Bardic Inclinations

Hang on, am I still reshuffling the Alfira/lute scene (and spinning up something else in addition) to make Cannor x Alfira shift from its little pocket dimension and actually work with his...two(?) other timelines, even if only briefly?

Had to restart this save from the very beginning because it was borked to hell (long story), but before I did that I got some nice snaps of him seeing that she's showing lots of promise, and behind that smile he's frantically thinking of the kind words she needs to help her in the right direction, but also thinking about how to say that without coming off like "weird older man offering unsolicited 'career advice' to a younger woman." And it made me wanna think of ways for her to be part of his "canon run timeline" story even though that timeline accidentally sets off the raid. It can be done. It'll just be a bit messy.

Wade and Daven were only one long-rest into their new "Mercerite" game, so I figured I could get away with re-starting it to add a few more mods.

First, the restored EA content one Cannor tested here, which has actually worked better for my Mercerites because Wade actually got to say all of his lines before being cut off by the camp chest pin-sound. I'll do a video of that one when I can. Also it's making Shads very talky; lines that used to only be overworld-based now get their own cutscenes, so Wade's being gifted with Sharran side-eye and sneers at every turn (he's fine with that).

Second, I realized that the all-in-one subclasses mod for barbarians includes Matt Mercer's Path of the Juggernaut, so Mama K will get to join the Mercerite fun beyond being Daven's romance. She seems to be stoked, though that could also be from wearing new (for her in my games, anyway) gear from the Bandit Armors mod. He Who Was? More like She Who Is, amirite?

Third, at the risk of overloading this run I think I can get away with a third romance plot, so I'm gonna toss my hexblade Qiranna (last seen with my knowledge cleric in Singer x Sailor) in here too, despite her non-Mercerite class/subclass. However, this is the first time I'm running her with her original archaeologist background (thanks to Additional Backgrounds). Between that and Daven's sailor background I'm gonna get a whole lot of "Not Found" if or when they get inspired. Also Minthara's not gonna be in this run, so I guess I need to hit my quota of Hot Drow Women.

I also chose to include her because of Wyll. See, I could ignore him in any other run, but with Karlach in the party he'll be showing up in camp soon, and I really didn't feel like doing whatever out-of-character dialoguey rigamarole that's necessary to keep him from joining the party. Also I've yet to do Qiranna's romance with him through the endgame, so she's still gonna try to get him to become Grand Duke, which I haven't seen before. I've seen conflicting information about whether or not that can happen when Karlach is alive, but I guess I'll find out eventually.

Oh and finally I should note that my new favorite piece of gear, Arcadia's Shawl, gets hella dirty and bloody. I didn't really notice this with Cannor because as a Bard he can Prestidigitate away all that stuff whenever he wants to, but for a Blood Hunter that's not so easy. I guess when Shadowheart respecs to Life Domain she'll learn that particular cantrip for her Half-High Elf freebie.

An overdue quickie outlining what Cannor starts with at the beginning of each act, now that I can finally mod my way to what he actually looks like:

Beginning of Act 1 Helmet: none. Cloak: Arcadia's Shawl. Armor: Bandit Padded Armor (13). Gloves: Bandit Leather Wraps. Boots: ordinary Leather Boots. Camp Clothes: Bandit Restored Camp Shirt. Camp Shoes: FearTaylor's Smarmy Swaggerer Boots. Underwear: ordinary human (changed to halfling) version. Amulet: none. Ring 1: Ring of Defense. Instrument: ordinary Lute. Melee 1: ordinary Whip. Melee 2: ordinary Dagger. Ranged 1: ordinary Sling.

Beginning of Act 2 (new items; all others same as Act 1): Helmet: Bandit Absolutist Scarf. Cloak: Marine Cloak. Armor: Bandit Armor (14). Gloves: Dexterity. Boots: Speed. Amulet: Misty Step. Ring 1: Protection. Ring 2: Crusher's. Melee 1: Emerald Serpent +1. Melee 2: Ritual Dagger (via Abdirak).

Beginning of Act 3 (new items; all others same as Act 1): Armor: Regis' Coat (10+2). Cloak: Verdant Shroud. Camp Clothes: FearTaylor's Gaheid Slickjaw. Lute: Battered Lute.

The biggest changes (besides his whip, trading shortbows for slings, and nerfing away Civil Militia) are the armors: Bandit Padded (a ludicrous AC 13 +DexMod) helps keep him alive in light armor during Act 1

Bandit Armor (AC 14+dexmod) in Act 2 is basically that padded armor plus a breastplate and pauldrons that I assume are both leather, since it's light armor. This is basically Aradin's kit. I like to think that he just slapped some extra stuff on his Act 1 gear because of course he did.

Regis' Coat (AC 10, bonus +2) is what he pulls on in Rivington for Act 3 to look presentable. It's clothing, but with a +2 AC bonus that, combined with his Dex Gloves (18) and other marginal goodies, gets him to about 19-20.

Everything is dyed with FaerunColors' Balduran except for Regis' Coat, which gets real dark so FC Talona keeps it a similar green shade. The only other canon gear he starts with besides that padded armor are the Ring of Defense (which subs for Ring of Protection until he acquires the latter), and his ordinary 5e whip-and-dagger combo. 5e Cannor has an ordinary cloak, but Arcadia's Shawl looks like it the most, so once he acquires anything else, Zafraia appropriates the shawl from him.

I like the idea of using modded armors but I still prefer the pretense of changing into better gear as the game progresses. I simply refuse to continue the age-old D&D ritual humiliation of terrible gear at Level 1.

I was tagged by @optimisticgrey here (thank you!) and I had a lot going on earlier tonight but as of right now it's still Sunday here in California for a few more minutes, so this is what I've got: a quick cutscene-and-VP session for washed-up bard and an up-and-coming bard (who'll probably multiclass to wizard because of her high INT).

Yep, I temporarily ejected Cannor from the nautiloid for a 34th time to test a mod (Early Access Scenes Restored) as recommended by @purpleasters-inseptember and ended up dressing him in different raggedy gear (Bandit Armor's padded variation plus Arcadia's shawl) because it looks like the model I want to sketch him from. I've decided that's his "Act 1" gear (and maybe I'll get into more detail about the rest later) for whenever I treat this playthrough seriously (because I have so few concurrent ones of course).

Anyway the self-indulgent bit is allowing him to go out of character again and make serious lute-boy (or maybe lute-man? He's 37 after all) eyes at Alfira first (instead of at Shadowheart) which has no precedent other than his own hallucinations. And in the BG3-verse Minthara would overwhelm everything eventually anyway.

New goal in the queue: writing more, and regularly, for "Our Days Are Numbered" just so that in-progress longfic is in y'all's heads enough to remember it when the next BW3 Minthara Compilation recommendation survey goes around. I'm 15 chapters in, and not all of it is good. But much of it is interesting and some of it is great, if I do say so myself, because while I don't have many moments, when I do they are gold.

You may blame my own bardic hubris if you wish, and you wouldn't be wrong, but I was more inspired by @tavsversion's first fic in 10 years as linked here (the inter-tadpole communication is something I've always found difficult to pull off but this one does it well).