Mercenaries/hirlings??? Love interests???

[Shinimaru]

I have seen some info being able to have non origin characters in your party, but I haven't seen anything definitive about it.

Is that going to be possible or not?

I need a fighter, rogue, and cleric, in my party to go along with my PC sorcerer/wizard, but the origin characters of those classes have insufferable personalities.

Lazel has that "unlikable overly masculine female lead" thing going on, that has been so forced in modern cinema and games.... Who is that character for??? Yuck.

Shadowheart is constantly trying to manipulate and passive-aggresively be in control all the time which is off-putting particularly for guys like me who don't like being controlled.. especially by a made up character on a video game ffs.

And vampire boy? Hell no. Never...

The game is stated to give so much freedom to the player and I see that in every aspect...

...except the companions and love interests. (For a strait man, all there is is masculine lazel and manipulative, controlling shadowheart??? Really??? And that new red tefling that seems like lazel pt 2?? And the off-putting woman from bg2???)

Will there be a way to have companions of any class that aren't origin characters? Without doing that multi-client trick

Will they allow love interests besides the ones that have been presented so far??? Possibly something for everyone instead of only something for certain personality types or sexual preferences?

Will they ever let us have that one soft feminine blue tefling bard as a companion so I can have a different healer option and finally be able to bench shadowheart for good?..

And I'm sure I'm not the only guy who would want the blue tefling bard girl as a love interests for my PC over every other option ffs. That would fix the love interests issue for me for sure lol

But anyway mercenaries/hirelings/alternative options for party members??

Better options for love interests???

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

There will be hirelings. 12 of them, but don't expect anything big storywise or love interest wise. I'd be surprised if they added a whole lot to them.

Overall I get the impression you didn't really invest to much time in trying to understand the characters and their motivations etc. That' fine, that's your choice, however, there's certainly more to them.

Lae'zel is pretty much in line for a gith'yanki. For that race every other race are lesser beings. She sometimes even seems outright charming for a gith'yanki. Probably because she's pretty desperate.

Shadowheart seems pretty in line with someone who is herself brainwashed by a shar cult. She seems very in line with that.

Also in 5e you don't really need that party composition. One of the devs was even playing with only shadowheart. Maybe you will find more fun in the game, if you let go of that notion of requiring a certain party build.

[Shinimaru]

Originally posted by Dαятн Wαfflεmαncεя:

There will be hirelings. 12 of them, but don't expect anything big storywise or love interest wise. I'd be surprised if they added a whole lot to them.

Overall I get the impression you didn't really invest to much time in trying to understand the characters and their motivations etc. That' fine, that's your choice, however, there's certainly more to them.

Lae'zel is pretty much in line for a gith'yanki. For that race every other race are lesser beings. She sometimes even seems outright charming for a gith'yanki. Probably because she's pretty desperate.

Shadowheart seems pretty in line with someone who is herself brainwashed by a shar cult. She seems very in line with that.

Also in 5e you don't really need that party composition. One of the devs was even playing with only shadowheart. Maybe you will find more fun in the game, if you let go of that notion of requiring a certain party build.

It's not a desire for a certain particular party build actually.

It's just a preference for each party member to not have access to the same spells and abilities.

Coming from dos 2, I'm very much over every character being able to do everything in a party... From a role playing standpoint that just kills the feel of a party that relies on each other and brings their own unique skills to the table,

and strategically I find myself purposely doing mental gymnastics trying to justify not giving one character a certain spell because another character already has it even though it would make sense for both characters to CHOOSE to have the spell in their arsenal...

For me it's annoying and it's one of the reasons I stopped playing dos and looked forward to the more diverse DND classes of bg3.

I could swap out fighter with barbarian and swap out rogue with ranged fighter etc... But I prefer only my player character to use magic, and head cannon wise, I have my cleric as lawful good with a focus on healing/buffing/rezing so there is no overlap of spells between the cleric and my PC caster.

It's just my preference I guess...

[Jinkaru]

Is a gnoll a hireling? Because I want to romance a gnoll.

[Shinimaru]

Originally posted by Dαятн Wαfflεmαncεя:

There will be hirelings. 12 of them, but don't expect anything big storywise or love interest wise. I'd be surprised if they added a whole lot to them.

Overall I get the impression you didn't really invest to much time in trying to understand the characters and their motivations etc. That' fine, that's your choice, however, there's certainly more to them.

Lae'zel is pretty much in line for a gith'yanki. For that race every other race are lesser beings. She sometimes even seems outright charming for a gith'yanki. Probably because she's pretty desperate.

Shadowheart seems pretty in line with someone who is herself brainwashed by a shar cult. She seems very in line with that.

Also in 5e you don't really need that party composition. One of the devs was even playing with only shadowheart. Maybe you will find more fun in the game, if you let go of that notion of requiring a certain party build.

As far as lazel. I peeped her ways and saw how the other drow acted during that bridge encounter.

Her personality is still off-putting to me as I allow nobody to look down on me or talk down to me in real life... So of course I leave lazel in that cage on every play through... Lol I give her my terms "ask me nicely" she refuses to submit to my terms, so I leave her in the cage...

She has her way of being and principles and I have mine...

Some personalities just don't fit with each other.

And I traveled with shadowheart and heard her sob story, but that still doesn't excuse how manipulative and passive-aggresively controlling she is written to be.

I have delt with many women who are like that in real life, and well, shadowheart actually last longer in my PCs life than women like her last in my real life lol .. maybe if they could cast healing spells they would have a better chance of remaining in my inner circle.... Lol

[Shinimaru]

Originally posted by Jinkaru:

Is a gnoll a hireling? Because I want to romance a gnoll.

Which one is gnol?

Is she a tefling? I noticed that many of the female tefling side characters have softer more feminine personalities than the women of other races... I wonder why that choice was made....

[.Master Jiren, The Strongest]

There will be hirelings and you can also roll up your own custom party of 4 characters of your choice. In fact. Theoretically. You could play as Dark Urges and have 3 Tavs in your party. Which is kind of an interesting concept.

As far as relationships, yeah, they definitely went away from anything resembling a traditional relationship. This game was definitely made for the 1%, the lgbtq community, and whatever group the furries are in.

You do have shadowheart. Minthara isnt such a loss. But yeah if you dont like emo or goth chicks you're screwed on that front too. Unfortunately, theres no normal chicks. I mean, its DnD. its pretty much expected I guess. I mean, what, were we going to get a human female paladin? eh. that would be so boring.

Plus you get to customize your brain worm and make her super hot! so theres that. the brain worm is probably the most supportive woman in most of our lives to be honest.

that said. there will be modders who might make shadowheart more attractive if you'd prefer her as a blonde. And minthara i'm sure someone could make her into men with a simple flag in the code.

but thats about the best you'll get.everyone else is either male, gay, or not even resembling a human. Its kind of depressing when you think about it. A game that many are looking at as a dating simulator that only has romances for rare outliers where most normal people will be rather isolated.

But. to be fair. I dont think your pastor from church is coming over to play. most of us are degenerates. so, i guess in that respect they knew their audience well.

[Jinkaru]

Originally posted by Shinimaru:

Originally posted by Jinkaru:

Is a gnoll a hireling? Because I want to romance a gnoll.

Which one is gnol?

Is she a tefling? I noticed that many of the female tefling side characters have softer more feminine personalities than the women of other races... I wonder why that choice was made....

Close!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5zne1SFcf4

[Shinimaru]

Originally posted by .Master Jiren, The Strongest:

There will be hirelings and you can also roll up your own custom party of 4 characters of your choice. In fact. Theoretically. You could play as Dark Urges and have 3 Tavs in your party. Which is kind of an interesting concept.

As far as relationships, yeah, they definitely went away from anything resembling a traditional relationship. This game was definitely made for the 1%, the lgbtq community, and whatever group the furries are in.

You do have shadowheart. Minthara isnt such a loss. But yeah if you dont like emo or goth chicks you're screwed on that front too. Unfortunately, theres no normal chicks. I mean, its DnD. its pretty much expected I guess. I mean, what, were we going to get a human female paladin? eh. that would be so boring.

Plus you get to customize your brain worm and make her super hot! so theres that. the brain worm is probably the most supportive woman in most of our lives to be honest.

that said. there will be modders who might make shadowheart more attractive if you'd prefer her as a blonde. And minthara i'm sure someone could make her into men with a simple flag in the code.

but thats about the best you'll get.everyone else is either male, gay, or not even resembling a human. Its kind of depressing when you think about it. A game that many are looking at as a dating simulator that only has romances for rare outliers where most normal people will be rather isolated.

But. to be fair. I dont think your pastor from church is coming over to play. most of us are degenerates. so, i guess in that respect they knew their audience well.

I can't stand the wirm woman, she is even more manipulative than shadow heart. I personally don't gravitate to maternal figures for romance... That's completely backwards as I'm usually the paternal figure for my woman in my real life relationships.

I agree that they are definitely forcing certain options on us to where if you are a straight male who ISN'T submissive, then there is no option for you.

I really don't appreciate that and it ruins my immersion.

Having to deal with shadowheart's manipulative tendencies just to have a healer in my party is very on the nose.

I obviously self insert on my PC, and I submit to no one! So being forced to play into shadowhearts power plays just to keep her happy is very annoying, and the thought of having to act like an easy-♥♥♥♥ submissive-player type to get through a romance scene with her... F no. I have seen her romance scene... Nawl bruh! My PC will pass lol.

Meanwhile they gave 3 ken dolls with the full personality spectrum from dominant (Gale), to switch (vampire boy), to tough ACTING submissive (Wyl) to romance for those who like men... It makes me really wonder why such choices were made...

But as I said before, the blue tefling bard girl seems like an actual feminine sweetheart... How is she not a romancable companion yet???

[Shinimaru]

Originally posted by Jinkaru:

Originally posted by Shinimaru:

Which one is gnol?

Is she a tefling? I noticed that many of the female tefling side characters have softer more feminine personalities than the women of other races... I wonder why that choice was made....

Close!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5zne1SFcf4

Um ok, whatever floats your boat bro... But that's not even close to the tefling girls as most tefling women are very pretty in the face.

But hey, do you, bro...

[Jinkaru]

Originally posted by Shinimaru:

Originally posted by Jinkaru:

Close!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5zne1SFcf4

Um ok, whatever floats your boat bro... But that's not even close to the tefling girls as most tefling women are very pretty in the face.

But hey, do you, bro...

LoL

[Wolfgang421]

Originally posted by Shinimaru:

Originally posted by .Master Jiren, The Strongest:

There will be hirelings and you can also roll up your own custom party of 4 characters of your choice. In fact. Theoretically. You could play as Dark Urges and have 3 Tavs in your party. Which is kind of an interesting concept.

As far as relationships, yeah, they definitely went away from anything resembling a traditional relationship. This game was definitely made for the 1%, the lgbtq community, and whatever group the furries are in.

You do have shadowheart. Minthara isnt such a loss. But yeah if you dont like emo or goth chicks you're screwed on that front too. Unfortunately, theres no normal chicks. I mean, its DnD. its pretty much expected I guess. I mean, what, were we going to get a human female paladin? eh. that would be so boring.

Plus you get to customize your brain worm and make her super hot! so theres that. the brain worm is probably the most supportive woman in most of our lives to be honest.

that said. there will be modders who might make shadowheart more attractive if you'd prefer her as a blonde. And minthara i'm sure someone could make her into men with a simple flag in the code.

but thats about the best you'll get.everyone else is either male, gay, or not even resembling a human. Its kind of depressing when you think about it. A game that many are looking at as a dating simulator that only has romances for rare outliers where most normal people will be rather isolated.

But. to be fair. I dont think your pastor from church is coming over to play. most of us are degenerates. so, i guess in that respect they knew their audience well.

I can't stand the wirm woman, she is even more manipulative than shadow heart. I personally don't gravitate to maternal figures for romance... That's completely backwards as I'm usually the paternal figure for my woman in my real life relationships.

I agree that they are definitely forcing certain options on us to where if you are a straight male who ISN'T submissive, then there is no option for you.

I really don't appreciate that and it ruins my immersion.

Having to deal with shadowheart's manipulative tendencies just to have a healer in my party is very on the nose.

I obviously self insert on my PC, and I submit to no one! So being forced to play into shadowhearts power plays just to keep her happy is very annoying, and the thought of having to act like an easy-♥♥♥♥ submissive-player type to get through a romance scene with her... F no. I have seen her romance scene... Nawl bruh! My PC will pass lol.

Meanwhile they gave 3 ken dolls with the full personality spectrum from dominant (Gale), to switch (vampire boy), to tough ACTING submissive (Wyl) to romance for those who like men... It makes me really wonder why such choices were made...

But as I said before, the blue tefling bard girl seems like an actual feminine sweetheart... How is she not a romancable companion yet???

You're talking about adventurers. Not many are going to make it in that line of work being meek, submissive, fawning women. As a straight male I have no issue with Shadowheart - I'll give you that Lizael is somewhat offputting. As the devs said, if you invest time into their stories you can uncover other sides to them and maybe even change their attitudes a bit - I can confirm Shadowheart, at least in Early Access, can come around to be a bit more trusting and a bit less manipulative - once she realizes you'll help even if not tricked into doing so. You can also wait for the no doubt many player-made romance mods.

[Shinimaru]

Originally posted by Shinimaru:

Originally posted by Wolfgang421:

You're talking about adventurers. Not many are going to make it in that line of work being meek, submissive, fawning women. As a straight male I have no issue with Shadowheart - I'll give you that Lizael is somewhat offputting. As the devs said, if you invest time into their stories you can uncover other sides to them and maybe even change their attitudes a bit - I can confirm Shadowheart, at least in Early Access, can come around to be a bit more trusting and a bit less manipulative - once she realizes you'll help even if not tricked into doing so. You can also wait for the no doubt many player-made romance mods.

Who said anything about being meek?

Most of the woman in my family are sweet and submissive and none of them are meek or weak. Seriously

And I know submissive men who are in the gym every week and will whip most guys asses.

Submissive people just aim to please others and don't make people jump through hoops to get to their niceness. They instead are willing to jump through your hoops in order to get rewarded with your niceness. Aka they submit their niceness in order to be rewarded with your niceness. Aka they are sweet up front...

I naturally dominant and have been a bdsm Dom since 2003. Have studied power dynamics, influence tactics, and personality types in d/s for decades If you don't know how a submission works ... That's how it works lol

That has nothing to do with being meek or weak!

Shadowheart makes you jump through hoops in order to get to her niceness. This is what I don't like about her. She puts you in a position where you have to submit to her in order to get anywhere with her. That is off-putting to guys like me on a fundamental level. I naturally reject anyone's attempt to get me to submit...

And for a video game character to be able to trigger such a real viseral response in me is 1. Some great character writing by the devs, and 2. Problematic when I notice there is no female companion available that doesn't trigger me in such a way,

even though there is literally the freaking blue tefling bard girl that shows the devs know how to write a sweet woman, but they don't make her available as a romancable companion...

I just don't get why they clearly understand power dynamics and relationship psychology enough to make dominant female characters like shadowheart and sweet characters like the blue tefling bard, but they force shadow into a potential gf role but deny the player from the tefling...

The blue tefling is a freaking bard so she is ready for adventure, so what's the reason, I wonder.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Yes, you'll be able to hire mercenaries (and it looks as if you'll be able to keep both mercs and compsnions in your camp), but it's unknown if we'll be able to have sex scenes with non-Origin characters (I kinda doubt it, as every sex scene seems hand crafted for each character, but you never know...)

As for the rest of your post, was it really necessary to display such toxic masculinity?

[Wolfgang421]

Originally posted by Shinimaru:

Originally posted by Wolfgang421:

You're talking about adventurers. Not many are going to make it in that line of work being meek, submissive, fawning women. As a straight male I have no issue with Shadowheart - I'll give you that Lizael is somewhat offputting. As the devs said, if you invest time into their stories you can uncover other sides to them and maybe even change their attitudes a bit - I can confirm Shadowheart, at least in Early Access, can come around to be a bit more trusting and a bit less manipulative - once she realizes you'll help even if not tricked into doing so. You can also wait for the no doubt many player-made romance mods.

Who said anything about being meek?

Most of the woman in my family are sweet and submissive and none of them are meek or weak. Seriously

And I know submissive men who are in the gym every week and will whip most guys asses.

Submissive people just aim to please others and don't make people jump through hoops to get to their niceness. They instead are willing to jump through your hoops in order to get rewarded with your niceness. Aka the submit their niceness in order to be rewarded with your niceness. Aka they are sweet up front...

I naturally dominant and have been a bdsm Dom since 2023. If you don't know how a submission works ... That's how it works lol

That has nothing to do with being meek or weak!

Shadowheart makes you jump through hoops in order to get to her niceness. This is what I don't like about her. She puts you in a position where you have to submit to her in order to get anywhere with her. That is off-putting to guys like me on a fundamental level. I naturally reject anyone's attempt to get me to submit...

And for a video game character to be able to trigger such a real viseral response in me is 1. Some great character writing by the devs, and 2. Problematic when I notice there is no female companion available that doesn't trigger me in such a way,

even though there is literally the freaking blue tefling bard girl that shows the devs know how to write a sweet woman, but they don't make her available as a romancable companion...

I just don't get why they clearly understand power dynamics and relationship psychology enough to make dominant female characters like shadowheart and sweet characters like the blue tefling bard, but they force shadow into a potential gf roll but deny the player from the tefling...

The blue tefling is a freaking bard so she is ready for adventure, so what's the reason, I wonder.

Forgive the confusion; when most people in these parts talk of submissiveness they do, in fact, refer to women that stay at home, pregnant, and in the kitchen 9/10ths of the time. Meekness, also, is not a synonym for weakness - Meekness is an attribute of human nature and behavior that has been defined as an amalgam of righteousness, inner humility, and patience. Meekness has been contrasted with humility alone insomuch as humility simply refers to an attitude towards oneself—a restraining of one's own power so as to allow room for others—whereas meekness refers to the treatment of others. (source: wikipedia).

I don't particularly find having to convince a total stranger who, just like yourself, had a surprise brain parasite implantation after being kidnapped, to trust you to be all that unreal. That said, there is an option later on to purchase a slave - though things turn out unexpectedly in the story, it probably would be a great opportunity for a like-minded modder to add content of that sort. I doubt any sizeable studio (releasing anything outside Adult games, anyway) in the western world would include female character so submissive - we live in an era where that is villified.

[Shinimaru]

Lol I tried to edit my post but it keeps trying to repost it as a quote of myself... Quite annoying