By Helm! - The (Role-Played) Adventure of Amity of Candlekeep, Halfling Priestess of Helm

Blackraven

After a number of attempts in the solo LoB challenge in, I think, January and February, I hadn't played any Baldur's Gate until very recently. Now that the game feels fresh once more, I feel like immersing myself again with a more role-played run. I've grown fond of Clerics in recent years for (a) being an underused class and (b) offering great potential for role-play, especially Helm, with two temples in BG1, the stronghold in BG2, and Watcher's Keep.
Because of this run's focus on RP, I've decided to create a separate thread rather than posting in the no-reload thread.

The main character is the halfling Amity. Having having been raised by a human foster father in a predominantly human community, Amity committed to Helm, a deity from the human pantheon, for the strength and the guidance to enable her to further the cause of good and justice.


(Yes, that was a manual roll...)

A lawful good Watcher of Helm, Amity comes about as close to being a paladin without actually being one as BG2's Mazzy, whom she hopes to meet someday. Amity is honest but diplomatic, considerate, benevolent, and intends to have her companions behave in the same virtuous way. This means I'll play with a number of restrictions, similar to those used by people who role-play paladins.
- Amity shall always speak the truth unless doing so endangers innocents.
- There shall be no pickpocketing/stealing by her companions, which is new for me (am a shameless powergamer in this respect), so no Algernon's Cloak, Mace of Disruption etc.
- Certain confrontations may not take place (Kirian comes to mind). However I don't wish to shun too many interesting encounters, so I may tamper a bit with this tenet.
- Amity will not cast Animate Dead since according to the Faiths and Avatars sourcebook "[t]he thought of commanding undead rather than turning them or destroying them is abhorrent to Helm, and so his clergy are not allowed to do so and would never dream of trying." In fact I'm inclined to stay away from all summoning spells. Innocent creatures (animals) and even elementals seem to deserve better too. Here's a description of aerial servants from the Forgotten Realms wiki: "Aerial servants never displayed interest in the affairs of other planes and would never voluntarily leave their home plane. This was due in part to the fact that residing in calm weather was known to cause aerial servants to gradually grow weaker and lifeless. They also held no desire to collect treasure. When summoned a summoned aerial servant would obediently complete any task for their conjurers, with the exception of fighting, unless prevented from doing so. While on the Prime Material the aerial servant harbored resentment towards their summoner." Gating in celestials will be ok though, since they can only be banished, not slain.

Even though Imoen herself insists on traveling with Amity, the halfling experiences a strong sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of her dearest friend (who should be with Amity almost all the time thanks to the Imoen 4 ever mod). To maximize the early game fun and the thrill of being vulnerable, Amity will seek to build a full party of her liking as soon as possible, and avoid early power-leveling.

Despite quite a few attempts with single-class Clerics, I've never reached BG2 with one (my best and probably most memorable attempt was with Ansgar the Battleguard of Tempus, who fell in SoD in the battle against Belhifet when his own hammer caused an earthquake and knocked him out). Let's see how Amity will fare.

Notable mods include: BG Mini Quests and Encounters, BG1 NPC Project, Unfinished Business, Brage's Redemption, PnP Free Action, some banter mods, SCS (including IWD spells, on insane difficulty without additional damage), and parts of Anthology Tweaks and aTweaks.

Blackraven

It was a day unlike any other for Amity (* hammers, * slings) in Candlekeep. In the course of carrying out her chores, she had to defend herself twice against assassins who were specifically after her. Her foster father Gorion was clearly aware that the citadel was no longer safe for her but he proved either unwilling or unable to explain to her why she was in danger. He had her leave home with him to find a safer place to stay. But within mere hours on the road with Gorion, the old wizard fell in a battle against a group of bandits he had ordered her to run away from.
Amity was grieving over Gorion and worried too, for the bandits had said they'd come for her, when Imoen found her on the Coast Way the next morning. The Swashbuckler (** daggers) joined her friend to console her, and to accompany her to the Friendly Arm Inn as that's where Gorion had instructed her to go. The pair was joined by two rather unsavory adventurers, an Assassin named Montaron and a Necromancer by the name of Xzar. They treated Amity kindly enough though, even offering her a healing potion, and Amity reckoned that it was indeed safer to travel the dangerous roads together as Xzar had said.

They ran into a friendly hermit in red robes and a not so friendly ogre that Amity felled with her sling and bullets before they reached the inn. A much more serious threat awaited them at the entrance to the inn: yet another assassin, a wizard this time. Montaron failed to land a backstab on him, but Xzar was successful with a Larloch's Minor Drain. Not only did Xzar interrupt the wizard's spell-casting, he also gave himself the additional health he would need moments later to weather a Chromatic Orb.Amity, Imoen, and Montaron managed to get through the mage's Mirror Images, and Amity landed a good hit (for 6 damage). Their foe panicked, allowing the party to attack without repercussion until he fell.
In the inn the party met two of Gorion's contacts, Khalid and Jaheira, who promptly joined to look after her and guide her now that Gorion was gone. But Amity would soon doubt their competence in that regard. Khalid and Jaheira had an appointment in Nashkel with the mayor, Berrun Ghastkill, and Jaheira put quite a bit of pressure on the party to travel there. They stopped briefly in Beregost but not long enough to look for quests or people to help. A few hours north of Nashkel Khalid and Jaheira failed to keep the companions or even Amity safe from bandits. Xzar fell, Khalid nearly too, and Amity was injured in an attack.No, these two weren't the guardians that would keep her safe.

In Nashkel the party spoke with Berrun Ghastkill. It turned out the mayor needed adventurers to find out what was causing the brittle condition of the iron ore from the Nashkel Mine. They got Xzar raised by Father Nalin of the Temple of Helm. The priest also told Amity of an upstanding member of his congregation, captain Brage of the Nashkel guard, having disappeared and allegedly lost his mind. Some discussion ensued between the companions, with Amity and Imoen (ever loyal to her childhood friend) wanting to go look for the missing guard captain, while Jaheira and Xzar wanted the party to prioritize the Nashkel Mines. Eventually they agreed to rest and recover at the inn, and decide on their immediate future after that.

Little did they know that there was no rest to be had at the inn, at least not right away. Another assassin had found them, this one a priestess. When she started casting an enchant spell, the companions made sure to leave the inn as Khalid and especially Xzar were still severely injured and in no condition to fight. Outside, some guards and a friendly Monk named Rasaad came to help. After Amity Commanded her foe to lie down it was Imoen who finished the priestess off with her wand of magic missiles.The companions rested, with Amity dreaming of Gorion telling her to seek her own path and that the best way wasn't always the one of least resistance. There was another presence in her dream too, not Helm but a much darker presence she could not identify. The next morning Amity and Imoen bade their temporary companions goodbye, as Amity was determined to carry out her mission for the temple of Helm first. Curiously, neither Khalid and Jaheira nor Xzar and Montaron made preparations to travel to the Nashkel Mine. Amity and Imoen got a vague clue from the innkeeper regarding Captain Brage's whereabouts: ogres and madmen were said to roam the lands west of Nashkel.

So west they headed, and indeed after a 30-hour trek, they did run into the guard captain. The scene was not pretty. He was standing next to a family brutally cut down by apparently the captain himself. When Amity and Imoen approached the man, his cousin Laryssa intervened and warned the girls that Brage had somehow gone berserk. The captain himself then addressed the party, speaking in riddles. Amity and Imoen managed to calm him down, and escorted him back to Father Nalin at the temple, who determined that Brage's blade was a cursed sword that had clouded the captain's judgment.

Amity asked around in Nashkel to see if anyone knew where Brage had got the sword from. They learned that a shady merchant who was no longer in town, had sold some potions of dubious composition to one of the carnival merchants. Father Nalin tasked Amity with tracking down the merchant both to ensure a just ruling in the trial against Brage's sake and to protect the people from this merchant of hazardous goods.

Without any concrete leads, Amity and Imoen decided to travel north to find out if the merchant had been seen in Beregost or at the Friendly Arm Inn. They searched in vain, but their effort was good for something. Just north of the Friendly Arm Inn Amity ran into a fellow Helmite, a Cavalier paladin named Ajantis (** bastard swords, ** axes). Ajantis was out hunting bandits and was willing to join Amity and Imoen so they could work together. They started by locating a local farmer's lost son, unfortunately dead, in an ankheg nest that Amity could only navigate thanks to a Sanctuary spell. The three returned to Nashkel, where they had a little accident with an ogre at the Carnival and where Quayle, a gnomish Cleric/Illusionist (* clubs, *slings), joined their ranks.

Blackraven

Amity, Imoen, Ajantis, and Quayle dealt with yet another assassin, a Dwarven fighter in Beregost's Red Sheaf inn. A Command by Quayle and a Hold Person from Amity decided the encounter in the party's favor. (If those spells had not connected, they would have had to run for their lives from the ferocious Dwarf most likely.) The party also peacefully settled a dispute between three fishermen and a priestess, survived a bandit ambush, and even an ogre mage ambush. The ogre mage put Imoen to Sleep, but Amity's special True Sight ability and some Commands by Quayle and herself saw the party prevail.
Near a Xvart settlement they finally found the shady merchant who had sold the cursed blade to Brage. The merchant, an Elf named Borda, had the countenance of a rogue mage, so it was going to be important to keep the pressure on him in case of a fight, lest he'd incapacitate them with his spells. When he proved unwilling to explain himself, hostilities did indeed ensue. Amity summoned her holy Seeking Sword, and ordered her companions to attack. They prevented their foe from casting any dangerous spells but the crafty Elf had a wand with which he put Amity, Ajantis, and Quayle to sleep. Thankfully Imoen saved against the effect. With her flashy swashbuckling style, she managed to distract the merchant and lure him away from her helpless companions.
She occupied him long enough with her dancing style for the others to wake up from their slumber. They then immediately resumed their assault and before long it was Ajantis who slew the Elf.
Amongst his snake oils and cursed scrolls the companions found the sound blade that Brage had actually ordered along with a note from one Tazok to swap said blade for the cursed sword. With this evidence they would clear Brage's name back in Nashkel. The captain was nevertheless discharged from his position, and he was clearly struggling with feelings of guilt. He was invited by Father Nalin to stay at the temple and atone for his actions. Justice with compassion, Amity fully approved of Father Nalin's approach and she made sure to remember it. Amity and party promised to return to check up on Father Nalin and the former captain later.

With that matter settled Amity and company were still in no rush to look into the iron crisis, which had been going on for many moons anyway. Instead they accepted and completed several quests from people in Beregost: Perdue, Bjornin, and Garrick. The latter's treacherous employer Silke the thespian was fortunately caught by a Hold spell from Amity before she could strike out at Quayle, the party's most vulnerable companion.
Garrick the Skald, out of work, asked to join and was welcomed into the party (rather enthusiastically by Imoen).

East of Beregost the party chanced upon the Ulcaster Ruins, and it was fortunate that they did as they ran into Recorder, a Gnomish Lorekeeper Bard Amity and Imoen knew from Candlekeep. She requested their aid in the ruined Ulcaster School. Recorder's research party had been betrayed by one of their own, a wizard named Rick, and the paladin she had been traveling with, Sir Harmon, was in dire need of aid. The path was not clear at all, as the party had to battle their way past numerous dire wolves and dread wolves, kill four huge spiders, and disarm a trap to reach Sir Harmon. Only Ajantis and Amity had the resilience to stand against these creatures. Their companions had to provide ranged support.
Rick himself was less of a threat. After Quayle had hit him with a Blindness, the party could simply take the wizard on from afar (without alarming the nearby Wolf of Ulcaster). Sadly the companions couldn't save Sir Harmon. Ajantis picked up the paladin's enchanted blade and pledged to return it to his family in Baldur's Gate as soon as the party were able to enter the city. In the meantime he'd use the powerful bastard sword (+2, +2 Luck) to further the cause of justice. In Beregost Recorder's Friends spell helped the party to some discounts at the Thunderhammer Smithy and Feldepost's Inn (full plate for Amity, a tower shield +1 for Ajantis, and a helmet of charm protection for Brage), before she was given time to mourn Sir Harmon and the disbanding of her party.

West of Beregost the companions met the elven Archer Kivan with whom they traveled for a few days. The Elf was looking to avenge his fallen mate Deheriana by slaying her killer, Tazok. Now that was a name that rang a bell. Tazok was the one who'd signed the letter instructing Borda to provide Brage with the cursed sword. Apparently this Tazok was part of a larger bandit organization.

The party helped another Elf and a Seasnake against four Sahuagin on the northern coast.
They were rewarded a returning throwing dagger, a perfect weapon for Imoen. Kivan left the party not much later, relentless in his search for Tazok, but they parted on friendly terms and agreed to stay in touch. Amity, however first wanted to report back at the temple in Nashkel and to pay Brage a visit. The former captain was, understandably, still traumatized by the recent events. But he also understood that aiding the party in their travails would be a better way to redeem himself than staying at the temple to carry out menial chores. The Militia Officer became the party's sixth member (*** two-handed swords, ** two-handed weapon style).

MILITIA OFFICER: This fighter is, first and foremost, a defender of land and the people that live in it. More than a common soldier, the Militia Officer is a commander, someone who leads the way into a battle, inspires those around them and plans what to do next. It is their duty to protect every person in the territory under their authority, no matter the consequences.

Advantages:

- May use the Cover ability. Gains one use at level 1 and another one every two levels, up to five uses at level 9.
- May use the Charge ability. Gains one use at level 1 and another one every four levels, up to five uses at level 17.
- May use the Second Wind ability. Gains one use at level 1 and another one every four levels, up to five uses at level 17.
- May use the Hold the Line ability. Gains one use at level 2 and another one every four levels, up to five uses at level 18.
- May use the Inspire ability. Gains one use at level 3 and another one every two levels, up to five uses at level 11.
- May use the Last Stand ability. Gains one use at level 10 and another one every five levels, up to three uses at level 20.

CHARGE:
The Militia Officer gathers strength and charges an enemy. This ability doubles the Officer's movement rate and increases their attacks per round by 0.5. When this ability effect ends they will be fatigued.
The effects last for 1 Round/level, up to 10 rounds (1 turn) at level 10.

COVER:
The Militia Officer covers an ally giving them a +3 bonus to Armor Class.
The effects last for 1 Round/level, up to 10 rounds (1 turn) at level 10.
Militia Officers can't Cover themselves.

INSPIRE:
The Militia Officer inspires an ally giving them a +3 bonus to damage, hit rolls and saving throws. Besides those benefits, the target becomes immune to non-magical morale breaks for the duration of the effects.
The effects last for 1 Round/level, up to 10 rounds (1 turn) at level 10.
Militia Officers can't Inspire themselves.

LAST STAND:
The Militia Officer holds a firmly defensive position. This ability gives the Militia Officer a +30% bonus to their damage and magic resistance and a +10 bonus to Armor Class. When this ability effect ends they will be fatigued.
The effects last for 1 turn.

HOLD THE LINE:
The Militia Officer protects a position at any cost. This ability gives the Militia Officer a +5 bonus to Armor Class and saving throws. While this ability is in effect the Militia Officer cannot move and after the duration they will be fatigued.
The effects last for 1 Round/level, up to 10 rounds (1 turn) at level 10.

SECOND WIND:
The Militia Officer concentrates and takes a deep breath, getting rid of any fatigue that they have accumulated.

Disadvantages:

- Requires at least 9 Intelligence and Charisma.
- Can only put proficiency points in missile weapons.
- Cannot use Katana, Scimitar, Wakizashi, and Ninja-To.
- Alignment restricted to Lawful Good, Neutral Good, and Lawful Neutral.

Note:
This is the party I hope complete BGEE with, although I might swap in certain NPCs occasionally for specific quests. I think it's a fairly balanced party with 3.0 FTE martial (1 Ajantis, 1 Brage, 0.5 tanky Amity, and 0.5 Imoen who can contribute meaningfully with her throwing dagger specialization and strength buffs), 1 FTE thieving (Imoen, whom I intend to dual only at level 10), 1.5 FTE divine (1 Amity and 0.5 Quayle), and 1 FTE arcane (0.5 Quayle and 0.5 Garrick). While not a very warrior-heavy, I think this group does benefit from Garrick's Skald song to a significant degree because both Imoen with her ranged attacks and Amity with her Seeking Sword and tanking duty function as pseudo-warriors.