#tav asks

Ok so, I had a bunch of stuff written out. But it wouldn't post and I refreshed and lost it like a dumb ass.

So here's what I remember about what I wrote about my Tav.

Killian La'Vernne

8.Are they connected to any specific areas in game, or do they open up new areas as part of their personal quest? If they're not from around here, how much do they tell the player about their home/place of origin?

She's not connected to any specific area but she is from Waterdeep like Gale is. I love Waterdeep from a concept perspective and I ran a bit of Dragon Heist. She is specifically apart of Bregan De'Arthe as here parents are allies of Jarlaxle. She tends to keep her personal information secret but she talks a lot about Waterdeep itself. She has only been to the underdark a few times and was raised mostly above ground. If her loyalty is high enough she does mention her family more.

18.What would your character have to say about another companion after recruiting them? What would another companion say about recruiting your character?

She will rib Gale when he joins and tends to treat her similar to how she treats her brother who is also a wizard. She does get prickly when Gale refers to others magic as essentially 'not really magic'. She doesn't respect him after that.

Gale is neutral about her, thinks being a bard is 'easy'. She does tend to play dumb around him so he tends to overlook her a lot. But she does push his buttons a lot.

She's suspicious of Astarion and comments how he might have drow blood in him because of his eyes. She welcomes rogue and they tend to get each others vibe with how theatrical Astarion can be she hams up her perfomance to him.

Astarion thinks shes a normal bard and doesn't realize how much she picks apart information and hides from everyone until later. He realizes later she plays dumb to bring everyones guards down. He respects the hussle at the very least and he tends to play into the helpless nature for his own advantage.

Shadowheart is wary about her. Thinks she is too friendly too fast and she knows on some level she's trying to keep everyone's opinion of her good/neutral. She has had sharran training in deception even if she's not the best at it she recognizes the tactics.

Killian likes Shadowheart in like the edgey theyre both into darker stuff kind of way. She's happy to have more healing and gets why Shadowheart is so cagey.

Wyll, surprisingly theyre pretty civil. I don't see Killian really doing anything different with him. She does put on a more galliant sort of persona around him but she does respect how much he wants to help and sticks his nose into things.

Wyll, civil to a fault tends to specualte about what a bard with her skill set was doing in baldurs gate.

Lae'Zel, Killian respects her but trolls her not long after joining even asking Tav if they should mess with her. She views Lae'Zel similar to how she's seen ex-lolth drow act about the underdark which is what she tells the player after you recruit laezel.

Lae'Zel views her as a flighty bard. Doesn't take her seriously for the longest time.

Karlach, Killian is so attracted to Karlach it's not even funny.

Oh wow, thank you greatly for your ask, my dear! 💖

I will always do this for Saulus until someone asks for someone specifically 😊

Saulus headcanons 💌What’s the letter / text they’ll never send?

A letter, the words, the questions to a mother she never had and to the abstinent father, that would never answer.

"Father tell me what you see in me, can you please, take a look at me? Answer me before I lose my mind." "Mother, what would you say, seeing your daughter like that? Mother would you hold me? Could you ever love me?"

👶 Baby picture of them - what’s the most embarrassing thing about it?

Baby picture of Saulus? Let's ask Sceleritas about this!

Later Volo can only show you pictures from her as growing school kid, school uniform and pig tails writing fluff stories and spicy romance poetry already - already tormented by the great wizard's guiding books brought into the class rooms.

☕ What’s their comfort drink?

What question 😏 MORE and A LOT!

Champagne and beer of course 🥂🍺🥂

🕊️ What would instantly calm them down in a panic attack?

Owlbear cub? And holding her tail like a security blanket!

❤️ Who is the one person they’d drop everything for, no questions asked?

All of them.

It is Saulus. She likes you? She will die for, she will kill for you, she will live for you. She might write a song about your biggest flaws and laugh about you, but she loves you and is with you through it all - because you are her big mama's favourite baby with cat hairs on the sweater, and she can say that, no one else. Or at least no friend!

Oh goodie! You have blessed me, thank you !! 🫂😘

6. What is your Tav’s favourite childhood memory?

Okay I make myself emotional with this one. I have two though. Actually maybe three.

So first, when she was around 10 years old she started to have to attend fancy public events with her family which she certainly did not enjoy. She was usually stared at by adults and mocked by other children. At one of these events, however, there is a young Wyll who decides other kids are little shits. He marches his way up to Ashni and pushes aside the other kids who are teasing her and asks her to dance. He guards her for the rest of the night and thus begins their friendship. Dynamic duo of the century these two.

The other two are more general. She has very fond memories at the temple of Umberlee. Her family has strong ties there and the priestesses were good to her, they would let her hide out there and sit or study by the sea. She was also born during a bad storm and passed the drowning at a young age so they regarded her with respect but for all their intensity they allowed her to be more of a child than anyone else did.

The last is not something the Ashni necessarily remembers-- if she does its only very vague-- but it's something I think about a lot. Her mother mostly takes the heat for giving birth to a tiefling. It's a pretty big scandal within her family and her mother is fiercely protective of her. She had an intense paranoia that someone would try to take Ashni and get rid of her in some capacity. For the first three years of her life, she rarely left her mothers arms. She hardly remembers her mother, but I think she carries a vague sense of a warm embrace.

8. Did your Tav have any romantic and/or sexual relationships prior to their illithid adventure? If yes, who was it with and what was it like? If no, how did they feel about being single?

Big oof. So, i'm still teasing out the details of this but yes. Ashni had one relationship prior to the events of the game. It was with a man who was trying to climb the social ladder of sorts and he was very much using her. It does not end well, her brother is her rock through the aftermath of that experience.

12. What opinion does your Tav have about the Gods?

Thank you for the ask, friend !

26. Does your Tav have a treasured item with them? If yes, what is it and why is it special? If no, how do they feel about item sentimentality in general?

So, not initially. At the start of the game, Ashni is more or less a hostage in her home. She uses the chaos of the mind flayer attack to get out so she didn't really have anything with her.

But ! During their travels she gets a lovely comb from shadowheart and a set of wind chimes from Gale.

The comb is special because she and Shadowheart kind of bond over hair care since they both have a lot of it. Ashni is very sensitive about ppl touching her head but ultimately lets shadowheart help her manage it after a difficult day (Tangled- it has art !). The comb is a gift after and a great treasure.

Gale gifts her wind chimes made of sea shells and glass that she is quite enamored with. He tells her that it reminded him of her and it's one of the first times someone compares her to something beautiful.

7, 20, 28!

Oh boy! Thank you for the asks !!

7. What circumstances led to your Tav becoming their Class/Subclass?

Ashni comes from a noble family. Her fathers side are wealthy merchants dedicated to Umberlee and grew their wealth from sea-faring trade while her mothers family are basically old money known for their draconic bloodline. So Ashni was born a draconic sorcerer though I flavor her a bit like a storm sorcerer. I found an unearthed arcana dragon that I use for her lineage so she descends from the stormbringer Leviathan. Her mother and father married to basically join to powers focused around the sea and grow family business. Therefore there was a lot of pressure on having a sorcerer child --they just didn't expect to get a tiefling sorcerer child and family drama ensues. (oh gosh, i wonder where she gets it from 🤷🏼‍♀️. It is certainly not a great family secret.)

20. What is your Tav’s greatest regret?

Hmm. Probably a tie between two things here.

The first being her early relationship with her elder brother. They very much resented each other growing up. Aldric (her brother) hated her for getting the draconic bloodline and she hated him for being the normal child who was accepted by the family and society (he is not a tiefling). They end up developing a strong relationship but both have deep regrets about working against each other early on when they could have been supporting each other.

The second is abandoning Wyll. Ashni grew up as a noble so she and Wyll were childhood friends. He was one of few people who was kind to her and often defended her. As they got older, however, she starts to push him away. The more her family gets to her and her sense of self, she thinks associating with her is bad and thinks she is protecting him by pushing him away. So by the time Wyll is approached by Mizora--she and wyll are not really speaking. When Wyll more or less vanishes, she carries a lot of guilt.

28. How well does your Tav function under pressure?

Pretty good actually. Her whole life has been pressure. Particularly from her aunt (her mom's sister) who is not a cool lady and very hard on her. She trains Ashni well but hard. She is very used to stressful situations, things flipping on a dime, and worse case scenarios because her aunt would often engineer them.

What is their favorite camp chore? What is their least favorite camp chore?

What non-leadership skill or area of expertise do all the companions seek them out for advice on?

Well, buddy, I know you want all your favorite blorbos!

Favorite Camp chore// Least favorite camp chore.

Coren: Favorite chore? Laundry. Our girl uses her control of water and has it down to a science. Basically cutting the time in half and not needing to scrub or hang dry. It's very hands off for her. Least Favorite: setting up or tearing down camp. Our girl is smoll, not terribly strong, and hardly has any spells that would be useful to the endeavor. 3/10.

Honey: Surprise, surprise, your wife is good at hunting/ gathering food. Honey is good at most chores considering how she grew up in a druidic community but her favorite camp chore is one that lets her run around the woods. It also lets her play around in animal shapes. Least favorite: hmmm. Washing dishes. Probably. It has the most potential to be both monotonous and boring without opportunities to make it fun if she's doing it alone.

Eno: Favorite? Forging. He gets to go off alone. Unbothered. There's also the potential to find mushrooms. Eno hates anything that has to be a group activity where he has to listen to other people... So probably helping with cleaning up cooking or dishes?

Rain: let's be real, your twinky diva wife hates chores. All chores. They're not good at them. They do them because they have to and they do the bare minimum. They're having a terrible time.

Zor'kar: Favorite: Chopping wood. The big orc only likes to throw his weight around doing chores. He likes heavy lifting. He wants to do the hardest chores so the others don't have to. He also likes helping others set up camp and their tents. Least favorite: mending. His big sausage fingers don't do well with a tiny needle. The big puppy definitely has to ask Astarion for help.

Syvaris: Favorite: building a fire. Or putting camp together. Unless he's meditating muh boy doesn't like sitting still so he's always in everyone's business trying to find something to do. Like Zor'kar, Syvaris likes taking on some of the more physically demanding tasks for himself. Least Favorite: Probably laundry. All the sitting and scrubbing makes him antsy.

What non-leadership skill or area of expertise do the companions seek them for?

This is a thinker!

Coren: hmmm, I feel like for magic the group would seek Gale out over Coren. But as a Storm Sorcerer she would be able to deal with inclement weather or anything to do with water.

Honey: You know this girl is a natural leader so she's definitely at the front of the pack leading them through the woods and keeping everyone on the trail. But mostly wild life. Honey probably deals with anything nature based for the group. (Is it a wonder Halsin has a crush on your girl?)

Eno: The group goes to Eno to ask which plants and fungi are safe to eat or to use in potions and not much else.

Rain: Navigation. As a Celestial Druid they always know which direction to go in!

Zor'kar: This is a tough one. But I think our boy is a better field medic than Shart.

Syvaris: Training. He's very good at using his opponents body against them without lethal damage.

Good morning Friend! Thanks for the asks! I've got my morning coffee, let's do this!

We'll do Coren since I'm playing her run again!

9. Do they hunt or forage for mealtimes? Are they good at it?

Canonly, Coren would most likely forage. It's something she's familiar with doing growing up an orphan. She's not a good hunter and wouldn't even know how. Coren is very small and that has a lot to do with not having access to enough food/ nutrition for the majority of her younger years. Honestly, in camp, thank the other's for hunting and Gale for cooking. They're the ones putting meat on her bones.

[now, in the au I have with @barbwillbrb where her Rackal adopted Coren, he trained her really well in hunting and foraging and she's living a much better life in that au]

19. How much do they train for combat (spells or physical)? Do they have a favorite training/sparring partner?

I have several headcanons on how sorcerers come into their spells. But I think when Coren learns her spell she spends alot of time training herself to wield them safely. In the Forgotten Realms sorcerers are rare and usually die young. Internal explosive power is hard to wield, even if they're not a Wild Magic Sorcerer. So Coren spends alot of time making sure she's not a danger to herself and others.

You might think Gale would be Coren's favorite sparing partner, but she can only handle him in small doses at first. Plus she knows she needs to be able to deal with physical attacks too. I think she has a rotation with Wyll and Shadowheart at first, but Halsin is growing on her.

38. Do they like to play pranks on the other companions?

This is such a good question. I think Coren would occasionally play pranks on some of the party members. But Coren's sense of humor is so low key. She'd do things like making their fresh poured cup of tea cold or making it snow in their tent.

Again thanks for the ask! Cozy Camp Asks here!

That's a tough one @dr4gonwriter because I think she is perfect 😊

Tadeous is based on an NPC I used when I was running tabletop games so I asked one of my former players what she thought Tadeous' greatest flaw was. In her opinion it's that Tadeous always thinks she is right. 😂 And she isn't wrong about that.

Because Tadeous always thinks she is right and because she cares deeply about people, especially those suffering an injustice, she tends to adopt an "ends justify the means" mentality - but only if she is the one deciding what the ends and means are.

In her world view it is perfectly acceptable to assassinate a bad leader if the goal is to make life better for the people they lead. In fact, she would have no problem holding the knife herself.

It can be a real problem when she applies that thinking to herself or people she cares about. When it comes to herself she will do something even if she knows it will hurt her. When it comes to other people she is conflicted because getting them to do what she thinks is right interferes with their free will. This tends to result in her losing her temper.