The party
Astarion Arcane Trickster
I was able to replace Fire Bolt with Friends which would come in handy in some social encounters. He has the Warped Headband of Intellect and Club of Hill Giant Strength, plus the Sussur Dagger (handy to have).
The main spell use was Shield for reactions, ritual Longstrider and Feather Fall. Very rarely used Level 2 slots, but Knock came in handy a few times plus of course Cloud of Daggers.
Astarion will ascend!
Shadowheart Swashbuckler
Shadowheart can use a shield thanks to martial training or whatever so that came in handy.
Her big contributions were to cast Vicious Mockery, which I fell in love with. I avoided it multiple times as a Bard and whatnot in Bg3 so far BUT the dialogue is so funny. Addictive. Also helped set up 'Dirty Advantage' for Sneak Attacks. Rakish Sneak Attacks were pretty good for her.
She became a Dark Justiciar as I had not done enough good stuff AND said nothing at all when we met the Nightsong. So for the first time in almost 10 playthroughs I saw the NS murdered. Aw! SH was even more badass afterwards though, some of the Shar powers helped with Rogue stuff.
Gale Assassin
This is my fave subclass for Rogue and for combining with Gloomstalker and whatnot, so I had some experience with it. The plan was to recruit Minthara and have Gale sit in camp BUT Gale actually killed Minty with an arrow. Oops!
Gale helped set up loads of surprise rounds and murdered loads of stuff in one shot, so was possibly an MVP at various points. He struggled a bit versus Undead but so did all of the party. He could also wear a shield so was solid, but mostly just sniped.
The plan is to make him God for the first time, but we shall see.
Lae'zel Thief
Lae'zel is one of my fave companions if not my most fave; she got relegated to the somewhat wishy washy Thief subclass. The extra bonus action is amazing on so many different classes and I have dipped into it various times; here as a pure Thief it was underwhelming BUT not too bad. She can't wear a shield so was dual-wielding, which works well with the extra bonus action.
I re-specced her at the start of Act 3 to have Lucky which I have never used before, Dual-Wielding and dropped Defensive Duelist (crap) plus Alert as she has fixed Dexterity at 18 thanks to the Gloves, allowing me to invest more in her mental stats for defence. I forgot to buy the Risky Ring in Act 2 so will pick it up in Act 3 and have her fish for attacks.
The plan is for her to ride off into the sunset with Orpheus, but we shall see.
Timeline of events
3rd June 2026 - started the run, got as far as Withers' Temple.
6th June 2026 - few tight corners but got the party to level 4; they seem more durable than the fighter party somehow.
7th June 2026 - Underdar struggles; I usually avoid the Bulette now. I've killed him a few times on HM it's fine.
8th June 2026 - Arcane Tower cleared and level 5;
9th June 2026 - managed to sneak 2 pieces of mithral equipment and not attack Grym at all; killed Nere to get level 6; cleared the whole creche minus the boss and reached level 7;
10th June 2026 - cleared all of Act 2 in one session minus Myrkul fight.
11th June 2026 - beat Myrkul; was a slow grinding fight but fine; almost forgot to do the Thaniel quest and save the Shadowlands on way out; killed various Giths at end of Act 2/start of Act 3. Stopped at entrance of Rivington around level 10.
12th June 2026 - cleared a good chunk of Rivington and into BG
13th June 2026 - finished the game; House of Shar was trivial with DJ Shadowheart; Cazador was also trivial with Origin Astarion who Ascended. Killed Raphael. Killed Auntie Ethel in Act 3 for the first time and on HM. Killed Orin the usual way, knocking all her servants off the ledges and then sniping her. Some close calls but all good. Killed Ansur and Gortash. I had like 10 scrolls of Globe of Invulnerability stolen so was trivial but some scary moments. Everything done more or less, I went to the brain and managed to methodically kill all of the Emperor's lackies and the brain itself.
Astarion Ascended, Gale was God, Lae'zel is the Comet (sorry Orpheus) and Shadowheart was the Mistress of the Dark or whatever.
Assessment
It was good! Better than the all-fighter party. I dominated much of Act 1 and 2 which sneak attack criticals and whatnot but started to lag a bit in Act 3; the problem was equipment. In the final session I acquired the Bhaalist Armour which made everything vulnerable to Piercing so I would just have Shadowheart fly near the enemy, then everyone else would shoot them. Rinse repeat.
Thief was somewhat underwhelming all game but made it work as Dual-Wielding Medium Armour Lae'zel. Swashbuckler was better; Vicious Mockery/Dirty Disadvantage was very handy plus Rakish Sneak Attacks. Arcane Trickster was OK, very seldom used spells outside the occasional ritual, cantrip or Shield reaction. Assassin was great as ever for starting surprise fights.
What's Next
I will probably take a short break from BG3 it's been a crazy month and a half or so since I started playing it again almost every day.
I have Wyll, Lae'zel and Astarion runs done now; all that's left is Shadowheart, Gale and Karlach.
I think Karlach has to be an all-barbarian suicide run to Gortash's coronation. But the other two will probably be Shadowheart all-Cleric (easy) and Gale all-Wizard(might be too hard for me). Maybe instead of Gale All-Wizard, it will be All-Mage, as in, Wizard Gale plus Sorcerer, Warlock, Druid? Or something? I have no experience with Wizard in BG3 but plenty in 5e; 'all-mage' at least reduces some of the equipment overlap but is still challenging.
Aside from that maybe an all-Bard run as Tav/Durge some other time; then whatever else!
