Character
I wasn’t originally going to write this post, because how many playthroughs can one actually make a whole blog post about? But I went through all my screenshots to name them (since I use them in my worldbuilding posts or other critiques) and found myself laughing at some of them, so I figured I’d write a post just to use some of them.
I’ve done a Resist Durge run before (playthrough 6’s Persephone) and the Durge backstory and struggles are the same.
I wanted something different, so for the first time, I played a modded class: the Blade Dancer of Ellistraee. It’s a mix between a swords bard and a cleric, both in terms of role-playing and gameplay. This was helpful for me because those are two classes that I have found typically difficult to roleplay, so I got to do both at once to check them off the list. There were multiple subtypes, but I went with the Silver Bladedancer (a specific dual wielding class). The premise behind the class is that the different ‘dances’ can add different effects, pros, and cons.
I also mixed up my mythology, much to my shame. Since she is a blade dancer, I wanted to name her after the Muse of dance, but accidentally named her Euterpe instead of Terpsichore. However, once you name a save file for the first time, the save file stays the same, even if you change the character name in game. So my shame is now immortalized on my BG3 list of files.
Meet Euterpe! She’s more of a blade dancer than a full musician/bard, but as long as there is applause and drama, she’s in for it. Hence the constant costume and hair changes.
As she became more entranced with Astarion, she decided to dye her hair to match.
Then she decided why should Orin get to be the only copycat, that haircut looks fun.
Class Specifics
The blade dancer has a few extra attacks that can happen if you set things up the right way, but at baseline, they are very low damage and low percentage of hitting, unless you use “Encore of Pain”, which adds your charisma modifier to your attack roll for that attack, but at the cost of self-inflicted damage. This is a decent way of balancing out the ‘extra’ attacks, because they either missed a lot of the time, and/or you did damage to yourself as well.
Upon a successful hit, you could also gain Tempo charges, which could be used for special finishing attacks/spells, including one where you could share the bonus with an ally. I loved this for roleplaying purposes because of the image of my Euterpe and Astarion dancing together among the enemy, ripping and slashing.
Overall as a combat mod, it was enjoyable, although it took a fair amount of time for me to figure out how to use it, as opposed to just trying to smash the extra attacks.
I did end up turning Euterpe into mostly a swords bard with the band of the mystic scoundrel, because that’s just so incredibly powerful. After certain story choices, she also donned the Bhaalist armor in the late game, which worked well with the idea of the killer sword dancer I was building. Between the vulnerability given by the armor, and the Hold Person from bonus actions, the low damage from those bonus actions began to stack up.
As for the roleplaying aspect, playing something specced as both cleric and bard opened up new dialogue options I had not played before. Cleric was a little boring to me, as the choices were pretty much what you would expect. Bard, however, was sometimes hilarious. For instance, when you interrupt a bugbear/ogre couple in flagrante delicto, you can offer to immortalize their sweet sweet loving in a song. This is the ogre’s response:
Bards also have really snarky responses, which worked great for Euterpe.
Early Access
One of the other mods I tried this run was the ‘early access restored’ mod. When BG3 was first released in early access, a lot of things were different. Many things they changed due to beta player feedback (Wyll’s personality being one), and others changed for budget/time reasons. Some of it is just small conversations that don’t make any huge changes, but there are a few characters that were available in early access that did not make it to the final cut.
One is Lotan, a tiefling child whose parents died on the road, who becomes fixated on the idea that if he makes enough payment to Umberlee, the goddess of the ocean, he will not be taken the way that his parents were. He gives you a quest to gather seashells for him, and as a final step, to find a “living shell” as the best sacrifice.
Can you guess what that is? Have you ever found one in the game? It took me a while of hunting to find it for him.
Another NPC is Nerela, another tiefling whose husband and daughter tragically died on the road from Elturel. Her daughter thought the gnolls were doggies. They…are not doggies. She needs money to get to Baldur’s Gate, and tries to sell you her late husband’s homemade music box. You can pay her for it, just give her the money, or, for the monsters in the class, tell her that it isn’t worth it and to just give up.
They’re both personal tragic stories to add more gravitas to the tiefling backstories. I can see why these were taken out, since they are very low stakes and don’t impact the larger storyline, but they are cute bits of worldbuilding that I wish had stayed in.
Romance
I chose to romance Astarion for this run partially because I wanted to experience his romance again to evaluate a couple of changes for an upcoming blog post, but mostly because I had read that Dark Urge’s main writer (Baudelaire Welch) worked a lot with Astarion’s main writer (Stephen Rooney) and that their romance is as “canon” as you can get.
I don’t know if there are any specific lines that make it clear that it is the canon pairing for the game, but their story themes do match extremely well.
Astarion is fantastic as a Dark Urge romance companion because they are a pair of snarky motherfuckers together, especially since Euterpe is a bard. Both start off with violent urges and selfishness, not quite sure what is going on but knowing that they’re going to come out on top no matter what.
As the game develops, both of them struggle to let go of their inner darkness, not just for themselves, but because their partner is important to them. Astarion in the typical game is pretty much a selfish ponce, and openly responds to threats against the camp by openly stating how it might inconvenience him. Any time you make a decision that is in any way helping someone without getting something in return, the inevitable “Astarion disapproves” pops up in the upper left corner like whack-a-mole clockwork.
As he softens in the romance, he begins to bring move his circle of ‘giving a fuck’ to her as well, which surprises even himself.
My previous Resist Urge playthrough involved a Karlach romance, and while she is super supportive, it didn’t hit the same way as this one. I had romanced Astarion before, but the story hits harder and more genuine for a Resist Urge because they are going through the same thing. Both of them grow into their trust, vulnerability, and better selves together.
He is there for you during your darkest moments, because he knows what it is like to be there himself.
And Resist Urge is there for him when he is struggling with being a better person as well.
I genuinely can’t think of another companion that has this sort of common theme and written dialogue for Resist Urge. It is possible that Light Shadowheart may have it, but I will have to find out in another playthrough.
Other Astarion specific things
One of the things I specifically wanted to test out was something I had noticed from my previous Astarion run. There are some companions that will join in the encounter with the drow twins. The first time I had Astarion join, he does so, with gusto, but when you make eye contact with him, he is “a million miles away.”
This hits hard knowing his background as a sex slave. Even being in a loving relationship, he still joins in the orgy even if he isn’t into it. At best, he’s tired of sex and no longer connecting with it. At worst, he still doesn’t feel safe saying no, and is making his body go through the motions to please someone else. All of these are disquieting.
This time, I waited to initiate the orgy until all the way at the end of the game (basically the last thing I did before fighting the Big Bad) By this point in the game, Astarion has had his wonderful act 3 romance scene, and has opened up about how he feels, what he wants, and that he is comfortable having sex again. I figured after that conversation, I’d get a different outcome.
Nope. Still a million miles away.
Ugh. Now I feel like I need to shower my soul.
Reasonably speaking, it is probably that the game developers did not specify a difference when the programmed the scene. They’ve done a lot of other awesome writing in the Astarion romance, so this is a small ding against them.
Another thing I will point out is that I really wish there was more interaction from your romance companion during That Scene at the Temple of Bhaal. The fact that there isn’t any special reaction or response from your companions is so wild to me that I have to assume this was also a product of running out of time/budget.
Overall, Astarion continues to surprise me. His romance in and of itself is already well-written, but there is extra depth to it for a Dark Urge playthrough that I was pleasantly surprised by.
