History VideoGame / BaldursGateSiegeOfDragonspear

* NiceHat: The [[RougeAnglesOfSatin Wizzard]] Hat, a wizard-exclusive item that slightly decreases casting time and improves movement speed.

* NotMeThisTime: The "Villain" path to acquitting yourself during the trial in the game's epilogue. [[spoiler:It involves confessing various misdeeds you did during the campaign and/or trading on your bad reputation and status as a blackguard (if applicable) to make the defense that [[CardCarryingVillain you are so completely, unashamedly evil that it makes no sense for you to deny your bad deeds. If you make enough of such points, it works.]]

* NiceHat: The [[RougeAnglesOfSatin Wizzard]] Hat, a mage- and sorcerer-exclusive item that slightly decreases casting time and improves movement speed.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Flaming Fist/Coalition Forces troops do not turn hostile when hit by friendly fire during the two major battles, and plot-important characters will stay away from the melee so they won't get killed by accident.

* AxCrazy: Bhaal's former high priestess, Madele, and how. Given [[ColdBloodedTorture what]] [[EyeScream she's]] [[GoMadFromTheIsolation gone through]] at the hands of the Cyricists, it's impressive she has any semblance of a rational mind.

** Actually a BigBadDuumvirate with The Hooded Man AKA Jon Irenicus also manipulating events behind the scenes. He is more TheManBehindTheMan and taking advantage of events as opposed to actually instituting the main plot of the game, however.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Vigilant Halasan, a low-ranking Waterdhavian officer who's trying to whip a ragtag group of Daggerford militia members into shape, giving the player the opportunity to help her as part of a sidequest.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: There's a Green Dragon guarding the overtaken temple of Bhaal who serves as an OptionalBoss. If you kill her and talk to Ziatar, the Green [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-dragon]] inside the temple, you learn that the dragon in question was her sister, and Ziatar is shocked to hear that the player's party killed her.

** There are also shades of this between Hephernaan and the Hooded Man [[spoiler:(Irenicus)]] concerning whose [[EvilPlan Evil Plan]] the Bhaalspawn should be a pawn in. Hephernaan [[spoiler:needs their blood to open a portal to the Nine Hells]] while the Hooded Man needs them for... well, you'll find out soon enough. The Hooded Man even displays something of an EvilerThanThou attitude towards Hephernaan.

* NotQuiteTheRightThing: If you stopped to listen to a vampire's pleas, your vampire hunter associates attempt to murder you. The vampire turns out to be an agent for Larloch, the setting's equivalent of ''Vecna.''

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Baldur's Gate's Council of Four gets an expanded role, and each of them are very much this.

* ShoutOut: The Wizzard hat, which boosts a mage's spellcasting and movement speed, is an obvious homage to Rincewind of the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels.

* TokenHeroicOrc: In a first for the series, there's a goblin party member, M’Khiin Grubdoubler the shaman. Further fitting this trope, she's a Neutral aligned character who is explicitly adventuring because [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch she found goblin culture too limiting and foolishly self-destructive to put up with]].

** There's also an example of this who is still technically hostile to the player character. An orc named Ravoc in the exterior of Dragonspear Castle can be spoken to to learn why he has joined Caelar's crusade. His motivations? He lost tribe members during the last Dragonspear War, and his tribe's shamans have confirmed that the souls of those unfortunates now languish in the Nine Hells, being tormented by devils -- which your player character can even remark is [[AFateWorseThanDeath "a fate even an orc doesn't deserve"]]. He wants to free them from their suffering.

* TrueCompanions: Although she remains behind during this adventure, the game further emphasizes Imoen as your unfalteringly loyal life partner. Come hell, high water or [[spoiler:first degree murder charges]], she's always got your back, and will always see the best in you.

* UnexplainedAccent: Duke Entar speaks with a rather hammy-sounding French accent. Nobody, not even his fellow Dukes or his own daughter, shares this accent.

* KangarooCourt: Zizagged in the epilogue. [[spoiler:You ''can'' convince the majority of the Dukes that you didn't murder Skie, but the protests of Duke Entar (who was Skie's father) and Corwin (who claims to have seen you do it), plus the general public's distrust of Bhaalspawn in the aftermath of Sarevok, essentially force them to keep you locked up. However, if you play your cards right, Duke Belt can convince the other Dukes sans Entar to arrange to have you "smuggled" out of Baldur's Gate.]]

* ImmortalityAlwaysEnds: To the point of DramaticIrony, you can end up costing Gurn Coldhearth his immortality ''minutes'' after he achieves it.

* AntiHero: The Waterdhavian military leader, Torsin Cedric de Lancie, who gladly resorts to ColdBloodedTorture to get information from enemy soldiers, advocates the use of crippling poison on Crusade forces and openly, proudly states that he would do even worse than that to save the life of even one of his soldiers. [[spoiler:It's notable that agreeing with Cedric's ideas generally ends up penalizing your attempts to prove yourself innocent in the game's final chapter unless you plan to prove you're too evil to pretend you're not a murderer.]]

* BigBad: Caelar Argent, the Shining Lady. [[spoiler:Subverted, as she was an UnwittingPawn to the ''real'' Big Bad, Belhifet.]]

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler:AsYouKnow, Charname and Imoen's party are ambushed by Irenicus.]]

* HeroAntagonist: Preliminary reports indicate that the Shining Lady ''is'' a heroic, good-aligned character, just one whose goals are going to put her in opposition to the player character.

* {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s: There are people in the city shaping up to be this as rumours of you being a Bhaalspawn spread near the start of the game, but almost the entire city becomes this to infuriating levels after [[spoiler:you get framed for Skie's murder]], with some really uncharitable people going so far as to compare you to Sarevok!

* AntiHero: The Waterdhavian military leader, Cedric de Lancie, who gladly resorts to ColdBloodedTorture to get information from enemy soldiers, advocates the use of crippling poison on Crusade forces and openly, proudly states that he would do even worse than that to save the life of even one of his soldiers. [[spoiler:It's notable that agreeing with Cedric's ideas generally ends up penalizing your attempts to prove yourself in the game's final chapter.]]

* CursedWithAwesome: Downplayed. One of the first magical staffs that the player can find is the Uncursed Staff, which still bears some lingering remnants of its former curse. At the cost of a small penalty to THAC0, it gives the bearer 18 Strength, so it's great to give to a physically weak character like Viconia or a mage who won't need to get into melee combat all that much anyway so they can carry heavier loads.

* AntiHero: The Waterdhavian military leader, Cedric de Lancie, who gladly resorts to ColdBloodedTorture to get information from enemy soldiers, advocates the use of crippling poison on Crusade forces and openly, proudly states that he would do even worse than that to save the life of even one of his soldiers.

* OldSaveBonus: Character import and export will be supported, enabling this.

* BigBad: Caelar Argent, the Shining Lady. [[spoiler:Subverted, as she was an UnwittingPawn to Belhifet.]]

''Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear'' is an ExpansionPack to ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' (the first game of the [[Franchise/BaldursGate Baldur's Gate series]]). It was developed more than a decade after the original game was released, and developed by Beamdog, who worked on the enhanced editions of the prior games and founded by people who worked on the original game at Creator/BioWare.

* TokenHeroicOrc: In a first for the series, there's a goblin party member, M’Khiin.

* CoolCrown: The Crown of Lies, a late-game headgear for mages and sorcerers. It grants extra spell slots at the expense of a steep penalty to the wearer's Lore score.

* DidntSeeThatComing: The appearance of [[spoiler:Belhifet, the main antagonist from ''Icewind Dale'', who is the FinalBoss and the true BigBad this time as well.]]

* LandmarkOfLore: One of the locations you can visit is [[http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Boareskyr_Bridge Boareskyr Bridge]], where the gods Cyric and Bhaal fought a battle. The latter's defeat is of significant importance to the setting in general but also to the ''Baldur's Gate'' series in particular. The player can witness the death of Bhaal in a vision, and what transpires there (the engraving of Bhaal's symbol onto the bridge beneath you) outs you as a Bhaalspawn, causing people to become suspicious of you.

* TakeYourTime: Par for the course. [[spoiler:'''Irenicus''']], of all people, will [[ContinueYourMissionDammit call Charname out]] for wasting time if they choose to go off exploring the underground caves on the eve of war with Caelar.

* TheDragon: Ashatiel to Caelar, Hephernaan to [[spoiler:Belhifet.]]

* DragonTheirFeet: The tutorial dungeon has Charname and co rooting out the last of Sarevok's followers, now led by Korlasz.

-->'''Edwin:''' Thus ends another chapter in the great tale of Edwin Odesseiron.

* TemptingFate: Before setting out to take the fight to the crusade, Duke Entar asks the character to protect his daughter and bring her home safe. [[spoiler:In the end, the player ends up being framed for her murder.]]

* CoolCrown: The Crown of Lies, a late-game headgear for mages and sorcerers. It grants extra spells lots at the expense of a steep penalty to the wearer's Lore score.

* NoNameGiven[=/=]TheFaceless: The identity of the mysterious Hooded Man is never revealed in the game itself. To anyone who's played BG II, however, it's patently obvious that he is [[spoiler: Jon Irenicus]].

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves[=/=]YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: With a twist. [[spoiler:If Caelar becomes a Blackguard, she will beseech Belhifet to kill Hephernaan, who deceived and betrayed her. He happily grants her request, causing Hephernaan to have a VillainousBreakdown.]]

* UnexplainedAccent: Duke Entar speaks with a rather hammy-sounding French accent. Nobody, not even his fellow Dukes or his own daughter, share this accent.

* DownerEnding: [[ForegoneConclusion As you probably guessed]], the expansion indeed ends with Charname and their party being abducted by Irenicus. What you may ''not'' have guessed is [[spoiler:the player being cast out of Baldur's Gate after being accused of murdering Skie shortly before they are abducted.]]

* EvilVersusEvil: One of the dungeons is a former temple of Bhaal, invaded and desecrated by followers of Cyric. [[spoiler:Who were, in turn, subverted by a powerful mind flayer.]]

* {{Expy}}: Voghiln the Vast is very similar to Volstagg the Voluminous from the ''ComicBook/{{Thor}}'' comics.
* FireAndBrimstoneHell: [[spoiler:Avernus, a part of the Nine Hells]].
* ForegoneConclusion:

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:It's possible to redeem Caelar and join forces with her against the FinalBoss, Belhifet.]]
** FallenHero: If not, [[spoiler:she loses what moral rectitude she had left, becomes a Blackguard in his service, and sides with him in the final battle.]]
*** Played with in that [[spoiler:Caelar truly believes in the rightness of her cause, but as a child, born to a long line of paladins devoted to Lathander, she cared little for such things, going so far as to dabble in forbidden lore. This led to her being summoned before the powerful devil [[VideoGames/IcewindDale Behlifet]] at ''age 9''. She only went on to become the righteous paragon of virtue that she is in the game because her uncle Aun sacrificed himself, taking her place in the Hells so that she might have a normal life. Further [[ZigzaggingTrope zigzagged]] when Caelar took her crusade too far, hurting innocents and displacing ordinary folk in her zeal to free those poor souls who were carted off to [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Baator]] in the first Dragonspear War... while, as it turns out, knowing full well that the only person her crusade ever had a chance of saving was her uncle. Most of this [[OffscreenVillainy happens offscreen]], and we only learn the [[ExpositionDump full truth]] in the closing moments of Chapter Twelve.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: During Zaviak's Vision Quest [[spoiler:you get the chance to free an ancient Lich named Zhadroth. As you then soon find out, he is off to kill thousands of people. And there is nothing you can do to stop him.]]
** [[spoiler:Unless you murder him, of course.]]