July post #4 Gale Origin Mode do-over Honour Mode part 4 Act3 half-finished

Almost finished now; did a tiny bit of Act 3 during the week, cleared the Guild mooks out from the squatters mansion at the start. Then on Friday 24th July I got about 8-10 hours done in Act 3; just another handful of hours left to do (Orin, Ansur maybe, Gortash, fin).

The party so far

Gale Evocation Wizard 12

Still good-to-great; I have him decked out in all the best caster gear. I never really bothered with Hold Person or Monster or any spells that allow the enemy to resist but with Arcane Acuity from the hat he's wearing plsu everything else, I am finally casting them a bit more. 'Held' Raphael twice for example which made him much easier than normal, all close-range hits are criticals so it makes for shorter work. 

Lae'zel Swarmkeeper Ranger 12

Not the strongest overall tank I've ever ran but it's fun. There's a lot of overlap between Lae, SH and Astarion with Cloud of Daggers, Spike Growth, Wall of Fire and so on; if I'm not shooting, dual-wielding or breathing holy fire on enemies one or more of them are maintaining some sort of concentration spell.

Shadowheart Starry Druid 12

Starry Breath and Moonbeam are just amazing. Not much else to say about her, she just constantly deals radiant damage. Have used the other wildshapes less and less and have never used Starry Archer or Chalice? Idk dragon is just great.

Astarion Lore Bard 12

Not particularly great at anything but he's solid, a good swiss army knife member of the party. Cutting Words and so on are handy for making saves etc.

Timeline so far

24th July 2026 - cleared Rivington minus Ansur and Gortash as usual, then cleared all of the Lower City minus Orin more or less (so, Lorroakan, Fireworks, Sewers, House of Hope, Cazador, Shadowheart's stuff). Did the Steel Foundry for the first time and on Honour Mode; there was hellfire EVERYWHERE but Titan wasn’t too hard. All of that and no long rests (well, plenty of baths in House of Hope). Will take a long rest now and then clear Orin, Gortash (no Steel Watch guarding him!) and then get to the brain.

Assessment

 Thinking I'll just hit new game after all this is over and it's a coin toss if I'll do Karlach All-Barbarians or Shadowheart All-Clerics.

This squad complements each other fairly well and are surprisingly durable, must return to a Gale Origin run in the future and retry the all-Wizards line-up.

July post #3 Gale Origin Mode do-over Honour Mode part 3 Act2 finished

My second attempt at a Gale run; first run was all-Wizards and was going OK but one mistake cost me my whole low-HP party in one go; this is now a Gale as Wizard leading my least-used classes (pure, no multi-class Ranger, pure Druid, not-Swords pure Lord Bard).

The party so far

Gale Evocation Wizard 10

Occasional moments of brilliance, generally just solid member of the team - it is very satisfying to throw a fireball straight at my party or allies and not worries about damaging anyone. I usually fireball at the very start or end of combat so it's nice. I'm pretty sure Wall of Fire does no damage to them either? Need to double check that but it's cooking nicely. Hat of Fire Acuity as well so it's great.

Lae'zel Swarmkeeper Ranger 10

She got Sharpshooter at level 8 and I've been keeping it off but finally got the Risky Ring late in Act 2 and it all started to come together a bit. I hardly ever use the Flying charges the class provides but otherwise it provides tons of damage plus Arcane Acuity and Lightning Charges.

Shadowheart Starry Druid 10

This was amazing in the Shadowlands; I alternated between Colossus Owlbear and Starry Dragon Form but either one was excellent. Such a great use of bonus action. Probably the MVP of Act 2 due to all the Radiant shenanigans.

Astarion Lore Bard 10

Not the most powerful party member but have been giving him Elixir of Hill Giant Strength and the Titanstring bow and he can do a solid 20 damage that way. Otherwise he's just kind of a utility caster and support as necessary.

Timeline so far

17 July 2026 - cleared half of Act 2; had 1 long rest in the middle for the giggles

18 July 2026 - finished second half of Act 2

Assessment

Not the most exciting line up in combat but I've been making it fun with gigantic owlbear and arcane acuity shenanigans. This is also the least I've used barrels in the last couple of playthroughs, I'm surprised. That may change with some of the encounters in Act 3 (need to do Cazador, Raphael, Sharran Temple, possibly will try Gondian quest for first time ever).

I've found myself paying attention to the story again so that's good, I'm not skipping around as much and am taking my time. 

Would love to try the Shadow Blade build sometime with Stone of Bliss and that Karlach all-barbarian run is sounding good, plus Shadowheart all-clerics to finish out the Origins.

July post #2 Gale Origin Mode do-over Honour Mode

 So I hit New Game on the 10th of July into the 11th of July and have now completed Act 1. Managed to do it in about 14 hours or so, which is about par for my recent Saoirse run. I was able to clear Act 2 twice recently in about 8 or 9 hours with no long rests so am hoping to repeat that, is it doable?

The party so far

Gale Evocation Wizard 7

Wizards really got nerfed in Bg3. I have zero desire to scribe a load of spell scrolls; often its just better to pick what you actually need at level up and simply use the scroll and move on.

I have Fireball and Wall of Fire etc now so should be fine.

Lae'zel Swarmkeeper Ranger 7

Occasionally she is the MVP, occasionally she is just there. Swarmkeeper extra damage after hitting with attacks plus Hunter Mark pops off crazy damage; not as much as an Open-Handed Monk but it's nice seeing numbers everywhere.

It's nice to have someone with decent HP, armour and damage potential but it's far from the most exciting. Super satisfying to do the Swarm Attack after hitting once though. Not sure if I prefer Bees, Jellies or Moths yet, I've been alternating every level.

Shadowheart Starry Druid 7

Not sure how to feel about this; I was using Starry form a lot in second half of Act 1 (levels 4>6) so a lot of the swamp, Goblin camp, Underdark and Forge but other than the incredible bonus action breath it wasn't amazing. 

For the last bit in the monastery I had her take an Elixir of the Colossus and go Owlbear so she was 5005kg and with Tavern Brawler she was just a monster. Constantly in the way but Crushing Flight and double claws attack could do a tasty 40-60 damage everytime.

Astarion Lore Bard 7

Probably the least effective member, but he gets the job done. Dual wielding blades and dual wielding crossbows; occasional buffs and healing, increasingly large number of control spells.

Timeline so far

10 July 2026 - new game; cleared as far as level 4;

11 July 2026 - cleared from level 4 all the way to level 7 right as I picked up the Blood of Lathander; barely defeated creche boss and then Undead fight at end of Act 1 (crashed again due to Void Bulb / Wall of Fire shenanigans) and met Elminster, saved in camp right as we moved to Act 2.

Assessment

It's going fine; still not in love with druids but they can be fun; Rangers are fine too; plus bards... and wizards it's like I'm playing all the classes/subclasses I am least interested in (in Bg3). Looking forward to the Shadowheart All-Cleric run and Karlach All-Barbarian run more now.

Also these Origin runs are just the death of interesting characters; Gale is such a great character but when you play as him you only hear him in banter while travelling around, he just becomes a silent protagonist. Really looking forward to my 'Dark Urge as Sorcerer' run in the future, they nailed that.

July post #1 Gale FAIL Honour mode run Origin 4

 I started as Gale on a whim on 10th of July 2026 - Bg3 is my comfort game these days so fuck it, what's yet another Honour Mode run?

The party

Gale Wizard: Evocation 5

Blaster wizard who rarely got to blast! I was just short of Level 3 spells so was not too exciting. I had him with higher Con and lower Cha so while he had more HP I failed a lot of Persuasion checks.

Lae'zel Wizard: Bladesinger 5

Bladesinging is always cool, one of my fave concepts. Boiled down to just Lae dual-wielding and occasionally Bladesinging (only 2 charges so was not often used).

Shadowheart Wizard: Abjuration 5

I had an idea to make her a sort of frontline tank but it never really popped off.

Astarion Wizard: Divination 5

I heard Divination was Op so went for it; was initially thinking Necromancy but it's so weak compared to Death Cleric. It was kind of annoying as when I had Portent Dice it would ask constantly if I wanted to use them and the rolls sucked.

Timeline of events

10th July 2026 - I managed to make it to level 4 and had just cleared the Goblin camp when I decided to push onto Flind's cave. I let them kill the two guys and go inside as usual but then as I set down some smokepowder barrels at the mouth of the cave I was caught and combat initiated! One acid arrow later andthe whole party was wiped.

As this is not my first rodeo I was not too upset, I barely reacted to the ending. I decided to honourably delete my save file and left it for a bit; I hopped back on a New Game later and got as far as I did in 8 hours in 4 hours. I went with a different setup: Gale locked in as Wizard but SH as Stars Druid, Lae as full Ranger, Astarion as Lore Bard. Basically all the stuff I never use/otherwise multi-class. I decided against Sorcerer for now, that's for the Durge run and is powerful. TBC.

Assessment

I was kind of bored - I hate long resting so my Wizards were reduced to cantrips and crossbows, not very exciting but it was mostly working. I use a lot more exploits now where possible (explosive barrels and whatnot) to reduce playtime and grind. I prefer my new 'under-used classes' party headed by a full Wizard Gale. I always multi-class away from Ranger so will be interesting to see full Ranger 12 (loving Swarms so far) plus Starry Druid and Lore Bard (loved Swords, others are eh).

June post #6: Baldur's Gate 3 Tav Run. Honor Mode Completed 6 times. Saoirse 24 hour

Shortly after finishing up as Lae'zel I booted up a fresh run as Astarion. The gimmick this time will be 'all-rogues' and doing a somewhat evil (probably more chaotic) run.

The party

Tav Paladin: Oath of Vengeance 11 / Warlock: Hexblade 1

Went back to my roots. I just wanted to be something strong and reliable with access to strong persuasive skills to breeze past certain parts of the game.

Playing a Drow for the first time - tons of unique dialogue for sure in Act 1.

Lae'zel Monk: Open-Hand 8 / Rogue: Thief 4

My fave with one of my fave builds now. With a Strength elixir she was often our MVP.

t

t

Shadowheart Cleric: Light 12 ???

I initially had her switch to Starry Druid but it didn't excite me much; then she was Light Cleric for a bit and just didn't really add much.

t

t

NOT-Karlach Barbarian: Berserker 8 / Rogue: Thief 4

I had accidentally pissed off the Grove forever this time so Karlach was mad at me when I tried to recruit her. Cue me immediately going to Withers and hiring Not-Karlach.

She's FINE my main issue is I seem to have outgrown the Throwing warfare a bit; while amazing and powerful, it can be a bit annoying waiting for the returning weapon to return sometimes. I prefer having a two-handed GWM build now to just wallop enemies, much more plug and play.

t

Jaheira Ranger: Gloomstalker 5 / Fighter: Champion 4 Rogue: Assassin 3

When in doubt, go back to one of your first OP builds. I was missing having the extra banter Karlach would have provided (Not-Karlach would very rarely talk) so as soon as I got Jaheira I switched her in.

t

Minthara 

t

t

Timeline of events

3rd June 2026 - s

Assessment

It was good! B

June post #5 All of Act 2 Baldur's Gate 3 in 9 and half hours on Honour Mode

 

June #4 post: Saoirse charity

 https://www.sdvs.ie/fundraisers/eoghanfallon/gamers-for-saoirse