The red Sorcerer

ON THE NAUTILOID

At the very beginning of the game, I wanted Yae to wear something he could plausibly put on when going out on the streets after everyday's business; not adventuring gear, but casual clothes. I mentioned on several occasions ([1], [2], [3]; sorry I keep repeating myself, I won't stop) that prior to the events of BG3, he suffered a bad depression episode, which resulted in self-neglected.

That's why I decided to dye the outfit with the Scorched Dye – because not only he generally prefers browns and greys (and at this stage, he'd hate to dress in anything even remotely flamboyant), but also to maybe show the clothes weren't exactly fresh. His hair is grown out and messy, and everything is splattered in blood and dirt – because I doubt the nautiloid would pass even the most lenient sanitary check.

He has a knife he has found on the ship, but doesn't feel confident using it – he favours long, narrow blades. His magic is less powerful not because of the tadpole, but because of self-neglect, which resulted in malnourishment, sleep deprivation and him getting generally physically (even) weaker. But once he gets out of the pod, the tadpole puts a damper on the mental illness, and survival instinct kicks in.

(I also like to ramp up his wrinkles at this stage, just to emphasise the unhealthy look.)

THE FIRST TWO DAYS OR SO

Right after landing on the beach, Yae braids two thin strands of hair at the sides of his face – to steady himself (you'll know why after The Ebbs and Flows goes into open access) – and then cuts the rest of his hair. It still results in a messy mop, but shorter. It might not be visible in the picture, but some longer strands still escaped his ungraceful effort.

Later, he's able to wash. The clothes remain worn, but at least they're clean. He finds a rapier and immediately discards the knife in favour of the weapon he feels more comfortable with.

Also what you see in this second picture is Yae's neutral expression :)

THE GROVE

Only after reaching the grove, the party is able to stock up on supplies properly. Yae once again tries to tame his hair – by carefully and patiently getting rid of all the longer loose strands that kept getting in his face – but he refuses to let anyone else touch it and give him a proper haircut. Not yet.

Since the travel from the grove to Baldur's Gate is said to last a tenday – and since the Absolute's forces are going to make sure it'll take longer for the party – he gets some gear, newer and more suited for adventuring (he doesn't throw away his old clothes, though, he sometimes gets attached to objects :) ). He still favours practical over fancy, the goal is to survive and not to look good. And he chooses a new scarf to wrap around his neck. The additional layers separating him from the outside world make him feel more comfortable.

I swear I was just going to take "simple screenshots", but apparently those don't exist for my brain.

But I did took a step back – after frying my GPU (and then, thankfully, reviving it) – and decided to take to heart @wild-surge's advice (which wasn't even directed at me, but it's still a very sound advice; so thank you a lot for it) and experiment more with the native tools the game provides.

So no ReShade and almost no LL (mostly for posing and adjusting poses a tiny bit); the light is all native to the game.