25th July I completed Honour mode with Gale - Orin fight, Gortash fight, skipped Ansur and climbed the brain and did not blow myself up, instead easily defeating the Emperor et al and the brain's lackeys. I gave up my Karsus powers to Mystra and became Professor Dekarios, all companions had their 'good endings' thus.
The party
Gale Evocation Wizard 12
Probably the understated MVP of the whole thing; I usually try not to have my main character be the outright star of the show but Wizard 12 was great, so many options. Most of it was blasting but nice to have so many different flavours of magic and not hurt my allies thanks to Evoker abilities. Managed to get Intelligence 22 and all the Weave gear Marko etc so was undeniable.
Lae'zel Swarmkeeper Ranger 12
With Elixir of Cloud Strength, Sharpshooter and the Titanstring Bow this certainly did a ton of damage, not as much as other builds but was up there. Free action teleport and AC boost was nice, with Raphael's Armour she had 28 AC per round sometimes.
Shadowheart Starry Druid 12
Moonbeam and bonus action Starry breath were my go to at the end of the game. Just keep moving around and doing both every turn.
Astarion Lore Bard 12
This never really became the best at anything but served me well as a support caster etc etc etc. Swords Bard is way better but Lore was fine.
Timeline finale
25th July 2026 - I was in Lower City anyway so killed Orin the usual way - Roaring Thunder arrows knocked all her disciples off the edge then just wore her down.
I went to Wyrm's Rock via the Baislisk Gate as I noted the warp was now disabled - the castle was on lockdown. I killed a bunch of Fists and Banites but retreated from the throne room - no sense wasting time and energy on them, I went up the usual side via Flying and whatnot and fought Gortash and his few surviving minions in the belltower as usual. One new thing I did was had Gale telekinesis Gortash into the bell, which caused him to fall and die to huge damage. Fun!
Finally I made my way to the Morphic Pool narrowly failed to reduce the brain's HP but it was fine; snuck my way to the end and had a ton of buffs via all my allies. I had freed Orpheus as per usual so the Emperor and his dream warriors died pretty quick - Telekinesis is my fave way to kill all 4 dream images. The Emperor gets burts down after and even the dragon didn't last long to all my dudes hasted and firing lightning spells at it. The Mind Flayer Arcanists were next and were gradually wiped then finally the brain itself. It took 2 rounds I think but Gale got the final zap.
Assessment
It was good! Not as great as other playthroughs but fine; nice to play Druid, Ranger and non-Swords Bard to their fullest. Plus Wizard obviously. This was the under-used/never-used classes run.
Once again, Origin Gale had some unique stuff some unique cutscenes but was a mute for most of it. Probably could have killed Ansur but there was no reason to. First time completing the Foundry (but not the Submarine) so that was cool.
Naturally I clicked New Game soon after and started the Karlach all-barbarian run and am now maybe halfway through Act 1, hitting level 5. Will clear the Underdark and Forge next and then off to the creche.
