r/BG3 • u/Feeling-Classroom729 • 3d ago

Bg3 Hot Take Edition

I'm feeling spicy and I want to hear some of your hot takes about the game. Perhaps, I'll see the game from a fresh perspective and/or learn something new.

There's no limit to the hot takes you can share.

I'll go first.

Despite Araj's negative reputation, I think she's one of the best merchants in the game. In act 2, she carries the risky ring and the ring of free action, which is already amazing. But she also offers unique elixirs in act 2. In act 3, she sells sanguine explosives, which is basically a level 4 fireball that you can buy for less than 20 gold. Getting the unstable blood condition from her in act 3, can also be powerful if you build around it. The +2 to strength is super powerful if you're willing to torture Astarion, but even without that, she's still an amazing npc. She's a little pushy with Astarion, but she ultimately accepts his no. So, I don't stay mad at her.

I don't think completing a "good run" automatically makes your character good aligned. Basing your decisions around not making your favorite npcs sad is not a sound moral compass. I think there are more morally neutral people out there than people are willing to admit. It isn't a bad thing to be morally neutral. Jaheira is canonically true neutral in the older games, and people love her.

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u/shesstilllost 3d ago edited 3d ago

Ketheric Thorm is overrated as villain. He's incredibly common- man faces perfectly normal hardship- and decides he hates his God for not kowtowing to his wishes. He still had his wealth, the people he led, and the love and adoration of those around him. If we had gotten a full story of his decent into madness, okay. If we had clearly gotten the story of the gods all refusing to raise his daughter, okay. But all we see is that he was a old wealthy elf who lost his wife and daughter, and decided to burn the world for it. It's a story we see so often that I can't be moved by it anymore. It doesn't even make sense in the Forgotten Realms because resurrection magic is so common. The atmosphere of Act 2 is great, I love Isobel and Aylin, I would have loved to know more about Melodia, but all that makes Ketheric Thorm compelling his his voice actor.

The companions are compelling characters but I would not want to actually play a real game of DnD with them save for Wyll, Gale and Halsin. The others would really need a good session zero for me to feel safe playing with them as a table. Astarion's player would suck all the air out of the room trying to be the Main Character, as well as Shadowheart.

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u/partyhardlilbard Bard 3d ago

Players with Main Character Energy are absolutely fine imo. As a hopeful future-DM I hope to god at least one of my players will get on my level and help me drive the story. AS LONG AS they also make an effort to draw the other players in as well. A "big" character who shares their energy among the group is great. A big character who makes the entire game about them would be hell.

Tldr it would depend on who was playing them 😂

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u/shesstilllost 3d ago

I'm a forever DM myself. Astarion reminds me of a certain player I knew who took over everything but didn't understand how to RP with other people.

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u/partyhardlilbard Bard 3d ago

In thar situation you cabr help but wonder why the guy doesn't just write a book lol!

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u/shesstilllost 3d ago

Eh, said player didn't seem to understand that it's the RP with other players that makes things work. That you have to show an interest in them for the others to show an interest back. Being all about your own story and not caring for the others really sabotages your game.

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u/partyhardlilbard Bard 2d ago

That's such a shame. Drawing people into your story and becoming part of theirs is one of the best things about dnd. This is my fourth campaign and the first time playing a "big" personality (stand-offish, snarky bard for two campaigns and a very meek, gentle cleric for one) and a huge part of the fun this time around has been TALKING more and asking the other characters way more questions than my bard would have cared to ask, while my cleric was very stay-in-my-lane, dont-be-rude. My current guy will just straight up be like "so what's with the tattoo?" Etc and it's so much more freeing lol

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u/shesstilllost 2d ago

This player was in my first campaign, and I let that one stick around a little too long. I also think that this player was fudging dice, and wanted long RP just for them with just the DM. Eventually I had to kick them. It was a bummer. And yeah, I have a bit of a problem with my current group is that they aren't poking each other much, but that's because they're sticking to the plot a lot. Though we're working on it.

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u/partyhardlilbard Bard 2d ago

They'll get there! Encouraging role-playing during downtime (setting up / being at camp, encouraging chatter at taverns etc) might help agitate the first few threads of backstory conversation! Or sometimes, at a given moment, just pause and ask a player what their character is thinking / feeling right now. It might give another character an opening.

"Oh, Aaron is thinking about his mother. He's wondering how she's doing without him" might lead another player to go "Jayne notices that Aaron looks pensive, so she'll go up to him and say 'hey, you alright? You're lost in thought', which might THEN invite Aaron to divulge that he's worried about his sick mother - he's been adventuring seeking a cure for her rare illness. Now Jayne is involved in his personal quest too. OR, he might get cagey and defensive, causing Jayne to be curious or even suspicious of him. Put 'em in the hot seat!