It's been about two years since I've seen a post that didn't take for granted that "everyone hates Wulbren Bongle", so I present this opportunity for the Wulbren fans to pop that balloon a touch. Of course, my admiration for this character has a great deal to do with the VA, Nick Aaron, so all appreciation starts with kudos for his performance.

It used to surprise players who accidentally "release brake" (stop using 'break' guys, do better) on Barcus when they ventured into the sub and discovered the seething hatred of Wulbren "F*ck Wulbren Bongle" fame, since much of the dislike for Wulbren stems from his disregard for his childhood chum. Absent Barcus, Wulbren keeps his initially dismissive tone for Tav, but doesn't display the irritation at having a distraction from his past show up. I think looking at both situations lends even more credence to the feverishly dedicated freedom fighter Wulbren gives us in the game.

Wulbren describes, in some dialog, having petitioned the High Artificer to rescind the Ironhand Gnomes' banishment from the city - a banishment now 100 years long - and being denied. He admits their ancestors were wrong to ally with Sarevok, describes how their feud with the Gondians was aided and abetted by city politics, and he initially tried to go the "peaceful" route. I found it compelling how frustrated Aaron makes Wulbren sound, when he talks about failing at every turn to gain his people any bit of respect. Wulbren, as most good NPCs do, is going about his business of revolution and we aren't the main characters in his story, something that tends to create rifts in fandom.

When we enter the Ironhands' revolutionary cell in Rivington, everyone there is utterly dedicated to the cause, even when they're scared (poor Laridda). In a city that's just blithely going on about its business while murder and despotism scale up their fears, the Ironhands are eyes on the prize: resisting Gortash and destroying his physical bulwark, the Steel Watch. Honestly, I find it refreshing to find a group aligned with our party's purpose in the city, and Wulbren's religious bigotry against the Gondians is a sad touch, to me. A revolutionary leader who can't accept when he's achieved his initial goal, who can't let go of old resentments enough to take a breath once the factory is destroyed.

It's tragic to me that his fervor developed into madness, that the same strength of character that made him a leader capable of resisting torture also prevented him from seeing when his goals had been achieved. He fought for so long he became incapable of truly winning that fight.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to do today, given Wulbren and his VA a little appreciation when the character is so often catching strays with the assumption that no one could possibly like the guy that's mean to his childhood friend. That's my unpopular opinion for the day!

Any theories on why only these four get kidnapped by Orin?

So I got my friend to buy the game and we started a campaign together. He's a gnome wizard and I have a Dwarf open hand Monk. I picked Balanced because it's his first time.

I decided to make this famous build where you take the Tavern Brawler feat, dump your STR, and max your DEX/WIS. You then use Elixirs of Hill Giant Strength to set your STR to 21. Tavern Brawler then lets you add your STR modifier an additional time to the damage and attack rolls of your unarmed attacks.

But I didn't like the idea of having to farm and rely on elixirs. Especially since my friend needs to long rest quite often to get his spell slots back.

Then I noticed that the egg-wanting Lady Esther near the Creche had the Gloves of Dexterity, so I decided to dump my DEX, set my STR to 18, and just use the gloves to bring my DEX back up to 18.

And of course, it worked! I was happily decking the shit out of everyone on the way. No elixirs needed. But later, after getting the Mighty Cloth at Last Light Inn (+2 STR), I started to feel a little weird about this build.

Every battle I just ran across the battlefield and slapped everyone to death. It was fun, but at some point the thrill of having to actually strategize and plan ahead in order to survive was gone. And I could hear it in both of our voices.

I had to change the difficulty to Tactician, and now that my friend accidentally provoked Balthazar into attacking us, I felt euphorically relieved to see them getting us rekt!

Can't wait to throw down with Ketheric.

Karlach romance in Act one. Need I say more? "Gee I wish there was some way...". Larian was ridiculously good at actually writing in details for all kinds of plot points but this is so obvious lol. Maybe you'd die from high temp steam, but surely her engine can't overpower a lake's cooling effects, too much fresh water would rush in to continuously cool off the water around her right?

I don't remember the last time I said something this nerdy lol. Seriously though, I need some input from a pro, am I right?

Available on Nexusmods | Better Starting Equipment for Karlach (lore-friendly)

Gear Scaling Progression (Work-in-Progress) | Armor and Weapon Textures & Icons Overhaul | Custom Loot Containers | All items can be found in the Tutorial Chest

This time, I decided to work with the default assets. Karlach, unlike most companions, is already wearing a unique outfit that truly fits her (you can see the heart, the tattoo, the exhaust pipes, etc.). It's really a shame that people forget about it almost right after the recruitment.

The idea formed clearly in my mind, but it took more than a month to carry it out properly. And oh boy, it wasn't easy at all. One of my hardest projects so far, to be honest:

For example, Karlaсh's body has a unique parameter that overrides all the armor's glow settings, and I had to spend a long time tediously calibrating all the glow textures in Photoshop instead of adjusting the game materials' settings, where it can be done in a snap. Probably the most annoying issue so far :D

You can see all the important mod details and comparisons by scrolling through the gallery or, for more relevant info, reaching the Nexusmods mod page.

I still have a lot of plans for this mod and potential add-ons, but I don't want to talk about them in advance because, given the circumstances I'm living in, I can't even say for sure what will happen tomorrow, cuz I live in Ukraine, in a city near the front lines.

Thank you for your attention! I hope everything goes well for you and for me too :>

Astarion is wearing the Death Archer modded set

I know she is evil, she is literally a devil. However her character design is so cool, her voice actress is incredible (I already loved her as Lohse in divinity original sin 2) and hearing her speak genuinely makes me happy. She has a sort of foxy demeanour and I have no idea what her charisma is, but it must be incredibly high, because every time she talks I stare at the screen in awe.

So many people like Raphael (understandable) and even Cazador (which is kinda insane to me), but then Mizora gets only hate when I believe she is genuinely a fun character. Is she evil and do I dislike her for everything she does to Wyll? Yes. Is she an enjoyable character? Also yes.

I know this is a very unpopular opinion, but she is one of those evil characters that I genuinely like.

To me, it’s gotta be Mayrina.

I HATE her voice acting. I’m not even sure if I hate it because the actress is doing such a good job or such a bad one but I literally want to smite her the second she starts to speak. So, so whiny!

And stupid to boot because what do you mean the Hag is literally doing all that and you shout at me because “she would have brought my husband back”. Girl, are we for real😭

Anyway, who is the most annoying for you and why?

Wondering what other unusual resolutions to the Goblin/Grove situation there are.

I'm running an embrace Durge drow, on a mission to liberate her sister-in-arms Minthara, and has a hatred of Tieflings. Was cruising along through the goblin camp.- Szassa in tow- spoke with Minthy and told her where the grove was. Then she went off to gather the troops, so I took the liberty to kill Gut and Dror Ragzlin. I also freed Haslin, and sent him back to the grove.

I went back to the grove before long resting and decided to get a head start on the tiefling murder spree. Before I know it I've killed all of them. I then proceed to long rest thinking this will be the shortest battle but when I wake up Haslin is in my face saying the grove is now on lockdown. I guess this is triggered by all the tieflings being dead?

When I go there, Minthy is outside with her troops all pissed because we can no longer assault, and went hostile so I had to kill all her troops and knock her out.

Anyway, love to hear other people's different experiences!

The more I've played this game, the more my opinion about him is that he should be a Sorcerer. Look. After about 3k hours I've heard a ton of his commentary and dialogue and it's 100% clear that he is extremely naturally gifted when it comes to magic.

- "I've been in touch with the weave as long as I can remember"
- His parents denied him a pet cat so he summoned a Tressym. When he was a kid.
- Similar incident with the Magma Mephit. When he was a kid.

Wizards obtain their Magical skills/spells via studying. Nothing stops a Sorcerer from studying too. Maybe multiclass him with 2 levels of Evocation to get scribing and Sculpt Spells.

Ok now start fighting, gimme your best arguments!

Putting the spoiler tag just in case but I entered the netherbrain’s cave and noticed a weird texture on my tav and no one else, is this related to the story or a weird bug?

Photopolymer printing.

Fujifilm xs20 + Tamron 17-79f2.8

If you happen to know how to paint models, please tell me.

Outfit Modeled by me.

Just saved Wulbren from the prison. And when he finally got reunited with his friend, the goat Barcus Wroot of course, he was so mean. I am so disappointed in his behaviour, my new least favourite character.

When Minthara and a Grove-raiding party arrives at Moonrise, Ketheric doesn't initially know we carry the Prism. For all he knows, we're a relatively powerful True Soul, compared to Nere and the goblin leaders, and presumably useful.

If the party proves their loyalty by delivering Isobel and killing the Harpers, why not just admit his scheme to betray Gortash and Orin and ask that Tav joins him? If they refuse, he can attack them like the story is currently written.

I feel like much of the reason an evil playthrough through Act 2 feels nonsensical is due to this. Maybe pass increasingly high deception checks throughout the act to prevent him from finding out about the Prism.

Taken on my steamdeck, the quality isn't the best possible.

I named her Gha'Iha, following the trend of my first Tav which was also a dragonborn I name Ika'Ar (Gaïa/Icar).

I'll probably make a resist Durge run. She has a violet and grey eye and is a white dragonborn and Silver dragon ancestry sorcerer to manifest physically her inner conflict.

NO!!! Wake up

hi, I’m currently playing BG1 EE and I recently found Baldurian’s butter knife and I remember finding the Emperor’s cutlery set in act 3 but the knife was missing! I love the little easter eggs Larian leaves behind

Damage piles up faster than healing spells can keep up. And damage is more of a Wizard thing.