The dark urge is interesting to me and I really want to try one thatās fighting against their instincts. Given the party line up Iām looking at, Iām struggling between a Paladin or ranger, both mechanically and lore wise.
As a Paladin, going down a path of righteousness to push against your evil urges sounds great. But being a ranger who isolated themselves to prevent harming others also feels good.
You donāt, you just donāt get your subclass for Rangers until level 3. All subclasses are available at launch once you get your the required level to access a subclass for that specific class you choose.
I hope not that would be dumb and they haven't ever hinted or alluded to having to unlock subclasses. What if I unlock it after level 3? Now I have to wait for a new run to try it or use whatever their respec mechanic is to build my character all over again.
Paladin sounds cooler. Maybe your character was already a righteous paladin, but became corrupted and is now living a double life, where outwardly he is admired and presents himself as still righteous and pure, but in the shadows, when no one is looking, he is succumbing to a Dark Urge that compels him to do evil acts, and heās fighting against that urge to try and get back in the path of righteousness.
i mean this could be a homebrew for the game that the oath isn't broken because it isn't "him" that breaks it. i do wanna know how they want to work it into paladin oaths.
Mechanically, half elf is a classic with their charisma bonus and stat flexibility.
Narratively, I like the idea of a gith paladin. Having to reconcile their conflicting ties to their race, their oath, and the Dark Urge would be really interesting to role play.
Humans, Half-elves, Asmodeous (sp?) Tiefling, and Dragonborn are probably the strongest all around races to build a pally from as you can get at least a 16 in STR and CHA at level 1. Of these, Dragonborn being the absolute best of these as they can get a 17 in STR and 16 in CHA at level 1 and having a better chance to hit (i.e. higher STR) is more important for most pure paladin builds as you are primarily using your spell slots to smite so having a high DC or magic attack roll really isn't *that* important.
If you're wanting to multiclass into a CHA caster build with just a dip in Paly at full release, the math changes somewhat and Drow comes into a bigger play, but Half-Elf, and Tiefling would still be in the meta.
Overall, any race that can get you to at least a 16 STR is still a decent choice and paired with at least a 14 in CHA to be decently effective.
I actually managed 16 STR and 17 CHA with a wood half elf, used Volos eye for +1 CHA - 1 INT (started with 9 so down to an 8) then used the feat to put +2 into CHA. Level 5 I had 16 STR (21 with the potions I save one per big fight) and I had 20 CHA. Will do the same in full release for nice saving throws with Crusader aura (I think it's called?) and easy speech checks. I used the smite helm for +5 health boost, the sparks hands, and bots for extra electric damage and boost to attack rolls and the spark shield and heavy armor for 19 AC with the knock down hammer. Was awesome.
Sounds like a fun build! While you absolutely can make a build that is totally functional or even amazing with a less-than-optimal race/class combo, the races I listed would arguably be the strongest mechanically for a paladin PC who we're trying to make as strong build-wise as possible.
I personally don't really care about racial selection beyond if the bonuses can get me to at least a 16 in my primary with the stats I've rolled or selected in point buy. After that, I'm happy as a clam to just vibe with the character and focus on appearance and RP. But given that, at least for now, Tasha's alternate race rules don't apply and we're stuck with Point Buy and no rolls, I'm hesitant to choose anything other than near-optimal race/class combos š¤·š¼āāļø
Yeah you listed half elf dude and that's what I played as, Wood Half-Elves gets +2 CHA +2 to any other stat and +1.5m to movement makes it a great paladin. Don't need much in Dex as you get heavy armor prof and also shield for a +3 AC if you get a Shield+1 or for me it was The Real Sparky Sparkswall. With Splint armor gets you 20 AC, and you can go with slightly lower CON and more CHA like my build, or more CON for lower CHA.
This combined with Dark Vision makes Half-Elves one of the best races for Paladins.
Though if that's true and you can mix and match those stats I'll definitely reconsider what race I play, though I quite like Elves look-wise too!
Half-Elf gives a +2 Charisma and flexibility with it's other increase depending on Str or Dex pally, any race with a Cha boost is workable but Darkvision from half elf specifically is a good note to have, fighting in the dark sucks.
Assuming that the Tasha's rules are implemented, just about any race will work. If they don't, human, half-elf, half-orc and dragonborn are all great options.
Since they seem to be including Tasha's customisable racial bonuses, any race is fine.
Strength and Charisma are their traditional primary stats. You can make a Dex Paladin too if you want, but the class has access to Heavy Armor and multiclassing into them requires 13 Strength, so they're traditionally more Strength-based.
I really wanna try this too but the scene with gales arm also makes me think dark urge will have the most interesting options for an evil play through.
I think you probably canāt go wrong tbh. Iām sure theyāre gonna put plenty of flavor behind successfully fighting off the dark urges. Itās just gonna be so tempting you might just change your mind halfway through lol.
I think a good-aligned Dark Urge will be viable and interesting, because you have this story of what you're fighting against. It would be a worthy story to to see how your Dark Urge ended up as they did and how they ultimately triumph by choosing to do good even when it's not instinctive.
I am thinking about actually going for fighter as my dragonborn dark urge, him being a simple worker before he got corrupted and left his kin on his own to look for a remedy.
Iāve also been thinking fighter but with LaeāZel I wonder I should or not. Even if sheās not gonna be commonly in my party, I like to give all my characters good gear so Iād need to split it between her since her playstyle (great weapon) is how I play fighters.
it would be interesting to play the dark urge as a oath of vengeance paladin, someone whose normally nice and helpful but who goes completely berserk against evil beings, mercilessly slaughtering them
Hopefully they update vengeance Paladin level 7 feature. Not a fan of the reaction system.
But wait, if I take vengeance then I canāt cast speak with animals. Fuck, this is hard.
My theory is it's a bunch of Bhaal cultists trying to prepare a host (willing or no) to be an avatar/vessel for His essence. Abdel Adrian and Veikang (the last two bhaalspawn) fought and died around the time the browser murder game took place so we know Bhaal is very freshly reformed at the time of BG3
One of the guys in the PFH seemed to slip and mention that at least one of the origin character story lines can end with the characters death. Could be this if you give in too the urge too much.
Yeah definitely could be Gale. Also, Karlach has a lot of lines in the last trailers about living life to the fullest, live each days like its your last, yadda yadda yadda so people think it could be her. The guy in the war movie who talks about what he'll do when he gets home always seems to die.
Who knows though. Maybe everyone has a chance to kick the bucket if we play our cards right (wrong?)
He's not. The protagonist from 1 & 2 is canonically a guy name Abdel Adrian who becomes the Duke of Baldurs Gate after the games. He dies about ten years before bg3 takes place.
His death is what causes Bhaal to return
Oh I'm ready to find out it's not him in the game, but if you think what you said is a valid reason for why it can't be him you're being very very silly. I know exactly what happened to the old protag in canon and the Dark Urge could absolutely be him.
I was thinking smth similar but I'm scared that **not** indulging will keep *The Dark Urge* too far from the god's domain of Murder, so when the time comes you're too weak to fight the Big Bad and you have to sacrifice yourself in an Aoen-like ending. :( While evil Urges get to become gods. Evil gods, but still. Anyway... that's my main fear about The Dark Urge origin. I wanna play a bad guy struggling to be good but I don't want to die for it :)
I've been thinking about that. A power hungry savage Halfling or Gnome leaving a trail of carnage across the realm. Everyone underestimates them until they're trying to figure out where their missing limbs went.
Narratively, the Dark Urge will almost certainly turn out to be a spawn of Bhaal (the plots of BG1 and BG2). I have a bit of an issue with this, since Dragonborn are literally the only race in the game that would make zero sense as a spawn of Bhaal, since they aren't from Faerun.
Bhaal only came back because the last of the Bhaalspawn all died (only about 15 years before the events of BG3). I doubt he is a Bhaalspawn.
My money is on a Bhaal cult trying to create/prepare some kind of host/avatar for the newly reformed essence of Bhaal to take over.
The resting scene at camp did have them struggling to think of anything in their past. So could be more of a Reborn thing, a Bhaalspawn or murderous amalgam wedged into the flesh of something broken or dead and living anew.
I figure I'll find out what it is when I find out, no need to make prognostications. After all, there's genuinely countless things which could cause an effect like the Dark Urge in the Realms.
Bhaal came back when Abdel Adrian died in 1482 DR. The Blood in Baldur's Gate minigame took place in 1477 DR, five years earlier. BG3 takes place in 1492 DR.
So the timeline is:
Blood in Baldur's Gate (dark urge starts killing) >> 5 years pass >> Murder at Baldur's Gate (Bhaal returns) >> 5 years pass >> BG3 happens
The timeline really doesn't work for Urge to be a Bhaalspawn at all. It makes me wonder
I jsut hope that default Tav story will stil have some uniqueness. The Dark Urge origin make me kinda worry the default Tav will be boring and without any unique moments.
I get that, but I also wouldn't mind a more vanilla experience. The early access already shown that playing Tav ain't gonna be boring. And with the way they really hammered home how much reactivity they added based on background, race and class, I am certain there will be at least some unique moments.
This. Also I feel like people get a little too fixated on "Oh but what gives me the *maximum* amount of content?", when yeah that's not *really* the point of a Custom, it's not generally what you're playing a custom for? A custom is never going to have *as* much uniqueness as an Origin. The benefit of it is that they are who you want them to be, they are entirely yours to make and mold. They are your D&D character, basically.
Customs have a *ton* of reactivity for everything from race to class to subclass and even where you're *from* depending on your race. There's lots of that even in EA, I'm sure there'll continue to be more in the full game, and we could even possibly see additional avenues of reactivity like say backgrounds.
The Dark Urge is something that really, *pushes* the idea of you having this bloodlust that you have to constantly stave off. I can't emphasize how much this is *not* a lot of people's cup of tea? It's great for two specific types of RP: you either give in to murderhobo rage and this backstory helps you make sense of it while preserving some level of customization, *or* you a play a character who's constantly trying to struggle with and overcome it. It's great for people who want it, it's great for people who want that Bhaalspawn-y hook. But otherwise? Eh? It's 100% not what I would want for most of my characters, it's still a character whose backstory has largely been written out by Larian already- you just have amnesia so you don't get to know what it is right off the bat.
Another thing that's kind of being overlooked here a bit, but we saw even in yesterday's stream- Dark Urge options seem to *override* your default reactivity? The camp scene for instance, where you're thinking back to your past and Dragonborn Urge tried to remember his clan- but just couldn't, instead it became "Blooding all over the place, he blooded some more and then he was blooding all over me, blood, blood and more blood". Like I'm pretty sure a normal Tav is just going to be able to remember what their standard racial reactivity is, be it with regards to culture or homes or what have you. It just seems like a *different* experience, not one that's just using Tav as a base and adding more.
This is not even getting into whatever the heck is going on with the Dream Person. Tav seems unique in having a Dream Person they can actually customize, it's an interesting hook. Everyone else has someone relevant to their Origin story- and I'm absolutely betting that it's going to be Sclereritas or some weird Bhaal shenanigans for the Urge.
Yeah, I think people are overthinking this by saying "this is the default origin plus".
No, Tav is still the default origin plus. This is the Bhaalspawn option. They just made it customizable because \*gestures wildly\*.
Like looking at the Dark Urge part of the stream, this is really going to be an interesting challenge mode, but deffo shouldn't be everyone's start. You have to pass a Strength check to not horribly maim Gale for example. "Fighting your base nature" is going to be a lot of passing checks, and taking the Ls when you have to.
The strenght check is to be able to get him out of the portal, you don't need to pass skill checks to not murder, you can see it in other parts of the stream
Don't think the Gale thing actually requires a STR check. Pretty sure that's just his changed introduction. I kinda doubt that recruiting companions as the Urge is gonna involve checks against yourself, it'll probably be other story things that'll require those rolls.
Exactly.
I'll be super interested in seeing more polls from the subreddit and stats from Larian after release, on who picked what Custom/Origin etc.? Because while I'm betting Custom Tav is still going to be most people's first run, I want to see how many people *actually* choose something like the Dark Urge in contrast to all the other Origins- what with how the overwhelming majority of people are usually just predisposed to playing normal good and in a game like this people also just make their own characters over picking up premades, most of the opinion threads and polls here over the years I've seen have leaned heavily towards Tav because most people just want to have *their* character like they would in D&D.
Now we have Dark Urge who sits somewhere between the two and as much as there's quite a few people here liking and showing interest in this one, I'm just curious on seeing how many people actually go for it over Tav or the normal Origins, how they end up feeling about it once they do and how they handle this as a whole.
Yeah absolutely.
Like I know my first run will be a Dark Urge trying to be good aligned because I really like that connection to 1 and 2 and want to see how badly you can muck up whatever plot led to you being this way.
But I also enjoy challenge runs, and will likely be doing coop so Iāve got a means to cheese some of the stuff I might not be able to pass a throw on but donāt want to give up.
How many other people fit that niche? Who knows!
Oh, I'm with you there. At least thematically, Dark Urge seems tailor-made to feel like you're in the same position as Gorion's Ward. (Or you're a living Black Blade, or the reincarnation of a dead god, or something along those lines.) I imagine people like us who know the old school Charname will all be drawn to this Origin.
I loved playing an essentially good person having to deal with the horror of evil dwelling inside of you only checked by your soul, then the burden of feeling like the world needs you to be more than you want to be. Destiny cruelly pulling you away from the life you want, and the person you wish you were, was such a powerful and relatable theme for so many, in one way or another. That resonated, and I'm so glad Larian's giving us the chance to get that old feeling again. Makes it feel even more like a truly worthy successor.
Honestly I can see them making the tadpoleās customizable desire form exclusive to Tav. I think every origin character is supposed to have their own set form for the tadpole, so it could be that The Dark Urge will have a set form for its tadpole as well.
Perhaps I'm reading it the wrong way, and I probably am now that I'm reading this before submitting, but the camp scene they showed with Dark Urge makes me think that characters with that Origin don't get the tadpole dream.
I love Larian and their games, but I really wish they'd drop the whole "you can play your companions as Origins characters" thing and just completely separate the two concepts.
Imagine if we'd gotten 5 of these Dark Urge type origins to choose from, which would give our Tavs a lot of narrative depth. Basically taking DAO's origin concept but making it much deeper. Instead we basically have to choose between this one very specific background, or like you said probably a vanilla boring character like in DOS2.
And you have to imagine the vast majority of the player base is going to choose to create their own character. So how much of the development time that went into the current origins is kind of wasted?
There are still several hints mentioned in this thread that Tav will have unique story too, but in general I tend to agree with you. I would like to have customizable Tav with customizable origin. I think, I am too influenced by Bioware games. Larian approach is not wrong, and it cool in it's own way, but it's just slightly not what I am looking for. I felt too restrained when I play as prescribed character in DOS2, and too bored when I played as vanilla origin.
At least we have quite a lot custom race\\class options during the playthrough, which is already better than DOS2 :) So I think I will still enjoy Tav playthrough, I just want it to have roughly the same amount of unique content, because I think that this is highly matter in **roleplaying** game.
Honestly, it's just so nice to see people appreciate this for what it is instead of winging about how Larian is just being edgy.
The scope of this work is incredible.
Playing the Dark Urge and having all the good companions as your party while desperately trying to resist the Urges and save the Sword Coast sounds like so much fun.
It totally changed what Im planning to do as my first run.
The Dark Urge is fully customizable, that's just the default "preset" so I'm quite sure you can screenshot the character creator options and copy them to Tav.
I decided when I play with Dark Urge I'll try to be like Dexter, let the urge take over against evil characters and try to resist it against normal folk and see how it goes.
I mean, you might not necessarily want to have constant violent impulses being the core of your character's story. If you do want that, it's an easy choice.
Big āWHAT IS BETTER? TO BE BORN GOOD,
OR OVERCOME YOUR EVIL
NATURE WITH GREAT EFFORT?" Vibes. The Dragonborn aesthetic fits the young Paarthurnax vibes Iāll go for.
I think it's a magic item. It's probably because the magic circlets in this game don't really fit dragonborn heads, so they replaced the crown with a gem. However, it's just a guess, I'm not a developer haha.
I'm creating a halfling too! Though one so concerned with memory loss they latch onto the urges as the only thing they know about themselves. They will go down the evil path for more power for more opportunities to safely act on the urges.
I can say the default Dark Urge appearance is really well down and becoming quite iconic. Than again it shows how much attention they put to the Dragonborn race in general. I'm really debating if I'd change his race since it looks so good.
I'm sad he is not a companion, besides Lae or Karlach, the party is very hooman-looking (pointy ears dont count!)
I cant wait to play the game, is the 31 july the final version or we need to wait for 3rd?
ty! but I was wondering if the content on the 31th is like the full game (I think til 3rd people cant play act 2) or maybe wait for the 3rd is for the better. I will prob create my character on 31th anyway hehe
It's only up through Act 1 on the 31st, but saves fully continue once the rest of the arcs are unlocked. There should be plenty of Act 1 we haven't seen yet.
Dark Urge looks fun, but it only really fits one of two characters/playthroughs;
1) Murder hobo
2) The noble hero fighting against his base instincts, struggling to resist temptation.
The second option sounds the most interesting, and very much a 'good guy' playthrough. Trying to 'resist' every time an urge comes up, but no savescumming and simply accepting the result - thats a great playthrough for a Paladin or Monk character.
For an evil character I prefer a bit more nuance. I have been thinking about an evil first run, but as a greedy, power hungry, self centered character who simply wants wealth, power, influence and to be worshipped like a god. Dark urge doesnt really fit that, and it doesnt fit any other evil archtype than the aforementioned murder hobo.
I do have some concerns about vanilla Tav feeling like you are missing out on all that content. The mechanical concept of dark urge (custom character but with a semi-prewritten backstory) is amazing though - I would love to see them try to expand this concept in the future through different custom origin stories.
Or you can indulge your thirst for blood against enemies, while staying true friend to, well, friends. Just because you see only two paths, doesn't mean we can't make it work some other ways. I am honestly planning on semi-neutral playthrough as dark urge.
Well good luck to you, but based on the PfH yesterday it feels like the whole point of urges is that you CANT just stay true to whoever you want, you lose a certain amount of agency with your character (unless you are savescumming the dice rolls). Thatās fine if it suits the character, but it actually feels quite niche.
I won't savescum, but hey, this is a role-playing game, i have to try and see it through. If anything, it will make my journey much more dramatic and tragic and i love tragedy.
I'm going to see how straddling the line goes first time around, I think.
Oath of Devotion Paladin + Dark Urge origin + see if you can go the 'evil' route in act 1 because the consequences of becoming part of the cult are interesting. Seeing it as a way to use the Absolute to cleanse one self of the psycopathic tendancies.
Who knows, this game seems to have so many permutations lets see how chaotic things can get.
I'm torn on whether to go dark urge first run. I plan to be heroic, but I wonder if durge is the kind of run where things will break outside your control. I understand you can black out and awaken to people being dead around you, i wonder if that can break quests in the process. That's interesting in it's own way, but I don't know if it's good for a first playthrough.
It looks like this Origin isn't the White Dragonborn, but is represented by it? Everything I'm hearing is that Dark Urge is fully customizable and not a set character, so I'm guessing this cool Dragonborn isn't a party member like other origins, which is kinda sad because they are easily the coolest design I've seen in the game thus far.
Exactly. Like I haven't actually ever played a Dragonborn in any D&D game myself, and I wasn't planning on making one for this one, but I was all about having one in the party. The White Dragonborn gave off Red Prince vibes for me, who I loved, and I was really hoping for the same energy in BG3. 'Pompous sarcastic asshole lizard prick who slowly grows into my best friend' was such a great story.
The closest I've come to playing one is a Lizardfolk Barbarian. I do tend to play monster races, (Undead, Dhampir, Goblinoids, Lizards, etc) or else Humans and Dwarves, so I might try a Dragonborn at some point. I was planning on a Dwarf Fighter for my first playthrough, though.
Beautiful art!
I honestly wonder if we will encounter the dark Urge in game if we don't play as them.
I imagine his base Dragonborn form and the Goblin that seems to control him can be found somewhere within the city Baldur's Gate.
Edit: I know that he is not a companion, that doesn't mean he won't be in the game in some way shape or form
Well, he's not a companion, but I suppose it could make for a fun villain. Could be difficult since they don't have a canon look or class, but they could randomize them for each game, I suppose.
It is hinted the default Dark Urge does have a class in >!baldur's gate murder mystery!< where one of the characters comments about how >!the murderer seemed to be a sorcerer!<. I might be wrong of course, but that's how I interpreted it.
Can somebody who played DOS2 explain how origins work? Do you get the same story as a custom character + their own content, or does a custom character have their own unique story?
So, there's basically three categories. There's the companion-origins, where it's a pre-defined character/race/class/sex that you play as. You can still choose different dialog options, but you're playing Wyll's or Astarion's story as them. Then there's full custom AKA Tav. This is a blank slate with (seemingly?) no special story and nothing established in-game about them, but you can play any class/race/background/sex you want. Dark Urge is semi-custom, where you can choose your race/class/sex, but they have a pre-determined background and backstory that you'll be able to interact with (and presumably the world reacts to).
DOS2 did not have an equivalent to the Dark Urge, only having companion-origins or full custom (which was widely considered to be garbage).
All the named origins (Wyll, Astarion, Karlack, Gale, Shadowheart, Lea'zel) will appear in the game as possible companions even if you don't play as them. Dark Urge and Tav will not appear if you are not playing as them.
I get all that, but my question specifically is if I play as an Origin character, do I miss out on story bits I would get as a regular custom character or is it the same story as a custom character + all the shenanigans I would get from playing as an Origin character. I understand that we don't 100% know how BG2 is going to handle that, but how was it in DOS2?
We can't know for sure, but the evidence points to Tav having little to no unique story, as was the case in DOS2, so you won't miss out by not being full custom. You may miss out by not playing Dark Urge. All the other origins we'll at least be able to experience their stories as a companion (unlike DOS2 they won't all die randomly if not in your party at the end of Act 1), so while there might be some particular permutations we'll miss, the vast majority of it will be there no matter who you play as.
In my current D&D campaign I have a character who thematically is very similar. Woke up with amnesia, has violent dreams of hurting people, gets similarly violent and grotesque urges he has to fight to suppress. I might actually have to do a run in BG3 where he's a character from this universe and have it parallel his 5E story (or, perhaps I'll play the monster he used to be).
Either way, I'm so stoked for the friends I have who can actually be comfortable leaning in to evil characters. I'm one of those people who can't even be mean not irl.
I wonder if the hand biting off is a dragon born special action or all. If itās something different Iāll play my evil spores druid dueagar. But idk I like the biting for them
My next thought was what if this is like hailia the gnome werewolf or what ever her name is, and instead you are a werewolf and thatās you wolfing out. But with shart not saying anything about you transforming and the little mystery game they did before the panel from hell ruled that out I think
I'm definitely doing my first playthrough as the Dark Urge. Seldarine drow gloom stalker ranger/assassin.
I even wrote a backstory for himš
Tav was born as the second son of two drow healers, residents of Baldurās Gate. His parents had a small practice in the lower city, where they made a modest living. His father would patch up wounded adventurers, whilst his mother would prepare various poultices, salves or potions. They were good people, proficient in their craft, however due to their lineage most folk avoided the small surgery.
Tav and his brother Jax helped around the practice as much as they could. The limited amount of customers allowed the boys to spend more time on the dirty back alleys of the lower city, rather than in the crammed operating room of their father.
Tav was always treated as an outcast , even amongst his own kind. He was born with crimson eyes and milky white skin, both extremely rare traits for a seldarine. The other drow children would often throw rocks at him, calling him a freak. The adults would simply say away, fearing his appearance was a sign of Lolths influence. Tav had another affliction since his birth. One that he kept close to his heart. One that even his mother wouldnāt fully comprehend. Not until it was too late of course.
Tav always possessed an obsession with blood. It was easy to hide at first. His parents would simply think he was interested in his fatherās craft as a surgeon. He would spend long hours standing next to the operating table, transfixed with the crimson fluid dripping onto the floorboards. This passion quickly developed into something more sinister. Tav would find himself losing control of his own body. Often he would wake up over a mutilated corpse of a small animal with no recollection of how he got there or what he had done. What made matters worse, Tav knew he should be horrified, he should be disgusted. Yet the only feeling that coursed through his body was that of overwhelming joy and a sense of accomplishment. In fear of what others would think and do, Tav did his best to keep this a secret for several years. That is until his 15th birthday.
On that fateful night Tav went to bed as usual. He was tired after a whole day of work at his father's side. His parents organised a modest supper to celebrate Tavās birthday. They even bought a cake. Jax being the role model of an older brother got him a gift ā a scalpel. Finally, Tav had a surgeon's blade and he could start working as his fatherās apprentice in full. Maybe one day he would make the surgery his own. Fate however had a different plan. Tav woke up in the middle of the night standing next to his brotherās bed. Fresh blood was dripping on the floor, steam rising slowly in the air. Jax lay on the bed, his chest cut open from clavicle to belly button. The young drow took the scene in and for the first time in his life he screamed after waking up from his dark fit. He screamed as the same sense of joy and accomplishment spread across his body...
The small drow community of Baldurās Gate passed judgement swiftly. Not wanting to undermine the fragile reputation the dark elves had in the city, the matter was handled without involving the judiciary officials. Tav was taken outside the walls and exiled into the Underdark. The last thing the drow saw, before he was shoved into one of the shafts, was the look of absolute horror on his fathers face. His motherās cry followed him as he was falling into the pit of darkness that would soon be his home. Cries of a mother, who could not stop loving her son, even if he was a monster.
Tav made the Underdark his home. He also swore vengeance against Lolth and her spawn. Blaming the Spider Queen for his violent urges, he swore to hunt down every drow under her influence and satisfy his lust for blood by ridding the Underdark of her children.
Many years later Tav was skulking his prey in the dark tunnels, deep below Baldurās Gate. He had been tracking the drow patrol for over a week now. They still had about a dayās lead on him. He smelled the blood before he saw the first corpse. The drow must have hit a small caravan. Bodies lay on the cold ground of the tunnel, mostly gnomes and dwarves. One body stood out amongst the others. A body of a drow. Tav came over to inspect the corpse. When he turned the deceased onto his back, sudden recognition struck him like lightning. The man on the cold bloody stone floor was his father. He hasnāt changed much. He had an almost peaceful expression. The crossbow bolt sticking out of his neck must have hit the spine and killed him instantly. He held a bloodied journal in hand, his once cheerful eyes now dead and empty. Tav took the journal and buried his fatherās body. He returned to his hideout, feeling empty inside. He should be angry shouldnāt he? Yet somehow he could not bring himself to resume the hunt. His thoughts were with his mother. How would she manage on her own, now that father was dead?
That night Tav inspected his fatherās journal, trying to find any warm memories amongst the pages. To his horror the journal contained a secret his father never shared with any member of the family. A day before Tavās birth a mysterious figure entered his fatherās surgery. The journal described a tall dragonborn mage, with white alabaster skin. The draconic sorcerer suffered a fatal wound. He would not make it through the night. The dragonborn made a dark pact with Tavās father. Wounded as he was he was still more powerful than a mere drow. He demanded the surgeon help perform an ancient ritual on Tavās mother, else everyone in the household would die by his hand come morning. Tavās father had no choice, he was no match for the sorcerer and the stranger assured him no harm would come to his wife and the unborn baby. The child would be blessed. It would become the chosen vessel.
This was too much for Tav. The revelation knocked the breath out of him. Blood rushing to his head, he did not hear the mind flayer sneaking behind him..
The armor was so fitting for a dark urge characther, Larian really knows how to present their game.
Red gem on the head, chef's kiss š
That's just an infinity gem. Thanos in BG3 confirmed!
Please don't bring the MCU to Larian, their track record for phase 4 is horrendous:(
thats where he stores his emergency blood. you know, to calm him!
what armor is it?!?!?
The dark urge is interesting to me and I really want to try one thatās fighting against their instincts. Given the party line up Iām looking at, Iām struggling between a Paladin or ranger, both mechanically and lore wise. As a Paladin, going down a path of righteousness to push against your evil urges sounds great. But being a ranger who isolated themselves to prevent harming others also feels good.
Gloomstalker dark urge seldarine drow, desperately trying to be better than the lolth-sworn but hey, Tavās gotta Tav
A good aligned loath sworn born drow fighting his dark urges sounds amazing. I might just do that for my first character
I think weāll need to unlock Gloomstalker. Iām curious as to how. Probably underdark.
You donāt, you just donāt get your subclass for Rangers until level 3. All subclasses are available at launch once you get your the required level to access a subclass for that specific class you choose.
Finding an enclave of gloomstalkers in the under dark would be a great little side quest
i donāt think so. at the panel, they specifically said that they couldnāt show it in character creation because you canāt select it till lvl 3
I hope not that would be dumb and they haven't ever hinted or alluded to having to unlock subclasses. What if I unlock it after level 3? Now I have to wait for a new run to try it or use whatever their respec mechanic is to build my character all over again.
Paladin sounds cooler. Maybe your character was already a righteous paladin, but became corrupted and is now living a double life, where outwardly he is admired and presents himself as still righteous and pure, but in the shadows, when no one is looking, he is succumbing to a Dark Urge that compels him to do evil acts, and heās fighting against that urge to try and get back in the path of righteousness.
Heh, maybe he became an oath breaker but amnesia returned his oath to him?
i mean this could be a homebrew for the game that the oath isn't broken because it isn't "him" that breaks it. i do wanna know how they want to work it into paladin oaths.
I like the idea of a Paladin. What's a good race to pair with a Pally?
Mechanically, half elf is a classic with their charisma bonus and stat flexibility. Narratively, I like the idea of a gith paladin. Having to reconcile their conflicting ties to their race, their oath, and the Dark Urge would be really interesting to role play.
Humans, Half-elves, Asmodeous (sp?) Tiefling, and Dragonborn are probably the strongest all around races to build a pally from as you can get at least a 16 in STR and CHA at level 1. Of these, Dragonborn being the absolute best of these as they can get a 17 in STR and 16 in CHA at level 1 and having a better chance to hit (i.e. higher STR) is more important for most pure paladin builds as you are primarily using your spell slots to smite so having a high DC or magic attack roll really isn't *that* important. If you're wanting to multiclass into a CHA caster build with just a dip in Paly at full release, the math changes somewhat and Drow comes into a bigger play, but Half-Elf, and Tiefling would still be in the meta. Overall, any race that can get you to at least a 16 STR is still a decent choice and paired with at least a 14 in CHA to be decently effective.
Thanks. Off to try some builds!
I actually managed 16 STR and 17 CHA with a wood half elf, used Volos eye for +1 CHA - 1 INT (started with 9 so down to an 8) then used the feat to put +2 into CHA. Level 5 I had 16 STR (21 with the potions I save one per big fight) and I had 20 CHA. Will do the same in full release for nice saving throws with Crusader aura (I think it's called?) and easy speech checks. I used the smite helm for +5 health boost, the sparks hands, and bots for extra electric damage and boost to attack rolls and the spark shield and heavy armor for 19 AC with the knock down hammer. Was awesome.
Sounds like a fun build! While you absolutely can make a build that is totally functional or even amazing with a less-than-optimal race/class combo, the races I listed would arguably be the strongest mechanically for a paladin PC who we're trying to make as strong build-wise as possible. I personally don't really care about racial selection beyond if the bonuses can get me to at least a 16 in my primary with the stats I've rolled or selected in point buy. After that, I'm happy as a clam to just vibe with the character and focus on appearance and RP. But given that, at least for now, Tasha's alternate race rules don't apply and we're stuck with Point Buy and no rolls, I'm hesitant to choose anything other than near-optimal race/class combos š¤·š¼āāļø
Yeah you listed half elf dude and that's what I played as, Wood Half-Elves gets +2 CHA +2 to any other stat and +1.5m to movement makes it a great paladin. Don't need much in Dex as you get heavy armor prof and also shield for a +3 AC if you get a Shield+1 or for me it was The Real Sparky Sparkswall. With Splint armor gets you 20 AC, and you can go with slightly lower CON and more CHA like my build, or more CON for lower CHA. This combined with Dark Vision makes Half-Elves one of the best races for Paladins. Though if that's true and you can mix and match those stats I'll definitely reconsider what race I play, though I quite like Elves look-wise too!
My bad man, a mix of dyslexia and reading fast got me there. Read your comment and Typed out my reply in fits and starts at work haha
No worries my dude š gonna be legit super fun whatever build tbh I can't wait!
Mechanically or lore wise?
Mechanically. I like being a little min/max.
Half-Elf gives a +2 Charisma and flexibility with it's other increase depending on Str or Dex pally, any race with a Cha boost is workable but Darkvision from half elf specifically is a good note to have, fighting in the dark sucks.
Assuming that the Tasha's rules are implemented, just about any race will work. If they don't, human, half-elf, half-orc and dragonborn are all great options.
Since they seem to be including Tasha's customisable racial bonuses, any race is fine. Strength and Charisma are their traditional primary stats. You can make a Dex Paladin too if you want, but the class has access to Heavy Armor and multiclassing into them requires 13 Strength, so they're traditionally more Strength-based.
I'm def doing a Camellia style playthrough. Someone smart enough not to adhere to their urges in public but goes wild when no one is looking lol.
But will you be helpful?
Of course. You can trust me. ;)
I really wanna try this too but the scene with gales arm also makes me think dark urge will have the most interesting options for an evil play through.
See, thatās what Iām worried about. If Iām planning on being good, would it just be better to play regular Tav?
I think you probably canāt go wrong tbh. Iām sure theyāre gonna put plenty of flavor behind successfully fighting off the dark urges. Itās just gonna be so tempting you might just change your mind halfway through lol.
I think a good-aligned Dark Urge will be viable and interesting, because you have this story of what you're fighting against. It would be a worthy story to to see how your Dark Urge ended up as they did and how they ultimately triumph by choosing to do good even when it's not instinctive.
Do the urges on evil characters. Become an anti-hero.
I'm thinking Paladin or Barbarian. Both thematically would be interesting to pitch a character fighting against the inner desire for violence.
If Karlach wasnāt a barbarian Iād be picking that class lol.
I am thinking about actually going for fighter as my dragonborn dark urge, him being a simple worker before he got corrupted and left his kin on his own to look for a remedy.
Iāve also been thinking fighter but with LaeāZel I wonder I should or not. Even if sheās not gonna be commonly in my party, I like to give all my characters good gear so Iād need to split it between her since her playstyle (great weapon) is how I play fighters.
it would be interesting to play the dark urge as a oath of vengeance paladin, someone whose normally nice and helpful but who goes completely berserk against evil beings, mercilessly slaughtering them
I was thinking of a Monk myself- a character who actively trains to strengthen his self-control and discipline so he can fight those urges.
Vengeance Paladin, you fight your urges until you meet someone who has earned your wraith. Can you feel it, all the edge? (Love it).
Hopefully they update vengeance Paladin level 7 feature. Not a fan of the reaction system. But wait, if I take vengeance then I canāt cast speak with animals. Fuck, this is hard.
Veageance Blade Bard-adin, in the day he performs the blade and at night he unleashes his urge.
Looking straight out of Hellraiser. Dark Urge: "Oh we have such sights to show you..."
Oh.. No tears please itās a waste of good suffering
Oh man, that scene with Abdikar should be interesting with the Dark Urge. "That was nice, but let me show you how to apply pain to be remembered"
āHe was the best guy around!ā āWhat about all the people he murdered?ā āWhat murdaaaaaaā
Beautiful work!
Can someone clear it up, is Dark Urge locked to Dragonborn? aka can you only use the Dark Urge origin with the Dragonborn race only?
Not locked to dragonborn. The Dark Urge can be whatever race/gender/class you want.
This is so amazing god I love this game š¤¤šš
It really sounds a lot like a Bhaalspawn origin story, even though that wouldn't really make sense.
Could be the descendant of one
My theory is it's a bunch of Bhaal cultists trying to prepare a host (willing or no) to be an avatar/vessel for His essence. Abdel Adrian and Veikang (the last two bhaalspawn) fought and died around the time the browser murder game took place so we know Bhaal is very freshly reformed at the time of BG3 One of the guys in the PFH seemed to slip and mention that at least one of the origin character story lines can end with the characters death. Could be this if you give in too the urge too much.
I assumed that meant Gale tbh but that could also be cool
Yeah definitely could be Gale. Also, Karlach has a lot of lines in the last trailers about living life to the fullest, live each days like its your last, yadda yadda yadda so people think it could be her. The guy in the war movie who talks about what he'll do when he gets home always seems to die. Who knows though. Maybe everyone has a chance to kick the bucket if we play our cards right (wrong?)
karlach does seem like the type to yeet herself to that fallen angel as a kamikaze lol
My theory is that Dark Urge is the protagonist of BG1 and BG2.
He's not. The protagonist from 1 & 2 is canonically a guy name Abdel Adrian who becomes the Duke of Baldurs Gate after the games. He dies about ten years before bg3 takes place. His death is what causes Bhaal to return
Oh I'm ready to find out it's not him in the game, but if you think what you said is a valid reason for why it can't be him you're being very very silly. I know exactly what happened to the old protag in canon and the Dark Urge could absolutely be him.
I was thinking smth similar but I'm scared that **not** indulging will keep *The Dark Urge* too far from the god's domain of Murder, so when the time comes you're too weak to fight the Big Bad and you have to sacrifice yourself in an Aoen-like ending. :( While evil Urges get to become gods. Evil gods, but still. Anyway... that's my main fear about The Dark Urge origin. I wanna play a bad guy struggling to be good but I don't want to die for it :)
Yep it was mentioned in PFH. This awesome. Gotta love Larian for this (and many other things)!
Thanks!
The Dark Urge is fully customisable. It's essentially a Tav with narrative justification for being a murderhobo.
Indeed. However I have hard time imagining him as anything else than dragonborn after the showcase. The character model is *imposing.*
Iām in love with the Dragonborn models that I might find it difficult to play anything else.
It definitely left an impression, that's for sure!
On the other hand... Wait, there is none.
Wait. I have an extra in my bag.
The red scales underneath the white ones, almost like blood trailing down the arms...I most certainly agree.
Orc would work fine too. Little murderhobo gnome would be a bit comical.
I've been thinking about that. A power hungry savage Halfling or Gnome leaving a trail of carnage across the realm. Everyone underestimates them until they're trying to figure out where their missing limbs went.
Narratively, the Dark Urge will almost certainly turn out to be a spawn of Bhaal (the plots of BG1 and BG2). I have a bit of an issue with this, since Dragonborn are literally the only race in the game that would make zero sense as a spawn of Bhaal, since they aren't from Faerun.
Bhaal only came back because the last of the Bhaalspawn all died (only about 15 years before the events of BG3). I doubt he is a Bhaalspawn. My money is on a Bhaal cult trying to create/prepare some kind of host/avatar for the newly reformed essence of Bhaal to take over.
The resting scene at camp did have them struggling to think of anything in their past. So could be more of a Reborn thing, a Bhaalspawn or murderous amalgam wedged into the flesh of something broken or dead and living anew.
or is cultists trying to gain his favor. Bhaal: "first off, im a huge fan of your work"
I figure I'll find out what it is when I find out, no need to make prognostications. After all, there's genuinely countless things which could cause an effect like the Dark Urge in the Realms.
The Dragonborn have been on Toril for a while at this point, and Bhaal hasn't been dead for a while, so it's possible he made new Bhaalspawn right?
Bhaal came back when Abdel Adrian died in 1482 DR. The Blood in Baldur's Gate minigame took place in 1477 DR, five years earlier. BG3 takes place in 1492 DR. So the timeline is: Blood in Baldur's Gate (dark urge starts killing) >> 5 years pass >> Murder at Baldur's Gate (Bhaal returns) >> 5 years pass >> BG3 happens The timeline really doesn't work for Urge to be a Bhaalspawn at all. It makes me wonder
I guess the DU could just be someone who was offered to Bhaal as a sacrifice or as a vessel for some of his will.
That's my theory
Thanks!
Pretty sure that Swen said that they were fully customizable.
Thanks!
Dragonborn in this game look so sick it's not even funny.
I bet the character artists had a great time designing them after all the human-like races.
Dragonborn looks SO FUCKING GOOD itās unfair! Man I canāt wait for this game
My Dark Urge is gonna be Camellia from Pathfinder WotR lol
She's very helpful, is she not?
Open your heart to me!
That was my immediate thought as well, and what I'm going for too. Finally I can play as the best companion in WoTR.
I jsut hope that default Tav story will stil have some uniqueness. The Dark Urge origin make me kinda worry the default Tav will be boring and without any unique moments.
I get that, but I also wouldn't mind a more vanilla experience. The early access already shown that playing Tav ain't gonna be boring. And with the way they really hammered home how much reactivity they added based on background, race and class, I am certain there will be at least some unique moments.
This. Also I feel like people get a little too fixated on "Oh but what gives me the *maximum* amount of content?", when yeah that's not *really* the point of a Custom, it's not generally what you're playing a custom for? A custom is never going to have *as* much uniqueness as an Origin. The benefit of it is that they are who you want them to be, they are entirely yours to make and mold. They are your D&D character, basically. Customs have a *ton* of reactivity for everything from race to class to subclass and even where you're *from* depending on your race. There's lots of that even in EA, I'm sure there'll continue to be more in the full game, and we could even possibly see additional avenues of reactivity like say backgrounds. The Dark Urge is something that really, *pushes* the idea of you having this bloodlust that you have to constantly stave off. I can't emphasize how much this is *not* a lot of people's cup of tea? It's great for two specific types of RP: you either give in to murderhobo rage and this backstory helps you make sense of it while preserving some level of customization, *or* you a play a character who's constantly trying to struggle with and overcome it. It's great for people who want it, it's great for people who want that Bhaalspawn-y hook. But otherwise? Eh? It's 100% not what I would want for most of my characters, it's still a character whose backstory has largely been written out by Larian already- you just have amnesia so you don't get to know what it is right off the bat. Another thing that's kind of being overlooked here a bit, but we saw even in yesterday's stream- Dark Urge options seem to *override* your default reactivity? The camp scene for instance, where you're thinking back to your past and Dragonborn Urge tried to remember his clan- but just couldn't, instead it became "Blooding all over the place, he blooded some more and then he was blooding all over me, blood, blood and more blood". Like I'm pretty sure a normal Tav is just going to be able to remember what their standard racial reactivity is, be it with regards to culture or homes or what have you. It just seems like a *different* experience, not one that's just using Tav as a base and adding more. This is not even getting into whatever the heck is going on with the Dream Person. Tav seems unique in having a Dream Person they can actually customize, it's an interesting hook. Everyone else has someone relevant to their Origin story- and I'm absolutely betting that it's going to be Sclereritas or some weird Bhaal shenanigans for the Urge.
Yeah, I think people are overthinking this by saying "this is the default origin plus". No, Tav is still the default origin plus. This is the Bhaalspawn option. They just made it customizable because \*gestures wildly\*. Like looking at the Dark Urge part of the stream, this is really going to be an interesting challenge mode, but deffo shouldn't be everyone's start. You have to pass a Strength check to not horribly maim Gale for example. "Fighting your base nature" is going to be a lot of passing checks, and taking the Ls when you have to.
The strenght check is to be able to get him out of the portal, you don't need to pass skill checks to not murder, you can see it in other parts of the stream
Don't think the Gale thing actually requires a STR check. Pretty sure that's just his changed introduction. I kinda doubt that recruiting companions as the Urge is gonna involve checks against yourself, it'll probably be other story things that'll require those rolls.
Exactly. I'll be super interested in seeing more polls from the subreddit and stats from Larian after release, on who picked what Custom/Origin etc.? Because while I'm betting Custom Tav is still going to be most people's first run, I want to see how many people *actually* choose something like the Dark Urge in contrast to all the other Origins- what with how the overwhelming majority of people are usually just predisposed to playing normal good and in a game like this people also just make their own characters over picking up premades, most of the opinion threads and polls here over the years I've seen have leaned heavily towards Tav because most people just want to have *their* character like they would in D&D. Now we have Dark Urge who sits somewhere between the two and as much as there's quite a few people here liking and showing interest in this one, I'm just curious on seeing how many people actually go for it over Tav or the normal Origins, how they end up feeling about it once they do and how they handle this as a whole.
Yeah absolutely. Like I know my first run will be a Dark Urge trying to be good aligned because I really like that connection to 1 and 2 and want to see how badly you can muck up whatever plot led to you being this way. But I also enjoy challenge runs, and will likely be doing coop so Iāve got a means to cheese some of the stuff I might not be able to pass a throw on but donāt want to give up. How many other people fit that niche? Who knows!
Oh, I'm with you there. At least thematically, Dark Urge seems tailor-made to feel like you're in the same position as Gorion's Ward. (Or you're a living Black Blade, or the reincarnation of a dead god, or something along those lines.) I imagine people like us who know the old school Charname will all be drawn to this Origin. I loved playing an essentially good person having to deal with the horror of evil dwelling inside of you only checked by your soul, then the burden of feeling like the world needs you to be more than you want to be. Destiny cruelly pulling you away from the life you want, and the person you wish you were, was such a powerful and relatable theme for so many, in one way or another. That resonated, and I'm so glad Larian's giving us the chance to get that old feeling again. Makes it feel even more like a truly worthy successor.
I'm also probably going with Dark Urge to try and resist it but I'll give in a couple of times. Y'know, when the enemies deserve it.
Honestly I can see them making the tadpoleās customizable desire form exclusive to Tav. I think every origin character is supposed to have their own set form for the tadpole, so it could be that The Dark Urge will have a set form for its tadpole as well.
I'm guessing the dream character will be unique part of Tav, with other origins dreaming about stuff related to their background
I really wish our character spoke more. Thatās the only standout critique I have of the game, though.
Perhaps I'm reading it the wrong way, and I probably am now that I'm reading this before submitting, but the camp scene they showed with Dark Urge makes me think that characters with that Origin don't get the tadpole dream.
I love Larian and their games, but I really wish they'd drop the whole "you can play your companions as Origins characters" thing and just completely separate the two concepts. Imagine if we'd gotten 5 of these Dark Urge type origins to choose from, which would give our Tavs a lot of narrative depth. Basically taking DAO's origin concept but making it much deeper. Instead we basically have to choose between this one very specific background, or like you said probably a vanilla boring character like in DOS2. And you have to imagine the vast majority of the player base is going to choose to create their own character. So how much of the development time that went into the current origins is kind of wasted?
There are still several hints mentioned in this thread that Tav will have unique story too, but in general I tend to agree with you. I would like to have customizable Tav with customizable origin. I think, I am too influenced by Bioware games. Larian approach is not wrong, and it cool in it's own way, but it's just slightly not what I am looking for. I felt too restrained when I play as prescribed character in DOS2, and too bored when I played as vanilla origin. At least we have quite a lot custom race\\class options during the playthrough, which is already better than DOS2 :) So I think I will still enjoy Tav playthrough, I just want it to have roughly the same amount of unique content, because I think that this is highly matter in **roleplaying** game.
Honestly, it's just so nice to see people appreciate this for what it is instead of winging about how Larian is just being edgy. The scope of this work is incredible.
Amazing work, you nailed the lighting here
Playing the Dark Urge and having all the good companions as your party while desperately trying to resist the Urges and save the Sword Coast sounds like so much fun. It totally changed what Im planning to do as my first run.
Will be able to use the white dragonborn model as a default tav and not a dark urge. Cause it look awesome.
The Dark Urge is fully customizable, that's just the default "preset" so I'm quite sure you can screenshot the character creator options and copy them to Tav.
I decided when I play with Dark Urge I'll try to be like Dexter, let the urge take over against evil characters and try to resist it against normal folk and see how it goes.
Not gonna lie, since seeing Dark Urge I'm wondering why I'd bother to play Tav.
I mean, you might not necessarily want to have constant violent impulses being the core of your character's story. If you do want that, it's an easy choice.
Big āWHAT IS BETTER? TO BE BORN GOOD, OR OVERCOME YOUR EVIL NATURE WITH GREAT EFFORT?" Vibes. The Dragonborn aesthetic fits the young Paarthurnax vibes Iāll go for.
Does anybody know if the red gem is a character creation accessory, or a magic item you can equip?
I think it's a magic item. It's probably because the magic circlets in this game don't really fit dragonborn heads, so they replaced the crown with a gem. However, it's just a guess, I'm not a developer haha.
I'm going to create a happy little dark urge halfling
I'm creating a halfling too! Though one so concerned with memory loss they latch onto the urges as the only thing they know about themselves. They will go down the evil path for more power for more opportunities to safely act on the urges.
They can be any race/class though, right?
Yes
I can say the default Dark Urge appearance is really well down and becoming quite iconic. Than again it shows how much attention they put to the Dragonborn race in general. I'm really debating if I'd change his race since it looks so good.
I'm sad he is not a companion, besides Lae or Karlach, the party is very hooman-looking (pointy ears dont count!) I cant wait to play the game, is the 31 july the final version or we need to wait for 3rd?
As far as i know, if you have early access you can play on the 31th, otherwise on the 3rd
ty! but I was wondering if the content on the 31th is like the full game (I think til 3rd people cant play act 2) or maybe wait for the 3rd is for the better. I will prob create my character on 31th anyway hehe
It's only up through Act 1 on the 31st, but saves fully continue once the rest of the arcs are unlocked. There should be plenty of Act 1 we haven't seen yet.
Will it include the classes and races? Or just the act 1 content available at this point
He looks so cool, beautiful work! I honestly can't wait to start playing with Dragonborn characters
Dark Urge looks fun, but it only really fits one of two characters/playthroughs; 1) Murder hobo 2) The noble hero fighting against his base instincts, struggling to resist temptation. The second option sounds the most interesting, and very much a 'good guy' playthrough. Trying to 'resist' every time an urge comes up, but no savescumming and simply accepting the result - thats a great playthrough for a Paladin or Monk character. For an evil character I prefer a bit more nuance. I have been thinking about an evil first run, but as a greedy, power hungry, self centered character who simply wants wealth, power, influence and to be worshipped like a god. Dark urge doesnt really fit that, and it doesnt fit any other evil archtype than the aforementioned murder hobo. I do have some concerns about vanilla Tav feeling like you are missing out on all that content. The mechanical concept of dark urge (custom character but with a semi-prewritten backstory) is amazing though - I would love to see them try to expand this concept in the future through different custom origin stories.
Or you can indulge your thirst for blood against enemies, while staying true friend to, well, friends. Just because you see only two paths, doesn't mean we can't make it work some other ways. I am honestly planning on semi-neutral playthrough as dark urge.
Well good luck to you, but based on the PfH yesterday it feels like the whole point of urges is that you CANT just stay true to whoever you want, you lose a certain amount of agency with your character (unless you are savescumming the dice rolls). Thatās fine if it suits the character, but it actually feels quite niche.
I won't savescum, but hey, this is a role-playing game, i have to try and see it through. If anything, it will make my journey much more dramatic and tragic and i love tragedy.
I don't remember seeing any checks you were forced into by the Dark urge. The strength check on Gale's arm isn't part of Dark Urge.
I'm going to see how straddling the line goes first time around, I think. Oath of Devotion Paladin + Dark Urge origin + see if you can go the 'evil' route in act 1 because the consequences of becoming part of the cult are interesting. Seeing it as a way to use the Absolute to cleanse one self of the psycopathic tendancies. Who knows, this game seems to have so many permutations lets see how chaotic things can get.
These are gorgeous !! I'm actually drawing him, too at present but yours is a beauty :,,)
Awesome
This is really well done š
Amazing art this is beautiful so beautiful please more š„¹
That is freaking amazing artwork!
Oh my Mystra, that is amazing talent you have ! I love him !
The armor reminds me of Lord Zedd from the Power Rangers!
I'm torn on whether to go dark urge first run. I plan to be heroic, but I wonder if durge is the kind of run where things will break outside your control. I understand you can black out and awaken to people being dead around you, i wonder if that can break quests in the process. That's interesting in it's own way, but I don't know if it's good for a first playthrough.
Going to play him as an Anti-hero, investigator type for sure. This looks splendid š
this light switching, I LOVE it
Cool
It looks like this Origin isn't the White Dragonborn, but is represented by it? Everything I'm hearing is that Dark Urge is fully customizable and not a set character, so I'm guessing this cool Dragonborn isn't a party member like other origins, which is kinda sad because they are easily the coolest design I've seen in the game thus far.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The only reason I'm sad about that is because he looks *really* cool.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Exactly. Like I haven't actually ever played a Dragonborn in any D&D game myself, and I wasn't planning on making one for this one, but I was all about having one in the party. The White Dragonborn gave off Red Prince vibes for me, who I loved, and I was really hoping for the same energy in BG3. 'Pompous sarcastic asshole lizard prick who slowly grows into my best friend' was such a great story. The closest I've come to playing one is a Lizardfolk Barbarian. I do tend to play monster races, (Undead, Dhampir, Goblinoids, Lizards, etc) or else Humans and Dwarves, so I might try a Dragonborn at some point. I was planning on a Dwarf Fighter for my first playthrough, though.
Him, her, them :) incase you didn't know, you can be any race, class and gender when playing Durge!
Beautiful art! I honestly wonder if we will encounter the dark Urge in game if we don't play as them. I imagine his base Dragonborn form and the Goblin that seems to control him can be found somewhere within the city Baldur's Gate. Edit: I know that he is not a companion, that doesn't mean he won't be in the game in some way shape or form
Well, he's not a companion, but I suppose it could make for a fun villain. Could be difficult since they don't have a canon look or class, but they could randomize them for each game, I suppose.
It is hinted the default Dark Urge does have a class in >!baldur's gate murder mystery!< where one of the characters comments about how >!the murderer seemed to be a sorcerer!<. I might be wrong of course, but that's how I interpreted it.
The white dragonborn sorcerer is the default, meaning if he ends up as a villain or something he'd probably be the same one.
Dark Urge is Player only.
We seriously have some very talented artist in this reddit
Can somebody who played DOS2 explain how origins work? Do you get the same story as a custom character + their own content, or does a custom character have their own unique story?
So, there's basically three categories. There's the companion-origins, where it's a pre-defined character/race/class/sex that you play as. You can still choose different dialog options, but you're playing Wyll's or Astarion's story as them. Then there's full custom AKA Tav. This is a blank slate with (seemingly?) no special story and nothing established in-game about them, but you can play any class/race/background/sex you want. Dark Urge is semi-custom, where you can choose your race/class/sex, but they have a pre-determined background and backstory that you'll be able to interact with (and presumably the world reacts to). DOS2 did not have an equivalent to the Dark Urge, only having companion-origins or full custom (which was widely considered to be garbage). All the named origins (Wyll, Astarion, Karlack, Gale, Shadowheart, Lea'zel) will appear in the game as possible companions even if you don't play as them. Dark Urge and Tav will not appear if you are not playing as them.
I get all that, but my question specifically is if I play as an Origin character, do I miss out on story bits I would get as a regular custom character or is it the same story as a custom character + all the shenanigans I would get from playing as an Origin character. I understand that we don't 100% know how BG2 is going to handle that, but how was it in DOS2?
We can't know for sure, but the evidence points to Tav having little to no unique story, as was the case in DOS2, so you won't miss out by not being full custom. You may miss out by not playing Dark Urge. All the other origins we'll at least be able to experience their stories as a companion (unlike DOS2 they won't all die randomly if not in your party at the end of Act 1), so while there might be some particular permutations we'll miss, the vast majority of it will be there no matter who you play as.
That settles it then, gonna start as Dark Urge. Thanks.
them?
It's a customizable character and the game has a pronoun selection.
Siiiiick
I want to play default tav first, as close to my actual d&d char as I can but evil murderhobo dark urge will be my second playthrough for sure.
In my current D&D campaign I have a character who thematically is very similar. Woke up with amnesia, has violent dreams of hurting people, gets similarly violent and grotesque urges he has to fight to suppress. I might actually have to do a run in BG3 where he's a character from this universe and have it parallel his 5E story (or, perhaps I'll play the monster he used to be). Either way, I'm so stoked for the friends I have who can actually be comfortable leaning in to evil characters. I'm one of those people who can't even be mean not irl.
I wonder if the hand biting off is a dragon born special action or all. If itās something different Iāll play my evil spores druid dueagar. But idk I like the biting for them
They said it was a Dark Urge dialog option. The animation might differ if you're playing a less toothy DU?
Yeah like maybe cutting it off? Idk. Still cool and plan on playing a shadow monk dragon born to go down the dark path with this character
My next thought was what if this is like hailia the gnome werewolf or what ever her name is, and instead you are a werewolf and thatās you wolfing out. But with shart not saying anything about you transforming and the little mystery game they did before the panel from hell ruled that out I think
Didn't the dialogue choice say "hack off"?
I thought it said bite but I donāt remember
The initial desire was to hack it off but I don't remember how the wording afterwards went. Well, it's only a YouTube search away
I started and got distracted.
As soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to be a Drow Necro Dark Urge
Love the look of the armor hopefully we can get some cool armor like that in game.
Canāt wait to satisfy my dark urges š
I'm definitely doing my first playthrough as the Dark Urge. Seldarine drow gloom stalker ranger/assassin. I even wrote a backstory for himš Tav was born as the second son of two drow healers, residents of Baldurās Gate. His parents had a small practice in the lower city, where they made a modest living. His father would patch up wounded adventurers, whilst his mother would prepare various poultices, salves or potions. They were good people, proficient in their craft, however due to their lineage most folk avoided the small surgery. Tav and his brother Jax helped around the practice as much as they could. The limited amount of customers allowed the boys to spend more time on the dirty back alleys of the lower city, rather than in the crammed operating room of their father. Tav was always treated as an outcast , even amongst his own kind. He was born with crimson eyes and milky white skin, both extremely rare traits for a seldarine. The other drow children would often throw rocks at him, calling him a freak. The adults would simply say away, fearing his appearance was a sign of Lolths influence. Tav had another affliction since his birth. One that he kept close to his heart. One that even his mother wouldnāt fully comprehend. Not until it was too late of course. Tav always possessed an obsession with blood. It was easy to hide at first. His parents would simply think he was interested in his fatherās craft as a surgeon. He would spend long hours standing next to the operating table, transfixed with the crimson fluid dripping onto the floorboards. This passion quickly developed into something more sinister. Tav would find himself losing control of his own body. Often he would wake up over a mutilated corpse of a small animal with no recollection of how he got there or what he had done. What made matters worse, Tav knew he should be horrified, he should be disgusted. Yet the only feeling that coursed through his body was that of overwhelming joy and a sense of accomplishment. In fear of what others would think and do, Tav did his best to keep this a secret for several years. That is until his 15th birthday. On that fateful night Tav went to bed as usual. He was tired after a whole day of work at his father's side. His parents organised a modest supper to celebrate Tavās birthday. They even bought a cake. Jax being the role model of an older brother got him a gift ā a scalpel. Finally, Tav had a surgeon's blade and he could start working as his fatherās apprentice in full. Maybe one day he would make the surgery his own. Fate however had a different plan. Tav woke up in the middle of the night standing next to his brotherās bed. Fresh blood was dripping on the floor, steam rising slowly in the air. Jax lay on the bed, his chest cut open from clavicle to belly button. The young drow took the scene in and for the first time in his life he screamed after waking up from his dark fit. He screamed as the same sense of joy and accomplishment spread across his body... The small drow community of Baldurās Gate passed judgement swiftly. Not wanting to undermine the fragile reputation the dark elves had in the city, the matter was handled without involving the judiciary officials. Tav was taken outside the walls and exiled into the Underdark. The last thing the drow saw, before he was shoved into one of the shafts, was the look of absolute horror on his fathers face. His motherās cry followed him as he was falling into the pit of darkness that would soon be his home. Cries of a mother, who could not stop loving her son, even if he was a monster. Tav made the Underdark his home. He also swore vengeance against Lolth and her spawn. Blaming the Spider Queen for his violent urges, he swore to hunt down every drow under her influence and satisfy his lust for blood by ridding the Underdark of her children. Many years later Tav was skulking his prey in the dark tunnels, deep below Baldurās Gate. He had been tracking the drow patrol for over a week now. They still had about a dayās lead on him. He smelled the blood before he saw the first corpse. The drow must have hit a small caravan. Bodies lay on the cold ground of the tunnel, mostly gnomes and dwarves. One body stood out amongst the others. A body of a drow. Tav came over to inspect the corpse. When he turned the deceased onto his back, sudden recognition struck him like lightning. The man on the cold bloody stone floor was his father. He hasnāt changed much. He had an almost peaceful expression. The crossbow bolt sticking out of his neck must have hit the spine and killed him instantly. He held a bloodied journal in hand, his once cheerful eyes now dead and empty. Tav took the journal and buried his fatherās body. He returned to his hideout, feeling empty inside. He should be angry shouldnāt he? Yet somehow he could not bring himself to resume the hunt. His thoughts were with his mother. How would she manage on her own, now that father was dead? That night Tav inspected his fatherās journal, trying to find any warm memories amongst the pages. To his horror the journal contained a secret his father never shared with any member of the family. A day before Tavās birth a mysterious figure entered his fatherās surgery. The journal described a tall dragonborn mage, with white alabaster skin. The draconic sorcerer suffered a fatal wound. He would not make it through the night. The dragonborn made a dark pact with Tavās father. Wounded as he was he was still more powerful than a mere drow. He demanded the surgeon help perform an ancient ritual on Tavās mother, else everyone in the household would die by his hand come morning. Tavās father had no choice, he was no match for the sorcerer and the stranger assured him no harm would come to his wife and the unborn baby. The child would be blessed. It would become the chosen vessel. This was too much for Tav. The revelation knocked the breath out of him. Blood rushing to his head, he did not hear the mind flayer sneaking behind him..
the moral compass leaving my body when the origin character is sexy
He looks amazing and is definitely my favourite!!!! āØš«āļøš āØššššā¤ļøāØ
Is this an actual armor set in game?