#olini the sentinel

[lutethebodies]

One odd aspect of my most recent run was that the party managed to avoid meeting Raphael for the entirety of pre-Mountain Pass Act 1. He just never showed up in his usual places, and in fact didn't until the party entered the Mountain Pass area, when there was a forced cutscene akin to Voss showing up in camp.

There was a smash cut to the riverside Act 1 camp at night, and Raph was just chillin' in the same spot where, say, Minthara stands during the goblin party. Raphael pulls his whole "what ho, well met" bullshit and then there are some great dialogue options that all say basically "who the fuck are you" and "nobody invited you, weirdo." I very much enjoyed that Olini, Zaf, and Shadowheart got the chance to tell him to fuck all the way off. "You weren't invited here. Explain yourself."

He didn't leave, of course—plot armor AC is impenetrable—but it was nice to at least tell a character that I dislike to his face how much I disliked him way earlier than I had before. I've avoided posting about characters I despise because everyone in this game has a fanbase, and needless antagonizing is dumb. But this seemed like strange and/or irregular behavior so I felt like I had to document it.

[lutethebodies]

Big Simpin’

My multiplayer-as-multi-Tav run has reached the end of Act 2, so now Cannor can get as twitterpated as the other three.

Managing multiple approval tracks for each character is nuts enough to require a spreadsheet. Seriously, I riddle thee not:

As for the boys who got left out, well, they’ll just have to make do, won’t they. Jaheira and Halsin can babysit them.

[lutethebodies]

Incoming: Tumblr Tav Tuesdays

Ok, preview of coming LTB attractions, thanks to helpful feedback and tips from some kind folks to this post. What I'm gonna do is post somewhat substantial entries for each of my eight Tavs that have made the most progress in the game.

They'll happen for the next eight Tuesdays (because Tav Tuesday of course) beginnning April 23. I previously did this on a fun Discord that I'm part of but Discord stuff tends to scroll away and get lost, so maybe this will be a better venue for it.

Content will be a combo of 5e/BG3 backstory (in-game and out), builds/gear (because crunch is fun), BG3 playthrough highlights (romances, unique events, etc.), and selected screenshot dumps (ideally beyond "standard stoic Tav" poses). The cast will star:

4/23: Cannor Coth, the Lost Singer (human swords bard). You've heard of heroic anti-heroes, but anti-bard bards? This guy is that guy, a little bit of everything without being Too Much.

4/30: Zafraia Zital, the Banished Bandit (human thief rogue). A cynical con artist who's seen everything and found it sorely lacking. No Guildie is good enough, no Zhent is safe.

5/7: Drem Sion, the Relentless Defender (human shadow monk). Bare-knuckle brawler with a heart of gold, this one—but since things are never that simple, neither is he.

5/14: Olinitza Cuel, the Silent Sentinel (half-drow gloom stalker ranger). A righteous rebel out to afflict the powerfully corrupt, avenge the downtrodden, and clear her name in the process.

5/21: Farago Heli, the Elven Exile (wood elf hunter ranger). Strong silent types have nothing on this ex-soldier, who's pining for a place to settle down once this adventuring stuff is all over.

5/28: Qiranna Jasti, the Raven's Right Hand (seldarine drow archfey warlock). The merely curious and ambitious have nothing on this moxie-fuelled mage. She wants the world and wants it now.

6/4: Ruy Acavés, the Realm's Reckoner (human knowledge cleric). What's a nice nerd like him doing in a nightmare like this? Why, collecting all the maps, arcana, and lore he possibly can, of course.

6/11: Sianed Arie, the Silver Stargazer (wood half-elf land druid). A shrewd sage who'd rather scan the night sky than shapeshift or strive for balance, she's at home in both wild frontiers and urban jungles.

There may be a few more after that, but these folks are my Elite Eight who've seen the most playing time, so they come first. Stay tuned!

[lutethebodies]

Tav Deep Dives: Olini/Wyll Friendship

On my Olini "Tav Tuesday" post, @n1ghtmeri asked:

"I was like, 'I like her,' then I saw Evangeline Navarro mentioned and went 'I LIKE HER.' I wonder what is her relationship with Wyll like?"

Good question! I think it's important to answer because it's a relationship that should be obvious based on Olini's backstory, but it's one that I hadn't considered enough when integrating her into the overall BG3 plot (I am not a Wyll expert). Mechanically, the answer is simple: Olini's approval with Wyll maxed at an exceptional 100 in early Act 3 of her solo run (he's an infrequent party member but they talk a lot) but sits at a neutral 14 in my multiplayer-Tav run (where I divided play between four Tavs so approval came at a premium, with romances taking priority, and hers is with Shadowheart).

The mechanical stuff can be fascinating, but it often feels bloodless and easy to metagame, so the less-quantifiable ways to measure relationships can often be more compelling. That's not news to most people who've played this game, but as someone who literally got back into video games after a 30-year layoff thanks to BG3's character relationships, it’s been a fun revelation for me. That goes double for those I haven't considered yet, like this one. The TL;DR is "their relationship is very good, like one of close siblings." Maybe the best way to go about this is addressing each of their overlapping connections.

Ulder Ravengard

Olini and Wyll are connected via his father the Grand Duke, and Ulder's background as the Flaming Fist's leader. Olini's 5e backstory involves investigating her own unit for war crimes against frontier nomads; in BG3 I translated that to her being an ex-Fist who's back in the city to expose her unit commander's war crimes in Chult. She tends to be annoyed by the unwritten rules of social hierarchy (she grew up mid-to-low class), and she has no patience for the subtleties of political power and how it works. Her misadventures with the Flaming Fist destroyed any respect she might have had for military rank, because she's seen how it can be abused.

So she'd soured on the Fist's general corruption anyway, but is perhaps naively convinced that Ulder (who was not born rich and powerful) would quickly right that ship if he hadn't been waylaid in Elturel. Learning about Wyll's complicated relationship with his father might disabuse that notion, but it would definitely strengthen an Olini-Wyll bond. She has a similar rocky past with her drow exile mother (a mage who became incapacitated by her own Weave experiments) and hyper-idealized memories of her long-lost human father (also a ranger).

Mizora

Olini is ambivalent about Wyll's warlock powers. As a ranger she's only a half-caster, and understands the Weave can be dangerously volatile. She's sympathetic to Wyll's situation—protecting the city from a dragon cult's abuse would have been an easy choice for her as well—but surely there were better options than a literal devil's deal. Though maybe not more successful options, which Wyll persuaded her to understand (here's where mechanics come in, i.e. Wyll's high CHA and Olini's high WIS/low INT).

As for Mizora herself, Olini despises her. The cambion's smarmy legalism reeks of hierarchy's sneaky tools of leverage and abuse, which flusters and frustrates Olini. The mental lanceboard of trying to outwit Mizora is utterly beyond Olini's ability, even if she were interested in doing so. She's an experienced ranger, but she's yet to fully appreciate the natures of other planes (though only in BG3; in 5e she's a Horizon Walker), so the fact that Wyll's survived Avernus' fine print to this point is certainly something admirable and worth emulating.

Shadowheart

Our favorite faux-goth princess is the most important reason why Olini and Wyll aren't going to be more than friends. Olini prefers women anyway, so if it's a contest between two attractive people who could help her understand the finer points of subtlety and tact, Wyll's always gonna lose out to Shadowheart. For all that Wyll and Olini have in common, the ranger and cleric have more (and more to learn from each other). That goes beyond whatever a shadow priestess and gloom stalker could talk shop about, too. I mean, two half-elves with nebulous parental issues, plus a shared thing for frontier fauna and urban wildlife? Sorry, Wyll.

Strong Siblings

An Olini-Wyll romance was always gonna be off the table for umpteen reasons. They really are like siblings from different parents. I don't care how clichéd that sounds; clichés exist for a reason, because their truth can be so frequent and common. Meeting and recruiting Wyll at the Grove would have been a relief for Olini well before he revealed whose son he was, because by even that early date the other companions had all rubbed her the wrong way. Sure, Wyll's a bit of a pompous dork at first, but she respected his ideals and the way he behaved when teaching the refugee kids how to defend themselves.

She also handwaved his "hunt the devil" quest as the cost of doing business, especially since he was relatively forthcoming about motivation compared to everyone else (except maybe Lae'zel). However, once Karlach was recruited and that truth unraveled, Olini backed Karlach immediately (another good reason to hate Mizora) and, as awkwardly as she and the tiefling could do so, conspired to set up Wyll and Karlach. The fact that this worked out well for Karlach in the end was an unintented bonus—but who do you think might have inspired Wyll to be a ranger-in-hell Blade of Avernus anyway? Perhaps his ranger sister from another mister.

That's all I've got for now. I hope that answered the question! Thanks again for asking and as always I'm open to more similar Tav-deep-dive prompts.

Whiny Side Note

Would it kill Larian to clean up the way gear clips on itself? I get that it might be a frustrating whack-a-mole task to do every piece, but so is slapdash-photoshopping Olini's scale mail scarf to match the Hood of the Weave every time I want to post a screen shot.

[lutethebodies]

LTB Tav Tuesdays: Olinitza Cuel, the Silent Sentinel

My fourth Tav is one of two rangers, and a fave among faves in both 5e and BG3. Olini is my current tabletop character, stomping all over my brother's unique homebrew game (Magic as deteriorated AI! Perma-storms hiding secret islands! Mad underground bioengineers! Dragons on the moon!) as a half-drow planar-warrior-wielding Horizon Walker ranger who was (unwittingly at first) working for a patron that once helped cause an apocalypse.

Her name is a very loose translation of (as I understand it) "she who moves quickly" from Nahuatl. In 5e she has the Investigator background, and was sent by her superiors in the big city to investigate war crimes (and their cover-up) committed by commanders of the same unit she used to scout for in the wilderness. Discovered, she was run off the frontier as a traitor and, at the game's start, was back in the city taking up the righteous yet thankless task of petitioning bureaucratic authority for justice.

Olini is a natural explorer annoyed by civilization's limits and rules, driven to seek justice on her own terms, and will push any boundary to do so. Her ideals are 1) freedom; she relishes her self-appointed role as the spear-tip protecting innocents from abuses of authority; and 2) people; she respects like-minded friends more than powerful titles. When not seeking righteous retribution against the war criminals who cast her out, she is sentimentally attached to her spyglass and scimitar, mementos of her childhood and long-lost ranger father.

Her flaw is an insufficient patience with nuance or the gray realities of life; she is quick to react and judge if it confirms her priors. This can curdle into selfish denial if unchecked, and earned her the ironic moniker of "silent" after frequent outbursts as she raged against incessantly-postponed audiences with corrupt power brokers. That temper caught her future patron's attention, who promised her help in exchange for temporary silence and other vague "services yet to be named." Eager to clear her name, Olini readily agreed.

In BG3 Olini is translated to a Gloom Stalker with the Soldier background, which in addition to being insanely overpowered, fits a bit better with her backstory and half-drow lineage. An ex-Fist who witnessed first-hand that unit's incompetence in Chult, she was in Baldur's Gate seeking an audience with Ulder Ravengard, but missed him by a few days when the Grand Duke left for Elturel (and his subsequent fate). Put off by Blaze Portyr and ignored by Gortash, she was back in the wilderness seeking Ravengard's party when captured by the Nautiloid.

I've played her for years as a belligerent force of chaotic good, with many sources of inspiration but most recently the character of Evangeline Navarro from True Detective 4. Navarro fits Olini to a T, complete with the "haunted by her dead mother" bit. She fights hard (she nearly killed Absolutist-Minthara on the spot for calling her "half-breed") and loves harder, which got awkward with Karlach (who's unrequitedly down bad for her) and got her into bed with Shadowheart (who did indeed become her romance).

Metagame tidbit 1: I haven't explored their romance yet beyond superficial commonalities (shadow magic, caring for animals, half-elven lineage), but I like the idea of Olini learning subtlety and tact from Shadowheart, and our favorite cleric learning self-assurance by example from someone like Olini, who's so comfortable in her own skin. Metagame tidbit 2: Olini is also the first character for whom I've kept track of long rests; she defeated the goblins and hit Level 5 within 8 in-game days (which has pretty much become my standard for subsequent runs).

Tune in next week for another ranger-ific Tav!

[lutethebodies]

Tav Talks in a Cutscene, Part 2

Back in February I posted a quick clip of my (then) six Tavs speaking during the Mountain Pass cutscene with Voss' githyanki and dragon vs the Flaming Fist.

Well, I finally got around to adding three more characters—including the drow I made earlier this week—as well as newer/better versions of my swords bard and gloom stalker.

I know I say this every time but I wish there were more scenes like this. I've never been able to trigger either the initial camp discovery scene or the Act 2 opening scene. Ah well.

[lutethebodies]

The ranger in the hatchery.

[lutethebodies]

Minthara Judges My Tavs, Part 2

Our favorite vengeance paladin returns to offer her considered opinions on three more of my Tavs:

What do you make of Olini?

"She has accomplished much despite an unfortunate lineage. We cannot choose our mothers, though we can overcome careless or malicious upbringings. However, Olini has yet to demonstrate she can or would do so. Take her crusade against her former commanders; if she is sincere about wresting justice from authority, she would neither trifle with formalities nor wait for permission. Olini understands that power never concedes anything without a fight, but she must learn that entrenched passive structures are intentional barriers to anyone who cannot endure them. Those who reflexively disdain power have no standing to posture and bleat about its abuses. Olini should accept that righteous anger is meaningless without the will to exert power on its behalf."

Have you spoken to Farago?

"The darthirr? Briefly, but our conversation was not without merit. He wastes no words on superficialities, and does not selfishly inflict his own struggles on others. I appreciate Farago's lack of pretension and commitment to tact, though I suspect that will not always serve him well. If we speak again, I would advise my fellow warrior to not lose himself in escapism. The myth of a simple life is just that (appealing as it may seem), for retreating to some tiny abode on an empty frontier cannot erase complex traumas from one's mind. Farago must face his battle-scarred past and swallow his pride in order to move forward with less pain in his heart. I myself have found humility a lesson worth learning. Perhaps one day he shall as well."

I'm curious to hear what you think of Qiranna.

"For one so young and not sworn to Lolth, she is impressively ambitious and appropriately aware of her noble station. Qiranna's direct approach to acquiring power is commendable, but I am less impressed by her choice of patron. The Feywild's unpredictable chaos can be an unwieldy weapon in the hands of inexperienced children like her. I can only assume it was the impatience of youth that compelled her to make that risky decision. I let it be known that I am perfectly happy to provide whatever expertise she may require, but she has curiously not taken up my proposal as of yet. I admit I am unused to being rebuffed to such an oblivious degree, but my offer may have been too understated. No matter. If she is willing, I can teach her subtlety as well."

That's all for now, but Judge Minthy will be back for a final round in several weeks' time. Stay tuned!

[lutethebodies]

File this one under "I can't believe it took me X playthroughs to realize this!" but it did: thanks to the magic of hirelings, my four favorite Tavs can now assemble in one party! This is huge, and not just because it negates stuff like needy, high-maintenance companions or "what do I do with all this extra unused gear late in the game?”

It's super-fun for me because these jokers are my Big Four—my 5e characters I've played the most over the past four years (and have probably become way too emotionally invested in). In this case, the bard is my main Tav and the other three are hirelings, because the available choices (where race, body type, and background can't change) matched those the best.

While the exact race details aren't completely the same for all three—the human fits my rogue to a T, but the ranger here is half-wood-elf (instead of half-drow) and the cleric is half-high-elf (instead of human)—their backgrounds all line up as they should (and as they do in each of their solo Tav playthroughs).

The exact appearance details match up even better. The rogue and ranger are exactly as they appear in their solo Tav runs, and the cleric's half-elf face actually resembles his 5e portrait more than any of the available male human faces. I might finish up Act 3 with this band of mercs and let every other companion rot in camp.

This is a great example of why BG3 has eaten my brain for the past five months. I mean, I have lots of actual real work to do today but when I thought of this I just couldn't let it go without trying.

[lutethebodies]

"They'll be tough to fight, but not impossible to beat."

Putting every Tav through the mountain pass cutscene where they survey Voss and the Githyanki patrol will never not be fun.

I got this same scene on video for each of these folks on their solo playthroughs, but this is from my current multiplayer-as-multiple-Tav run.

I wish there were more "Tav Talks" cutscenes. I've never been able to trigger the Act 1 camp one or the Act 2 entrance one, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I just love seeing my OCs show their personalities.

[lutethebodies]

Traipsing through Act 1 just deliriously happy that I can play a whole game with my four fave Tavs in one party. Love the hirelings feature.

(Happy Tav Tuesday to all who celebrate)

[lutethebodies]

My gloom stalker Olini doing her thing at Créche Y'llek. Not pictured: a Level-6-powered complete dismantling of every gith who tried to kill her pal Lae'zel.

This might be my favorite setting in the game. The late-afternoon light, the alien-ambient soundtrack, the Blood of Lathander cutscene—all goddamn glorious.

[lutethebodies]

Tav Talks in a Cutscene! (Act 1 Spoiler). I'd seen that there was a spot that begins Act 2 where the player character will actually speak in a cutscene, but I've never been able to trigger that. However my swords bard did find one spot late in Act 1, by complete accident (he was split off from the party) where that speaking part triggers. So naturally I dug up old saves for (at the time) my other 5 characters to make them do the same.

The swords bard seems confident, the thief rogue is ready, the monk sounds noncommittal, the archfey warlock is authoritative, and the hunter ranger is ready to rumble. Only the gloom stalker ranger balks, but her party is underleveled for this fight, so she's basically warning me it won't go well. Might have to do this for every Tav I make now; there's at least two more since creating this clip.

[lutethebodies]

Post-Bard Playthroughs Await

Decided to set up Zaf and Olini for some Balanced-level runs (which I haven’t yet done with them as Tavs), once (or perhaps even before) Cannor’s duo-Minthara playthrough runs its course.

Coolest thing about either game would be that they can hire each other to an almost exact degree; the human femme hireling matches Zaf perfectly (voice/body type/background) and the half-elf femme almost does it for Olini (half-wood soldier vs Tav is half-drow soldier).

When I don’t play bards, I play rogues and rangers. Dexy, stealthy experts are just my jam, especially when they’re selfish and/or neutral.

[lutethebodies]

Deleted some mildly annoyed posts here and elsewhere about today's Patch 7 news because 1) until we get the actual notes, we have no idea how much will be in it and 2) I don't want to put needless negativity onto social media, which of course has more than enough of that already.

So instead I'll reiterate what I'm most excited about: mod support (hopefully on Mac). My sincere hope is that with all the cosmetic and equipment possibilities, I'll finally be able to make my BG3 Tavs' builds and appearances even closer to what they are in 5e.

I've tried (and sometimes succeeded) to keep this blog focused on the eight jokers in that montage above (though there are many more), because as much as I love certain BG3 companions and NPCs they will never mean as much to me as my own characters do.

That won't get much juice in any fandom on any platform, and that's fine, because it's always been on me to present them as compelling people regardless of attention (or lack thereof). I feel like that will be easier and/or more interesting for me when they look and feel more like themselves, instead of wearing the same faces as random NPCs.

I've been hesitant to jump into writing anything because, well, I've already done that in certain ways for some of them (songs, worldbooks), and anyway I've already written a novel (unrelated to anything BG3/5e) and I don't really think I want to do that again. So I guess for better and worse a lot is riding on this patch for me.

[lutethebodies]

Miscellaneous Oddities of a Companion-Lite Act 1

This is with a Swords Bard Tav/2 hirelings/Shadowheart party so far. All other companions have been ignored/not recruited, and we're doing as much as possible in Act 1 before resolving the Grove conflict (we will be raiding it, of course). Perhaps these things are already known to you, but I experienced them for the first time on this run:

Camp is pleasantly quiet/pet-free/angst-free (we ignored Gale and Lae'zel, ignored the familiars, knocked out Astarion and Karlach for their unique clothes, and as for Wyll, well, read on).

Lae'zel escaped her cage on her own (known & expected). We will probably see her later in the Pass or (sort of) in Act 2.

Ceremorphosis didn't start until the 9th long rest (usually it's 5th or even 7th in my experience).

Raphael hasn't shown up for a first visit in any of his usual spots (and I don't miss him).

Wyll (and Aradin's whole party) dies at the first goblin skirmish if Tav hides/doesn't interfere (and Tav can't pass by without initiating combat). So, uh, Tav's ranger hireling is wearing Wyll's clothes.

The Sacred Pool area fills with a poisonous cloud if Tav steals the idol and defeats the druids (but saves tieflings) before exposing Kagha (kettling the druids on the stairs with Spike Growth trivializes everything).

Even if Volo is (happily and permanently) dead outside of camp, there's still a "Volo (Dead)" badge if you hover over where he usually stands in camp.

Halsin will escape on his own, but stay in the Worg Pens, if Tav initiates (but doesn't complete) combat with the guards.

Tav can send Minthara on her merry way to raid the Grove, then Tav can long-rest in the Shattered Sanctum and demolish Razglin's crew without consequence.

Will update here as it develops. In Act 2 we're gonna see if, for the first time, we can provoke Shadowheart into rage-quitting.

I may never permanently recruit anyone besides Minthara ever again.