#asterien

1. Where can your Tav be recruited?  Are they first encountered on the Nautiloid, or in the Nautiloid crash region?  Or are they not recruitable until a later act?

the crash site! you can find her interrogating that trapped mind flayer to no avail, until she realizes it’s no use and uses lightning to fry the thing alive. at that point the player can interject (either complimenting her magic, condemning her brutality, or just sitting silently and watching). she startles no matter what, and then BAM tadpole moment. once that passes and she ascertains you’re not responsible for the tadpole, she offers to join you, saying she’s as much a healer as she is a fighter and could be great help, implying she’s a cleric of a deity of nature. besides, best to stick together in such times, no? and there’s a passive insight check that, if passed, will have the narrator reveal she is being fully genuine in her offer, but that she isn’t being honest about what she is. which leads nicely into:

6. Do they have any secrets that can be revealed?  What are the prerequisites for this secret coming to light?

a few, actually! one can be talked out of her in your first non-recruitment conversation with a high enough persuasion check, which is what deity she worships: talos. that guy wants the world destroyed! what the hell tav! regardless of if the player expresses disgust or approval, she talks with great reverence about the beauty of a storm, about how talos may be one of the tempest’s deities and she may be loyally his but the storm bends for no one and neither does she. (you can also flirt with her here with an “really? for no one? that’s disappointing”, and if you have high enough approval she’ll flirt back. with low approval she’ll scoff and say she’s had better offers from drunken sailors.)

the second is that she’s not NEAR as altruistic as she fronts. the player will find this out if they pay attention to her approvals: for all she’ll verbally condemn cruelty or aggressive acts, she often has no approval change whatsoever or even approves, and always disapproves at refusing money for heroic deeds. you can also ask her about this, but she won’t say anything with low approval UNLESS:

you side with the goblins. she will participate, though she doesn’t approve, and will question your motivations at the party. if you try to threaten her into staying or appeal to your friendship, she’ll laugh and say she really doesn’t care. with high approval, she’ll say she’s surprised that you didn’t realize that already. with low approval, she’ll sigh and say that it’s hardly like she was even trying to hide it, and it’s disappointing that you’re really as stupid as you seem.

no matter what, she’ll drop the righteous holy knight façade by act 2, because at that point she trusts you’ll not kill her for being kinda evil, if only because you need each other.

2. How do they advise the player character on Raphael?

immediate disapproval for taking any of his deals, even if you later tell her you’re not planning on following through. if you’ve managed to get her to drop the holy knight shtick, she’ll add that it’s not that she’s opposed to him on the basis of him being fiendish so much as failing to outline the terms (or the terms being horrid if you say you’ll give up your soul. i actually haven’t clicked that dialogue option does the game just end??)

HOWEVER. in act 3 if you break into the house of hope with her in the party she’ll complain and say that this is stupid. with high approval, she’s just whining and will continue the whole quest without issue. with low approval, there’ll be a roll to convince her to come with UNLESS you have lae’zel, shadowheart, or unascended astarion in the party, in which case they’ll be able to talk her into it with no roll necessary (lae’zel entreating her help on the orphic hammer to free her from/endear her to vlaakith, shadowheart jokingly sighing and saying it’s no surprise a cleric of shar/selûne is braver than a cleric of talos, astarion just egging her on with “you literally cannot stand that man, you’re going to let us ruin his day while you stay behind?”).

if you go to the house of hope and click on “a tour of tempest”, she’ll react to it, and will just “hm. interesting.” you can roll insight to see what she’s thinking. if you fail, it’s a good book! if you pass, she’s Genuinely taken aback that this is something raphael has.

if you have low approval + clicked the book, then when raphael starts singing, tav will be like okay. you know what. i cannot fucking stand [the player character]’s ass and while i DO not trust you, if you help with my tadpole i’ll help you kill them. HIGH dc persuasion or intimidation check to keep her in the party at this point; if failed, she’ll fight alongside raphael and Bam. no more tav 😔 if you bring her back vis withers after this she will scream at the top of her lungs and just try and kill you about it

12. Is it possible for your Tav to be kidnapped and replaced by Orin?  How is Orin's deception revealed?  How do they react to the PC rescuing them in the Temple of Bhaal?

HMMM. yeah sure. i think orin-pretending-to-be-tav threatens yenna like orin-as-lae’zel does (very unlike her, she approves of helping yenna and is generally protective when it comes to children). if you save her, it preempts the above leaving the party for raphael thing even with low approval.

1. Is your Tav a romanceable character?  Are there any specific requirements to romancing them?