@MedullaOblongata I like the idea of leaving a calling card after a big robbery or a significant murder. Now I just have to figure out what to leave. if I use something common like a regular dagger it wont be significant or unique enough, but if I use something too unique or rare I wont have enough calling cards to go around hahaha
How about a Flaming Fist helmet or one of the many skulls you can collect after wiping out skeletons at High Hedge? :-)
Usually I don't roleplay much, but now on IWD I created a party with 4 fighters, who then (in my head) would discover their talent during the adventure. They're a bit slow though, took them 6 levels and nearly 300 days to dual-class...
Though one time, I had an assassin with a very peculiar "signature": she would kill her mark, then eat EVERYTHING in his house, leaving the fomicile bereft of edibles... Not even a crumb for the mice!
That's awesome.
In BG, my first (successful) playthrough was with a chaotic neutral half-elven fighter/magic-user. -She kept Imoen around as a "morality pet" of sorts, and with her, managed to become fairly "decent" by the end of the game. -Since Shar-Teel is my favorite NPC Fighter, and Phandalyn the Paladin will attack you with an evil party member, it was only natural that I had to kill him. wasn't all that willing to do this, but at the same time she wasn't about to let some dweeb wail on her and her friends. To make up for sending his head flying across the room, sold his goods...and donated every coin to a nearby Temple of Helm. I also used Sword Coast Keeper to edit Reputation back to where it was, after Phandalyn's death, which was around 12 - 13. --On the note of Shar-Teel, she would be the one would leave to instigate fights. It's not all that noble to just attack that foolish halfling that steals from you in Beregost...well, not for , as loony as she is. So, she'd leave Shar-Teel to attack him.
I'm pretty abusive towards Cernd and Coran. The former, because his excuse for why he left his child behind never sat well with me, and Coran, because he sort of reminds me of my father. Granted, I'll help them finish their quests, but immediately after, I'm like, "Hey, scumbag, go and take care of your child.". Dismissed, and "Hello, mod NPC!".
You should totes go with bandit scalps. You can get so many of those, and they'd certainly leave an impression. Either that or one of the more common gems, but that isn't nearly as fun.
I used to leave daggers as calling cards myself. Bandit scalps raise uncomfortable questions about their general disposition and in particular their smell....while my Neutral Evil assassin was an evil bastard, he most certainly did value hygiene.
For me, I generally have a basic concept that guides each game, the core elements of which may vary accordingly. I'll call it a 'roleplaying concept' for lack of a better term.
Some examples:
Multi-class Fighter-Mage Redux For my first BG:EE game will be returning to the very first PC class I completed BG with back in 2000--a half-elf Fighter-Mage--but this time to try to 'get it right', as I didn't use the class particularly well back the first time, owing to my ignorance of the game. For CHARNAME I've tasked myself with the challenge of integrating spellcasting into the midst of melee. I will also be maintaining a mixed alignment party with BG:EE's three new NPCs, Viconia, and Imoen. The PC will take the party on a lot of side-questing to improve skills and acquire gold/gear (which constantly drives rep upward). So in order to lose some rep points now and then, I will seek creative in-character ways for various party members to lower rep for the party. (I normally play mixed alignment parties with the happy patch. But here I'll play vanilla and try to be creative with rep loss. I expect that to be a fun aspect to this game.)
Arcane-magic Haters This is something I haven't done yet but believe would pose an interesting challenge, for me anyway. Using the Wizard Slayer kit for the main PC, I will create a multiplayer party of six, for BG2:EE only. There will be no arcane spellcasters in this party--they use divine magic only. This idea is based on the lore of Amn as outlined in Lands of Intrigue, in which the people of Amn, culturally, deeply despise and distrust arcane magic. Wizards are ostracized in Amn. And in LoI the Cowled Wizards are actually an underground pro-magic organization. Anyway, that serves as a plot device to drive a roleplaying concept for this game. To round out the party I intend to create also the following characters: Inquisitor, Berserker, Barbarian, Assassin, and Cleric of Talos. Ideally, I would want to use only magic items that are enchanted via divine magic, or arguably could be based on their description. Otherwise I would try to use what would be "masterwork" weapons of +1, +2, +3. But that may not be feasible. If this game concept proves too difficult in practice then, for me, it will at some point stop being fun. So I may well end up abandoning what began as a promising experiment. If so, that's okay.
Solo Evil Cleric-Mage I played this once many years ago. Although I'm not particularly a fan of playing evil, I figured I would have a go at it--and it also happened to be my first and only solo run. (Sort of killing two birds with one stone.) This was a Neutral Evil half-elf Cleric-Mage. And I played him as smart as I could imagine, which as you might guess ended up involving a lot of deception (I had also recently read Sun Tzu). He was a total 'means justify the end' type of character, doing whatever it took to accomplish his goals, and doing so with aplomb. You could liken him to a ruthless business executive, I suppose, except set in a relatively lawless frontier society with magic. He was a socoiopath but mainly insofar as he would let nothing stand in his way. He didn't his jollies from harming others, yet he had no empathy or morality to guide him either--people were merely tools or things, etc. So that was the narrative driving him. Almost sad to say, I was actually a bit surprised at how easy it was, in terms of game mechanics, to practically breeze through the game with this build/character concept. I vastly prefer playing a prosocial hero. But it was an interesting game for sure.
Wild Mage and "Chaos" NPC Party Using the excellent Wild Mage Additions mod, I started a BGT game with a Wild Mage who had a kind of mad scientist (?) 'Chaos Theory' that fully embracing chaos in the Weave would ultimately be rewarded. It a belief that is in the "it's so crazy that... it... just... might.. work!" vein. He assembled a party of oddball NPCs that in some way strongly embodied principles of unpredictability: Minsc (addled as he is by head trauma), Xzar (clearly mad as a hatter), Tiax (also insane), Finch (a gnome librarian is such an unlikely adventurer--who knows what she may do), Safana (a rogue without an ethical compass), Coran (who makes regular references to Tamora and his love of risk-taking). And of course the PC cast Nahal's Reckless Dweomer and Chaos Shield liberally. It was also great fun to check out all the excellent spells in the Wild Mage Additions mod. I only went as far as completing BG1 with this game. It was rather tough going because I also had SCS installed. I actually couldn't win one very tough battle in The Gray Clan mod. Still, it was fun and satisfying overall.
I have easily half a dozen more, perhaps twice that, all told. But that illustrates the point. I pick what I think might be fun or interesting challenge, and then try to get creative with it. Trying to find the sweet spot between imagination and mechanical framework that the game gives us.
@MedullaOblongata I like the idea of leaving a calling card after a big robbery or a significant murder. Now I just have to figure out what to leave. if I use something common like a regular dagger it wont be significant or unique enough, but if I use something too unique or rare I wont have enough calling cards to go around hahaha
A small tray of milk chocolates and an insulting note.
@Oxford_Guy hahaha I like your ideas. I just got a picture of me walking into some house with a sack full of skulls, when a guard stops me and says "whats all this then?" and I go "umm nothing... what... you dont go around with a sack full of skulls?"
@Lemernis wow the things i do are merely practical things, basically the way things would be done in real life. I love your ideas, they seem more in tune with a general character motivation point of view or an over arching theme to the story and the characters in the party, basically role playing in the true sense. I may have to borrow some of your ideas for my next run through when bgee is finally released, thanks a lot for your contribution.
@Moomintroll I like your idea, but for this to work right for me, they would need to add a new spell to the divination school of magic "detect lactose intolerance"
Since I have a new game on the go now, I guess I'll add some more that have come up this game.
1: Ravayu misses Candlekeep.
As a result, he collects every book he can find, and stores them in his, and his partymates' inventories. At least until such a time as he was outvoted and forced to cut it down to only one copy of each book.
2: Neera is not permitted to cast spells within 10' of Dorn, on pain of death.
As a corollary, nobody is permitted to say what happened in the Carnival tent. On pain of death.
3: Kagain is not allowed to haggle.
When Kagain is allowed to haggle, he always refuses to pay anything whatsoever, and demands the highest reward possible.
4: Keepin' a log.
Ravayu's adventures, where he deems them notable, all get noted down in his personal journal, from his own point of view. It's up to about 8,000 words now, and it's just coming into Chapter III. It's actually quite engaging.
5: Ravayu is sickly.
Rav's terrible, terrible Con stat means he must always keep a staff in his inventory (his walking stick), and takes every opportunity to rest at an inn, sometimes for days at a time as he and Neera work on identifying their newfound loot.
@Pantalion thats interesting i hadnt thought of writing down a journal from just one characters point of view, or for that matter, the same adventure from several characters points of view. each event would be seen and interpreted differently based on the characters personality, allegiances, alignment... etc. i will have to select some of the more interesting characters and it may take a bit of time but i will have to give this a try in the future when my schedule permits.
every red wizard huh, that must be quite a bit of work, do you have a collection of their cloaks?
@Pantalion I am so glad to know I am not the only one keeping a journal from CHARNAME's perspective. I do it every playthrough. ...Which may be part of why I have never finished BG1, since it usually gets to the point where I spend more time writing than playing. My goal when I get BG:EE is to finish the game for once and keep a journal of the whole thing.
Tonight The party entered the inn at Nashkel and the bounty hunter cast Rigid thinking on Jaheira - the party took out the bounty hunter but Jahiera was still under the spell so we ran outside thinking she would just stand there until it wore off - next thing I know we dropped 5 rep points and Khalid and Kivan are whining about it -
We go back in and Jaheira has killed an innocent and turns on us which led to dead Jahiera - Khalid didn't think she would be able to live with the shame so instead of bringing her back we donated 200 gold to the temple in her name and buried her outside of town in the shade of a small pine tree at the edge of a farmers field -
Oddly enough as we were digging the grave we found a fully functional set of ankeg armor - Khalid said Jahiera sent it to let us know we did the right thing...
@LadyEibhilinRhett Oh yeah, definitely found that. Writing Rav's adventures versus playing is easily 50/50, and there's a lot of "minor" adventuring that he just doesn't care about enough to chronicle (even then, it's more accurate and complete than the game journal with the current glitching that plagues me). I'll probably dump a thread with it all in once I tidy it up and add dates/times.
I'm also pretty sure you're the one who inspired me to do so, so.... Kudos?
@creator1629 He would, but that would imply their cloaks weren't on fire enough.
@Lemernis - I like the anti-magic party concept very much altho I would probably want a mix of PCs and NPCs - in game motivation for the PC might be Gorions quick demise at the start as I think it would be a fun run through for BG:EE as well as BG2:EE thanks for the idea...
Comments
In BG, my first (successful) playthrough was with a chaotic neutral half-elven fighter/magic-user.
-She kept Imoen around as a "morality pet" of sorts, and with her, managed to become fairly "decent" by the end of the game.
-Since Shar-Teel is my favorite NPC Fighter, and Phandalyn the Paladin will attack you with an evil party member, it was only natural that I had to kill him. wasn't all that willing to do this, but at the same time she wasn't about to let some dweeb wail on her and her friends. To make up for sending his head flying across the room, sold his goods...and donated every coin to a nearby Temple of Helm. I also used Sword Coast Keeper to edit Reputation back to where it was, after Phandalyn's death, which was around 12 - 13.
--On the note of Shar-Teel, she would be the one would leave to instigate fights. It's not all that noble to just attack that foolish halfling that steals from you in Beregost...well, not for , as loony as she is. So, she'd leave Shar-Teel to attack him.
I'm pretty abusive towards Cernd and Coran. The former, because his excuse for why he left his child behind never sat well with me, and Coran, because he sort of reminds me of my father. Granted, I'll help them finish their quests, but immediately after, I'm like, "Hey, scumbag, go and take care of your child.". Dismissed, and "Hello, mod NPC!".
You should totes go with bandit scalps. You can get so many of those, and they'd certainly leave an impression.
Either that or one of the more common gems, but that isn't nearly as fun.
For me, I generally have a basic concept that guides each game, the core elements of which may vary accordingly. I'll call it a 'roleplaying concept' for lack of a better term.
Some examples:
Multi-class Fighter-Mage Redux
For my first BG:EE game will be returning to the very first PC class I completed BG with back in 2000--a half-elf Fighter-Mage--but this time to try to 'get it right', as I didn't use the class particularly well back the first time, owing to my ignorance of the game. For CHARNAME I've tasked myself with the challenge of integrating spellcasting into the midst of melee. I will also be maintaining a mixed alignment party with BG:EE's three new NPCs, Viconia, and Imoen. The PC will take the party on a lot of side-questing to improve skills and acquire gold/gear (which constantly drives rep upward). So in order to lose some rep points now and then, I will seek creative in-character ways for various party members to lower rep for the party. (I normally play mixed alignment parties with the happy patch. But here I'll play vanilla and try to be creative with rep loss. I expect that to be a fun aspect to this game.)
Arcane-magic Haters
This is something I haven't done yet but believe would pose an interesting challenge, for me anyway. Using the Wizard Slayer kit for the main PC, I will create a multiplayer party of six, for BG2:EE only. There will be no arcane spellcasters in this party--they use divine magic only. This idea is based on the lore of Amn as outlined in Lands of Intrigue, in which the people of Amn, culturally, deeply despise and distrust arcane magic. Wizards are ostracized in Amn. And in LoI the Cowled Wizards are actually an underground pro-magic organization. Anyway, that serves as a plot device to drive a roleplaying concept for this game. To round out the party I intend to create also the following characters: Inquisitor, Berserker, Barbarian, Assassin, and Cleric of Talos. Ideally, I would want to use only magic items that are enchanted via divine magic, or arguably could be based on their description. Otherwise I would try to use what would be "masterwork" weapons of +1, +2, +3. But that may not be feasible. If this game concept proves too difficult in practice then, for me, it will at some point stop being fun. So I may well end up abandoning what began as a promising experiment. If so, that's okay.
Solo Evil Cleric-Mage
I played this once many years ago. Although I'm not particularly a fan of playing evil, I figured I would have a go at it--and it also happened to be my first and only solo run. (Sort of killing two birds with one stone.) This was a Neutral Evil half-elf Cleric-Mage. And I played him as smart as I could imagine, which as you might guess ended up involving a lot of deception (I had also recently read Sun Tzu). He was a total 'means justify the end' type of character, doing whatever it took to accomplish his goals, and doing so with aplomb. You could liken him to a ruthless business executive, I suppose, except set in a relatively lawless frontier society with magic. He was a socoiopath but mainly insofar as he would let nothing stand in his way. He didn't his jollies from harming others, yet he had no empathy or morality to guide him either--people were merely tools or things, etc. So that was the narrative driving him. Almost sad to say, I was actually a bit surprised at how easy it was, in terms of game mechanics, to practically breeze through the game with this build/character concept. I vastly prefer playing a prosocial hero. But it was an interesting game for sure.
Wild Mage and "Chaos" NPC Party
Using the excellent Wild Mage Additions mod, I started a BGT game with a Wild Mage who had a kind of mad scientist (?) 'Chaos Theory' that fully embracing chaos in the Weave would ultimately be rewarded. It a belief that is in the "it's so crazy that... it... just... might.. work!" vein. He assembled a party of oddball NPCs that in some way strongly embodied principles of unpredictability: Minsc (addled as he is by head trauma), Xzar (clearly mad as a hatter), Tiax (also insane), Finch (a gnome librarian is such an unlikely adventurer--who knows what she may do), Safana (a rogue without an ethical compass), Coran (who makes regular references to Tamora and his love of risk-taking). And of course the PC cast Nahal's Reckless Dweomer and Chaos Shield liberally. It was also great fun to check out all the excellent spells in the Wild Mage Additions mod. I only went as far as completing BG1 with this game. It was rather tough going because I also had SCS installed. I actually couldn't win one very tough battle in The Gray Clan mod. Still, it was fun and satisfying overall.
I have easily half a dozen more, perhaps twice that, all told. But that illustrates the point. I pick what I think might be fun or interesting challenge, and then try to get creative with it. Trying to find the sweet spot between imagination and mechanical framework that the game gives us.
@Lemernis wow the things i do are merely practical things, basically the way things would be done in real life. I love your ideas, they seem more in tune with a general character motivation point of view or an over arching theme to the story and the characters in the party, basically role playing in the true sense. I may have to borrow some of your ideas for my next run through when bgee is finally released, thanks a lot for your contribution.
@Moomintroll I like your idea, but for this to work right for me, they would need to add a new spell to the divination school of magic "detect lactose intolerance"
1: Ravayu misses Candlekeep.
As a result, he collects every book he can find, and stores them in his, and his partymates' inventories. At least until such a time as he was outvoted and forced to cut it down to only one copy of each book.
2: Neera is not permitted to cast spells within 10' of Dorn, on pain of death.
As a corollary, nobody is permitted to say what happened in the Carnival tent. On pain of death.
3: Kagain is not allowed to haggle.
When Kagain is allowed to haggle, he always refuses to pay anything whatsoever, and demands the highest reward possible.
4: Keepin' a log.
Ravayu's adventures, where he deems them notable, all get noted down in his personal journal, from his own point of view. It's up to about 8,000 words now, and it's just coming into Chapter III. It's actually quite engaging.
5: Ravayu is sickly.
Rav's terrible, terrible Con stat means he must always keep a staff in his inventory (his walking stick), and takes every opportunity to rest at an inn, sometimes for days at a time as he and Neera work on identifying their newfound loot.
6: Red Wizards die on sight.
Yes, all of them.
every red wizard huh, that must be quite a bit of work, do you have a collection of their cloaks?
My goal when I get BG:EE is to finish the game for once and keep a journal of the whole thing.
We go back in and Jaheira has killed an innocent and turns on us which led to dead Jahiera - Khalid didn't think she would be able to live with the shame so instead of bringing her back we donated 200 gold to the temple in her name and buried her outside of town in the shade of a small pine tree at the edge of a farmers field -
Oddly enough as we were digging the grave we found a fully functional set of ankeg armor - Khalid said Jahiera sent it to let us know we did the right thing...
I'm also pretty sure you're the one who inspired me to do so, so.... Kudos?
@creator1629 He would, but that would imply their cloaks weren't on fire enough.
@tyl998 No comment.