Hephernaan (heavy spoilers)

simples

I really wish he was more fleshed out.. he reminded me of brother what's his name in IWD (which I suppose is fitting, since you end up fighting Belhifet again) who was one of my favourite characters due to how sinister he seemed.

What I didn't really like is how little you learn about his motives and how a lot of things you do don't really seem to affect him in-game.
The necromantic circle under the river caves, for example. All signs point to Hephernaan raising an undead army, you foil his plans, but this doesn't really seem to have any consequences. You DO get one dialogue option during (I think) the parley, but it doesn't really affect anything.
Also, the goal of the undead army wasn't explained.. and later you find out he wanted to release an army of demons on the Sword Coast.

I mean, his motives seem very shady and the only vibe I got was the typical "evil bastard" who wanted to sow chaos. Admittedly, he did make an agreement with a demon, so there must have been something behind it, but what?

Now a short disclaimer: I played the last two chapters while ill and tired, so I might have just skimmed a lot of text and things might not have registered with me....
Anyway, fill me in if I'm wrong!

Edit: slightly relevant right?

Survivor

I agree. I had the feeling that everything I learned about Hephernaan was ultimately of little consequence. I would have loved to convince Caelar to re-evaluate how trustworthy Hephernaan is.

You couldn't even convince Not-Dynaheir and Not-Minsc that there is something evil lurking in the Crusade.

simples

Survivor said:

You couldn't even convince Not-Dynaheir and Not-Minsc that there is something evil lurking in the Crusade.

Yes you could:

Expose the necromantic circle, check the chest for a scroll. It has some sort of undead summoning ritual on it iirc.
Funny thing is (maybe inconsistent) that the glass bottle the dragon's soul was kept in was explained through a letter in Hephernaan's chambers. This seems inconsistent considering how railroaded the rest of the game is.

Survivor

simples said:

Survivor said:

You couldn't even convince Not-Dynaheir and Not-Minsc that there is something evil lurking in the Crusade.

Yes you could:

Expose the necromantic circle, check the chest for a scroll. It has some sort of undead summoning ritual on it iirc.
Funny thing is (maybe inconsistent) that the glass bottle the dragon's soul was kept in was explained through a letter in Hephernaan's chambers. This seems inconsistent considering how railroaded the rest of the game is.

I showed this to them, but they were still not convinced despite me being a Paladin with 20 reputation and a Charisma of 23...

Diogenes42

Who could mistrust this face friends?

simples

Survivor said:

I showed this to them, but they were still not convinced despite me being a Paladin with 20 reputation and a Charisma of 23...

Then I might be wrong, but I think that's what did it for me. The dialogue you get isn't that great though: "Hey we exposed the bad guys, check out what they're doing!" "Ugh they can't really, I don't believe you, also it's not that bad!" "Yeah it is, look at the scroll!" "Ok you're right, kthxbye"

Survivor

He doesn't even have pupils, he must be trustworthy!

simples

He looks like one of those sleazy "pick-up artists"

Survivor

simples said:

Survivor said:

I showed this to them, but they were still not convinced despite me being a Paladin with 20 reputation and a Charisma of 23...

Then I might be wrong, but I think that's what did it for me. The dialogue you get isn't that great though: "Hey we exposed the bad guys, check out what they're doing!" "Ugh they can't really, I don't believe you, also it's not that bad!" "Yeah it is, look at the scroll!" "Ok you're right, kthxbye"

Maybe I just missed that dialogue option or it did not show for some reason. In any case, thank you for pointing that out, was really dissapointed there.

DetectiveMittens

To me, Hephernaan looks like he missed the audition cast-call for Lucius Malfoy.

simples

I feel like we should stop making fun of the portrait, because, if memory serves, all the portraits were (are?) based on developers and their friends...

Also I'd like to hear some feedback on my post

Azzara

Diogenes42 said:

Who could mistrust this face friends?

simples

Okay, you just blew my mind

Diogenes42

An intriguing connection friend.

Survivor

I'm all for dark humour, but some might consider that joke to be too much, @Diogenes42

Diogenes42

Survivor said:

I'm all for dark humour, but some might consider that joke to be too much, @Diogenes42

Good point friend. I've changed my post, thank you for restoring my sanity.

Mortianna

His avatar is the same as Brother Poquelin's in IWD, but with different colors. Having played IWD, it was pretty obvious (along with his portrait and name) that he was a Baatezu. I thought he might be a Harvester Devil, which is somewhat like an Erinyes in that their purpose is to corrupt mortals on the Prime Material Plane. It too bad they didn't flesh out his character enough. We don't even find out his true form in the final battle on Avernus.

GrimLefourbe

@Mortianna no S in spoiler tags

Inconnu

Mortianna said:

His avatar is the same as Brother Poquelin's in IWD, but with different colors. Having played IWD, it was pretty obvious (along with his portrait and name) that he was a Baatezu. I thought he might be a Harvester Devil, which is somewhat like an Erinyes in that their purpose is to corrupt mortals on the Prime Material Plane. It too bad they didn't flesh out his character enough. We don't even find out his true form in the final battle on Avernus.

Doesn't he turn into an abishai-type devil in the final battle if you side with Caelar?

Mortianna

@Inconnu

I didn't choose to side with her, so I wouldn't know. That would explain things a little better, however.

helmo1977

I also feel Hephernaan is a bit wasted as character. It had a lot of potential, imho, but, in the end, all he does is nothing (no expalnation of him or his agenda) but being another guys lapdog. The story lacks a lot of explanations. There seems to be almost no background about why Hephernaan is in the Prime and nobody detects he is a devil (I think a Truesight woudl detect it, and, after years with the SL, nobody has ever cast a Truesight while he was present?). Why the SL takes Hephernaans advice so quickly, why the hooded man has conversations with him or his superiors (and what is the whole pourpouse of those conversations). Only in the end you get to know that some powerful devil wants CHARNAME. But you dont get to know why. You dont get to know what are the Accord or the Hooded Man motives. The cutscenes are nice, but arent explained well at the begining or at the end of the game. There are holes in the story. Big ones, imho, which require explanation.

illathid

helmo1977 said:

I also feel Hephernaan is a bit wasted as character. It had a lot of potential, imho, but, in the end, all he does is nothing (no expalnation of him or his agenda) but being another guys lapdog. The story lacks a lot of explanations. There seems to be almost no background about why Hephernaan is in the Prime and nobody detects he is a devil (I think a Truesight woudl detect it, and, after years with the SL, nobody has ever cast a Truesight while he was present?). Why the SL takes Hephernaans advice so quickly, why the hooded man has conversations with him or his superiors (and what is the whole pourpouse of those conversations). Only in the end you get to know that some powerful devil wants CHARNAME. But you dont get to know why. You dont get to know what are the Accord or the Hooded Man motives. The cutscenes are nice, but arent explained well at the begining or at the end of the game. There are holes in the story. Big ones, imho, which require explanation.

You do get to know why: They needed your god's blood to open the portal Avernus so that Belhifet can enter the prime once again.

namelesstwo

Can you please edit the OP with spoiler tags? The first paragraph is not a "maybe spoiler" but rather "mother of all spoilers". It kind of ruined my surprise towards the final battle.

MasterAeschylus

I had all the items and she didn't believe me, i ended up making her bezerker kill her and leave. Gave me a two handed sword.

helmo1977

illathid said:

helmo1977 said:

I also feel Hephernaan is a bit wasted as character. It had a lot of potential, imho, but, in the end, all he does is nothing (no expalnation of him or his agenda) but being another guys lapdog. The story lacks a lot of explanations. There seems to be almost no background about why Hephernaan is in the Prime and nobody detects he is a devil (I think a Truesight woudl detect it, and, after years with the SL, nobody has ever cast a Truesight while he was present?). Why the SL takes Hephernaans advice so quickly, why the hooded man has conversations with him or his superiors (and what is the whole pourpouse of those conversations). Only in the end you get to know that some powerful devil wants CHARNAME. But you dont get to know why. You dont get to know what are the Accord or the Hooded Man motives. The cutscenes are nice, but arent explained well at the begining or at the end of the game. There are holes in the story. Big ones, imho, which require explanation.

You do get to know why: They needed your god's blood to open the portal Avernus so that Belhifet can enter the prime once again.

That was the reason Hephernaan wanted you, but in a letter in the Avernus there is one in the Accord that said he wanted you (I assume he wanted you for something different that opening the Avernus, as opening Hell is something every devil wanted. That particular Prince seemed to want you for something specific, because there was a conversation about the Hooded Man also wanting you, and the Prince was very keen on putting his/her claws on you)

Ps. On a different note, I think there can be a way for Haphernaan not being detected even if somebody uses Truesight. A possesion spell (magic jar, i think it was called in d&d) would allow the devil Haphernaan is to be undetected. I think. I found a note in Haphernaans room about magic jar. I assumed it was referring to the dragon in the underground river, but now I think it might be referring to Hepharnaan.

illathid

helmo1977 said:

illathid said:

helmo1977 said:

I also feel Hephernaan is a bit wasted as character. It had a lot of potential, imho, but, in the end, all he does is nothing (no expalnation of him or his agenda) but being another guys lapdog. The story lacks a lot of explanations. There seems to be almost no background about why Hephernaan is in the Prime and nobody detects he is a devil (I think a Truesight woudl detect it, and, after years with the SL, nobody has ever cast a Truesight while he was present?). Why the SL takes Hephernaans advice so quickly, why the hooded man has conversations with him or his superiors (and what is the whole pourpouse of those conversations). Only in the end you get to know that some powerful devil wants CHARNAME. But you dont get to know why. You dont get to know what are the Accord or the Hooded Man motives. The cutscenes are nice, but arent explained well at the begining or at the end of the game. There are holes in the story. Big ones, imho, which require explanation.

You do get to know why: They needed your god's blood to open the portal Avernus so that Belhifet can enter the prime once again.

That was the reason Hephernaan wanted you, but in a letter in the Avernus there is one in the Accord that said he wanted you (I assume he wanted you for something different that opening the Avernus, as opening Hell is something every devil wanted. That particular Prince seemed to want you for something specific, because there was a conversation about the Hooded Man also wanting you, and the Prince was very keen on putting his/her claws on you)

Ps. On a different note, I think there can be a way for Haphernaan not being detected even if somebody uses Truesight. A possesion spell (magic jar, i think it was called in d&d) would allow the devil Haphernaan is to be undetected. I think. I found a note in Haphernaans room about magic jar. I assumed it was referring to the dragon in the underground river, but now I think it might be referring to Hepharnaan.

I know the letter you're talking about and I think you're reading too much into it.

simples

I think the letter was definitely about the dragon spirit, but I like the way you think

Wise_Grimwald

Can anyone shed any light on this screenshot.
I suppose that it could be just a bug since there is another problem with the dialogue there.

JuliusBorisov

@Wise_Grimwald It means your BGEE strings got messed up because you used mods (changed the contents of the override folder) and then didn't delete all the files fully, or didn't use mod merge.

It doesn't have any connection to Hephernaan, it's just the one of many wrong strings for you.

The best way is to uninstall all mods, to clear the override folder, then to install mod merge (if you use the Steam or GoG version), then to install all mods again.

ThacoBell

MasterAeschylus said:

I had all the items and she didn't believe me, i ended up making her bezerker kill her and leave. Gave me a two handed sword.

You need to encourage the berserker to support and protect his witch. If you keep him hopeful, he helps convince her to abandon the crusade.

Objulen

The entire party can also watch him get in an argument with Irenicus over the Bhaal spawn, including spilling his guts about the Umbral Alliance and the hooded figure spelling out Heph's allegiance to a fiend, but that doesn't affect anything either