Vall's personal journal: the Baldur's Gate saga through the eyes of a Blade Bard
Lagonero
Member Posts: 56
Hello everyone!
As you can see by the title, I'll use this thread to post a sort of diary fom the point of view of Vall the bard, the charater I'm using to run through the BG saga. The entries will contain Vall's recollection about the events he'll go through, his reactions and thoughts about people he'll encounters and the places he'll visit.
A bit of a background about my experience with the games so far :
The set-up I'm gonna use to play is a moderately modded installation with EET as a base, which I managed to get up and running thanks to the amazing help and suggestions I got here in the forums : https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/81194/eet-and-other-mods-for-an-almost-new-and-confused-player/p2
A list of mods I'm using (I'll simply copy paste @Caedwyr list from the thread, since that's pretty much what I ended up using, with a few exceptions due to errors during installation) :
On top of this, I added LEUI and EEUI Tweaks.
I also got the green-light to post this thread here in general, at least to start with, by @JuliusBorisov
A couple of things before I move on to the actual entry:
- This series of will contain spoilers for the whole BG saga.
- I won't try to min max everything, in favour of role-playing.
- Feedback, tips and suggestions are very welcomed, just try avoid spoilers about stuff that I still have not encountered! (I am going blind into most of this, after all).
- The journal entries will be entirely in-character (except for the introduction), but I might add some comments from me, the player, from time to time,
- English is not my native language, although I think I am fluent enough to make this enjoyable. Just be warned you might encounter some grammatical errors or repetitions of words, I will try to avoid them as much as I can.
With this out of the way, let's get a quick rundown on the protagonist of this journey: Vall the Bard.
Vall's Journal - Entry 0
Who is Vall Galanodiel?
Vall is a Half-Elf of about 20 years of age, with unremarkable appereances: with brown hair, dark eyes, not particularly tall, his elven lineage appears to be quite distant, with the human lineage being the dominat one, both in looks and attitude. He grew up in Candlekeep, a fortress-like small city built around one of the greatest libraries of all Faerûn, under the guide and protection of his foster father Gorion, a skilled monk and powerful spellcaster. Now the stern and wise elder at Candlekeep, Gorion had his fair share of adventures in his youth, and was (and still is) quite proficient with the harp. Despite a portion of Candlekeep's residents' disapproval of Vall's presence at the keep, Gorion made his priority to give the boy a thorough education on all sorts of subjects, and valuable life lessons, on top of solid basic training with the sword and bow.
The chances to leave the keep were scarce throughout the years, with only the occasional short trip to the Friendly Arm Inn and back. Growing up, Vall bonded mostly with Alec, an initiate of Oghma, and Imoen, foster daughter to Winthrop, the innkeeper. During his formation years, Vall was drawn to the music arts and managed to convince Gorion to secretly teach him what he knew about playing the lute. He also spent long afternoons at the library, nose deep in books and scrolls about legends of the past, stories and ballads written on the feats of heroes and adventurers, dreaming that he too, one day, could embark on such quests.
The life at Candlekeep had been pretty uneventful, with the exception of one summer night , when Vall was 16. The boy had recently started studying the theory of the arcane arts, and during his private time inside the library, he came across a spell of Find Familiar. Despite the prohibition to practice magic inside the library, Vall prepared the ritual for the spell, and with great effort he invoked a spirit from the ethereal plane in the form of a female fairy dragon. The first to find out was Gorion himself, which despite his first instinct to punish the boy for breaking a very important rule, decided to let him keep the familiar under the condition that he would be very discreete about it. So Vall was forced to keep Smudge the fairy dragon inside his pocket plane most of the time, only sharing its existence with Alec and Imoen when no one was looking. And so Vall's ealy years were comfortable and safe inside the keep, alternating long nights at the inn playing the lute and drinking , with periods of studying and practicing, without too many worries about the future and what was to come. The identity of his real parents, or their fate, remains a mistery.
A few comments on numbers and stats at character creation:
I'll post the true first entry soon, about Vall's relaxed life coming to an abrupt end , leaving the way to an adventurous life or epic propotions.
Hope you liked this first entry, albeit a bit special, and if you have questions (regarding Vall, the mod set up, and such) I'll gladly answer.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated
Also, I wish you a happy new year
As you can see by the title, I'll use this thread to post a sort of diary fom the point of view of Vall the bard, the charater I'm using to run through the BG saga. The entries will contain Vall's recollection about the events he'll go through, his reactions and thoughts about people he'll encounters and the places he'll visit.
A bit of a background about my experience with the games so far :
I played through Baldur's Gate 1 EE for the first time earlier this year in march, and I loved it. Unortunately at that time IRL got in the way, but now I'm set on playing through the whole saga with one character.
This means I'll go blind into a good portion of BG1 (had to rush through the end chapters because I was so invested in the main plot), and completely blind into SoD and BG2. My preferred way to play this type of games is to try to role-play as much as possible, and that's why I got the idea to do make this thread. It's also a nice and interesting way for myself to keep track of what's going on in the game if I have to take a longer break.
This means I'll go blind into a good portion of BG1 (had to rush through the end chapters because I was so invested in the main plot), and completely blind into SoD and BG2. My preferred way to play this type of games is to try to role-play as much as possible, and that's why I got the idea to do make this thread. It's also a nice and interesting way for myself to keep track of what's going on in the game if I have to take a longer break.
The set-up I'm gonna use to play is a moderately modded installation with EET as a base, which I managed to get up and running thanks to the amazing help and suggestions I got here in the forums : https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/81194/eet-and-other-mods-for-an-almost-new-and-confused-player/p2
A list of mods I'm using (I'll simply copy paste @Caedwyr list from the thread, since that's pretty much what I ended up using, with a few exceptions due to errors during installation) :
Install to the BG1 game in the following order
- DLCMerger - "Merge DLC into game -> Siege of Dragonspear"
- Baldur's Gate 1 - Unfinished Business
- Ice Island Level Two Restoration
- Scar and the Sashenstar's Daughter
- Quonigar, the Cleric
- Shilo Chen and the Ogre-Magi
- Edie, the Merchant League Applicant
- Creature Corrections
- Creature Restorations
- Creature Name Restorations
- Minor Dialogue Restorations
- Store, Tavern, and Inn Fixes and Restorations
- Item Corrections and Restorations
- Duke Eltan in the Harbor Master's Building
- Nim Furlwing Encounter
- Svlast, the Fallen Paladin Encounter
- Mal-Kalen the Ulcaster Ghost
- Chapter 6 Dialogue Restorations
- BG1 NPC Music
- Install all Audio
- Coran's BG Friendship (this may not be compatible with Project Infinity, skip in that case)
- Garrick's Infatuation (this may not be compatible with Project Infinity, skip in that case)
- 1 hour dialogue delay
- Neera Expansion
- Neera Expansion
- 1.5 hours between talks
- Make Neera Romanceable by women (or skip, this was to provide variety for my bookclub)
- Make Rasaad Romanceable by men (or skip, this was to provide variety for my bookclub)
- White as Bones NPC
- [url="https://downloads.weaselmods.net/download/verrsza-bg1ee/]Verr'Sza - the rakshasa NPC for BG1EE[/url]
- Drake NPC for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (note that some components don't show in Project Infinity, skip if you are worried)
- Shar-Teel NPC Mod (backup link)
- BGEE Classic Movies (I chose Restore BG1 Movies to BG:EE - Add missing movies & Restore BG1 Chapter and Dream Screens)
Some of the excellent mods I've left out because of minor issues I've encountered in my game
Sirene NPC - This had some random wilderness comment lines use of some of Tenya's lines instead of what was originally written. I'm not sure if this was an issue with this mod or Tenya, so I'm leaving it off your list.
Tenya Thermidor - I've modded the couple of overpowered items to be limited charge items instead of daily use items in my install. This had the aforementioned issues with Sirene and maybe other mods.
Install to the BG2 Game in the following order
- SoD to BG2EE Item Upgrade
- Main Component
- Voidhammer +3 or Voidsword +3 depending on if you plan on using swords or hammers
- Change Cromwell's equipment to be more in-line with his forging skills
- EET core (resource importation)
- This is where I install my UI mods, note that this can cause issues with some text not displaying depending on which mods you have installed. For a safe approach, leave these out for your first time or put them towards the end of your install order.
- High Quality Soundclips for BG2EE Extended Content
- Druid Grove Area Visual Makeover - modifies the area graphics to make the grove look more druidic and less bunker-like.
- Quest Mods
- Northern Tales of the Sword Coast (NTotSC) for BGT-Weidu, BG:EE, and EET
- Main component
- Spawn less monsters depending on game difficulty
- Keelor the dwarf
- Llindellyn's Lucky Arrow
- Pilar and Gheldehar
- Fighting Encounters
- Ascension
- Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal
- Balthazar can be redeemed
- Improved Saverok-Player interactions
- Improved Imoen-Player interactions in Throne of Bhaal
- Improved Slayer Transformation
- Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs - Alternate epilogues by Shawne
- Tougher Abazigal
- Tougher Balthazar
- Tougher Demogorgon
- Tougher Illasera
- Tougher Yaga-Shura
- Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by Shawne
- Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW
- Almateria's Restoration Project
- Restored Locations
- Restored Characters and Dialogs
- Restored Sounds
- Restored Items
- Restored Wish Options
- Lich Deril
- Minor Restorations
- Restored Final Slayer Dream
- Restored Waukeen's Promenade Cutscene
- Baldur's Gate Mini Quests & Encounters
- Slime Quest
- Beregost Family Quest
- Babysitting Quest, including the Carnival Encounter...
- Nashkel Monster Quest
- Fallen Paladin Quest
- Undying Love Quest (note there's one item with some leftover's from the translation, but it isn't a huge dealbreaker for me)
- Lovesick Half-Orc
- Unexpected Help Quest
- Many Little Paws
- Drunk near Beregost Temple
- A Warm Place for Noober
- Brage's Sword
- Legal Sea Charts Sources
- Additions to the Lady's Hall and the Bitch Queen's Temple
- A Worried Farmer
- Bodies for a Good Cause
- Finish Cordyr's Quest without killing Sil
- Ascalon's Questpack
- Shades of the Sword Coast - A new mod by a very talented mod author. Keep an eye out for updates until the last minute before you do your install, since this was just released and may get some updates. Skip if you are worried about bugs since it is a brand new release.
- Balduran's Seatower - Another newly released mod by a talented group of modders. Adds another area to the city of Baldur's Gate. May be buggy and have some slightly non-native English phrasing in parts. Check for updates and skip if you want to wait for the more polished version if there isn't one when you get around to doing your install.
- Endless BG1
- Main Component
- More Flavor to Hero of Baldur's Gate
- Short Public Hero Tribute
- Sarevok's Unique Items
- Sarevok's Sword
- Imoen and Duke Jannath
- Duke Eltan is in the Palace
- Flaming Fist After Final Fight
- Elminster Makes an Appearance - Restored BG1 text
- First Refugees Come to Baldur's Gate
- Ophyllis the Treasurer is Inside Palace Dungeon
- Denkod in Thieves Guild Comments on Sarevok's Death
- Skip Thieves' Maze Once After Sarevok's Death
- Baldur's Gate Romantic Encounters - I've gone and installed all components and just skip the steamier stuff (or not) depending on taste, but this adds a lot of very good interactions and dialogues that at a lot of flavour to the world.
- Main Component - BG-style Version [adult content] - show all components
- Bardolan's Briefing
- Scar's Spare Time
- Kim's Preoccupation
- Extension of Bjornin Encounter
- No Starch in the Maypole
- Duke Eltan's Spare Minute
- Husam's Personal Preparation
- Laurel's Post-Hunting
- Bartus' Seduction
- Lina's Massage
- First Night with Quentin
- Chatting Niklos Up
- Slythe and Krystin
- No Regrets
- Purchased Love
- Hull: Heavy Duty
- Late Night with Jaheira
- Sil's Blessing
- Melicamp
- Reading with Rinnie
- Molly the Husband-Grabber
- The Mourning of Centeol, the Spider Lady
- The Essential End
- The Harvestmen Lair
- The Great Zudini
- The Messenger
- Ender Sai, the Hero's Reward
- The Novelists
- The Honest Lies of Two Riversides
- Necromancer's Trouble
- Dinner with Thalantyr
- Girdle of Gender Reactions
- The Surgeon's Dream
- All that Left Was
- A Childhood Friend
- Arlene the Working Girl
- Della May from Thay
- A Dirty Guard in Candlekeep
- Phoenix Flame
- Mikala the Monk
- The Messenger 2: Rain or Snow or Gloom of Night
- Camryn and Tamah
- Minor Disclosures
- Cloakwood Lovers
- The Lure of the Sirines Call
- Main Component
- Extended Lighthouse Area
- Unfinished Business
- The Kidnapping of Boo by Cliffette
- The Suna Seni/Valygar Relationship
- Kalah and What he was promised
- Gorje Hilldark and the Extended Illitium Quest
- The Pai'Na/Spider's Bane Quest
- Restored Crooked Crane Inn
- Restored Encounters
- Artemis Enteri in Bodhi's Lair
- Corrected Xzar's Creations
- Restored Hell Minions
- Item Restorations
- Corrected Character Names and Biographies
- Restored Minor Dialogs
- Extended ToB Item Descriptions
- Throne of Bhaal Minor Restorations
- Sarevok's Remorse
- The Murder of Acton Balthis
- Adalon's Blood
- The Gibberlings 3 Anniversary Mod - This may be a bit silly for your tastes. Check out the readme. I thought it fit just fine into some of the other kind of silly stuff in BG1 and BG2, but personal tastes will vary.
- Ooze's Lounge
- Southern Edge
- Innershade - Don't patch the existing games
- I Shall Never Forget - Don't patch the existing games
- Tales of the Deep Gardens - Don't patch the existing games
- Tangled Oak Isle - Don't patch the existing games
- Assassinations - There are some concerns that this gives too much xp, but I am adjusting XP gains elsewhere so combat gives a lot less XP.
- Dungeon Crawl - This one can come across as being a bit silly as well. Check readme to see if it is to your taste.
- Eilistraee's Song - Don't patch the existing games
- Every Mod and a Dog - A collection of small vingettes, weird and odd in the style of some of the ones in BG1 but for BG2. Tastes may vary.
- A Z-rated adventure
- The Promise of a Troll
- A Bhaalspawn's Best Friend
- Under Her Spell
- Character Medley
- Fading Promises
- Hidden Adventures
- Lady Elgea's Extended Plot
- Anomen's Extended Plot
- Jerlia's Ore Shop
- Elven Holy Water in the Temple of Lathander
- Wave Blade in Treasury
- Silver Dagger in Irenicus Dungeon
- Bards can Spend the Night at their Stronghold
- A Bard for the Bard Stronghold
- Silver Sword
- A Tunnel for Saradush
- Temple of Mask in Docks District
- Lucy the Wyvern
- Questpack - SimDing0's questpack was written for an older version of Weidu. To make things run smoothly, rename the following files. Setup-d0questpack.exe ----> Setup-questpack.exe, Setup-d0questpack.tp2 ----> Setup-questpack.tp2
- General AI Improvements
- Creature & Area Improvements -> All Creature & Area Improvements
- Miscellaneous Enhancements -> With Additional Random Encounters
- Additional Shadow Thieves Content
- Alternative Harper/Xzar Plot
- Extended Reynald Sequence
- Intrigue In The Copper Coronet
- Rahul Kanakia's Potion Quest
- Revised Hell Trials
- Improved Oasis II -> IO2 Dialogue & Combat Enhancement
- Saving Sanik In Brynnlaw
- Burglary Of The Bookkeeper
- New Fate For The Dryads' Acorns
- The Tragedy Of Besamen
- Further Slaver Involvement
- Sending The Solamnic Knights Home
- Nazariel The Lich
- Reward Negotiation
- Infernal Thievery
- Alternatives
- Reunion
- BG2 Romantic Encounters - I skipped a few in here because of conflicts with the Coran BG2 mod and the Valygar Romance
- Aerie, Anomen, Jaheira and Viconia React to Romantic Encounters
- Storms and Lightning, by berelinde (Weathermistress Ada, adult content)
- Aimi's Magic, by berelinde (adult content)
- Anishai's Deft Hands, by cmorgan
- An Evening with Aran, by Kulyok
- Bjornin's Desire, by jastey (adult content)
- Bodhi's Allure, by Kulyok (adult content)
- Trademeet with Guildmistress Busya, by magrat
- The Gambling Cambion, by Kulyok
- Chanelle's Gifts, by cmorgan (adult content)
- Cyric's Test, by Kulyok
- A Tryst with a Pirate Lord, by Kulyok (Desharik, adult content)
- A Lonely Dryad, by Kulyok (adult content)
- Edwin's Softer Side, by Kulyok
- Eldoth' Exploits, by Kulyok
- Elhan's Expansion, by Kulyok
- Firkraag's Unsheathed Sword
- Gaelan's Contract, by Evaine Dian
- A Walk with Garren Windspear, by Kulyok
- Enter Haer'Dalis, by Kulyok
- Hendak's Heart, by jastey
- Ilona, a Merchant's Daughter, by Kulyok
- Jarlaxle's Fascinations, by Catseye
- A Night with Lais in Imnesvale, by Kulyok
- Laran's Promise, by berelinde (adult content)
- The Love Song of Logan, Lord Coprith, by Ajnos
- Mekrath and Nymphology, by Kulyok
- Mira's Special Stock, by berelinde
- Noober Returns, by cmorgan
- Rebecca the Gypsy, by Kulyok
- Renal Bloodscalp: A Dangerous Affair, by cmorgan (adult content)
- Old Ribald's Speciality, by Evaine Dian
- Sir Ryan Trawl, by Kulyok
- Saemon, a Pirate, by Kulyok (adult content)
- Dreaming of Sendai, by Kulyok
- Sheri the Bardess, by cmorgan (adult content)
- Solaufein in the Lust Chambers, by jastey
- Phaere's Reward, by berelinde (Talak, pleasure slave, adult content)
- Spell Research with Teos, by Kulyok
- A fling with Yoshimo, by Kulyok
- Isabelle's Fears, by gertjanvh (adult content)
- Anne's Rescue, by gertjanvh (adult content)
- The Queen, by Domi
- Rehearsal with Chandra, by Western Paladin
- Goldander Blackenrock: After a Party, by magrat
- A Chat with Viekang, by magrat
- Bravery or Folly? by Aeryn (Sarevok, adult content)
- Blame the Moon, by Aeryn (Cernd)
- Cernick's Confession, by Cal Jones
- Minsc. Takes. A Bath, by Thimblerig
- Nizidramanii'yt's Vanity, by Thimblerig
- Date Night, by SisterVigilante
- Shards of Ice - Some more small encounters and odd things for the party to run into. Tastes may vary
- The Price Of Friendship
- Some of My Best Friends Are Slimes
- The Minotaur and Lilacor
- Back to Brynnlaw
- Sellswords
- Turnabout
- NPC Mods, Bioware Expansions First, then BG1 continuations, then custom NPCs
- NPC Tweak
- Anomen
- Nalia
- Chatty Imoen
- Expanded Character Sounds
- Add NPC Interactions
- BG1 NPC Project
- Required Modifications
- Banters, Quests, and Interjections
- Ajantis Romance Core (teen content) -> Speed: 1 hour real time (standard) minimum between LoveTalks
- Branwen's Romance Core (teen content) -> Speed: 1 hour real time (standard) minimum between LoveTalks
- Coran's Romance Core (adult content) -> Speed: 1 hour real time (standard) minimum between LoveTalks
- Dynaheir's Romance Core (teen content) -> Speed: 1 hour real time (standard) minimum between LoveTalks
- Shar-Teel Relationship Core (adult content) -> Speed: 1 hour real time (standard) minimum between LoveTalks
- Xan's Romance Core (teen content) -> Speed: 1 hour real time (standard) minimum between LoveTalks
- Female Romance Challenges, Ajantis vs Xan vs Coran
- Banter Timing: Normal (about 27 minutes between banter dialogs)
- Bardic Reputation Adjustment
- Sarevok's Diary Adjustments -> SixofSpades Extended Sarevok's Diary
- Player-Initiated Dialogues
- Ajantis BG1
- Installs Ajantis BG1 Expansion Modification
- Install the unique BG:EE BAM for Ajantis' Family Shield
- Jaheira Recast - Use BG1+BG2 Character Sounds
- Neera Banters
- Dialogue Banters and Interjections
- Interaction Banters
- Xan for BG1 Friendship Path
- Banter Pack
- Pocket Plane Banter Pack for BG2: Shadows of Amn
- Pocket Plane Banter Pack for BG2: Throne of Bhaal
- IEP Extended Banters
- Extended NPC-NPC Interaction SoA
- Extended Minsc/Aerie Interaction ToB
- Imoen "Retrospection" dialogue for BGII: ToB
- Wake-Up dialogue for Anomen Romance (By David Gaider with additions from Kulyok)
- NPC Conflict Revisions
- Restored Aerie/Jaheira/Anomen interjection in Underdark
- Install Banter Accelerator? How much time would you like in between NPC banters in-game? -> 30 Minutes
- Cernd Friendship
- Mazzy Friendship - There's also a mod called "All Things Mazzy" but it is quite the NPC mega-mod with a lot of changes to a lot of the bioware characters. Some that I like, and others that I'm not a fan of. I'll probably do a full playthrough later on with just it installed, but for maximum compatibility (conceptual) I stayed away from it this time.
- Minsc Friendship
- Dorn Romance
- Valygar Friendship
- Corthala Romantique
- Corthala Romantique - Main Valygar Romance
- Corthala Romantique - Bathing scene
- Install Leonora Content: A Guard for the Sphere
- Haer'Dalis Friendship - Sadly the Haer'Dalis romance mod currently has some bugs that caused me to stay away.
- Imoen Friendship - There's a NPC mega mod called Imoen Romance which adds a lot of content. The very old version was notorious for some questionable content, but the newer one is supposedly much better. I've gone with the Imoen Friendship mod for comptability and for a lighter take on her personality. I'll probably do a playthrough with the Imoen Romance version at some point, though I can't speak to ordering of that mod for compatibility at this time.
- Keldorn Romance
- berelinde's Keldorn Romance
- Romance Match -> Romance is available to LG/NG protagonists only (Recommended)
- Select Keldorn's dialogue timer: -> Speed (Default): minimum 30 minutes (SoA)/45 minutes (ToB) real time between dialogues
- Korgan Friendship
- Korgan's Redemption
- Sarevok Friendship
- Sarevok Romance
- Viconia Friendship
- Yoshimo Friendship
- Yoshimo Romance
- Yoshimo's Remorse
- Solaufein's Rescue
- Solaufein's Rescue: Jastey's Solaufein NPC for BGII
- Give Solaufein in Ust Natha the Mod's Portrait
- Afaaq, the Djinni Companion
- Afaaq, the Djinni Companion -> Full Version (includes quests, banters and more)
- Alternate djinni portrait by Ulb: v2.8
- Brage's Redemption
- Pai'Na NPC - Pai'Na is silent by default, but I added a voiceset here. If you want to use it, feel free to ask me how to apply this edit.
- Xan for BG2
- Xan NPC MOD for Baldur's Gate II
- Xan's Alternate Voice by Joey Bracken
- Yeslick NPC for BG2 - Fighter- Algahor of Clangeddin
- Wilson Chronicles
- Skie: The Cost of One Girl's Soul - this may result in some duplicated items, but I'm okay with that
- New quest for Baldur's Gate 2 EE
- Allow Skie to return as a joinable NPC
- Add brand new SoD-oriented items to BG2
- Tiax NPC for BG2
- Kivan of Shilmista
- Coran for BG2
- Coran NPC MOD for Baldur's Gate II
- Delete old Coran from the Forest of Tethyr (RECOMMENDED)
- The Longer Road - I haven't tested this version of the mod, but it was a cool option to have back when I first played it and it appears to have been updated by some very competent people. Make sure to use this version and not the version on BEW as that has a bunch of changes to integrate it with the BEW maintainer's mega mod.
- Branwen BG2 NPC mod
- Sir Ajantis for BG2
- Sir Ajantis NPC for BGII
- Install the unique BG(II):EE BAM for Ajantis' Family Shield
- Installation of adult romance content
- Ajantis kit choice: make Ajantis Cavalier
- Tyris Flare - May be too immersion breaking, but worked okay for me from what I've read about the mod.
- The Beaurin Legacy
- Fade NPC
- Fade: An NPC for Baldur's Gate II: SoA and ToB
- Fade NPC: reactions to Romantic Encounters (RE may be installed before or after this component)
- Fade EE: give Fade Shadowdancer kit
- Brandock the Mage
- Sirene NPC for BG2 - If you want continuity, I'd gamble on including the BG1 part way back up in the BG1 (prior to EET) section of this list. Highly rated NPC mod.
- Valerie NPC for BG1 - Doesn't have a voiceset. I added one for my game and can show you how if you'd like. Leave out if you don't want to bother with another sorcerer NPC.
- Sarah NPC
- Nephele NPC - Nephele is silent by default, but I added a voiceset . If you want to use it, feel free to ask me how to apply this edit.
- Petsy NPC
- Petsy Chattertone
- Petsy/Nephele crossmod banters
- Gahesh NPC
- Ninde NPC - Silent NPC by default. I added one using NWN voicesets. For instructions on how to copy my work, let me know if you are interested.
- Mur'Neth NPC - The reason to remove the rare select sound is that in the Enhanced Editions, it isn't as rare as it originally was when the mod was first created.
- The Mur'Neth NPC Mod
- Remove Rare selection sounds
- Iylos NPC
- Iylos NPC for BGII:ToB
- Install extended content (PID, more interjections, friendship, scenery & plot dialogues)?
- How much time would you like in between Iylos' PC dialogues? -> 30 Minutes
- Gavin BG1 NPC
- Gavin NPC for Tutu, BGT, and BG:EE
- Gavin: Romance (mature content)
- Gavin: Flirts (adult content)
- Gavin: Player Initiated Dialogue
- Gavin BG2 NPC
- Gavin for BG2
- Multi-romance cheat -> Normal romance kills - This makes the romance break if you romance multiple characters, similar to vanilla romance behaviour.
- Glam's NPC Pack
- Evandra NPC
- Evandra NPC
- Crossmod Content
- Dace NPC
- Dace Linton NPC Mod for BG2:SoA & ToB
- Install alternate portrait by Ilmatar?
- Yvette Romance
- Yvette Romance - BG2 Romance Character
- Yvette Romance - alternative class (Pure Heartwarder)
- Foundling: Between the Shades NPC - Don't patch existing save games
- Will o Wisp
- Will NPC, shaman stronghold and new shaman kit for BG2EE
- Change shaman .tlk string to remove "Ineligible for any stronghold" line
- New items for shamans and undead NPCs
- Optional: Drider and Dark Treant Enemies
- Crossmod Banters: 1.6
- Auren Asepth NPC
- Recorder NPC BG1
- Recorder NPC MoD
- Choose whether or not to have Recorder's custom soundtrack play during timed talks. -> Recorder's Music
- Recorder NPC BG2 - Just released, so keep an eye out for updates
- Helga NPC BG1
- Helga NPC BG2 - Just released, so keep an eye out for updates
- Vienxay NPC BG1
- Vienxay NPC BG2 - Just released, so keep an eye out for updates
- Kale NPC BG1
- Kale NPC for BG1EE and SoD
- Choose an alternate class for Kale? -> Warden(Fighter Kit)
- Kale NPC BG2 - Just released so keep an eye out for updates
- Artisan's Kitpack - Arcane Archer Kit - Installing this here so the next mod can use it.
- Emily NPC BG1
- Emily NPC for BG1EE
- Choose an alternate class for Emily? -> Arcane Archer (Fighter Kit)
- Choose whether or not to have Emily's custom soundtrack play during timed talks. -> Emily's Music
- Emily NPC BG2 - Just released, so keep an eye out for updates.
- Aura NPC for BG1 - Artificier Kit, BG1 default portrait. These to your taste
- Arath NPC - Silent NPC, so I added a voiceset. Let me know if you want help adding it to yours.
- Adrian NPC
- Adrian for BGII -> Adrian is a Sorcerer
- Install optional soundset for Adrian (only in English) -> Phaelin's soundset
- Crossmod content
- Isra NPC for BG1
- Isra NPC Mod for BG:EE, EET, BGT and TuTu
- Valerie/Isra crossmod content
- Gavin/Isra crossmod content
- Isra NPC for BG2
- Isra for BGII
- Isra Crossmod Content
- Kelsey NPC
- Kelsey
- Ascension-specific dialogue (Requires WeiDU Ascension, v1.4.12 or greater recommended)
- Crossmod Banter Back for BG2
- Crossmod Banter Pack for Shadows of Amn
- Crossmod Banter Pack for Throne of Bhaal
- Crossmod Romance Conflicts
- Grey the Dog - There's some non-native wordings in places (I'm working on proofreading this and they will hopefully be fixed by the time you get around to installing), but this is a cool 7th party member. CHARNAME gets their very own dog friend. I chose this instead of Haiss the Wolf mod, which also looks very well done, but I found having two powerful tank type dog/wolf following me around was unbalancing.
- NPC Flirt Packs
- Aerie Flirt Pack For SOA
- Aerie Flirt Pack For TOB
- Jaheira Flirt Pack for SOA
- Jaheira Flirt Pack for TOB
- Viconia Flirt Pack for SOA
- Viconia Flirt Pack for TOB
- Anomen Flirt Pack for SOA
- Anomen Flirt Pack for TOB
- Jastey's SoD Tweakpack
- Do Not Miss NPC-PC Dialogues -> For NPCs in Party Only
- Skip Korlasz's Dungeon - This gives an option
- More Dialogue Choices & Prevent Dead Ends
- Homeward Bound
- Homeward Bound
- Romances end due to separation -> Homeward Bound does *not* kill BioWare romances
- Portraits, Portraits, Everywhere - I modified the Hull portrait as per this post.
- Portraits Portraits Everywhere (PPE) - core component
- Category Portraits (Recommended) -> Sequenced
- Replace Low Quality TOB & SOA Portraits
- Edwin/Edwina
- Ust Natha Drow NPCs
- Vampire NPCs
- Items & Stores
- Improved Horns of Valhalla
- Weasels!
- Rogue Rebalancing - We're just installing the equipment parts at this time.
- Additional equipment for Thieves and Bards
- Upgradeable Equipment
- Song & Silence - We're just installing the item shop part at this time.
- Add new bardic store and thief items
- Bardic Wonders - We're just installing the items right now.
- Bardic Wonders: Items
- Item Upgrade
- Shadows Of Amn Item Upgrades -> Revised Version (new upgrades presented in the same style as existing upgrades)
- Throne Of Bhaal Item Upgrades -> Revised Version (new upgrades presented in the same style as existing upgrades)
- Install supplemental Cespenar audio for Item Upgrade
- Kit and Class Modifications - I recommend sticking with smaller modifications. I did a lot of work trying to get some of the larger packages to work, but they either have some edge cases or the overall quality is inconsistent. Sadly this has meant that I've avoided including all the options I might want from Might & Guile, Tome & Blood, and Faiths & Powers. Basically all of subtledoctor's mods. They are all in various forms of beta and are great for seeing what can be done with the system, but they lacked the polish I was looking for in a kit/class mod for a first-time playthrough. I've also got a lot of options here, though you may want to only use the ones that add a kit you want for your PC or an NPC. My install was meant to be robust and offer a lot of options for my bookclub.
- NPC Kitpack - Some flavorful additions to the base game NPCs for BG2.
- Improved Specialist Mage Descriptions
- Anomen Gains Helm Kit on Passing Knighthood Test
- Anomen Gains Berserker Kit on Failing Knighthood Test
- Prevent CN Anomen Gaining a Holy Symbol
- Add Red Wizard to Edwin's Kit Description
- Give Imoen Adventurer Kit - This isn't added to the BG1 version of Imoen, but I used the save game editor to give it to her. Maybe this will be fixed by the time you do your install.
- Give Mazzy a Proper Truesword of Arvoreen Kit
- Give Nalia Adventurer Kit
- Give Sarevok a Proper Deathbringer Kit
- Dreamwalker Shaman Kit
- Shadow Magic - A really cool subsystem mod. Pretty stable and put together with a high attention to detail. Just got an update.
- Shadow Magic: Main Component
- Shadow Magic: Shadow Monk monk kit
- Shadow Magic: Quests and Encounters (BG:EE)Shadow Magic: Enhanced Shade Lord (BG2:EE)
- Artisan's Kitpack - The rest of the artisan's kitpack. Another high quality mod. Some might consider these slightly more powerful than the base game kits, but they mostly boost non-magical characters at higher levels, where they need it to keep up with the casters. Makes all the classes much more interesting in my opinion, plus some nice new options.
- Artisan's Kitpack: Vanguard Fighter Kit - I gave this to Khalid
- Artisan's Kitpack: The Art of Slaughter (Berserker Rework)
- Artisan's Kitpack: Art of the Sword Saint (Kensai Rework)
- Artisan's Kitpack: Rashemi Berserker Ranger Kit for Minsc
- Artisan's Kitpack: Dark Hunter Ranger Kit
- Artisan's Kitpack: Divine Champion Paladin Kit
- Artisan's Kitpack: Mystic Fire Paladin Kit
- Artisan's Kitpack: Way of the Anti-Paladin (Blackguard Rework)
- Artisan's Kitpack: Elementalist Druid Kit
- Artisan's Kitpack: Hivemaster Druid Kit
- Artisan's Kitpack: Rogue Archer Thief Kit
- Artisan's Kitpack: Magekiller Thief Kit
- Artisan's Kitpack: Way of the Assassin (Assassin Rework) - I gave this to Montaron and Hexxt
- Artisan's Kitpack: Pale Master Sorcerer Kit
- Artisan's Kitpack: 3e-accurate Dragon Disciple -> Original Stat Bonuses - I'm playing one of these focusing entirely on melee combat and the stat gains are the only way this can be viable at lower levels as a single class sorcerer.
- Artisan's Kitpack: Warhorn Shaman Kit
- Improved Shamanic Dance - I ran into some bugs with some of the components, but these ones seemed to install just fine.
- Improved Shamanic Dance
- Expanded Shamanic Dance for high level characters
- Apply Shamanic Dance improvements to Shaman kits
- Bardic Wonders - Here is the rest of this mod.
- Bardic Wonders: Abettor of Mask Kit
- Bardic Wonders: Dancer Kit
- Bardic Wonders: Troubadour Kit
- Bardic Wonders: Deathsinger Kit
- Sword and Fist - I use the monk remix in this one because I like the changes to the monk class over the vanilla version. Your call of course.
- Monk Remix
- Install Hexblade fighter kit
- Install Duelist fighter kit
- Install Fist of Order fighter kit
- Install Duskblade fighter kit (by ronin69hof
- Divine Remix - I ended up using this instead of Faiths & Powers. It gives me some more flavorful cleric kits and is pretty stable with the options I selected. The nightcloak of share kit for viconia ended up making her a Holy Strategist of the Red Knight. A possible bug or mod conflict, so I've left it off this list here.
- Cleric Remix
- Install Silverstar of Selune Cleric Kit
- Install Nightcloak of Shar Cleric Kit
- Install Holy Strategist of the Red Knight Cleric Kit
- Install Painbearer of Ilmater Cleric Kit
- Install Firewalker of Kossuth Cleric Kit
- Install Authlim of Iyachtu Xvim Cleric Kit
- Install Lorekeeper of Oghma Cleric Kit
- Install Heartwarder of Sune Cleric Kit
- Install Feywarden of Corellon Cleric Kit
- Install Strifeleader of Cyric Cleric Kit
- Druid Remix
- Install Oozemaster Druid kit
- Install Bowslinger Ranger Kit
- Install Feralan Ranger Kit
- Install Forest Runner Ranger Kit
- Install Justifier Ranger Kit
- Install Wilderness Runner Ranger Kit
- Rogue Rebalancing - Here's where we install the rest of the parts of this mod that we are using. I'm going with Song & Silence as well, so I'm skipping some of the other modifications made by this mod.
- Proper racial adjustments for thieving skills
- Revised Thievery -> Retain default thievery potions and prevent their effects from stacking - if you want to be able to boost your thief skills super high, avoid this. I find the stacking potions to be a bit cheaty.
- Chosen of Cyric encounter - may want to skip. This is a hard fight and requires you to know how the skill and spell systems interact. Or put the game on storybook mode when you encounter this or CTRL+Y all the enemies if it causes too many problems.
- Shadow Thief Improvements - This makes the Shadow Thieves guild more challenging should you side against them.
- BG2-style icons for RR content
- Song & Silence - Here's where we install the rest of this mod.
- Changes to trueclass bards and thieves, and unmodded game kits (required for other components)
- Install Acrobat bard kit
- Install Chorister bard kit
- Install Dirgesinger bard kit
- Install Gypsy bard kit
- Install Adventurer thief kit
- Install Burglar thief kit
- Install Soulknife thief kit
- Tome & Blood
- Sorcerer: Favored Soul
- Sorcerer: Sylvan Disciple
- Sorcerer: Revenant Disciple
- Sorcerer: Amorphous Disciple
- Might & Guile
- Revised Multiclassing and Multiclass Kits
- Revised Beastmaster
- Improved Rangers
- Revised Movement Bonuses (Quickstride)
- Add the Corsair (fighter kit)
- Add the Marksman (fighter kit)
- Add the Halfling Slinger (fighter/thief kit)
- Add the Mage Hunter (ranger kit)
- Add the Gallant (bard kit)
- Tweaks - What you want is going to depend on personal taste, but be warned that this is an section where ordering will matter and incompatibilities will abound.
- Thrown Hammers
- Thrown Hammers
- Normal throwing hammers
- +1 throwing weapons
- Additional magic items
- The Tweaks Anthology - This is the big tweak mod. I've given you a pared down version of what I use, mostly adjustments to improve quality of life and the general experience.
- Change Viconia's Skin Color to Dark Blue
- Weapon Animation Tweaks
- Icon Improvements
- Force All Dialogue to Pause Game
- Fix Boo's Squeak
- Unique Icons
- Unique Containers -> Unique icons and names
- Separate Resist Fire/Cold Icon into Separate Icons (Angel)
- More Interjections
- Alter HP Triggers for NPC Wounded Dialogues
- Improved Athkatlan City Guard
- Send BioWare NPCs to an Inn (DavidW/Zed Nocear)
- Add Bags of Holding
- Exotic Item Pack
- Stores Sell Higher Stacks of Items
- Gems and Potions Require Identification -> Just potions
- Multiple Strongholds (Baldurdash) -> Keep Class Restrictions
- Allow Cromwell to Upgrade Watcher's Keep Items
- Adjust Cromwell's Forging Time -> Instant forging (original BG2 default)
- Allow Cespenar to Use Cromwell Recipes
- Change Cloakwood Mine Chapter End Change Trigger to Non-TotSC Behavior (plainab) (BETA)
- Two-Handed Bastard Swords
- Two-Handed Katanas
- Two-Handed Axes
- Universal Clubs
- Expanded Dual-Class Options
- Wear Multiple Protection Items -> Allow Armor Plus One Protection Item (Angel)
- Change Magically Created Weapons to Zero Weight
- Remove Summoning Cap for Regular Summons
- Remove Summoning Cap for Celestials (Ardanis/GeN1e)
- Alter Multiclass Restrictions -> Install options one and two (everyone can multiclass anything)
- Remove Racial Restrictions for Single Classes
- Remove Racial Restrictions for Kits
- Alter Dual-class Restrictions -> Allow non-humans to dual-class
- Druids Use 3E Alignment Restrictions
- Allow Mages to Use Bucklers and Thieves to Use Small Shields (Angel)
- Speed Up de'Arnise Keep Stronghold Quests
- Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells and No Maximum Cap
- Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking
- Increase Gem and Jewelry Stacking -> Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking
- Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking
- Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking
- Bottomless Bags (depending on how much you want to do the inventory management mini-game)
- Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at Mid-Range Reputation
- Sellable Items (Icelus)
- Taerom Makes Additional Ankheg Armor (Icendoan/grogerson)
- Recoverable ammunition -> 25% chance to recover after a successful hit
- Recoverable throwing weapons -> 75% chance to recover after a successful hit
- Give Every Class/Kit Four Weapon Slots
- Personalize automatic save names -> Use scheme: 000000000-(Protagonist)-Save-Name
- Make party members less likely to die irreversibly
- Adjust Evil joinable NPC reaction rolls
- ToB-Style NPCs
- Change Korgan to Neutral Evil
- Give Kagain A Legal Constitution Score of 19
- Give Coran A Legal Dexterity Score of 19
- Move Boo into Minsc's pack
- Allow Yeslick to use axes
- Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge
- EET Tweaks - I use this for adjustments to XP gains, since I want to control the amount of killing XP due to the number of quest mods. I probably should adjust this a bit more, though keeping the XP caps helps keep things from getting too out of control.
- XP for Traps, Spells and Lockpicking -> Disabled
- XP for killing creatures -> Decrease to 75% (next time I'd probably reduce this to 50%, though I still have to play through BG2 so my opinion may change)
- XP for quests -> Increase to 150%
- Disable hostile reaction after charm
- PnP spell scroll caster levels
- Higher framerates support
- Books/Scrolls categorization
- Wand Case
- Key Ring
- House Rules
- House Tweaks: Expanded Racial Enemies
- House Tweaks: Expanded Shapeshifting
- House Tweaks: Rebalanced Weapon Styles
- House Tweaks: Monk Can Use Quarterstaves
- House Tweaks: Increased Constitution Bonuse
- House Tweaks: Warrior HLAs
- House Tweaks: Improved Dialogues (BG:EE)
- House Tweaks: Good-Aligned Roleplay Rewards (BG2:EE)
- House Tweaks: Cloak of Dragomir only decreases stats in daylight
- House Tweaks: Race Text Patch
- EET End - This is the part where you finish off the EET install. Other mods get added on top of the EET install.
- Sword Coast Strategems - On the topic of tactical mods, pretty much everything by @DavidW slots into the difficulty system (revised and improved) and so far the other two people who are playing BG1 in my bookclub had never played the game before and aren't serious gamers, but are not having any problems. If a fight is too hard, then they just lower the difficulty. Raising the difficulty generally allows the enemies to make better use of their abilities in an intelligent way or may unlock additional abilities. In the original game, it mostly just applied a modifier to enemy or player statistics, which I've always found to be an unsatisfying approach.
- Move or modify some overpowered magic items
- Wider selection of random scrolls
- Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level)
- Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage
- Faster Bears
- More realistic wolves and wild dogs
- Increase the price of a license to practise magic in Athkatla -> License costs 30,000 gp - These two are to make the pacing of BG2 flow better in my opinion.
- Increase the price asked by Gaelan Bayle -> Gaelan wants 80,000 gold pieces
- Delay the arrival of the "bonus merchants" in the Adventurers' Mart and the Copper Coronet
- Improved textscreens in Tales of the Sword Coast
- Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components)
- Smarter general AI
- Better calls for help
- Smarter Mages
- Smarter Priests
- Potions for NPCs
- Improved Spiders
- Smarter sirines and dryads
- Slightly smarter carrion crawlers
- Smarter basilisks
- Improved golems
- Improved fiends and celestials
- Smarter genies
- Smarter dragons
- Smarter beholders
- Smarter mind flayers
- Smarter githyanki
- Improved Vampires
- Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain
- Smarter Illasera
- Smarter Gromnir
- Smarter Yaga-Shura
- Smarter Abazigal
- Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI
- Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI
- Improved doppelgangers
- Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards
- Improved deployment for parties of assassins
- Improved kobolds - This causes a lot of complaints. But I like it.
- Relocated bounty hunters
- Improved Ulcaster
- Improved Balduran's Isle
- Improved Durlag's Tower
- Improved Demon Cultists
- Improved Cloakwood Druids
- Improved Bassilus
- Improved Drasus party
- Improved Red Wizards
- Improved Undercity assassins
- Tougher chapter-two end battle
- Tougher chapter-three end battle
- Tougher chapter-four end battle
- Tougher chapter-five end battle
- Improved final battle
- Improved minor encounters
- Make the starting dungeon slightly harder
- Spellcasting Demiliches
- Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider
- Improved Random Encounters
- Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix")
- Improved Unseeing Eye
- Improved Bodhi
- Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities
- Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold
- Improved Sahuagin
- Improved Beholder hive
- Rebalanced troll regeneration
- Improved Drow
- Improved Fiends
- Improved Watcher's Keep
- Improved Fire Giant temple
- Improved Sendai's Enclave
- Improved Abazigal's Lair
- Improved Minor Encounters
On top of this, I added LEUI and EEUI Tweaks.
I also got the green-light to post this thread here in general, at least to start with, by @JuliusBorisov
A couple of things before I move on to the actual entry:
- This series of will contain spoilers for the whole BG saga.
- I won't try to min max everything, in favour of role-playing.
- Feedback, tips and suggestions are very welcomed, just try avoid spoilers about stuff that I still have not encountered! (I am going blind into most of this, after all).
- The journal entries will be entirely in-character (except for the introduction), but I might add some comments from me, the player, from time to time,
- English is not my native language, although I think I am fluent enough to make this enjoyable. Just be warned you might encounter some grammatical errors or repetitions of words, I will try to avoid them as much as I can.
With this out of the way, let's get a quick rundown on the protagonist of this journey: Vall the Bard.
Vall's Journal - Entry 0
Who is Vall Galanodiel?
Vall is a Half-Elf of about 20 years of age, with unremarkable appereances: with brown hair, dark eyes, not particularly tall, his elven lineage appears to be quite distant, with the human lineage being the dominat one, both in looks and attitude. He grew up in Candlekeep, a fortress-like small city built around one of the greatest libraries of all Faerûn, under the guide and protection of his foster father Gorion, a skilled monk and powerful spellcaster. Now the stern and wise elder at Candlekeep, Gorion had his fair share of adventures in his youth, and was (and still is) quite proficient with the harp. Despite a portion of Candlekeep's residents' disapproval of Vall's presence at the keep, Gorion made his priority to give the boy a thorough education on all sorts of subjects, and valuable life lessons, on top of solid basic training with the sword and bow.
The chances to leave the keep were scarce throughout the years, with only the occasional short trip to the Friendly Arm Inn and back. Growing up, Vall bonded mostly with Alec, an initiate of Oghma, and Imoen, foster daughter to Winthrop, the innkeeper. During his formation years, Vall was drawn to the music arts and managed to convince Gorion to secretly teach him what he knew about playing the lute. He also spent long afternoons at the library, nose deep in books and scrolls about legends of the past, stories and ballads written on the feats of heroes and adventurers, dreaming that he too, one day, could embark on such quests.
The life at Candlekeep had been pretty uneventful, with the exception of one summer night , when Vall was 16. The boy had recently started studying the theory of the arcane arts, and during his private time inside the library, he came across a spell of Find Familiar. Despite the prohibition to practice magic inside the library, Vall prepared the ritual for the spell, and with great effort he invoked a spirit from the ethereal plane in the form of a female fairy dragon. The first to find out was Gorion himself, which despite his first instinct to punish the boy for breaking a very important rule, decided to let him keep the familiar under the condition that he would be very discreete about it. So Vall was forced to keep Smudge the fairy dragon inside his pocket plane most of the time, only sharing its existence with Alec and Imoen when no one was looking. And so Vall's ealy years were comfortable and safe inside the keep, alternating long nights at the inn playing the lute and drinking , with periods of studying and practicing, without too many worries about the future and what was to come. The identity of his real parents, or their fate, remains a mistery.
A few comments on numbers and stats at character creation:
Vall is a half elf, chaotic neutral Bard with the Blade kit. His stats are a good middleground of roleplay and min-maxing, in my opinion, with a total of 91:
STR 18 DEX 18 CON 16 INT 16 WIS 8 CHA 15
His high scores in DEX and STR are due to constant training under a few true masters of arms, alongside his natural lean physique and innate sense of balance. His high intelligence makes sense with his upbringing, and so does the lowish wisdom: his only wisdom comes from books and second hand experiences, not to mention he tends to overestimate his capabilites quite a bit. High charisma is something that comes natural to half elves in general, and Vall has a way to persuade people to have a drink with him while listening to the sound of his lute.
The familiar is mostly a flavour addition, it's not possible to have a scroll of find familiar at the start, but I liked the idea
He is able to wield the long sword and long bow with no penalties, as I plan to use the bow through the early levels, while at levels 4 and 8 i'll put all points into dual wielding. This is pretty much all the planning I did, the rest will get shaped as we go along
STR 18 DEX 18 CON 16 INT 16 WIS 8 CHA 15
His high scores in DEX and STR are due to constant training under a few true masters of arms, alongside his natural lean physique and innate sense of balance. His high intelligence makes sense with his upbringing, and so does the lowish wisdom: his only wisdom comes from books and second hand experiences, not to mention he tends to overestimate his capabilites quite a bit. High charisma is something that comes natural to half elves in general, and Vall has a way to persuade people to have a drink with him while listening to the sound of his lute.
The familiar is mostly a flavour addition, it's not possible to have a scroll of find familiar at the start, but I liked the idea
He is able to wield the long sword and long bow with no penalties, as I plan to use the bow through the early levels, while at levels 4 and 8 i'll put all points into dual wielding. This is pretty much all the planning I did, the rest will get shaped as we go along
I'll post the true first entry soon, about Vall's relaxed life coming to an abrupt end , leaving the way to an adventurous life or epic propotions.
Hope you liked this first entry, albeit a bit special, and if you have questions (regarding Vall, the mod set up, and such) I'll gladly answer.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated
Also, I wish you a happy new year
7
Comments
I might disagree on your definition of "moderately modded" though
Happy New Year and have fun.
Thank you!
Yeah you may be right, I was mainly thinking at rules and system modifications, since most of the mods are simply adding quests NPCs and content in general
What a weird day, this has been... and it's not even over, yet. I'm writing this now on the steps of the Candlekeep fountain, a place that felt so familiar until but an hour ago. The very stone that watched over me while growing up now feels like a stranger's scowl, ready to betray me at the first chance. Still, I'll take this chance to write down the events of today, unsure on when I'll be able to take a break and rest once I'll leave the keep with Gorion.
This morning I was ready to enjoy a good few hours of sleep after a long night drinking and screwing around with Alec, but I was abruptly interrupted by Gorion's servant's "sweet" voice urging me to get ready as soon as possible, and for real this time.
Head aching, I went out to look for Gorion, which was locked into his studio and would not answer me until I came back ready to leave for good.
On my way to the inn, Alec told me he witnessed a pretty heated discussion between my foster father, Gorion, and Ulraunt about the importance of getting me out of Candlekeep by sunset. Apparently Ulraunt would throw me out of the city gates alone without a second thought (not really surprising, considering I also wouldn't hesitate to throw that pompous ass out of the gates myself). What worries me most is the secrecy about the "why".
Inside the inn Winthrop, as always, managed to steal a laugh from me as I was browsing through his wares. I was happy with a bow, a long sword and a couple sets of arrows, just in case. Thankfully I was given a big tip for my lute performance the night before by Firebead Elvenhair, the closest person to a Patron I have around here. Good thing I was already too wasted by that point to spend it all on the finest ale, or I would not have been able to afford everything.
While at the inn, a young lady caught my attention: her face was twisted in deep pain, almost despair. I approached her, and managed to discover her name, Linda, and what happened that it would make her so desperate: she was traveling on her way to Candlekeep with her fiancè, Sir Trun, when a magical portal suddenly opened near them with monsters coming out of it. Sir Trun was apparently keeping up with the assault without breaking a sweat, when one of the remaining creatures grabbed his arm and tried to drag him into the closing portal. Linda had no choices but to pick up his sword fom the ground, and with a slash she chopped his arm off, making the creature stumble backwards into the portal disappearing into thin air.
She asked me to go check on him in the infirmary, as she doesnt have the strenght to look at him in such a painful state that she caused herself . She thought he would fear her for what she'd done, and they hadn't spoken to eachother in a few days. I could feel there was a big misunderstanding, and I just can't stand the everpresent clichè of a true love relationship ruined by lack of communication: I headed out of the inn towards the infirmary. On the way there, I had the chance to say my goodbyes to a few scholars and monks, each of them clumsly trying to hide their worries. All things considered, I think I might miss some of them, eventually.
Inside the infirmary, it took me a glance around to pick out Sir Trun: pacing around his room, looking tense and pale... and of course, slightly stained bends around his left shoulder where the conjunction with the arm should have been. I told him about my chat with Linda, and he opened up to me about the whole thing: after the incident, he suddnely felt intimidated by his fiancèe; a lady brught up in a noble household shouldnt be able to make such a drastic decision on a whim, and with such accuracy and coldness.
His body had mostly healed, but his mind was still shaken by the accident. Trying to lighten the mood, I jokingly suggested that he should take her as his squire, the lady clearly had an innate talent for the sword! Turns out I probably wasn't obvious enough in my sarcastic tone, becasue Sir Trun actually stopped and thought about it for a brief moment, after which his face lighted up and rushed outside after a quick "thank you!", to the amusement of the master healer just next to us.
With no idea wheter I had just ruined their relationship or somehow fixed it, I decided to head towards Oghma's santuary near the stables to see what Alec was up to. On the way, Jondalar and his pesky dog ran up to me : Gorion had apparently instructed him to spar with me one last time before we would leave, no need for dulled blades this time. A good chance to test the balance of my new long sword, I decided I might as well make Gorion happy: two well placed faints was all it took to disarm Jondalar and shoulder him to the ground, but before I could even open my mouth to mock him, an arrow flew just a few inches to the side of my shoulder. I turned to face one of the off-duty guards , bow in hand and with a smirk. "Never let your guard down out there: always be prepared to being outnumbered" were Jondalar words of goodbye, and I would lie if I said I didn't feel a shiver down my spine at the thought of being ambushed in the wild by the ever more common groups of bandits, or worse... Even his dog seemed to gave me a commiserate look from behind his furry brow.
Once at the sanctuary, I could see Alec was not there, but an impatient looking gnome woman caught my eye: she was dressed in a bright blue outfit, and I could see a polished flute attached with a string to her backpack, slightly moving in rythm to her pacing.
I approached her, hoping to have an excuse to procrastinate a bit more, maybe talk about music, but she anticipated me, in a nervous high pitch voice, asking if by any chance I saw his companion, a certain Sir Mark Harmon, that was supposed to meet her and was apparently late.
Recalling Winthrop mentioning a loud customer that spent the night at the inn the night before, equipped in full plate armor, I asked her if maybe that fit the description. "Of course that would be him" , she said, and promised me to give me a reward if I could "fetch" him.
I accepted, as I also decided it would be wiser to pack a leather armour after sparring with Jondalar.
At the inn, i bought a studded leather armour and then went upstairs. Among the empty rooms there was one with the windows still closed, and one could smell the mead from outside.
A man was snoring on the bed, but woke up to the creaking of wood under my approach in steps. Between the burps and mumbling, he confirmed he was indeed sir Mark Harmon, the hangover visibly vanishing when I explained his gnome companion sent for him.
He quickly donned his armour and we headed out the inn after he tossed a bag full of coins to Winthrop, which snatched it from the air with a sincere "thank you, sir".
Once at Oghma's church, the gnome (which I learned is named "Recorder", not sure if it's her true name?) shot an annoyed glance at the knight and handed me a potion of Lore, thanking me and asking me to pray for them in their Ulcaster expedition.
After a quick exchange with the priest nearby, they were off the the main gate.
Unable to see Alec anywhere, (I assumed he was on a fetching quest for Ulrant), I went inside one of the smaller warehouses next to the sanctuary.
Before may eyes could adjust to the dim candlelight, I heard a slippery voice asking for my name. I turned right, and before I could make out his feature, the man jumped towards me from the shadows, a dagger balde flashing in front of my face. My body reacted before my mind, and I managed to stumbled backwards just in time to only get a small cut on the forehead. The adrenaline rush cleaning my head, I unsheated my sword to deflect the next attack and managed to put my assailant out of balance, feinting with my feet, and launched my attack. My blade found flesh in his side, between the conjunctions of his hide armor, and the man collapsed to the ground.
Still shaking, I rushed outside where Alec approached me, and must have guessed what just happened as he urged me to go to Gorion and leave as soon as I could: my safety was more important than some drawn out goodbyes. I hope I'll get the chance to see him again, one day.
Inside the inner grounds I found Imoen waiting for me, with her typical grin and sly eyes. I don't quite recall exactly what she rambled on about as my mind was busy trying to make sense of the attempt to my life just a few minutes ago, but I do recall her mentioning a letter involving Gorion and my sudden need to leave Candlekeep. I feel bad for not giving her the goodbyes she deserved, having grown up like brother and sister... I hope she'll understand.
Now I wait for Gorion to finish speaking with Camryn, the master scriber and illuminator which, to add one more anomaly to this quite unusual day, was standing outside the library for the first time in what must have been more than 30 years.
I can't help but feel a terrible presentiment about all of this. As I'm writing this, I realise that what I considered to be my home is no longer a safe place. For reasons I can't comprehend, someone wants me dead. Someone powerful enough to sneak an assassin inside the fortified and guarded walls of Candlekeep. For the first time in my life, I fear for my life and for what is to come...
Thanks , I've never done something like this before so it's a little bit challenging to find the right words sometimes, but it's also great fun.
I appreciate any constructive criticism and even questions about what happened or Vall in general as a character.
Thank you once again for your help, I have also read all the mods readmes more thoroughly and
on paper that's exactly the degree of changes and polishing I wanted in my set-up.
Gorion is dead.
He wasn't my real father, and he still died protecting me. I am unable to express how I truly feel through ink
on paper, but now that I have a moment of respite, a passage from an ancient scroll of a civilization past gone comes to mind. They were devoted to the word of Ilmater, an intermediate deity also known as "The One Who Endures".
I'll quote what I can remember from reading it years ago inside a dusty alcove in Candlekeep's library:
"Perhaps the greatest faculty our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. llmater teaches us of the four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.
First is the door of sleep. Sleep offers us a retreat from the world and all its pain. Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us. When a person is wounded they will often fall unconscious. Similarly, someone who hears traumatic news will often swoon or faint. This is the mind's way of protecting itself from pain by stepping through the first door.
Second is the door of forgetting. Some wounds are too deep to heal, or too deep to heal quickly. In addition, many memories are simply painful, and there is no healing to be done. The saying 'time heals all wounds' is false. Time heals most wounds. The rest are hidden behind this door.
Third is the door of madness. There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.
Last is the door of death. The final resort. Nothing can hurt us after we are dead, or so we have been told.”
I feel lost and weak, a small fish inside an ocean that's too big and scary. Maybe writing down the events of today will help me gain some clarity of mind.
By the time me and Gorion were ready to leave, the sun was setting but we couldn't afford to wait the night; on a different occasion I would have thought that to be madness, but after the assassination attempt I had to agree.
He finally revealed our destination: we had a small window of time to meet two of his closest friends from his adventurer days, Khalid and Jaheira, at the Friendly Arm Inn. He didn't reveal what the next step would have been, and I didn't ask.
Then night was chilling as we were walking through Lion's way , far from the stone path to avoid any unwanted encounter. Sadly, that was not enough.
Not two hours had passed when Gorion suddenly stopped. "Something is wrong, we are in an ambush. Go, RUN!" he whispered me as he cast Greater Invisibility on me. A second leter, a group of menacing figures emerged from the woods, lead by a man in black heavy armor. He spoke to Gorion in a deep voice :
Gorion didn't back away, and instead started chanting incantations while I stood there , mere feet away, frozen. I could have attacked, or at least distract a few of his foes... maybe that would have been enough to save him.
Suddenly, bolts of fire and acid started flying through the air, screams of pain and surprise filling the night's silence. My survival instinct must have kicked in at that point, as I finally was able to move and started running deep in the woods.
I don't quite remember for how I had been running when all the noises and screams stopped, and the silence came back as if nothing had happened. After that, I don't remember much; I think I kept walking through the woods in a sort of trance , half awake half asleep, for an undefined amount of time.
The next thing I remember is waking up on the ground, still amidst the woods but I could see the road not too far away. As I got up on my feet, I saw a familiar figure running on the road towards me, violet hair twirling in the air.
Before I knew it, Imoen was hugging me, lightly sobbing on my shoulder. She confirmed what I feared: Gorion's dead body was lying on the ground where we were ambushed.
At that point, I noticed Grey, Jondalar's wolfhound, running up the road with its exahusted master a few feet away , panting.
leaving
He urged me to reach the Friendly Arm Inn as soon as I could, wishing me good luck and leaving Grey with me. "Get all the help you can, but don't trust anyone until you meet with your father's friends. May the gods be with you". He turned back towards Candlekeep.
A look at Imoen's expression told me that hitting a roach with an arrow 1 mile away would have been easier than persuading her to go back to Candlekeep. After all, I should really get all the help I could.
We decided to follow the road east, and spent the better part of the morning to reach The Coast Way. Depsite my grim mood, Imoen managed to steal me a laugh and cheer me up a bit, something she was also great at during the years spent togheter at the keep.
At one point we met a suspicious duo that tried to stop us, offering free health potions and asking to join them in an expedition to the Nashkel's mines. Their words were, to quote imoen, "like honey on bread".
I didn't have to think about it for long to decide that it would be best to avoid them.
We kept walking for a bit, but before too long we met an old man on the road, with a long white beard and dressed in bright red robes.
For some reason, I couldn't feel suspicion or diffidence towards this stranger, even though it seemed like he had more information about us that he should have. Either way, he gently directed us toward the Friendly Arm Inn, once again recommending us to keep to the road and be careful.
I have the feeling I will meet this man again, though I don't know why.
We stopped to have a bite when the sun was highest in the sky, sitting down between two trees slightly off the road, taking advantage of their fresh shadows.
Having no time to rest seems to be a running theme these past few days, since midway through our meals Grey suddnely got up and started barking towards the deeper woods. A moment later, an arrow hit the trunk i was leaning on, missing me by a few inches, and I could see a man with bow standing not more than 50 feet away from us.
The wolfhound rushed towards the man and , depsite its age, managed to reach him before the could loosen the next arrow. As the dog jumped the bandit, me and Imoen both shoot with our bows, almost at the same time.
My arrow missed, Imoen's did not.
I'm positive this was a common bandit, not part of the group of assassins on my tracks. And it still was too close, without Grey with me I would probably be dead. I need to remember to feed him a treat next morning.
Regardless of the identity of the assailant, the message was clear: we had to move on.
We continued for a few hours walking north, following the road, without any major interrutions, until we came upon what reamined of a caravan attacked by bandits. Among the corpses, I saw a halfling on the ground leaning to a broken wheel , hand on his belly with blood slowly pouring out.
Almost oblivious to the fatal wound, he had a jovial smile and presented himself as Bartleby Quickfoot, member of the Longwalker Messaging Guild.
He didn't want us to waste money better spent on widows and orphans to try to resurrect him, but he had a last wish: there were still a few letters to be delivered in his messanger bag, and would be at peace dying knowning that they were in trusting hands that would deliver them during their journey.
I assured I would do so when I got the chance, and the man died with a soft smile on the lips. It certainly isn't my first priority, but I will honor his wish.
The sun was close to setting when we ecnounterd a female dwarf standing atop of an orc corpse, heavy harmor and mace in hand, looking to the east. We had no choice but to approach her, as she was standing right in the middle of the road.
Turns out her name is Helga, and she is hunting down an Ogre king which seems to be stationed north of a gnoll stronghold not too far away.
As she was asking if we were up to help her finding him to slay him in exchange for her help on our travels, a funny looking man in light blue mage robes with a wooden staff walked up to us. "Sorry, just cheking something" he casually said, as he crouched down and studied what remained of the orc's smashed head.
"Too bad, that's not it... oh well. Are you orc slayers?" he asked with a plain face, as if that's the most common thing in the world.
Brandock is his name, and he explained us that some of his possessions got stolen a few days before and he managed to track them down inside a cave. Unfortunately, an Ogre took residence just in front of the cave in the woods, and he wondered if we could help him get rid of it.
Despite the grim events that marked these past 2 days, I could see the people in front of us were honest, if a bit weird. I always preferred weird and exciting to normal and boring.
We all decided to go to the Friendly Arm Inn togheter , with the promess of helping eachother out in our tasks.
It was probably the right call so far, as they haven't tried to assassinate me yet, on the contrary.
The sun had just set when we finally crossed the bridge to the Friendly Arm Inn, tired and longing for a good meal and a night of sound sleep. We made our way to the entrance of the Inn itself, when a man in dark robes met us halfway on the stairs leading to the door.
He used words similar to the assassin at Candlekeep, and sure enough when he noticed my suspicion, he tried to cast a spell.
He couldn't quite get to end of it, as a magic missile from Brandock in the back threw him off balance. I wasted no time, got my sword out and managed to cut deep in his shoulder just as Helga jumped two steps at once and smashed her heavy hammer on the side of his legs.
Before I could try to restrain and interrogate him, an arrow hissed through the air and planted itself right in the man's chest. A nearby guard had seen what happened and didn't waste time. The robed man collapsed to the ground.
On his body, I found a letter and a few magic scrolls which might come in handy. I havent read the letter yet, I just needed to get this day off my mind first, but I hope it will give me some information on who wants me dead.
Inside the inn, we immediately picked out Khalid and Jaheira thanks to Gorion description. We haven't talked much yet, as according to Jaheria I absolutely need to rest up first, assured that they would guard my room in turns.
I don't know how to explain this, but meeting them even briefly was like coming home after a long time, even though I never met them. I can see why Gorion was so fond of them, in my dire situation I am lucky to find loyal people and valid companions to travel with.
I write these last sentences with my eyelids heavy, exhausted mentally and physically, but I have made clarity on one thing: as I go inside the first door of sleep, I will not take the other doors. I'll honor Gorion by staying alive and hunting down what evil touches these lands.
A brief commentary on this entry:
Boy this was fun to write. It really helps me get in character and enjoying the game on a deeper level than the first time.
The extract about the Doors Of Pain comes from one of my favourite author, Patrick Rothfuss, from the book "The name of the Wind". I thought it would be fitting to attribute it to Ilmater, god of suffering.
The complete quote:https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/156661-perhaps-the-greatest-faculty-our-minds-possess-is-the-ability
Brandock and Helga are modded NPCs companion, but so far if I didn't know that, I couldnt tell. Top notch writing and quality, I really enjoy them so far.
As always, any feedback is welcomed