The most natural BG2 protagonist
Moonheart
Member Posts: 520
In another thread, I ran a poll to help me to chose what could be my next written playthrough.
It actualy tends toward a playthrough consisting to play the game the most realistic way possible.
To prepare this, in case the results don't change until I finish my "Chidren of Fire" playthrough, I started to wonder: ok, what protagonist should I play for such a playthrough? What would be the most natural BG2 protagonist?
Here are my actual musings on the topic, and I'd like to hear everyone wanting to give an advice and opinion about them...
Gender
There is not much sensitive I could find about CHARNAME's gender in the game. There are more romance for males, but I don't see it like a true hint about the most natural gender to have...
Retained as possible gender: Male or female
Race
Imoen is a pure human Bhaalspawn, which brings an interesting information: Bhaal used an human form to make Imoen's mother pregnant, or she would have been an "half-something".
Due to Imoen's closeness, the most probably thought would be that he used the same form to make the protagonist's mother pregnant, which would lead him to be at least half-human.
Retained as possible race: Human or half-elf
Class
The protagonist has been raised into Candlekeep, a high place of knowledge training bards, mage and monks. His tutor was Gorion, himself a Mage.
If it didn't prevent Imoen to be a Thief, thing to point out is she starts as the most intelligent Thief of the game, and then turns to becomes a Thief/Mage... such thing gives a hint that the protagonist should naturaly be inclined to be an arcane spellcaster of some sort.
In BG1, it also have been given a hint that Gorion asked people to train the protagonist to the basic use of weapons, so any mix...
Some class are almost impossible for a realistic playthrough: Barbarian (the protagonist has not be raised Inside a barbarian tribe), Druid/Ranger (the protagonist never put his feet outside Candlekeep, so it could not have been trained to nature's ways) and Wizard Slayer (the protagonist would have never stayed with Gorion if he has such a hate for mages)...
On the other side, it is not impossible that the inheritance of the protagonist made him turn toward Thief class having a relation with mureder (sneaking and backstabbing... so not Swashbuckler) and could also explain Imoen's class.
Retained as possible class: Bard, Monk, Sorcerer, Mage, Fighter (except Wizard Slayer), Thief (except Swashbuckler) and dual/multi combinations associated
Alignement
It has been made clear by the dialog in the Chapter 1 that the protagonist have been wandering around a long time with Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc, which also implies Khalid and Dynaheir.
This party have enough people of a good alignements in it to hint that the most natural protagonist would not be evil: if he had been, those people would not have followed him for so long... not even speaking of Jaheira that due to her Harpist nature, would probably have killed him even before the events of BG2 (she still with her husband, so she has no true reason to spare an evil bhaalspawn)
This is emphased by the fact that Gorion was also a Harpist, and knew perfectly who is the father of the protagonist, and have not only raised him so he would have moral values, but also watched him so he will not become a threat to others... this is not truly compatible with an evil alignement
Retained as possible alignement: any non-evil
Companions
When you wake in a dungeon, being tortured, and having to face death, the companion you choose are people you can trust: past acquintances and people directly related to the heart of the matter.
As I pointed out above, the game makes itself clear that the party of the protagonist during BG1 is assumed to have been with Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Dynaheir and Imoen. Jaheira, Minsc and Imoen are also directly related to the matter, and have genuine reason to never side with your arch-enemy
Yoshimo is related to the matter, but a perfect stranger, found out of a cage in Irenicus' place, honestly... I can't even see a reason to trust him like the game make us do.
Other acquintances not related to the matter includes Edwin, Viconia, Dorn, Neera and Rasaad.
Edwin tried to kill Dynaheir and Dorn is clearly someone that Jaheira would normaly not stand for long (don't know why she does in BG2...). Neera and Rasaad are more probable companion for the most natural protagonist, even if Viconia is not totaly impossible
Retained as possible party: Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, Neera and Rasaad
It actualy tends toward a playthrough consisting to play the game the most realistic way possible.
To prepare this, in case the results don't change until I finish my "Chidren of Fire" playthrough, I started to wonder: ok, what protagonist should I play for such a playthrough? What would be the most natural BG2 protagonist?
Here are my actual musings on the topic, and I'd like to hear everyone wanting to give an advice and opinion about them...
Gender
There is not much sensitive I could find about CHARNAME's gender in the game. There are more romance for males, but I don't see it like a true hint about the most natural gender to have...
Retained as possible gender: Male or female
Race
Imoen is a pure human Bhaalspawn, which brings an interesting information: Bhaal used an human form to make Imoen's mother pregnant, or she would have been an "half-something".
Due to Imoen's closeness, the most probably thought would be that he used the same form to make the protagonist's mother pregnant, which would lead him to be at least half-human.
Retained as possible race: Human or half-elf
Class
The protagonist has been raised into Candlekeep, a high place of knowledge training bards, mage and monks. His tutor was Gorion, himself a Mage.
If it didn't prevent Imoen to be a Thief, thing to point out is she starts as the most intelligent Thief of the game, and then turns to becomes a Thief/Mage... such thing gives a hint that the protagonist should naturaly be inclined to be an arcane spellcaster of some sort.
In BG1, it also have been given a hint that Gorion asked people to train the protagonist to the basic use of weapons, so any mix...
Some class are almost impossible for a realistic playthrough: Barbarian (the protagonist has not be raised Inside a barbarian tribe), Druid/Ranger (the protagonist never put his feet outside Candlekeep, so it could not have been trained to nature's ways) and Wizard Slayer (the protagonist would have never stayed with Gorion if he has such a hate for mages)...
On the other side, it is not impossible that the inheritance of the protagonist made him turn toward Thief class having a relation with mureder (sneaking and backstabbing... so not Swashbuckler) and could also explain Imoen's class.
Retained as possible class: Bard, Monk, Sorcerer, Mage, Fighter (except Wizard Slayer), Thief (except Swashbuckler) and dual/multi combinations associated
Alignement
It has been made clear by the dialog in the Chapter 1 that the protagonist have been wandering around a long time with Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc, which also implies Khalid and Dynaheir.
This party have enough people of a good alignements in it to hint that the most natural protagonist would not be evil: if he had been, those people would not have followed him for so long... not even speaking of Jaheira that due to her Harpist nature, would probably have killed him even before the events of BG2 (she still with her husband, so she has no true reason to spare an evil bhaalspawn)
This is emphased by the fact that Gorion was also a Harpist, and knew perfectly who is the father of the protagonist, and have not only raised him so he would have moral values, but also watched him so he will not become a threat to others... this is not truly compatible with an evil alignement
Retained as possible alignement: any non-evil
Companions
When you wake in a dungeon, being tortured, and having to face death, the companion you choose are people you can trust: past acquintances and people directly related to the heart of the matter.
As I pointed out above, the game makes itself clear that the party of the protagonist during BG1 is assumed to have been with Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Dynaheir and Imoen. Jaheira, Minsc and Imoen are also directly related to the matter, and have genuine reason to never side with your arch-enemy
Yoshimo is related to the matter, but a perfect stranger, found out of a cage in Irenicus' place, honestly... I can't even see a reason to trust him like the game make us do.
Other acquintances not related to the matter includes Edwin, Viconia, Dorn, Neera and Rasaad.
Edwin tried to kill Dynaheir and Dorn is clearly someone that Jaheira would normaly not stand for long (don't know why she does in BG2...). Neera and Rasaad are more probable companion for the most natural protagonist, even if Viconia is not totaly impossible
Retained as possible party: Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, Neera and Rasaad
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Comments
My choices:
Male - "Come, brother, let us get the Throne" (to Sarevok in ToB)
Half-elf (I just like slender and slim)
Class - Fighter/Mage (magic lessons from Gorion and training fighting skills in Candlekeep)
Alignment - Chaotic Good
Companions (I see you're talking about BG2 here) - Jaheira, Minsc, Aerie, Anomen, Yoshimo/Imoen
I read in this forum (don't remember where) that the race depended just from the mother and not from the form of Bhaal (there are still problems with the age of Charname with the long-lived races, though).
The other points seem consistent, in my opinion.
Fixed
None of the two fits in the natural choices regarding the story... Amoen is completly unrelated, and Viconia a distant acquaintaince that doesn't fit the alignement of the party at all.
Aerie is unrelated to the plot, but she has the right alignement and build a relationship with Minsc... so... perhaps?
Race: Ooze
Class: Oozemaster kit
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Companions: A whole roster of imaginary friends
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Portrait: Male Human 2 (Canderous)
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Lawful Good
Abilities: 18/00 Str; 18 Dex; 18 Con; 10 Int; 10 Wis; 10 Cha
Proficiencies: Longsword ** / Longbow **
This is not about what you would pick, but -WHY- do you think it's the closest thing to the natural choice for the main protagonist...
You may not find this helpful, but I believe every race/class/gender/alignment is justifiable and therefore possible. Intentionally limiting yourself out of the gate is not the raison d'etre of the whole RPG genre, imo. However, if it will enhance your experience of the game to approach it that way, then that trumps any ramblings of mine.
Race
Doesn't matter. We know for a fact that long lived and slow maturing races (such as dragons and drow) can be Bhaalspawn just fine. So each and every race is valid. With that said, and it paints me to admit it, human does work best from a story perspective. Very few NPCs ever say anything based on your race, regardless of whether you are a dwarf in the Deepstone Clanhold, an Elf in Suldanessar, or a halfling in Gullykin. The game doesn't really care. It treats you like you are human. IWD was better at handling that...
TL/DR: Human works best, but all races work just fine and without issue.
Gender
Doesn't matter. Game works just fine either way without any clues/hints pointing in either direction.
Class
Fighter
Trained by the Watchers. Works fine.
Berserker
Trained by the Watchers with god of murder anger. Works fine.
Kensai
Trained by the Watchers, with a bit of specialty training. Candlekeep isn't known for its swordsaints, so it is a small stretch. Works alright, but not as well as others.
Wizard Slayer
Candlekeep is one of the world's greatest repositories of magical knowledge and prophecy. It would need people trained to keep it safe from evil mages. Wizard Slayers work perfectly for Charname.
Dwarven Defender
There are two dwarf NPCs in Candlekeep, both of whom are fighters. Reever even comes across as a trainer/mentor of Charname. Dwarven Defender works fine.
TLDR: Vanilla fighter and all kits work. Kensai is a little bit of a stretch...but it still works.
Ranger
Doesn't work all that well. Charname was stuck in Candlekeep his entire life. So learning Ranger skills is a stretch.
Archer
The most likely of the Ranger kits to work well from a story perspective. You lose your Charm Animal ability, which makes sense given Charname's cloistered life. But this is a fortress! Fortresses need archers on the walls. So Charname was trained by the Watchers to specialize in defending the walls. The ranger skills, abilities and spells come later after you leave Candlekeep. So archer works pretty well.
Stalker
"Stalkers serve as covert intelligence-gatherers, comfortable in both wilderness and urban settings."
Not the best fit, but Candlekeep would need people to keep an eye on visiting mages. Make sure they aren't up to anything nefarious. A young bhaalspawn who likely has menial chores around Candlekeep would be a good pick at keeping an eye on visitors. Also, Stalkers learn mage spells, which reflects a Candlekeep upbringing. This one works surprisingly well.
Beast Master
Well, unless Charname and Bessy the Cow were *really* close, this probably won't work.
TLDR: Vanilla ranger doesn't really work. Neither does beastmaster. Both Archer and Stalker have good RP reasons though.
Paladin
I can see it working. There are temples, there are watchers. If you read the Once and Future King by TH White, you can see that Lancelot was known as being the most pure of knights even though he was plagued by evil thoughts/desires and that he used his disgust for that o drive him towards what is right. A bhaalspawn paladin has great RP potential.
Cavalier
See vanilla paladin only +1.
Inquisitor
See Wizard Slayer. This one works really well from a story perspective.
Undead Hunter
The Candlekeep crypts are crawling with ghouls. I'd imagine that there are those in Candlekeep who are trained and tasked with keeping the dead...well...dead. Takes some mental work for this one, but it can work.
Blackguard
Evil Bhaalspawn is evil.
TLDR: The paladin class works surprisingly well with all kits and vanilla.
Cleric
Anyone can be a cleric. Anyone can worship the gods. But as there are only a few temples in Candlekeep, none of them to a god that can be chosen...it is problematic. Plus, you are on a quest for godhood, and you are actively worshiping a greater deity? It's...strange.
Helm works best though. Because of Watcher's Keep...it is a tie in to your deity.
Druid
None of the druid kits work well. You are a young person who has spent his entire life in Candlekeep. So you become a paragon on nature...how? I just don't see a good RP reason for a druid of any kind.
Mage
Raised by a mage in Candlekeep. Yes please.
Though I will note that most dialogue choices come across being rather snarky and not all that intelligent, so this isn't an automatic choice. Especially as how Imoen notes that Charname skipped classes, which isn't very Mage-y.
For this reason a Sorceror would work even better.
Thief
Anyone can be a thief. This works well.
Assassin
God of murder. You are a murderer. Check!
Bounty Hunter
Well...kind of an odd thing to be growing up in Candlekeep. But it works if you think about it as someone who quests and who is good at making traps. I'm sure that Reever loved your traps in hunting rats.
Swashbuckler
Works very well. Charname comes across as being witty, brave and not very serious. All things that make up a swashbuckler.
Shadowdancer
A child of Bhaal being one with the shadows? A bhaalspawn who is born with a great tool for murder? Yeah, this works great.
TLDR: Thief kits all work as does vanilla thief.
Bard
Works perfectly, bards of any kind. This is Candlekeep, a place of books and stories. Any kind of bard could easily have grown up there. Yes, even a Skald, though they would be less common.
Monk
Doesn't really work as there isn't a monestary in candlekeep. But you can always look at a monk as a wizard who channels magical energy through their body. A 'fist-mage' if you will.
Barbarian
You grew up with a loving mage foster father in the most civilized place imaginable. Just...no.
Alignment
All alignments work, though the game is *really* skewed towards good alignments. Or at least neutral ones. Still, it all works.
Skills
Warrior classes should seriously consider starting off with quarterstaffs, which are the weapons of choice for the Watchers. Swords as a secondary weapon if you'd like.
Putting it all together into a believable Charname:
Race: Human
Class: Inquisitor (strive to do what is right because you feel what is wrong inside of you. That sort of guilt often makes the most outwardly 'good' people)
Skills: ** Quarterstaffs ** two handed weapon fighting or ** Quaterstaffs * Greatswords * two handed weapon fighting
This would show that Charname was truly trained by the Watchers. He was also trained by Gorion and the other mages of Candlekeep to help protect it against the real threat to the keep...other mages. He also has his paladin restrictions, which shows him fighting his bhaalspawn taint. And finally, unlike classic paladins who have a deity they follow, he doesn't get priest spells, lay on hands or turn undead. Truly showing Charname to be someone raised in Candlekeep and not by other paladins.
"Blood of a powerful creature in their" thing
Gorion's a mage, hence a good teacher
I find that awfuly unhelpful, in fact. Did you read why I concern myself about all this?
This is because it seems that most people who have voted in the poll would like to read such a playthrough
@Grum : Great post!
There are lot of interesting thoughts in it, and you are right about several things, like the lack of monastery inside to Candlekeep
I've tried to sort things by grade of what are the most probably as a protagonist's class:
Most natural choices (Gorion and/or Bhaal's influence):
Easily explainable choice (Candlekeep's influence):
No true reasons to be or not be (no influence, but nothing that would make it impossible):
Far stretched (Candlekeep is a bad place to learn):
Complete non-sense (completely unrelated to Candlekeep):
For multi an dual classing choices, the class with the lower probably define the probability of the multi/dual-classing as a whole.
Ex: Even if there are things to train as a Fighter in Candlekeep, the protagonist could difficultly be a Fighter/Druid because there it's almost impossible to learn nature's ways by staying inside Candlekeep
I might be more helpful if you could clarify exactly what was so "awfuly [sic] unhelpful" about my post. See, I do really enjoy being helpful
Thanks captain obvious but that didn't make me progress a single step toward my goal.
So I think Gorion is either way more twisted than the Harper's or Elminster want to admit or the character is human, half Elven or much more remotely an elf or Halfling. If you were a thief I think you'd know as much as Imoen so I'm saying straight fighter, wizard slayer, bard or mage.
Race:
Obviously human (maybe half-elf, but it's a stretch). The game says that you are 18 years old. But that is probably just due to a design flaw in the original writing, possibly forgetting to put in a race check trigger for your age, not because the game writers intended for you, or expected you, to be only a human. If that was their intent, you wouldn't be able to be a dwarf or a halfling. However, you were raised by a human, so you obviously can't be older than him when you mature...still definitely human (maybe half elf). But, the writers could have just as easily made Gorion an elf, and that would have solved that problem easily enough. But that is probably just a writing oversight. It may not have occurred to them that charname would be in diapers if he left 20years after Gorion adopted a dwarf. The game was written, clearly, assuming for a human protagonist, and forgetting to allow room for other races in the story. NOT as intent, probably just as an oversight.
Gender:
Again, very clearly male. There is no doubt about this. All the romances were for males, the game is written in a AD&D setting and it is a video game, for crying out loud. Both of these cultures (dnd and video gaming), in the 90s, were very male dominated cultures (and probably are mostly still male, although thankfully that is changing). The romance for females in bg2 was clearly half-a**ed. Again, though, this is because the writers knew who would buy their game: guys only. It was about providing a sellable product to the largest audience, not about writing a story with a specific gender in mind. The fact that the story is written with males in mind specifically is only a by-product of intentionally selling the game to the largest audience.
Class:
Ok, first off, I have a huge gripe about this one. Saying that such and such a class (such as ranger or Druid or even barbarian) wouldn't be the canon protagonist because he doesn't have the exposure or experience to learn that class is pretty limited. Have you looked at your record screen when you start in candlekeep? It should say there, in big numbers, how much experience you have being that class. What is that experience?
Drumroll please...
0 XP
So...strangely enough, you don't have any experience outdoors as a ranger, or charming animals as a Druid, or getting mad as a barbarian. Perhaps the first time Charname, as a barbarian (immature, angry kid with adhd) ever got enraged is when you pressed the rage button: and lo and behold, it works for him. Or perhaps the first time Charname, as a ranger, (longingly staring out the window of candlekeep wishing he could go on a hike for once) ever tried to survive in the wilderness is right after Gorion died, and he finds out that he has a knack for it. Or perhaps the first time Charname, as a Druid, (vegetarian hippie dude who hates big corporations and those stupid civilized monks always writing in the library that is his cage) ever tries to cast a Druid spell is when you pressed the button, and wow, he's a natural.
There is definitely no canon class. Paladin, blackguard, Druid, even barbarian, simply because Charname has 0 XP. Choosing a class just represents Charnames natural path of developement before he even starts it.
And if you're thinking, how could Charname be a barbarian, a uncivilized, nomad who can't read, when he grew up in a library around a bunch of monks, consider this: how many adults still struggle to live in our current civilized world and can't read, after they just got out of highschool? There are hundreds of reason, and therefore hundreds of reasons why your Charname could be an angry, uneducated illiterate.
But if you want canon, there's always that guy, Abdel. I think he is a fighter class...or possibly a jerk class? One of those two, can't remember.
Next!
Alignment:
Clearly good, but again, it is a design flaw in an old gaming system where the writers and producers expected their players to always want to play the hero. They certainly did a great job, for the time, of allowing you to choose different dialogue options based on your chosen alignment. They even went so far as to allow you to choose to side with a group of vampires and murder people.
However, look at the story as a whole. Instead of teaming up with the iron throne, or even taking Sarevok's place once you learn his plans, you instead save the nation of baldurs gate and prevent a war that could have been very profitable to you, as you are the only one who knew any of the truth about it. Easy pickings for an evil, or even a nuetral, character.
BG2 is much better at playing both sides than BG1. But i still get the feeling that the writers intended for you to be good, even when I play an evil Charname. There are too many penalties for being evil that just are not realistic. There are too many rewards for playing the hero when you could have just as easily turned the situation to your profit and advantage. And nuetral solutions just don't present themselves as often as evil and good solutions. Again, this is due to an oversight based on assumptions when writing the game, not due to actual intention. I think that they did a great job for what it is.
As far as the chaotic/lawful axis is concerned, there are only a few, if any, real options to choose law vs chaos. This doesn't matter, so nuetral.
Companions:
This one I guess I can get behind. The BG1 canon party is pretty clearly based on the opening of BG2. Yoshimo is obviously supposed to be with you until you get spellhold, at which point he is replaced by Imoen. Aerie is also clearly the other option, because she is right there outside of the wreckage that you just emerged from, she becomes Minsc's witch, she has a romance conflict with Jaheira, and she was being looked after by Quayle, plus she is the most versatile caster in the game. The last person was probably intentionally left open so you could try out the different companions and find one that you like.
Summary:
My take on the canon (shudder) Charname:
Nuetral good male human unkitted fighter (boring)
Jaheira, minsc, yoshimo/Imoen, aerie + other good miscellaneous
XP 0 doesn't mean that your character had no former training. At XP 0 a mage can cast level 1 spells... and this is supposed to be something taking months of learning before someone succeed to do this.
XP 0 is the point where the training of a character reach a sufficient level for him to manifest the traits of its class. So, even if the protagonist is at XP 0 when he starts in Candlekeep, as long he -has- a class, it means he have undergo a training of sorts.
I do not feel then that it is unrealistic to say that the most natural classes for the protagonist are related to the place he have been raised in (training with mentors), and influence of his own blood (self-training using an inherited talent)
Mostly, Imoen is a perfect exemple of this: she's Thief/Mage. Which is a bit of Bhaal's influence, a bit of Gorion's influence... with, in her case, much more of Gorion than Bhaal
The most natural choices for the protagonist are for me things like that... which are on an axis between Assassin (pure son of Bhaal) and Mage (pure son of Gorion), with all the spectrum of variations between it: muti/dual between thief and mage kits, and hybrid class like shadowdancer, bards...
Abdel? I don't give a damn. I'm not seeking to reproduce a character that almost every player despite in the role of the main protagonist of BG2. I'm seeking what would feel like the most natural protagonist in the eyes of the playerbase
Yes, I know there's no Lorekeeper cleric kit in the vanilla game, but that's just because the original devs wanted to simplify the game into three basic alignment clusters for clerics. Lathander is a close enough approximation, and you can use the Divine Remix mod to have an actual cleric of Oghma kit if you choose.
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@Moonheart , I really don't think you're doing yourself any favors around these forums to snap at people who comment on your threads. We have a lot of people around here with senses of humor, and they love to joke around with each other. If you don't find their jokes funny, just ignore them.
But sometimes, you snap at people who are making genuine, sincerely thoughtful comments. @JLee was being friendly, and he did not deserve the way you treated him.
We have a "be excellent to each other" rule in this forum. I don't think you've actually crossed any lines yet that would get you in trouble with a moderator, but you're certainly not making any friends here if you keep treating people with sarcasm and rudeness.
To add, I suggested the above since it is the most generic for a fantasy setting.
Male: The fantasy genre is still male dominated, and most fantasy stories feature a male protagonist.
Human: Elves and dwarves are mystical races, so a human protagonist gives us a point of reference within the fantasy setting. Specifically in BG, the character's age would lead me to conclude that human is the best fit.
Portrait: Male Human 2 is the most generically heroic portrait, and perfect for Charname.
Class: Fighter. A fairly generic class that nonetheless allows for heroism. In BG, Charname does not appear to have any particular skill or training, but any man can pick up a sword and forge his destiny.
Alignment: Lawful Good. While evil alignments are playable, the game obviously rewards the good path, which would be the mainstream way to play the game. In addition, Lawful Good is held in higher esteem than NG or CG, since LG starts with a higher reputation.
Abilities: Generic min-maxing.
Proficiencies: Perhaps the two most generic weapons. In addition, Longswords are given a lot of love in the series as opposed to other, less traditional weapons.
While I agree with you, I think the level 1 capabilities of any class can be explained away via travelers to Candlekeep and reading books. Mage probably takes the most training to reach 0 XP, so it might actually be the toughest to imagine if not for Gorion and all the other mages around. All the other classes are easy.
Cleric: Traveling priest and/or books introduced you to a god, you built a shrine and became devout.
Druid: Same as cleric, except a nature god specifically. Maybe you built yourself a tiny little nature shrine behind some shrubs or something.
Ranger: Ranger skills at lvl 1 are pretty much fighter skills plus a terrible stealth ability. Any traveling ranger could teach you that much within Candlekeep's grounds.
Paladin: Cross the cleric story with the right god and sprinkle in some fighter training and you have a lvl 1 paladin.
The rest are pretty straightforward. Even kits that are a large stretch at the start of the game, like beast master, don't generally start with any abilities that are unbelievable. The beast master, for instance, doesn't get their animal summoning stuff until much later. Plenty of time to learn how to be a beast master on the road for that to still make sense. At the start, you're just like any other ranger with some restrictions, and your origin could be explained like any other.
Is it "be excellent to each other" to come in the thread of someone spending time to prepare a playthrough concept because other players of the forum have voted for it, and instead helping him, explain that his concept is stupid and denotes for a complete lack of comprehension of the raison d'etre of a RPG ?
... Seems so, since I'm the one spoken as being the black sheep here, with no less than 5 people agreeing with you instantly....
OK, sorry to have disturb you all with my stupid idea then. I will not anymore... and go learn about RPG instead trying to do stupid playthroughs
This makes being female highly unlikely. It also makes being a shorty unlikely as well.
The only explanation is that the "bounty giver" guy in Nashkell doesn't know anything about Greywolf, which seems unlikely from his conversation with you.
Less persuasive evidence also exists. You are considered a "young adult" at the time of leaving Candlekeep. This is shown by the way the residents treat you, as well as Gorion. Imoen also arrived shortly after you, and is a young adult human.
If you are one of the longer-lived races, you may not be quite as mature at the time. This indicates that you are likely human or half-elf. However, it is possible that "Bhaal's Essence" has changed the aging process in some way. Though some Candlekeep residents have said that you have "grown up so fast" or something along those lines, they don't seem to be out of the ordinary. It seemed more like a compliment often given to young adults by their elders.
For this reason, I think that the best fit, in the context of the actual game, is for the protagonist to be some sort of male human or maybe half-elf.
In terms of class, Gorion was your main mentor and was a mage. He was also a good man. So I also see some evidence of you being a good-aligned magic user. However, I do see the "nature vs nurture" argument where you also have the God of Murder in you, so I can see some argument for evil or neutral alignments.
I don't intend to start or continue an argument of any sort, so please forgive me if it comes across that way. From the logic of your response to my post, however, it seems that you may not have understood what I said, and in retrospect, without intending to, I may have come off as blunt or even tactless. It is the internet, after all, and you can't see my expression. Just imagine me wearing a smile instead of a frown of disapproval, and you'll be good.
Supposed to work in D&D? I am afraid I don't understand what you mean by "supposed to work". As far as I was aware, any creative reasoning is perfectly acceptable. There aren't any rules on how you think up your character's background, that I was aware of (except that he be...y'know, a character, lol).
I didn't say that 0 XP means that your character had no former training. What I did say, and mean, is that you can imagine your character to have no former training because he has 0 XP. You can also imagine your character as having 0 XP with former training. Either is fine.
This is what I meant when I indicated that you are choosing to limit yourself with this paradigm. But you, and anyone else, can also choose to view that your character is a natural in his chosen path before he even gets there. You can say Charname had formal training as a Paladin before started... or you can say that Charname received "the call" and just took it upon himself to learn as he goes. Proficiency points in weapons can be viewed as a kid simply having a natural knack with a certain weapons; they can also be viewed as you choose, which is formal training. As he is fighting rats and dogs at level 1, with 0 XP, I see either view as perfectly reasonable. They are both perfectly valid perspectives. There is no "supposed to be this way" in AD&D.
I never said it was unreasonable. I said that the belief that a certain class wouldn't be "canon" (whatever that is) because he doesn't have previous exposure or training is very limiting (and I mean creatively limiting). You can broaden the horizons of what is "canon" or even "most natural" by thinking outside the box.
Again, this argument could just as easily work for the view that I expressed. When you leave, Imoen doesn't have the ability to cast spells, she doesn't have in-game access to a spellbook, and she certainly doesn't manifest any of Bhaal's influence. But, she suddenly gains a spellbook and spells out of no-where when you click the dual-class button at level 7 thief. How do you explain this? You can choose to rationalize it by saying that it must be Gorion's influence. Or, you can choose to rationalize it by saying that her personality doesn't allow for paying attention to Gorion, and that she chose to just pick it up on her own, and, if anything, learned more from watching other Mages try to kill her than she ever did from being around a studious shut-in.
That is fine. You can certainly choose to view the most natural choices in that light. My point to you, however, is that any view can be considered natural depending on how you choose to creatively rationalize it, and that certain classes are not a stretch at all. They are only a stretch within your current adopted creative paradigm.
Many people here seems to have understood from your post that you are searching for what would be considered the most canon playthrough. Much as most of us puke at it, canon is Abdel Adrian, because he was christened by WoTC (yech), and Baldur's Gate is under joint ownership with WoTC.
As far as what would be considered the most natural protagonist playthrough in the eyes of the player, you have obviously seen that it is very subjective. As @JLee said,
You then said that @JLee was very unhelpful, then called him/her captain obvious. Then a little bit of flame followed between you two, fine, whatever, this is the internet. But then you snapped at @BelgarathMTH for pointing out your rudeness:
I didn't read @JLee calling your concept stupid, or failing to offer his/her help, and it seems to me that he/she comprehended what you are trying to do fine, but just disagrees with you...because what you are trying to do is completely subjective based on another person's perception. Which is the point of this, and my previous post.
You're not the black sheep just because you have a perception of what defines a character as natural that is different from someone else's. But don't be upset or hurt with others because their perception is different than your own. That is just going to make you unnecessarily unhappy.
By the way, this is a game! It's supposed to be fun to talk on the forums. I get the feeling from what I perceive to be your passive aggressive reaction that you're not having fun. So make your playthrough, I would like to read it, and I'm sure others would, too. I have enjoyed many of your previous posts in other threads, and your insight into FR lore has always been fun to read, and insightful. I just don't agree with you that there even is a "most natural" Charname, because what is most natural to you is different from almost anyone else. I consider Rangers to be the "most natural," and you clearly don't. That is ok.