June #1 post: Baldur's Gate 3 Origin Run 1: Wyll. Honor Mode Completed 3 times now

After finishing my Dark Urge Honor Mode run I immediately hit new game and started a Wyll run.

I'll keep him as a Warlock for the entire run and will keep a pretty tight party, no need to keep switching people in and out.

The party

I had Astarion as the Gloomstalker-Assassin-Champion combo I love so much. Ranger to level 5 for extra attack, then 4 levels of Rogue for a feat, then 3 levels of Champion Fighter. He became the crit-fisher de jeure for 99% of the game.

Lae'zel as Eldritch Knight Fighter, it was not terribly exciting. Best use of it was Shield as a reaction. In this run I did not utilise the spell options that much for her, she mainly just swung her sword. Perfect.

Karlach was my Giant Barbarian for the first time - the verdict was it's not as good as Throwzerker but it's fine. I often found myself just not bothering/being in right place to use the Bonus Action Kick or Throw Person (amusing as both of them are).

Gale would also, critically, be in camp. Plus Shadowheart and a few others. Origin runs are interesting in that there is no Tav/Durge so you're automatically down a potential party member. I know there are always hirelings but still.

Timeline of events

3rd May 26 - started the run, I got Shadowheart to Command Drop the flaming sword on the Nautaloid so I knew I was doing well.

4th May 26 - got as far as the Blighted Village, hadn't long rested yet

5th May 26 - got Wyll and co to level 5, stopped short of Ethel/Underdark/Forge

6th May 26 - killed Ethel, cleared Forge and Underdark, only long rested on crossing the bridge to creche etc; 3 long rests in all of Act 1 I was impressed. Level 7 before Act 2.

7th May 26 - cleared almost all of Act 2 in one go; stopped at top of tower. Shadowheart left the party as I had left her in camp while doing Shar Trials, oh well. Just short of level 10 before Myrkul.

8th May 26 - beat Act 2 without long resting (the pod before Myrkul helped) so that was cool; was deep into Act 3.

9th May 26 - cleared all of Rivington (minus Gortash and Ansur) and parts of the Lower City; stopped before Lorroakan Fight. Level 11.

10th May 26 - cleared the sewers and Lorroakan etc; got to level 12. 

26th May 26 - killed Ansur relatively painlessly; killed Gortash upstairs but Wyll had to escape solo and the rest of the party were KO'd and jailed - easily escaped. Orin was also tough but doable, knocked all her minions off the edge. Went to House of Hope and the Incubus almost wiped the party, fuck.

27th May 26 - Final session. Started by escaping HOH: Raphael was fine by contrast. Astarion had clutched multiple times (crits on a 17?) that even though I had never done it before I went and found Cazador as I felt Wyll owed him that.

The result was a disaster: I had never met Cazador before so was completely unprepared, failed to reach Astarion in time and he was permanently killed. Lost all his good equipment minus one or two things and his arrows/potions etc which appeared in a backpack. Disaster. Wyll was killed early, Lae'zel was stuck in sleep due to Eyebite and it was up to Karlach to hop around the edges and flee combat. 

So yeah, was down my arguably best party member and his equipment so it was up to Gale to fill that void. Made him the same build as Astarion but he was just inferior without the good equipment. Also I was at that annoying stage of the game where the Steel Watch constantly aggro in BG so it was time to end it. For the first time since my first run in December 2025, I Gale'd the ending!

It was a very quiet Reunion Camp party: Wyll as Duke, Lae'zel projection, Karlach the Mindflayer, Jaheira and Halsin, a Gale projection (sad). I didn't have the option to reload before the brain fight like with the Durge so just left it as is.

Assessment:

It was a good run, strong party, played it fairly safe. I do this thing like in New Vegas where I try to do my companion quests as completely as possible depending on who I am running. It adds a bit of length to Act 3 (which is huge) but much of it is optional really. I lose motivation usually when I hit max level but found this cures it a bit.

But yeah didn't feel confident enough after the Cazador disaster to fight the final fight. I'd probably have been fine but who knows.

Wyll as POV was fine - he banters a lot less and just was laregly mute, the worst thing about the Origin characters being the MC is you lose all their dialogue. I missed Wyll just the way he was, as a travelling companion.

As Wyll, I roleplayed him as a power hungry fraud lmao. The whole 'Blade of Frontiers' thing is based on a lie anyway so was fun having him chug Speed Potions and consume every single tadpole. He also jumped at the idea of becoming Duke potentially when his father was out of the picture. I won't go anywhere near the Gondians/Steel Watch/submarine etc (have never done any of that stuff) until I see what it's like maybe in a lower difficulty. Especially after the Cazador disaster. I also need to kill him somehow. Next time.

Throwing healing potions and whatnot meant I probably only took... 5 long rests the entire game? Less?

Warlock Wyll was decent. Charisma-focus meant all the dialogue was generally trivial. I wasn't in love with the limited spell slots, but some great options. Eldritch Blast my old friend was excellent. I equipped Mizora's rapier later on so had access to a Cambion. My MC is usually a bit of a swiss army knife so was doing a bit of everything. He also had every tadpole power so was good anyway.

Eldritch Knight was kind of boring but solid. Gave me ideas for future runs. Giant Barbarian was underwhelming - still an easy 4/5 stars but nothing exciting. Best part was taking Elixir of Colossus/Enlarge while raging(enlarges the Giant barb anyway) to make BIG KARLACH. Then the kick would do 20+ damage. Gloom-Ass-Champ is excellent as ever, better with crit-fishing equipment. Astarion was genuinely a monster before he died forever and clutched more than once.

So yeah, another 50 hours well spent. Beating the game as Wyll in HM and defeating Ansur in HM for the first time were achievement enough.

What's next

I immediately hit new game and started Lae'zel Origin Run Honor Mode. She will be an Eldtritch Knight Level 12 Fighter. Her whole party will be composed of Fighters because that's the way she rolls! Karlach Champion, Wyll Battlemaster, Astarion Arcane Archer. As of 2nd June 2026 I am deep into Act 3 so it's going well. I had to use Revivify Scrolls/Withers more than ever before to resurrect people but otherwise was good lol. Also I finally 100% got the achievements (the last one).

May #5 Honor Mode Complete Run #2 Dark Urge 53/54 achievements

So I've done/am doing:

Balanced Mode Tav (complete)

Tactician Mode The Dark Urge (complete)

Honor Mode Tav "Honor" (failed at creche ending)

Honor Mode Tav "Tav" (complete)

Custom Mode Tav "Gold" (stopped at Withers' Temple; return to later?)

Co-op Balanced Mode Tav "Coop" (in progress)

Honor Mode The Dark Urge "Gold II" (finished)

Honor Mode Origin Run #1 "Wyll" (completed May 27th 2026; will post in June)

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I better write something down before I forget.

I swore I would not play BG3 again until after my exams. I was so miserable in general and honestly studied-out (I did a good job this semester with notes) that I treated myself to a quick hour of BG3 on the 19th of April as I waited for Wrestlemania to start on Netflix.

I had a sorcerer named Gold who only existed to see if I had my Honor Mode Golden Dice who I created back in January and briefly played. I figured out how to switch over to the Honor Mode Golden dice I had won and immediately abandoned Gold and her Honor Custom Mode in the Nautiloid in late January 2026.

So in April I played as Gold for an hour - cleared the Nautiloid and recruited Shadowheart, Lazel, Astarion and Gale. I made the mistake of sending Astarion to camp and keeping Gale. I am more familiar with Rogues and Rangers (my first playthrough I had Astarion as a Gloomstalker/Assasin) but less familiar with Gale’s wizardry (I usually keep Gale but re-spec him as other stuff). So naturally when I tried to take on the bandits in Withers’ Dungeon I died.

So Gold was dead and her Honor Custom Mode was compromised. My 2nd failed Honor Mode run, the other being my Swords Bard called Honour who was defeated in the creche. I had one successful run (prior to this Durge run and the Wyll run) as my smug Vengeance Paladin called Tav back in January 2026.

Edits: Gold (the First) was always a Custom run, all sliders maxed out run. Only three sessions played: 1 in Nauty to check dice, 2 as far as Withers' Temple (defeated) and 3 to confirm thsi was the case for a minute. So have still only lost Honor Mode once and beaten it three times (Tav, Durge, Wyll) and counting as of May 2026.

I was itching to play Bg3 again but wanted to try new stuff and was planning to play a Custom run, with all the sliders set to super hard. I think that was my plan with Gold actually? Whatever, I booted up Honor Mode again - treating myself in mid-April 2026.

The party

I am going to be the Dark Urge again like my Half-Orc Dark Urge Fighter/Battlemaster (named ‘The Dark Urge’) who cleared the game on Tactician in December/January 2025/2026. However this time, I am a Dragonborn Swords Bard. I did enjoy my playthrough as a Swords Bard despite failing the first time. Dual hand crossbows were fun, extra short rest, nice selection of bonuses/skills and excellent roleplay. But yeah, a Gold Dragonborn lady called Gold II.

I wanted to try a bunch of new stuff on my second completed (hopefully) Honor Mode run, so am running a Druid, Sorcerer and Monk, having never properly ran them before, plus a Wizard and Warlock who I cycle in here and there.

Shadowheart - Druid (Circle of the Moon): she’s not terrible but I feel like I am constantly in animal shape, mostly Bear but sometimes Deep Rothé, and it’s underperforming. Not as tanky as I would like. Also, all the amazing spells she has can’t be used. HOWEVER I have just hit level 5 and suddenly have two attacks plus re-spec to take Tavern Brawler I think it works.

Lae’zel - Monk Open Hand. I’m kind of getting into this - way less tanky than my usual Barbarian or Fighter builds for her, but she is doing her job. Tavern Brawler and the gloves that give electric damage are helping a bit. Monk abilities that topple and push etc are just like what Fighter and Barbarian gave me before so it’s just the same stuff in a different way. Plus some nice unique monk options.

Karlach - Sorcerer - I was trying to do the whole make enemies Wet then use Lightning and Cold damage but idk, it’s too much setup. I wasn’t enjoying it. She just got access to Lightning Bolt so will see what happens.

Gale - Wizard - backup for when Karlach runs out of Sorcery Points and Spells slots (often). He’s just Evocation so it’s more blasting. Trying to avoid the excellent Fire spells so am taking Cold and Lightning stuff.

Wyll - Warlock - first time using Wyll since he abandoned me after I killed the Grove by accident that one time. I have him as a pure Warlock for once and he’s doing great, extra backup for when Gale and Karlach are spent.

Astarion - I briefly had him as a Ranger/Rogue but he’s on camp watch duty.

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Verdict half-way through Act 1: not enjoying Sorcerer or Druid much, but loving Swords Bard and Monk.

Verdict half-way through Act 3: Monk is amazing, Swords Bard is amazing; Sorcerer and Druid are very strong but aren't as fun.

Act 1: Pretty much my standard Act 1 nonsense at this point. Almost lost the run around level 4 ish when I tried to take on Flind and the Gnolls and was forced to flee. I was worried they would chase me forever but managed to get Karlach away.

Otherwise was great by the time I hit level 5 or 6 I was well able to handle anything.

Act 2: pretty much did everything as usual; everything was going swell - I talked the surgeon to death as usual, but the barkeep and toll collector I had to fight. I ground down the barkeep after he caught me pretending to drink. The gold lady/toll collector attacked me because I left all my gold at camp on purpose. I immediately knocked her out the window for 600+ damage with Mobile Flourish or whatever its called. Unreal.

I also botched the Last Light Inn - I tried to protect Isobel but she got paralysed and Ko'd for taken for the first time. Damn! So had to fight all the Harpers. Jaheira was killed, Dammon was turned... Massacre. Meanwhile Halsin was waiting for me nearby at his gate thing. I hadn't done that since my very first Balanced run, so was scared of doing it on Honor Mode for the first time but completely dominated the fight. Darkness Arrow at the portal, then just spammed Ice Storm. All the shadow folk just kept falling prone.

My Dark Urge - Fel was mad at me earlier for not immediately killing Isobel, but then was happy because Isobel was dead/captured and everyone died anyway later. So I got th Slayer form! It's been a weird Dark Urge run - somewhere between resisting and embracing the Urge. Saw some scenes I ad not seen before.

Anyway I systematically cleared Moonrise, and every other encounter in the Shadowlands; beat the Shar Trials 2/3 by using Knock on the final door (fuck the Leap) and Shadowheart made the right choice as usual. So we marched back to Ketheric, beat him, long rested, cleared the colony and beat Myrkul easily taking almost no damage.

Usual save the Emperor spot afterward and off to Act 3!

Act 3: I cleared Rivington almost completely, just didn't bother with the Harpers in that warehouse and eventually watched the coronation. I did the Dragon Trials as far as Ansur's door and turned around to get to level 11. I still don't want to fight Ansur on HM.

Off to the Lower City and just walked around for experience; accidentally murdered the Guild in the sewers again. Was tempted to do the Gondian/Throne quest but will leave it this time. So what's actually new on this run?

I will attempt to assassinate Gortash maybe in the tower, and I will try to find Ethel. OH I will also actually fight Raphael for the first time, and on Honor Mode no less. Future runs as Origin characters (Wyll, Astarion etc) can deal with Ansur, Gondians, saving the Duke and fighting Cazador. Otherwise it's time to wrap up, am tiring of the run as usual.

Updated: I beat House of Hope for the first time on Honor Mode. They say don't try anything new on HM and they are generally right. I explored as far as the succubus' room using the outer ledge which I found myself (haven't used a proper guide since the first ever run) and it was just Gold II on her own and I pressed '5' to take a screenshot while talking to the succubus and started a fight. Oops! All the imps with eldritch blast almost killed Gold II but she escaped and healed and joined the party. We went back and killed them, used the long rest bath then went and stole the Orphic Hammer and other items. Lockdown started and I went downstairs to free Hope - again almost died to the double Beholders as Laezel was knocked off the ledge but managed to revive her afterward and beat the combat. Freed Hope and got back to the exit. Raphael emerged and I managed to convince Yurgir to switch sides. So it was a decent fight, Monk Lae broke the pillars and everyone just did what they could.

That was enough new stuff. I assassinated Gortash in the tower by doing my usual strategy of flying up the side of the castle, then we ganked him when he eventually climbed the ladder. Used a ton of area effect nonsense to slow and hurt his people.

Prior to that I fought Orin in a duel and lost immediately, revived myself and my party defeated the Bhaal crew. I then went to fight Gortash. I didn't want to risk the Gondian stuff (never did it before) plus I don't know where it is anyway. I think. Some other time!

It was time for the Elder Brain. I made Gold II the Mind Flayer. I skipped the courtyard fight and climbed the brain stem; Orpheus was with me for this run for the first time so the Emperor was against me with the Red Dragon and 4 Dream Guardians which was a cool new thing I saw. ALMOST lost here but managed to rally. Very nearly got wiped at the final hurdle. Managed to clear this fight and got to the inner part of brain, was a tough slog. Easy enough to beat brain as usual.

Before I get into endings: I noticed after credits rolled that my save file was still on Honor Mode and at the brain stem? So bizarrely I did the fight again. And again. And again! I did it like 3 or 4 times to see different endings. And of course, the fights were way easier the subsequent times. I had a really strong party really (Swords Bard, Moon druid, Open Hand Monk, Wet>Ice/Lightning Sorcerer) so was well able.

The reason I went for multiple endings again and again was because I had become the Mind Flayer. In my first ever run on Balanced, my Tav became the flayer but killed themselves heroically in order to hopefully join their lover Lae in the afterlife (Lae turned on party before brain fight, was mad I hadn't freed Orpheus). But now I was a former Bhaalist-turned flayer who tried to live on. Big mistake. 1 ending I was a disguting murderer stalking the party. Another I gave into Bhaal at last minute. Another I imprisoned myself and escaped anyway. Finally I killed myself but was in a special box and Withers visited me. It was all fascinating.

Forgot to mention the busking: I didn't have 100 gold from busking yet. I busked a bit in the Grove and elsewhere but only had about... 20 gold from it. I just went to Rivington and spammed play music until it popped. Easy! It got to the point I wasn't even bothering to pikc the gold off the floor. Helped that I was a Durge Bard. So that makes 53 out of 54 achievements: final one is Karlach Hot Date!

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Future runs: I watched a random YT video which suggested Wyll was a good origin character to play as and I couldn’t help but agree; I’m thinking of doing a few Origins runs after all my Tav/Dark Urge stuff so Wyll would be a great way to start that. This current ‘try new stuff’ run may end at any time so will probably play if ‘safer’ next time around and go back to my favourites, namely mixing in Paladin, Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue etc. I love Warlock dips so maybe having my future Wyll run as a Paladin/Warlock would work well (I know it will, having done it multiple times). Also I liked the way Counsellor Florick reacted to Wyll (I made him talk to her while I saved the other guy from the fire) so there’s something there.

And then maybe try Fighter Lae’zel and Barbarian Karlach but NOT Battlemaster or Berserker, try the other subclasses. Eldritch Knight Gish for Lae would be cool and maybe Giant Barbarian for Karlach. I love OP throwing builds but am trying to avoid that still. Have the 4th person be some sort of blaster.

But yeah have had my fill of Tav/Durge so it's time to try the Origin characters!

May #4 Winning as Green in Britannia: Steam edition (no commentary/no save scumming) video copout post

 

Caledonians:

T1 - Move Orkney to Caithness.

T3 - move new troops to Orkney, keep 2 in Caithness.

T4-T10 - survive. Do not overstack in Caithness, AI seems to love attacking big stacks.

T11-T16 - hopefully you will retain Caithness and one of the islands.

Welsh:

T1 - retreat and defend vs Romans. Avoid capitulation.

T2-T5 sometimes the Roman AI don't try to attack you, so don't surrender. Submit if they enter your main 5 it's not worth fighting.

T3+ - have 2 guys in Dyfed to ward off the pesky Irish.

T6-T7 - defend versus the Irish. Hold.

T8-T9 - rush to York. Equivalent of winning 3 Bretwalda votes.

T10-T16 hopefully Irish are dead or minimised (lol); harrass the Saxons as much as possible for your Danes to prosper.

Jutes:

T4 - don't raid.

T5 - go all in on Kent with everything. Leave 2 behind and 2 at sea.

T6+ survive in Kent as long as possible. Die.

Danes:

T11 - consider going 2 for 1 against as many soft targets as possible. Don't bully the Angles/Blue TOO much. Keep as many guys alive as possible. 6 points is good = 1 Kingship you can't get as Green.

T12 - Major Invasion. DO NOT be tempted to brutalise Blue in the north. You need to establish the Danelaw in all the territories around Lindsey. Use both steps of MI to get as many flag points as possible yes but firts wave strongly consider hitting Red/Saxon in south-east as hard as possible. Then grab what you can. Hope for King or no King for anyone.

T13 - Extra guys, use them to solidify the Danelaw in all territories around Lindsey. Yes, Lindsey.

T14 - make Cnut special King. Hope to be in a position where you are also regular king shortly after.

T15-T16 - watch Yellow, Blue and Red fail to win as you already did.

May #3 Winning as Red in Britannia: Steam edition (no commentary!) video copout post

 

May #2 Winning as Blue in Britannia: Steam edition (w/ commentary!) video copout post

 

May #1 Winning as Yellow in Britannia: Steam edition (w/ commentary!) video copout post

 

April #4 YESHeartGold first time

 I got it to work so played Heart Gold!

I picked Cyndaquil. Though Totodile is usually who I picked almost every other time I played Silver or Gold etc, my original choice back in 2002 or whatever was Cyndaquil. Probably piggybacking off my usual choice of Charmander. I like that line so was grand!

I got the Slugma egg off the dude early on, looked up the correct phrase to say. I hatched it alongside Togepi and considered switching out Cyndaquil for Slugma but it was so weak and levelled so slowly I will save that for a challenging future run

So this became a Greatest Hits run. Get all of my faves. Optimal as possible but not excessively so.

The other 5 party members

Got a Mareep-Flaafy-Ampharos early on as usual and used it for first time in ages. One of my all time faves. Thudner Punch came in very handy later.

I cycled through a bunch of mons early but decided to take Geodude-Graveller again. He levels quick and is solid enough. I will replace him later with Tyranitar (my beloved all time fave) but for now he will do.

Quagsire got back in as a good water type with a unique ground pairing. I 'discovered' Quagsire in the previous run of OG Silver a few weeks ago so decided to use him again.

I ran Bellsprout>Weepinbell as I usually do but my gods is he underperforming. Other than being used to Vine Whip Swimmers and Hikers into oblivion he was tough to use. Natures, meta moves like Safeguard... all made for a tougher time for my designated Grass mon.

Who else... got a Jynx later on as they were great in my recent OG playthrough so why not again. Ice Punch and Powder Snow etc, Psychic from Saffron... great stuff!

What else

I managed to clear the Elite 4 after grinding for a bit in Victory Road. The only other major grind was killing Tauros over by the new Safari Zone before taking on Clair. Kanto is way tougher than before, I've hit a few roadblocks, I don't have Fly and I don't have a Bike so feel a bit soft-locked. No, I think it's fine I'll just grind a bit more and beat Misty and everything should be fine.

I'll come back to it later; I'll try to beat Red and the revamped Elite 4 this time, but not looking forward to the grind. I caught Ho-Oh with a Dusk Ball so that was cool.