#no but isobel is the only one out of my 4 playthroughts that is not either just straight up a paladin or multiclassed into one

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

boom-squirrel replied:

Okay, I'm curious... if Teadpoled-Isobel-strikes-back™, who's the one in Last Light sustaining the shield??? oO Doppelganger?!

Hahah, well, that's obviously one of the moments when modded playthroughs like this one take a bunch of suspension of disbelief.

I call this one "The Duality of Isobel".

My justification and vague storyline idea for this HM run was that an abducted tadpoled Isobel from around the end of Act 2 ends up back on the nautiloid, via a timely divine intervention or some such brand of shenanigans (Selûne? maybe? or something altogether more sinister?). And now she is on a big mission to fix everything.

But honestly, if you could find an excuse for Jaheira and the Last Light bunch surviving without Isobel there to establish the haven so Act 2 can still work vaguely similarly, I think Isobel would be a really, really awesome origin with interesting ties into the narrative. Kicking off with her resurrection, running away from Ketheric, and ending up abducted and tadpoled on the nautiloid with the others instead of at the inn. Maybe some amnesia thrown in there to keep some of the mystique of Ketheric's storyline for the player and pacing out the reveals (a la Durge).

This is also a killer idea for some AU fanfic, I will note.

Also part of my romance pick considerations, beyond, you know, just me wanting to play out one I haven't done yet (hence no Shadowheart, I'm aware she is the obvious choice here). NPC Isobel and Aylin will of course get their beautifully touching reunion and live as happily ever after as I can manage, Honour Mode permitting (knock on wood, so far it has been), but my PC Isobel will ultimately want and need to basically leave Faerûn. So I felt it would be fitting to have her go off dragon riding with Lae'zel and have various astral (mis)adventures. Visit the actual Tears of Selûne and all, it's super Meaningful. And having Lae'zel going from constantly ragging on Isobel for being weak and soft-hearted - with me pointedly picking every single Aggressively Compassionate Selûnite Cleric dialogue option in her presence, while also showing flashes of that Isobel-brand Steel that is very much there - to finally becoming open to the very idea of tenderness and being protected is a very nice arc, I think.

I have committed severe overthinking of everything mentioned above. Now, for the Aylin playthrough I have no explanation whatsoever beyond the lethal combination of "I felt like it" with "big lady pretty" and a truly unconquerable addiction to playing paladins.