[Spoiler]what type of character embodies the concept of the game the best?
Matthieu
Member Posts: 386
Weird title but I tried hard to avoid putting the word bhaalspawn in. So now we avoided spoiling that to the 1% of members here who may still ignore the main character is a child of Bhaal, here's the question.
What kind of character embodies the bhaalspawn concept the best.
So here's my take:
First the race. Since Bhaal is a human pantheon god it's quite safe to assume he was human before ascending to godhood. Which means his children must be either humans or half-elf or half-orc. Seems extremely hard to justify a dward, elf, gnome or halfling. I know the game shows others like a giant, a half-dragon (note the half thing there) or even a kobold (Baldur's Gate ending video), but if we are pedantic we are limited in choice.
Then the class, I believe classes that takes power from a greater being do a shit job at making a bhaalspawn. The bhaalspawn is supposed to be powerful by itself, from the divine heritage. So cleric, druids, paladins and rangers are hard to justify. Of course you can still justify it as making the difference with other bhaalspawn in a way.
So was my blackguard to Irenicus "you were so much weaker than Sarevok, how comes you defeated him?" (yeah well I fucking had a demon patron to help me but am not telling you...)
No really, I think classes which take their power spontaneously are the best here. Monks, sorcerers, barbarians, shamans (nope shamans don't take their powers from spirits, it's the opposite relationship, they have a limited control over them).
And of course... there's the assassin kit.
What kind of character embodies the bhaalspawn concept the best.
So here's my take:
First the race. Since Bhaal is a human pantheon god it's quite safe to assume he was human before ascending to godhood. Which means his children must be either humans or half-elf or half-orc. Seems extremely hard to justify a dward, elf, gnome or halfling. I know the game shows others like a giant, a half-dragon (note the half thing there) or even a kobold (Baldur's Gate ending video), but if we are pedantic we are limited in choice.
Then the class, I believe classes that takes power from a greater being do a shit job at making a bhaalspawn. The bhaalspawn is supposed to be powerful by itself, from the divine heritage. So cleric, druids, paladins and rangers are hard to justify. Of course you can still justify it as making the difference with other bhaalspawn in a way.
So was my blackguard to Irenicus "you were so much weaker than Sarevok, how comes you defeated him?" (yeah well I fucking had a demon patron to help me but am not telling you...)
No really, I think classes which take their power spontaneously are the best here. Monks, sorcerers, barbarians, shamans (nope shamans don't take their powers from spirits, it's the opposite relationship, they have a limited control over them).
And of course... there's the assassin kit.
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Comments
The Bhaal essence eventually expresses itself in becoming The Slayer, so it seems to not manifest until after adolescence, and sometimes not at all. (Witness Imoen, and the weak, frightened Bhaalspawn living in Saradush.) So I also think any character class is feasible independently of the presence of Bhaal essence.
I play my clerics that their god considers it a pleasure to take one of Bhaal's children as a devout worshiper and therefore deny him that bit of soul-power.
Assassin (God of Murder and all) would be an obvious choice, however, it doesnt match a Candlekeep upbringing (who in Candlekeep would train him?).
A wizard or bard would probably be more ideal since the character being surrounded by vast amounts of knoweldge, leaning more towards bard due to the jack of all trades aspect of the class.
Sorcerer would also work, having the divine essence as the reason as being able to cast spells.
So either a sorcerer or bard.
Since its 20 years after the Times of Trouble, longer to mature races such as dwarves and elves would also not fit well.
So IMO, human bard or sorcerer would fit the best.
Anyways in general the games more or less assume you are playing as a good-aligned human fighter. It's not really in-your-face but Charname's dialogue options tend to show a rather limited understanding of magic and, well, subtlety in general.
SoD allows you to show off your class at least, which is a very good thing.
Bhaal spawned with all races, so race and gender can be anything for the protagonist.
Until protagonist becomes adult, the impact of the essence of Bhaal within has no impact, PC was educated by the monks of Candlekeep and is stepchild of Gorion. But PC is also a strong personality. This means that any alignment would be allowed. You can follow Gorion's example of rebel against it.
Sometimes the game/quests/sub quests appear like written with a protagonist who stays *good* as much as possible and follow Gorion's path. This is not set in stone. You can play it anyway you feel like, it doesn't break the game or role playing.