Suggestion: Minthara recruit Act 1 scenario idea [Spoilers]

[chainsawpaul]

I have done three full play-throughs of BG3 at this point. First one I sided with Grove and killed goblins and Minthara without a second thought.

Second time, I looked up and found out she is a recruitable companion and so went through the process of getting both Halsin and Minthara, pre-patch 1, only to not have that much interaction with her due to low approval gains.

Third time, as Dark Urge... so massacred the Grove. To be honest, seeing some of the druid's AI and their predilection for jumping into their own AOE spells I felt justified in cleansing such stupidity from Faerun. However, in the third I got the full Minthara, as possible, romance and dialogue options. Now that I have learned her back story and character development when you recruit her, I can't stand to play Act 1.

The reason being it now feels awful to have to kill her if you want Halsin, or at least, the Tiefling's to survive to Act 3 yet want to recruit her as well since, for me , she is the most interesting character out of the companions. Especially, that conversation you have with her after killing Orin and the delivery of the lines "When we first met, I could not have chosen that future. I could choose nothing. / It is only because of you that I did not meet the same fate as Orin. Lost to madness and blood. / If you had killed me when we first met, I would have been just one more casualty of your crusade against the Absolute. / And nobody would remember me." (Emma Gregory did a fantastic performance as Minthara)

I watched the interview with Swen Vincke where he says "Player empathy" was at the heart of Larian's BG3 development mindset and I say now "where was the empathy for players that explored all of Minthara's dialogue?" As there can't have been any realistic expectation that players would be okay with killing or not saving her with "And nobody would remember me." sounding in the back of their minds like mine.

My solution / idea to allow for the choice to recruit her in Act 1 - a five stage development that leads to the player completely, and thoroughly, breaking "Absolute Minthara" to the point where it would make sense to be able to extend the artefact influence to her.

It would start with the battle at the Grove gate and the requirement would be that all enemies, except Minthara, are defeated. This triggers an interaction where you continue the fight / tell her to give up (she still fights) / [persuade] doesn't have a chance.

[Persuade] option leads to her withdrawing to The Blighted Village where she would then rally the goblins, and ogres if still present, leading to another encounter with varying factors; you having the ogres war horn or defeating fezzark (whatever his name is) causing him and some goblins to flee etc. When she is last one standing again the choices are the same yet you can now wound her [skill check] so when she retreats across the bridge for the third encounter she has a debuff.

Third encounter at the gate would add the variation, if not done so already, the war drums can alert the Temple goblins to action and now be hostile. After all, if you killed Minthara and the goblins here, yet they are still neutral at the Temple they would be none the wiser and you could then tell them the attack failed and Minthara was defeated. Once again when she is the last standing another interaction however; the mountain pass access is near so she could be [intimidated] into retreating completely back to Moonrise leading to the scene later on. If not, she withdraws to the temple to rally there with another wound debuff if done so.

The Temple being the fourth encounter adds the variety of different approaches to the Temple for example two enter the front and two from the cliffs behind. Again opening up more possibilities of interactions. Especially, if you poisoned the goblins and talked your way out of it before. Once again last one standing the options this time are continue the fight (she retreats anyways) / [deception] or [persuade] the other leaders are already dead (since she leaves to assault the Grove without them) / [intimidate] surrender now and die with some dignity / inflict another wound on her as she retreats into the Shattered Sanctum for the final stand. Additionally, Zevlor, the combatant Tieflings and possibly some druids like Rath could turn up to join for the final fight unless convinced to maintain the Temple.

This final encounter would certainly make for a climactic and interesting encounter since Halsin, if freed yet waiting in the worg pens, can join the fight drawn in by the commotion. The full scope of the main centre room would be in play with the rafters, side alcoves etc. Of course since Minthara is the desired companion, if she is last one standing or, like Viconia encounter, reduced to 1 hp has the final set of options based on how many wound stacks she has - question her about the Absolute and Moonrise / [1 wound debuff [Intimidate]] I expected more of a fight -> [2 wounds debuff [Persuade]] tell her to die with some dignity -> [3 wounds debuff] look her in the eyes as you kill her (too weak to fight back) / [last one standing no wounds] Left the mad dog for last -> she cries out to the Absolute and transforms into a mind flayer / [Persuade 20/15/10/5 based on wounds] We don't have to be enemies -> [Detect Thoughts / Insight / Illithid / Persuade / Intimidate] The weapon is ours and the Absolute will be destroyed (You've just killed all but her so much more willing to listen to reason at this point) -> [extend artefact] link your minds and reveal everything you know / Open your mind to the artefact and see the truth.

If you did read all that thank you and I would say I hope this might lead to changes allowing for a Minthara and Halsin play-through based on the idea provided but patch 1 hard locking and therefore railroading Act 1 choices leaves me doubtful. After all, it would lead to opening up a lot more possibilities and interactions throughout the game especially from Minthara at the Grymforge interaction with Nere or beholder Drow encounter possibilities.

Should Larian doesn't change anything regarding this I'm highly tempted to learn how to Mod BG3 just so I can make this myself if necessary as being railroaded in this regard greatly impacts my enjoyment of the game since I now hate Act 1.

p.s The Dance Macabre nerf now makes the quest and spell redundant and deeply unsatisfying.