#dragon gate imagine

[steamclouds]

The stars at my fingertips, to hold and bend to my will, but that of your smile is where I've built my home.

[venvellan]

you know the fictional character obsession is really bad when you start seeing amvs in your head while you listen to music

[jeeaark]

final showdown pt2.

This was one of those battles where I survived it without a single reload. So. This entire scene? Accurate. Embarrassingly Accurate. (except the healy dealy. that's Greygold flair)

Wanted to get to the crown as fast as possible, but had to fly by Emps. Literally stopped next to bud to personally yell/reassure the fool I was gonna save their ass and then risked the opportunity attack.

(which. I forgot to bring my dex 18 gloves and discovered illithidism had shit dex, so....IS FINE. GG IS ALL FOR STARTING A NEW COLLECTION OF FRIENDSHIP SCARS)

BUT SQUID BUDDY MISSED. so. I like to think Enthralled Emps had put some effort into jumping through some rather large logic hoops to miss. Unlike Greygold who put JACK effort into dodging.

I originally intended to leave Emps completely alone, risk the attacks. But. Brain tentacle surprise happened. Right next to the squid. Emps rolled high in initiative.... But not as high as Lae'zel. Game-wise, ✨I panicked✨. Story-wise? I don't think this could have been any more in-character. Albeit, I found myself quadruple checking to make sure knockout mode was ABSOLUTELY on

[wouldtheyfuck]

[eastern-lights]

Ok so we all know how amazing Baldur's Gate 3 is. I could talk for hours about everything it did perfectly.

But rn, I want to talk about what I think Dragon Age Inquisition did better. And this is not to judge which game is better overall, but what still makes DAI so special to me despite its flaws.

1. Voiced protagonist

Yeah, starting off controversial. I know some people prefer silent protagonists, but I just find myself wishing we could have a fully voiced Tav, even at the cost of fewer dialogue options. I'm sorry, but Tav's silent indifferent face just always breaks the immersion for me, especially when contrasted with the award-worthy acting and animation of the characters they're speaking with. In DAI (and DA2, although to a lesser degree) your character could be heavily customized, but they were always an actual person who fit in with the rest of the universe and flowed seamlessly with the story.

2. Mystery and dread.

BG3 is full of heavy, scary, traumatizing stuff hidden all over the place (or in plain sight). But it can always be explained in some way. There are dreadful things in Faerûn, but we always know what they are (mostly due to most of them having to have precisely given stats as the result of being based on DnD). We know what happens after death and what we can do to bring people back from it. The closest you get to truly dread-inducing mystery in BG3 is "Do Illithids have souls" and "where do illithids come from" and (at least in Act 1) "who is the Absolute".

In Dragon Age, the whole world is made of existential dread. What happens when you die? Dunno. Is God real? No idea and if He does, He hates you. What is the Blight? Are all darkspawn capable of independent thought? What is lyrium singing about? What happened to the titans? What happens when all of the Old Gods die? And this is just the Big Questions. There's a myriad of small things, small mysteries you encounter that just have no answers. Stuff that reminds me of those creepy Goldshire children forming a pentagram in World of Warcraft. While having an explanation for everything makes for deeper worldbuilding, a world full of mysteries without answers makes for a much scarier and, in some ways, exciting experience.

3. Group dynamic and party banter

I enjoyed the party banter in BG3. Hell, it had some of the funniest lines in game. But it didn't do enough to make the group dynamic feel any less Tav/Durge-centric. You hear the companions exchange banter, but you never get beyond stuff like "Karlach and Shadowheart both enjoy wine" and "Gale enjoys Lae'zel telling him about the Astral plane". The protagonist forms amazingly written relationships with each of the companions, but they never seem to have such a bond with one another. The closest we come to what I'd like to see is Karlach and Wyll's friendship, but even that's kind of shallow, I feel. The companions do comment on the others' personal quest, but it's always one sentence reaction, before going right back to being mostly indifferent. DA2 had the same issue, if to a greater extent (srsly, the companions had the same attitude about one another over the span of 10 years)

The banter in DAI was superb. It told a story. It had arcs. You could watch in real time as Solas and Dorian became friends over their shared magical nerd-dom. You could even take part in it, such as when telling Blackwall to stfu about jousting for a moment, or telling Sera that what you and Solas do in private is none of her business. You could see Dorian and Bull fall in love. You could watch Varric slowly chip away at Solas' worldview until he arguably came closer to changing his plans than Lavellan ever did. The relationships grow over the course of the story and by the time of Solas' betrayal, you're not just sad because he betrayed you, you're sad because he betrayed Varric, Dorian, Bull, Cassandra and everyone else. Because you saw how they cared about him, each in their own way.

There is nothing more heartbreaking than Varric's "Chuckles, what have you done?"

In BG3, the relationships are mostly left to your imagination, which has its perks, but still, the group dynamic feels more like a wheel with Tav at the centre rather than a web.

4. Having limits on the romance options

Let me start by stating what I am not saying: I am not saying that bi and pan people shouldn't be represented. Far from it. But I don't think making the whole group pan is the way to go about it. I can't help but feeling it is, in a way, pandering to players, making every single companion interested in them as long as they have a sufficiently high approval.

Making some companions explicitly bi, pan, gay or straight made for a more real experience. Getting rejected by Sera on the grounds of "We have a lot in common - we both like women" felt disappointing, yes, but also real. This also allowed the writers to make the characters' sexual/romantic preferences a part of their, well, character. We got Dorian's personal quest, which I think is great. Limiting Solas' options to just Lavellan allowed the writers to make it about him realizing that his people are not mere shadows. It allowed them to write the Vallaslin scene. None of this could have been done if he were romanceable to all races.

When you have diversity in romantic attraction among the companions, suddenly the pan and bi characters (in Bull and Josie respectively) feel like their orientation is part of who they are, rather than a game mechanic to prevent players from missing out on content.

[kidheart]

My baldur's gate 3 crew all together around the campfire. I'm really happy with how this drawing of everyone came out.

[positivibee1997]

@heropartnerweek Day 5: Favorite Scene

My patience is waning Is this entertaining? My patience is waning IS THIS ENTERTAINING?!

*insert 'The Boys' title here*

While there are many scenes in the PMD series that are my favorite, this one still makes me laugh to this day. This is the scene in Gates to Infinity where hero gets Toxicroak away from where 'partner' was and knocks him out. Granted, we don't see how it happens, but I like to have ideas on how it was done. 8P

[bluerose5]

Zevran & Astarion Banter Pt. 12/?

[First] [Prev] [Next]

...

Astarion: It doesn't bother you, does it?

Zevran: That depends. What are we referring to?

Astarion: You know. The fact that we're not—that we haven't...

Zevran: Oh, that.

Astarion: Yes, that.

Zevran: No, it does not bother me. I mean, I am not opposed to having sex, should you ever wish to try, but sex is best when done well and when all parties can enjoy that time together. Our arrangement is a change of pace from what I'm accustomed to, I must admit, but it is far from being an unwelcome change. I am surprised, I have to say. I find it nice to simply spend time together without expectations of what "should" happen.

Astarion: You must have... urges, though.

Zevran: What am I? Some sex-crazed fanatic, unable to control my baser hungers?

Astarion: Look. All I am saying is that, given everything, you seem very comfortable with sex, more than I am at least. I almost envy you for it.

Zevran: Don't. I am comfortable with it to an extent, yes, but I do not expect you to be. Whatever "urges" I have, I can handle them on my own.

Astarion: So you say, but you mentioned that you have been in an arrangement with multiple partners before. Are you sure you would not prefer...?

Zevran: I would not. I do not think that would benefit either of us in this situation.

Astarion: How do you mean?

Zevran: Would you honestly be comfortable if my attention was focused elsewhere?

Astarion: Ha! It's just sex, darling.

Zevran: Coming from anyone else, I'd almost believe that, but what we have is still so new. Our freedom is still new to us. There is enough for us to figure out on our own without adding another into the mix, yes?

Astarion: I do not wish to deprive you of anything. I–I just want you to be happy.

Zevran: And I am happy, my dearest Astarion. I promise you that. Turns out, I value you more than sex. Who would've thought?

Astarion: Heh, miracles never cease.

[lakecountylibrary]

So... you put some points in DEX right? ...right??

-

[Video description: A person brings a book to a library desk and says Hi, can I check out this book? The librarian says oh sure. You just have to roll for it. The librarian offers the patron a D20 with a mischievous smile. The patron rolls. It is a one. She looks at the one in horror and then slowly up to the librarian, whose pleasant expression becomes a fierce grimace as he winds up to literally throw the book at her. The video cuts off abruptly. /description]

[asharaks]

my thing about the dark urge is like. augh. they're so. you were made for a purpose and you can never escape it and you are punished for fighting it and orin was made for a purpose and she can never escape it and (presumably) she is punished for fighting it. so you don't fight it. and so with neither of you fighting your purpose you fail because bhaal is too short sighted and too impatient. too hungry. she kills you and while the end of the world and the death of everything would be good for bhaal, that one moment of betrayal, that one murder, is enough in that moment; orin acts on the impulses she inherited from him, and assumes your place, and it will never work because she can't fight the urge in the way you can, because she can't see the bigger picture, because she doesn't have the discipline.

i think it's an interesting commentary on bhaal, human man who ascended to godhood- does he retain that impetuousness, even if the scope of his plans is wider and further reaching? does vlaakith have a plan beyond "become a god"? does gale, so-called god of ambition, see anything beyond his own immediate success? do mortals who become immortal ever really become gods? or are you forever bound to your same shallow impulses, the mortal lack of foresight, the impulsivity and entitlement?

when bhaal created his messiah out of his own flesh and blood, did he know they would be murdered? or did he think the rules don't apply to them, the way they don't apply to him? what did he intend them to inherit?

[blujaydoodles]

so I'm doing my first playthrough of BG3 as juniper and I did NOT expect how strongly melliwyk would show up to have feelings about this scene with gale

[steamclouds]

Voradras in his usual more relaxed/sparring look, I imagine he does a lot of training with Wyll or Lae'zel

[pepperuni]

did a lil drawing of my (yet unused) dnd PC freyja (name subject to change) ! she's a tiefling half-elf (if that's possible in lore) bard and cannot keep a design for more than three months

[duckofdoom18]

I, with enough prep time could defeat any animal, man, or beast I know this well, however, any increase in the strength and skill of said beast makes for an increase in prep time. How much prep time would you need to beet any certain creature in a fight? For convenience I’ll graph it. X = time and Y = strength; X = 2Y^2 + Y + 2(minutes). And there you have it, you and every average person can now calculate how much time you need to prepare to slay your enemies with ease.

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for immaculate measurements of your foes overall strength.

[cyberneticghosts]

I wanna write a story about the tailor for all the BBEGs. Because let’s face it, villains don’t get their amazing outfits from any old clothing outlet.

It’s a high-end, highly exclusive tailor, who also happens to be a warlock with an oddly particular patron who just wants them to outfit the evilest motherfuckers in Faerûn. And not only are they great at it, but they are functionally unkillable because BBEGs are unpredictable.

They use a magic mirror to preview outfit designs on the villains. “So, do you like outfit one, or outfit two? We can try some alternate color schemes.”

“No, no, green would clash too much with the blood you’re going to end up in all the time.”

“You say you want to kill me so no other can have access to my skills in magic armor and clothes? Oh honey…”

“My rate doubles with every murder attempt on me or my assistants. Orin pays out the nose for everything.”

“You want to incorporate your enemy’s corpses? Sure, but there’s a biohazard fee.”

“Skull motif? Are you sure? It’s a bit overdone.”

Most of the time they’re not even in the shop, they just use a variety of charms and spells to work safely away from the more nasty BBEGs.

[gunpowdercarousel]

OhmygodIlovehersomuchwhycantImarryher