#hey paladin

[yashley]

[cubbihue]

Hey if Hazel, Dev, and the gang play DnD, what do you think they would play as.... and how who would be the fortunate(or unfortunate) DM?

When I was 10, my older brother would play massive D&D campaigns in the living room. He tried teaching me the mechanics but it was too much and too boring for my small brain. Instead, I was far more fascinated with things like Warrior Cats.

Apparently Warrior Cats has a d&d game though. So. The kids would all play that instead!

Dev would eventually be roped into joining. Mainly because when you're sitting with a table of kids doing storytelling, you end up getting very invested, and very frustrated when they make the very wrong choices!!!

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[orchid-n-petals]

So I've already shared parts of this on a discord server, but I have to scream about Ketheric Thorm on here as well. Obviously spoilers about the character under the cut! It's a long one.

The entirety of act 2 is about him, right? Jaheira, Shadowheart and numerous other NPCs shit on him for his fickle faith. First Selune, then Shar, then, as we meet him, Myrkul. You hear about his changes of faith on a whim, you hear that he's the person responsible for the shadow curse, he is painted as a villain, plain and simple.

You can figure it out pretty early on that Isobel was resurrected and that she is his daughter; the detail as well that he wants Isobel alive is so on the nose, it gives him away completely but there are still a few questions that remain unanswered, mainly about his faith.

And then you get to the mausoleum and the picture assembles; this entire tragedy, the death of hundreds if not thousands and the complete ruination of a landscape was all, ALL because you had this absolutely wrenched, heartbroken father who had lost everything and nobody answered his grief. He was left woefully alone, the Goddess whose daughter his daughter was involved with did nothing to save Isobel.

Imagine outliving your wife and your daughter. Imagine dedicating your life to fight the Lady of Loss, your Lady of Silver's enemy, and then be left so completely alone and in silence with your grief, with your loss. It's so, so poetic how and why he turned from Selune, and it's so understandable as well; he broke. His spirit completely broke. He couldn't deal with that void of having lost the only two important people in his life, seemingly undeservedly so. He was going mad with this and a lot of his ire was likely targeted at Aylin who, in his eye, represented Selune; she's literally her daughter, after all, and it was implied that even before the deaths of his family, he sort of saw Aylin courting Isobel as Selune taking his daughter from him, despite his service. This relationship was clearly not seen by him as a boon of "giving his daughter to the Moon-maiden".

His ways in the past clearly didn't spare him from tragedy and having to cope with it (which he clearly didn't, he snapped under the weight of his grief). He was clearly angry and unable to do anything, furious and helpless, which is a dangerous combination. A good part of his first change of heart must have been fuelled by a sense of revenge.

But then Shar didn't provide any balm to his aching heart either. If you read his letters in Grymforge and in act 2, he is so focused on enacting the will of Shar because he believes that healing lies in oblivion. Everything would be easier if he could just forget, if the damn world could just forget, if nothing was remembered because without Melodia and Isobel, nothing was worth remembering.

Then came Myrkul. Literally the only god who was not only able, but WILLING to give back his daughter to him. Imagine spending your all, EVERYTHING you have to serve two gods who would not give a single shit about the greatest suffering in your life. You were basically nothing, your loyalty didn't matter for shit, everything that was taken from you amounted to no recognition whatsoever: you should simply cope and seethe. Your grief will not simply go unanswered (which is not inherently antagonising) but ignored.

And then comes this supposedly evil entity who can alleviate your pain just like that, snap of a finger and it's a done deal.

I am so serious when I say that I believe Ketheric's main incentive was to extend Aylin's immortality to Isobel as well. You can read in her diary that she feels a taint after having came back, and there are things not even Selune can cleanse, but at this point, Ketheric doesn't care about Selune, vengeance is secondary if not tertiary, he's done that war during his Shar years and what did it give him? Literally nothing.

He doesn't even care about the fact that Isobel is still her cleric. He cares about the single most important fact: Isobel is back. Life is worth living again, there is something for him, and it was not Selune or Shar who gave it to him but Myrkul, and for this singular gift, he would raze the world for the Lord of Bones. Like people can clown on him for being disloyal but the man has the loyalty of a dog bonded to its owner.

He is powerful and is willing to go to insane lengths for crumbs. What is raising a single life for a god? Nothing. It has happened and it will happen again. But Ketheric will go to the ends of the earth to serve the single god who actually listened to him. The one god who didn't ignore him.

He knows that what he does is not the morally upright thing! He is so insanely self-aware that allying with Orin and Gortash and doing this entire plot with them only to then betray them is morally reprehensible at the best of times, he knows that people hate him, etc-etc. He was a Selunite at one point and he's not stupid. He just doesn't care; it could be literal Asmodeus and he wouldn't care as long as he got what he wanted, no matter the price.

He is probably the only one from the three of the chosen who has complete clarity over his situation, he almost sways (if you pass the check during his confrontation), he is not an inherently evil man blinded by power.

But he is inherently loyal to those deserving, and as of the story's standing, completely broken by his grief. In his eyes, at this point, the only one deserving loyalty is the one who actually listened to him. Isobel lives. It doesn't matter that she hates him, that his entire life has fallen apart, that literally nothing else that is good has come of it, because Isobel lives.

I don't think he regrets a single thing. His consciousness might tear at him at the end, but I believe he would do everything over again, exactly as he did, because in the end, his daughter was brought back. Because what would a grieving, broken parent give to bring back their child? Everything. Absolutely everything. And it's such a simply given answer, no second thoughts, no doubts.

Nobody can tell me that this man is fickle. Nobody. This man was willing to burn the world to the ground, create a Boudica destruction layer all by himself for the one single thing he wanted. For any God that would listen.

I don't know, I just have a lot of thoughts about his character.

[singlecrow]

Bishop Beartongue is destabilising the economy of an entire continent.

And it's not the main plot.

It's just.

[geode-crystal]

Fantasy Whump Scenario:

Whumper wants power.

Specifically, the powers of a certain god/goddess/deity.

Caretaker has a close connection to Deity. Maybe as a paladin or cleric-type scenario, maybe they're a demigod, but whatever the case, they can call on Deity and use their power. And Whumper knows it.

But Whumper knows that Caretaker won't willingly give into their demands. So they kidnap Whumpee, someone close to Caretaker. Not just as bait to lure Caretaker to them. But as a bargaining chip.

If Caretaker doesn't give in and give Whumper what they want... then things will look very, very bad for Whumpee.

[the-punforgiven]

I know there's that whole stereotype of DMs and PCs hating each other or whatever but to be 100% honest the most joy I get out of D&D is when my players come up with some absolutely crazy batshit idea that should be absolutely impossible rules as written because as the DM I can choose to ignore that dumb nerd shit and just say "That sounds fucking rad dude, I'm giving you inspiration for that idea, now make an Acrobatics check."

[silverskye13]

I should draw ranchers duo art sometime. Or write a fic for them or something. They make my heart happy.

[enchantrum]

tbf on my first playthrough that I didn't finish I was playing my super strict but unhinged Paladin and he could never be reasoned with to use the tadpoles because PURITY PURITY PURITY

so in that context I found Emp constantly bringing it up annoying but I didn't see it as manipulative and when he revealed himself I was still like "whoooooooa coool" and then just a mild "lmao ffs" when the game didn't acknowledge I hadn't taken a single tadpole and Emp acted like I had, said how powerful I was and offered the astral tad

I ended my first run around there because between that and Wyll being a glitched out mess at that point in Act 3, I just cba lol

it was on consecutive runs after they patched things and I internally fiddled with my Paladin to be less strict, that I got more acquainted with him as a character and found myself enjoying him

I guess my whole point is that as a player I did find the tadpole insistence annoying but I saw it as an issue with the game mechanics itself and not Emp trying to manipulate me

it never felt that way because he'd just be like "hey take the tadpole please it'll help" and I'd go "lol no" and he'd sigh and just say he understands I'm not ready and he asks again later

also very few people have done no-tadpole runs I think? so they have even less reason to complain because the tadpole thing was the only time I was like "oh my god you're so annooyyiiinngg"

and I still fucked him. he can be a little annoying if he wants

[doli-nemae]

Drew this 10 min before leaving home because she's my serotonin

[landfilloftrash]

Fun Fact !; My first initial idea for Cowboy Campaign was to play a carnivorous, pack-oriented yet aloof, rogue monstrosity-- I wanted to be evil.

I do, in fact, play a evil monstrosity, it just happens to be in a humanoid packaging instead; so here's the OG of who I could've been, and now simply lives happily on a farm with his husband and its 50+ children.

[amalgamasreal]

Witch from Mercury and Final Fantasy XIV Crossover - by mktn127

[d4isywhims]

hello friends!! happy new year :D

apologies for no sims content lately hehe i have made the (amazing) mistake of purchasing bg3 as my christmas gift to myself and now it owns my soul 😌 i’ve been playing for almost a week now and im STILL in act 1 😭 will be returning to posting sims CONSISTENTLY maybe next week :3 for now, it’s me and my bb astarion against faerun babEY

if any of you have same early game tips, feel free to tell me! :D

[asstariontrash]

Tav Tag!

Inspired by @inaconstantstateofchange's entry -- big thanks to them for gently motivating me and also to @triumphingmybest for the very cool template!

I want to draw my Tav & talk about them more on this blog, but I wanted to introduce them properly first. Meet Hemlock, my godless Oathbreaker paladin who's nevertheless trying his best all the time:

I've been using #tav/astarion and #tav: hemlock on this blog to tag things that especially remind me of them, so if you're interested in more Hemlock vibes, give that a peek.

You can find a blank Tav Tag template here!

I am very shy but very eager to perceive other people's characters. Tagging @beaubambabey & @jellymellydraws in the softest, lowest-pressure way imaginable, and YOU, if you're reading this and would like to talk about your Tav too!

(also please behold my redemption Durge under the cut, because this was getting long:)

I drew Century already over here! Their tag is #durge: century. It was important to me that they be Very Pathetic At All Times; never more than 30 seconds away from dissolving into tears.

Hemlock is also a mess and also about two steps away from a nervous breakdown for most of the game, but at least he hides it better. He's just starting to crack, whereas Century has already been smashed to smithereens, you feel? (Astarion gets his teeth into both of them, for better or worse...)

I just really like characters who're in the midst of a faith/personal identity crisis, it fuels me.

[optiwashere]

24 and 25 for deep dives if they haven't been answered?

Thank you for asking for these ones! 💜 25 has been staring at me this whole time lol.

24 was answered here!

25. What is something they would die on a hill over?

Not-so-serious answer: Asheera will never, ever wear sandals. They're uncomfortable, the thinness and exposed feet are just unsafe, and they tend not to fit her very well. Boots or bust. This girl has her work boots, her "going out on the town" boots, and her pleasure boots. They are all the same boots. Why fix what isn't broken? Serious answer: Zhents are unwelcome whenever she's around. Black market trading is one of those things that can be used for good and thus is not the issue, the problem is that Zhents also deal in people. So, yeah. Slavery is an unforgivable crime for her† and she's worked alongside her own order and others' to track down Zhent rings. To her, the Zhentarim are a menace and need a complete, ground-up restructuring if they're to be part of Baldur's Gate. She knows it'll never happen, but she will not back down on this whatsoever. You know how you have that one friend that has their pet political stance? Like, it's a good stance and a worthy cause and all, but it's something that they are obsessed with and it only ever comes up when someone else brings it up? Yeah. That's Asheera and the Zhentarim.

† This could be fun with her oaths, since a paladin's oath is strict. Oathbreaking to kill a Zhent slaver could be justified in her mind. I'll have to ponder whether she's done it before...

[danses-with-dogmeat]

"Shaun, please! My visual acuity is being reduced to an unacceptable level!"

[mukuharakazui]

this is a funny as fuck dialogue option for when you're playing a dead-birth-parents-rogue who just so happens to be mixed. get gathened idiot.