class characters will completely reset whenever the character levels up. So Shadowheart suddenly had all the worst spells in the hotbar in completely different position. I really wonder like who decided which of these standard spells were going to be the defaults? Because they're generally pretty terrible choices.

If I'd had Spirit Guardians prepared the fight would have been over in a sensible amount of time, instead we had to juggle. Just like on the Nautiloid where she should obviously have Command prepped, and Bless so she can get the most out of the restoration pod, instead they stick the player with a bunch of middling buffs. I imagine someone new to the game could play for several hours possibly hundreds of hours without realizing that their default spell lists are totally weaksauce. I gave up trying to maintain an orderly hotbar long ago, but it's just one of those things.

Agonized over Magical Secrets for a while. Since I already have 1 lvl in Wizard, we're highly incentivized to choose a Spell that cannot be obtained through other means, like from scrolls, so basically a Spell from another class list or that doesn't have a scroll. I chose Counterspell and Sanctuary there. I wanted to choose an attack spell since it'll be using my prime in CHA, but most of those were already available or known. The Multi into Bard means that Shadowheart is still one level off gaining the Djinni, and Gale cannot yet write the Globe, so a bit of a lagfest trying to catch up.

Wishing I had a cool bandit mask like any off those assassins we just spent forever trying to kill. Or Skeeve Stabwell back at the guild hehe

We'll just be counting quartertones for a while I guess. We're going to camp right here in the middle of the Vault. I doubt Glitterbeard will mind, given that he's definitely already dead. Vault no 9 better have something decent in it, for all that trouble we took on lol

 

[Black Elk]

I was curious what sort of spell lists we'd end up with if I just clicked through the level up screen with Withers and allowed the game to select all my defaults for me. It was truly abysmal, ending up with cantrips like dancing lights and spells like the disco flaming sphere lol. From the worst grease spells to the worst grasping vines imaginable. Like a whole orchestra of middling options lol. The Mediocracy was off the charts! Just goes to show that you can't really automate some things. If relying on the billboard top 40 for spells, get dicy pretty quickly hehe. I imagine this is what it would feel like to not know what's going on at all, as the game is trying to gently persuade us like 'Go on! Just mess around with stuff and move things around in the blind!' sometimes with deadly consequences. Especially since there are so many choices to make and the experience can be daunting. In watching people settle in for BG a constant refrain is probably something like 'but how would I ever know to do that?' or 'oh wow, wish I had known sooner.' I think it must be built around the theme of those minor joys one feels at having figured something out without needing a tap on the shoulder for it. But then you get to lvl 11 and the choices become pretty real. Polymorph and Dominate Beast? lol

Each spell definitely has it's own unique sound, and they all have that ring like could be a potential album title, or cover band name. The Dimension Doors though, that has a pretty catchy ring to it! Really captures that sense of frantic panic as we go from mono to surround sound. A bazillion NPCs marching down the street. That pop and stutter, more distortion! More reverb! More echo!

Somehow through the magic of poor planning, we managed to get ourselves down to like 32 GP. Currently trying to smooth talk Volo into giving us a loan and a couple custom lutes in trade, just to buy some camp supplies. Sure we've got all this flashy inventory and all this merch sitting in the chest, but when it comes to paying for lunch everyone is suddenly eyeing their magic pockets and dragging their toes. At this rate we'll never be able to afford Statues of ourselves!

I wanted to eventually make the Circus a priority, maybe with a whole Aerialist Sanctuary routine, something that says watch these clowns really cry, but with the way we've been burning through cash, could be tough to swing those sorts of expenses right now. We really need to catch up with this Stone Lord guy, he's holding up all our royalty checks! The greater elementals are starting to grumble about it between sets.

We've got Earth, Wind and Fire, also Sly and the Family Stone Elementals, but I don't think they've been paid in weeks! lol

 

[Black Elk]

Here's an example of the spells re-preparing for Jaheira when she levels up...

Just fills them with a bunch of low level entries and reorders the hotbar each time she ups.

This is more what I'm looking for...

You know with like a greater Elemental and some Icestorms and such, or just keeping my spells prepared the way I had them already set and fine tuned! hehe

Ok for Wyll this is what I'm thinking. A head canon and a rationale...

So we managed to get him out of his Pact right? On a technicality, back in Act II, when rescuing Mizora from the pod.

She did the whole '6 months still on the leash' loophole, probably assuming that we wouldn't have the inner fortitude to long rest that often before arriving in the city hehe. But in any case, I think this is the prime opportunity for him to class out of Warlock in Act III, but then class right back into it again! Same Multiclass splits but with a different sequence order of taking the classes.



The Pact is back on!

Cause we did the whole Yellow Underwater Submersible sequence, and he ended up having to sign his soul away again to save the old man with Mizora right there ready to collect. Taking Warlock as our Last class instead of our First opens up some definite options for us.

Seems like it could work, without worrying about which Gods he actually believes in, or whatever Oaths he's probably breaking at any given moment lol.
By taking Paladin first I get a Heavy Armor proficiency, by taking Warlock last I can be a Hexblade and bind a better weapon. This way we still get our overlevelled Smites. I don't think it's possible to hit a lvl 6 smite, while still having all these pacts and instruments and such but it feels pretty powerful.

Like first Mizora went over in the corner and just faced the wall, then marched off back to the other side of the suite, so I felt like we were definitely on to something there!

Once we get Wyll sorted, I'm actually looking forward to recruiting Minsc for once and dealing with his Stats and Class levels. Usually I just have no clue what to do with the guy, but here I think the dip into Bard maybe would reveal some sort of plan for that now hehe.

 

[Black Elk]

A gallery of Possible Minscs lol

So the main issue with Minsc is that I'm bringing some definite baggage along for the ride on this one. Like he needs to hit certain marks or just won't feel sufficiently Minsc-like to me. Additionally, and along those same lines, he has some standard Weapons and Armor considerations that need to be met to pass muster. The primary consideration is a base Strength of at least 18, although I do feel that in the new framework and at lvl 12 recruiting into the fold he should really be a 20 STR character for a proper analogy with the previous games. On the other end of the spectrum, his lower mental stats in CHA, WIS, INT are somewhat difficult to model under the new scheme. I think its reasonable to assume that he may have really hit the books in BG1 and consumed all 3 Tomes of Wisdom at least. His stats in BG1 were STR 18/93 DEX 15, CON 15, INT 8, WIS 6, CHA 9 in Throne of Bhaal he got juiced to DEX 16, CON 16 so presumably those tomes were read. 6 Wisdom is pretty pitiful now though, with the floor set at 8s. So at least 2 Tomes of Wisdom there, just for a baseline, since we can't go lower without enduring some sort of Hex or Curse. For his Charisma, I imagine maybe reading the Tome was like one of the very last things he did, so evening up the CHA to 10. It's relevant only in so far as we intend to keep him as a Ranger for his starting class, since then he's going to be more WIS/DEX dependent, but either way we probably want as many ASI feats and attacks as we can grab out the deal.

The desire to have him take at least 1 lvl in Bard is another factor. I think the most obvious would be an 8/4 split, 8 levels in Ranger and 4 in Bard. This will give him all 3 feats for ASI and also a dozen spellslots at lvl 12. Compared to a pure class Ranger he will have three lvl 3 Spellslots a pair of lvl 4 Spellslots coming over from Bard. The spell selection isn't spectacular, but he can at least upcast a few of the combat spells that way. It's a bit of a bind though, because the attribute used for the spellcasting is likely to be sorta low. Still for certain spells that don't require much to land, like a cloud of daggers upcasted, not too shabby. Here's an example showing the slots there...

At first I wanted to try the Swarm Ranger, but I clicked Killer Bees and it has a Perma Animation which I found distracting. Circle of the Stars Druid has something similar, but it's a bit more flattering there, whereas the Swarm Ranger's buzzing bees were just a bit too much. He's already got Boo, so we don't get much from Beastmaster or taking the familiar. Overall Ranger is just sorta weaksauce for a Class if the idea is to use a Sword, but I think the 8/4 split still nets me the most spellslots I can achieve and the most feats, without dipping into fighter. I feel like Dual Wielding Maces would work for a BG2 riff, but wasn't really my go to. I think his specialty was always more 2 Handed Sword, and the best armor we could afford. Downside to just Ranger/Bard would be no action surge, which puts a big ceiling on the number of attacks we can get in for the opening burst.

If we do the split using Fighter, then we can take a feat for ASI at lvl 6. Issue there is that then we're so close to lvl 7 at that point for the extra attack, and from there so close to lvl 8 for an extra feat, that doing a Fighter Minsc really recommends 8 lvls in Fighter so we can get two feats out the deal. That leaves either a 2/2 or 1/3 leftover if I want to try and get more flavor in there. The other option would be to lowball and only take maybe 2 lvls in Fighter just for the Action surge, and try to get the attacks from Ranger to lvl 8. I think second best for spellslots would be to make him an Eldritch Knight, there we can get up to lvl 3 spellslots, which is fewer total Spells than the Ranger/Bard combo albeit with a better selection of Spells overall and more lvl 2 spells known. This combo to me is a little awkward though, because it's not super clear what my spellcasting attribute actually is, and in general I find the 5e method for determining how many Spellslots we get for various Multiclass combos to be pretty confusing. I haven't been able to really chart it out to my satisfaction, so it's mostly experimentation and guesswork to see what's going to get us the most bang for the buck. Here's an example of the slots on that one...


2 Ranger/ 8 Fighter EK/ 2 Bard

I think 8 lvls in Fighter is probably optimal, since then I'm bursting with like 6 attacks in the opening round, and can pick the Great Weapon fighting style, although which Sub-Class of Fighter specifically is a bit harder to choose. Arcane Archer seemed potentially interesting, just cause I haven't tried it yet, and since Minsc did generally have a longbow. I guess it works, but feels a bit off brand, and also a bit much to try and learn this late in the campaign. I'd probably save that for some sort of main Character run. I think EK is objectively better for a multiclass coming from stuff like the Booming Blade cantrip or just having more overall spellcasting versatility, since the way slots are added it's basically like an averaging out between Full Casters, and Half/Quarter Casters. Only Warlock has a totally different thing going on, where the slots don't average out, for the others I think taking the Full caster levels last ends up netting more spellslots.

Here's something similar 8 lvls EK, with 3 lvls in Ranger for Gloomstalker, and then just 1 lvl in Bard for final. It's mostly similar, but a bit more attack oriented rather than support oriented. Hard to say, to me Eldritch Knight also seems off brand, but mechanically it's pretty useful, since from BM and Champion we don't get anything spellslotwise there. Same multiclass combo using those Fighter subclasses would have us with just a lowly pair of lvl 1 spellslots, instead of 9 spellslots, with a pair of lvl 3s to upcast stuff. Booming Blade is also harder to acquire otherwise, I mean short of other extraneous dips that wouldn't get us much closer to ASI.

3 Ranger Gloomstalker/ 8 Fighter EK/ 1 Bard

An even more mechanically optimal way to go would be to dump STR and just have him use potions for that, but it seems so ridiculous. In that case he's basically 21/27 STR from the potions of Hill or Cloud Giant Strength, which leaves a lot more to boost whatever spellcasting option we got going. Themed mainly around combat buffs or ranger-y type spells, like not really doing Wizard stuff, but being able to Bind a weapon so that it can't be knocked out of our hands is pretty clutch. Champion gets some nice perks for a more passive bonus, but then we're back to using scrolls. Trying to make any sort of hybrid Melee Spellcaster feels a bit silly when anyone can cast whatever scroll, but given that we were incredibly broke before the last bank robbery, it seemed like might be a good idea not to just burn through them too quickly. Alternatively I could give up my DEX gloves and retool/respec my main, but that's a bit of a chore. Either way feels like his base Stats should be solid, rather than trying to make him item/potion dependant.

A 3 way split Ranger/Fighter/Bard trying to cover all the bases, kinda tricky. I suppose Barbarian is another option, like for a Rage factor or dmg reduction, which would be thematic but I find them somewhat harder to use. Trying to squeeze so many classes in there just to have the Musical instrument proficiency is sorta absurd, but I still think the dip into Bard would bring more to the table than blowing a feat on Musician which only gives us a +1 to CHA, and with no extra spellslots or animations/sfx for the spells. Dropping Ranger completely is another option to hit a Subclass perk. I think that could work, since Boo is always on regardless, though I feel like not giving him 1 lvl in Ranger might be some sort of betrayal lol. With the various combos of Classes and Equipment, it's definitely possible I think to give him enough Ranger flavor to pass. You know Urban Tracker Slight of Hand Gloves, an Invisibility spell or whatever, and he's basically doing whatever sneaky stuff a ranger would do. If I give him 2 levels in Bard we get Song of Rest, which is better than most heals or rest and recoups that a standard Ranger could bring to the table and with more Spellslots total.

Here he is needing the STR juice and more optimized. Still keeping the INT low to stay on theme, but boosting WIS and CHA. It's probably as high as I can get his performance for the Hand Drum, while still having a +2 in WIS for saves. Here I guess the rationale would be a near full recovery from his headwounds in BG1/2, but in an incredibly weakened state somehow for his base STR. Maybe in all of BG1/2 he had a secret flask hidden in his boot? Perhaps abusing the STR potions is what lowered his mental stats initially but then when he got turned to stone he wised up? something something handwave hehe

1 Ranger/ 8 Fighter EK/ 3 Bard Valour

He's going to have a pretty kickass custom drumset and probably some accidental violins when all is said and done lol. The single most important thing though is to remember to unequip the longbow before trying to reclass again at Withers, because otherwise for some reason the Longbow will be foregrounded in his portrait, which just looks awful! lol

In the end I tried like 3 or 4 different Minsc Archetypes, before deciding that he was probably just going to be playing at Bandcamp anyway hehe.

 

[Black Elk]

Even more Minsc!

It's amusing to me how every few pages I end up with this same basic conundrum of trying to build a Minsc lol

Eldritch Knight is a bit frustrating, mainly because their spellcasting Attribute is INT. I thought I could get around this potentially by taking my last level as a full spellcaster in some class that uses a different prime attribute for that (example, maybe becoming a Bard would allow me to use CHA, or War Priest to use WIS) but I think it's similar to Shadowheart's High Half-Elf Firebolt cantrip, where we're just going to igmiss all the time doing that. Minsc and I would both be competing for the Circlet from Lump under those conditions, which isn't going to work, cause I don't want to give up my Greater Air Elemental! hehe

I was initially intrigued by using the EK "War Magic" attack which they get at lvl 7. The wording there would be something like "Minsc has honed his body and magic for war. After he casts a cantrip he can make a weapon attack using a bonus action" the idea being to use the Booming Blade Cantrip which applies to a weapon attack to get another weapon attack. But the problem is that all these special type attacks are invariably tied to Bonus actions.

In BG3 Bonus Actions are more restrictive than Actions or Attacks. Since there is no version of Haste for bonus actions, and only a couple ways to get an extra bonus action per turn. Usually involving some specific bonus action like Dash or a specific bonus action spell, as opposed to a generic bonus action that could be used for whatever. The issue for me is that while I can certainly get one more attack in by choosing whatever Multiclass, it's harder to do so in a way that's better than Haste, even in Honour Mode where Haste has been nerfed. It's still basically like getting an Action Surge for 10 rounds if one can maintain concentration. EK has a rough road on that, since they can't write spells and their spell list and spellslot progression is more limited. I think in the 5e scheme they are 1/3rd casters or quarter casters or whatever, they have the slowest progression there, similar to Arcane Tricksters and such. They're effectively stuck at lvl 4 spellslots for their max, and lvl 2 spells essentially, compared to something like a Paladin or Ranger who are considered Half-Casters, or a full caster like a Bard.

A dip into War Domain Cleric for an extra attack is pretty similar. There we get 3 charges for making War Priest attacks. Upside is that we get that ability from lvl 1 in War Domain Cleric. Overall Cleric seems to offer the most bang as a 1 lvl dip, since all their best tricks are front loaded like that, but downside again is that it's tied to the bonus action. Rogue dips can get more bonus actions, but just for stuff like bonus action dash/hide. Barbarian dips can get some enraged bonus attack, for throws or a mainhand attack, but capped again by the Bonus Action. Then there are things like trying to be a Two Weapon fighter, duel wielding for the attacks, but once more, another Bonus Action ceiling.

The Polearm feat I thought might be cool, like maybe trying to pair it with Warcaster, or trying to get creative there with the extra Feat coming over from Fighter. Or maybe some gloves that mess with the ranged/melee spellrange, but I think it works differently in BG3 than the standard OP combos I remember hearing about from the tabletop. I have the Polearm feat on my main, but Opportunity Attacks are kinda middling for her, and I can't switch to make a Spell attack. Minsc could probably hit pretty hard with that one, but then it's like getting another Character involved to buff him beforehand. Pretty hard to compete with something like Haste, if the goal is more attack actions.

I think Champion would be better than EK, for the passives and not having to juggle so much. It also seems very Minsc to me. Like it's pretty straightforward there, better Crits and pairing with the Great Weapon fighting style for even more Crit flare.

Other idea was to take my lvls in Paladin rather than Fighter for smites, which I think could hit lvl 4 for him. I had forgotten about Phalar Aluve, which makes a Dex build a little easier while still being potentially a 2 Hander style. Seemed to almost get at my idea for what sort of Ranger he might be, with an Oath of Devotion and some utility there. I think I need to do it again to pick a better Bard spell, since pretty sure we already had Hold person from the Paladin standard list. I think Paladins are like Clerics where their prepared spells keep reordering every lvl up, just that I haven't noticed yet lol.

I like the idea of 3 lvls in Bard at the end. Valour for the Combat Inspiration and the lvl 4 spellslot. Here he's not totally dependent on the STR juice if I use Phalar Aluve, just in case the potions run dry. Going that route his DEX to 20 and his CHA to 16 for Hand Drum performance +11! With the extra +1 to performance from the Sword, we get a dirty dozen there, so he should be drumming pretty hardcore hehe

One of the things I do find a little disappointing about trying to play a support class like Bard, is that my contributions are sorta always defeated by things like Potions or Scrolls. I mean if the potion of Cloud Giant Strength was a Spell that my bard could cast, that would feel a bit more like I'm activating a special Minsc Multiclass combo that couldn't otherwise be achieved for like 100-1600 gp with any character. I mean anyone can caste Haste or the Globe of Invulnerability from a scroll, so it's a bit of a wash.

Glamour Bard has been interesting for my main, mainly on account of the fact that Majestic Command can be used versus Undead and Constructs, sorta like Hold Monster but less expensive. I mostly just use it for Majestic Halt which is more reliable than the standard Command spell if focusing on a single target. More bonus action hangovers there hehe.

Whatever our plans or experiments, they were quickly interrupted...

We woke up in the morning to the news of Florrick's execution!!! Oh no!

A Dark Day for Baldur's Gate

Even though we completely forgot about her, we made sure to immortalize Florrick in song, I guess lol

 

[Black Elk]

The Performance at the Wine Festival was epic!!!

Minsc really outshined himself and proved his devotion with a series of furious Smites, backed up by Boo.

At first we tried to lure Dolor out of position with the power of sound, but then he tried to get too close! Like way to close!!! The Woodland called the set short and we prepared to do battle.

Never had I been more pleased with decision to take Counterspell! I burned a level 6 slot to ensure that no one out-dimensiondoors the Dimension Doors! hehe. They pack em in super tight at the Wine Festival, elbow to elbow so it was tough trying to get an angle.

Dolor tried to flee, but he couldn't outrun Shadowheart's opportunity attack with that extra reach, and the Touch of Death! We stunned locked him with Hold Monster. I wanted to use the bonus action on myself with my other Magical Secret Sanctuary, but accidentally cast it on random Wine festival patron Aran Elomar lol. It was unintentionally quite heroic! Thankfully we managed to maintain concentration vs the knife attacks, and he was basically smoked!

Minsc followed up with a series of divine Smite for justice and the killshot went to the Air Myrmidon electric flail! We used a bunch of OOA polarm tactics. The doppelgroupies all got dropped in short order with lvl 6 Spirit Guardians and the Necroslap to close it out. Just brilliant! heheh

 

[Black Elk]

Went for the eyes!

lol

 

[Antimatter]

Hah, Boo going for the eyes is classic!

Also, thanks for all the reports while I was away from this thread. It's incredibly helpful to read your thoughts about classes, subclasses, MCing, choices, etc. As Ch'r'ai W'wargaz (how do you even spell that?) put it, knowledge is everything!

Henry managed to roll successfully all 3 times in the Zaith'isk, and considering I had buffs from elixirs and completing those checks, I decided to push through, even if we had no lvl 3 and 4 spells left. But hey, we reached lvl 7!

We won vs the gith Inquisitor in the meantime. The key was using Thunderous Smite by Karlach, he failed his saving throw, and fell prone. During the next round, we used all sorts of our damage against him, and boom, done! Astarion is rocking there, along with Henry, in terms of most damage inflicted (too bad there are no statistics like that in the game):

 

[Black Elk]

That's badass! Henry doing it the old fashioned way with a Smite! That's supremely satisfying. The battle under the Creche is super intense!

I resorted to barrelmancy for Ch'rai cause I was afraid of his super psychic abilities, and all those magical swords. I've been TPK'd right at that part so many times, sometimes I just run for the door invisibly to try and get away lol.

hehe thanks!

It's been pretty absurd trying to hang till lvl 12 for the 11/1 split, but picking up some tips from Minsc was fun, since he recruits in at lvl 12. I figured it was an alright strategy given that everyone is behind the power curve anyway, to bring him on board early. I hit lvl 12 with everyone else right before battling Lorroakan, which was kinda perfect timing. I was able to use Otto's Dance on him with 100% chance of success lol. His dance moves were absurd! We allowed him to humiliate himself while whittling down his minions in a game of Myrmidon vs Myrmidon. Ice beats Fire, Air beats Water etc. It was entertaining. We were in command, but the big payoff was exploring the Wizard's tower right afterwards.

I would say that the most powerful Multi-Class combo for Spellcaster is 11 lvls in any Full Spellcaster other than Warlock, who can hit that lvl 6 spellslot with a known 6th lvl spell, dipping into Wizard for just 1 level.

The reason is because then you can write Chain Lightning and the Globe. Or any of the most powerful Wizards spells with 4 prepared and ready to go. It's worth exploring the Tower with the spell See Invisibility, even though I bagged on it before during the Bhaalist fight hehe. There's is some pretty good loot and some unique Summoning, Evocation and Necromancy type spells that can only be found there. Artistry of War, the Deva, the Undead Minions etc. Nothing is really going to top the Globe of Invulnerability and Chain Lightning, but then if we got 2 more to sorta cycle around, using the Spellcrux Amulate to restore the slot. I think taking the Feat that allows me to duel wield two regular weapons would probably be more useful than Polearm. For Gale I think it would be better to just play him as an Evocation Wizard or really any Wizard other than Bladesinger, because then he can't use a Staff without loosing all those abilities and perks. The Dragonstaff that lets us Freecast a Spell is very powerful and versatile, but Bladesinger Gale doesn't really get a double staff or staff and Sword Gandalf option. Also since Minsc has taken his Phalar Aluve lol.

I was stoked to find our first Globe scroll and Chain Lightning just like bam one-two! At this point Gale is totally backbenched I think, because if I can cast the Globe and Chain Lightning all by myself as the ultimate Bard, he's really not brining a whole lot to the table anymore. Sad Violins! We gave him the Fancy Robes at least.

Finding the Dragonstaff had me reconsidering my Polearm Master flavor feat. Duel Wielder allows me to use both super staffs for the +1 to spell saves and attacks, as well as Free Cast and the Dragons favor for Chain Lightning. Using these two staffs in conjunction with the Spellcrux amulet we can cast Globe of Invulnerability 3 times per encounter. Or summon a Deva for free or things of that sort. With Kereska's favour Lighting I can cast Chain Lightning something like 5 times per long rest, as a Bard!? Count me in! lol

Although a staff isn't quite a Glaive, one definitely can't have a Glaive without a staff, and as far as staves go they definitely look more Glaive-like than most. I think at this point the 'Glaive' can just be our Lute, so it all works out hehe. We left Shadowheart with the Moonlight Glaive, since it does alright damage even with her lower base Strength. For her it's mostly just to get the Touch of Death OoA with the extra reach. I regret now not purchasing those Duel Wielding gloves from Talli back in Act II, but I think it requires the feat regardless, like to hold the staff and another staff or medium sized weapon at the same time I mean. I think we've deposited a good 2,000 GP into Wither's Pyramid schemes by now hehe. X marks the spot!

 

[Black Elk]

The Spider Queens Vengeance! hehe

That was probably Shadowheart's most important Flute solo of all! hehe

Once again the Djinni came pretty clutch, thunderwaving those goons into the Cloudkill and such. Our army of Minions was pretty formidable, now that I can summon a Deva and an Elemental for the personal bodyguard. I used my Amulet to replenish the lvl 6 Slot, so we could cast the Globe, then used my freecast for Chain lightning. We wrapped up quick taking out all the Sharran minions before dealing with Viconia KO. We let her live, but not before taking her of the Mace of 18 STR!

Then I spent real long time staring into the Mirror of Loss.

Best move for the Mirror is to go do the Night Orchids spot first, because that will allow us to skip over the first check, which is pretty high. Arcana or Religion I think. If I read the hidden note in that room first, then the character can chose to give up memories to boost their attributes.

I don't think there's any downside to doing this. It's not like Lae'zel is going to suddenly show up for an Endless Sunshine type moment to make me feel all super depressed about it later lol. I suppose I'd imagine it was just the memories of whatever rough gigs we played when the crowds didn't toss us any coins. Pretty sure any character can give it a go for a +1 to whatever attribute, and one memory per attribute. Except for Shadowheart, if she goes Plat and saves the Dame, she gets denied at the mirror. I think there's a way to blow through the checks by giving up Necromancy of Thay and the Danse Macabre too, but I ditched that one on Gale since I didn't have enough spellslots for writing it in my own spellbook. The danse zombies are pretty good, but they're under computer control so sorta unpredictable and they can take a while to complete their turns. I'd probably have torched the evil tome, but forgot it in Gale's pack. Brought Minthara and Jaheira instead. I had forgotten about getting a +1 this way, which I guess would be an alright alternative to the Hag's hair, though it definitely takes a while to get to this point in the game. Probably would make sense to respec a few people and give them some couple awkward odd numbers for their secondary attribute, and then use the Mirror of Loss to even things up.

If I do the Patriar dialogue option it gives a +1 to CHA, which would be nice for Minthara since she's currently at 15 there. With the pointy hat I could get her up to an 18 in CHA that way, which is pretty boss. I guess Minsc, might be able to pull something off with his STR doing this too. We're all pretty solid for our prime attribute scores already, but opens up some options to hit another powerup powerspike. Only thing is to remember to prep Remove Curse, so we don't get caught with a debuff walking out the door.

 

[Black Elk]

Worked like a charm!



I forgot I could just travel to camp and snake the book from Gale. We did some light reading and got the inside scoop on forbidden knowledge.

Managed to get us to 23 Charisma which I think is the highest I've managed just using the Hag's hair to hit the early 20 from the first ASI. Minthara unlocked the religion check and offered up the first prayer with the Fox cunning assist to hit her +1 to CHA for a 16.

Gave up all my memories before doing the Dragon one last for the +2.

Everyone was pretty happy with their demigod grab bag on the Stats. Except for Shadowheart I guess, but those are the breaks hehe.

I think Minthara is probably still better off wearing Sarevoks helmet, but probably somebody can use the Pointy Hat. Felt good to handle that oddball 15 we still had leftover.

Then we ate a cinnamon roll and packed it in for the night

 

[Black Elk]

This is where we are, at the level cap and with the Stats and itemization all basically sorted...

Well, other than the equipment from Hell like the STR Gauntlets and such, but I usually do that last, for whoever is brawling the hardest on the front line. I kept Viconia's mace for myself since the 18 STR there is pretty solid, and I can wield the Dragon staff in my offhand now. I gave Shadowheart the spell DC and attack Staff. I think higher AC is more important now, so I gave everyone a shield +3 except for myself. I noticed that we were still sporting our mostly unnecessary invisibility rings, so we could probably do a bit better there, probably with the warding bond rings.

For our standard army of summons I like Greater Elemental Air for myself, the Djinni for Shadowheart, Greater Elemental Water for Jaheira. Reason is usually just to hold onto the lvl 6 Spellslot so we can either burst with Chain Lightning to open, or use the Globe. I usually prep Chain Lightning from the Dragon staff, and then use freecast for a lvl 6 Spell in combat. I would go Myrmidons but I think Heroes feast is a better use of Jaheira's lvl 6 slot, since it gives everyone a big boost for resistances and such. Greater Elemental feasted, feels about as good to me as a Myrmidon. If I know it's a particularly big fight, might summon the Deva as well or use the Spellcrux amulet for a lvl 6 summon. I haven't used many Skeletons, mostly cause having too many summons sometimes makes it hard to move around in combat. Like sometimes I regret spawning the Woodland Being and the Woodwoad, just from the vines, but it's better to feast everyone when I can. Shadowheart feels pretty solid with the Djinni, she's basically out of hotbar real estate hehe. Minthara I gave Us, just so she could have a bet too. Us is quite a bit tankier than the other pets, and with the heroes feast usually manages to get in some bites or psychic zaps.

Overall I still think Circle of the Land is the most powerful Druidic Circle for Jaheira, least the way I play, just because then she can restore a lvl 6 Spellslot for a Summon and still do the Feast hehe. Circle of Stars Jaheira has some flash, but nothing to really compete with that. The Radiant dmg stuff did feel pretty useful for Act 2, but a bit less so now.

Glamour Bard I'd say has been pretty entertaining, although I was still leaning pretty hard on Wizard for my high end spells so I can't really speak to the pure class experience there. Stuff like Ottos or Hypnotic Pattern, Fear, it's just never going to be as good as a Lightning Bolt, or an Ice Storm, or a Globe at the high end. To me it's like, if there was a Feat to gain Chain Lightning I'd probably be taking that over whatever other Feat was available hehe, so I guess I just look at the Wiz dip in that light. Pretty sure Swords bard is better, but I'm just not a very stabby PC. I like to hang back and spell slinging and command is like my favorite spell, so the Glam Bard actually worked pretty well. I think it requires a willingness to sacrifice optimization for flare in the moment, cause usually there's a better spell that does some kind of direct damage, but it's fun to play commander. Like everyone halt! heheh

I think at this point we could go pretty much do whatever in whatever order, though I'll probably start with the trying to handle the Foundry just to get it out of the way. Playing as a Durge I always want to save the Bhaal stuff for last or last before Hell, but with Tav I feel like it's maybe better to save Gortash and the Dragon for last, and do Bhaal first there. Bit of a tossup. I suppose we could just suck it up and do the Hag stuff, or Astarions quest. I almost completely forgot about him again, until our camp got invaded. Good thing we levelled him up a bit at some point!

 

[Black Elk]

lol

Well, never let it be said that we didn't completely trash that hotel room!

I'm not even sure how or what set it all off, happened so fast! Like one second you're reorganizing your hotbar and checking your levels making sure everything is fine tuned, and the next thing you know it's a hot mic and sparks everywhere in the worst Chain Lightning scenario imaginable!!!

I thought I was dead for sure, since everyone counterspelled me at the same time and somehow Elminster picked today off all days. I was fully prepared to die, provided that Scratch and Owlbear didn't getting caught up in some sort of deadly AoE blast. Glaive cannot Fast Travel!

I blew my bonus action on the Sanctuary Attempt and so cannot jump to the campfire. I'm afraid if I move, it will throw the rest of my team into initiative. An absolute panic!

Sanctuary. Counter Spelled. Scratch Begins to Dash!
Noooooo!!!

I had to think so fast!

Somehow Shadowheart had not yet been agro'd and she is still holding Scratch's ball. I'm afraid if I switch to her character that she may pull the rest of the party into initiative, but the Dame casts Moonbeam and Isobel casts Sacred Flame, so it seems our only prayer. Moonmaiden guide my hand! Scratch had not yet turned hostile vs Shadowheart and party members hanging out by the mirror, so she is able to fast travel to the Basilisk Gate.


Minthara and Jaheria join with Shadowheart, evacuating to safety leaving and leaving us alone to face down Gale and everybody else. I used Hypnotic Pattern hoping I could disable him, success! But alas Karlach immediately helped him back to his sense. Now it was Elminster's turn. We tried our best to Counterspell him, but got Sunbeamed into the dirt. Astarion with the coup de grace, and we were dead before any owlbear cubs could be defeathered. Thank goodness!!!

Now everybody has -45 Attitude towards my Face lol. Like I gave the Dame a Glaive +1, and it did practically nothing to turn that frown upside down. Like a tiny angel on my shoulder. I feel like we'll have to pawn away half the stuff in the camp chest now to get Volo back on board. I guess it could have been worse. I thought this was going to be the last show, like a Candlekeep Candlesticker at some windy stadium with a bitter breeze and all salty hehe. I think the run is recoverable, just going to cost us an arm and a leg in Gold lol. I honestly don't care whether that individual thinks highly of me or not, at least the dog still loves us!

I'd love to go back and try to Kill Elminster, just for putting me through all that. Like maybe if I leave Shadowheart with Scratch on the other side of town, and cast sanctuary on the Owlbear club? But then I think that's basically consigning Gale to oblivion, which seems a bit harsh.

Everyone was pretty shook after that, even though we didn't die and didn't lose any dogs, still felt like I needed to decompress. Took the opportunity to create yet another Tav hehe.

The is Larceny the Tiefling Rogue...

She's a Mephisto Tief, with big plans to steal everything that isn't nailed down!

I gave her the Nadira face. It's impressive to me how, from just a couple tiefling faces, all that variety! I mean is it the Nadira Face or the Komira Face? hehe I guess could be either. A quick trip the hairstylist and some different toner or color demon eyes, and it's hard to tell who's who sometimes. We plan to use this to our advantage though! I gave her the twisty horns! Hoping to clear a hundred grand lol

 

[Black Elk]

Similar to a very long roadtrip, we started with the records named for roman numerals, but by the time we get to like Coda and Presence and whatnot, you've probably been cruisin for a while. Sometimes we need to enjoy the silence for a spell, to appreciate all that sound hehe.

The Nautiloid felt like destiny for a Rogue run, but I didn't push my luck too hard lol. We get 2 bottles of grease and not much else, so I tried to set a nice trap explosive tank. Rogue doesn't bring a whole lot to the table for support, but Mephisto Tief gives the mage hand and Lae'zel has the mage hand, so double mage hands is basically the meta. I thought about stalling the cambions by using grease near the restoration pod for a larger flaming surface. The move is basically to drop one tank in the tunnel, then make like I'm running backwards toward the room with the restoration pod to set off the explosion and create those extra flaming surfaces. Once I knew where the fire was burning I used the mage hands to fly over towards the 3 nautiloid tanks and reposition them where they can be picked up by a character or moved towards the tunnel. Ideal placement I think would be 3 to 4 tanks in the tunnel. 3 at the front one at the rear. Or otherwise saving one tank for a toss to try and blow them backwards a second time. I think going for all 4 at once probably more reliable. Without the haste potion there's no real need to time it any particular way so I just try to keep pinging Zhalk till the other 2 cambions arrived.

I think the fight is sorta completely down to Flayer RNG, so there's only so much one can do to tip the scales. The best move I think is to prep Bless with Shadowheart before hitting the restoration pod just to increase the odds on the Command drop. After that it's down to just keeping the Mind Flayer in the mix with the Cambions while I clear out the room down to 1 or 2 imps. Basically the hope is just to kill Zhalk and then quickly steal the mind flayer kill for the XP before jetting. If sticking around, it's really about whether Mind Flayer will be able to stun one or both of the cambions. If he does, then Lae'zel can usually stand and fight to see what happens, otherwise though safer to just run probably before the timer goes off since it's easy to forget the last few rounds countdown when the battle is close. It's nice to kill and extra devil for the cash, but it just doesn't seem very reliable. I leave Lae'zel to try for it, but alas, the Flayer just misses his bite attack like 4 times in a row hehe.

For my Mephisto Rogue run, I wanted to play it safe, conventional, and on a sound financial footing. Just like boiler plate Thief.

We took Urchin for our background, from the mean streets of Baldur's Gate, or was it Cania?

However that works I guess. Probably some sort of joint custody battle between a Fiend and a Patriar I imagine that went way downhill. We have the mage hands and the flaming hands, so both fast hands accounted for there. Things almost got dicey on the beach, when we played it slightly unorthodox and tried to keep things death defying. Almost lost it at the start, but through the power of snooze button long rest, we were back on our feet in short order hehe.

I immediately put that trick mentioned by Antimatter into practice. The barter to get the gold into bite-sized 20 gp chunks, then moving the pile over to the merchants inventory rather than completing the transaction. I was able to take Volo for almost what we spent on the Whispering Promise for Shadowheart. I got dinged -5 Attitude on like the 11th attempt in a row hehe. We gave him some books to smooth things over then grabbed another 200 GP or so from Dammon and the Breastplate +1 before quickly skipping back to camp to recoup.

My plan was not get out of bed in the morning for anything less than like 400 GP. Also to avoid buying anything but the essentials, like some Hill Giant Juice and a bottle of diet invisibility hehe. I had Gale specialize in Illusion so we could get the supped up bonus action Minor Illusion and whatever invisibility type perks would be thematic there. I don't think I've played an Illusionist yet, but they seem like mostly useful for this sort of gameplan. Astarion is reduntant, since I'm playing the Thief, so he's backbenched. Wyll I think is mostly useful for whatever purchases need to be made that can't be handled through Rogue antics and grabbed from KO. Lae'zel I have on my standard Battlemaster, still manual transmission there, riding the clutch with Menacing strike, Rally, and Disarming Strike, just so I don't get too turned around. Shadowheart I think is probably the most critical, since she can enhance Ability in convo for Cat's Grace or whatever other option might be needed. Burns the spellslot, but I think will be necessary for certain convos that I'm more used to bypassing with a Charisma based caster using Persuasion or Deception. Probably I will hang onto the guidance amulet instead of feeding it to Gale, just so Shadowheart can keep enhanced ability prepped for helping me smooth talk our way out of whatever. That's the hope at any rate

It was Lae'zel who had the first big idea about how to start really raking it in hehe.

ps. Main thing I'm noticing compared to my usual party comp is how many extra bonus actions we have to move around or go for extra stabs. I think Thief to lvl 4 is pretty nice, but not sure from there. Once we get in range of 20 DEX with the Hag's Hair I feel like a multi-class into 2 weapon Fighter might be fun.

 

[Antimatter]

Wait, what happened there in the inn? I can't understand how the fight started and why.

 

[Black Elk]

So basically what happened, I was trying to use Arcane Battery from the Dragon staff to free cast the summoning spell Greater Elemental, but instead I clicked the Kereska's favor Lightning attack by accident and triggered it against the wall. This agro'd Mizora from AoE and threw Elminster, Gale and whoever else Temp Hostile. It took me a round to realize that some of my active party members were still under my control and not in combat against me.

The only danger in camp I think is that the dog and the owlbear cub could be killed when they are temp hostile and lost forever, so I insta freaked. I think it was possibly also the watery surface left over from when those Vamps raided our camp to get at Astarion. I should have had Jaheira or Shadowheart mop up with destroy water, but I was lazy lol.

I'd check out of that hotel in a heartbeat, but pretty sure we're stuck there now, unless I want to pack it back to Rivington to sleep. Hell is probably an eternity at the Elfsong Tavern. Whole place makes me super claustrophobic now heheh

 

[Black Elk]

So far so good! I managed to clear 6 grand in about as many nights for the Rogue run, which felt like an alright start. Larceny died 3 times on the Nautiloid trying to set various grease traps before concluding that it was a bit of a bust. I think the most impressive start for a lockbuster was the run where we accidentally tossed the first chest into this position where it can no longer be reached lol.

Guess we'll never know what was in that one! I've had it happen before, where I'll be running, go to click a chest to see what's inside, but instead of opening the thing we somehow yeet it with the cursor. Suddenly the umbral gem is sitting on top of the Sharran statue where it can no longer be interacted with, stuff of that sort.

When I saw the "Thieves tools" eventually, I knew it was probably meant to be, even if we didn't find any haste potion to try for extra Devils this run. I figured we could just make it up on the back end being extra petty with our Larceny.

At first I was very cautious, for that initial 3000 GP I used the barter trick mentioned, with fog clouds and Gale using the super minor Illusion. I had a crossbow for the 10 GP pile, and just went to town. As if it was a Goodberry Gals re-union tour hehe, just click click click! For the super safe 0 or -1 check, just lowballing it, maybe picking up a couple arrows or some level 1 scrolls etc.

Then I became significantly more brazen with the thievery. I stole the gloves from Brem and the ring from the skeleton, and then started to just go crazy I guess lol.

Trying for the heavy stuff without turning on the foghorns even. I got myself into trouble once or twice, trying to use Invisibility, since sometimes when that breaks they'll catch on instantly. I think we could have taken Arron for a lot more over the long haul, but eventually he caught us. I'm not sure what the odds on that would be something like what 1/400 to crit fail with advantage? Then I remembered that my game had crashed a while a back, and I did the whole re-verify thing. This turns Karmic Dice back on by default, as well as resetting my DLSS and whatever other stuff in the options Nudity settings all that stuff. I decided to just roll with it, to keep things fuzzy hehe.

I think the only Merchants to keep an eye on would be Ethel and the Zhents. If we try to nab the potions from Ethel for a freebie, she'll decide to just bail and go to the Teahouse. I bought a few, then got greedy, so she ended up taking off. Brem will also bail in similar fashion once he realizes he's been burgled, and so the Zhents will all disappear. There I grabbed all the smoke powder barrels except for the stuff by Oskar so we wouldn't detonate. I can't remember but I think the Titanstring bow will reappear later in Act II, so no huge loss. I'm sure I could have ponied up and just bought the Gloves, but something about pickpocketing them just felt too thematic to pass up hehe.

I'm trying to decide if being a Thief or Swashbuckler is more our Jam. The extra bonus stab is fun, but Swashbuckler gets the initiative bonus and the special attacks so I'm considering a visit to Withers. Shadowheart is in desperate need of a retooling. At first I considered keeping her as a Trickery Cleric, since that would be sort of thematic, but it's just such a middling subclass and her default stats are pretty terrible. I really enjoyed playing her as a Death Cleric, because the Inflict Wounds necroslap, and Touch of Death for the Melee attacks is just so satisfying to use. It makes the Cleric feel like more of a brawler, which suits my sensibility coming over from previous editions about how a Cleric should play. I'm not sure what the deal is with her default Stats anyway, since they all change based on stuff like Class/Subclass. Death Clerics get access to Martial Weapons, although no heavy armor option, but the Touch of Death and breaking through necrotic resistance sorta makes up for it. I used more melee attacks with her as a Death Cleric, than I ever did as a War Cleric for example. Probably just because Touch of Death is so much better than say divine strike, adding more dmg more reliably on the backend. Even some weak flourish can hit pretty hard with the added Necrotic hit to close.

With Lae'zel I debated on going Arcane Archer or EK for tricks, or Champion for smoother crits, but I just find the special moves and animations of Battle Master pretty enjoyable so kept it classic there. I stole her some Heavy Chain from Dammon, since it looks very nice in Red! Sorta the only armor that really pops and looks super clean with that dye! hehe

Caught those Gobs mid-flight kaboom! lol

For myself I'm considering how best to play the long game on the Mirror of Loss. I think 22 in DEX is definitely doable for sure, but I don't think it's possible to hit a 24 for that attribute. For Strength we can get the Potion of Everlasting Vigor (+2 STR permanently) but I remember that one being sorta weird in earlier builds. I'm curious if it's fixed now. Then there is stuff from items or equipment that gives a bonus + whatever to stats, also the Mirror, Hags hair etc. I think for CHA and STR 24 is possible, but not sure about the other attributes. Sometimes these are accompanied by a not like "up to 20" (hags hair any attribute) or up to 21 (khalid's amulet WIS) up to 22 (birthright point hat CHA) etc but then after the mirror the totals display differently. Seems like DEX would be the most desirable here

 

[Black Elk]

To me BG3 is pretty arcade gamey, like somehow it reminds me of the Street Fighter 2 or MK era in the arcade. So I prefer to just imagine that this game will somehow still get an afterlife, re-run revamp, to take me for even more coins!

Crank the animation speed like 133% and then give us all of the following... PvP Player vs Player or Party versus Party mode. So like Shadowheart vs Shadowheart, or you get the idea. Each Origin needs a doppelganger with an alt color scheme and access to alt color hair dyes along similar lines. Each Origin character needs a Player 1 and Player 2 default, but ideally either could go full custom full colors. PvE mode should be like where our party fights another party from the random goon squad. Unlocks all the main bosses as playable Characters. Withers Zombies from the NPCs hirelings so B teamers can cover all available races/backgrounds, including Dragonborn! Basically a grab bag for the voice sets there, so it could have all the Tav barks available too. Bonus levels where we have to break stuff, use barrels, AoE damage etc to make the goblins and necromites all fall to their doom before time runs out?

Some magic spells and jank glitch maneuvers to be highlighted for sure. So for example a Blue Fireball special, or the handcuff, which is when Sazza does like a reverse upside down jumpkick animation to hookshot her way into the Camp roster hehe. Maybe the floating trapdoor to Lae'zels cage functions as a warp zone? Act IV, unlocks the entire campaign map so that we can access all the earlier waypoints and from there to the Big City. If we go back to locales from Act I and II, same basic enemy types as before, just all Hasted and super shadowcursed! lol. I know there are the tactician enhanced mods and such, I just think it would be funny if they branded it up more like it was an Arcade throwback. Like some sort of "Finish It" fatality move for everyone, but instead of Sub Zero vs Scorpion it's like Aradin vs Zevlor or whoever hehe. That would have been amusing. Starting Equipment! Flawless hehe

 

[Black Elk]

Few minutes in gimp and now it exists, or in meme form at least lol

Gotta toss em out there sometimes ya know, see if anything gets retrieved


Shadowheart is a pretty solid Clerical trope, she' got the whole Janus faced thing going on so that works. I think the challenge would be to figure out a solid look/color for all the others. If I could spend a 1,000 GP at Withers to have our background portrait colors change, but then I'd probably be in debt to him for the next several centuries.

We tried to keep it honorable, like I'll probably try to get to 10,000 or enough for a statue at least this time.

I find that for the rogue run I stop everywhere and spend twice as much time trying to steal stuff, but the upside is that I'm usually operating solo just controlling the main character so it hasn't resulted in TPK scares. More just like whether a random NPC is going to witness or if I'll have to stun lock someone. Having Gale or Shadowheart or Wyll with Hold Person is alright. If I do get caught I can go for KO and the top loot. Did that for Arron but then I think he bails, or repositions maybe as if it was the battle to raid the Grove. Too bad cause he's got some alright scrolls. Tried to keep the Paladins alive for a few days, even though Karlach was getting antsy about it, just so we'd have someone left to steal from lol. But eventually she got wise as well, and had to be taken care of, so now we're down to basically Dammon and Roah. I've yet to go underground to the Underdark but might need to soon. Ethel burst our bubble and pulled May down into the lair so not sure there, the merchants are sorta tight now but cleaned up alright. Might have to plan for the no Hag's hair bonus anyway, since we're not the most persuasive, sorta problem solved there I guess. For now at least won't be worrying about it too much. Hopefully we can buy our way out of whatever jams, though I'm a bit nervous about trying for the Acid ring, just so many sentient mushrooms hanging around Derryih and the Society of Brilliance merchants.

 

[Black Elk]

Ok we were able to get the band back together for the Bard run. All told it cost us basically everything we'd earned from taking the main stage at the Foundry. All the armor and random maces, then we started dipping into the collectables and some equipment that might have had sentimental value. Living the high life just way beyond our means.

I'm not sure it really mattered, like maybe I could just leave Elminster with the question mark above his head forever, like honestly, screw that guy, but we cooked the books and bit our lips, tried to even things up as best we could to get back on speaking terms. Volo reluctantly agreed to rejoin the troupe as well, in a package deal with Isobel and the Dame coming along, but only if everyone gets a production credit and a cash bonus. There was really only one thing to do, we had to call the head office and bring management back into the picture.

Our demands were simple. All new material!

None of this playing Bard's Dance again for the umpteenth time, but something expansive, digging deeper into our repertoire than ever before, and playing at least 4 of those 5 other bard songs we know. Also another solo for everybody, or Minthara is going drop the Orphic Hammer!

That's how we plan to walk into the room, with the iron will and just a grip of smoke powder. If they say no? We're tearing up the contract and going independent!

lol

Sometimes you gotta be willing to walk away, or at least run away while half encumbered. I can't believe our heroes are this broke. Like Larceny hasn't even left the first part of Act I and she's already making 4 times what the musicians are earning. Go figure!

Having like a half dozen tunes to play was certainly a nice touch. It's the little things I enjoy that keep me coming back. Also I know if we don't get the 200 GP street performer achievement on this run, it'll probably never happen. Shadowheart has tapped into all that grief and now she's ready to howl again! heheh