Simping For The Devil

“The mouse smiled brightly;

it outfoxed the cat!

Then down came the claw,

More progress on this WIP! Determined to do a proper background, but it’s going to test my patience.

Little Raphael headcanon that no one asked for:

So I hc that Raphael is a duel class sorcerer and bard. Why?

I figure sorcerer because he's obviously exceptionally skilled at the spells he wields and knows, doesn't have to speak incantations to actually perform them (like others), can make things teleport/disappear (Astarion's clothes, himself) and has mastered Hellfire spells (which I like to think is a little slap to the face to Meph >.>). Also this:

Sorcerers carry a magical birthright conferred upon them by an exotic bloodline, some otherworldly influence, or exposure to unknown cosmic forces. One can’t study sorcery as one learns a language, any more than one can learn to live a legendary life. No one chooses sorcery; the power chooses the sorcerer (source)

I feel like Raphael was born a sorcerer thanks to his bloodline. I know that Mephistopheles is a wizard, but Raphael is still of exotic blood and of course otherworldly influence (as a devil), we also know nothing about his mother. I could also see this as a tension point between father and son, especially since Raphael clearly knows how to wield hellfire very well, and doesn't even have to put in the effort that a wizard does with incantations. Can you imagine? The snark!

However, it's also obvious that Raphael CLEARLY has aspects of a bard. I, personally, loved the idea that during his fight the song could be stopped if you used silence on Raphael before they patched it (so sad!). It made it feel like it was even more of a silly Raphael thing to do during his own boss battle.

Not just that, though, Raphael acts more like a bard in general, cocky, confident in his words, and uses rhymes and songs for contracts (as with Yurgir). I also think it's just very fannon that we've all decided he's at least some part bard, lol. I also have him quite musically talented, though he prefers to write it and conduct it vs play it (it's a control factor).

Anyway, that wasn't the hc that I was going to talk about here, but I did want to have a little bit of background to it, lol. I was actually going to mention that he's proficient in rapiers as well (and sorcerer class can be). I can imagine when he was young, Raphael was taught how to fence. And since they're light weapons, he can wield them with the sorcerer class. Now, we don't see him use any weapons within his boss battle, because I still hc him as a sorcerer, which he used those abilities. Also he didn't carry any weapons on him because Raphael is so cocky and sure of himself that he doesn't believe he NEEDS any other weapons than either his bardic abilities or his use of spells/hellfire.

To further stretch upon my own little hc, Raphael has a little scar on his neck. Now, we don't SEE this in game, because he's wearing his frilly collar, but HAARLEP has one on his neck, and since Haarlep is the "perfect copy" of Raphael, then the scar is obviously his, as I imagine an incubus' personal scars do not transfer over during glamour uses.

I know it's really fucking small, but I have been staring at this scar the MOMENT I saw it and tried to see if it's on Raphael's human form, but his collar covers it so it's impossible to tell. And with mods, I don't know if they would have even included it in the game model when you use naked mods? It could honestly just even be the skin texture or something... Anyway, since I'm my own Dungeon Master, I'm saying it's Raph's, and it's actually from when he was young (since Haarlep has it), during a fencing incident. :)

Raphael, even as a young boy (and man) was exceptionally competitive, and would show off his skills. For this incident in particular, I have this little scene in my head where he underestimated his opponent, ended up being too cocky and talking too much and not focusing on them, and because devil sports are far more bloody, Raphael was actually stabbed by the fencing blade. Because Mephistopheles was there watching, he made sure that Raphael was NOT allowed to be healed with magic and he had to bear the scar as a reminder of his failure to concentrate and keep his eye on his opponent.

From that day on, Raphael mastered the rapier and fencing in general just to prove his father wrong, and is actually very good at it, he just doesn't think he needs to fight with it since he sees it as a useless sport (he's exceptionally bitter about the whole thing and the memory) when he can manipulate with his voice or turn them to ashes with hellfire.

Naturally, Haarlep knows all about it. <3

Give yourself to me..... How else can I draw him...he is only about f"cking .....and that dog harness, which he can take off any time, is too much <3