History VideoGame / DivinityOriginalSinII

* SummonMagic: Of the Western variety. The Summoner archetype also relies on this.

* StarfishAliens: The Voidwoken are not of this world, and mostly resemble [[InsectoidAliens giant]] [[OctopoidAliens invertebrates]] like maggots, worms, locusts, wasps, slugs, spiders, and squid. [[spoiler:Their ancestors appeared to resemble tall blue-skinned humans, but the Void has thoroughly transformed them.]]
* StaticRoleExchangeableCharacter: There are six possible origin stories, but you can only pick one of them for your main PC and three for your companions (assuming you don't just make a custom PC).
* StationaryEnemy: {{Justified|Trope}} with the Shriekers, {{Human Weapon}}s who are [[TorturedMonster crucified to the spot]].
* StatusEffectPoweredAbility:
** A [[SkillScoresAndPerks talent]] adds elemental damage to your arrows if [[GeoEffects you are currently standing on a surface of corresponding element]]. In other words, if you are on fire, your arrows gain added fire damage.
** Some status ailments upgrade to a more severe version if the target already has specific status effects from [[StatusInflictionAttack attacks]] or GeoEffects. "Warm" is a harmless effect that stacks with itself to become "[[ManOnFire Burning]]"; "Wet" combines with "Chilled" or "Shocked" to [[HarmlessFreezing freeze]] the target solid or [[ElectricityKnocksYouOut stun]] them; and so on.
** Spontaneous Combustion deals moderate fire damage, but if the target has the Burning or Necrofire effect, it also turns all the DamageOverTime for the rest of the effect's duration into a single hit.
* SummonMagic: The Summoning skill line primarily creates and [[StatusEffects buffs]] short-lived {{Elemental Embodiment}}s, mostly "Incarnates" that the player directly controls and SentryGun-like "Totems". Other creatures are available through combining other skill lines, like the {{Necromancer}}'s Bone Widows, and through NonStandardSkillLearning, like a condor you can {{persua|sionMinigame}}de to obey your summons.

* DePowered: As part of her arrest by the Magisters, Meistr Siva was purged. Being a Source Master, this didn't turn her into a Silent Monk, but it stripped her of her Source powers. Meaning she can't train the Godwoken, so they much search Reaper's Coast for someone else to teach them.

* DarkerAndEdgier: In terms of overall tone, ''[=D:OS2=]'' is to the original ''Original Sin'' what ''[[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords The Sith Lords]]'' was to the first ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. Where in ''D:OS'' you played a pair of heroic individuals with a secret heroic legacy out on a quest to [[BlackAndWhiteMorality stop an obvious evil through courage and mettle]], in the sequel you play a bunch of deeply flawed individuals who just happen to be [[BlackAndGreyMorality less flawed than everyone else in the world]]. And while the ending of ''D:OS'' is unambiguously triumphant, every single ending of the sequel is morally ambiguous in some way. Heck, the game can be considered this for the Divinity series as a whole. In the past, the lines between good and evil were clearly defined, making it easy to be an all-out hero. In ''Original Sin 2'', there are so many conflicting agendas between the nations, factions, gods, and even your own allies that being an unambiguous good guy is nearly impossible to pull off, and the situation is so dire that you're often left with no choice but to do some pretty rotten things just to move forward. [[spoiler: Oh, and one of the Big bads? [[RoguePlayerCharacter Lucian]] - the player character from the first ''VideoGame/DivineDivinity'' game.]]

* InvisibilityWithDrawbacks: The Chameleon Cloak spell is broken when the invisible character takes damage (including from an AreaOfEffect or {{Geo Effect|s}}), attacks, or performs certain other actions.

* KnifeNut: Sebille, while not particularly crazy (more angry than anything), loves daggers. She's seen wielding one in her character introduction video, two on loading screens, and when recruited, has two daggers as well.

* TheExtremistWasRight: [[spoiler:Despite all the atrocities he committed, and even though you have every reason to hate him, going through with Lucian's plan leads to the best overall ending for Rivellon. The Void is sealed, the Voidwoken threat is ended, and the the world enters an age of peace and prosperity. Meanwhile, the other endings paint a much less ideal picture for Rivellon's future.]]

* CommonPlaceRare: The game has tons of [[VendorTrash useless everyday items whose sole purpose is to be sold for dough]]. And yet, there's only ONE teapot in the entire game that you can find in the very last chapter. You can't even take it or steal it, you have to return to its location every time you need to make some tea.

* DemandingTheirHead: The player character can [[EnemyMine accept a sidequest]] to collect [[DiscOneFinalBoss Bishop Alexandar]]'s head for the Sallow Man -- an UndeadAbomination and lieutenant to the GreaterScopeVillain. It serves a practical purpose beyond killing an enemy; the Sallow Man [[BrainFood eats the head]] to [[GhostMemory absorb Alexandar's knowledge]].

* ElecricityKnocksYouOut: Many ShockAndAwe powers and electrical GeoEffects can [[StatusInflictionAttack inflict the status effect "Stunned"]], which costs the target their next {{turn|BasedCombat}}.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'':

A few decades have gone by since ''VideoGame/DivineDivinity'', and [[PlayerCharacter Lucian the Divine]] has passed away after winning the [[GreatOffScreenWar Great War]] against the [[{{Cult}} Black Ring]]. His death has weakened the Seven Gods, however, who [[GodsHandsAreTied watch idly]] as monsters from the Void now threaten to overrun Rivellon. These "Voidwoken" are drawn to manifestations of the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Source]], so Bishop Alexander, Lucian's son and the new leader of his [[TheOrder Divine Order]], has decreed that all [[WitchSpecies Sourcerers]] be corralled on a [[PenalColony remote island]] of [[SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom Fort Joy]]. You play as one of Fort Joy captives and have to band with the others to escape from the island before the Divine Magisters subject you all to a FateWorseThanDeath. From there on, you uncover the mysteries of the Voidwoken, divinity, and the Source, in order to stop the Void from swallowing the whole world.

** The Lizards are primarily a blend of ArabianNightsDays and UsefulNotes/ImperialChina. They live in the desert, use scimitars, have genies (in lamps, even!) and their fancier clothes involve light robes and turbans in vibrant color schemes. They're also an isolated and advanced empire with aloof and haughty nobles that look down on foreigners and live in a Forbidden City.

* ArtificialBrilliance: The [[VideoGameAI AI]] has improved ''much'' since the previous game - if for example, you walk through a fiery field, your party members will break formation and follow you to avoid the damage. However, it goes both ways - tanks are considered to be worthless in this game because taunts don't become available until later, and enemies will [[ShootTheMedicFirst ignore them and go for the obvious mage]], making them reduced to just dealing ScratchDamage with a one-handed weapon.

** Outside of battle, party members will avoid hazards at all costs, even when they have enough armour to simply walk through the hazard with no damage whatsoever. This can result in them seeing a puddle of poison and then simply stand there if there is no path ''around'' it.

** It's ideal to have party members focus on one civil stat at a time. Whoever does the talking ought to max out Persuasion, for obvious reasons, for example.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Source skills. While those that only use one Source point have their strategic uses, any that require two or three are a lot harder to justify since you'll likely only get to use them once per fight, they often cost a lot of action points as well, they take up more than one memory slot, and they need a great deal of setup to work correctly. [[spoiler:That said, this stops being the case in the final battle, where your characters effectively have infinite Source and can use these abilities with absolute impunity.]]
** The handful of skills that require 3 Source points ''and'' 4 action points (meaning they completely deplete the character's Source ''and'' take a full turn to use) are usually this, unless cast outside of battle to [[AlphaStrike start the battle]], which obviates the turn cost. This is less problematic for those with Lone Wolf or Glass Cannon, but even then, they're not ''easy.''

* BonusBoss: Lots. For example, there are five Master Sourcerers in Act 2, but the Godwoken strictly needs to deal with two of them; there's also an Abomination in Cloisterwood, some demons buried beneath Bloodmoon Island, and a particularly nasty witch on a crucifix looking to KILL YOUR SHINING LIGHTS up the coast. In Act 3, the Godwoken can team up with the Magisters or the Black Ring...or kill both, or deal with various other obstacles if they choose to pray at each altar. Act 4 has the Toymaker and The Doctor.

** Movement skills, such as Phoenix Dive from Warfare, Cloak and Dagger from Scoundrel, Tactical Retreat from Huntsman, and [[ShapedLikeItself Teleport]] and Nether Swap from Aerothurge, can save a lot of AP from movement, as well as providing access to places that can't be touched without them. Teleport itself can also be used on objects and enemies.

** The "Peace of Mind" spell only costs a single AP to cast, lasts for an impressive three turns, provides significant initiative and attack buffs, and protects against a variety of otherwise potentially devastating status conditions.

** Dome of Protection, the innate Source skill shared by all custom characters. The Origin characters get unique effects like taking extra turns, stealing armor, or summoning a tempest. In contrast, the Dome simply grants a long-lasting buff called Circle of Protection that increases all resistances and restores physical and magical armor each turn. The thing is, all crowd control in the game relies on depleting the Target's armor first, meaning a Dome of Protection can make your entire team invulnerable to devastating statuses for an entire fight.
** Similarly, Sebille's innate Source skill, Break the Shackles. It instantly cancels all debuffs on her, including exotic ones like Plagued and Shackles of Pain. Certainly less flashy than the other Origin characters, but it will turn a fight around when used.

* ChekhovsGunman: In an early conversation, Fane will offhandedly mention having had a wife and daughter, which doesn't come across as important until [[spoiler: Dallis reveals that she is Fane's daughter, struggling to undo the damage he caused aeons ago.]]
* TheChosenOne:

** Finesse for non-rogue builds. Unlike strength, which increases carrying capacity, and intelligence, which increases spell damage (and a number of classes do dabble in spellcasting) on top of increasing their respective weapons' damage, ''all'' finesse does is increase the damage done by finesse based weapons (bows, crossbows, and daggers), making it useless for anyone who doesn't use said weapons.

* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Inverted, interestingly enough. While mages are great damage dealers in the beginning, warriors and rogues, who are a bit slow to get off the ground, eventually just outdo them by a wide margin in damage and (in some ways) debuffing by endgame. Mages do have their place, through healing, buffing, and debuffing, but for damage, it's all about the physical attackers.

** Nearly every party member will despise you if [[spoiler:you let the God King win (with only Fane approving on any level). Same with if you let Lohse's demon gain divinity (with Beast seeming neutral to it and Lohse fully possessed. If you are good friends, Red Prince is disgusted in you but still hopes that you may realize you've made a terrible mistake, in which case he promises he will take up arms with you again.]] Ifan will also despise you if [[spoiler:you let Lucian win and destroy Sourcery, as he is sure Lucian will take advantage of this to manipulate the world.]]