Headscratchers / Baldur's Gate III

• Astarion's introduction doesn't make a lot of sense to me. He's angry at you because he saw you on the ship and you didn't help him (not sure if it's actually possible to or not) so he assumes that you're working for the Mind Flayers. Then he apparently sees you on the beach killing the intellect devourers, so he sets a trap pretending to have found one so that he can get a blade to your neck. But, if you really were loyal to the Mind Flayers, why would you be going around killing their minions? And why would you try to help him with the one he's "found"? His whole trick is based on trying to take advantage of you being a kind-hearted idiot, yet if you really were what he thought, you'd have either ignored him or attacked him on sight.
  • His plan doesn't actually hinge on you being in any allegiance or moral disposition. He would've put a knife to you if you were an illithid servant trying to save an intellect devourer, or a killer that's going around killing anything. What he wants is information and he would knife it out of you regardless.
  • One part worth considering is that the encounter with Astarion hasn't changed since Early Access, but the encounters within the crashed Nautiloid have. Previously, there was an event involving the pinned mind flayer enthralling a group of fishermen to dig it out. This event plays out very close to where Astarion is found, meaning he likely saw those thralls before he saw the players, and probably assumed that the player and their companions were more thralls. In fact, a lot of thralls in the first area from Early Access were removed from the game for the full release, making some comments a bit more nonsensical in context.
  • He admits at one point at not being a ‘details’ kind of guy, he doesn’t have much forethought beyond his needs and survival.
  • He probably figured that if you were a thrall, that you'd jump at the chance to defend the Intellect Devourer, and if you weren't, then you'd help him kill it. Either way, you'll walk over and put yourself in position for him to grab for his interrogation. He wasn't angry, he just wants information and asking politely is a bit of a gamble.
• How is Withers able to change your class? Is he some kind of Reality Warper?
  • There's plenty of evidence around for Withers being Jergal, or at least an avatar of him. That would pretty much make him a reality warper, yes.
• Why does Lae'zel have a scimitar in promotional material, but starts out with a longsword in-game?
  • Same reason Mizora is seductively licking Wyll when in the game she treats him like a misbehaving dog; concepts changed in development.
• Something's off about Orpheus. Githyanki monks are almost unheard of, and his behavior is extremely bizarre by Yanki standards. Not only is he willing to be cordial and work with outsiders, he's willing to become a Mindflayer to stop the Netherbrain if you dont want to. He also seems to have no intention of being the genocidal space conquerors his mother intended his species to be and is instead focused on looking inwards to help repair the state of his species. This is the same exact reason why the Githzerai split from Gith, the game doesn't state exactly when he was imprisoned for all we know this could've happened before or directly after the race split. There's at least one theory that suggests he's the son of Zerthimon. It should be noted though that he considers Gith the "Queen of the One Sky", whether he uses that title as a means of honoring her or as an ideological statement is unknown. For how much the game put emphasis on the Githyanki its odd how there's little to no mention of the Githzerai (the reference in the Mindflayer colony was weak), you can't really talk about one without mentioning the other. Similar with the Baneite cult this screams cut content.
  • It seems like the authors didn't want to confuse the casual audience with two names for what's effectivelly factions of the same species, so they made Orpheus and his followers still be Githyanki, even though they feel more like Githzerai.
    • Unlikely, as there is a Githzerai brain you can converse with in the Mind Flayer Colony that lays out the difference between the two.
  • It's entirely possible that he is more in line with Gith, and that Vlaakith I effectively rewrote history to make Gith out to be just like her.
    • Very likely. We're talking about stuff that happened at the dawn of Gith (both types of Gith) society, there's bound to be discrepancies.
• What's the most likely alignment of each Origin character?
  • Shadowheart: Probably True Neutral. She earnestlessly follows an evil goddess, but she's not an evil person.
    • I'd say Neutral Good, barring player influence. She follows Shar because that's what she's been brainwashed to do but her natural inclinations are to be decent to people and she has to engage in some serious mental gymnastics to justify Shar's nature to herself.
  • Lae'zel: Lawful Evil, possibly Lawful Neutral. Puts following the orders of her queen above all else and respects a strong chain of command, and is not too concerned about the well-being of those that aren't in her group.
    • I'd argue more for Lawful Neutral. Gith culture under Vlaakith is Lawful Evil no doubt, but a trip to the creche makes it clear Lae'zel is actually fairly open-minded and well-meaning compared to most Gith. For one, the fact that she wants to help out Ishtik at all seems pretty abnormally empathetic of her. She often claims the Gith allow professional/pragmatic partnerships with non-gith, it's made fairly clear this isn't actually the case when you first meet Voss and the others by the bridge. She has to lie and pretend you're her prisoners to get out of the interaction without a fight.
  • Karlach: Neutral Good, possibly Lawful Good. Definitely the most good-hearted member of the main party. Doesn't have an inherent distrust for law/order, unless the ones at the top of the chain of command are evil assholes.
    • More likely Chaotic Good. She's all for the freedon of the oppressed and enslaved. Also, her rage is hardly a lawful thing, such as when she smashes her surroundings after killing the paladins of Tyr (also, in former editions of D&D, barbarians were never lawful.)
    • Karlach being Chaotic Good also sets her as a perfect opposite of her old enemy Enver Gortash. Gortash is a follower of Bane, the God of Tyranny, which is quite literally the embodiment of Lawful Evil.
  • Astarion: Chaotic Evil. Doesn't care for order at all, just his own personal power, even if he has to trample over others to get it.
    • Astarion comes across as more Chaotic Neutral than Chaotic Evil. He values his sense of freedom more than anything, and will do whatever it takes to maintain it, but while he does do things that are petty and can be evil, he also has some morals and standards that he won't break, such as frowning on slavery.
    • Having some morals doesn't preclude someone from being Evil. He was perfectly at peace with the idea of having led children to the slaughter in the hands of his master, no hint of regret until it's pointed out that they were enslaved instead of killed, this screams Evil alignment. Of course, throughout the game you can make him a little less of a bastard, but most party members can have some small changes in alignment depending on their actions with the player.
    • Indeed; Astarion has a sadistic streak and is the only party member to consistently approve of cruelty.
    • Actually, Astarion has a few pieces of dialogue in act 3 that suggests he does feel quite bad about the children, such as being protective of Yenna and Vanra and talking about how he doesn't want any more children disappearing. He seems to know how bad it makes him look, however, and tends to straddle the line between being defensive about it and recognizing it for the terribleness it is. It shouldn't be glossed over that Astarion is speaking quite literally when he calls himself a puppet of Cazador's—we can see when Leon and Aurelia come to camp to kidnap him that Cazador's orders will directly override their own will if they disobey him. Rebellion was simply not an option for him or any of them—and he says outright that kidnapping the children was a direct order. I would also argue he fits closer into "Chaotic Neutral" (unless ascended). He says outright that he doesn't believe in good or evil, he's very impulsive and largely interested in self-preservation above all, and though he may be amused by random acts of violence sometimes, he acts uncomfortable around truly evil people like Minthara and grovekilling!Tav. Horrific cruelty is something he is quite numb to at this point, so while it doesn't abhor him much, he's also quite intimidated by it. It should also be noted that he heavily favours freeing the spawn over mercy-killing them ^note  if left alone in the dungeon with Cazador, he will automatically release them, rather than kill them and if he doesn't ascend, believes quite firmly that they deserve to live just as much as he does. He also worries about them being loose and hurting other people—someone who is Chaotic Evil would never worry or care about such things. He's Chaotic Neutral with the capacity for evil.
  • Gale: True Neutral. Also thirsty for power, but without Astarion's sadism. Doesn't make it his life mission to disobey orders, but also doesn't get held back by them too much.
    • Based on Gale's approval/disapproval reactions, he seems to lean towards Neutral Good. He pretty much always approves if you help people in need, and disapproves if you choose a selfish/immoral option.
    • He is also willing to sacrifice himself to destroy the Absolute after the option is presented to him, further pointing to a good alignment.
    • Yeah, Gale is definitely good aligned, he's just rather self absorbed.
  • Wyll: Lawful Good. Really, could have pursued a career as a Paladin instead of a Warlock.
• Why is the Dark Urge's bloodlust only directed towards innocent people? Shouldn't urges that chaotic be more indiscriminate?
  • To be fair, the fact the Dark Urge can and does kill a bunch of people may be the only reason they keep it under control as much as they do.
  • Bhaal's whole thing is the act of murder, as in killing someone without a justified reason for it. He's evil and part of his portfolio as a god is the act of murder another. Its one thing to kill in self-defense, and another to kill someone simply because you wanted to to, which is what the bloodlust represents. Its the urge to kill without justification.
• Why didn't the Oathbreaker Knight retake his oath despite being reformed?
  • Beacuse he was an Oath of Conquest (evil) Paladin serving an evil overlord, and broke his Oath by rebelling and killing his old master. Retaking his oath would have made him more evil, not less. The game explores the idea that sometimes breaking an an oath can be the moral choice.
• I've noticed that warlock isn't as squishy as other mage classes. Why is that, exactly?
  • It seems to be so because a warlock's magical powers don't come from years of studying magic rather than from a pact made with a supernatural entity. So instead of devoting themselves to mental/mystical studies they could have honed their physical prowess and fighting skills.
  • It's mainly a game balance thing. Other arcane spellcasters are expected to have a wide array of spells, both offensive and defensive, that give them an edge over non-magic users, while the Warlock is built in a way where they basically run out of spells at the first turns of combat, and have to rely on cantrips or non-magic combat for the rest of it. To make up for it, they're bulkier.
    • Larian has said that they chose not to include the Hexblade subclass from tabletop. The Hexblade is meant for Warlocks who want to fight in melee, adding medium armor, shields, and martial weapon proficiency. The catch is that Hexblade basically only makes sense with the Pact of the Blade. So Larian instead rolled some of the Hexblade's abilities into the Pact of the Blade. The end result is that a basic Warlock winds up tougher.
• In the beginning of Act 3, how do Orpheus's honour guard members manage to create a portal to get out of the Astral Prism and attack the protagonists in their camp? If they can do that, why didn't they and Orpheus escape the Prism long ago? Also, why did Vlaakith even decide to lock the honour guard inside the Prism? She had a reason to keep Orpheus alive, but that reason doesn't apply to the honour guard, so she could've just killed them. Then Orpheus would've had no one there with him to help him escape.
  • That portal was likely made by the Emperor so you could go to help him. Given how dire the situation was, he botched it a little and the portal lead you close to him but not right next to him. Orpheus's Honor Guard realized that the Emperor was making a portal to call in help, so they naturally assumed that there were a bunch of thrall on the other side of it and went to take them out. Also, even if they could freely portal in and out of Orpheus's prison, Orpheus would still be stuck because the only thing that can free him is the hammer. They were mostly trying to kill the Illithid that was close to their prince. A lot of people mistakenly view the prism as a Pocket Dimension when it's really a portable wormhole to the random place in the Astral Plane where Orpheus is chained up that also allows the holder to disrupt the Illithid hivemind by virtue of its connection to Orpheus.
  • If the only thing that could free Orpheus is the hammer, then why is the Emperor so worried that the honour guard will free him? In that scene in the beginning of Act 3 it definitely looked like the honour guard members were about to break him free before the player characters intervened.
  • The Orpeheus sect doesn't need to get to free Orpheus in order to throw a wrench on the Emperor's plans. All they have to do is break whatever spell allows the Emperor to take control of Orpheus's power, and both the Emperor and their agents (us) will immediately become puppets to the Absolute. As far as they're aware, this is an acceptable outcome, as long as their leader is safe in their guard.
• How exactly did Karlach and Wyl get their parasites? I know it is stated to have happened when the Nautoloid entered Avernus, Karlach using the opportunity to escape by getting onboard and Wyl following her, but how does that make sense when it comes to the tadpoles? That is the few living illithids onboard were fleeing and fighting for their lives on a ship that was barely able to keep flying the whole brief time they were in Avernus, when did they have time to capture Karlach and Wyl, go to the pool of larva, and infect them? Or did I misunderstand something?
  • I was under the impression that Wyl got captured like everyone else. Karlach's situation is a little harder to speculate on, but it's worth noting that the Nautiloid was not under attack the entire time, just after they stole the artifact. If Karlach got inside early on, they could have had ample time to experiment on her before the Gith and devils started attacking.
    • The Gith attacked in the regular human world, the Nautiloid didn't go to Avernus until after that and it was in Avernus that Wyl and Karlach got on the ship. Unless you're saying the Nautiloid went to Avernus offscreen earlier, but there's no sign of that. What we see is the mindflayers gathering captives from a human city, getting attacked by Githyanki, fleeing to Avernus after taking serious damage to their ship and promptly getting attacked by imps in the midst of the Blood War.
    • There is, in fact, evidence of that. Vlaakith and the Githyanki are residents of Avernus, and the Emperor was sent there, while still under the influence of the Absolute, specifically to steal the Artifact. What we see in the opening is the aftermath of that, the Githyanki striking back and trying to recover what had been stolen from their hands. By the time we wake up, the Artifact is already in Shadowheart's possession, with the Guardian already inside.
    • Incorrect; Vlaakith and the Githyanki are residents of the Astral Plane. As Lae'zel herself notes them going to Hell, even in pursuit of Mind Flayers, is highly unusual. The only connection they have to Hell is the deal Gith struck with Tiamat to get their red dragons. And Shadowheart and the Sharrans she was with stole the Artefact, not Emperor. The timeline suggests the Emperor was in there for quite some time before the start of the game.
  • They must've had shit luck and stumbled face first into the larva pool.
• Is there any way to make a paladin Dark Urge make sense within the narrative? And assuming the DU starts out as one, how could they be a standard paladin rather than an oathbreaker given their past atrocities?
  • The fake paladin of Tyr we find during Karlach's recruitment also has intact paladin powers, despite serving a devil, so it seems the devs are playing very fast and loose with how the oaths work.
    • Anders was logically a blackguard. Could the Dark Urge's amnesia have renewed his oath? Is that possible within the canon of Forgotten Realms?
    • The Dark Urge having divine blood may mean that they're providing their own powers and it's a case of Clap Your Hands If You Believe.
    • Yes, that is possible within the canon and no, the Dark Urge can't be providing their own powers. While this is not true of every D&D world in the Forgotten Realms divine spellcasting must come from a deity. Now the non-cleric divine casters are often a bit distant about this, druids and rangers are usually more loyal to nature as a whole than to the specific nature deity they worship (viewing them as more of a conduit of nature's power) and paladins are faithful to their oaths first, the dictates of their religion second (there's not usually much conflict) but they do need to have a patron deity, they can't provide their own power no matter their parentage. The other side of that is that the god that once empowered the Dark Urge may view their amnesia as worth taking a chance on redemption for them, especially as their fall was not entirely their fault to start with, and so renewed their oath.
    • There is another gameplay and story integration: the *Oath of Vengeance*. Consider the Dark Urge's starting story. They wake up on the Nautiloid with zero idea how they got there, with a tadpole in their brain and all sorts of injuries and gaps in their knowledge. Finding out who screwed your character over and sold them into illithid slavery and getting bloody vengeance is a fantastic character motivation, and one that can drive a unique DU playthrough as a Paladin. Hell, there are even lines from the Narrator talking about 'tracking down the people who did this to you'.
• Obligatory "Cloud shoulda used Phoenix Down to bring back Aerith" question. Ketheric Thorm sold his soul to two different gods, first Shar, then Myrkul to get his family back. How do Scrolls of Revivify and/or the level 3 spell Revivify work in-universe that precluded Ketheric from shelling out a few hundred gold to bring his wife and daughter back to life?
  • Normally, Revivify only works within a minute of death, and missing body parts don't get restored. If either of those are a problem (such as if someone got killed in a way that destroyed the heart), you'll need a more powerful resurrection spell. Plus, the soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity of whoever's trying to resurrect them and can refuse to return. Depending on how Melodia died, it's possible that Ketheric couldn't find a powerful enough cleric before he got tempted into Shar's service, and somehow I doubt a Selûnite would see a cleric of Shar casting that spell and going "I'm sure everything'll be fine if I put the flesh suit back on".
  • The Scrolls of Revivify are moreso a gameplay mechanic than a story one, since spells that could revive the dead are locked to higher levels and Larian has stated they capped the game at 12 to avoid the balance issues they'd have to deal with. On the tabletop, Revivify is more of a immediate resuscitation for someone who died more or less a moment ago. It also has a somewhat steep cost of a diamonds worth 300 gold. Narratively, Ketheric likely just didn't have the means to revive her quickly enough.
• Why does multiclassing cost constitution and skill/spell level?
• Which multiclass build would best suit each Origin character?
  • If you mean story wise: Wyll fits as a Fighter based on his feats when he first became a Warlock; Shadowheart being a Rogue due to Shar's faith; Gale an Arcana Domain Cleric due to his connection with Mystra; Karlach could be argued to be a Fiend patron Warlock due to her Infernal Engine or Fighter; Lae'zel could fit as a Paladin for her loyalty to Vlaakith (Vlaakith isn't a god so Cleric isn't fitting). Astarion is the only one to not have something right away fitting character wise due to his semi-sheltered and prisoner like status.
    • Point of fact, Githyanki clerics can take Vlaakith as their Deity, including Lae'zel if you class her as one.
    • In gameplay. In lore, Vlaakith aspires to godhood but hasn't reached that point yet, and it's an uphill battle because her legitimacy as queen rests on the Githyankis' loyalty to Gith.
• Why doesn't the Dark Urge have the option to try to kill Sceleritas?
  • He does have that option at several points and even succeeds. It just never sticks because Bhaal just restores him good as new. Or bad as new.
• How does Orpheus even have the option to turn into a mind flayer? There's no indication that he has a tadpole, and yet the player can just casually ask him to make the sacrifice as though that's a thing he can just do. For that matter, why doesn't Lae'zel (who obviously does have a tadpole) offer to make the sacrifice herself, rather than simply let her people's best hope do so?
  • He did in fact not have a tadpole until then. He simply found one and infected himself, living tadpoles are a surprisingly common resource in this game. As for why Lae'zel didn't intervene, she's very obedient to what she acknowledges as her chain of command, she wouldn't question Orpheus just like she never questions Vlaakith before you manage to convince her to switch leaders. You make her change from blindly following one leader to blindly following another, you never actually change that trait about her.
  • Lae'zel being blindly obedient doesn't preclude her from offering to make the sacrifice, though. Orpheus is clearly reluctant to do it himself—it's not an "I have to do this," it's a "I'll do it since no one else will"—and Lae'zel's entire arc in the second half of the game is about getting to him to save her people. That's wasted if Orpheus turns into a mind flayer and subsequently dies. It'd be one thing if she offered to do it and was rejected, but she never seems to consider it at all despite already having her own tadpole.
  • Lae'zel can actually offer to make the sacrifice. If Lae'zel is your player character, obviously she can choose to become a mind flayer just like any other PC can. But even if she's not your PC, you just need to have her in your party during the scene inside the Astral Prism. Then, when Orpheus says someone needs to become a mind flayer, you can say you need to think about it, which ends the dialogue. Then you can change the character you control from your PC to Lae'zel, and go talk to Orpheus as her. She offers herself for the sacrifice, but Orpheus rejects her, saying she's not strong enough to handle it. It's not clear why your PC or Karlach are strong enough, but at least the option to volunteer is there for Lae'zel too.
  • He could have meant strong mentally, rather than physically; Lae'zel's been dreading becoming a mindflayer, the thing her people hate the most, this entire time. Even if she did volunteer, there's no guarantee that her psyche would survive the transformation, and her breaking like that could jeopardize the whole mission.
• So, what's stopping Karlach from getting a cleric to cast greater restoration or regeneration to restore her missing heart?
  • Where's she gonna find a cleric that strong in the like, two, three months she's got left to live outside of Avernus? She felt it was a better use of her time to help Tav/The Dark Urge.
  • Larian has outright stated they didn't go beyond 12th level specifically to avoid the topic of regeneration as a spell. For a story reason: there isn't really anyone who is presented as strong enough with the time the heroes have to do anything about it. Greater restoration can't replace a missing limb for instance.
• What's with Gale's habit of quoting Shakespeare? Did he borrow some plays from Ed Greenwood through Elminster? Is he actually quoting Waterdhavian works that no player would understand the reference to, and the translation to Shakespeare is a Woolseyism? Or did the Bard of Avon somehow manage to get his works published interdimensionally in Faerun?
  • Perhaps he did some planeswalking of his own and stumbled across Shakespeare's works while he was out and about. Perhaps he was introduced to it by Elminster. Or even Mystra.
  • Canonically Faerun does have links to Earth. The nations of Mulhorand, Unther and Thay were mostly descended from slaves taken from Ancient Egypt and Babylon, the Mulhorandri pantheon literally are the Ancient Egyptian gods, the god Tyr is heavily hinted to be the god of the same name from Norse Mythology etc. So the works of Shakespeare ending up there isn't all that unusual.
• What even is Sceleritas? An imp?
  • He's a fiend created by Bhaal.
• When and where was everyone abducted? Was this all on the same trip?
  • We know that Wyll and Karlach were both in the Hells and infected together. The logistics are mentioned above.
  • By the above logic, Shadowheart is covered because Shadowheart and her teammates successfully stole the artifact from the Githyanki, but then Shadowheart was abducted.
  • Astarion could only have been in Baldur's Gate at night, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of the Nautiloid over Baldur's Gate when you get there.
    • Scratch that; in Jaehira's office, there's a scroll that mentions missing persons that were found shortly afterwards, as well as strange shadows at night. The Nautiloid is much stealthier than the opening made it appear.
• How does Shadowheart retain her magic after losing her faith in Shar?
  • As long as her parents are held captive in the House of Grief Shadowheart remains bound to Shar whether she likes it or not, so Shar expects she'll come back to the fold eventually.
  • The narrator addresses this if you talk to Shadowheart after she spares the Nightsong. It's from Selûne.
    Narrator: *Shadowheart looks distraught - abandoned by her goddess and all former allies. And as for her divine magic...? Admitting who empowers her now may break her spirit for good.*
• There's something that really confuses me about the Emperor's timeline. According to Ed Greenwood, the city of Baldur's Gate was widely known by 446 DR, so Balduran has to have lived over a thousand years before the events of the game. But he was infected by illithids living underneath Moonrise Towers. Moonrise Towers, which, we know from meeting its architect in Raphael's House of Hope, was built during Ketheric Thorm's lifetime. As a half-elf, Ketheric can only have been AT MOST less than 200 years old before he used the Nightsong to become immortal (which we know happened 100 years before the game). So somehow, a relatively ordinary human adventurer (i.e. not a Druid or Monk who got immortality for free at 20th level) lived for almost a thousand years after his famous disappearance, during which time he never ONCE returned to the city named after him, never told anyone there that he'd survived. Am I missing something??
  • I haven't played the game yet so take this as an uneducated guess; the illithids underneath Moonrise Towers have been underground in that general area since before Moonrise Towers were constructed & the Emperor or whoever tells you of his origins refers to them as being the illithids under Moonrise Towers for your character's benefit? Having said that, what I am *not* uneducated on is that illithids do not live that long; their life spans are only supposed to be about 135 years after transformation, give or take. Which would fit in Ketheric's lifespan but doesn't work with the wider setting timeline. Life extending magics do exist in the setting but nothing I've seen discussed here on tv tropes makes it sound like Balduran has anything but particularly potent mindflayer psychic abilities.
    • From his flashback it looks like the Elder Brain was set up in the Astral Plane (with presumably an entrance via the caverns under what's now Moonrise), since the image of the brain with illithids floating around it looked exactly the same as the artstyle used elsewhere for the Astral. A Mind Flayer can live that long in the Astral Plane, anyone can, because nobody ages in the Astral Plane. You also don't need to eat, which solves the perennial issue illithids have with getting enough brains. Really I think the only reason why more Elder Brains don't set up there is because the Astral is Githyanki territory.
• So among Orin's potential "screw with the PC" disguises is Zethino from the Circus of Last Days. How? A doppleganger can (quoting from their Monster Manuel entry) "use its action to polymorph into a Small or Medium humanoid it has seen, or back into its true form." Zethino is a dryad and therefore isn't a humanoid, she's a fey.
  • The game already plays it loose with what qualifies as a Beast (Owlbears and Displacer Beasts are Monstrosities, so rules-as-written Speak With Animals shouldn't work, but it does), so it's not too much of a reach that it also plays loose with what qualifies as Humanoid; a player unfamiliar with D&D lore would likely look at Zethino◊ and not think twice about her being considered Humanoid.
    • I guess. I was just hoping for an in-universe reason, I prefer those. I'll just go with being Bhaal's Chosen has broadened Orin's range, that works.
• How do evil vengeance paladins like Minthara or possibly the Dark Urge avoid breaking their oath?
  • Very different interpretations of what needs to be revenged upon whom.
• So when Wyll chooses to break his pact and give up his father's life for his freedom, most of the companions seem to disapprove of this course of action. But when Shadowheart makes pretty much the same trade at the end of her story, everyone sympathizes with her. What gives? Doubly egregious given that Shadowheart can be left to make this choice on her own, vs you having to urge Wyll one way or the other.
  • Because Shadowheart's parents, if she chooses not to save them, are still freed from Sharran imprisonment and are immediately welcomed into the arms of their goddess. Duke Ravenguard is being left in a living hell being a mind flayer tadpole's puppet. Also the loss of Shadowheart's parents won't destabilise an entire city. Not saying I agree with the position, better to take a chance of finding and rescuing the Duke by one's own power than keep giving a devil what they want in my view, but I can see why someone might feel otherwise and even view Wyll's decision as selfish or short-sighted.
  • Shadowheart's parents also explicitly tell her that they want to sacrifice themselves in order to free her from Shar's curse. It'd be pretty odd for any companion to disapprove if Shadowheart chooses to follow their wishes. Wyll, on the other hand, is making the choice without ever knowing what his father would want, since he isn't around to be consulted and doesn't even know about Wyll's pact. So he chooses to (potentially) sacrifice his father out of pure self-interest and without Duke Ravengard's blessing, which isn't the case with Shadowheart.
• Does Vlaakith curse Lae'zel in some way when she rebels? Because her CON and INT decrease by two ability points.
  • Did you let her enter the Zaith'isk? If so, failing to convince her to escape as soon as things start going horribly wrong does inflict a stat penalty. (The same ones you'd get if you entered the Zaith'isk and failed the saving throws.)
• So the curse that Shadowheart was supposed to be free of by letting her parents go was presumably the wound in her hand that started hurting whenever she was doing something Shar disapproved of. But in my playthrough where she did make that trade, during the epilogue party she still got a pain in her hand at one point. Was it a different curse that she lost as a result, or did my game just forget that that was the choice she made?
• At what point is the Emperor's identity as Balduran revealed?
  • The hidden dungeon beneath the Wyrm's Rock prison, during the conversation with Ansur.
• Why exactly did Raphael take Hope as prisoner in the first place? We find out that he later become obsessed with her because she refused to give in to his torture, but that doesn't explain why a seemingly ordinary cleric was worth his attention to begin with. The fact that Raphael's house is called the House of Hope, and that Hope can banish cambions from "her" house seems to suggest she has some magical connection to Raphael's dwelling, but it remains unclear why she is so important there.
  • Perhaps Korrilla sold her to Raphael and he liked the irony of capturing and torturing someone named Hope in the House of Hope.
  • Possibly, but that still doesn't explain the control she has over the House of Hope, such as being able to cast her projection anywhere there, and being able to banish devils from "her" house.
  • Some of Korilla's dialog imply that Raphael is being a bit of a Yandere; it's not said outright, but she says that he tried to win over Hope but she kept rejecting him, and eventually he just got fed up and trapped her.
• Why exactly were Viconia and the Sharrans so intent on acquiring the Astral Prism? What did they hope to gain from it? Maybe this is explained if you choose the route where Shadowheart remains loyal to Shar, but in the route where she renounce her there's no explanation.
  • The Absolute cult was stealing prospective followers from Shar, so Viconia was spying on them and found out that they wanted the artifact so Viconia did too. She had no idea what it actually was, she just knew they were afraid of it and decided to figure out how and why once she had it in her possession.
• Why is Kagha bitter over the tieflings' peaceful departure from the Emerald Grove?
• Based on what the Archivist says in the House of Hope, the Orphic Hammer is not some pre-existing ancient artifact, rather than something Raphael himself commissioned to be made. But it seems unlikely he commissioned it only after he decided to cut a deal to the protagonists, since the protagonists only got mixed up in the whole affair a couple of weeks before Raphael made his offer, and the Hammer is described to have been made of some rare ores gathered in the Hells, so it doesn't sound like it took mere two weeks to gather the materials and forge it. So why did Raphael commission it in the first place? Before the protagonists entered the picture, was he planning on releasing Orpheus himself?
  • The name might poke a hole in this (unless he recently changed it to make it applicable to the protagonists' mission), but it's possible it wasn't initially for Orpheus, but for Hope, who he was hoping would eventually break and submit to him. He might have had it made to have a way to break her out once that day came.
  • Why would he need to commission a special hammer to break the chains he himself made? Surely he could just undo/unlock the chains if he wanted to?
  • After Mizora transforms Wyll for sparing Karlach, she says that there are some magics that even she can't undo. The magic behind the chains could be in the same category.
  • But Raphael's goal with Hope is not to imprison her forever, he wants to break her with torture so that she will willingly join her. So if Raphael ultimately wants Hope to join her like her sister did, why would he put her in chains even he can't unlock?
  • There is a book in the House of Hope that explains the history of the Orphic Hammer and why it was made. Namely it was an insurance policy to enable Raphael to break any chain forged by infernal hands. The book mentions he could, if needed, use it to free prisoners in the City of Dis, break open the vault of Nargus, or even free the child of Gith. Basically he made it probably long ago to be Crazy-Prepared in case he needed it.
  • That makes sense, but why did he name the hammer the Orphic Hammer then? First of all, the fact that Orpheus was alive and imprisoned with infernal chains was supposed to be a big secret, so how did Raphael find out about it? And even if he knew the secret, freeing Orpheus wouldn't have been of any interest to him until very recently, when he realised he could trade the hammer for the Crown of Karsus. So Raphael wouldn't have any reason to name the hammer after Orpheus if it was made ages ago. Did he originally name the hammer something else, and then rename it when the Crown and Cult of the Absolute appeared on the scene? Was the aforementioned book also written just a few weeks ago?
    • He probably named it after the most impressive prisoner bound by Infernal chains that he could think of. Like how lots of settings have weapons called "The Godkiller" that can probably kill lots of things that aren't gods as well but you pitch the name at the highest level.
• Why didn't Mephistopheles do anything with the Crown of Karsus during the hundreds of years he had it in his possession? In the ending where Raphael gets the Crown, he seems to put it in good use to conquer the Nine Hells, so why didn't Mephistopheles try to do the same?
  • Raphael states Mephistopheles is more interested in collecting/possessing valuable things than he is in using them himself.
  • But Mephistopheles is also described as a power-hungry devil who's always plotting to become the supreme ruler of the Nine Hells. So why didn't he try to use the Crown for that purpose, like his son does in the bad ending?
    • Mephistopheles is already second in command in Hell, The Starscream to Asmodeus. And Asmodeus is too Crazy-Prepared for the crown to make a difference.
    • It would make a difference, Mephistopheles being a god would close the gap between the two somewhat (not all the way, Asmodeus is a god too but it would help). However two things; first, if he did become a god he might hit the point where Asmodeus decides he's too risky to keep around and actually destroys him after eons of tolerating his scheming so Mephistopheles would need to become a god and overthrow Asmodeus at the same time to be safe. Second, Mephistopheles is power-hungry but he is also extremely clever and knowledgeable. And the Crown made Karsus a god but also ruined him utterly. Basically unlike his comparatively callow son Mephistopheles knows better than to use the thing.
• How is Volo, a wizard, so easily incapacitated?
  • Because he's a joke character, and the joke is that he's totally incompetent despite his claims otherwise.
  • And even outside the 'joke character' justification: when you meet him, he's trying to talk to a bear, apparently under the impression it's a wild-shaped druid. He then asks about the pack of goblins before disregarding everything you say, thinks he can just waltz into a goblin camp to document their behavior and then, in probably his most defining moment, he tries to remove an illithid tadpole with an ice pick and botches it so badly he takes out your eye. And you're surprised that THIS man is easily incapacitated?
  • Okay, but stupidity doesn't necessarily make you harmless. Just look at Minsc. Someone like Volo should be able to shove entire crowds of people aside with a thought.
  • Why should he? It's not like every wizard has to learn and prepare battle spells. According to the Forgotten Realms wiki, around this time Volo had "prepared only comprehend languages, detect magic, disguise self, friends, mending, and prestidigitation", none of which can shove crowds around. He seems to be way more interested in travelling the world and gathering material for his books than in fighting. Also, based on the first encounter with him, Volo apparently thinks he can talk himself out of any situation: he is intent on going to the goblins' camp to ask them questions, and if the player character warns him that it might get dangerous, he says his knowledge of the goblin language should be enough to get him through.
  • Also, Squishy Wizard. Someone comes up behind even a powerful, battle ready wizard with a club and catches them by surprise and down they go.
• Why is every githyanki who isn't Lae'zel some kind of wizard?
  • Githyanki have plenty of innate psionic abilities. The ones fought in the Astral Plane - and Orpheus - are Four Elements Monks, where Lae'zel starts out as a Fighter.
• Why do only the warrior classes (fighter, barbarian, monk, ranger) get Extra Attack?
  • Because it's faster to swing a weapon (or hit someone with your bare hands) twice than cast a spell twice.
  • Because they're the warrior classes. It's hardly surprising that the people who train predominantly in physical fighting get better at strike efficiently than those that don't.
• What exactly was the mission of the nautiloid in the game's prologue, the one that captured all the protagonists? At first it may seem like the Illithids had launched some kind of counteroffensive against the Cult of the Absolute, since nautiloid captured people with important connections to the Cult, such as the person carrying the Astral Prism, the son of Duke Ravengard, the former bodyguard of Lord Gortash, etc. But we never learn whether the nautiloid had any such mission, nor do we even find out whether the other Elder Brains consider the Absolute to be an enemy or an ally. So was the nautiloid just randomly kidnapping people to be turned into Illithids, and it just happened to capture all these people with connections to the Cult and/or its enemies?
  • I have a theory about this! I think that prologue was the Nautiloid's desperate attempt to retrieve the Astral Prism by abducting everyone in sight. It was looking specifically for Shadowheart. While everyone else was mostly abducted by coincidence, I think it all happened something like:
    • Lae'zel and her team attacked the nautiloid or an illithid outpost in the Astral Plane, but were defeated and captured.
    • Astarion could only have been in Baldur's Gate at night, and we know from Jaheira's Harper notes that a nautiloid was floating in the city abducting people and then returning them. It might be possible that he was deliberately captured to sabotage Cazador's ritual, but only if the Absolute knows about the ritual in the first place.
    • Shadowheart stole the Astral Prism, and then the Absolute sent the closest available nautiloid to abduct her, which happened to be the one still holding Lae'zel and Astarion.
    • Gale was traveling to find the most remote place on the planet to explode, and he got caught in the nautiloid's indiscriminate raid.
    • Karlach and Wyll say they jumped onto the ship when it was in Avernus.
  • If the nautiloid was specifically after the Astral Prism, why didn't they take it away from her as soon as they caught Shadowheart? Instead they put her in the Illithid tank with the Prism and all. Also, the leaders of the Cult seem to prefer secrecy; all the other times people have been kidnapped and infected with their tadpoles, it's been done without anyone else knowing, so that the truth behind the Cult remains a secret until they're ready to start their war. It remains unclear why in this case they would send the huge, extremely noticeable nautiloid to capture people indiscriminately. If the mission was to catch Shadowheart, there doesn't seem to be any reason to kidnap some random Baldur's Gate citizens while on the way?
  • To answer your questions in order:
    • The illithids didn't have time to search all the recent captives one by one, with the Githyanki raid and the side trip in Avernus. The nautiloid tentacles instantly teleport victims straight into the pods; they didn't have a chance to frisk her beforehand.
    • While the Absolute would rather remain relatively secret, this was a desperate gamble; their artifact was stolen by Sharrans, who are infamous for their skill in subterfuge. They also probably don't know what Shadowheart or her cohort look like, especially since she has Disguise Self, so they cut the knot by kidnapping everyone in sight. Letting the nautiloid attack the distant city of Yartar might risk suspicion, but letting the Astral Prism slip would destroy their entire plan.
    • I was thinking that the nautiloid didn't stop to capture people in Baldur's Gate at night; it was just that the nautiloid they sent still happened to be full of people from Baldur's Gate (as well as Lae'zel's team). The nautiloid attacked Baldur's Gate at night, hung around on standby in a secret location for a few hours, then got sent to Yartar (the city in the prologue) during the daytime.
  • Wasn't the Astral Prism stolen from the Githyanki, not from the Cult? I don't think anything in the game suggests the Cult ever had it in its possession, and in the Sharran temple you can find a dead Githyanki who was tortured and interrogated to reveal the location of the Prism, after which Shadowheart's team was sent to steal it. If the Cult had already stolen the Prism from Vlaakith before that, why would some random Githyanki know its location? It remains unclear how the Cult found out about Shadowheart's mission to steal the Prism. Maybe the tadpoled some high-standing Sharran who knew about the mission, even though there doesn't seem to be any evidence for that in the game?
  • The interrogated Gith could have been from before the heist was even attempted. There's a book somewhere where Gortash plans to steal the Astral Prism from the Githyanki by sending a nautiloid piloted by the Emperor. We know that the Emperor took the opportunity to flee into the Prism, but other than that, the outcome isn't entirely clear. Viconia says that the Sharran way is to let two sides fight while they get what they want in the confusion, so it's possible that the Absolute did steal the Prism from the Githyanki, but didn't have it for very long before the Sharrans stole it from them. You may be right, and the Absolute didn't know about the Sharran mission to steal the Prism beforehand, but they at least know someone stole it from them.
  • The idea that the Nautiloid was sent by the Cult seems to be contradicted by the interrogation scene in the goblin camp in Act I. In that scene, Dror Ragzlin uses the "Speak with Dead" spell to interrogate the corpse of one of the Illithids who was aboard the Nautiloid so he could find out what exactly they were doing. If the Nautiloid belonged to the Cult, surely Ragzlin would know about its mission, since they're on the same side? So it seems the Nautiloid was not sent by the Cult, and instead it was run by other, non-Cult Illithids. So the original headscratcher remains: who sent the Nautiloid and what exactly was its mission?
• True Resurrection doesn't even need a corpse to be able to restore someone to life, let alone a full corpse; anything missing is regenerated in the process. So once we get a Scroll of True Resurrection from Gale's Resurrection Protocol (which you don't need to revive Gale; a normal Revivify Scroll or talking to Withers works just as well), what's stopping us from having Karlach remove her infernal engine, and then using that Scroll to revive her with a new heart?
  • The same reason they can't scoop up your brain to ressurect you without a tadpole - everything that is a part of "your body" will grow back too.
• Why is Us so loyal to... well, us?
  • The fact that their "birth", for want of a better term, had complications could be what kept them from connecting to the mind flayer hive mind. (One slate near where you first meet Us talks about "An anomaly. One like ourselves, unconnected from the whole.") So instead of being loyal to the Elder Brain, Us imprinted on you (and possibly your tadpole, since Lae'zel claims that they'll remain tame as long as they think you're a thrall) after you rescued them.
  • It might have to do with the fact that Us was birthed in Avernus, on a different plane to the Elder Brain (and a different section of the Planes at that) so it was unable to establish a connection to it from such a large metaphysical distance.
• What's up with that priestess in Moonrise Towers who guards the doors to the upstairs where you fight Kethric? Radija. She has no tadpole and tells the player they "have a lot to learn" but I never felt like what she means was ever explained. Did I miss something?
  • She is presumably a Bhaalist who knows the truth behind the Absolute, she would hold anyone enslaved to a tadpole in contempt.
  • Much more likely a Myrkulite than a Bhaalist in Moonrise, the three Chosen seem to keep their actual faithful separate but otherwise I'd agree.

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