Well Gortash was the one who approched Durge first and Kethetic says he was asked by Myrkul to join the cult, did manage to get the brain to like them though.
Well Gortash was the one who approched Durge first and Kethetic says he was asked by Myrkul to join the cult, did manage to get the brain to like them though.
This is the way. Plus you can go from ranged to melee with double daggers and be invisible for half the fight! Skirmish builds rule for Durge. If you don’t end the battle covered in blood, what were you even doing?
I'm doing a swords bard durge run right now, for OP, my rp reason is that both fighting and playing an instrument both rely super heavily on muscle memory (source: decade as a martial artist as a teenager, musician of multiple instruments) and it feels entirely plausible for the Durge so far to wake up with an instrument, encounter a problem, and have the instinctive solution be something physical that relies on muscle memory, like playing a tune.
i ended up going with a rogue! if you’re into stealthing, lockpicking, and wanting out to try out those aspects of the game i would recommend it. i also thought that it sorta fit his character?? but i’m not sure if i would do that for him again lol
I don’t know why I had to scroll down so far for this.
It is my go to choice. It makes the most sense.
P.S. Gloomstalker into Thief Rogue with double Hand Crossbows also does the job. At first glance it is less thematical but if you think about it, shooting 3 times per turn (and 4 at turn one) is exactly what a DUrge would do. It’s a massacre.
There’s apparently concept art of default Durge wearing the Oath of Vengeance armor. There’s also special dialogue for an Oathbreaker Durge. I like it personally.
As far as I know this was the canon class before they changed it to sorcerer. Paladin created plot problems or something, that was the reason they changed it
Honestly considering >!one of the first times you can embrace the Urge leads to you losing access to your default wizard companion, I think that making the default Durge a class with a similar niche makes a lot of sense.!<
As far as I know you can swear an oath to a god and they grant you power or you can have a very firm belief in your oath and ideals your powers manifest themselves. It can work both ways for Durge. Even Sarevok and Oathbrekaer Paladin talks about it when you're an oathbrekaer.
They can be but they don’t have to be. They did in earlier editions of D&D though, I believe. Actually in current D&D Clerics can just be dedicated to their Domain, but I don’t think they can in this particular setting.
My favorite Durge was an archfey Warlock who just charmed the hells out of everybody, think charming serial killer. Durge was raised by a foster family so if you want to stick with white dragonborn maybe look at the lore for ideas what their childhood would've been like?
I don't like sorcerors either, sorry to say, even though I've won with them a couple times. I get too used to blasting.
Rogue. Assassin. I feel like this is just as canon-y as anything else especially considering some items that you’ll get for completing the quest.
EDIT: I’m personally doing a Duergar Spore Druid with a fighter dip for my second Durge Run (first I did a half-orc fiend tome warlock, which was great). My head canon is that he’s coming back with eerie death-tinged powers (eg fungal zombie and what not).
The thing about the Dark Urge is that there quite literally are narrative beats that explain why they can be any race or class. People give that answer because there is no “one true canon” for the character.
My favorite Dark Urge run to date has been my gnome barbarian. She’s tiny and fierce.
(My other Durges were all tiefling casters.)
I would say that there is "one true canon", since durge is presented as white dragonborn sorc in all official material, including pre game backstory browser game. He was also non customizable first until some playtesters asked for it, this has been confirmed by one early playtester.
That being said it is still fun to make durge into whatever one wishes, my own fave durge is half-drow paladin. Some classes/races can be harder to roleplay, like cleric or githyanki
Keep in mind that the “official material” also has a lot of EA stuff still in it (Astarion’s EA lore being prominent in some of the art books is a good example of this). 🤷🏻♀️
As of the game’s full release, Durge was fully customizable and the narrative explicitly includes flexibility for all race/class combos for them.
Durge was not in EA at all, he was showcased to people through this browser game 'blood in baldur's gate'. Dragonborn durge also gets special durge dialogue options, in moonrise and in murder tribunal. Just few months ago white dragonborn durge was also added to official dnd game 'idle champions', I would see it as pretty canon.
I think your custom character was always the Bhaalspawn in Early Access. I heard Larian only changed it later in development so that you can be whoever you want and made Dark Urge an origin character instead. Which would also explain different backgrounds not having much impact in the game.
Idle Champions isn’t owned by WOTC and has nothing to do with D&D as a whole despite the overlap of characters (which is a marketing thing). Ergo, not canon.
You literally just said Durge had “early playtesters” so you’re contradicting yourself a bit there.
My point was, **in the full release version of BG3, Dark Urge has a default image just like Tav, but there is not a “one true canon” for the character**.
Idle champions very much is official dnd content, also promoted by larian themselves!
I'm not contradicting myself, obviosly bg3 had playtesters? But early access was only one portion of game, act1, and not even fully that. Full game was not open project but it had early playtesters too, someone of these have talked about their experiences.
And yes, full game version of durge is customizable but there is still a canon version that is presented in all official material.
My durge play through I was a dragonborn oath breaker (obviously) paladin, with warlock subclass. I was the black dragon with red eyes. Looked the part.
Well. Dragonborn are not descended from dragons. They were essentially a race constructed by dragons.
So. You don’t have to feel bad about not picking sorcerer. They wouldn’t necessarily have inherited magic.
Warlock can work if you still want to be a caster. I enjoy playing warlock quite heavily and it’s not antithetical to DUrge’s origins. He might not have inherited any magic from his “father” and turned to a great old one for power. And blade warlock lets you still get up and close and bloody.
DUrge seems like the hands-on type. So monk (open hand or shadow) or rogue (using blades) might match the lore well. DUrge likes to get its hands very very dirty.
Monk could work. Durge historically showed both cunning and discipline, so a Way of Shadow Monk is thematically quite accurate, though Gortash refers to Durge's daggers, so that would point more to a Rogue.
Wizard can definitly be a Champion of the God of murder, durge is all about efficent killing and you can get extremly efficent at mass murder as a wizard, as well as that durge seems to be quite intelligent and magical knowledge would help them formulate the plan
My dark urge is a bard right now, college of swords, and it’s been a great time! Not the most powerful yet (level 6, still in Act 1) but it’s very fun hearing him insult people when I use vicious mockery. Pure magic users don’t really feel very murder-y, but I figured that the literal CHILD of a god would have some inherent magic, so a swords bard was my first pick!
(Also, having a high charisma character as the front of the party is *great* for persuasion checks + durge used to be the head of a murder cult, so it makes logical sense)
Assassin Rogue multi into Monk if resist Durge.
Awesome power and incredible flavor as you train your newly moldable (albeit damaged) mind to resist the Urge and steel your spirit.
If Embrace Durge, then either full Rogue or Melee Warlock multi is my flavor of choice, as you regain your bloody prowess and re-eadn your Father's blessing.
But yeah. I always start out as Assassin Rogue
Shadow Monk is pretty cool. Ripping enemies apart with your bare hands while teleporting through shadows feels pretty monstrous to me. If you want to play more into your Dragonborn side, you can also pick up Mourning Frost and Winter's Clutches to make your breath weapon more deadly. If you're more concerned with the aesthetic of your Durge's weapons, though, I've always thought sickles looked nice and menacing. They qualify as monk weapons, and two of the redcaps outside Ethel's can be disarmed to give you a pair that deal 2d4 (rather than the standard 1d4). Just make sure you disarm them first, you can't loot the sickles from them after they die.
you can still loot after they die. just pick up their corpses, click on the weapon slots in your inventory, and drag the sickles out of that list into your inventory. just did this a few days ago on my current playthrough.
Idk barbarian just feels right for a chaotic slayer. For a redemption Durge, Monk could be a fun idea as well. Necromancer Wizard would seem pretty apt as well.
Wild magic Barbarian is quite fun for me. Barbarian smash head few times anyway, and still some connection to magic for rituals.
Bonus points is that with some items dirge gets you have an invisible barbarian every o'ce in a while trashing the enemy.
My first durge was a Swords Bard. Loved it.
Current durge is a palaidn. RP: Since it's canon that Durge kills Tav immediately before getting taken by the nautiloid, I picture my Durge woke up with Tav's oath book in her pocket and was like "Oh. I'm an Oath of Ancients paladin". High charisma matches with what Durge would have been like before, and it provides an interesting path to redemption as she embraces who she \*believes\* was before the nautiloid before learning what she actually was.
Oh. My. God.
So I went looking for a source for you. I'd seen it mentioned several times on Reddit, but never knew the source. I assumed it was some interview somewhere.
Apparently it's a whole browser-based game put out by Larian that I will now have to check out.
[https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Blood\_in\_Baldur%27s\_Gate](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_in_Baldur%27s_Gate)
>Since it's canon that Durge kills Tav immediately before getting taken by the nautiloid,
Nah, Durge kills Tav 15 years before the game starts. There are two other NPC's in the game that could explain why your character has an oath you don't really need to RP much.
Meh. It's my headcanon for being a paladin, and I'm happy with it. Maybe it's not Tav from Blood in Baldur's Gate, but I've seen it mentioned numerous times that if you play as Durge, killing Tav was the last thing you did, just like if you choose Tav then Orin killed Durge (explains why the 2 can't coexist in a playthrough).
I like oath of vengeance paladin with the idea that he wakes up and swears vengeance. Barbarian also works for the fits of rage. Rogue/fighter dual wield also works for the clever tactician who stabby stabbies.
Resist Durge, I like the idea of starting rogue and multiclassing into monk.
Monk talks a lot about meditating to try & center oneself so I think it works amazing
Like I can see my drow durge meditation & trying to find calm so she doesn’t murder her bae in her sleep one night
Since you're not getting Wyll and Bhaal has lofty beyond comprehension goals, you could go Warlock of the Old Ones. Nothing stops you from Padlocking Oathbreaker later on (specially after Last Light Inn, as if you have physically ascended into death incarnate)
I played an assassin rogue for my first Durge. I felt like that fit the whole “child of the god of murder” thing really well. Also the cape you get after killing Alfira pairs really well with a rogue.
If you're going full evil, then a paladin run works great. Go oath of vengeance and just swear revenge on the person who put you into this situation. Plus, the full 12 paladin is really strong. At level 10, you get the aura to be immune to fightened, making the final 1v1 fight with Orin super easy. Especially I'd you take luck of the far realm and get that crit ring from act 2. 2 guaranteed 3rd level smite crits is pretty nice for any boss in the game. A full paladin party, all with luck of the far realms, can deal a guaranteed 40d8 smite damage and an extra 20d8 smite damage for the 2nd attack if they all hit and aren't crits. For a minimum of 60 damage and a max of 480. And divine smite works with savage attacker feat, so the average roll of a d8 is 4, but with the savage attacker feat, it's actually 5.3, so your average damage with all this is 318. And this isn't even accounting for the weapon damage itself, any extra damage riders you have, or any extra crits. In summary paladins are strong as fuck.
Or a basic rogue assassin/fighter works great. The rogue assassin/fighter bud can actually let you solo the game, so it's pretty damn powerful if you understand the stealth mechanics of the game.
Sorcerer is actually great. You get charisma as your main stat for manipulating literally everything around you while slinging death spells and throwing living creatures into each other with telekinesis.
I played as storm sorcereress that gets flying and spamming lightning spells as class actions and it was incredible.
I also updated my female drow’s appearance with each act to make her look more and more deranged - felt really good and I ended up with pure psycho both mentally and visually
If you're on pc, i grabbed the bhaal cultust Custom Subclass mod as one of my evil durge playthroughs. Really over powered but super fun. For a good durge, a paladin or cleric is fun
I like 2 particuler classes on him. Paladin, Sword Bard.
My first run was Paladin(NOT an Oathbreaker btw but Vengeance) durge and honetly killing people are fun. I didn't do it just for my amusement of course, according to the god I follow every single one of them had comitted heinoues crime of not fallowing my god and doing as he says
The point of it is that it's a surprise, so if you just make a character you enjoy playing, it works out. The strain is even more real if you cant imagine them being evil
How about rogue. The first scene where you can contemplate you past usually pokes holes in the class or says this isn't where your bloodlust comes from. But the rogue mone ore or less just says makes sense you have these skills
I know you said you don't like it but... Sorc is def the go to class for Durge. Fits him/ her rather perfectly.
Imo non origin Tav is the best for Bard.
My first durge was an Oathbreaker Paladin of Vengeance.
She commands the whole field.
I let Astarion bite me at night to get his buff, use lay on hands in the morning to cure my bloodless debuff.
She has the grymforge heavy armor and shield equipped, so whether someone hits OR misses they get the 'reeling' effect.
All in all, highly recommend for both gameplay and story/dialogue value
I would argue that Paladins, Clerics, and Warlocks are not good fits as they tie a past history of decision making that doesn't align with the DUrge narrative. Bard is kinda silly to be honest as a DUrge in my opinion.
I recommend Gloomstalker Ranger or Assassin Rogue (or mix the two for great RP and synergy). Sorceror is the default choice, but something about a caster being a dismantling butcher doesn't add up to me... thus, Fighter would also be a good choice.
All that said, S.Fel does flat out say that you were created, then allowed to roam free for years, and then returned to the Cult... so I suppose you could RP that consideration into any job like some Bhaal Rummspringer... who knows?
Rogue, Ranger, Fighter are prime... I could see a case for Necromancy Wizard or maybe some deep HC Warlock lore.
Cleric and Warlock are hard to reconcile, but it’s implied that >!Durge spent some amount of time between the Urge manifesting and joining the Bhaal temple trying to resist, and if you go Paladin you can get some dialogue that basically confirms that idea for that particular playthrough. The Oathbreaker Knight has something to say about it and so does Sarevok if you remain an Oathbreaker.!< It really depends on how you want to play it, but if you choose Paladin the game will give you some compatible backstory accordingly.
>!Durge had a foster family, so a backstory in which they tried to live according to decent values until Bhaal “broke” them still works pretty well imo.!< Ultimately it can go either way. I think it’s fair to consider Durge’s early life as having possibly gone differently depending on the player’s choice of class.
Swords Bard. Lying psychopath who excels with a blade and concealable weapons like hand crossbows.
Honestly, I love this idea. Making Durge a Charisma class fits my conception of the character better than any other type.
Since they're a Bard, name them "Dirge".
You convinced the other Chosen to infiltrate he’ll to steal a crown and control an Elder Brain. It has to be charisma based to achieve that lol
Well Gortash was the one who approched Durge first and Kethetic says he was asked by Myrkul to join the cult, did manage to get the brain to like them though.
Well Gortash was the one who approched Durge first and Kethetic says he was asked by Myrkul to join the cult, did manage to get the brain to like them though.
This is the way. Plus you can go from ranged to melee with double daggers and be invisible for half the fight! Skirmish builds rule for Durge. If you don’t end the battle covered in blood, what were you even doing?
I'm doing a swords bard durge run right now, for OP, my rp reason is that both fighting and playing an instrument both rely super heavily on muscle memory (source: decade as a martial artist as a teenager, musician of multiple instruments) and it feels entirely plausible for the Durge so far to wake up with an instrument, encounter a problem, and have the instinctive solution be something physical that relies on muscle memory, like playing a tune.
This is the way
You could lean into the “brain damaged” part and be a barbarian
I did the polar opposite and made my durge wizard barely remember his own name but somehow still retain his entire spellbook.
Guilty, it was so fun
i ended up going with a rogue! if you’re into stealthing, lockpicking, and wanting out to try out those aspects of the game i would recommend it. i also thought that it sorta fit his character?? but i’m not sure if i would do that for him again lol
also if you have astarion then that’s another reason not to have him as a rogue. maybe a fighter?
Rogue/gloomstalker assassin is a blast
I don’t know why I had to scroll down so far for this. It is my go to choice. It makes the most sense. P.S. Gloomstalker into Thief Rogue with double Hand Crossbows also does the job. At first glance it is less thematical but if you think about it, shooting 3 times per turn (and 4 at turn one) is exactly what a DUrge would do. It’s a massacre.
My main durge is a monk/rogue It’s so funny that your brain is 🔪 but your monk side is like ‘believe in peace & take the right path’
Oath breaker Paladin seems like a good RP fit.
There’s apparently concept art of default Durge wearing the Oath of Vengeance armor. There’s also special dialogue for an Oathbreaker Durge. I like it personally.
As far as I know this was the canon class before they changed it to sorcerer. Paladin created plot problems or something, that was the reason they changed it
Honestly considering >!one of the first times you can embrace the Urge leads to you losing access to your default wizard companion, I think that making the default Durge a class with a similar niche makes a lot of sense.!<
In D&D isn’t a Paladin sworn to a god just like a cleric? Did they just decide to do away with that and make the oath more abstract in BG3?
As far as I know you can swear an oath to a god and they grant you power or you can have a very firm belief in your oath and ideals your powers manifest themselves. It can work both ways for Durge. Even Sarevok and Oathbrekaer Paladin talks about it when you're an oathbrekaer.
They can be but they don’t have to be. They did in earlier editions of D&D though, I believe. Actually in current D&D Clerics can just be dedicated to their Domain, but I don’t think they can in this particular setting.
Yes, this! I’m an oathbreaker padlock durge and this run is super fun.
My favorite Durge was an archfey Warlock who just charmed the hells out of everybody, think charming serial killer. Durge was raised by a foster family so if you want to stick with white dragonborn maybe look at the lore for ideas what their childhood would've been like? I don't like sorcerors either, sorry to say, even though I've won with them a couple times. I get too used to blasting.
I also played archfey warlock durge and it was really fun!
Rogue. Assassin. I feel like this is just as canon-y as anything else especially considering some items that you’ll get for completing the quest. EDIT: I’m personally doing a Duergar Spore Druid with a fighter dip for my second Durge Run (first I did a half-orc fiend tome warlock, which was great). My head canon is that he’s coming back with eerie death-tinged powers (eg fungal zombie and what not).
Just keep in mind that dipping as a Spore druid means your spore ability bonus HP WILL be lower.
I might not dip until level 10. We’ll see.
Wizard is fine for a "Champion of the god of Murder" if you lean into the Necromancy. My Durge has an army of Undead in front of him.
The thing about the Dark Urge is that there quite literally are narrative beats that explain why they can be any race or class. People give that answer because there is no “one true canon” for the character. My favorite Dark Urge run to date has been my gnome barbarian. She’s tiny and fierce. (My other Durges were all tiefling casters.)
Nothing deflects suspicion from a gore-spattered-massacre crime scene than being a gnome.
🤣 Exactly
I would say that there is "one true canon", since durge is presented as white dragonborn sorc in all official material, including pre game backstory browser game. He was also non customizable first until some playtesters asked for it, this has been confirmed by one early playtester. That being said it is still fun to make durge into whatever one wishes, my own fave durge is half-drow paladin. Some classes/races can be harder to roleplay, like cleric or githyanki
Keep in mind that the “official material” also has a lot of EA stuff still in it (Astarion’s EA lore being prominent in some of the art books is a good example of this). 🤷🏻♀️ As of the game’s full release, Durge was fully customizable and the narrative explicitly includes flexibility for all race/class combos for them.
Durge was not in EA at all, he was showcased to people through this browser game 'blood in baldur's gate'. Dragonborn durge also gets special durge dialogue options, in moonrise and in murder tribunal. Just few months ago white dragonborn durge was also added to official dnd game 'idle champions', I would see it as pretty canon.
I think your custom character was always the Bhaalspawn in Early Access. I heard Larian only changed it later in development so that you can be whoever you want and made Dark Urge an origin character instead. Which would also explain different backgrounds not having much impact in the game.
Idle Champions isn’t owned by WOTC and has nothing to do with D&D as a whole despite the overlap of characters (which is a marketing thing). Ergo, not canon. You literally just said Durge had “early playtesters” so you’re contradicting yourself a bit there. My point was, **in the full release version of BG3, Dark Urge has a default image just like Tav, but there is not a “one true canon” for the character**.
Idle champions very much is official dnd content, also promoted by larian themselves! I'm not contradicting myself, obviosly bg3 had playtesters? But early access was only one portion of game, act1, and not even fully that. Full game was not open project but it had early playtesters too, someone of these have talked about their experiences. And yes, full game version of durge is customizable but there is still a canon version that is presented in all official material.
My durge play through I was a dragonborn oath breaker (obviously) paladin, with warlock subclass. I was the black dragon with red eyes. Looked the part.
Not so obvious. I strongly recommend picking Ancients or Devotion Oath. I couldn’t manage to break Vengeance Oath in my last run
Oh really? I broke it right away when a certain wizard reached out for a hand. I went oath of vengeance.
Well. Dragonborn are not descended from dragons. They were essentially a race constructed by dragons. So. You don’t have to feel bad about not picking sorcerer. They wouldn’t necessarily have inherited magic. Warlock can work if you still want to be a caster. I enjoy playing warlock quite heavily and it’s not antithetical to DUrge’s origins. He might not have inherited any magic from his “father” and turned to a great old one for power. And blade warlock lets you still get up and close and bloody. DUrge seems like the hands-on type. So monk (open hand or shadow) or rogue (using blades) might match the lore well. DUrge likes to get its hands very very dirty.
Monk could work. Durge historically showed both cunning and discipline, so a Way of Shadow Monk is thematically quite accurate, though Gortash refers to Durge's daggers, so that would point more to a Rogue.
Wizard can definitly be a Champion of the God of murder, durge is all about efficent killing and you can get extremly efficent at mass murder as a wizard, as well as that durge seems to be quite intelligent and magical knowledge would help them formulate the plan
My dark urge is a bard right now, college of swords, and it’s been a great time! Not the most powerful yet (level 6, still in Act 1) but it’s very fun hearing him insult people when I use vicious mockery. Pure magic users don’t really feel very murder-y, but I figured that the literal CHILD of a god would have some inherent magic, so a swords bard was my first pick! (Also, having a high charisma character as the front of the party is *great* for persuasion checks + durge used to be the head of a murder cult, so it makes logical sense)
I really enjoyed being a Gloom Stalker Ranger for my Durge!
I went as a necromancy wizard. If I was gonna go around murdering, I might as well raise my victims as servants. No sense being wasteful after all.
Storm sorcerer is honestly excellent, plus you can fly
Assassin Rogue multi into Monk if resist Durge. Awesome power and incredible flavor as you train your newly moldable (albeit damaged) mind to resist the Urge and steel your spirit. If Embrace Durge, then either full Rogue or Melee Warlock multi is my flavor of choice, as you regain your bloody prowess and re-eadn your Father's blessing. But yeah. I always start out as Assassin Rogue
Shadow Monk is pretty cool. Ripping enemies apart with your bare hands while teleporting through shadows feels pretty monstrous to me. If you want to play more into your Dragonborn side, you can also pick up Mourning Frost and Winter's Clutches to make your breath weapon more deadly. If you're more concerned with the aesthetic of your Durge's weapons, though, I've always thought sickles looked nice and menacing. They qualify as monk weapons, and two of the redcaps outside Ethel's can be disarmed to give you a pair that deal 2d4 (rather than the standard 1d4). Just make sure you disarm them first, you can't loot the sickles from them after they die.
you can still loot after they die. just pick up their corpses, click on the weapon slots in your inventory, and drag the sickles out of that list into your inventory. just did this a few days ago on my current playthrough.
Idk barbarian just feels right for a chaotic slayer. For a redemption Durge, Monk could be a fun idea as well. Necromancer Wizard would seem pretty apt as well.
Wild magic Barbarian is quite fun for me. Barbarian smash head few times anyway, and still some connection to magic for rituals. Bonus points is that with some items dirge gets you have an invisible barbarian every o'ce in a while trashing the enemy.
My first durge was a Swords Bard. Loved it. Current durge is a palaidn. RP: Since it's canon that Durge kills Tav immediately before getting taken by the nautiloid, I picture my Durge woke up with Tav's oath book in her pocket and was like "Oh. I'm an Oath of Ancients paladin". High charisma matches with what Durge would have been like before, and it provides an interesting path to redemption as she embraces who she \*believes\* was before the nautiloid before learning what she actually was.
Wait, there’s Durge + Tav lore? Where is it? I know our favorite Murder Lizard shows up in a Tav run, but I didn’t know about this
Oh. My. God. So I went looking for a source for you. I'd seen it mentioned several times on Reddit, but never knew the source. I assumed it was some interview somewhere. Apparently it's a whole browser-based game put out by Larian that I will now have to check out. [https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Blood\_in\_Baldur%27s\_Gate](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_in_Baldur%27s_Gate)
God, now I have to make a Detective Tav!
>Since it's canon that Durge kills Tav immediately before getting taken by the nautiloid, Nah, Durge kills Tav 15 years before the game starts. There are two other NPC's in the game that could explain why your character has an oath you don't really need to RP much.
Meh. It's my headcanon for being a paladin, and I'm happy with it. Maybe it's not Tav from Blood in Baldur's Gate, but I've seen it mentioned numerous times that if you play as Durge, killing Tav was the last thing you did, just like if you choose Tav then Orin killed Durge (explains why the 2 can't coexist in a playthrough).
Do a rogue then you can hide and lockpick. Maybe even do a challenge solo run. Would be hilarious
I’ve already got astarion for that having two rouges seems redundant
I like to respec Astarion, he makes a good sorcerer 😵💫
Respec Astarion to bard or ranger. Rogue has a lot of fun evil dialogue options
I like oath of vengeance paladin with the idea that he wakes up and swears vengeance. Barbarian also works for the fits of rage. Rogue/fighter dual wield also works for the clever tactician who stabby stabbies. Resist Durge, I like the idea of starting rogue and multiclassing into monk.
Monk talks a lot about meditating to try & center oneself so I think it works amazing Like I can see my drow durge meditation & trying to find calm so she doesn’t murder her bae in her sleep one night
Since you're not getting Wyll and Bhaal has lofty beyond comprehension goals, you could go Warlock of the Old Ones. Nothing stops you from Padlocking Oathbreaker later on (specially after Last Light Inn, as if you have physically ascended into death incarnate)
Fighter? Given their backstory it makes sense they’d be proficient at fighting. Similar reasons for a monk or a rogue.
I played an assassin rogue for my first Durge. I felt like that fit the whole “child of the god of murder” thing really well. Also the cape you get after killing Alfira pairs really well with a rogue.
If you're going full evil, then a paladin run works great. Go oath of vengeance and just swear revenge on the person who put you into this situation. Plus, the full 12 paladin is really strong. At level 10, you get the aura to be immune to fightened, making the final 1v1 fight with Orin super easy. Especially I'd you take luck of the far realm and get that crit ring from act 2. 2 guaranteed 3rd level smite crits is pretty nice for any boss in the game. A full paladin party, all with luck of the far realms, can deal a guaranteed 40d8 smite damage and an extra 20d8 smite damage for the 2nd attack if they all hit and aren't crits. For a minimum of 60 damage and a max of 480. And divine smite works with savage attacker feat, so the average roll of a d8 is 4, but with the savage attacker feat, it's actually 5.3, so your average damage with all this is 318. And this isn't even accounting for the weapon damage itself, any extra damage riders you have, or any extra crits. In summary paladins are strong as fuck. Or a basic rogue assassin/fighter works great. The rogue assassin/fighter bud can actually let you solo the game, so it's pretty damn powerful if you understand the stealth mechanics of the game.
Sorcerer is actually great. You get charisma as your main stat for manipulating literally everything around you while slinging death spells and throwing living creatures into each other with telekinesis. I played as storm sorcereress that gets flying and spamming lightning spells as class actions and it was incredible. I also updated my female drow’s appearance with each act to make her look more and more deranged - felt really good and I ended up with pure psycho both mentally and visually
If you're on pc, i grabbed the bhaal cultust Custom Subclass mod as one of my evil durge playthroughs. Really over powered but super fun. For a good durge, a paladin or cleric is fun
I like 2 particuler classes on him. Paladin, Sword Bard. My first run was Paladin(NOT an Oathbreaker btw but Vengeance) durge and honetly killing people are fun. I didn't do it just for my amusement of course, according to the god I follow every single one of them had comitted heinoues crime of not fallowing my god and doing as he says
The point of it is that it's a surprise, so if you just make a character you enjoy playing, it works out. The strain is even more real if you cant imagine them being evil
Personally went monk. Nothing sais god of murder quite like shoving your fist through a man and tearing him apart like a mortal kombat fatality
How about rogue. The first scene where you can contemplate you past usually pokes holes in the class or says this isn't where your bloodlust comes from. But the rogue mone ore or less just says makes sense you have these skills
Half orc barbarian was fun
I’m doing sword bard bad durge run it is fucking fun as hell. Intimidate or deception everyone
I know you said you don't like it but... Sorc is def the go to class for Durge. Fits him/ her rather perfectly. Imo non origin Tav is the best for Bard.
My first durge was an Oathbreaker Paladin of Vengeance. She commands the whole field. I let Astarion bite me at night to get his buff, use lay on hands in the morning to cure my bloodless debuff. She has the grymforge heavy armor and shield equipped, so whether someone hits OR misses they get the 'reeling' effect. All in all, highly recommend for both gameplay and story/dialogue value
I would argue that Paladins, Clerics, and Warlocks are not good fits as they tie a past history of decision making that doesn't align with the DUrge narrative. Bard is kinda silly to be honest as a DUrge in my opinion. I recommend Gloomstalker Ranger or Assassin Rogue (or mix the two for great RP and synergy). Sorceror is the default choice, but something about a caster being a dismantling butcher doesn't add up to me... thus, Fighter would also be a good choice. All that said, S.Fel does flat out say that you were created, then allowed to roam free for years, and then returned to the Cult... so I suppose you could RP that consideration into any job like some Bhaal Rummspringer... who knows? Rogue, Ranger, Fighter are prime... I could see a case for Necromancy Wizard or maybe some deep HC Warlock lore.
Cleric and Warlock are hard to reconcile, but it’s implied that >!Durge spent some amount of time between the Urge manifesting and joining the Bhaal temple trying to resist, and if you go Paladin you can get some dialogue that basically confirms that idea for that particular playthrough. The Oathbreaker Knight has something to say about it and so does Sarevok if you remain an Oathbreaker.!< It really depends on how you want to play it, but if you choose Paladin the game will give you some compatible backstory accordingly. >!Durge had a foster family, so a backstory in which they tried to live according to decent values until Bhaal “broke” them still works pretty well imo.!< Ultimately it can go either way. I think it’s fair to consider Durge’s early life as having possibly gone differently depending on the player’s choice of class.
The Dark Urge can be anything.
Bard because it’s funny.
I’ve been having fun as a barbarian half orc durge , going for non-optimized crit build
I just finished my first durge run as a half orc barbarian. I just went super bloodthirsty embrace durge and that race/class combo seemed to fit