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sorcerous-caress · 8 months

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Can you do an aftercare breakdown of how all the dommy mommies might treat Reader post-fuck/kink session? This is Mintharaheart anon, I’m baptizing myself.

After care | bg3 women

[ Fluff, smut, nb!reader, blood in Orin's part ]

[Karlach, Minthara, Shadowheart, Laezel, Orin ]

Karlach

You're out of breath, as if you've ran a long tiring marathon. The ache in your bones pleaded for you to lay down on something soft, something warm, something-

"I've got you, soldier, just relax."

Karlach is very warm to the touch, a comforting embrace that washes away all the aftermath of the adrenaline pumping in your veins. Her large fingers slowly caress your body, making you melt against her touch and relax all of your muscles.

It's only when she speaks again, do you realise you were falling asleep. "Awh man, i really wore you out, huh?" Your eyes open up, you don't remember closing them, attempting to meet her flaming eyes but it's being proven a struggle as of now.

"Shh it's alright" she cuddles more against you, her warmth becoming your whole world. And what a comfort inviting world it was. "I've got you" she repeats, "sweet dreams."

Minthara

Something you've noticed about her, is that her breathing always faded in with the background. No matter how many times you laid beside her with your eyes closed, it was hard to pick up on where the night started and where the Minthara ended.

She blended in too perfectly. If it wasn't for her head laying on your chest, then you might have suspected she wasn't breathing at all.

But you could feel it, her heartbeat, the one thing she couldn't silence away.

The way you held her, as if she could slip away from you, as if the wind might carry her off. You held her as if you could put her whole together again with your embrace alone in case she ever breaks.

Minthara rarely spoke during those times, the quiet, tender moments where she let herself be vulnerable. Bared weakness and tore her wall down for just a couple minutes before the harsh world pulled her back in the front lines of duty.

Shadowheart

Laying together on the soft covers, the two of you have been gazing into each other's eyes for a while. Memorising each other's faces and embedding the other's eye colour into your own souls.

Who knew green could look so beautiful, so mesmerising.

She'd normally tease you for this, call you a love struck puppy. But she can't manage to form any clever combacks now, not when your face was so close to her, your lips glistening and neck covered in all the marks she's left on you.

She swallows down, your eyes follow the movement of her throat.

"We should get cleaned up." she makes no point to move, "maybe a bath."

You nod.

Neither of you gets up just yet. She doesn't call you out on it, and you don't mention how it was her own idea.

Just a little bit more, a little time more for the both of you before you have to wake up from this dream.

Laezel

She doesn't see the point in cuddles, she made it clear to you long ago.

You wonder how would the old Laezel feel if she saw the current Laezel now, clinging to you with her head buried where your shoulder meets your neck.

In a way, you've also changed. You've gotten better at handling it, her intense raw emotional in bed. The ache in your body is much easier to manage now, even feels a little refreshing.

Both of you made space for the other, both of you adapted to be able to hold each other even closer now.

Her hair is very soft, brownish strands sliding through your fingers as you play with it. She makes no effort to stop you.

Orin

The smell of rubbing alcohol has stopped being so harsh to your nose long ago, it's more of the norm now. Although that might have been the light-headedness caused by the bloodloss doings.

Disinfect, dry, and then bandage the cuts. It was the usual routine.

Orin did most of the work. You could relay on her expertise to take care of your wounds, it even gave her a chance to admire her own work, she said.

It actually kinda grew on you, seeing her all giddy and giggling away at the sight of red in your veins. It was almost endearing in her own twisted way.

Her long hair swished behind her as she moved around you in excitement steps, tending to every wound that she was personally the cause of.

Being extra careful in getting in bed with you after, making sure not to press against any sore spots, for now, at least.

She always sang your praises afterwards, told you how simply ravishing you looked, truly a masterpiece of art.

You'd always drift off into slumber on her lap before she finished her speech, she never minded.

#♡shart #♡Karlach #♡Orin #♡Minthara #♡laezel #♡fluff #♡dom mommies #♡Mintharaheart anon #shadowheart x reader #karlach x reader #minthara x reader #laezel x reader #bg3 x reader #bg3 fluff #nb!reader

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carryoncastiel · 4 months

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So, about that content disparity between BG3 companions...

Usually I don't do any programming outside of work but I was really curious how the content between all the companions is actually distributed and also how it changed with patches.

So I put together a little code and let it run through the parsed dialog files for Patch 1 and now the latest Patch 6, counting everytime a character gets a line of dialog.

I subtracted the numbers of [TagGreeting] and [TagAnswer] (manually, after the overall count...because I didn't wanna program it...shhh) since they just seem to be links to actual lines, but not lines themselves.

Keep in mind: 1. I don't know if there might be other tags that don't contain dialog, I only subtracted the two I mentioned, 2. IMPOSSIBLE lines that might not be accessible in game get counted, 3. this says nothing about the length of the lines (they could be one word or a couple of sentences as seen in the screenshot above. They all get counted as one), 4. Origin specific lines don't get counted unless they're actually said by the character (Player Karlach seems to talk to herself as 'Karlach:' for example, that gets counted).

So here are the final results:

Patch 1

Astarion 5876

Shadowheart 5639

Lae'zel 5221

Karlach 5032

Gale 4661

Wyll 4299

Minthara 2786

Halsin 2719

Patch 6 (number of lines added compared to patch 1)

Astarion 6408 +532

Shadowheart 6180 +541

Lae'zel 5718 +497

Karlach 5529 +497

Gale 5123 +462

Wyll 4936 +637

Minthara 3167 +381

Halsin 3001 +282

Unsurprisingly Wyll is last of the Origin characters. Though I was suprised that Karlach has quite a lot more to say than Gale.

The most suprising is that apparently Wyll got the most lines added since Patch 1!? If that is true it still did absolutely nothing to his abysmal numbers.

Buuuut I have the sneaking suspicion this might just be weird data, especially 'cause he's such an outlier here (I also checked Ulder's dialog for example, and he got 1 more overall line count from patch 1 to 6 but his [TagAnswer] count decreased from 20 to 2 making his result go up from 288 to 307. Could be the same with Wyll, maybe some different formatting that screws with the count.)

Also, so you don't think I just made up random numbers I put a screenshot of my code under the read more if you're curious

Please don't judge - it's functional.

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i-made-a-bg3-blog · 1 year

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In honor of the updated release date, it is once again time to make a shitpost no one would ever care about.

Ranking BG3 companions from worst to best cooks:

5. Astarion

You know this motherfucker has never cooked a day in his life, even before he was a vampire. In fact, I have a hard time imagining him eating at all. He's that guy who is perpetually late, always hungover (but like in a chic way), and his diet consists of red wine, cigarettes, and cocaine. Also, he always has an iced coffee, even when there is no conceivable way he could have gotten one. No, I have not thought a lot about this, what are you talking about?

4. Lae'zel

Lae'zel seems like she's a 'food is food' kind of person. Her cooking is edible, but that's about it. She refuses to cater to weak, lesser races by adding any kind of seasoning.

3. Shadowheart

The thing is, has Shadowheart actually cooked for the group? Cause I can imagine Tav asking her, and her questioning why they're asking her specifically, and then Tav worries that they've said something offensive. Mostly she just doesn't want to, and this is a very effective method for avoiding it.

2. Wyll

Wyll is a good cook, but he has a tendency to get a little too creative. Everyone dreads when he starts talking about a new recipe idea he's had because it'll end up being something like watermelon-braised boar meat stuffed into a pumpkin.

1. Gale

Does Gale like cooking? Probably not. However, Gale refuses to be bad at anything. Also, he's one of those super annoying people who act faux-humble about something they are obviously really good at. He'd be like, 'oh no, it's nothing special' after making a souffle in the middle of goddamned woods, but you know he knows. God he's so annoying. I love him.

#another bg3 shitpost #bg3 hot takes???#my place in the discourse is asking the questions no one has ever given a fuck about #and then having psycho opinions about them #astarion #gale #wyll #lae'zel #shadowheart #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

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inaconstantstateofchange · 3 months

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BG3 Companion Headcanons: Wicked Grace (Or, Well, Talis¹)

I got to thinking about what it would look like if we had a similar scene with the BG3 companions as the infamous Wicked Grace scene from Dragon Age: Inquisition. Enjoy:

Lae'zel: She doesn't really see the point of a game seemingly so dependent on chance rather than true strategy – she and Gale share a bonding moment over this – and refuses to participate after losing by an embarrassing margin in the first game. However, she does take a "strategic vantage point" from which to keenly observe the proceedings, and makes a private vow to win back her honor in future, after the sting of defeat has eased.

Astarion: He's the one who suggested the whole affair in the first place, but he quickly finds himself with cause to regret it. On the one hand, he ends up... enjoying himself to a certain degree, but on the other, he does not come out of it with anything near the unquestioned victory he expected. He's not used to playing against opponents with a comparable skill level, so his attempts to cheat his way to victory only succeed a fraction of the time. His stress levels increase after Lae'zel taps out and takes up haunting the table, and the inconsistency with which she calls out his cheating is worse for his nerves than if she did it every time.

Shadowheart: Astarion may have suggested the affair in the first place, but she's the one who manipulated him into it, by "casually" noting on a mission one day that it was a shame none of them had a deck to play with, as she was a great enjoyer of the game even though she had never had any great skill with it. In fact, such games were highly emphasized among Sharrans for their unparalleled utility in information gathering, manipulation, and subterfuge.

Gale: He starts out very certain of his skill and assured victory, then begins making several pointed comments about how it would be a different story if they were to bring out the lanceboard when he begins losing ground — and articles of clothing. He makes a decent showing for himself, but folds out just after the midpoint of the evening to join Lae'zel in treating the remaining players as the prime entertainment they are.

Wyll: He played with some of the Fist recruits as a teenager, but he's a little out of practice. He gets fleeced for the first few rounds, but settles into it, keeps his wits about him, and quietly gets his own back by the later rounds. He regularly catches his opponents off-guard with an unexpected quip, and Karlach has to excuse herself for an entire round after snorting ale out of her nose in a horrid mix of foul steam and boiling liquid. He apologizes vigorously, but can't stop laughing along with the rest of them, and it certainly doesn't make him stop.

Karlach: She's actually a brutal opponent, but unfortunately stymied by her recent experience being with the rulesets used by those devils willing to play in Avernus, and, prior to that, the heavily amended rules favored by the seedier neighborhoods of Baldur's Gate. No one – particularly not those currently winning – is willing to switch to a different set of rules in the middle of the evening, but Karlach makes them promise that next time, she gets to pick the ruleset. She calls it a night after the Ale Incident, clapping Wyll on the back before flopping down next to Gale and Lae'zel, and picking a new target to cheer on each round. (Her cheering is distracting enough that said targets are typically grateful when her attention lands on anyone else. This is on purpose. She is having a grand time.)

Minthara: She treats the initial invite with icy disdain, noting that she has far more productive things to do than to engage in such puerile pursuits. The camp is small enough that she can't entirely avoid the bright cluster of gathered individuals raucously ribbing at and laughing with each other. She ends up drifting nearer, noting that in Menzoberranzan they played for much more meaningful stakes than mere coin. Everyone's in a good enough mood to leave that one alone, and so she somehow ends up standing just behind Halsin's shoulder. She offers blunt and often biting commentary berating his strategy for being too hands-off, falling silent only when he wins that round — albeit with a gambit that would have lost him some fingers in Menzoberranzan. He looks at her with a gleam in his eye, but doesn't press his point, merely tilting his hand to allow her a better view, and they proceed to form a fairly successful team.

Halsin: He plays up his ignorance at first, claiming cards to be "an invention of civilization", but acquits himself with the skill of a reasonably accomplished dabbler. As the night wears on, he admits in a quiet, humor-laced aside that his master, the previous First Druid, was an inveterate card sharp, and Halsin's own skill was merely what he acquired in self-defense. When Minthara joins him, he ignores her more bloodthirsty suggestions, but incorporate those that suit his own strategy, culminating in an unpredictable, yet startlingly effective strategy.

Jaheira: She's brutal. A terror. They overlook her the first round – innocent, unknowing fools that they are – more focused on their own petty squabbles with one another. She smiles calmly, refuses to rise to any of the general ribbing, then sweeps the entire pot at the last minute with a play that leaves them all gaping at her. From that point, they are gunning for her in particular — and she makes them fight for every single copper they regain.

Minsc: No one is certain whether he knows what game they're playing. He will make absolutely absurd plays, then come in at the last with a card laid out on Boo's direction that somehow turns it around. His chaotic playstyle means he's never first — but he's also, inexplicably, never last.

¹ "Some games of skill are detailed below, but games of chance are also popular. Wagering on any sort of game is also a favorite pastime.... Talis Deck: A deck of seventy-eight cards, typically made of lacquered paper or parchment, in a wooden case. The deck is similar to a tarot deck." Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3E. 2001. p. 96.

#voidling speaks #headcanon #meta #my meta #bg3 #halsin #minthara #wyll ravenguard #shadowheart #karlach #jaheira #minsc #astarion #gale dekarios #lae'zel

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tilthedayidice · 1 month

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Hey welcome back to my BG3 Hot Takes

While I have your attention, here's a cool site to help Palestine, all you gotta do is click it daily.

This session was inspired by @lipsie, gettin me ttalkin way too much. Yes I am aware that the tadpole changes things, and they have to make it balanced for the game blah blah blah- let a bitch complain.

Screenshots sourced from the Baldur's Gate 3 Wiki

Gale is the only character I feel is spec'd correctly, He's smart but fiuckin stupid, he has autism rizz, mam could not lift any box you asked him to, the only reason his constitution is 13 is because he's been dealing with the Orb and he's used to it by now.

Karlach should start with 20 strength and you CANNOT convince me otherwise, her charisma should be higher also, she's a ball of sunshine and could put the fear of god into anyone, and the line "Gods I wanna ride you til you see stars" will never leave my brain. Give this bitch a 15. She do be a little dumb I'll give you that.

Shadowheart is just funny to me, How can her wisdom be a 17 when she's been cloistered away for so long? Her wisdom is only a 17 in ONE SPECIFIC SUBJECT, a subject where she's forced to give up her memories. Memories are where we get our wisdom. Wisdom is gained through lived experiences, I'd give you the 17 for endgame Shart, but not start of game Shart. I'll take the 8 CHA cause she's a bitch (said with love, me too babe) but she knows enough to get what and where she wants so I think we should nudge it up to like 10.

Lae'zel.... I think it's unfair to put Lae'zel's intelligence at 10. Her wisdom being low, yeah i get that she's been cloistered away in a society that believes its the only way, it's all she knows. But intelligence? No. She might know much about Faeruns culture and people, but she knows EVERYTHING about the stars. And there's far more of that than there will ever be of Faerun. She's the funniest person we know, give her 9 CHA.

Wyll my beloved, do you airbrush those abs on? Do you wake up every morning and contour them? I DON'T BELIEVE YOU DO!!!!!!!!! SO WHO'S THE ASS WHO DECIDED YOUR STRENGHT WAS A FUCKIN 8??????? THE BLADE OF FRONTIERS SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST A 13. He deserve a 15 but I know they won't give it to him. Lipsie and I were talking about him and they're right, WHEN WE DUMP THE BITCH HE SHOULD RESPEC INTO BARD.

Astarion..... oh Astarion.... you're such a disaster. Such a wet cat of a man. Such a pathetic little mew mew. I shit on him a lot, but I do really love his character and development lol. LESS STR MAKE HIM WEAK, he has been starved and living off rats and shame, he can have his measly 8 AFTER he drinks... uh "Thinking" Blood. His CHA being 10 is perfect actually no notes. I personally think his actual INT should be lower, not too much lower, maybe 11/12, I knooooow he was a magistrate, but you can't tell me he's not giving himbo... no what was that word on the meme graph? Himbim? Himbim.

Halsin.......... 10 STR? 10?!?!?!?! You built him LIKE THAT and give him 10 STR?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? What in the nine hells...... Weaker than Karlach of course, but 10????? Give that man 15 at least 8 INT???????????? 8???????? LARIAN WHY DO YOU HATE HIM???? Is it because he isn't Gale? Mans has been studying the mindflayers on his own, he's been studying the shadow curse... on his own. HE'S A MASTER HEALER?!?!?! AN ARCHDRUID?!?!?!?!?!?!? That takes time, study, and dedication. You wanna assign him himbo so bad. He's just a whole well rounded man with autism,. (Not a dig on himbos, quite literally my favorite genre of Man). This is just 'cause he fucks isn't it.

Minthara she's so much smarter than Larian gives her credit for. While I agree with the WIS, that's more a product of being so closed off, Her INT is much higher. I'd give her a 14? She cunning, just because it's used for Evil deeds doesn't mean she hasn't been she hasn't put a lot of thought into her work. She lived in Menzoberranzan for Gods' sake. She had to be smart or be killed?!? She's said so on multiple occasions! Just because she's Evil aligned doesn't mean she not smart. (She's just as smart as our average Bear according to Larian)

Minsc...... First off let me say that I love that they chose this image. A Bad Bitch. Anyways, anyone who doesn't find that dumb happy face charming is either lying or literally has a stick up their ass.... 12 CHA. Also why is he so weak? I know he isn't like actually weak... but mans chunked that mimic? Let him have 14.

Jaheira I'll give you the 10 STR, she's complained about her knees like three times in my most recent session. 8 INT? So what I'm getting here.... is anyone not an origin character is just baseline 8? Lazy. Especially considering she was ALREADY GIVEN STATS IN TWO PREVIOUS GAMES. In both BG1 and BG2 she has an intelligence of 10, and if anything she's only gotten smarter over time. I wasn't gonna do this... but left is 1 right is 2.

15, 14, 17, 10, 14, 15, and 15, 17, 17, 10, 14, 15

Make it make sense. I know she's old at this point, but in my game she killed Sarevok again so idk man.

Rip me apart in the notes ;)

But do it nicely...

#long post #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #not dice #text #lae'zel #shadowheart #gale #wyll #karlach #halsin #minthara #minsc #jaheira #astarion #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 spoilers

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pomrania · 2 months

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In June I'm planning to do an art event where I draw other people's queer D&D (Pathfinder, Monster of the Week, any other TTRPG) characters every weekday. However, for that I will NEED people's queer characters.

Let me say one thing off the bat. If you have a character that fits that bill, I want to hear from you. If you think "oh there'll already be so many people, I don't want to cause trouble and make OP even more overwhelmed", then rest assured that I am perfectly capable of saying no. (And also, most commonly my problem has been that I didn't have ENOUGH options, rather than too many.)

If I have PREVIOUSLY drawn your character, get in touch with me. I'll want to make a list, of people I can contact for this; plus, if there's any changes to the character design, whether things that happened in-game or things you think would look better, I can update stuff.

If I have NOT previously drawn your character, get in touch with me, I'd like to get as much stuff sorted out ahead of time as possible, or at least get some names of people who are interested. If you're not sure, message me anyways. But if you'd feel uncomfortable messaging someone without knowing more, here's what I can think of off the top of my head:

I'm not going to draw your BG3 character. That doesn't count as a TTRPG, it's a computer game (albeit based on D&D).

You know what DOES count as a TTRPG though? A random one-shot you played of a 200-word RPG that's the game equivalent of a shitpost. (And also like, more normal games, those also count; I'm just making the point that characters you've played in weird indie games are allowed too.)

You don't need to have visual reference of your character, or even necessarily know what your character looks like; I can work out "what does this character actually look like" with you, it's fun for me to do.

It's also fine if you already have visual reference of your character, or if you already have artwork of them. If I meant "I'll draw your character only if your character has never been drawn before", I would say so; and I have indeed said it before, for different instances (not this one).

#no fandom #not a reblog #personal

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flymmsy · 3 months

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I might be wrong but did Gortash only torture women? Just thinking that I don't remember there being any man brain in a jar. Must be because of his mom but his father is not innocent either. Very typical to only blame the woman.. Why do I still love him? Like it does not even matter in the end, cause I am so smitten with him.

Actually when thinking about it, the whole dead 3 (kethric not so much, I think?) is a bit misogynistic, very clear with how they treat Orin. Sarevok calling her murders "girly" and that durge did proper murder unlike her, like ok...

We definitely have some evidence in game of Gortash threatening men, and you could argue that The Emperor was tortured by him, but yes - the number of women he tortures is much larger. And, as you said, all of the brains are women - which is definitely pointed.

I agree it’s connected to his mother and I find his relationships with his parents endlessly fascinating - the fact that he seems to torture his father less is 🤯

However I will pause here because it is important to say that it does matter. Violence against women is a very huge problem in our world. We all love Gortash here but it’s important to also understand everything he represents. His existence as a fictional character is the reason we can focus on other things, but we should never wave it away or say it doesn’t matter.

I’m also saying this because BG3 has a wide age range of fans. It’ll come as no surprise to anyone reading this that when I was younger, with the affinity for characters I love, I really could have benefited from someone who made it explicitly clear that you need to accept the terrible parts of an evil character, even if you don’t focus on them. The effect of *you* as a real person ignoring these traits *can* harm you beyond whatever form of media you’re engaging with - in the real world.

TLDR: Yes Gortash is disproportionately violent against women as opposed to men and let’s be sure to acknowledge that. And, if you ever see a man exhibit any degree or inkling of violence against women in real life, run in the other direction so fast.

P.S. - My first playthrough I was actually excited to see Sarevok and thought how cool and then the second he called Orin’s actions girly was the exact second I knew he needed to die.

#enver gortash #cw violence against women #Flymmsy asks

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baku-usagi · 5 months

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I made a post the other a few months back about how nice it is to have a character who wants marriage but doesn't want children via gale and I just want to add on to that because I see so many people who draw him as a dad and it gave me a visceral reaction.. I'd never like comment on their stuff because like people are allowed to make their happy endings be whatever they want obviously but I think it bothers me so much because, (and this is really really rampant in the bg3 community worse then in any other Fandom I'm in)

People really don't like these characters a lot of the time? And it shows really poignantly when they see a character have an opinion they don't like and go "he doesn't mean that lol it's just cause he's afraid he wouldn't be a good parent and We know he would"

But would he? Why does him being a good, kind, loving and warm person immediately mean he'd be a good parent?

People project these weird fantasies onto the characters that just absolutely throw in the trash the way the characters are actually written and what makes them so beautiful.

A better example is with astarion, there has been like a billion tiktok videos unpacking it but it's also some thing me and my sister have talked about a lot.

I'd say like 60%, if not more, of the people who claim to be astarion fans think that ascending him his morally good and project this weird dark romance book bad boy persona onto him. Or rather, they literally never see him for more then the facade he puts up.

Those specific Astarion fans hear the line 'I don't know If I want anyone to see me in a sexual way" and plug their ears because that ruins the hot sexed up fuck me vampire they want him to be.

And it, as silly as I know This is, genuinely triggers me to see it.

Again people can enjoy their Fandom, I just scroll on by im not gonna moral police Someones fun but it's like, so very sad to me to see these characters stripped of their personalities and be so fundamentally misunderstood.

Anyway back to the point specifically, seeing people envisioning him as a dad or with children and with their pregnant characters feels like a weird kind of disrespect to me. He uses dialog that is often used by people who don't want kids when explaining that feeling.. And as someone who doesn't want kids I think it makes me feel like a level of my own personal Choice is being stomped.

People who draw gale with kids even tho he has said he didn't want to be A father feels too close to home for me with people telling me I'll change my mind about not wanting kids and I'll get over it.

Anyway tldr I'm just being a piss baby that fans make gale a have kids💁

#gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 #bg3 gale #anti forcing gale to have kids when he's made very clear he's not very interested 🙄#gale x tav #Gale x tav discourse #Nikki vents #just my personal opinion #No real hate to people who like to Imagine gale as a dad #You do what makes you happy babes #Misunderstood characters #astarion #Anti-ascended astarion

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y-rhywbeth2 · 4 months

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So glancing between the original games and the third - again - and thinking about the difference between the feral and Chosen bad endings and how I'm going to interpret them in my own canon. BG3 lore is irrelevant to me from now on I'm entering the phase where I'm assimilating my playthrough into my own Realms canon.

Also, Durge appears to be soulless. I am aware of the way the game treats Durge as though they have a soul, but BG3 makes strange choices where lore doesn't match up all the damn time. Astarion is clinically dead but the rest mechanics still need food. BG3 talks like Wyll is a devil, and they definitely don't have mortal souls. Dark Urge identity crises and complicated relationship with personhood, how I love thee.

Major BG2 spoilers, so I'll put that under a cut just in case anybody would like to play those games blind.

I noticed this a while back, but Durge's situation is reminiscent of a soulless Bhaalspawn. When their soul - the portion of them that is "them" and not entirely Bhaal - is removed they start displaying the same symptoms and slipping into what is basically the feral ending, judging by Imoen's behaviour:

"Who-who... who is that? Keep back... Keep back! [...] Who is Imoen? I don't know that name. I don't know that name! She's not here! [...] Get away from me! I'll... I'll kill you! I'll rip your eyes from your filthy faces! Do not tempt my wrath! Do not... I... she's not here. I do not know that... name. [...] I see... yes... I see... She's not here... Someone else will come..."

We have dizzy spells and risks of blackouts (otherwise known as Bhaal threatening to take over):

"Your step falters, your vision spins, and you feel something is very wrong. For an instant you are conscious of nothing but the rushing of your blood."

Bhaal literally just assuming direct control rather than flooding you with the urge to murder. Also pain caused by said attempt at taking control:

"A shock of pain passes through your body, and you feel you mind slipping away, forced aside by the darkness within." - "Your blood cools, and mind and body are reunited under your control. Your will had faltered, and the essence of Bhaal was there to take advantage. The void where your soul once was overflowed with murderous fury, the mark of a deity that no longer exists. The taint of Bhaal has affected you differently than Imoen, reacting with your strength of will. You will eventually lose yourself unless your stolen soul is restored. A fate, as they say, worse than death." - "The madness fades, and the essence retreats, but if this continues you will lose not only yourself , but also everything you hold dear. The uncertainty of your condition has obviously worried those you travel with. The quest is treacherous enough without having to worry about what you might do."

Most Bhaalspawn have mortal lineage and were left to develop their own identities until they hit adulthood and Bhaal decided it was time to start pushing them into killing each other as part of the resurrection plan. Their souls are explicitly divine in nature, but they had time and freedom to develop those souls. Each demigod is a potential fledgling god.

The soul and the conscious mind aren't the same thing, so personality and decision making can continue but the emotions and personhood are... not quite there, only the echoes of it. It's been compared to wearing a mask and acting out a part in a play, rather than actually living as that person.

Durge it seems was engineered from the very beginning so that they would never have that chance. Created directly from Bhaal, with no other parent (let alone a mortal one) to dilute him; Bhaal started forcing their hand to kill from a far younger age (before puberty) rather than waiting for them to reach adulthood. and Sceleritas was following them closely ensuring that people would be around to have "accidents", like Alfira.

But it's also notable that Bhaal doesn't just want a puppet, he needs a Bhaalspawn with the drive and power to be his avatar. He somehow needs Durge blindly loyal and lacking in independence but also in possession of "strength of will" to be worthy of/able to house and use his power.

It seems that Durge does not have a soul the way their siblings do, all they have to resist Bhaal with is their mind and sheer willpower. If they disappoint Bhaal then he will simply assume control - something he can do any time he likes. Over the course of BG3 they start developing something like their own soul - judging by the way Bhaal and Sceleritas are still in touch and seemingly testing them, I can only assume this is actually according to plan; Durge is supposed to cultivate a spark of their own divine soul over the journey (and also get tadpoled and help Bhaal take over the Netherbrain and thralls through them, as Sceleritas kind of mentions).

If they fail then Bhaal goes for the feral ending; they go into the "Imoen" category where they're not worthy of his attention and he just uses Durge as a puppet.

Mystra can't force mortals to become her Chosen, they must consent, so possibly that rule applies to Bhaal too? I don't know, but it explains why Bhaal needs them to accept. If they resist then they're clearly strong enough to be worthy but wilful enough that Bhaal decides the risk of that spark of a soul is too great a risk to him and his plans and tries to destroy it but fails because it's too late, and Jergal cuts this fledgling divine soul free.

If they accept becoming Chosen then they are agreeing to be imbued with a fragment of Bhaal's divine essence. Bhaal gets what he wants and merges it with another fragment of his divine essence, presumably setting the stage for him to become a full deity walking the face Toril through Durge's/his body. The fledgling spark of individual is lost in Bhaal when the two fuse; the threat of the resist ending isn't present, because that spark is gone, so if you defy him again he just takes over and we get the punishment ending.

#/durge #headcanoning.#babbling #bg2 spoilers

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randoimago · 9 months

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“Pink is not a Halloween color.” “Who said that?”

Man, this quote RADIATES the character I'm playing in my current bg3 playthrough 🤣. I'm talking full on Baribie vibes; bubblegum pink tiefling with blond hair with pale pink highlights who dyes her armor pink/purple whenever she can.

Anyway, could I ask for this quote with Wyll and Gale from Bg3? (I'm doing branching saves so I can pair her with them both 🥰)

“Pink is not a Halloween color.”

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Character(s): Gale, Wyll

Type of Request: Spooky Halloween Prompts

Note(s): Pink tieflings are the way to go (I love doing like bubblegum pink + bubblegum blue color schemes tbh).

I also replaced "Halloween" with Fall/Autumn for this ask cause idk if there's a D&D equivalent of Halloween besides harvest festivals and such.

Gale

He has a mimic of himself reading a book while the information is transferred to his mind while he jots down a grocery list of spell components. Gale hardly glances up when he sees your outfit standing out quite a bit.

“Pink is not an Autumn color.” Gale quips as he sees how the color does stand out a bit on you with the oranges, reds, and browns of the trees. "Who said that?" You reply and Gale gives you a knowing smile as his mimic closes its book and vanishes.

"Well, it's a long story actually, one of my favorites." You really shouldn't have asked, because now Gale is gladly going to tell you the history of the season and the different festivals and those origins as well as the symbolism behind the various colors. You better hope that you have no plans going on (or you do have plans so you can make an excuse and a quick getaway).

Wyll

He's been to numerous harvest festivals and the like for the Fall season. He's learned that the spookier and scarier the better with those parties and it's never quite made sense to him. The world is scary enough and filled with actual monsters, why would people want to mimic them?

So when he sees you dressed in pinks, it brings an amused smile to his face. “Pink is not a Fall color,” he'd tease you and his smile grows as you reply with “Who said that?”

"Some pompous prick, I'd assume," Wyll retorts before taking your hand in his and placing a kiss to the back of it. "I find that pink perfectly suits you. Any color would." The words easily come off his tongue and the smile on your face lets him know that you appreciate his words too.

#anonymous #bg3 x reader #baldurs gate x reader #wyll x reader #gale x reader #bg3 gale x reader #bg3 wyll x reader

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illegiblewords · 6 months

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SOME ILLEGIBLE RAMBLES AND REFLECTIONS: MISSING WYLL

Jumping off my last analytical post for BG3, I actually do want to talk about Wyll a little. Wyll has been the companion I've had the trickiest time sorting thoughts out on. I do have thoughts on him, and frankly I want to invite people who are mainly Wyll fans to chime in if they have any observations that I might've missed! I don't know if this is the best way to explain it, but my perspective is if his story were a song I'd say he has the makings of a beautiful one--but there are notes missing. Notes that really, really should be there . I don't know why they aren't there, or if they've been hidden somewhere I haven't found yet.

As usual, longass discussion under the cut.

Here is my understanding of Wyll currently, without grabbing specific quotes.

Ulder Ravegard is his dad, who was a humble blacksmith who rose to nobility through some exceptional effort and personal achievement. Pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps sort of guy, takes pride in being compassionate and dealing with others in good faith. Raised Wyll not to consider himself better than anyone due to his status, but also seems to have imparted a lot of lawful good mentalities tbh. One thing that stood out a lot to me was a line Wyll said in Act III about how as a kid, he used to pretend to kill monsters in the park all the time. When he became an actual monster hunter as the Blade of Frontiers he had the disquieting realization that most monsters in reality are only people, just like him and his friends. This is interesting to me because it was NOT a lesson he got as a kid, and from how Ulder treats Wyll I don't think it's something Ulder is quite comfortable with himself. I'd go so far as to argue that, while Ulder's definition of 'good' is genuinely very good--it doesn't leave a lot of tolerance for anyone outside that. His compassion only goes so far and no farther. He's a little black-and-white in his thinking.

Side note: Wyll seems to treat being Blade of Frontiers like being a two-dimensional hero in a storybook at times. The Act III line where he admits it's all just messy people was so fucking interesting, and I wish there was more examination of the messy morality of trying to fight monsters or even understand what monsters are for him. Being good isn't easy or guaranteed and the most impressive title in the world doesn't prove you're actually a hero. Actions come before reputation.

Wyll was, according to the previous point, raised to be the embodiment of lawful good as Ulder saw it. Be selfless, don't indulge in finery or status, be noble, make sacrifices for the greater good. With that in-mind, I want to point out that for all Wyll doesn't like courtly life he loves to dance as something more aligned to that courtly lifestyle. It's one of the things he has left that continues to give him joy. It's an indulgence.

Wyll, as raised by Ulder, sacrifices his own well-being and future in his pact with Mizora to ensure no one else in Baldur's Gate came to harm. He was also bound in such a way that prevented him from explaining what happened or why. When Ulder saw his son return home with one eye, pacted to a devil, obviously in a lot of distress and struggling to explain something... Ulder's reaction wasn't to trust his son's morality or feel concern for him. Ulder decided to hurl out all history, all individual understanding of Wyll's character, and chuck Wyll out like he was a pure evil aligned monster and always had been. He just assumed Wyll was the embodiment of every selfish, depraved impulse he could imagine and a traitor to every cause he believed in. He also does not change his mind on this unless forcibly shown through the tadpole what actually transpired. He is not willing to listen or consider alternate perspectives, and I'd argue he loved his son as an abstract concept/extension of his own moral beliefs more than as his own person. (And as an aside: given how Ulder reacted to Wyll without even knowing his situation, do you think he would be ready to show compassion to someone like Astarion who has done horrific things to others under coercion?)

Note, Wyll never actually deals with previous point emotionally. He never allows himself to feel anger or grief over the way his own father treated him. He never lashes out at Ulder on his own behalf for not seeing him as a person, for not treating him as a person, for not loving him as a person or as his son. Ulder talks almost casually about having misjudged Wyll. 'Whoops my bad, I might be an asshole'. We're in a game where Astarion kills Cazador and just starts screaming and sobbing on his knees over everything that happened. Why isn't Wyll pissed off that everything he endured ALONE, the realization that his father never really saw or trusted him, was met with 'whoops'? Why isn't Ulder more horrified over what he did to Wyll? The fact that he isn't so much as in the same breath as other characters expressing anguish makes me think he still, STILL does not understand what he put Wyll through as his father. And Wyll having no reaction other than 'yay Dad likes me again :D' doesn't ring true imo. It's possible to love someone but be absolutely furious with or hurt by them. Mizora was not the only one who did Wyll dirty.

Wyll's pact with Mizora in the first place hinged on Wyll not trusting himself to keep Baldur's Gate safe from the cult of Tiamat AND Wyll not considering himself someone also worthy of protection too. Wyll is part of the tradition 'other people's suffering counts but not mine, I exist to be a shield for others'. I don't think Wyll has ever been taught he is also part of Baldur's Gate who should be kept safe. Self-sacrifice under those circumstances isn't an informed choice but like a self-destructive person offering their life up for cheap, when it isn't strictly necessary. First resort rather than last kinda deal.

Unless I've forgotten something, Wyll breaking his pact is framed not only by Mizora but the narrative as Wyll being selfish and deciding his father should die instead of keeping himself bound. The narrative itself doesn't really challenge this idea even if Wyll does successfully save Ulder unbound by his pact with Mizora. In my experience, out of all the cast members I think Wyll is the only one who is framed as possibly a worse person for opting out of the abusive relationship he's in. I really don't think he should be. Healthy selfishness (self-care, self-esteem) is not a bad thing. We have sayings about not setting ourselves on fire to keep others warm. I don't know why Wyll isn't given room to realize, discuss, and embrace this. In addition to everything else I've mentioned it kind of kills the shape of his character arc imo. Wyll starts off selfless to a fault. Having him remain selfless to a fault and continue making the same choices he did at the beginning sets him up for spiritual death as a character, which would make him staying pacted to Mizora fitting to articulate that concept in a way. He didn't 'sin' against or wrong other people to become a devil, but he absolutely 'sinned' against himself by allowing it to continue. It's total self-destruction and it's tragic. But when he breaks the cycle, in canon any degree of selfishness is still narratively condemned. He only gets "redeemed" if he saves Ulder, in the sense that he is still enforced as a selfless person/he is only so good as he is selfless. ADDITIONALLY! He's given a choice between protecting people as Archduke or protecting people as Blade of Avernus but there isn't actually a whole lot of discussion about Wyll's own happiness regardless of others. Wyll isn't given room to feel ugly emotions, anger on his own behalf, or basic self-preservation without the game itself side-eyeing him. Wyll should not have to be a "perfect" and selfless person to be a good and worthwhile person worth protecting.

Like... what bothers me, is that Wyll isn't given room to express or examine anything. He isn't allowed to feel conflicted or angry. He isn't allowed to want for himself. He isn't allowed to be furious with his father or to wonder if his anger at his father (who he still loves) fuels his desire to break his pact with Mizora or if it's just treating himself like he's worth something too. It kind of feels like the narrative itself is dehumanizing Wyll by denying him room to be selfish at all, even when he really needs to be. Even when it would give room for emotional and complex scenes that could resonate.

When I've thought about what kind of romantic partner would be most interesting for Wyll imo, what struck me was it should be someone who is selfish and actually encourages his selfishness a bit. Not in a corrupting way (even if he worries it might be at times) but someone who can encourage some balance in him and vice versa. I don't think Wyll works as a narrative tool to show how nice another character already is or be their trophy boyfriend. As a character, him being imperfect I think is intrinsically important to him feeling real. And guy really does deserve to feel real, you know?

It's been weird, since Wyll approaches some of my absolute favorite themes as a character for being a hero who needs to understand not being heroic all the time is okay/heroes need protecting too sometimes. But he doesn't really do anything with them currently as far as I'm aware. That's made it harder for me to engage with him. If his romance route touches on it more like then that's awesome. But I feel like if we could see full character arcs for other companions regardless of romance, it should be doable for Wyll too.

#final fantasy xiv screenshots #Wyll Ravengard #Blade of Frontiers #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #bg3 #bgiii

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burninface · 21 days

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Weekly Tag Wednesday - the Google Search Edition

Thank you for tagging me! @creepkinginc and @lingy910y

name: face

where in the world is carmen sandiego? (or you) I know there's an animation called this name but I had never seen it so idk

ok, so this week we are going to snoop into your google search. type in wach phrase and tell us what the first suggestion is that google gives you!

what is the best way to… learn a language? This looks like a question I'd like to ask but I didn't search this.

where can i… get a money order? I'm not traveling to another country so it's unnecessary for me to know🤨

how old is… taylor swift? guess this is the most frequently asked question by people around the world haha

how long does it take… to meaning. never searched this but as a non-native speaker I do often search some english phrases + meaning...

how many… weeks in a year? 365/7≈(350+14)/7=50+2=52. and the answer is ≈52.177457 weeks, ok I'm that nerd🤓

who set the record for… the longest rock concert in the united states? Bruce Springsteen, oh ok got it

when did… when did vnl 2023 start. finally something I truly ever googled😌

what does it feel like to…fall in love reddit. hey as a litho I have no chance to fall in love so I can only look for references from time to time.

can you… drink distilled water? pretty sure you can!

when you… finish saving the world. don't know this movie at all🤔

why do… baby owl sleep face down. actually I knew the anwser (cause their heads are too heavy), I googled this two days ago only because I want to find the original article to get this cute picture: (hey s1 mick are you a baby owl?)

is there a way… to save karlach. this is everyone's default preferred question, but I love karlach and do want to save her if I play bg3 that much.

how old do you have to be… to gamble

where do the… warriors play

what is the best time to… post on instagram. it said between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on weekdays, really?? where's 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.??

and to finish us off… what comes up when you type in shameless? shameless gallaghers ages. it's for my 6 Gallaghers + 2 Milkoviches dessins d'enfant project haha (and I still got it wrong😅

tagging @em-harlsnow @thepupperino @deathclassic @piefrans @mmmichyyy @spookygingerr @deedala @blue-disco-lights @mickeym4ndy @doshiart @atthedugouts @vintagelacerosette @ms-moonlight-inn hey my mutual friends! <3

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