Dark secrets.

[LeftPaw]

Your companions all have some sort of dark secret. Logic states that some of them should be normal with normal back grounds, you know? They worked on a pig farm for 10 years and then one day decided to become a adventurer.
Or is the reason they found themselves at the mind flyers tea party those very same dark pasts, come secrets?

[Yojo0o]

There's not really much to unpack and explore in a boring farmer backstory, what value would that add to the game?

[Malaficus Shaikan]

That would be a refreshing change but lets be honest.
Adventuring requires a certain insanity.
A lack of self preservation and a willingness to risk your life for very little gold.
Most adventures dont have plot armor(the reload button) and tent to die early.
High level adventures are rare.

Normal people simply dont have what it takes.
But it would be nice to have a adventures just be in it to help people.

[Jack the Roamer]

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

There's not really much to unpack and explore in a boring farmer backstory, what value would that add to the game?

It would be refreshing potentially. Small village farmer in over his head, keeps making mistakes and failing upwards! I guess maybe that's Tav

A sort of Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil adventure in BG3 would be hilarious. Actually wishing for a joke origin rn haha

[Clovis Sangrail]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

Logic states that some of them should be normal with normal back grounds, you know?

Why, pray tell, does logic state that?

The pig farmer is you.

[Linde]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

Your companions all have some sort of dark secret. Logic states that some of them should be normal with normal back grounds, you know? They worked on a pig farm for 10 years and then one day decided to become a adventurer.
Or is the reason they found themselves at the mind flyers tea party those very same dark pasts, come secrets?

The woman you can perfect on the ship got the boring background story. See what good that did her.

[LeftPaw]

Yes, okay, but they have a normal past like being a legend of somewhere or saving a princess, helped win a war, whatever. But also they all seem to have made some deal with a devil of some kind.

[everybe2]

In his youth, Gale was a prodigy practitioner of the Art. He likened his skill as a wizard to that of an actual artist, who manipulated the Weave in the same manner a virtuoso did music.[1]

After he was spurned by the goddess Mystra, Gale sought to win back her affection. He sought out an ancient "tome of gateways" that contained within it a portion of the Astral Plane, described as a "fragment of primal Weave locked out of time", seperated from the goddess of Magic. He wanted to reunite Mystra with her missing piece of magic, but failed in his endeavor.[1]

As a result of his failed labor of love, Gale's body became the host to a Netherese destruction orb. The orb would continuously beat, absorbing energy from the Weave, counting down to an ultimate destruction that was capable of tearing down cities.[1]

In the Year of Three Ships Sailing, 1492 DR, Gale was taken prisoner by illithids upon a nautiloid. A mind flayer tadpole was forced into his eye, an act that would normally begin the process of ceremorphosis. The spelljammer was taken down by a host of devils and crashed into the Sword Coast, on the northern bank of the River Chionthar.[1]

Rather than become a mind flayer himself, Gale was granted limited psychic powers, akin to those others referred to as True Souls of the Absolute. He soon met up with another passenger of the ship, who shared his mysterious new power.[1]

[LeftPaw]

Noooo, This could be why the taddys can change them. They all belong to some other evil force.

[brellom]

That's because the companions aren't just your typical party members you'd find in an RPG - they're meant to be as deep as a player character can be. When you play tabletop RPGs with other people, the other players have just as much depth as you do. While they didn't all sell their souls to some devil, they all have some really complex issues in their background so that they're proper protagonists in their own right - that's why your companions can also be played as origin characters too.

If you play tabletop RPGs, you generally want complicated characters like that because it creates opportunities for interesting stories down the line. Some average farmer turn adventurer, as novel as that is, doesn't have a lot going for it for a DM to organically bring up some super interesting conflicts or stories because of their specific background.

This is a setting where a lot of average people really don't end up being adventurer material because it's actually really difficult to survive in a world like that.

[LeftPaw]

Is it their background that keeps them in control then? But what about us where do we come in? Could it be because we all belong to the great Steam deity. Under the lock and key of our own game collection?

[everybe2]

Ketheric Thorm is Shadiwhearts father .

[Mister Inadequate]

Originally posted by Jack the Roamer:

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

There's not really much to unpack and explore in a boring farmer backstory, what value would that add to the game?

It would be refreshing potentially. Small village farmer in over his head, keeps making mistakes and failing upwards! I guess maybe that's Tav

A sort of Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil adventure in BG3 would be hilarious. Actually wishing for a joke origin rn haha

Pretty sure the small farmer in over his head was the premise for the game Dungeon Siege.

[Brian Sirith]

Laz seems quite normal to me. And I too prefer less flashy stories. Apart from the fact that she’s a Gith at least as far as I played there didn’t seem to be anything special about her. Didn’t give me the impression she had a dark secret either.

[Mister Inadequate]

Originally posted by Brian Sirith:

Laz seems quite normal to me. And I too prefer less flashy stories. Apart from the fact that she’s a Gith at least as far as I played there didn’t seem to be anything special about her. Didn’t give me the impression she had a dark secret either.

From my gameplay in EA she has goals - to advance in gith society. As for Dark secrets - they may very well come out later.

[Brian Sirith]

Originally posted by Mister Inadequate:

Originally posted by Brian Sirith:

Laz seems quite normal to me. And I too prefer less flashy stories. Apart from the fact that she’s a Gith at least as far as I played there didn’t seem to be anything special about her. Didn’t give me the impression she had a dark secret either.

From my gameplay in EA she has goals - to advance in gith society. As for Dark secrets - they may very well come out later.

True. What I meant is she doesn’t seem to have a -for lack of better words- Mary Sue type of background like Gale or Astarion. At least from what we’ve seen in EA.

Haven’t recruited Wyll or Shadowheart so not sure what their stories are.