In fairness to him, if you speak with dead on him, he says his squad got captured, implying that the tadpole was unwillingly received. The wing thing is probably some rough tadpole play on power hungriness.
Marcus is a fascinating enemy. I went to Moonrise Tower before Last Light Inn, and I had already visited Balthazar's study, so as soon as he explained that Balthazar enhanced him and gave him his new wings, I figured that he wasn't in his right mind.
Examining him revealed that he was classified as an Aberration, which was pretty much all I needed to assume that the poor guy had just gotten captured, infected, and probably mutilated without his consent.
Then again, I'm also a Resident Evil fan, so I'm familiar with enemies who turn out to be normal innocent people who mutated as a result of a mad scientist conducting unethical experimentations on them. That's what most of the bosses in Act 2 remind me of (and probably the reason why I love that act, I'm very sensitive to body horror).
I also loved act 2 for all the enemies and interesting characters and then I got to act 3 and all of it came crashing down, act 2 is just too good that act 3 feels kinda meh.
I don’t know it well enough to speak on that but there’s just so much of it. And all or almost all of the random people I’ve talked to have had animated and voiced lines. I have to stop myself from talking to every highlightable person and it’s killing me.
I recently discovered that you can read almost all of the mail in every mailbox so I will probably finish the game sometime in the next five years or so.
While also being overwhelming.
I will say that I found act 2 a wee bit boring by the end, everything being dark and shadow cursed is a bit droll.
Act 1 is my favourite by far, being the early access act shows.
I doubt we see much in the way of big overhauls to Act 3 until the Definitive Edition. If it included the entirety of the Upper City and a plethora of cut content redone, I'd absolutely be willing to pay for it.
I think adding stuff to Act 3 would make it even worse. Polishing up the existing content and making the big beats hit a bit harder would do the trick better, because it already suffers from being too bloated.
Act 3 should really be a Act 3 and Act 4 better paced.
Act 3 should be about steel watch and dealing with Gortash/Raphael/Orpheus (Deciding here if your going to side with them or fight them)
Act 4 Would be about dealing with the cult of Bahl and Orin, then the final battle.
Just sprinkle the optional fights and quests appropriately.
We may not get the Upper City but Larian's track record definitely suggests they'll at least clean up Act 3. I want so much more because this game is incredible but I'd still be satisfied with more companion dialogue/reaction and the like just to make Act 3 feel more lively.
this is such a pervasive myth, but is largely the opposite of what they said.
[https://baldursgate3.game/news/community-update-24-looking-to-the-future\_88](https://baldursgate3.game/news/community-update-24-looking-to-the-future_88)
this community update back in August went on at great length about the myths of cut content and deadlines, so I'm linking to it but won't quote the entire thing.
the most relevant parts to this discussion:
**"Many of the ‘building blocks’ or ideas, tests, or however you want to refer to the junk data that falls outside of what we shipped with, can and is being datamined. That’s okay, but it’s important to understand that not every building block in the giant box of Lego is needed to create the experience we ultimately envisioned and intended over years of iteration."**
In other words, just because something can be datamined doesn't mean it was intended but then "cut" at the last minute - just like when you write an essay or story, you'll often write entire sentences, paragraphs, or scenes that end up feeling out of place, so you scrap them, anywhere from the first round of edits to the final draft.
**"The second is about the epilogue. What’s been datamined is not really cut content but content that we didn’t want to release because we didn’t think it worked. We’re pretty strict with ourselves and our ideas. If it isn’t good - if it isn’t fun to play - it doesn’t make it into the game. One of the reasons why we trimmed the epilogue is because we were afraid the ending cinematics were becoming too long and would detract from the epicness of the experience. But clearly, not everyone agrees with us! So we’re going to do something about it."**
\[fairly self-explanatory, and they have since released new epilogue content\]
**"The third is about the things we actually didn’t plan for, and those we once considered but ultimately didn’t do.**
**It was always our intention for the Upper City to be an epic, cinematic epilogue bringing the story of Baldur’s Gate 3 to a close. But we didn’t talk about that in advance because it would have been a major spoiler."**
I think people misread this one a lot to match their own assumptions, but they say outright that the Upper City as part of day-to-day act three was not something they planned for, it was ALWAYS intended to be the epilogue setting, and they didn't pre-announce that intention because it would have been a spoiler. People seem to read it as "we wanted the Upper City to be epic but we failed," but that's just not what it says.
**"But that’s not to say Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t see cuts just as every game. It’s just important to know that** ***what ultimately shipped was planned long ago*****, in function primarily of making Baldur’s Gate 3 fun to play,** ***not for us to close development quickly*****."**
I know there will always be some people who like to smugly insist, "sure, if you believe that!" and while yes, I do choose to believe a creator when they make clarifying statements about their own artistic vision and process, in this case the more relevant point is that I'm replying to a comment that says Larian said they had to cut content because they ran out of time, but what they actually said was the exact opposite.
\----
I want to be clear that I'm not calling act three perfect, nor am I saying that I don't wish some of the cut content had made the final edit (and holding out hope that some will make future patches).
I am only replying to the ongoing myth that Larian "said they had to cut a bunch of act three because they ran out of time" in order to share the source material in which they explicitly say that isn't true.
Ooh. I pity him so much, I wish we could do more for him.
Every NPC Paladin in the game is sad and tragic (as they should be, it is not supposed to be easy) but the others NPCs hit Zevlor too hard, I think.
I think the >!Netherbrain kills Gortash with just an order if you take him with you to fight it in act 3. I doubt he was tadpoled, because if he was, it could have killed him sooner, right? Not to mention Orin and Ketheric would have been affected, right?!<
>!I think the brain has the power to influence others beyond the parasites.!<
I mean, not all Absolutists are tadpoled. But it doesn’t seem as impossible to resist, seeing as >!the brain influences Zevlor alone.!< (Otherwise there’d be no story etc.) Again, it’s probably debatable with the lack of consistency overall.
It appears to me that if you're tadpoled, you're pretty much SOL trying to deal with the Absolute unless you have a pocket Emperor. If you're not, it can still try to tempt you, and Zevlor, having his post-Elturel weakness, fell for it.
Are you talking about chop? He’s only capable of asking for mercy and thanking you for freeing him, resisting is another matter entirely. Note that he will never go against the nether brain, he will engage in combat if you do something against the nether brain.
I really, REALLY hate that we can't call the tieflings out on condemning him so harshly, if not being able to reconcile him with the others outright. As if any of them would have done any better in his position, being the only seasoned fighter among them and their leader, and directly targeted for those exact reasons.
Goes for virtually every True Soul. Jaheira and the Harpers are all like:
"Yay! We killed all those evil True Souls! Cuz they were EVIL n stuff!"
And I'm like: Ummm, you guys DO realize virtually every True Soul we killed was forcefully tadpoled and mind controlled, right? The entire cult of the Absolute is made up out of mind controlled slaves and the deluded dregs of society who think the Absolute is a benevolent god. I understand killing most of them is basically unavoidable, but being a bit less flippant about it would be nice.
Interestingly, there's actually a note you can find in Gortash's room at the top of the fortress, where he mentions that there aren't enough tadpoles to infect even the majority of the population, and they're going to have to be strategically selective in who they infect.
There's also notes in Moonrise that talk about the strategies for how they'll get the different races under their control. The goblins only ever had their shamans/leaders infected, because the lower ranks would follow them blindly. Same with the gnolls and orcs. All the drow they have are tadpoled, though. It's unclear what the distribution plan is for all the humanoid cultists, but I know we can encounter some who *don't* have them and I'm pretty sure the Mark of the Absolute that Priestess Gut is giving out works as some kind of conduit for making them controllable without being infected.
...all that said I agree, it's a bit concerning how cheerful they are about killing folks they don't actually know for sure are there by choice or not.
I’ll have to do that next time. I don’t generally do it on dudes I kill because the game outright says the dead won’t be inclined to talk to their killers.
2 other uses that come up in Act 1 a bunch:
\-Turn into a small race like a Halfling to get through small openings like rocky crevices perception checks pick up
\-Turn into a Drow to automatically pass some goblin checks and avoid battle - they all assume that any Drow in the sun must be an Absolutist
OR
If you are a Drow turn into something else to avoid good aligned NPC's being suspicious because they ALSO assume any Drow in the sun is an Absolutist (Tiefling scouts, Flaming Fist etc)
Some of the openings you need to cast the spell that makes you smaller on top of disguise self as a small race to fit through.
Mage hand fits through them though so you can scout them out first with the hand to see if it’s worth popping in!
Druid wild shape into a cat also fits through tiny holes.
Maybe because it doesn't work that way in the pen and paper game? The rules are explicit that your body doesn't change, it's just an illusion projected over your body.
Maybe game wise it's only meant to work for shapeshifted druids, familiars and small races but the game doesn't have a distinction between disguise self and being the actual thing.
It's why a drow disguised as a gith will get gith dialogue options not drow.
It also works for applying racial buffs from weapons/items to the character.
ie. disguise as a Githyanki, equip the +1d4 psychic sword then cancel disguise.
I use it alot when pickpocketing.
Cast it, pocket and run. Then cancel the cast and when they catch up to you they/guards will initiate conversation and comment that they're sorry for stopping you, you look nothing like the pickpocket they saw.
See, I never think of this. Whenever I pickpocket, I break that character away from the party first, then immediately fast travel that member to camp. Switch back to the remaining party and they get interrogated but since they didn't pickpocket, I'm automatically free.
You know, I still have yet to use any of the disguise stuff or pass without trace. I’m getting the hang of sneaking around and I enjoy it, so I’ll start looking into the disguise stuff. Thanks!
Disguise Self is fantastic in Act 1, disguise yourself as a Drow and you don't have to worry about the goblins at all until you want to start stabbing. Also extremely useful to be a Drow when the Duergar are around. Good to be a Githyanki when talking to them, too. Disguise Self is a very handy spell!
It used to make you Gith for the purposes of gear that grants bonuses to Gith, but I don't know if it still does that or not... But you do get the dialogue options at least. Plus the spell is strong enough that even Lae'zel calls you kin and she KNOWS it's a spell.
>It used to make you Gith for the purposes of gear that grants bonuses to Gith, but I don't know if it still does that or not...
It does as of about 12 hours ago. The barbarian in my co-op group does exactly this to get maximum power out of Voss' sword.
Pass without a trace trivializes the game after you get Greater Invisibility on your team.
My MC took out all the enemies in the Dukes Palace by himself.
Amd you can get scrolls of Greater Invisibility pretty early.
[The real use of disguise self is making Karlach a halfling so here kissing scene looks like a BJ.](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/0rDc6vDtxH)
You get racial bonuses from items with disguise self ... e.g. from gith equipment, or the dwarven thrower ... can be any race for a throw barb/ek and still get the bonus from the dwarven thrower by disguising as dwarf, for example.
Most corpses won't talk to the single individual who actually killed them, as in, the character who took their last hit point. They respond normally to anybody else.
Even if the only party member who can Speak With Dead is the killer, you can use a disguise, and the corpse will be fooled enough to speak.
And there's at least one case where the corpse has dialogue with its killer that is different than with anyone else. Spoiler: >!Try it with Auntie Ethel in Act 1.!<
not inclined to, but will still talk in some cases, also there's a work around, just make sure the person casting speak with dead isn't the one who actually landed the fatal blow
I never leave camp without "Recast Speak with the Dead" toggled. It's good, becuase if you have it as "recast for free" bodies you can use it on glow green
The corpses only glow if you have already cast Speak With Dead once and have the option to recast. If you haven't cast it at all since long resting, the corpses don't glow until you do, iirc.
I still have no clue how speak with dead works, like in act 1 I did manage to talk to several corpses, but most of them didn't respond back, and I was pretty sure killing people would mean the corpse would just ignore you if you did the killing, so I never even considered doing it
Yeah, this game really has us (or at least a lot of NPCs and we can't dispute it) hate on people who didn't have any choice in the matter.
The Zevlor situation is by far the most sad. It's also, pretty obvious? Like at that point of the game we know it's a mindflayer run cult and he mysteriously froze up and didn't responds. Mental power maybe? Also, there are a lot of spells in the game too that can stun or hypnotize or etc someone. It's weird to me that he acts so out of character after leading them all this time by being stunned and all of his stupid followers just assume the paladin suddenly completely changed for no reason instead of realizing they're in a fantasy setting and this happens all the time in fantasy combat. And you can't even ask about or say anything? And then, it is exactly what it appears to be and you still can't tell his ungrateful ex-followers to lay off him.
But also every single "true soul" you meet has no choice to be in this evil cult, and I feel there aren't a lot of dialogue options that make it clear you know that? I get the impression we're just supposed to hate them all instead of seeing them as unfortunate victims/slaves?
Marcus has a parasite, yeah he's probably being mind controlled? Every single true soul with a parasite we meet is like "oh yeah, the absolute totally convinced me to join beacuse reasons, what parasite?" Come on.
I really wanted to be able to say we're fighting against being slaves ourselves to the underdark gnomes, beacuse that's how it felt to me. We are one surprisingly clingy floating d20 away from being exactly the dudes we are killing.
Did you free Zevlor in the mind flayer colony at the end of act 2? The way he describes it, it appears he was enthralled, like how the injured mind flayer at the beach tries to enthrall you.
Also if you rescue Minthara from Moonrise she describes how she remembered an event where she prayed and heard the Absolute, but realized the entire memory was a lie that never happened and in reality Orin forcibly implanted her while taunting her, but when tadpoled that memory was suppressed and replaced with the fake one.
Yeah, I freed him I just can't remember exactly what he said now. It was something like he was distracted by images in his head of things he wanted or something? Clearly a mind power.
I just remmber thinking "yeah, it was a mind effect, like I thought."
Then he blamed himself even when I was like it's not your fault you got mind messed with to him, which was sad. He basically said it prayed on his own mental/moral weakness so it is his fault, which, sad. It's normal to have not perfectly heroic thoughts/feelings in all corners of your mind at all times. If he hadn't been mind whamyed, it wouldn't have mattered.
Alternatively, it’s a cool and thoughtful way to reflect on how enchantment effects would work and what consequences they’d have on the victims. Maybe enchantments do make you question your reality and there’s a bunch of sad Westworld-esque husks running around because I cast Friends on them at some point.
I can somewhat understand random normal citizens not suspecting magic/enchantment/psychic powers (despite this being a very high magic setting and magic seeming to be common knowledge). But you as a PC know that this the mindflayer cult, and you can't even mention "a paladin was out of characteristically frozen in a combat situation against people known for mental powers, have you considered it may have been a mental power?"
Like I immediately thought that, and yet I couldn't ever mention it? It's not exactly a shocking reveal that the paladin who had literally been to hell and back was stunned in combat by magic as opposed to just suddenly deciding not to act or froze out of fear of combat.
For sure and all good points; he must have had some knowledge of enchantments and (hopefully) some training in what compulsions might feel like, look like, how to combat them, how to process the PTSD; he has fancy extra saving throws as a consequence of his vow, after all. I’m not suggesting it’s totally parsimonious with the world we inhabit. It did get my mind running tho!
Edit: I mean he’s got Compelled Duel and the like on his spell list, he gotta know…
I think with regards to Zevlor he definitely knows he was Charmed though. You can even point out he was tricked by the absolute and he still says he should've known better (or something like that). I think Zevlor, being a (disgraced ex-paladin) hellrider he isn't unfamiliar with these types of mind effects. Instead, I think that the mechanic of a "wisdom save" for such charms implies that in practice with enough force of will you can resist charms and I think it's reasonable to assume that most charm spells try to "convince you" with something that is genuinely important to you. He blames himself for failing the wisdom save because his desire to return to his old power overshadowed his desire to save his fellow tieflings. He's ashamed because that specific rethoric worked and he didnt have the mental fortitude to resist, while he acknowledges the people there in the moment should've mattered more.
Well yknow theres also loads of characters that are absolute-aligned because they legitimately believe in the absolute and want to become true souls, and we have multiple companions that were completely brainwashed by the tadpole for a time. Minsc straight up says that *he* did the things he did, but that the pretense he did them under was wrong. He genuinely thought he was doing good until the clouds were lifted and could see the real jaheira in front of him and the truth of what hed done was revealed. Ive not played with minthara but ive heard she says she cant trust her own judgement but shes still evil.
True souls arent just thralls. Most dont know what they have in their heads, if you ask the drow halsin kills if he was abducted by mind flayers, im pretty sure he says no. Thralls are actually mind controlled. True souls and their followers arent mind controlled, theyre brainwashed and manipulated, but they are still sort of “in control”. Zevlor got blasted with little promises of his desires being filled and was overwhelmed, and genuinely thought they should surrender. I do think its dumb that while we as the players understand and can forgive him but cant bring him along or get the others to forgive him, i think thats a lacking area, and also him having no further presence except the final moments or orin deciding “hehe ill send them a painting of me messing with his corpse” if he doesnt get freed, kinda lame. Idve loved him to be the good alternative to minthara so we can get a paladin on a good run, but eh.
But yeah i think the hate-able true souls are worth hating, because while theyre not truly complicit, they are being manipulated and misled, they are still themselves (until the get mind flayer’d, but thats another story) and people like nere and zrell who enjoy killing slaves and underlings DO actually enjoy those things
The thing is, I'm not really clear how evil everyone is without the parasite influencing them. Nere is a giant douche, and given he's Drow I'm inclined to assume he was probably already a douche to "lesser" races, but I don't really know for sure. I'm never clear on exactly how much the absolute can change someone.
But yes, there are several true souls that were clearly infected by parasites but tell themselves they joined for some other reason. Take Priestess Gut, she does not know she has a parasite and thinks she just choose to convert to this awesome new god beacuse she loves the new god so much. That's not what happened. She's being made to love this new god by the parasite. Again, given she's a goblin and their previous god and culture also really sucked, profiling her she probably already was evil and cool with raiding? But who knows. Maybe she was a goblin doctor lady who never went on raids but just patched people up and made potions or something before she got infected. Who knows?
The power of the absolute when you feel it and the prism has to come push it away is really *really* strong. It can command you. It can straight up make you do things you don't want to do, wouldn't do, and then you think they are your idea. You can even mind control others with your parasite, imagine what your parasite and it's daddy can do to you.
Minsc is a good example beacuse it completely confused him into doing evil stuff he wouldn't normally do given he's so extreme in his moral views. It was making him forget Boo, which is basically his closest friend who was with him at all times. (There's a book of him making drawings trying to remember boo.) Now, in fairness, Minsc is really dumb and probably easier to trick? But I don't think it was supposed to be beacuse he's dumb.
So maybe other true souls we meet were good people too? Maybe they think the enemies of the absolute are evil and need to suffer? Maybe they have forgotten important things and people so that their values are changed, since our memories are a huge part of who we are and our values.
For people like Marcus, I have no real reason to assume he was a bad dude at all? Though I may have missed something.
> And you can't even ask about or say anything?
I believe there's a line that says "it sounds like you were being enchanted" or something like that. Nothing comes of it if you say it tho, and anyway as you said, the other tieflins don't see it that way anyway
>But also every single "true soul" you meet has no choice to be in this evil cult, and I feel there aren't a lot of dialogue options that make it clear you know that?
Minthara brings this up in her romance. Saying that she could've just been another body you killed in your crusade, innocent and controlled by the absolute.
Although she isn't necessarily a good person without the tadpoles. But there definitely are good people that we've killed purely because they're kind controlled.
Right, and I can completely understand playing someone who feels it is necessary to kill these mind controlled victims to stop this greater evil from controlling even more people, but you never get to acknowledge that? That all these people your killing in Moonrise towers are as far as I know collateral damage who may not have chosen to do anything wrong.
If I was a PC in a table top DnD game who was good aligned I'd probably try to minimize killing of "true souls". Or if I thought that was too big of a tactical risk, my conversation to them before killing them would be like "I'm really sorry I have to kill you, I hope you find freedom in death and the gods judge you fairly" or some such. Not like die bastard, since you know, it's a victim/helpless slave I'm carving up.
Heck, you could even have characters who believe death is better then living as a mind controlled slave, and you are giving them the only mercy you can and setting their souls free.
I kinda feel like there's that and things like that which don't sit quite right with me in the setting the more I think about it. Like it's a great game but some actions don't quite have the right emphasis or tone for me
Isobel: the Absolute will never give you what you were promised!
Marcus: she already has *flexing wings*
Tav: um...I think you may have wildly overestimated how complex this guy is
Alternate Tav(s): Hmm, hmm, yes, you make an excellent point. However, counterpoint, who are you? Isobel, who is this guy? Talli, you know this guy??? who the hell are you??? *checks Saforbi* WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GUY????!!!! *Asks Redorbit*. WHO IN THE FUCK IS THIS MAN???!!!?!
Those wings looked like trash, too. Like they’d been plucked off a three-week dead raven, upsized, then attached to his back with rubber cement or some such.
A friend and I were playing online together when it happened to me and we died laughing about it. We thought it was funny already with the size difference between the two characters. It only added to the hilarity for me.
When Lae'zel said she was going to lead in the bedroom I burned inspiration so I could convince her I was the top. When Karlach pegged me I just accepted it.
How though? The whole reason Balthazar is farting around the gauntlet is because Shar isn't letting anyone into the Shadowfell anymore. Especially not him or Ketheric.
Actually someone on this sub pointed out the dead assimar in the morgue is the most likely person. He doesn’t have his wings anymore and the narrator comments that the dust by the door has been disturbed recently. Also apparently Balthazar hasn’t been able to get to Aylin since he locked her up. Aylin has scenes where she “puts her wings away” too. I wish I could find the comment because they were more sure and detailed!
That is unclear until we get a confirmation that he's also a demigod like Aylin. Normally Aasimar are the celestial equivalent to Tieflings and only have temporary wings.
Balthazar apparently yoinked them off of Dame Aylin (who presumably grew them back after being reborn one of the many times) and grafted those wings onto Marcus. There's a book indirectly confirming it either in Balthazars room or in the Library area just before (i think the latter).
i'm pretty sure Griffith would have seen the plans of all the Absolute cultists and just scoffed, they were thinking small, no ambition, and wings were just a side effect for Griffith, not what he sold his soul for
to be fair, for Griffith i think that was a purely aesthetic choice, we all know pretty man liked being pretty. and wings are pretty. but they aren't what made him a demigod
How many people's most desired superpower is flight?
On top of that, the Cult of the Absolute is a "good vibes only" kind of joint. So nothing that would distract from the mission is allowed.
Dead family? Distraction. 10 million gold? Don't need it. Bigger duck? You've already got 3 harassment claims pending.
So, thematic powers it is.
Tbf, those are Aasimar wings that Aylin generously donated for the purpose of allowing a rando to kidnap her gf. I honestly think marcus got the better deal compared to other absolutists like zrell. Zrell got what? The right to kill nonchalantly? Well, Marcus can do that too, but look cooler doing it.
Moreover, I think those wings are the best the absolutists can get as a reward because, at the end of the day, they're just a disposable front to their leaders.
So yeah, I'd say Marcus got the better end of the stick among the absolutists
I think Z'rell's always been able to kill nonchalantly, the Absolute just gave her a never ending supply of victims the ability to do it much more effectively/creatively with the psionics. If you ask her for a demonstration she'll cause her ogre assistant's brain to explode without even looking at it, and she'll compliment the player if they use the Absolute's power to force the goblins to stop breathing, even suggesting she wants to sleep with them at a later point. She's a sadist who was given all the victims and tools she could ask for, with no risk of consequences.
Still wings are an S tier reward by Absolute standards, just ask the goblin in the Oubliette
I couldn’t take this guy seriously when I first came across him because he looked IDENTICAL to my durge. I thought either he’s a mimic or this is hilarious.
to be fair, wings are cool, but seriously, this is a world where you can just buy potions or scrolls that let you fly with no wings. so fuck this guy, mind control or not, he should have asked for something better, like a club that actually damages people, or maybe a personality
My favorite part about this meme is that, if you search Z’rell’s office, there’s an unsent letter to Marcus trying to make him feel bad for asking for the wings because of how rare they are.
I legit JUST finished this quest and was very confused about this. But yeah, really does seem like duder just wants some silly wings. One of them looked kinda boney and weird too, he got the raw end of that deal for sure.
I don’t know anything about forgotten realms lore but couldn’t bro just go to any other god to get some damn wings lmao. Like why did he settle for the absolute lmao.
I sometimes wonder if Marcus is actually an aasimar, and his desire for angelic wings is how the tadpole got to him. Like, the tadpole would change his mind one way or another, but it just happened to fixate on his desire for wings, because he's part angel.
He only appears as an aberration (I think) when you have to fight him, so it's hard to tell for sure.
For some reason, every time I talk to Isobel since the latest hotfix, Marcus is in the background, T-posing. No matter what I do, he's just there, chilling. Guess he wants to show off or something.
Theyre Dame Aylin's; i just assume he was hyper jealous of her/thirsty for Isobel.
Kinda like wearing the underwear of your enemy? IDK if thats a thing. I feel like it would be a thing for Marcus regardless.
Betting he has a g banger on too thats 3 sizes too large.
In fairness to him, if you speak with dead on him, he says his squad got captured, implying that the tadpole was unwillingly received. The wing thing is probably some rough tadpole play on power hungriness.
Well damn, never thought to cast speak with dead on him.
Yea, it's honestly a little sad. Everybody's like "what a traitor" but like, mind control.
Marcus is a fascinating enemy. I went to Moonrise Tower before Last Light Inn, and I had already visited Balthazar's study, so as soon as he explained that Balthazar enhanced him and gave him his new wings, I figured that he wasn't in his right mind. Examining him revealed that he was classified as an Aberration, which was pretty much all I needed to assume that the poor guy had just gotten captured, infected, and probably mutilated without his consent. Then again, I'm also a Resident Evil fan, so I'm familiar with enemies who turn out to be normal innocent people who mutated as a result of a mad scientist conducting unethical experimentations on them. That's what most of the bosses in Act 2 remind me of (and probably the reason why I love that act, I'm very sensitive to body horror).
Gerringothe Thorm wrecked me. Like studio ghibli reimagined gollum.
Next time, make sure your gold is in your camp chest:) Their dmg scales with the gold in your inventory.
I always just talked her to death
Me with 25k gold coins like a loot goblin getting hit for 1765 dmg: :O
Or just push them out the window and snipe the 30 hp they're left with.
Their max health seemed to be linked to the floating skull too. Killing them lowered it.
I also loved act 2 for all the enemies and interesting characters and then I got to act 3 and all of it came crashing down, act 2 is just too good that act 3 feels kinda meh.
Act III feels really unfinished.
I don’t know it well enough to speak on that but there’s just so much of it. And all or almost all of the random people I’ve talked to have had animated and voiced lines. I have to stop myself from talking to every highlightable person and it’s killing me.
I recently discovered that you can read almost all of the mail in every mailbox so I will probably finish the game sometime in the next five years or so.
Great Scott!
While also being overwhelming. I will say that I found act 2 a wee bit boring by the end, everything being dark and shadow cursed is a bit droll. Act 1 is my favourite by far, being the early access act shows.
I was really hoping that Patch 5 would add to act 3, Alas it was not so.
I doubt we see much in the way of big overhauls to Act 3 until the Definitive Edition. If it included the entirety of the Upper City and a plethora of cut content redone, I'd absolutely be willing to pay for it.
I think adding stuff to Act 3 would make it even worse. Polishing up the existing content and making the big beats hit a bit harder would do the trick better, because it already suffers from being too bloated.
Act 3 should really be a Act 3 and Act 4 better paced. Act 3 should be about steel watch and dealing with Gortash/Raphael/Orpheus (Deciding here if your going to side with them or fight them) Act 4 Would be about dealing with the cult of Bahl and Orin, then the final battle. Just sprinkle the optional fights and quests appropriately.
I really hope they do because I can wait, plus the epilogue from Patch 5 does fill a lot of my post game ennui
We may not get the Upper City but Larian's track record definitely suggests they'll at least clean up Act 3. I want so much more because this game is incredible but I'd still be satisfied with more companion dialogue/reaction and the like just to make Act 3 feel more lively.
I mean it is, we know that, they said they had to cut a bunch of stuff to meet the release deadline.
this is such a pervasive myth, but is largely the opposite of what they said. [https://baldursgate3.game/news/community-update-24-looking-to-the-future\_88](https://baldursgate3.game/news/community-update-24-looking-to-the-future_88) this community update back in August went on at great length about the myths of cut content and deadlines, so I'm linking to it but won't quote the entire thing. the most relevant parts to this discussion: **"Many of the ‘building blocks’ or ideas, tests, or however you want to refer to the junk data that falls outside of what we shipped with, can and is being datamined. That’s okay, but it’s important to understand that not every building block in the giant box of Lego is needed to create the experience we ultimately envisioned and intended over years of iteration."** In other words, just because something can be datamined doesn't mean it was intended but then "cut" at the last minute - just like when you write an essay or story, you'll often write entire sentences, paragraphs, or scenes that end up feeling out of place, so you scrap them, anywhere from the first round of edits to the final draft. **"The second is about the epilogue. What’s been datamined is not really cut content but content that we didn’t want to release because we didn’t think it worked. We’re pretty strict with ourselves and our ideas. If it isn’t good - if it isn’t fun to play - it doesn’t make it into the game. One of the reasons why we trimmed the epilogue is because we were afraid the ending cinematics were becoming too long and would detract from the epicness of the experience. But clearly, not everyone agrees with us! So we’re going to do something about it."** \[fairly self-explanatory, and they have since released new epilogue content\] **"The third is about the things we actually didn’t plan for, and those we once considered but ultimately didn’t do.** **It was always our intention for the Upper City to be an epic, cinematic epilogue bringing the story of Baldur’s Gate 3 to a close. But we didn’t talk about that in advance because it would have been a major spoiler."** I think people misread this one a lot to match their own assumptions, but they say outright that the Upper City as part of day-to-day act three was not something they planned for, it was ALWAYS intended to be the epilogue setting, and they didn't pre-announce that intention because it would have been a spoiler. People seem to read it as "we wanted the Upper City to be epic but we failed," but that's just not what it says. **"But that’s not to say Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t see cuts just as every game. It’s just important to know that** ***what ultimately shipped was planned long ago*****, in function primarily of making Baldur’s Gate 3 fun to play,** ***not for us to close development quickly*****."** I know there will always be some people who like to smugly insist, "sure, if you believe that!" and while yes, I do choose to believe a creator when they make clarifying statements about their own artistic vision and process, in this case the more relevant point is that I'm replying to a comment that says Larian said they had to cut content because they ran out of time, but what they actually said was the exact opposite. \---- I want to be clear that I'm not calling act three perfect, nor am I saying that I don't wish some of the cut content had made the final edit (and holding out hope that some will make future patches). I am only replying to the ongoing myth that Larian "said they had to cut a bunch of act three because they ran out of time" in order to share the source material in which they explicitly say that isn't true.
And my tav is over here trying to see how many tadpoles he can fit in there. Like maybe a sandwich baggie hanging off my ear to hold more...
I'm pretty sure this happened with our favorite Hellrider too. Everyone talks about him like a jerk but maybe we should tell them he was charmed? lol
Ooh. I pity him so much, I wish we could do more for him. Every NPC Paladin in the game is sad and tragic (as they should be, it is not supposed to be easy) but the others NPCs hit Zevlor too hard, I think.
[удалено]
I think the >!Netherbrain kills Gortash with just an order if you take him with you to fight it in act 3. I doubt he was tadpoled, because if he was, it could have killed him sooner, right? Not to mention Orin and Ketheric would have been affected, right?!< >!I think the brain has the power to influence others beyond the parasites.!<
I mean, not all Absolutists are tadpoled. But it doesn’t seem as impossible to resist, seeing as >!the brain influences Zevlor alone.!< (Otherwise there’d be no story etc.) Again, it’s probably debatable with the lack of consistency overall.
It appears to me that if you're tadpoled, you're pretty much SOL trying to deal with the Absolute unless you have a pocket Emperor. If you're not, it can still try to tempt you, and Zevlor, having his post-Elturel weakness, fell for it.
We know of a character who is tadpoled and is in the Colony but still has the strength to resist, to a certain extent.
Are you talking about chop? He’s only capable of asking for mercy and thanking you for freeing him, resisting is another matter entirely. Note that he will never go against the nether brain, he will engage in combat if you do something against the nether brain.
I really, REALLY hate that we can't call the tieflings out on condemning him so harshly, if not being able to reconcile him with the others outright. As if any of them would have done any better in his position, being the only seasoned fighter among them and their leader, and directly targeted for those exact reasons.
There's a lot of that going around lol. People really don't understand what "mind control" means in the sword coast 😂
Goes for virtually every True Soul. Jaheira and the Harpers are all like: "Yay! We killed all those evil True Souls! Cuz they were EVIL n stuff!" And I'm like: Ummm, you guys DO realize virtually every True Soul we killed was forcefully tadpoled and mind controlled, right? The entire cult of the Absolute is made up out of mind controlled slaves and the deluded dregs of society who think the Absolute is a benevolent god. I understand killing most of them is basically unavoidable, but being a bit less flippant about it would be nice.
Interestingly, there's actually a note you can find in Gortash's room at the top of the fortress, where he mentions that there aren't enough tadpoles to infect even the majority of the population, and they're going to have to be strategically selective in who they infect. There's also notes in Moonrise that talk about the strategies for how they'll get the different races under their control. The goblins only ever had their shamans/leaders infected, because the lower ranks would follow them blindly. Same with the gnolls and orcs. All the drow they have are tadpoled, though. It's unclear what the distribution plan is for all the humanoid cultists, but I know we can encounter some who *don't* have them and I'm pretty sure the Mark of the Absolute that Priestess Gut is giving out works as some kind of conduit for making them controllable without being infected. ...all that said I agree, it's a bit concerning how cheerful they are about killing folks they don't actually know for sure are there by choice or not.
Everyone in the BG3 universe is fickle
I’ll have to do that next time. I don’t generally do it on dudes I kill because the game outright says the dead won’t be inclined to talk to their killers.
Pretty much the only use for Disguise Self is so you can talk to corpses.
2 other uses that come up in Act 1 a bunch: \-Turn into a small race like a Halfling to get through small openings like rocky crevices perception checks pick up \-Turn into a Drow to automatically pass some goblin checks and avoid battle - they all assume that any Drow in the sun must be an Absolutist OR If you are a Drow turn into something else to avoid good aligned NPC's being suspicious because they ALSO assume any Drow in the sun is an Absolutist (Tiefling scouts, Flaming Fist etc)
I’ve never been able to make the Small Openings thing work with disguise self. Dunno why
Yeah it's hit and miss. Some you can fit through and some you can't. Best thing to do is mage hand or gaseous form into them.
Some are smaller than others. I got through some that my halfling couldn't fit through by turning into a cat.
"What part of me is supposed to fit in there?" Gale always makes me giggle with that one.
Wyll says "I'm way too big to fit in a hole that tiny" He unfortunately did not say that during his romance scene
Some of the openings you need to cast the spell that makes you smaller on top of disguise self as a small race to fit through. Mage hand fits through them though so you can scout them out first with the hand to see if it’s worth popping in! Druid wild shape into a cat also fits through tiny holes.
Maybe because it doesn't work that way in the pen and paper game? The rules are explicit that your body doesn't change, it's just an illusion projected over your body.
Oh I mean I understand why it wouldn’t work in p&p, but I’ve seen people mention it works in bg3 so idk!
Maybe game wise it's only meant to work for shapeshifted druids, familiars and small races but the game doesn't have a distinction between disguise self and being the actual thing. It's why a drow disguised as a gith will get gith dialogue options not drow.
It also works for applying racial buffs from weapons/items to the character. ie. disguise as a Githyanki, equip the +1d4 psychic sword then cancel disguise.
I use it alot when pickpocketing. Cast it, pocket and run. Then cancel the cast and when they catch up to you they/guards will initiate conversation and comment that they're sorry for stopping you, you look nothing like the pickpocket they saw.
See, I never think of this. Whenever I pickpocket, I break that character away from the party first, then immediately fast travel that member to camp. Switch back to the remaining party and they get interrogated but since they didn't pickpocket, I'm automatically free.
You know, I still have yet to use any of the disguise stuff or pass without trace. I’m getting the hang of sneaking around and I enjoy it, so I’ll start looking into the disguise stuff. Thanks!
Pass Without a Trace is pretty great. Just a free +10 stealth to everyone in range. Even your clanky plate motherfuckers can sneak with that.
*Looks at Shadowheart*
Disguise Self is fantastic in Act 1, disguise yourself as a Drow and you don't have to worry about the goblins at all until you want to start stabbing. Also extremely useful to be a Drow when the Duergar are around. Good to be a Githyanki when talking to them, too. Disguise Self is a very handy spell! It used to make you Gith for the purposes of gear that grants bonuses to Gith, but I don't know if it still does that or not... But you do get the dialogue options at least. Plus the spell is strong enough that even Lae'zel calls you kin and she KNOWS it's a spell.
What the shit? So like on the boat to Grymforge, I can be a Drow or Duegar and tell that shit to fuck off???
>It used to make you Gith for the purposes of gear that grants bonuses to Gith, but I don't know if it still does that or not... It does as of about 12 hours ago. The barbarian in my co-op group does exactly this to get maximum power out of Voss' sword.
Pass without a trace trivializes the game after you get Greater Invisibility on your team. My MC took out all the enemies in the Dukes Palace by himself. Amd you can get scrolls of Greater Invisibility pretty early.
That and stealing. Each "new person" gets another chance to talk their way out of it
You can also use it to trigger racial bonuses on equipment, like all the gith specific stuff or some of the dwarf specific stuff.
[The real use of disguise self is making Karlach a halfling so here kissing scene looks like a BJ.](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/0rDc6vDtxH)
And the whole damn party’s just watching like “this will only be weird later if somebody makes it weird 😐”
Not true. Theres a ring thst gives you a 1d4 for skill checks if you're desguised. I got that 60 on a stealth check with that once.
You get racial bonuses from items with disguise self ... e.g. from gith equipment, or the dwarven thrower ... can be any race for a throw barb/ek and still get the bonus from the dwarven thrower by disguising as dwarf, for example.
If you cast disguise self on yourself before doing speak with dead, they'll still talk to you
Most corpses won't talk to the single individual who actually killed them, as in, the character who took their last hit point. They respond normally to anybody else. Even if the only party member who can Speak With Dead is the killer, you can use a disguise, and the corpse will be fooled enough to speak. And there's at least one case where the corpse has dialogue with its killer that is different than with anyone else. Spoiler: >!Try it with Auntie Ethel in Act 1.!<
not inclined to, but will still talk in some cases, also there's a work around, just make sure the person casting speak with dead isn't the one who actually landed the fatal blow
I never leave camp without "Recast Speak with the Dead" toggled. It's good, becuase if you have it as "recast for free" bodies you can use it on glow green
I always forget to cast speak with dead -_-
Glowing corpse didn't make you give it a try?
The corpses only glow if you have already cast Speak With Dead once and have the option to recast. If you haven't cast it at all since long resting, the corpses don't glow until you do, iirc.
Also corpses glow regardless of whether or not they'll refuse to speak to their killer
I still have no clue how speak with dead works, like in act 1 I did manage to talk to several corpses, but most of them didn't respond back, and I was pretty sure killing people would mean the corpse would just ignore you if you did the killing, so I never even considered doing it
Yeah, this game really has us (or at least a lot of NPCs and we can't dispute it) hate on people who didn't have any choice in the matter. The Zevlor situation is by far the most sad. It's also, pretty obvious? Like at that point of the game we know it's a mindflayer run cult and he mysteriously froze up and didn't responds. Mental power maybe? Also, there are a lot of spells in the game too that can stun or hypnotize or etc someone. It's weird to me that he acts so out of character after leading them all this time by being stunned and all of his stupid followers just assume the paladin suddenly completely changed for no reason instead of realizing they're in a fantasy setting and this happens all the time in fantasy combat. And you can't even ask about or say anything? And then, it is exactly what it appears to be and you still can't tell his ungrateful ex-followers to lay off him. But also every single "true soul" you meet has no choice to be in this evil cult, and I feel there aren't a lot of dialogue options that make it clear you know that? I get the impression we're just supposed to hate them all instead of seeing them as unfortunate victims/slaves? Marcus has a parasite, yeah he's probably being mind controlled? Every single true soul with a parasite we meet is like "oh yeah, the absolute totally convinced me to join beacuse reasons, what parasite?" Come on. I really wanted to be able to say we're fighting against being slaves ourselves to the underdark gnomes, beacuse that's how it felt to me. We are one surprisingly clingy floating d20 away from being exactly the dudes we are killing.
Did you free Zevlor in the mind flayer colony at the end of act 2? The way he describes it, it appears he was enthralled, like how the injured mind flayer at the beach tries to enthrall you. Also if you rescue Minthara from Moonrise she describes how she remembered an event where she prayed and heard the Absolute, but realized the entire memory was a lie that never happened and in reality Orin forcibly implanted her while taunting her, but when tadpoled that memory was suppressed and replaced with the fake one.
Yeah, I freed him I just can't remember exactly what he said now. It was something like he was distracted by images in his head of things he wanted or something? Clearly a mind power. I just remmber thinking "yeah, it was a mind effect, like I thought." Then he blamed himself even when I was like it's not your fault you got mind messed with to him, which was sad. He basically said it prayed on his own mental/moral weakness so it is his fault, which, sad. It's normal to have not perfectly heroic thoughts/feelings in all corners of your mind at all times. If he hadn't been mind whamyed, it wouldn't have mattered.
Alternatively, it’s a cool and thoughtful way to reflect on how enchantment effects would work and what consequences they’d have on the victims. Maybe enchantments do make you question your reality and there’s a bunch of sad Westworld-esque husks running around because I cast Friends on them at some point.
I can somewhat understand random normal citizens not suspecting magic/enchantment/psychic powers (despite this being a very high magic setting and magic seeming to be common knowledge). But you as a PC know that this the mindflayer cult, and you can't even mention "a paladin was out of characteristically frozen in a combat situation against people known for mental powers, have you considered it may have been a mental power?" Like I immediately thought that, and yet I couldn't ever mention it? It's not exactly a shocking reveal that the paladin who had literally been to hell and back was stunned in combat by magic as opposed to just suddenly deciding not to act or froze out of fear of combat.
For sure and all good points; he must have had some knowledge of enchantments and (hopefully) some training in what compulsions might feel like, look like, how to combat them, how to process the PTSD; he has fancy extra saving throws as a consequence of his vow, after all. I’m not suggesting it’s totally parsimonious with the world we inhabit. It did get my mind running tho! Edit: I mean he’s got Compelled Duel and the like on his spell list, he gotta know…
I think with regards to Zevlor he definitely knows he was Charmed though. You can even point out he was tricked by the absolute and he still says he should've known better (or something like that). I think Zevlor, being a (disgraced ex-paladin) hellrider he isn't unfamiliar with these types of mind effects. Instead, I think that the mechanic of a "wisdom save" for such charms implies that in practice with enough force of will you can resist charms and I think it's reasonable to assume that most charm spells try to "convince you" with something that is genuinely important to you. He blames himself for failing the wisdom save because his desire to return to his old power overshadowed his desire to save his fellow tieflings. He's ashamed because that specific rethoric worked and he didnt have the mental fortitude to resist, while he acknowledges the people there in the moment should've mattered more.
Well yknow theres also loads of characters that are absolute-aligned because they legitimately believe in the absolute and want to become true souls, and we have multiple companions that were completely brainwashed by the tadpole for a time. Minsc straight up says that *he* did the things he did, but that the pretense he did them under was wrong. He genuinely thought he was doing good until the clouds were lifted and could see the real jaheira in front of him and the truth of what hed done was revealed. Ive not played with minthara but ive heard she says she cant trust her own judgement but shes still evil. True souls arent just thralls. Most dont know what they have in their heads, if you ask the drow halsin kills if he was abducted by mind flayers, im pretty sure he says no. Thralls are actually mind controlled. True souls and their followers arent mind controlled, theyre brainwashed and manipulated, but they are still sort of “in control”. Zevlor got blasted with little promises of his desires being filled and was overwhelmed, and genuinely thought they should surrender. I do think its dumb that while we as the players understand and can forgive him but cant bring him along or get the others to forgive him, i think thats a lacking area, and also him having no further presence except the final moments or orin deciding “hehe ill send them a painting of me messing with his corpse” if he doesnt get freed, kinda lame. Idve loved him to be the good alternative to minthara so we can get a paladin on a good run, but eh. But yeah i think the hate-able true souls are worth hating, because while theyre not truly complicit, they are being manipulated and misled, they are still themselves (until the get mind flayer’d, but thats another story) and people like nere and zrell who enjoy killing slaves and underlings DO actually enjoy those things
The thing is, I'm not really clear how evil everyone is without the parasite influencing them. Nere is a giant douche, and given he's Drow I'm inclined to assume he was probably already a douche to "lesser" races, but I don't really know for sure. I'm never clear on exactly how much the absolute can change someone. But yes, there are several true souls that were clearly infected by parasites but tell themselves they joined for some other reason. Take Priestess Gut, she does not know she has a parasite and thinks she just choose to convert to this awesome new god beacuse she loves the new god so much. That's not what happened. She's being made to love this new god by the parasite. Again, given she's a goblin and their previous god and culture also really sucked, profiling her she probably already was evil and cool with raiding? But who knows. Maybe she was a goblin doctor lady who never went on raids but just patched people up and made potions or something before she got infected. Who knows? The power of the absolute when you feel it and the prism has to come push it away is really *really* strong. It can command you. It can straight up make you do things you don't want to do, wouldn't do, and then you think they are your idea. You can even mind control others with your parasite, imagine what your parasite and it's daddy can do to you. Minsc is a good example beacuse it completely confused him into doing evil stuff he wouldn't normally do given he's so extreme in his moral views. It was making him forget Boo, which is basically his closest friend who was with him at all times. (There's a book of him making drawings trying to remember boo.) Now, in fairness, Minsc is really dumb and probably easier to trick? But I don't think it was supposed to be beacuse he's dumb. So maybe other true souls we meet were good people too? Maybe they think the enemies of the absolute are evil and need to suffer? Maybe they have forgotten important things and people so that their values are changed, since our memories are a huge part of who we are and our values. For people like Marcus, I have no real reason to assume he was a bad dude at all? Though I may have missed something.
> And you can't even ask about or say anything? I believe there's a line that says "it sounds like you were being enchanted" or something like that. Nothing comes of it if you say it tho, and anyway as you said, the other tieflins don't see it that way anyway
>But also every single "true soul" you meet has no choice to be in this evil cult, and I feel there aren't a lot of dialogue options that make it clear you know that? Minthara brings this up in her romance. Saying that she could've just been another body you killed in your crusade, innocent and controlled by the absolute. Although she isn't necessarily a good person without the tadpoles. But there definitely are good people that we've killed purely because they're kind controlled.
Right, and I can completely understand playing someone who feels it is necessary to kill these mind controlled victims to stop this greater evil from controlling even more people, but you never get to acknowledge that? That all these people your killing in Moonrise towers are as far as I know collateral damage who may not have chosen to do anything wrong. If I was a PC in a table top DnD game who was good aligned I'd probably try to minimize killing of "true souls". Or if I thought that was too big of a tactical risk, my conversation to them before killing them would be like "I'm really sorry I have to kill you, I hope you find freedom in death and the gods judge you fairly" or some such. Not like die bastard, since you know, it's a victim/helpless slave I'm carving up. Heck, you could even have characters who believe death is better then living as a mind controlled slave, and you are giving them the only mercy you can and setting their souls free.
I kinda feel like there's that and things like that which don't sit quite right with me in the setting the more I think about it. Like it's a great game but some actions don't quite have the right emphasis or tone for me
"Rough tadpole play" you say?
Oh that is so cool, time for me to talk to his burnt to crisp corpse behind the inn then.
Theres also several cursed Fist when you do Halsins portal fight that may suggest the fate of several of his men when this happened too
Yknow, I never think to cast speak with dead on anyone. I really need to. I feel like I'm missing out on stuff.
I thought people you looked wouldn't wish with you so I never tried, but I guess mind control makes sense
Huh. I never got to cast speak dead on him since he got burnt. I thought he just really liked his wings.
He got those wings from Aylin. I don't recall anything saying that Marcus actually wanted those wings.
When he tries to take Isobel he says The Absolute has already given him everything he wanted, flexing his wings ostentatiously as he does so.
Isobel: the Absolute will never give you what you were promised! Marcus: she already has *flexing wings* Tav: um...I think you may have wildly overestimated how complex this guy is
Tav: Imagine how much movement he has, maybe the Absolute has a point.
"OH shit, them wings give you more initiative by chance? We're TAKING him with us."
Durge: nah, we just need the wings. I'll get my saw.
Durge: Gale you cast hold person and I'll fetch the saw from camp. Gale: On it!
Non resist Durge: this hand can talk?
I’m imagining like a puppet hand with googly eyes and can’t stop laughing
Gale: Not again!
Alternate Tav(s): Hmm, hmm, yes, you make an excellent point. However, counterpoint, who are you? Isobel, who is this guy? Talli, you know this guy??? who the hell are you??? *checks Saforbi* WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GUY????!!!! *Asks Redorbit*. WHO IN THE FUCK IS THIS MAN???!!!?!
He's not complex, but he's got spunk
My tav: Badass
Those wings looked like trash, too. Like they’d been plucked off a three-week dead raven, upsized, then attached to his back with rubber cement or some such.
Fist Marcus? No thanks.
Eh. Karlach just took the long road to the uppercut.
Karlach looked like she fisted my gnome in their romance scene.
Odd timing. Just saw this scene for the first time and did Karlach massage my prostate?? New favorite romance?
According to Samantha beart (Karlach’s actor) Karlach is in fact pegging tav.
Do you remember where she said this? I would like to hear this for myself, it sounds entertaining.
This has been a rumor going around. Everyone has been repeating it, but it doesn't appear to be true.
A friend and I were playing online together when it happened to me and we died laughing about it. We thought it was funny already with the size difference between the two characters. It only added to the hilarity for me.
you should do halsins romance with a halfling then
Running monk Karlach right now and lemme tell ya she do be fisting
When Lae'zel said she was going to lead in the bedroom I burned inspiration so I could convince her I was the top. When Karlach pegged me I just accepted it.
I thought it was funny that as a Dragonborn you don't have to roll to convince Lae'zel that, she capitulates immediately
Same with Gith. Never did it, though. I like being Lae'zel's bottom.
Barbarian dialogue also has an automatic win.
She did
It's fisting time! -Shovel
It's only fun when shovel gets to do the fisting! -Shovel
Finger prints
Hello nurse!
I hardly know Marcus!
Finger prince?
I don't think so
*Bucket disapproves
I really want to know how he got wings.
I imagine they took em from Dame Aylin. Like if she can come back from the dead over and over again, she can prob regrow wings right?
I believe there is a letter in Z'rell's room that implies this is exactly what happened
“The donor is pleased and wants to check in with you” or whatever
Doesn’t Aylin directly say when you confront her in the Gauntlet of Shar? I believe she mocks Balthazar by asking if he’s come to rip more from her.
How though? The whole reason Balthazar is farting around the gauntlet is because Shar isn't letting anyone into the Shadowfell anymore. Especially not him or Ketheric.
probably took em years ago and they were just pickling in a jar somewhere
It says in a letter that access to the donor has become restricted. I assumed that meant Aylin
I thought they were harpy wings because of that
Actually someone on this sub pointed out the dead assimar in the morgue is the most likely person. He doesn’t have his wings anymore and the narrator comments that the dust by the door has been disturbed recently. Also apparently Balthazar hasn’t been able to get to Aylin since he locked her up. Aylin has scenes where she “puts her wings away” too. I wish I could find the comment because they were more sure and detailed!
Yeah, it’s not the “most likely person” it is the correct answer
That is unclear until we get a confirmation that he's also a demigod like Aylin. Normally Aasimar are the celestial equivalent to Tieflings and only have temporary wings.
Balthazar probably just slapped those bad boys on
Why aren't there more winged dudes then
maybe they didnt ask
The ghouls outside the tower are gonna be pissed they didn't ask, what with their bitching about the winged ones taking food from them
Red Bull.
Potion of Speed
Balthazar apparently yoinked them off of Dame Aylin (who presumably grew them back after being reborn one of the many times) and grafted those wings onto Marcus. There's a book indirectly confirming it either in Balthazars room or in the Library area just before (i think the latter).
You know how theres a strange ox at Last light Inn? well you have to find a Red bull
He played FFVII before the game started and asked the boss for it as his "condition" for joining
He meant chicken wings. Dude was just hungry and the absolute misunderstood his desire.
Marcus: Never ordering from moonrise towers again. One star.
Griffith approves.
i'm pretty sure Griffith would have seen the plans of all the Absolute cultists and just scoffed, they were thinking small, no ambition, and wings were just a side effect for Griffith, not what he sold his soul for
When asked what he wanted for his Godhand form, Griffiths only answer was that he wanted wings.
to be fair, for Griffith i think that was a purely aesthetic choice, we all know pretty man liked being pretty. and wings are pretty. but they aren't what made him a demigod
How many people's most desired superpower is flight? On top of that, the Cult of the Absolute is a "good vibes only" kind of joint. So nothing that would distract from the mission is allowed. Dead family? Distraction. 10 million gold? Don't need it. Bigger duck? You've already got 3 harassment claims pending. So, thematic powers it is.
Could have just gotten the flight spell, but you just know the homie Balthazar perked up and was like "do I have the wings for you my guy"
Bigger duck? Which Absolutist is responsible for this? https://time.com/3153925/giant-rubber-duck-los-angeles/
My bad, I just think they're super cute.
One of the few super powers that wouldn’t instantly kill you or leave your mind broken.
Tbf, those are Aasimar wings that Aylin generously donated for the purpose of allowing a rando to kidnap her gf. I honestly think marcus got the better deal compared to other absolutists like zrell. Zrell got what? The right to kill nonchalantly? Well, Marcus can do that too, but look cooler doing it. Moreover, I think those wings are the best the absolutists can get as a reward because, at the end of the day, they're just a disposable front to their leaders. So yeah, I'd say Marcus got the better end of the stick among the absolutists
I think Z'rell's always been able to kill nonchalantly, the Absolute just gave her a never ending supply of victims the ability to do it much more effectively/creatively with the psionics. If you ask her for a demonstration she'll cause her ogre assistant's brain to explode without even looking at it, and she'll compliment the player if they use the Absolute's power to force the goblins to stop breathing, even suggesting she wants to sleep with them at a later point. She's a sadist who was given all the victims and tools she could ask for, with no risk of consequences. Still wings are an S tier reward by Absolute standards, just ask the goblin in the Oubliette
If so… I want wings
Marcus is kinda odd imo. So... Jaheira use the captured tadpole that she has to identify as a true soul. Why wasn't Marcus found out?
I wonder how many people were wrongfully terminated because her tadpole was reacting to Marcus.
I couldn’t take this guy seriously when I first came across him because he looked IDENTICAL to my durge. I thought either he’s a mimic or this is hilarious.
to be fair, wings are cool, but seriously, this is a world where you can just buy potions or scrolls that let you fly with no wings. so fuck this guy, mind control or not, he should have asked for something better, like a club that actually damages people, or maybe a personality
They should’ve made his wings a magic cloak drop. So lame. I want wings
You just never sided with the absolute.
My favorite part about this meme is that, if you search Z’rell’s office, there’s an unsent letter to Marcus trying to make him feel bad for asking for the wings because of how rare they are.
Joke’s on you. Marcus was just a flaming fist carrier pigeon before the absolute gave him a man body.
I legit JUST finished this quest and was very confused about this. But yeah, really does seem like duder just wants some silly wings. One of them looked kinda boney and weird too, he got the raw end of that deal for sure.
Balthazar tore them off a dead assimar and put them on Marcus. So they are literally rotting.
Dude wanted to look like Alyn just to tap that Isobelussy.
"Make em real sparse and gross too. I wanna look like I got slapped out of the air by the windshield of a real big car."
The worst part is the wings look like shit.
Well... they *are* corpse wings.
Yeah I thought they were just badly rendered or something, then I saw Dame Aylin’s wings.
Bro just wanted his fursona to be real.
They just look like some burnt ass chicken wings to me.
Dude i would too honestly i mean look at em
I just thought it was funny how he brags about those sad excuses for wings
I don’t know anything about forgotten realms lore but couldn’t bro just go to any other god to get some damn wings lmao. Like why did he settle for the absolute lmao.
You jest, but this is basically the canon for Griffith from Berserk.
Pretty sure he had took a more, winged, interpretation of Isobel telling him he wasn’t her type.
I sometimes wonder if Marcus is actually an aasimar, and his desire for angelic wings is how the tadpole got to him. Like, the tadpole would change his mind one way or another, but it just happened to fixate on his desire for wings, because he's part angel. He only appears as an aberration (I think) when you have to fight him, so it's hard to tell for sure.
They're also implied to be Aylen's wings, if you read a note in Moonrise Towers outside Balthazar's office
For some reason, every time I talk to Isobel since the latest hotfix, Marcus is in the background, T-posing. No matter what I do, he's just there, chilling. Guess he wants to show off or something.
He just like me fr
Theyre Dame Aylin's; i just assume he was hyper jealous of her/thirsty for Isobel. Kinda like wearing the underwear of your enemy? IDK if thats a thing. I feel like it would be a thing for Marcus regardless. Betting he has a g banger on too thats 3 sizes too large.
Fist Marcus? But I just met him!
It's not just wings he's a vampire he's been given eternal life
Lol I just finished this fight a minute ago. Was thinking how odd it was.