2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2019-10-31T14:56:44Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Famous Legions */

{{NeedsImages}}
{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the fuckboys!}}

{{topquote|The Tithe has come. Will you pay? Or will you serve?|Katakros}}
{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes, the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers''' are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, marking them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs and two units being a priest and skull-throwing catapults they're the closest things we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

The "Tithe" is instrumental to them - This is Nagash's way of making himself the undead mob boss of all the Realms. Instead of just going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Where the bones comes from and their quality doesn't matter; only that the Tithe is paid. Though, sometimes a particularly war-horny Leige will give impossible demands (such as detailed records of every bone in the city, including those still inside the living) or arrive early to [[That Guy|extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it.]] This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick about it.]]

==History==
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly built massive underground crypts beneath them all that contained early versions of the Bonereapers, and nobody noticed until however fucking long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts beneath them, despite knowing about and needed to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]] Anyway, after the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who (according to the most recent Stormcast) apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seem to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|a certain Mortarch]].

If all this smells like a retcon, that's because it is. To be fair, it would explain why Nagash was extra salty about being unable to get aelf souls, and what was meant by them being forged into more complex weapons of war (whether that was GW's original intention is anyone's guess).

Afterwards Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and once more decided to go through the process of distilling souls down to their most choice elements, and then putting the bits that remained in bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

==Forces==
[[File:Immortis-WC2.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]

*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, and with the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Morghasts with an extra pair of arms in place of wings, three extra faces and their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers. Skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Essentially bony Varanguard who serve Bone Daddy instead of the [[Archaon|Everchosen]]. Each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. Also it’s powered by a bone-made hamster wheel.
*'''Morghast Harbingers:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was, serving as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). These are you chargey bois.
*'''Morghast Archai:''' As above but these are your bodyguard bois.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and a four-armed skeleton for a codpiece that harvests bones and uses them to make new constructs on the fly.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:'''
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers of the Bonereapers.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

==Famous Legions==
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Nomadic armies crafted from prehistoric fossilized bones, these soldiers are known for their dim-witted klutzy behaviors as well as being a near impenetrable wall of bone ([[Derp|despite the fact that fossilized bone tends to be fragile]]).
* '''Null Myriad''': These Bonereapers were built exclusively using the bones of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were thus given to Arkhan to be his personal legion.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slathering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones.
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities. Basically [[That Guy]] as an undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them are only just starting to realise that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that...

==Significant Skeletons==

* '''Orpheon [[Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos is Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. A professional assassin turned general in life, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2019-10-31T14:56:22Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Famous Legions */

{{NeedsImages}}
{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the fuckboys!}}

{{topquote|The Tithe has come. Will you pay? Or will you serve?|Katakros}}
{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes, the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers''' are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, marking them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs and two units being a priest and skull-throwing catapults they're the closest things we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

The "Tithe" is instrumental to them - This is Nagash's way of making himself the undead mob boss of all the Realms. Instead of just going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Where the bones comes from and their quality doesn't matter; only that the Tithe is paid. Though, sometimes a particularly war-horny Leige will give impossible demands (such as detailed records of every bone in the city, including those still inside the living) or arrive early to [[That Guy|extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it.]] This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick about it.]]

==History==
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly built massive underground crypts beneath them all that contained early versions of the Bonereapers, and nobody noticed until however fucking long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts beneath them, despite knowing about and needed to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]] Anyway, after the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who (according to the most recent Stormcast) apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seem to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|a certain Mortarch]].

If all this smells like a retcon, that's because it is. To be fair, it would explain why Nagash was extra salty about being unable to get aelf souls, and what was meant by them being forged into more complex weapons of war (whether that was GW's original intention is anyone's guess).

Afterwards Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and once more decided to go through the process of distilling souls down to their most choice elements, and then putting the bits that remained in bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

==Forces==
[[File:Immortis-WC2.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]

*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, and with the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Morghasts with an extra pair of arms in place of wings, three extra faces and their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers. Skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Essentially bony Varanguard who serve Bone Daddy instead of the [[Archaon|Everchosen]]. Each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. Also it’s powered by a bone-made hamster wheel.
*'''Morghast Harbingers:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was, serving as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). These are you chargey bois.
*'''Morghast Archai:''' As above but these are your bodyguard bois.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and a four-armed skeleton for a codpiece that harvests bones and uses them to make new constructs on the fly.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:'''
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers of the Bonereapers.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

==Famous Legions==
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Nomadic armies crafted from prehistoric fossilized bones ([[Derp|despite the fact that fossilized bone tend to be fragile]]), these soldiers are known for their dim-witted klutzy behaviors as well as being a near impenetrable wall of bone.
* '''Null Myriad''': These Bonereapers were built exclusively using the bones of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were thus given to Arkhan to be his personal legion.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slathering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones.
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities. Basically [[That Guy]] as an undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them are only just starting to realise that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that...

==Significant Skeletons==

* '''Orpheon [[Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos is Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. A professional assassin turned general in life, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2019-10-31T14:56:05Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Famous Legions */

{{NeedsImages}}
{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the fuckboys!}}

{{topquote|The Tithe has come. Will you pay? Or will you serve?|Katakros}}
{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes, the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers''' are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, marking them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs and two units being a priest and skull-throwing catapults they're the closest things we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

The "Tithe" is instrumental to them - This is Nagash's way of making himself the undead mob boss of all the Realms. Instead of just going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Where the bones comes from and their quality doesn't matter; only that the Tithe is paid. Though, sometimes a particularly war-horny Leige will give impossible demands (such as detailed records of every bone in the city, including those still inside the living) or arrive early to [[That Guy|extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it.]] This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick about it.]]

==History==
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly built massive underground crypts beneath them all that contained early versions of the Bonereapers, and nobody noticed until however fucking long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts beneath them, despite knowing about and needed to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]] Anyway, after the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who (according to the most recent Stormcast) apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seem to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|a certain Mortarch]].

If all this smells like a retcon, that's because it is. To be fair, it would explain why Nagash was extra salty about being unable to get aelf souls, and what was meant by them being forged into more complex weapons of war (whether that was GW's original intention is anyone's guess).

Afterwards Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and once more decided to go through the process of distilling souls down to their most choice elements, and then putting the bits that remained in bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

==Forces==
[[File:Immortis-WC2.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]

*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, and with the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Morghasts with an extra pair of arms in place of wings, three extra faces and their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers. Skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Essentially bony Varanguard who serve Bone Daddy instead of the [[Archaon|Everchosen]]. Each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. Also it’s powered by a bone-made hamster wheel.
*'''Morghast Harbingers:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was, serving as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). These are you chargey bois.
*'''Morghast Archai:''' As above but these are your bodyguard bois.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and a four-armed skeleton for a codpiece that harvests bones and uses them to make new constructs on the fly.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:'''
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers of the Bonereapers.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

==Famous Legions==
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Nomadic armies crafted from prehistoric fossilized bones ([[Derp|despite the fact that fossils tend to be fragile]]), these soldiers are known for their dim-witted klutzy behaviors as well as being a near impenetrable wall of bone.
* '''Null Myriad''': These Bonereapers were built exclusively using the bones of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were thus given to Arkhan to be his personal legion.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slathering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones.
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities. Basically [[That Guy]] as an undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them are only just starting to realise that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that...

==Significant Skeletons==

* '''Orpheon [[Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos is Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. A professional assassin turned general in life, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2019-10-31T14:54:13Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* See Also */

{{NeedsImages}}
{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the fuckboys!}}

{{topquote|The Tithe has come. Will you pay? Or will you serve?|Katakros}}
{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes, the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers''' are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, marking them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs and two units being a priest and skull-throwing catapults they're the closest things we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

The "Tithe" is instrumental to them - This is Nagash's way of making himself the undead mob boss of all the Realms. Instead of just going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Where the bones comes from and their quality doesn't matter; only that the Tithe is paid. Though, sometimes a particularly war-horny Leige will give impossible demands (such as detailed records of every bone in the city, including those still inside the living) or arrive early to [[That Guy|extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it.]] This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick about it.]]

==History==
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly built massive underground crypts beneath them all that contained early versions of the Bonereapers, and nobody noticed until however fucking long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts beneath them, despite knowing about and needed to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]] Anyway, after the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who (according to the most recent Stormcast) apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seem to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|a certain Mortarch]].

If all this smells like a retcon, that's because it is. To be fair, it would explain why Nagash was extra salty about being unable to get aelf souls, and what was meant by them being forged into more complex weapons of war (whether that was GW's original intention is anyone's guess).

Afterwards Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and once more decided to go through the process of distilling souls down to their most choice elements, and then putting the bits that remained in bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

==Forces==
[[File:Immortis-WC2.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]

*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, and with the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Morghasts with an extra pair of arms in place of wings, three extra faces and their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers. Skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Essentially bony Varanguard who serve Bone Daddy instead of the [[Archaon|Everchosen]]. Each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. Also it’s powered by a bone-made hamster wheel.
*'''Morghast Harbingers:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was, serving as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). These are you chargey bois.
*'''Morghast Archai:''' As above but these are your bodyguard bois.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and a four-armed skeleton for a codpiece that harvests bones and uses them to make new constructs on the fly.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:'''
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers of the Bonereapers.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

==Famous Legions==
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Crafted from prehistoric fossilised bones, these soldiers are known for their dim-witted klutzy behaviors as well as being a near impenetrable wall of bone.
* '''Null Myriad''': These Bonereapers were built exclusively using the bones of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were thus given to Arkhan to be his personal legion.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slathering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones.
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities. Basically [[That Guy]] as an undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them are only just starting to realise that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that...

==Significant Skeletons==

* '''Orpheon [[Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos is Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. A professional assassin turned general in life, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their jerk of a god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Nighthaunt

2019-10-31T14:53:33Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Spooky Melodies for Haunting */

{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Nighthaunt|Logo=LadyOlynderMortarch.png|Alliance=Death|Motto=Wooo!! I'm a ghosty!}}

{{topquote|Welcome, foolish mortals, to the haunted mansion!|Ghost Host}}

{{topquote|As those who believe in the visibility of ghosts can easily see them, so it is always easy to see repulsive qualities in those we despise and hate.|Fredrick Douglas}}

{{topquote|A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man woke in the night.|J.M. Barrie}}

The '''Nighthaunt''' are a faction in [[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]]. They are an army of ghosts who hate and envy the living. Like all undead, they're part of Grand Alliance: Death, and thus owe their allegiance to [[Nagash]]. Previously a minor faction, Age of Sigmar second edition promotes them to new heights of relevance with them even being in the starter set.

Most of the Nighthaunt have forms that reflect their past crimes, and said crimes range from actual wrong-doing to something Nagash doesn't like; an example of the latter are the Nighthaunts called Dreadscythe Harridans, the spirits of healers [[Grimdark|who Nagash turned into tormented killing machines for the 'crime' of saving people from dying and thus preventing their souls from coming to Shyish, and he left them aware of their actions but unable to control themselves]]). This was done as either a kind of an ironic punishment or Nagash's idea of a joke, which just goes to show how much of a hypocrite he is, since all of his power came from scheming, theft, sacrilege, murder, genocide, and a Warpstone drug addiction.

==History==
Nighthaunts have always been around in some form, some artificially created by necromancers, others naturally arose by powerful winds of Amethyst Magic. The first all-Nighthaunt army was created by Nagash during the beginning of the Age of Chaos, when he turned the spirits of valiant warriors who swore oaths to fight for noble causes and never for coin into mercenaries who killed in exchange for payments of souls, also establishing his firm love for ironic torture. They only became a true big player during the Necroquake caused by Nagash's Black Pyramid, where vast waves of Shyish energy caused the reanimation of millions of Nighthaunts. Unfortunately for Nagash, the hordes had no leadership and didn't know anything about tactics or strategy, and the force that could've ushered in his ultimate victory mostly just got sidetracked.

Seeing that these hordes needed a leader, he appointed Lady Olynder to be the Mortarch in charge of the Nighthaunt. She quickly went around organizing them into actual armies, called Processions, and appointing generals to lead them in the form of the Knights of Shrouds. Olynder's first task as Mortarch was to eradicate the Chaos forces occupying the Underworld of Lyria, and although she was succesful, her near-death at the hands of a [[Bloodthirster]] caused Nagash to realize that she needed a lieutenant to prevent her from making another such mistake, resulting in him arranging her marriage to Kurdoss Valentian. Sadly there are no details about how the wedding went, so we just have to imagine a giant Nagash saying "YOU'RE MARRIED, NOW KISS".

Since then they've been rampaging across the realms, [[Shyish]] most of all. The Processions have been incorporated into the Legion of Grief, which was formed to besiege the City of Lethis and free an ally of Nagash from a Stormvault. Word on the streets is that Kurdoss is referring to this as a "honeymoon" whilst Olynder is whining about how far away it is.

==The Processions==
Prior to the soulwars, it was rare to see masses of Nighthaunt gathered together in large armies, partly due to their unreliable nature as ghosts. This changed following the crowning of Lady Olynder as Mortarch of Grief, as she ruthlessly gathered the spirits and formed them into armies known as Processions. The goals of each Procession are mostly centered around specific curses or leaders. Some Processions might be formed of a empires worth of spirits, called forth from the underworld, while others may be spirits long imprisoned by Nagash, freed and twisted by the Necroquake.

The Processions employ the various spirits dredged up from the bowels of Shyish, meaning that they can be pretty varied. However, the same group of archetypes tend to pop up more often than others;

*'''Knight of Shrouds''': In life, these guys were generals that sold out to Nagash and are cursed in the afterlife to lead his hosts. They are cursed to ''always'' have a small sliver of doubt that worms through their hearts, meaning they suffer from a perpetual Macbeth-type guilt.
*'''Guardian of Souls''': The wannabe Necromancers that thought they could outrun death are now (un)living nexuses of Death Magic. They summon more Nighthaunt into battle.
*'''Spirit Torment''': AKA the ones that got off easy. Sadistic Jailers in life now get to be even more sadistic jailers in the afterlife!
*'''Lord Executioner''': The ones who got the second best deal after Spirit Torments. Executioners who knowingly killed the innocent in life or enjoyed their work too much are now sent after heroes to execute them in unlife. They are constantly harassed by the spirits of the people they wrongfully executed, but those same spirits also can be used to preserve the Executioner's unlife.
*'''Dreadblade Harrow''': The lieutenants of the Knights that watched on as they betrayed and did nothing. Their half-measures in life make them especially incorporeal.
*'''Cairn Wraith''': Mass murderers and serial killers that can't rest due to their hatred. Often Lone Wolves among the Processions.
*'''Tomb Banshee''': The betrayed and tormented women, who in unlife have become obsessed with revenge.
*'''Spirit Hosts''': Formless, identity-less packs of spirits that are all bound together, often found in mass graves or battlefields.
*'''Chainrasps''': The average criminal scum that died in chains, now forever grasping and begging for light in the afterlife.
*'''Grimghast Reapers''': When someone has too much [[Just as Planned]] they are blinded and forced to kill with no subtlety whatsoever.
*'''Hexwraiths''': The proud and cruel Knights that decided to shit on the peasants too much are stuck forever riding their ethereal horses.
*'''Glaivewrath Stalkers''': The guys that enjoyed hunting too much are now melded with their mounts, their weapons always point towards their victims like compasses but they literally cannot feel any joy in the hunt anymore.
*'''Myrmourn Banshees''': People who sought knowledge of magic in life (specifically death magic) and didn't pay proper reverence to Nagash are forced to feed on nothing BUT magic, devouring spells and wizards.
*'''Chainghasts''': The Spirit Torment's assistants but without the better deal. They're formed from people who died in captivity and didn't pray to Nagash for help. For this "crime" they're put into iron harnesses, forced to carry heavy locks enchanted to fill them with hopelessness and forced to act as enforcers for Spirit Torments. Still better off than Bladegheists and Dreadscythes.
*'''Bladegheist Revenants''': Those who died screeching and thrashing are robbed of any vision, and are forced to flail around with unmatched frenzy whilst holding swords. Really cruel, since the classification for these can include innocent people who drowned or were buried alive.
*'''Dreadscythe Harridans''': Along with the Bladegheists, they have the most cruel fate. Former healers that stopped souls from going to Nagash by saving people from fatal injuries are forced into committing wanton slaughter with only scythes for hands, and a few even have two arms split into four. As a further "fuck you" from Nagash, their minds and memories are wholly intact, but they are unable to control their actions.
*'''Black Coach''': The particularly powerful [[Necromancer]]s and Vampires are coached around by a Cairn Wraith in these, so that they can absorb the Death Magic and regenerate.

==Why They're Scary==
The Nighthaunt pose a very real and manifest fear to the people of the realms; the dead, suffering awful and dread fates rising from the grave to drag them down into the same torments they suffer. You can never tell when they're coming, you can't fortify against them, you can't even physically wound them most of the time. What hammers the fear factor home even further is the cruel and frankly unfair ironies of some of their units. Did you heal people in life? Tough titties, you're gonna blindly murder them with scythes for hands. Die drowning and flailing? Then you're gonna flail around for all eternity.

Tl:dr, if they want to get you (and they do), then they will. And you're gonna suffer when they do.

==Notable Nighthaunts==

*'''[[Lady Olynder|Lady Olynder, Mortarch of Grief]]:''' In life, Olynder was a scheming gold digger who married high-ranking men then arranged the deaths of her husbands, afterwards crying crocodile tears about how she's a widow after each one died. Upon her death, Nagash punished her for her crimes by making her feel all the grief in the Mortal Realms, so now she's a genuine sobbing wreck. However, that didn't stop Olynder for long; using her own sorrows as a irresistible bait for other Nighthaunt, she forged one of the first entirely Nighthaunt empires. With the arrival of more Nighthaunts after the Necroquake, Nagash needed someone to manage them, and thus promoted her to be his newest Mortarch.

*'''[[Kurdoss Valentian|Kurdoss Valentian, the Craven King]]:''' Another noble who schemed his way into power, killing many including his own brothers, but was struck down by Nagash just before his coronation as King (Not for his betrayals and murders, but because he praised and prayed to Sigmar). He is constantly followed by spectral heralds who mock him for not being able to become a true king (basically Statler and Waldorf) and is also cursed to be unable to raise his voice above the level of a whisper. He was married to Lady Olynder by Nagash to become the second-in-command of the Nighthaunt, but further cursed to be forced to obey her every order so as to deny him any kind of rulership even in his new position of power.

*'''[[Reikenor|Reikenor the Grimhailer]]:''' Once a mighty sorcerer from Hysh who attempted to become immortal. [[Warhammer Underworlds|And we all know what Nagash does to people who try to cheat death]]. Now Nagash tasks him with hunting down and killing those who would seek to steal souls from him.

==Spooky Melodies for Haunting==
As any good [[Ork]]/[[Imperial Guard]]/[[Stormcast Eternals|Stormcast]]/[[Ossiarch Bonereapers|Skelebob]] player knows, fitting music for your army is necessary for lowering enemy morale, so you'll need to have a couple of ghastly tunes ready to give your opponent (and the rest of your [[FLGS]]) a real fright!

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSaqSVi--Ms Grim Bitter Haunts - Make sure to play this when you bring both Lady Olynder, Valentian and Reikenor in a game!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaFjmhIeezU Now I know it's N-N-N-N-NIGHTHAUNT!]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blUtOezg__g For the Vidya lovers among us.]

==See Also==
*[[Nagash]], their God and the dickbag that put them in this awful position.
*[[Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Death/Nighthaunt|Tactics/Nighthaunt]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File: Nighthaunt Art 1.jpeg|"OoooooOooOOOOOo... I really fucking hate my unlife... OOOOooooOoo"
File: Soul Wars.jpeg|Who you gonna call? SIG-MARINES!
</gallery>

{{Nighthaunt-Characters}}
{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

Arkhan the Black

2019-10-31T14:52:37Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Age of Sigmar */

[[File:Arkhan's new style.png|300px|thumb|right|Arkhan the Black's new look]]
{{Topquote|You've read the signs as well as I. Nagash must rise, or our kingdoms of silence will fall. And yours will be the first.|Arkhan the Black}}
{{Topquote|One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive.|Friedrich Nietzsche}}

'''Arkhan the Black''' is the first and most loyal follower of [[Nagash]], who somehow went from a wastrel in a minor noble family to a super-badass necromancer-warrior. He has decimated kingdoms as Araby never fully recovered from the war he waged against it following Nagash's first death. Due to his power he has fought for and against many of the Tomb Kings as a warlord-for-hire.

Before 8th edition and the End Times he had no personality beyond being Nagash's right hand lich. He came back as a playable character in the 8th Edition Tomb Kings armybook, with the stirrings of his plan to bring back Nagash. The End Times were surprisingly kind to Arkhan. Following this, he's now an introspective, mercantile smartass, Warhammer Fantasy's first Hero Killer and he kind-of gets the girl (see below). To wit, he's the first playable Special Character to kill off other playable Special Characters and during the End Times he has the highest body count of all of them.

He has a voice actor now! While not as ideal as Vincent Price would have been, rest his soul, the one we have is fantastic. See below for more.

==Mortal Life==
Born thousands of years ago, back when Nehekhara was a kingdom of the living, Arkhan was originally a member of a noble family in Khemri during the reign of king Thutep. Despite his lineage he was the black sheep of the family, more interested in gambling, drugs, back-alley brawls and whore-mongering (turns out the temple of Asaph did ritual prostitution, but reputedly he had to pay double before any of the priestesses went near him). He earned the nickname "the Black" as a human from his appalling dental hygiene and his love of chewing juseh root, which reduced his teeth to black shards. However, all depictions of his skeleton form have him with normal, bone-white teeth, <strike>implying that Nagash has a very good dental plan. Maybe that's why he's so loyal to him</strike> [https://occultdetectives.tumblr.com/post/187823103997/how-did-arkhans-tooth-turn-from-black-to-white it turned out neither the teeth nor the skull were originally his - his first true death did come from decapitation].

==Vizier of Khemri==
When Nagash sought a cabal of followers to assist him in usurping the throne of Khemri he found them in Arkhan and his compatriots. In particular they were convinced by a demonstration of his newly created art of necromancy. The group supported Nagash by kidnapping victims off the street, this served to both supply Nagash with bodies for his experiments and to undermine his brother’s rule. Arkhan and the others started to learn rudiments of necromancy themselves during this time, and he was the first of Nagash's followers to partake of the elixir which granted eternal life, becoming the first of Nagash’s so-called "Immortals".

When Nagash finally usurped his brother’s throne, declaring himself king of Khemri, Arkhan was appointed his vizier. In response the Priest Kings of Nehekhara formed an alliance against Nagash, and Arkhan served as the great necromancer's foremost lieutenant in the struggle that followed. Battle after battle was waged, but inevitably the more numerous forces of the Priest Kings proved too much, and Nagash and his armies were forced back into the city of Khemri.

Arkhan is officially credited with leading the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, single-handedly holding them off with spell-casting and swordplay for an hour before his death. There are different accounts of events across the editions of Warhammer:
* Some random schmo managed to hit Arkhan in the heart with a thrown spear and Arkhan's body was consumed by black flames, leaving behind a skeleton. While the Nehekharans destroyed the bodies of Nagash's other followers, they didn't desecrate Arkhan's remains out of respect for his badass last stand and simply built a stone cairn over them (first version).
* Same as before, except instead of respect for his last stand the Nehekharans built the cairn and didn't desecrate Arkhan's body because Arkhan gave a curse with his dying breath that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly (second version).
* Lamashizzar snuck up on Arkhan, carrying a prototype Cathayan gun. He used this to shoot Arkhan in the heart and incapacitate him for transport to Lahmia. The "throwing spear to the heart from an unknown soldier" was a cover story made up by Lamashizzar (most recent version, and canon as of the End Times).

==Imprisonment in Lahmia==

After his defeat, Arkhan and Nagash's nine books were smuggled to Lahmia. There Arkhan was restored to unlife and kept as a prisoner of Lamashizzar and W'soran to teach them Nagash's magic. Lahmashizzar was not smart, and while W'soran was a capable student, he kept what he learnt to himself. Lacking magical ability, Lamashizzar brought in his sister [[Queen Neferata|Neferata]] to aid in the lessons. One day, Neferata visited Arkhan herself and chatted with him. She wanted Arkhan to teach her as well, and used her charm to try and persuade him. To everyone's surprise, including her own, Neferata sympathized with the imprisoned lich and formed a genuine rapport with him that grew into something more. Arkhan gladly taught her magic (when Neferata offered a reward, Arkhan only asked for the chance to ride a horse with silver bells on its harness through the desert at night) until she was able to overthrow Lamashizzar and take the throne for herself with the king reduced to a figurehead under her thumb.

This turned out to be a grave error however when the king, still supported by many members of the cabal, tried to have Neferata assassinated with a deadly magical poison. Arkhan tried to save Neferata, but his methods reacted with Neferata's blood and she appeared to die. Furious and determined to have his revenge, Arkhan snuck into the royal palace and assassinated Lamashizzar in return. The king’s bodyguard Abhorash, though too slow to save his king, beheaded Arkhan in personal combat for his crime. Unbeknown to Arkhan his magic in fact had saved Neferata and turned her into the first vampire. She took charge with her brother dead, then had Arkhan's corpse discretely but respectfully buried in the Lahmian necropolis.

==As the Liche King==
Many years later Nagash, now secured in his northern fortress Nagashizzar, decided to take his revenge on the Priest Kings of Nehekhara. Although generations had passed, he had not forgotten his most loyal lieutenant. Knowing he would soon have need of him Nagash had Arkhan rise from his tomb and join him in the north. Once again he led his master’s forces against the united Priest Kings. During this time, Arkhan formed a bitter rivalry with W'soran. The former thought the latter was overconfident, the latter thought the former was a coward. They two often argued; when they weren't disagreeing on the best way to conduct the battles, they bickered over which of them was the better wizard, which form of undeath was best or who was Nagash's favorite. Between their mutual animosity and the great leadership and military prowess of king Alcadizaar of Khemri, they were unsuccessful despite a long campaign.

When Nagash enacted the first part of his Great Ritual, Arkhan commanded Nagash's undead army once more and this time easily defeated the plague riddled Nehekharans, taking Alcadizaar prisoner. Staying in Khemri to take control of Nagash’s supreme army of the whole undead Nehekharan nation when the second part of the ritual was cast, he instead was forced to flee when Nagash’s assassination left the risen kings with their own willpower. United under Settra, the wrath of the Tomb Kings was simply too great.

Intent on wreaking vengeance on the living for the death of his master, Arkhan ransacked Nagashizzar (fighting his long time rival W’Soran and other returned Immortals in the process) he then turned his army towards Araby, and for generations battered its kingdoms in what Arabian chroniclers would come to call the Wars of Death. Inhabiting the desert wastes that surround Araby, Arkhan would lead his armies upon an Arabian city, razing it to the ground before withdrawing again to the deserts.

Later he established himself once again in Nehekhara in his fortess of old, the Black Tower. From here his repeated raids and incursions, while not a major threat, soon became more than just a mere nuisance. Repeatedly Settra would be forced to do battle with Arkhan and whilst he had a vastly superior sense of strategy and better troops at his command their battles always resulted in a stalemate as Settra could never hope to match the great necromantic power of Arkhan. Therefore Arkhan would submit to Settra's authority and swear fealty before once again defying him just a few short years later. This stalemate might have been broken had the other Tomb Kings assisted but Settra was too proud to ask for their help and most considered Arkhan a valuable, if untrustworthy, ally. These constant battles against Settra did serve to improve Arkhan's sense of strategy through trial and error.

Over the following centuries, Arkhan busied himself with hunting down various treasures of Nagash in order to serve his master on the day of his return. However, for some reason, he didn’t re-join Nagash when he was resurrected and engaged in his northwards campaign against Sigmar.

Arkhan had for a long time foreseen the End Times coming and knew Nagash was one of the few beings who could be relied upon to defeat the Chaos Gods. Nagash himself also recognized this threat, and fast-tracked his plans for restoration by several centuries by telling Arkhan to get to work. In order to restore Nagash he needed to gain many of the items Nagash had imbued with his power over the years. Already possessing a number of his Nine books, Arkhan sought Nagash’s staff. By allying himself with Khalida of Lybaras to attack the vampire lord Mandregan in Sylvania, Arkhan acquired one of Nagash’s lesser staffs, and soon learned the location of his primary staff Alakanesh; Bretonnia. Though being undead and serving Nagash dulled his emotions, he's still in love with [[Queen Neferata]].

==The End Times==
With the coming of [[The End Times]], Arkhan made his move. To try and find Nagash's staff he backed Mallobaude's coup with resulted in Bretonnia's civil war, which was a failure for Arkhan due to the intervention of the Wood Elves and the return of Giles Le Breton. Since he already had two of Nagash's books, he entered Sylvanvia seeking the rest of them, but Mannfred took exception. After an amazing duel that resulted in a stalemate, they called a truce and the two formed an alliance. After much politicking, they arranged the plan to retrieve Nagash's treasures, with him and Mannfred leading several armies. Arkhan was the one who broke them out of the Wall of Faith trapping them in Sylvania through an ancient ritual; Mannfred had the power but lacked the knowledge of how to use it. The second time Arkhan tried to retrieve the staff he had to kill Kemmler for it because the necromancer had betrayed Nagash to serve the Chaos Gods. In the battle Arkhan lost one of the few things he cared about, a zombified cat he had adopted. Despite repeated assassination attempts from Beastmen led by Malagor and Mannfred's vampire knights, Arkhan succeeded and Nagash returned to the world.

During this time, Arkhan also established himself as a Hero Killer, killing Kemmler (magical duel), the Fey Enchantress (slit her throat and bled her out as the sacrifice to bring Nagash back), Eltharion (aged to dust by magic) and Nekaph (incinerated by magic). During the war for Nehekhara he took all the undead in Nagashizzar and conquered Mahrak and Quatar, [[FAIL|the latter in a big offscreen battle that's barely alluded to]]. At Khemri he was the visible commander of Nagash's armies and managed to do alright despite being outmatched. Eventually he was cut in half by Settra, who'd had enough of him by that point, and magically smuggled Nagash into Khemri within his own body (Arkhan's bisected body was taken to ritual that was supposed to stop Arkhan from being brought back, but one of the priests went quisling for Nagash). After the battle for Khemri ended with Settra's defeat and its destruction, Arkhan was made whole again and permitted to go to war wherever he wanted at the behest of his master once more. Now the [[Mortarch]] of Sacrament, riding the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves Nagash with dedication in his actions... though for the first time in millennia he started having second thoughts.

When Nagash entered his sarcophagus to absorb the wind of death after conquering Nehekhara, Arkhan led the undead in his absence. When Isabella and the Nameless attacked, Arkhan showed some tactical savvy and organized the defense, but was defeated after a vicious fight with Isabella and killed. After the destruction of the Black Pyramid Nagash was furious over Arkhan's failure, but knew Arkhan was reliable and intelligent so Nagash restored him and Krell. When Nagash travelled to Athel Loren to work with the living, Arkhan was silent but snickering to himself about the irony of Nagash's situation. Apart from some witty banter with Vlad, Arkhan only speaks because Nagash doesn't want to, making Arkhan in effect the Mouth of Sauron. After a fight with the forces of the Chaos Gods, the Incarnates and their forces are sent to Middenheim. Arkhan helps co-ordinate Nagash's army, then Throgg came with an army of monsters. Nagash told Arkhan to take two Morghast hosts and hold them until dead. When Arkhan asked for any further instructions he sensed Nagash's doubt before Nagash said, "DIE WELL MY SERVANT." and abandoned him. Though it ends with Arkhan fighting, it's repeated that it's a fight he can't win.

In the Lord of the End Times novel, after the Incarnates fail to stop the rift, Neferata encountered Arkhan with an unconscious Isabella. Arkhan had survived Nagash's last order and driven back the army of Chaos monsters (with the unexpected help of Settra) but he was battered. Arkhan told her that Aliathra's magic gave him a vision of a mysterious figure who could save/restore the world even after it was destroyed, and that he would help them if he could. Arkhan then showed her his slowly disintegrating hand; with Nagash's destruction Arkhan was dying as well. He bade Neferata flee and try to avoid the world's destruction, and take Isabella with her, stating he thought it was possible she could survive the end of the world. Neferata kissed him, took Isabella and fled while Arkhan tried to buy her time with his magic. As Neferata escaped, there was a last burst of purple magic and she could no longer sense him and grieved, thinking him destroyed (OTP confirmed).

==Age of Sigmar==
With the world's reconstruction in Age of Sigmar, Arkhan's back! He's bound to Nagash and it's confirmed while Nagash exists, so does Arkhan. He fought alongside Nagash when the latter was allied with Sigmar, and followed him after Nagash's betrayal. When Nagash fell against Archaon, Arkhan led the counterattack where Nagash's body was retrieved along with thwarting the treachery of Prince Vhordai. However, the novel ''Nagash: The Undying King'' implies that he is not the same. Now Arkhan seems to have no memory of the previous world. One theory was that this is not the original Arkhan; either a construct made from Nagash's memory of Arkhan or another person who took up the mantle (like one of the theories about [[Farsight]] before it was revealed he's the same guy with life-stealing sword). Now it's either he simply has a creation-of-a-new-world hangover that made him forget his previous life or [[Grimdark|Nagash stole some of Arkhan's memories]]. In the novel ''Soul Wars'', it's confirmed that this is the original Arkhan and he's at least partially playing dumb. He plays the loyal servant so well that the other Mortarchs, and occasionally Nagash himself, forget that he's his own person and not just a neutral avatar of Nagash. This lets him get away with making his own moves in their endless politicking almost entirely undetected.

Arkhan was at Nagash's side when the latter abandoned Sigmar's alliance and during the fights against the forces of Chaos. When Nagash was killed by Archaon in the Battle of Burning Skies, it was Arkhan who thwarted Vhordrai's treacherous attempt to give Nagash to the Chaos Gods. Arkhan defeated the vampire and imprisoned him in a gravestone sarcophagus until Nagash returned. He also showed up in the Age of Sigmar audio book "The Bridge of Seven Sorrows" complete with a voice actor. He'd stayed in Stygx when Mannfred and the Stormcasts of the Hallowed Knights entered to find Nagash. They are stopped at the the other side of the bridge by Arkhan and his steed, Razanak. Arkhan called Mannfred schemer, ingrate and fearful before ordering him to leave. Tarsus started to give his message, but Arkhan told them he knew it was from Sigmar, that Nagash didn't want to hear it or have anything to do with Sigmar and ordered the Stormcast Eternals to leave or he'd be forced to kill them. When they persisted Arkhan seemed to admire them, but still summoned seven banshees to kill the Stormcasts, staying on the sidelines until Mannfred attacked him with Arkhan fighting back with relish. Arkhan managed to beat Mannfred back then Tarsus joined the duel and forced Arkhan onto the defensive. Mannfred took advantage of the distraction to cut of Arkhan's sword hand, run him through and hurl him against the bridge. Despite his injuries Arkhan wasn't vanquished, but got to his feet and explained that the entire confrontation was a test. Shortly after Nagash himself arrived to handle the situation and Arkhan stood aside to let Nagash handle things.

Later on Arkhan inadvertently helped the Stormcast by trying to capture Mannfred while he's dueling the Relictor Ramus. Mannfred fled and Arkhan claimed to have a message from Sigmar.

He was also present with the third meeting of the Stormcast Eternals seeking Nagash's help, where he pretended to lose control of a terrorgheist as part of a test Nagash had for them. Later, Arkhan provided undead reinforcements when they went to thwart Mannfred's latest schemes. After pushing back the forces of Chaos, Arkhan was put in charge of gathering gravestone for Nagash's Great Black Pyramid. During this time, Arkhan's revealed to have his own plan to deal with Chaos. Arkhan was trying to use the renewed conflict between Ayr and Shyish to manipulate both Nagash and Sigmar into joining forces against Chaos, as he figured that after the two gods slap each other around a bit and vent their anger that they'll eventually kiss and make up enough to unite against Chaos again (which is lampshaded by Mannfred). Arkhan correctly surmised that the Chaos Gods would only take the renewed conflict between them as a moment to strike again after their defeats in the realmgate wars and noted that the Pantheon had made their biggest gains against Chaos when united. One gets the impression that since becoming undead Arkhan would've been quite the noble and clever hero if he wasn't loyal to [[Nagash|an omnicidal sociopathic god]]. With the completion of [[Ossiarch Bonereapers|Nagash's latest pet project]], Arkhan has been given an entire legion of Bonereapers for his use, the magic-resistant Null Myriad.

==On the Tabletop==
===As a Tomb King===
Arkhan's a spellcaster, first and foremost. Though he can only use spells from the Lore of Death, his copy of the Liber Mortis makes him a level 5 caster (though he loses a level, and thus a random spell, if it ever gets destroyed), and his Staff of Nagash lets him convert three dispel dice from one turn into three fresh power dice in the next turn. Like a Tomb King, he has the Nehekharan Undead, Flammable and "The Curse" special rules.

Fluffwise, Arkhan's supposed to be good in melee as well as a caster, and his Tomb Blade of Arkhan, which restores wounds to a unit he's with for each unsaved wound he inflicts on an enemy unit, would seem to support this. Statwise... not so much. At Strength and Toughness 5 and with 3 Wounds, he might seem survivable, but with only light armor for protection and a Weapon Skill of only 4, backed by three Initiative 3 attacks, it really isn't worth it. Especially not when he costs 360 points, takes up a Lord slot, and can potentially be your Hierophant.

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use. He's also got the option to ride a flying chariot; using it is inadvisable.

===As Mortarch of Sacrament===
So, how does Arkhan change in the [[Undead Legion]]? He costs 650 points, loses Flammable, loses the Curse, is a Monster (Special Character), and has gained +1 Toughness, +5 Wounds and +4 Attacks. His Tomb Blade now only restores his own health and he's traded the Liber Mortis and Staff of Nagash for the Staff of Spirits, which operates much the same as his old staff (can sacrifice two Power Dice in one magic phase and then apply them to a spell in the next magic phase). He can Fly, is a Large Target, causes Terror, is Undead, rolls a D6 at the end of any Close Combat phase in which he's caused a Wound and recovers a lost Wound of his own if he rolls a 6, he reduces the wounds he suffers due to Unstable by -1 (in addition to any other modifiers), can march as normal, and doubles the points worth of models he summons when casting spells from the Lore of Undeath, including the additional points generated by Raise the Dead counters. He's a level 4 caster who can generate any combination of spells he wishes (that is, four from one, or two from each, or three from one and a fourth from the other) from both the Lore of Death and the Lore of Undeath. If this makes him sound like a mini-Nagash, that's because he pretty much is - While [[Nagash]] is awesome and can do awesome things, he's 1000 pt, so Arkhan is like a budget version of him, with lesser, although still powerful versions of his abilities. Take him if you don't want [[Nagash]] to fill up half your army and when you want room for other dudes and dudettes.

== In Total War Warhammer ==

He's finally in a video game! Added with the Tomb Kings expansion DLC for Total War Warhammer II, Arkhan the Black is the odd duck out of the playable tomb kings. He plays much more like one of the bad guy factions such as the Vampire Counts, Greenskins, Dark Elves, Skaven, or one of the three Chaos factions in that you're really not going to be doing a lot of diplomacy. All of the other Tomb Kings dislike you and you're almost certainly going to ruffle the feathers of Kroq-Gar, Teclis, Thorgrim, and Skrolk due to your proximity. Your only half-way decent relationships are with the Vampire counts; two of whose factions are squatting in Nehekharan territory you'd probably want for yourself, the Greenskins who should probably never be trusted, the Vampire Coast who are mostly out for themselves, and maybe the Dark Elves won't totally hate you but you have little reason to interact with any of them besides Lokhir anyway.

In exchange for having most of the factions near him being hostile to him, you get to patch some holes in the Tomb King Roster with Dire Wolves, Felbats, Crypt Ghouls and breaking the mould of kind of meh early game trash fodder; FUCKING HEXWRAITHS. Probably a bit underwhelming all things told as he's still lacking in what the Tomb Kings are really missing; an air game which could be provided by Vargheists and Terrorgheists, on demand healing from mortis engines, necromancers, the lore of vampires, or corpse carts, and anti-armour infantry in the form of cairn wraiths or great weapon grave guard but hey; take what you can get. Arkhan himself though is a pretty powerful lord who's actually quite strong in melee, gets access to a spooky looking floating chariot to ignore most terrain penalties, and perhaps most importantly gets access to the lore of <s>cheese</s> death.

If there is any down side to him, it's that CA went with the most gravelly voice actor one could imagine and changed his appearance slightly to still have some dessicated skin clinging to him instead of his canonically completely flesh stripped bones. However, he provides a fun campaign for either the Vortex or the Mortal Empires maps and given that if you're playing Arkhan you probably don't give a shit about diplomacy anyway, feel free to gank whomever's got the Sword of Khaine before going apeshit bananas with the sword of murderfuck and laugh as you basically delete any unit you charge with him and smiting any fools who aren't dead yet with either the purple sun of xerus or the sword of khaine's vortex. So far, Arkhan equipped with the Sword of Khaine is the closest you can get to the experience of playing as Nagash himself.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Arkhan_older_picture.png|Arkhan the Black [[Old School Roleplaying|back in the day.]]
File:Arkhan the Black's old model.jpg|Arkhan's first model (surprisingly less derpy than [[Nagash|his master's original model]]).
File:Arkhan2.jpg|Nagash might give a sweet dental plan...
File:Arkhan the Black new model.jpg|Arkhan's badass new model.
Image:Nef+Ark.jpg|Arkhan's dream, a reality as of the End Times "Kiss me you magnificent bastard. Give me your bone!"
File:Arkhanageofsigmar.jpg|"The more things change, the more they stay the same."
File:Arkhan Total War.jpeg|Now in digital form.
</gallery>

{{Tomb Kings}}

[[Category:Undead Legion]]
[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Ossiarch Bonereapers

2019-10-31T14:51:20Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Significant Skeletons */

{{NeedsImages}}
{{Age of Sigmar Faction|Faction=Ossiarch Bonereapers|Logo=Immortis-WC2.jpg|Alliance=Death|Motto=The Skeleton War is upon us! We ride against the fuckboys!}}

{{topquote|The Tithe has come. Will you pay? Or will you serve?|Katakros}}
{{topquote|Two can play at that game!|Likely Nagash after learning how Sigmar makes Stormcast}}

The latest addition to [[Nagash]]’s ever growing hordes, the '''Ossiarch Bonereapers''' are the result of an eons old plan by Big Bone Daddy.

Likely inspired by the [[Stormcast Eternals]], the Bonereapers are not mere skeletons given life by necromancy, but massive constructs of bone and countless warrior souls, marking them all look impressively robust for undead. Since the Legions of Nagash are the mainstay, the Nighthaunt are the shock troops and the Flesh-Eater Courts are completely insane, these buff bone boys are the elite vanguard of the Grand Alliance. Given their themes of bones, undead constructs and two units being a priest and skull-throwing catapults they're the closest things we've got to [[Tomb Kings]] in AoS.

The "Tithe" is instrumental to them - This is Nagash's way of making himself the undead mob boss of all the Realms. Instead of just going out and killing shit to get their bones, the Ossiarchs give settlements a contract: Give up a set amount of bones whenever we stroll by, or face annihilation now. Understandably, most choose the former. Where the bones comes from and their quality doesn't matter; only that the Tithe is paid. Though, sometimes a particularly war-horny Leige will give impossible demands (such as detailed records of every bone in the city, including those still inside the living) or arrive early to [[That Guy|extract the Tithe just to get a good slaughter out of it.]] This all proves that, while Nagash is a pragmatic sort of fellow, he'll always find a way to be a [[Eldrad|huge skeletal dick about it.]]

==History==
When Nagash was helping Sigmar build his cities he secretly built massive underground crypts beneath them all that contained early versions of the Bonereapers, and nobody noticed until however fucking long its been since the start of the Age of Myth that there were crypts beneath them, despite knowing about and needed to defend against [[Skaven|enemies who specialize in creating massive complexes beneath your cities that they then invade from.]] Anyway, after the Necroquake, Nagash decided the time was right to wake up everyone beneath these cities, who (according to the most recent Stormcast) apparently marched back home, making them relatively pointless. In that respect, these tombs seem to mirror the Stormvaults Sigmar strewn about the Realms to contain various dangerous contraband like [[Katakros|a certain Mortarch]].

If all this smells like a retcon, that's because it is. To be fair, it would explain why Nagash was extra salty about being unable to get aelf souls, and what was meant by them being forged into more complex weapons of war (whether that was GW's original intention is anyone's guess).

Afterwards Nagash got back to his pet-project of making super-skellies, and once more decided to go through the process of distilling souls down to their most choice elements, and then putting the bits that remained in bone constructs. By doing so, he artificially created individuals who were warriors, leaders, bodyguards, artisans, architects, philosophers and sculptors all in one, [[Adeptus Custodes|which sounds a little familiar.]]

==Forces==
[[File:Immortis-WC2.jpg|right|500px|thumb|'''Angry Dooting Intensifies''']]

*'''Mortek Guard:''' Rank and file infantry of the Bonereapers. Well armored and shielded, and with the choice of swords or spears and optional greatswords as weapons.
*'''Necropolis Stalkers:''' Morghasts with an extra pair of arms in place of wings, three extra faces and their name's ripped from the Necropolis Knights and the Tomb Stalkers. Skeletal constructs the size of Kurnoth Hunters, each one has the soul of four warriors, and switches between which one is dominant, altering their fighting style accordingly.
*'''Immortis Guard:''' Four-armed <s>Grave Guard</s> <s>Tomb Guard</s> elite skellingtons armed with a halberd in one set of hands and a shield in the other.
*'''Kavalos Deathriders:''' Essentially bony Varanguard who serve Bone Daddy instead of the [[Archaon|Everchosen]]. Each one has the soul of dozens of warriors to draw on their knowledge and is proportionately arrogant.
*'''Mortek Crawler:''' Screaming Skull Catapult 2.0 with an obligatory patent-friendly rename. Also it’s powered by a bone-made hamster wheel.
*'''Morghast Harbingers:''' You know em, you love em. Nagash's original sculpted bone construct based on not-angels from the World-That-Was, serving as prototypes to the current regime of spoopy skeltals. Flying blenders armed with either halberds (take these) or twin swords (dont take these). These are you chargey bois.
*'''Morghast Archai:''' As above but these are your bodyguard bois.
*'''Gothizzar Harvester:''' A big monster construct with weapon hands and a four-armed skeleton for a codpiece that harvests bones and uses them to make new constructs on the fly.
*'''Mortisan Soulreaper:'''
*'''Mortisan Boneshaper:''' The healers of the Bonereapers.
*'''Mortisan Soulmason:''' Miniature Arkhans who are in charge of hunting and fusing souls for their various constructs. They ride into battle on bony [[Fyodor Karamazov|thrones with chicken legs]].
*'''Liege-Kavalos''': Field generals with skeleton mounts placed in charge of leading the Bonereaper armies. They are forged as a cruel mockery of Sigmar’s Lord-Celestant on Dracoth.

==Famous Legions==
*'''Mortis Praetorians''': The personal army of Katakros, created out of the souls of those he personally knew in life.
* '''Petrifex Elite''': Crafted from prehistoric fossilised bones, these soldiers are known for their dim-witted klutzy behaviors as well as being a near impenetrable wall of bone.
* '''Null Myriad''': These Bonereapers were built exclusively using the bones of the countless dead who helped construct Nagash’s Black Pyramid. They are a solemn yet prideful lot with high resilience to magic and were thus given to Arkhan to be his personal legion.
*'''Ivory Host''': Outwardly, they appear as honorable warriors, but hidden away in their bodies is a monstrous frenzy that turns them into clawing slathering beasts. Fitting considering they are constructed from beast and monster bones.
*'''Stalliarch Lords''': A cavalry centric force who like to make impossible demands so they have an excuse to raze cities. Basically [[That Guy]] as an undead legion.
*'''Crematorians''': These Bonereapers are burning with an internal fire to the point where some of them literally explode when killed. Some of them are only just starting to realise that they don't really have a purpose other than to fight and explode, and aren't too happy about that...

==Significant Skeletons==

* '''Orpheon [[Katakros]], [[Mortarch]] of the Necropolis''': In life he was the greatest strategic genius in all the Mortal Realms, and undeath has done nothing to dull his mastery of military tactics. He's been given a new body of enscrolled bone by Nagash himself which looks like a [[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure|JoJo stand]] rather than a skeleton. He goes into battle surrounded by various attendants.
*'''Arch-Kavalos Zandtos''': Both in life and in death, Patru Zandtos is Katakros’ most trusted lieutenant. A professional assassin turned general in life, he’s now a death-purist who wishes to “cleanse” Shyish of anything still living.
*'''Vokmortian, Master of the Bone-tithe''': The grim tallyman in charge of recording/judging the Tithe. He carries the severed heads of those foolish enough to refuse to pay the Tithe and has a coffin on his back, making him look like a giant beetle.
*'''[[Arkhan the Black]]''': Yeah, he's part of the army despite technically being just an "average" liche as opposed to a bone golem thing. Likely because apart from Nagash, he's the most privy to understanding how they are made without being one.

==Spooky Melodies for your Bony Boys==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk Spooky Scary Skeletons! a remix for a revamp]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHAX1K4sKQ The Dead March returns for AoS!]

==See Also==

*[[Nagash]], their god whom they give their undisputed loyalty to (yes, really!)

{{Template:Playable Factions in Warhammer: Age of Sigmar}}

[[Category:Age of Sigmar]]

Bioware

2019-10-31T14:27:56Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Mass Effect: Andromeda */

{{/vg/}}
[[Image:Orig 320200 1 1257581825.png|750px|center|thumb|Remember, class, templates are the beginning of truth, not the end of it. (In other words, take it to the Discussion tab, James!)]]

A major computer game studio primarily driven by two lead designers; their names are Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V.

One of the most popular RPG game makers of modern day, making titles such as Baldur's Gate , Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. At one point they were working on making a [[Warhammer Fantasy]] MMORPG. Have been brought under the heel of EA Games, resulting in a mass exodus of staff and new staff were brought in to fill the gap, but for now there's still life left in them.

They're currently working on games like Dragon Age 4 and weighing up the future of the Mass Effect franchise.

The company is possibly full of xenophiles, going by Star Wars: the Old Republic and Mass Effect, and family is a recurring theme in their works (especially daddy issues).

==The Rise of Bioware==
Founded by three Canadian doctors in the 90s, Bioware didn't start out publishing RPGs. In fact, it ''started'' doing medical software, before the founders decided to act on their mutual passion for games. Their first game was a [[MechWarrior]]-style simulator game, with the serial numbers filed off. But the founders were all fans of tabletop RPGs, and their second game began life as an independent RPG, but publisher Interplay saw potential in it for hosting their next D&D game, and it became [[Baldur's Gate]], Baldur's Gate became history, and Bioware became renowned as the savior and shining new light for the CRPG.

==Bioware Games==

===Shattered Steel===
A MechWarrior 2 knockoff with less customizability and weirder enemies. No one, not even diehard Bioware fans and video game history nerds, cares about it, so moving on.

===[[Baldur's Gate]]===
The game, the legend, the start of it all. The title that single-handedly saved the CRPG genre from its gloomy slide into irrelevance and [[Blizzard|Diablo-clones]] with smart writing, clever dungeon design, and attempts to actually let the player role-play instead of just throwing in tons of mindless hack-n-slash. Uses a cutdown version of [[AD&D|Second Edition AD&D]] rules, and is generally regarded as one of the best things about the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. A recent "Enhanced Edition" remake brought it more in line with the sequel, graphics and gameplay-wise, and is well worth a look for the curious.

===MDK2===
This, this is an outlier to everything Bioware was making at the time, considering they were focused on making RPG's with a tight connection to their tabletop counterparts and this is a Run 'n' Gun Third Person Action Adventure Shoot 'em Up.

It is surprisingly good.

===Baldur's Gate II===
The second game, the even more legendary legend. From dating your adventuring co-workers to taking the piss out of the situation in dialogue, if you love Bioware's stuff it probably has its origin here. Also a pretty badass follow-up/finish to the saga of the first game, and using a fuller set of the game's rules. Don't play it first, you'll fucking ''ruin'' the original for yourself. Recently got an "Enhanced Edition" too, following in the footsteps of the first.
====Baldur's Gate II: Siege of Dragonspear====
Brand new expansion from the developers of the Enhanced Edition, complete with the ''entire'' cast from the original 20-odd years later. Composed entirely of skub; see the main article for details.

===Neverwinter Nights===
On the one hand, the story and characters are generally regarded as forgettable at best. On the other hand, a pretty good recreation of [[Dungeons & Dragons|3rd Edition]] rules in video game form, and enough fan-made modules and content to make that last complaint rather moot. If you want to try the official stuff, read a summary of the core game and play the "expansion" stories instead (''Shadows of Undrentide'' and ''Hordes of the Underdark''), which start from level one, tell a continuous story, and have Deekin, who is one of the best things about the game.

===Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic===
One of the first [[Star Wars]] RPGs ever made, KOTOR received widespread praise and acclaim for its complex story and well-written characters, including one of the most famous twists in gaming history. Gameplay-wise, a mostly-fun conversion of [[Dungeons & Dragons]] rules into the Star Wars universe. Faggots will complain about "binary moral choice" systems because that's the trendy thing to do right now, but it broke ground at the time for actually ''incentivizing'' roleplaying and staying in character in a way few other games had before. Sure, the villain's a bit lame, the finale is just an endless swordfight against armies of piss-easy droids, the level cap's way too low considering the levels you can accidentally essentially waste before you can become a jedi, but on the other hand, ''holy shit I can slice through an army with a lightsaber''. To this day, often held up as one of the best things about the Star Wars brand as a whole.

===Jade Empire===
Kung-fu ''wuxia'' action brawler glued to a pretty sweet story with ''another'' great video game twist that plays with the "formula" mentioned above more than the chart would suggest. Bioware's first original role-playing setting was something of a sleeper, not selling in great numbers compared to previous efforts, due in part to cutbacks and restraints, but in the present day is well-regarded by most players. If you haven't tried it, give it a whirl. If nothing else, it's a rare RPG that lets you [[Fist of the North Star|punch someone's pressure points until they explode in a shower of gibs]].

===Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood===
...Yeah, it happened. Story's okay, the character writing is a highlight, and the gameplay mechanics are at the very least quite creative, but the soundtrack is a goddamn ''abomination'', balance is a distant dream on both sides of the screen, and there's just not enough content to justify its existence. Better than the average 3rd party ''Sonic'' title, but... well, that's not exactly a high bar to clear. And the plot ends on a blatant sequel hook that will never amount to anything.

Behind-the-scenes development drama is the chief culprit: Bioware started out on the title as a bit of a passion project for one of the founders, but after working with Sega turned out to be a pain, Ken Penders kicked up a lawsuit against both SEGA & EA, and ''Dragon Age'' started looming on the horizon, they ultimately rushed the whole thing out under the door partway through to fulfil their contract and breezed away, never looking back.

===Mass Effect===
A cosmic horror story-space opera with much potential; handled properly from start to finish, it could have been to video games what Star Wars is to movies and Star Trek is to television. Despite being a flagship franchise of Bioware, the series ended up being a microcosm of the company's gradual rise and fall.

====Mass Effect 1====
The first game in the series was excellent, with top-notch characters, setting and story. The player character is Commander [insert custom name here] Shepard, a skilled soldier that nearly everyone calls Shepard, whose customization goes right through to their backstory, love life and gender. Humanity is new to the scene and wants more of a say in the galactic community; [[Skub|some aliens support this, others think humanity is too greedy/selfish/domineering/impatient/etc]]. Said aliens include the asari (always female blue-skinned space elves, with head crests instead of hair and ears, who can move objects with their minds and are oversexed in-universe and among the fans), the turians (a dutiful race of avian/reptilian humanoids with a militant culture and carapaces who were the first to make contact with humanity), the salarians (skinny, quick-thinking, short-lived amphibious lizard people with a talent for espionage), the quarians (spacefaring, tech-savvy humanoids with full body envirosuits and weak immune systems living in exile; the sole member who appeared in the first game became [[Love Can Bloom|one of the franchise's most beloved characters]]) and more. While Shepard is undergoing assessment for joining a group of galactic peacekeepers called the Spectres by protecting a human colony under attack, the leader of the attack, a human-hating rogue member of said peacekeepers, shows up. He murders Shepard's mentor, having allied with the attacking robot race using an ancient machine for his own ends... but there is MUCH more to the situation than meets the eye (the mission where we see the entire story shift from an action Space Opera to a [[Yog-Sothothery|Cosmic Horror Story]] is EXCELLENTLY DONE).

The presentation... not so much; the graphics and gameplay could be awkward, clunky, and even glitchy at times (ie; sniper rifles have a large hit area where even an intentional close miss would somehow result in a hit, seemingly joint-less ragdolls that often resulted in everyone being in bone-breaking positions even while alive, periodically lulzy physics that can sometimes unintentionally impede your progress, the unpatched overheating bugs that potentially rendered non-soldier classes utterly weaponless... you get the picture). It was still good. There were plenty of interesting side missions to do, most of the characters had decent development so you could like/hate them better (Hell even the side characters were given brief but good backstories), it had a lot of RPG elements that made RPGs lovable, tech and especially biotic powers were hella-fucking-balls fun to use because they were geared towards being more overpowered but mad fun to throw around instead of being stringently balanced (Like in ME2. ME3 worked a bit to make powers more fun.), and overall you had more control of how you want your Commander Shepard to be through dialog and actions (ME2 gave you slightly less control though it introduced "interrupts" where you push a button to trigger an alternate scene, such as "hug Tali" or "kill jerkass mercs". ME3 made it worse).

There was a gripping DLC mission, "Bring Down the Sky" which involved stopping an anti-human Batarian terrorist from using an asteroid to destroy the human colony of Terra Nova. Of course, while you did have to pay for it in the past (Now it's free), Bring Down the Sky had very little in the way of the story as a whole, so even if you missed out on it, you aren't really missing out on the plot. But then, EA realized this wouldn't make them money, so they turned up the antee in ME2 and Emperor damn them in ME3 for literally making all the important plot-points DLC. It also had "Pinnacle Station," which... existed. (Its smoldering wreckage can be scanned in ME3, an apology to all the fans who bought it.)

Also famous for the indestructible (until you meet a Thresher Maw)-flying-almost-impossible-to-control-never-run-out-of-ammo-but-only-hits-shit-15%-of-the-time-and-then-gives-you-no-XP armoured exploration vehicle, the MAKO.

====Mass Effect 2====
Mass Effect 2 was a great game, arguably the best of the series (according to fans and critics alike). However, while presentation and gameplay improved it did (debatably) show a drop in character and mission quality compared to the first game; though given how high the first set the bar the second was still good on these counts.

To be fair, ME1 had lots of characters, and it's the job of a good sequel to continue the story while fleshing out existing characters and introducing new ones. ME2 accomplished both, though some characters were better developed than others. At the very least, your squadmates get the full package on character development. Also, something many gamers overlook, there's a limit to much data you can put on a disk and ME2 still required TWO DISCS to fit in all the content (not counting DLC) in a day and age where that kind of thing was not often done anymore. This game also introduced several more alien races such as the Drell (fish/reptile people who live on the Hanar homeworld when they overpopulated theirs), the Vorcha (goblin-like aliens who can re-generate and live on average only 20 years) and the Yahg (big, burly aliens with eight eyes, a pack mentality and armor-plated bodies).

The other shift in direction was that gunfights were ''heavily'' given emphasis, a good chunk of which went in the wrong direction. Long story-short they reduced the effectiveness of power-heavy classes (mostly the adept) by making them largely redundant in the face of combat classes in higher difficulties. As a consolation prize, some classes got nifty new powers related to their class such as [[Awesome|controllable "Bullet Time" for soldiers, Predator-style invisibility tech for Infiltrators and the biotic charge for Vanguards]].

There was quite a change of scope of the story: where ME1 had a mystery to solve and a villain to beat, in ME2 it is your goal to assemble an elite team of the galaxy's best mercenaries, criminals, and specialists to stop a race of aliens called the Collectors abducting humans from their colonies (the Collector's motivation is pretty epic, but explaining that would be a spoiler reveal). You're forced to work with an extremist organization from the first game, who are financing your mission and are certainly not planning to betray you when you're no longer useful. The main story is told via a series of side missions that are flung at you now and then (up to a mission aboard a certain derelict where things progress more as an RPG should), but the game keeps telling you that you ABSOLUTELY NEED these people and should recruit them all to improve your chances of survival (some [spoiler: such as your returning two squadmates from the first game] ARE essential, others not so much). Then again, as a character-focused story, some of the best parts of the game came from going on "loyalty" missions with the crew on adventures to different corners of the galaxy, and the "fragmented" nature of the main plot, almost as a side effect, gives the player immense freedom in choosing what order to do them in.

Of course, in regards to DLC, EA ''really'' left their mark. While the minor DLCs (Weapon and armor sets, an old veteran merc out for revenge and a [[Blood Ravens|master thief]] as squadmates, plus an optional story that involves you trying to shut down a rogue AI/Human hybrid before it sets off a technological apocalypse) were decent, EA took three things that should have been in the original game and rendered them DLC: being able to drive vehicles (A hover-IFV this time) in short side missions and two stories that heavily influence the plot of the next game (Liara taking over the Shadow Broker's position and a mission to hinder the Reapers' arrival). Overall however, if you don't mind those 3 things, ME2 is still full of boundless amusement from the immersive setting and multitude of ways you can approach the story.

====Mass Effect 3 (The Downfall)====
Mass Effect 3, while it had some good elements, like stream-lining combat, was a big step down from the first two Mass Effect games. Some of the biggest complaints are that it trivialized several choices from the first two games, such as whether or not you chose to xenocide a race in ME1 and whether or not you went the traditional or progressive route with a Krogan squadmate in ME2. Also, story-essential characters were reduced to DLC. The first was the sole-survivor of a race thought to be extinct and even then, said character should have been included in the game by default anyway (especially since a lot of the character was on the disc). The second was the remnants of the Reapers' creators, who you were forced to ally with despite the fact that they were obviously evil (They could control the minds of entire populations, [[Eldar|saw themselves as the apex species and everyone else being inferior to them]], and had a massive God complex. Their MO was [[Vlad von Carstein|"serve us willingly or serve us via mind control"]]. Never mind the fact that their own creation bit them in the ass and caused this whole Reaper problem). Surprisingly the game never addresses the fact that, once the Reapers are defeated, their creators will try to take over the galaxy again, something the previous games would have addressed. The most hated part was a sub-par ending that caused massive complaints from players for leaving literally all the plot threads hanging. However, these problems with the third game were because [[EA|most of the development team for the first two games (including several of the writers and head writer Drew Karpyshyn) quit partway through developing the second game/did not return to work on the third game. Their reasons for this were internal strife with Bioware as they were subsumed into EA, conflicts of interest and disagreement over the direction they wanted the story to go]].

Apart from all that bullshit, the gameplay from ME 2 was finetuned to something pretty fun to play (tho still lacking the depth of a true RPG), including melee, new weaponry and powers, and while widely assumed to be an unneeded addition, the multiplayer 'Horde Battles' did have a few good things, like being able to be a fucking Krogan Warlord with a four-meter long Thunderhammer and a cranky temper, or simply win any Bronze game automatically by playing a Geth Prime. A few characters were added and old ones came back, being generally pretty well written, or fucking amazing, if playing the Citadel DLC, and small things, like the "I'm in the middle of some calibrations." social bullshit was removed and made more interactive with the crew. These points are, however, only a few shining lights compared to the black holes of failure the above paragraph details, and are generally not mentioned when discussing ME 3 - And often for good reason.

After the game was released Bioware eventually caved in and produced a free replacement DLC ending that made a bit more sense (and even then the ending is still bollocks and still made little-to-no sense when you add up your whole journey from ME1 to ME3. It did very little to explain the fates of the people and races you met and nothing at all about how the plot as a whole ended up, and ultimately came off as a passive-aggressive jab at their fanbase for daring to want actual closure to the trilogy). Some argue that the series devolved into a Gears of War clone with more dialog options, complete with multiplayer mode. Bioware is making some new game in the franchise, but many say that the main plot of the original trilogy was not resolved well, and said resolution is so broad and ambiguous as to make a new game's story... difficult, to say the least; then again, as mentioned before, the change in plot and quality was due to disagreements and rearranging of the games development team. This hasn't stopped them from announcing work on a sequel anyway.

====Mass Effect: Andromeda====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
[[Chaos Spawn|That-which-does-not-exist]] is the cursed spoiled child of the franchise; [[Alpha Legion|its legacy is so bad that the wider fanbase does not acknowledge it exists]]. Expand at your own risk.

tl;dr: It's like Halo with the Mass Effect name plastered on but without subtlety, good writing or good animation.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
After years attempting to essentially build ''No Man's Sky'' inside the Frostbite engine, the old devs got shuffled away, new devs were brought in, handed a pile of assets, and ordered to slap something together and shove it out under the door in a year and a half to recoup costs. Naturally, this went about as well as the last time they tried it.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is an intergalactic travel/space soap opera plot shoehorned into the story of the original trilogy. You play as a member of the Ryder family, made (in)famous by Alec Ryder, a former war hero and Pathfinder for humanity who was blacklisted from the military for making the illegal AI SAM. There is also his deceased (spoiler - actually terminally ill and cryogenically frozen) wife and his adult children, who are male/female twins the player chooses from for the player character. Alec and a group of rich individuals pooled money and resources to build Ark ships and a knock-off the Citadel called the Nexus to go colonize the Andromeda galaxy (also to escape the Reapers, but that's classified in-universe. At the meta level, even though there are closer galaxies, the devs chose Andromeda because it's the most well-known galaxy besides the Milky Way). During the six century journey, massive amounts of [[Not As Planned]] occur - everyone arrived at different times, the multi-species quarian ark went M.I.A. and humanity arrived last with the human Ark sustaining damage and the non-PC twin rendered comatose. The Earth analog planet chosen for humanity to settle turned out to be uninhabitable for humans, when exploring it you made contact with hostile aliens and after an accident Alec dies saving the player character, who gets SAM implanted in their head and becomes humanity's new Pathfinder.

Throughout the story, the Milky Way races deal with all the socio-political and mental baggage they brought with them from the Milky Way while trying to establish new homeworlds. Along the way, the Initiative meets and interacts with alien races or their technology native to Andromeda. The first are [[Halo|Forerunner]]-expies called the Jaardan who don't appear in the game, but built artificial planets and may have left behind a [[Eye of Terror|semi-solid energy cloud]] that attacks anything near it, is attracted to certain types of technology [[Grimdark|and can shatter planets]]. The second are overemotional furless lizard-cat people with genetic memory called the angara, who struggle to trust aliens after their first contact (with the following race) went badly. The third are the hostile aliens encountered earlier; [[Doctor Who|Dalek]]/[[Halo|Covenant Empire]]-expies called the kett, rocky-looking aliens who worship a scientific genetic assimilation process around which they built an expansionist, eugenicist cult. They're one-dimensionally [[Stupid Evil]] and blatant negative allegories of various beliefs and ideologies in real life led by a villain called the Archon whose the ultimate example of the kett's poor writing. Unlike evil races of games' past (such as Mass Effect's geth or Dragon Age's Darkspawn), the kett aren't really analyzed or given anything more.

The characters are almost all two-dimensionally nasty (such as practically every kett), lacking (such as Addison) or divisive (such as Peebee). Even the rare exceptions (such as Vetra) are watered-down versions of characters from the original trilogy, and were it not for that lack of good characters, the soap opera feel might have been forgiven. The few interesting characters barely get fleshed out, such as Bain Massani, son of the bounty hunter Zaeed Massani from the original trilogy's second game DLC, and a few characters from the original trilogy make hard-to-find cameos. Some interesting plot threads with characters and factions are hinted at, such as the disappearance of the quarian Ark ship (later resolved in a novel) and how not all kett support The Archon, but few get resolved and even fewer get resolved well.

The voice acting varies from good to terrible, though the latter outweighs the former along with several poorly written lines; such as the infamous "my face is tired", "I think I really pissed that one off. Maybe because I shot him in the face!" and "...I swear, we're the galactic good guys". There are also many glitches, bugs and instances of sloppy animations such as infamously bad facial expressions and running. Good animation is there (good luck finding it under all the derp though) and the environments while lacking in uniqueness are visually appealing and very open. The combat engine was functional and it probably would have made a good multiplayer, but that's arguably a kiss of death for a CRPG series. And since this is a Bioware game written after 2014, the writers made the mistake of pandering to the various -isms that it's in vogue to pander to right now, especially since at least two key members of the dev team, including a leading writer, were avowed [[SJW]]s - but as was typical of the 'checklist' approach to representation, [https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/03/underwhelming-gay-romance-options-in-mass-effect-andromeda-disappoints-many-fans/ some people STILL complained] and got [http://blog.bioware.com/2017/06/06/mass-effect-andromeda-patch-1-08-notes/ even more tone-deaf pandering in response].

As far as actual gameplay goes, Andromeda is halfway decent, though quite uninspiring and mediocre at times. One of the few positives is that it takes a more open-world approach similar to the first Mass Effect, as opposed to the less appealing corridor-heavy sequels. The crafting system from the third game returns, along with a mining system that allows wider item access to party members. The combat is fairly solid, if lacking the usual ME polish, with a good amount of depth added by a short-range jump pack and the inclusion of previous classes' abilities and passive skills based on the specialization tree chosen. Even without the controversy, neither gameplay nor story is strong enough to carry each other, and far from up to the usual Bioware standard where it matters.

In closing, the game devs tried to push and capitalize on progressive narratives in a ham-fisted way, neglected to tend to the actual game, and failed miserably on both ends. In addition, the game was ''so'' widely panned that [http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/mass-effect-andromeda-is-officially-so-bad-it-killed-a-studio it caused EA to liquidate the game's development studio, not even 6 months after its release] and [http://mashable.com/2017/08/19/mass-effect-andromeda-story-dlc-officially-cancelled/#nrgDvEJVpmqH caused EA and Bioware to discontinue all support for the single player campaign and focus on multiplayer]. EA, already in the midst of subsuming Bioware, has pretty much given up on its lifeless corpse ''not even half a year after release'' due to the game being so subpar and fierce backlash from fans and critics alike.
</div>
</div>

===Dragon Age===
The Dragon Age series is a more blatant example of this degradation.

====Dragon Age: Origins====
The original, Dragon Age: Origins, was a game six years in the making, which shows in good ways (immense depth and craft to the situations encountered) and bad (wonky graphics that looked worse than ''Mass Effect'''s, despite coming out nearly a year later.). While far from being the grimdark spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate that Bioware hyped it as, the story of Dragon Age: Origins was above average and possessed an interesting character creation mechanic where your background changed numerous parts of the storyline.

The premise is that your character is a Grey Warden, one of the last of a legendary order of guardians in the world, and the story takes place on the continent of Thedas ('''The''' '''D'''ragon '''A'''ge '''S'''etting) in a nameless world. Start your adventure by picking your race as a Human, Elf, or Dwarf, then your class as a Warrior, Mage, or Rogue. The story begins with an explanation of the Blight and the Darkspawn who both caused it and arose from it according to Scriptures from the in-universe religion Andrastianism (a deistic religion centered around a woman called Andraste, whose essentially a combination of The Virgin Mary, Jesus, Muhammad and Joan of Arc). Darkspawn are Orc-like beings similar to Tolkien Orcs who were mutated by a contagious supernatural corruption (which may or may not be a divine punishment) and are also described as a "living plague". This living plague is said (and confirmed in future games) to have originated from a group of mages who entered the Fade (a spirit realm like the [[Warp]] but easier to enter and safely leave) who entered the Golden City (Dragon Age's version of Heaven) then tried and failed to overthrow the Maker (Dragon Age's version of God - whose existence is being kept deliberately ambiguous by the writers). The mages actions turned it into the Black City, a place so dangerous no one who goes there comes back out and [[Malal|even demons avoid it]] and according to the Chantry (Dragon Age's Catholic Church analogue for the religion Andrastianism) this was a punishment from the Maker.

The Darkspawn are normally roving bands, but sometimes they rally under one leader, an archdemon - ancient powerful spirits taking the physical form of dragons, and when this happens it causes an invasion/natural disaster/epidemic called a Blight. During the first one, after much trial and error the Grey Wardens were created and successfully stopped the first Blight by killing the Archdemon leading it and have been a revered order of protectors ever since. However, history along with political and religious differences have divided the peoples of the world and do so between each Blight, and things seem to be coming to a head in the first game. You play through the intro which establishes who you are and what your lot in life is and varies based on what you made your character, then the life you knew gets upended in various grimdark ways (ranging from being the elf who killed a human noble for raping your friend to being a Dwarf prince who gets back-stabbed by your younger brother), you prove your mettle and get inducted into the Grey Wardens to stop the Darkspawn in the human kingdom of Ferelden. Things later go really pear-shaped when the king's general/father-in-law abandoned him to die in battle then framed the Grey Wardens for his death, making Ferelden's best hope outlaws or exiles. While the nations are threatened by a Blight and most of the realms are engulfed in civil war, you have been chosen to unite the shattered lands and slay the current archdemon once and for all.

The character development was good - there are some squadmates who are optional but have fully-fleshed out stories and character arcs. Evidence that things were starting to fall apart were obvious right when you met the questgiver who forced you to buy a DLC pack if you actually wanted to do the quest, but only after giving you the sales pitch. The "expansion pack" Awakening wasn't too bad either, at least if you ignored the fact that it had been visibly rushed and was loaded with gamebreaking bugs.

====Dragon Age II====
The most tragic game on the list. A perfect storm of wrongheaded design and corporate mismanagement, Dragon Age II was dead on arrival - the story veered from one plot thread to the next without any rhyme or reason while being completely disconnected to the previous game, most of the characters were either idiots, one-dimensional, or just plain unlikable, and both clearly put trying to be "different" and "unconventional" on a pedestal over being good. [[Star Trek#Films|'Cause it worked sooo well in ''Generations'', right?]] Gameplay was the worst kind of busywork, consisting of [[Dawn of War 2|running through the same not-even-reskinned maps over and over again]], pressing the same buttons to do the same things to the same generic enemies as they teleport in out of nowhere. All these problems might've been ironed out as development went on, if not for the fact that their [[EA|corporate overlords]] had them rushing the game out in '''less than a year''', in their endless quest to have ''all'' their properties work like the Madden and FIFA games they're used to bankrolling. And when, thanks to ''their'' interference, the game under-performed, EA promptly scrapped the expansion they were building to wrap up the dangling, jangling plot threads.

The game can be skipped entirely without missing anything; the narrator appears again in the third game and summarizes all of the important parts in one conversation. It's actually sort of the point of the story that despite Hawke and company winning every battle they were subsumed by greater forces, everything in their lives falls apart anyway, and nothing they did had any lasting effects.

====Dragon Age: Inquisition====
Dragon Age: Inquisition picked things up... a little. It's certainly the best Bioware game for a while, but a lot of that is because literally everything about the game is risk-averse. Both the story and the gameplay are assembled from pure fantasy cliche and the [[grimdark]] city-based environmental art style prevelant in the previous two games has been replaced with a glorious [[noblebright]] mostly-outdoor setting. The storyline is based on the player character accidentally becoming the [[Mary Sue|Chosen One]] by accidentally picking up a shiny green thing which allows them to fix tears in the fabric of reality. The villain has some interesting implications about the lore of the setting, but the writers never really actually commit to any of that lore, preferring to have it remain as hearsay, and the villain becomes boringly one-dimensionally evil because of that. Gameplay-wise, Inquisition started as an MMO, and you can still feel the MMO influence; you explore about ten wilderness zones which are very large and pretty but have very minimal interaction, spend most of your time running fetch quests, and only hit story beats every three levels or so. Combat is a game of managing cooldowns and throwing particle effects everywhere.

That said, unlike some of the past games from Bioware's decline-and-fall period, Inquisition is actually fun to play. Most of the characters in your party are well-rounded (except for Vivienne and to a lesser extent Sera), there's a ridiculously large amount of party banter, and the romance quests actually feature involving character development instead of being something to add to the checklist. There's even some series-essential lore locked away in some of the romances (in particular, Solas's romance reveals absolutely vital information about the history of the Elven race). The gameplay, cliched and MMO-ey though it may be, is actually involving and fun at times, and the quest to hunt down all ten High Dragons is pretty awesome (as well as being pretty much the only way to get value-for-money from the game's otherwise superfluous crafting system; pretty much every piece of gear you can craft is outclassed by the loot you find from monsters, except for crafted items which use Dragon Bone, which are hilariously overpowered). Certainly not a great game, but it's quite good if you aren't overly sensitive to cliche.

*'''Alternate Opinion:'''
:: The above opinion is way too naive. If its an improvement, it's only because they hit rock bottom in the prequel and had nowhere else to go but up. Both the story and the gameplay are assembled from pure fantasy cliche and the grimdark city-based environmental art style prevalent in the previous two games has been replaced with a cookie-cutter outdoor setting that looks like it was directly copied from Skyrim. The storyline is based on the player character accidentally becoming the Chosen One by accidentally picking up a green orb which allows them to fix tears in the fabric of reality, and despite claims to the contrary the choices made in prior games have minimal impact; the fact that all of these choices can be preselected and modified via the use of an application released with the game causes the marketing of "your choices matter" to fall flat on its face. The villain was a character who was introduced in the DLC of Dragon Age 2, which will confuse everyone who didn't happen to <s>buy</s> pirate that particular DLC as his presence in the plot is never foreshadowed even though the player is expected to know who he is, and as stated above any of the larger implications he had for the lore aren't explored, reducing him to a Sauron-knockoff BBEG. Gameplay-wise, Inquisition started as an MMO, and you can still feel the MMO influence; you explore about ten wilderness zones which are very large and pretty but have very minimal interaction. Nearly every quest boils down to "get this crap for me", and the story progresses in fits and starts (and once again ends on a barely coherent cliffhanger where no plot threads are tied up UNLESS you get the dlc, because that worked so well with Mass Effect 3). Combat is a game of managing cooldowns and throwing particle effects everywhere.

::Most of the characters in your party are only marginally less one-dimensional than they were in Dragon Age 2, and the dialog can go from dull to pants-on head retarded ("You want to ride The Bull" comes to mind, among many others). The romance sidequests are often tacked-on and seem to cater mostly to yaoi/yuri fans who don't comprehend the fact the average player of a CRPG doesn't appreciate characters whose entire romance subplot can be summed up as "I'm homosexual, now let's buttfuck/scissor each other". The gameplay is copypasted from virtually every MMORPG there is, and while it's not as aggressively bad as Dragon Age 2 that's not saying very much. Overall, it's sad how a supposed successor to Baldur's Gate devolved into a shallow batch of cliches held together only by a colossal marketing budget.

====Dragon Age: The Dread Wolf Rises====
Bioware and EA have announced that there will be a fourth Dragon Age game, called the Dread Wolf Rises. It will revolve around the character from the previous game who has a vital role in the history of the elven race, and his plans for the elves and Thedas. The developers estimated its release to happen three years time from the game's announcement.

However, Dragon Age 4 has already generated massive amounts of [[Skub]]. Several key developers - including Narrative Director John Epler - made announcements on social media directly stating this game's story [[SJW|will be “political” and that it will be “celebrating our diversity and differences.”]] Even more worryingly, they've dropped lots of buzzwords surrounding EA's push to turn all their series into "live service" model games, supported for years, and right after their previous attempt to do so (see below) fell flat on its ass and died on arrival.

Terrified fans predict this could be the moment when EA finally puts poor Bioware's neck in the guillotine...

===Star Wars: The Old Republic===
{{Main|Star Wars: The Old Republic}}

TL;DR: Bioware aimed to develop an MMO combining the setting and story of KOTOR with the sprawling, open-world appeal of WOW. Delays caused by production caused Bioware to rush development of other games in order to meet fiscal targets. The game itself became more controversial with time as expansion stories seemed to take TOR further away from KOTOR than its 100-year timeskip had already done.

===Anthem===
Anthem is an online multiplayer action role-playing video game developed by Bioware. Everyone in Bioware has been put on this project, with many people saying this is the company's do or die game. The game was initially slated for a 2018 release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but this date was moved to February 2019. It is a [[Star Wars|science fantasy]] setting, where humanity has numerous civilizations on a planet that isn't Earth.

The story has some potential but is quite shallow, especially for a Bioware game. The planet Coda was created by mysterious beings called The Shapers, who some humans consider gods; they planned to make the world in nine days but vanished on day three, leaving everything incomplete and hostile (especially for humans). The only trace of them left is their technology which can access the titular "Anthem" of Creation, a mysterious reality-warping power which is like a combination of [[Star Wars|The Force]] and the [[Warp]]. At some point humanity was enslaved by blue aliens called Urgoth until a female former slave named Helena Tarsis freed them. A friend of hers invented suits of power armor, called "Javelins", which have jet packs, can go underwater and otherwise works like a cross between Iron Man's armor, a T'au battlesuit, and some aesthetics from Warframe. She formed a faction of [[Space Marine|power armor wearing soldiers]] called The Legion of Dawn and freed humanity, [[Horus Heresy|before The Legion of Dawn got split by infighting]] into The Freelancers, the Sentinels and The Dominion. The player character is a Freelancer, one of the groups who tried to stop the ruthless Dominion faction centuries ago but failed and accidentally allowed the destruction of the old city that Fort Tarsis, the location of the protagonist faction, was built over. Now they're considered a shadow of their former selves, reduced to being mercenaries taking jobs that require them to leave the city in hopes of atoning for their predecessors' failure. Then the Dominon attacked centuries later, at the behest of a man only known as The Monitor, to try and weaponize the Anthem to reclaim Coda for humanity, and the protagonist has to stop them (while helping random NPCs and fighting mobs of <s>cannon fodder</s> insectoid aliens called Scars along the way). Of course, [[Fail|almost none of this shit matters]] because the gameplay ultimately pushes the story to the margins; it's become a popular perception that Anthem is visibly trying too hard to be a Destiny-like game at the expense of fleshing out what could've been a decent plot with a little more time and care than Bioware could manage under EA's direction.

Development was rough, with rumors swirling that EA is deliberately putting Bioware in a no-win scenario where no matter what happens, the C-suite has an excuse to exercise more control over or liquidate the studio; given the amount of resources put on this project, if Anthem fails EA will actually take a major financial hit, so all in all Bioware may have become expendable by this point, while if it is a success it could mean supporting and making more games like it instead of the kinds of games fans love and want more of. Worryingly, several members of the dev team left during development, including the lead writer Drew Karpyshyn.

When Anthem reached the stage of a VIP "demo" (called such by Bioware/EA) released to certain players (which was made free, to their credit) the game ended up running into problems: The demo was swamped with loading problems and even suffered DDoS problems, an already shaky start for Bioware's/EA's possible "do or die" game; on the flipside the weapon options, controls and graphics are amazing, and showcased a chunk of the game's potential. It's just a shame that the many flaws, rampant monetization, and mandatory grind all do their best to cover up what specks of greatness might have been there.

By the point of release, Anthem received mediocre scores at best: with the game having 61 Metascore and 4.1 User score to date, developers promised a 90-day roadmap to fix the game. Of course this hasn't stopped the game from suffering a backlash, with many people disliking the final product for the sloppy release and squandered potential, and some others enforcing a boycott in order to slowly choke EA out of money. A common complaint is that this game lacks the deep and engaging characters and stories that originally made Bioware famous. Another problem is some of the side missions are story missions shorn of plot and repeated over and over. Time will tell if Anthem and Bioware can survive, but the prognosis has proven to be grim and the "roadmap" was abandoned. It also doesn't help the EA also released Apex Legends a month before, a free-to-play Battle Royale shooter game that takes place in the Titanfall universe that released to an overall better reception.

==Associated Games==
Often grouped with Bioware's games, and highlighted as the pinnacles of Bioware's talent, these games were actually made by other, completely-independent, studios: Black Isle Studios and Obsidian, both of which included lot of the same staff. These games used engines developed by Bioware and were licensed by shared publishers, which resulted in graphical and interface similarities. Thus, many players believe that they were made by Bioware when this was not the case.

* [[Planescape: Torment]]
* [[Icewind Dale]]
* Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
* Neverwinter Nights 2

Both of those last two were rushed out for Christmas, NWN2 with only around nine months development, resulting in whole chunks of the game missing and bugs out the ass. Obsidian wasn't allowed to patch either, though much of the lost content has since been restored by fans.

==The Decline of Bioware==
In 2007, Bioware was bought by [[EA]] and since then their games have been slowly declining in quality. It began between the release of the first Mass Effect game and Dragon Age: Origins (note how EA isn't shown in the opening credits for ME1). More on this can be found in the entries for those two franchises. Simultaneously, their games since have been characterized by rushed output, bullshit predatory business practices, and terribly prevalent DLC. Then the founders all left because it just wasn't fun anymore with the glowing eye of Jon Madden/Sauron looking over your shoulder and trimming away all the fat until only a skeleton was left. Followed, in the next few years, by most of the senior writing/production staff. Unfortunately, the people who stepped in, or were put forward by EA, to fill the gaps this mass exodus left tended to be incompetents, and it's shown in their later games such as Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda (see above for more details). They also have developed a rather nasty workplace, pushing their staff extra hard to work long hours to the point where it's causing them emotional and psychological harm. And, of course, EA relentlessly pushes for them to stop making the kinds of popular, deep, well-written single player RPGs that made them famous and that their fans want to play, and instead focus resources on heavily-monetized and monetizable looter shooters or multiplayer modes.

They haven't yet been sucked bone dry and thrown on the pile like so many other studios "acquired" by the Men From Redwood City yet, but everyone knows it's coming. [http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/mass-effect-andromeda-is-officially-so-bad-it-killed-a-studio With EA liquidating their Montreal-based Bioware studio, it looks like the clock is one minute closer to midnight for Bioware.]

So in short, if you want a good Bioware game, look to the past.

Baldur's Gate (Games)

2019-10-31T14:07:07Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Introduced in BG2 */

{{/vg/}}
[[Image:Baldur's Gate.PNG|thumb|right]]'''Baldur's Gate''' is a fucking awesome series of [[Advanced_Dungeons_and_Dragons#AD.26D_2nd_Edition|2e]] [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[CRPG]]s based in the [[Forgotten Realms]] [[campaign setting]]. They were made by [[Bioware]] between 1998 and 2001, and comprise four games in total; ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'', and their respective expansions ''Tales of the Sword Coast'' and ''Throne of Bhaal''. The games follow the story of a Bhaalspawn (the player's character) as they discover their identity and have to deal with both the effects it has on themselves and the threat of outside agencies who wish to use the player's character for their own goals.

The series uses the isometric [[Infinity Engine]] common to many of Bioware's titles, also used in such games as [[Planescape: Torment]] and the [[Icewind Dale]] series. Alongside ''Planescape: Torment'', the series (especially ''BGII'') is regarded by many as one of the best CRPGs of all time. The games are notable for being remarkably freeform and presenting a wide variety of options for resolving the problems that are faced, as well as supporting virtually any sort of alignment the player character chooses. The choices available and sheer number of side-quests that can be undertaken provide a vast amount of replayability to the game.

The games are also known for the great amount of dialogue and conversation options available, especially in ''BGII'', where [[NPC]] party members frequently held conversations with the player and other NPCs in the world. These could range from hilarious (as in the case of [[Edwin]] or [[Minsc]]) to darkly serious.

If even the vast options available in the vanilla games were not enough, dedicated players have access to a wide variety of user-made mods that have been produced for the game, which vary in scope between fixing bugs in the game and improving AI to adding entirely new potential NPC party members complete with their own dialogue and quests. There are even conversions that allow for porting the ''Baldur's Gate'' content into the visually superior ''BGII'' interface - useful considering ''BGI''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s inability to support a higher resolution than 640x480.

Some crazy bastards in the early 2010s actually managed to get the rights to officially create an updated version to both games, and to Icewind Dale. Known as the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Editions, these can now be bought off of Steam and downloaded; they come with a lot of fixes, including a bunch of new characters. While there's some skubbery about how good a job they did (the lack of support for the popular, semi-official "Ascension" mod is a particular bone of contention), most agree they're well worth getting for the history alone. Both games include a bonus campaign, respectively titled ''The Black Pits'' and ''The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay'', in which you create your own party from scratch and fight enemies from throughout the series in gladiatorial arenas you've been abducted to fight in while seeking ways to escape your confinement.

They also released an expansion to the original ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Siege of Dragonspear'', even managing to get almost the entire old voice cast back for the job, more than two decades after the fact. While a few one-off characters led to bloody bare-knuckle brawling between the [[SJW|usual]] [[/pol/|suspects]], at the end of the day, it was a pretty decent one. Even featured a brand new character class, the Shaman, which is basically a druid-y sorcerer. Or possibly a sorcerer-y druid. It's a divine caster with spontaneous casting, is what I'm getting at.

All that being said, there's also a mod for Neverwinter Nights 2, called Baldur's Gate Reloaded. It’s an entire port of BG1 to NWN2, carrying over all the voice acting and plot of that game whilst putting it in a 3D engine with a 3rd edition ruleset. It only came out a few months before Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, but has never got much coverage.

In late May 2019 Larian Studios (''Divinity'' series) launched [http://larian.com/ a teaser with a mysterious III logo] on their home page. The metadata for the logo says "BaldursGate_logo_III_retouched.png". No further details are confirmed, though [https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/1047967566168174592 Brian Fargo indicates it was in the works since at least late 2018] so there will likely be something to actually show when the actual announcement happens.

'''UPDATE''' 6/6/2019: The [https://youtu.be/OcP0WdH7rTs/ Trailer] has dropped. We're going back to the Forgotten Realms boys. WARNING: Do not watch if you have eaten less than 3 hours ago, unless you enjoy violently vomiting up all your food. You have been warned.

'''UPDATE''' 6/10/2019: At the PC Gamer Show, [[Mike Mearls]] confirmed that there will be a [[5E|5th Edition]] prequel adventure to the game, due out September 17th. It takes place about 100 years after Baldur's Gate 2, allowing players to catch up on what has been going on and setting up for the PC game proper. This adventure, ''Descent into Avernus'', released in September 2019.

==Storyline==
===Baldur's Gate===
You begin the game as an orphan raised in Candlekeep, a massive "fortress of knowledge" created by the faithful of [[Ohgma]] to preserve and store texts, tomes, manuals, scrolls and other forms of literary knowledge from across the [[Forgotten Realms]]. You were brought here as an infant by the [[wizard]] Gorion, and have never left the security of Candlekeep... until today. Amidst strange rumors of a mysterious "plague" that is afflicting iron in this region of the Sword Coast and a budding war between Baldur's Gate and Amn, Gorion instructs you to gather your belongings and leave, promising explanations once you have united with two friends of his: Jaheira and Khalid.

Unfortunately, he is struck down defending you against a mysterious assailant who ambushes you in the night; a hulking armored warrior who demands your life. At Gorion's instructions, you flee for safety, which he buys at the expense of his own life. You are left without any guidance at all, and alone save for the arrival of Imoen; your foster sister from Candlekeep. With no other purpose, you set about becoming [[adventurer]]s, and slowly unravel the mysteries of the "iron plague".

It turns out that the "iron plague" is a result of a ploy by a Baldur's Gate merchant house called the Iron Throne; having discovered a lost and flooded iron mine in the Cloakwood, they have restored it to functioning condition under the leadership of someone named "Sarevok" through the use of slave labor. Following Sarevok, they used [[kobold]]s to begin sabotaging the iron ore at Nashkel, the region's premier iron mine, and encouraged bands of bandits to begin plaguing the Sword Coast. Likewise, they have fed the rumors of impending war, hoping to profit from their dark deeds.

However, Sarevok has other plans. He had discovered that he is a [[Bhaalspawn]] - a demigodling created by [[Bhaal]], the God of Murder, as an insurance against his destruction during the [[Time of Troubles]]. The Iron Throne believes Sarevok seeks money - instead, he fully intends to plunge the Sword Coast into a bloody war on a massive scale, hoping to ascend and take his father's place as the new God of Murder.

This is why Sarevok sought your death. For you too are a Bhaalspawn. Once you discover this, you must unmask Sarevok's true role in the troubles plaguing Baldur's Gate, and then confront him for a final showdown in an ancient temple to Bhaal in the Undercity. But even as he dies, you can feel it in your bones that this is only the beginning...

====Tales of the Sword Coast====
The second game released in the original Bioware lineup, this glorified expansion pack to the original ''Baldur's Gate'' introduces four new major plots centered around two new areas on the world map; '''Ulgoth's Beard''' and '''Durlag's Tower'''.

'''Durlag's Tower''' is a sprawling dungeon complex erected by an epic-level [[dwarf]] adventurer as a personal home for himself and all his kinsfolk... unfortunately, rumors of his massive stash of treasure lured invaders, in the form of an army of [[doppelganger]]s directed by [[illithid]]s. Only Durlag survived, and the experience of being hunted through his own home by creatures wearing the faces of his wife, children and family left him unhinged. He turned the fortress into a maze of lethal traps and filled it with monsters, and it still remains a death-trap even now. Whilst there are two quests you can receive in Ulgoth's Beard that send you here, you can also come here on your own for a good old fashioned dungeon delve - especially because a "demon knight" has set up shop and is hoping to use the place as a base to launch a fiendish invasion of Faerun. It lies in the extreme south-east of the Baldur's Gate world map, close to the Firewine Bridge and Gullykin.

'''Ulgoth's Beard''' is a small fishing community to the northeast of Baldur's Gate proper. This is where the majority of the new quests introduced in the expansion pack are to be found:
* The local mage Shandalar will ask the player to retrieve his cloak... which entails him teleporting the player's party to a small, inhospitable island and navigating a dungeon full of imprisoned mages driven mad by isolation and hunger, forcing you to kill them all or be killed before he brings you back. He is the kind of guy who would make [[Elminster]] go "dude, you're a dick".
* A dwarf in the local tavern will ask you to recover a special dagger from Durlag's Tower. Said dagger gets you jumped by a bunch of cultists when you return, which causes the dwarf to admit that there's a [[nabassu]] stuck in that dagger. You have to fight your way into the basement of a nearby house and kill the cultists, but not before they release the [[demon]], resulting in a stupidly tough boss fight (he keeps respawning when killed so long as there are "Cult Guards" alive).
* A woman wants you to rescue her son, who went off to become an adventurer by exploring Durlag's Tower.
* A mysterious nobleman in a house near the docks wants you to undertake an expedition to an island he claims is the place where the legendary hero Balduran, the founder of Baldur's Gate, ran aground on his final voyage. This requires "acquiring" some sea charts from a merchant house in Baldur's Gate, and then a sea voyage... to an island infested with [[werewolf|werewolves]] and [[wolfwere]]s.

===Siege of Dragonspear===
This is not part of the original quadrilogy of games released by Bioware, but is instead an "interquel" to Baldur's Gate & Shadows of Amn created by Beamdog.

After the events of Baldur's Gate, you have become the hero of the titular city. So of course you are chosen to aid Baldur's Gate's army when Caelar Argent, a mad [[aasimar]] [[paladin]] on a mission to invade the Nine Hells of [[Baator]] begins leading a crusade that ravages the Sword's Coast, especially since it's rumored that she may also be a [[Bhaalspawn]]. And all the while, a mysterious hooded mage is spying on you, observing your efforts.

You eventually succeed in stopping the crusade, possibly even saving Caelar from the machinations of her treacherous right hand and getting her to help you undo some of the damage, but when you return, a murder you've been clumsily framed for, and the political machinations of the city's leaders, see you sent off into exile, with the same party you start the next game with.

All in all, not a ''bad'' interquel per say, but it loses major points for the hamfisted ending, which relies on the entire Baldur's Gate courts being skeptical of the idea that Gorion's Ward could have been mind-controlled into murdering somebody by an evil wizard... despite living in a world where A: wizards being able to control people is very common, and B: people '''know this happens'''. It just speaks of obviously wanting to shove "Drama!" into the story and being willing to ignore canon for the sake of it.

Also, it actually creates a continuity snarl: if you talk to Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc in the original Shadows of Amn game, they make it clear that Gorion's Ward went missing ''first'' and then they all got together to try and locate their missing friend, rather than being grabbed whilst actively adventuring together.s

===Shadows of Amn===
You awaken to pain, your memories cloudy, a prisoner in a dungeon overseen by an insane mage who torments you with hideous magical experiments. And then a battle rips through the dungeon. A woman comes to you; Imoen is her name, she tells you, a [[thief]] turned [[wizard]], and your foster sister from Candlekeep. You were abducted some time ago by the mage who has been tormenting you, and she led a band of [[adventurer]]s to your rescue, only to be captured. With the aid of the other survivors, Jaheira and Minsc, you set about escaping from your captor, fighting your way to the surface and discovering you were imprisoned beneath the streets of Athkatla, the capital city of Amn.

Unfortunately, Imoen's attempt to defend herself from your captor with a Magic Missile spell occurs ''just'' as the Cowled Wizards arrive on the scene, spiriting the two of them away for "public use of magic". To pursue them, you must reach the isle of Spellhold, where the Cowled Wizards imprison criminal and crazed magic-users of all sorts... there's just the little matter of building up the extravagant fee to get there first.

Once you arrive, you find your captor - Irenicus - has slaughtered the Cowled Wizards and taken over. He imprisons you again and rips out a portion of your soul, having already done the same with Imoen for his sister, a [[vampire]] named Bodhi - as it turns out, Imoen is also a [[Bhaalspawn]]! Absandoning you to die, the wizard leaves, forcing you to give chase. It will take traveling through the depths of [[Underdark]] before you can finally confront him, and learn the truth behind this whole mess.

As it turns out, Irenicus was originally an [[elf]] wizard who sought to become divine by stealing power from a sacred elven relic called the Tree of Life in the elven city of Suldanasellar. So, in a display of stunning stupidity, the elves punished him by ripping out a portion of his soul, effectively reducing him to a [[human]], and exiled him... '''without taking away his epic levels in wizard'''. (He was the elf queen's main squeeze, and she hoped he'd find redemption instead of further damning himself, but still. Damn.) Fueled by rage, he sought to absorb your soul to restore himself to his full power, after putting Imoen's into his sister who'd infected herself with vampirism to stay immortal, and now he wants to complete his original goal and become a god.

This leads, of course, to a climatic battle... and then you being dragged into a fiendish [[demiplane]], the last remnant of the realm of [[Bhaal]], to slay Irenicus a second time and finish him off once and for all.

====Watcher's Keep====
This is a dungeon complex similar to Durlag's Tower in Tales of the Sword Coast. It was introduced as part of the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack, but can be accessed during both a Shadows of Amn game and a Throne of Bhaal game.

During your adventures in Amn, you discover an ancient fortress turned dungeon, whose resident guardians beg you for help. The Watcher's Keep is used to imprison a powerful [[fiend]] - no less than [[Demogorgon]] himself! - but the wardings are starting to fail. Only you are powerful enough to have a chance to fight your way through the monsters and traps to reach the lowest level and restore the wardings to their full power... or slay the beast and banish it back to the netherrealms from whence it came.

===Throne of Bhaal===
The inevitable has come. The Five, a band of powerful [[Bhaalspawn]] have united, plunging the Sword Coast into a bloody war as the children of [[Bhaal]] seek each other out and slaughter each other, determined to be the last ones standing. And you have no intention of just rolling over and dying.

An unfortunately rushed expansion. Not unfinished or anything; just kind of unsatisfying. A semi-official mod put out by the game's creators, called "Ascension," adds a great deal of extra content.

==Characters==
The Baldur's Gate series is home to an ''enormous'' cast of characters. In general, the sequel's were more fleshed-out and popular than the first game's, save for, you know, those who went on to appear in the sequel.

===Introduced in BG1===
[[Bhaalspawn]] - Your Player Character, child of [[Bhaal]]. Sometimes referred to in-universe as Gorion's Ward, nicknamed "Charname" by the fandom after the ''character name'' variable used in dialog scripts. Very variable depending on how you play them, with seven possible races, a large variety of classes and class kits to choose from and the option of being ''anywhere'' on the Alignment spectrum. We do NOT talk about the atrocity that is "Abdel Adrian".

Imoen - A spunky, cheerful, whimsical female human [[thief]] who was raised at Candlekeep alongside the [[Bhaalspawn]]. Spied on the PC and Gorion when the latter made plans to retreat from Candlekeep and followed them out of loyalty to her best friend, the PC. Reappears in BG2 as one of your initial party members, she was originally planned to be killed off in the game by the developers, but they rewrote the plot when they realized how popular she was. Having [[multiclassing|dual-classed]] to [[Mage]] in the interim between games, she has been traumatized by the experiments of the mad wizard Irenicus, who gets her kidnapped by the Cowled Wizards and taken to Spellhold with him so that he can continue experimenting on her. She's ultimately revealed to be another Bhaalspawn, but one of lesser power and will than the PC, which might explain why ''you'' can't be raised from the dead but she can.

Jaheira - A tough, no-nonsense female half-elven Fighter/Druid; originally married to Khalid, a meeker half-elven fighter, she was one of Gorion's old friends and planned to help him smuggle the PC away to safety when he fled Candlekeep. In BG2, she is one of your initial party members, her husband having been murdered by Irenicus. This opens her up as a romance option. She's a member of the [[Harpers]]. Has rock-solid-but-not-incredible stats for both fighting and casting, and while she won't outdo any specialists, she fits into every party.

Kagain - A male Fighter dwarf, head of a mercenary company. Joins you to look for a caravan of his, but says "fuck it" and decides to help you adventuring instead. Evil-aligned, but it's more because he's grumpy and greedy than outright malice. With 20 constitution, he is the best tank in the entire game. Did not return in the sequels.

Khalid - A half-elven Fighter and Jaheira's wimpy, loser husband. Long resented for being a necessary component of any party with Jaheira in it despite being completely overshadowed in damage output by every other fighter, ranger, and paladin in the game, having a very low morale score that often sees him running for the hills, and only having decent-but-not-incredible tanking stats to make up for it. He also had no real personality besides being spineless and prone to talking like Porky Pig. There is some question as to whether or not this was due to his originally being intended as a fighter/mage, but changed back at the last minute. Is gratuitously and irreversibly killed off in the sequel (though admittedly in such a way that is consistent with the rules governing resurrection in the setting) to free up Jaheira for male Charnames, and in such a way that a lot of people who hated him still felt bad for he and her.

[[Minsc]] - A male human Rashemi Berserker (though mechanically he's a ranger with a unique ability that mimics the berserker kit's) who came to Baldur's Gate looking for the chance to kick butt for goodness in the company of his [[witch]], Dynaheir. He's one of your initial party members in BG2, as he and Dynaheir joined Jaheira and Khalid in looking for the PC and Imoen after Irenicus abducted them. Dynaheir's death left him even loopier. Fortunately, his animal companion, a miniature giant space hamster (who may or may not [[Spelljammer|be just that]]) named Boo, is there to steer him properly. ''Easily'' the most popular character in the series, for his gloriously-hammy voice acting, wacky but endearing personality, and just being a very fun guy to have around, hence his getting his own spin-offs. Modern audiences have a slightly more complicated relationship with him, though, with some viewing him as an overrated one-trick pony who keeps getting whored out to sell Forgotten Realms crap to an audience too shallow to recognize his flaws. Which interpretation is valid depends on whether you like his personality gimmicks; if you do, you're pretty much set, but if you don't, he'll be little more than a pain in the arse. Also, his berserk ability makes him uncontrollable and prone to [[Kharn|attacking other party members]], so use with caution.

[[Edwin]] - An arrogant exiled male human Red Wizard of [[Thay]], beloved by the fans for his endless snark and delusions of grandeur, as well as being the best wizardly party member a player can get. Has a silly subplot in the second game about ''trying'' to gain ultimate arcane power as a [[lich]], only to end up becoming a woman.

[[Viconia de'Vir]] - A renegade female [[drow]] [[cleric]] whose path crosses the PCs in both the first and second game. Tends towards throwing mean-spirited insults at almost everyone else in your party, but to Charname she alternates between being kind of nice and a total bitch at times, like that "sun-dear" thing your weeaboo friends keep going on about. The origin of all sexy-but-morally dubious-and-dangerous Bioware women who are actually not so bad deep down, such as Morrigan and Isabela from Dragon Age or Jack and Miranda from Mass Effect. Another potential love interest character, but we probably didn't need to tell you that. Her only major weakness is her very low strength score; equip some kind of item that sets it nice and high for her (like a Belt of Giant Strength or Gauntlets of Ogre Power) so she can wear heavy armor, and her incredible magic resistance and dexterity scores will make her a fantastic tank. On top of that, her good wisdom and pure-caster status make her one of or ''the'' best clerics in any game she's in.

===Introduced in BG2===
Mazzy Fentan - A female [[halfling]] [[fighter]] who worships Arvoreen, the halfling warrior god, with such fervor that she is as close to being a [[paladin]] as AD&D 2e rules allow. (Namely, through getting a bunch of unique powers that mime those of a pally.) Doubles as walking proof that Halflings can get shit done too and a critique of the race/class restrictions of the edition she was born into, what with Paladins being a humans-only option and all. Well-liked for being something other than the stereotypical stupid/timid/goofy halfling thief in an edition that was rife with those, and for having a bunch of fun interactions with the rest of the cast. Was voiced by Jennifer Hale, who ironically later voiced both [[Samus]] and [[Bioware#Mass Effect|the female Commander Shepard.]]

Haer'dalis - Male [[tiefling]] bard and a [[Planescape|doomguard]]. Was considered as a romance option for females but it never went anywhere. Has a lot of good voice acting and witty lines. Likes to nickname the party by calling them animals. As he has a Bard kit designed for frontline combat (Blade), he is considered much more viable than the Garrick and Eldoth, the playable bards from the first game. Sheds some interesting light on another ''D&D'' setting.

Keldorn Firecam - Rugged, world-weary but still badass male human [[paladin]]. His class kit, Inquisitor, is designed to help with fighting mages, which makes him very, very useful because mid-to-high-level enemy mages are a complete pain in the ass. Popular among the player base the latter reason, for having solid stats and being able to use a really powerful two-handed sword called Carsomyr, which basically makes him a monster in close-combat, but comes with two major caveats: one, he'll refuse to be in a party with, if not actively try to kill, a number of useful but Evil-aligned potential party members, which may make you want to just make your ''own'' paladin if you want an Inquisitor that much; two, there are several moments in the game where he'll either leave the party or ''turn his blade on you'' if you take the evil path in a quest, and that's if he doesn't force you to take the good path. His personal quest is well-regarded for being more about roleplaying and moral dilemmas than meat-grinder combat, and for tackling his struggles to balance the demands of his lifestyle and calling with being a good husband and father.

Anomen Delryn - Arrogant, wanna-be "Knight" male human fighter/cleric. Only male love interest in the base game. Fans have a complex relationship with him. On one hand, while he starts out as a dickhead and glory hound, he's actually got a very fleshed out character and backstory that gives him a lot of depth and, potentially, the deepest character arc in the entire game, complete with two possible outcomes: one where he becomes a better person (and gets a hefty [[Wisdom]] boost), and one where he sinks into despair and bitterness over his failures; on the other hand, he's such a douchebag that his inauspicious beginnings incurably colour many players' opinions of him, since he'll spend a whole awful lot of time insulting other party members for petty reasons (like spitting on Mazzy for being a halfling or Cernd for being a druid) and even you if you dare to suggest he's not the invincible badass he claims to be, and on top of that he starts with a crummy Wisdom score, making him a sub-par caster. Consequently, he's been near or at the top of many "Characters who just aren't worth it" lists for years.

Korgan Bloodaxe - A [[dwarf]] berserker with a silver tongue, a long blue beard and a foul temper. Starts out optimally-trained in axemanship, is willing to kill allies who become dead weight to him, is only fond of those who can hold their own against his insult tirades should he choose to unleash them and has an irrepressible lust for bloodshed and battle. [[Khorne]] is infinitely pleased by his existence. His stats are built for kicking ass and taking lumps aplenty, but he can't use any wands or spells. A popular choice for equipping him is to train him for dual-wielding and improve his hammer-wielding skills, ultimately kitting him out with the Axe of the Unyielding (an awesome axe that can kill in a single swing on the right role) and Crom Faeyr (a warhammer that boosts the wielder's Strength to 25) for maximum carnage. He inspired a LOT of boisterous, fight-happy mercenaries fond of telling stories about past exploits in later BioWare game such as Dragon Age's Oghren and Iron Bull or Mass Effect's Urdnot Wrex and Zaeed Massani; he also might have influenced Bioware for AN ENTIRE RACE in Mass Effect - the super-tough war-like aliens the krogan (the aforementioned Urdnot Wrex is a member of this race).

Yoshimo - Smooth-talking not-Japanese [[thief]] who turns out to be reluctantly spying on you for Irenicus because his sister was Sarevok's lover and canonically either died at your hands or on your watch. His class kit, Bounty Hunter, makes him handy with traps. Has some funny lines about the way weeb settings like his seem to work out, and can potentially get a very small bit of closure.

Jan Jansen - Crazy male [[gnome]] [[illusionist]]/[[thief]]. Fights with his array of wacky inventions, is absolutely fucking hilarious, and enjoys telling silly stories just to get a rise out of people. Has a shockingly heartbreaking personal quest where the woman he loves is stuck in a bad marriage to an abusive asshole and the only way to save her daughter's sanity is to make her lose the memories that might cause her to leave him in the first place. Fortunately, in his ending, he manages to save the day and get the girl with [[awesome|an army of well-armed apes that he smuggled into the city, then trained into his private army]].

Aerie - Female [[avariel]] [[mage]]/[[cleric]]. She was kidnapped by slavers in her youth and her wings had to be amputated after the awful conditions she was kept in led to them becoming infected. She whinges about this a ''lot'', primarily because, well, her ''actual'' character arc/quest was left on the cutting room floor partway through development. Fortunately, the expansion pack gives her a bit more willingness to stand up for herself and fleshes out her relationship with the protagonist a bit better. The origin of all the "socially awkward sweet girl with a tough core" Bioware women like Leliana and Merrill from Dragon Age or Liara T'Soni and Tali'Zorah from Mass Effect. Also a potential love interest. She's even the only party member who gets pregnant and gives birth during the series, and spends the rest of the game adventuring with her child bundled up on her back.

===Introduced in the Enhanced Editions===
Dorn Il-Khan - A male half-orc blackguard (implemented as a paladin kit) who benefits from the best [[Strength]] score among recruitable NPCs. Unlike the half-orc stereotype of being dumb, ugly rudeboys with no impulse control, he's intelligent, handsome, charming, articulate and pragmatic, if, you know... evil. Is openly bisexual and can be romanced regardless of gender. Starts out hostile and suspicious to most people but by the sequel has mellowed somewhat and is willing to make friends with people who share his interests.

Neera - Female half-elven wild mage, with a running gag about being mistaken for a full-blooded elf. Angsts about her magic causing wild and crazy effects on and off the battlefield, but otherwise prefers to be cheerful and upbeat. Is a romance option for males.

Rasaad yn Bashir - A human male [[monk]] (specifically a Sun Soul monk) whose character arc involves him dealing with the death-except-not-really and corruption of his brother Gamaz and his attempts to get revenge on the perpetrator. Has a poor ability to recognise or tell jokes, which forms the bulk of his humour. Is a romance option for females.

Baeloth Barrityl - A flamboyant, motor-mouthed male [[drow]] [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|sorcerer]], he serves as the big bad of the first "The Black Pits" spin-off game, and can be recruited as a party member in both Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (where he was banished to a pocket plane prison on the surface after having his gladiators rebel) and in Siege of Dragonspear (where he's trying and failing to run a new "Black Pits" gladiatorial arena) if you let him live in the first game.

Captain Schael Corwin - A female archer serving with the Flaming Fist, she is the first companion that the player acquires after beginning the Siege of Dragonspear campaign proper. She's a great rear-rank warrior, but that does mean putting up with her personality, which is basically [[Lawful Stupid]]. Whilst she's technically romanceable (she's a bisexual woman), she is held back in fans' eyes by A: being used goods (she has a daughter, Romah, from a deadbeat boyfriend she had... and whom she's murdered 5 times), and most importantly B: being such a Lawful Stupid asshole that when your PC is accused of murder in the final chapter, she actually advocates that they make a guilty plea in order to "quell the civil unrest" that their situation is causing as swiftly as possible.

Glint Gardnersonson - Male [[gnome]] [[cleric]]/[[thief]] devoted to [[Baravar Cloakshadow]] found in Siege of Dragonspear, Glint's entire character can be summed up as "gay Jan Jansen with divine magic". He's a motor-mouthed brilliant yet absent-minded and socially awkward gnome who is also the only purely homosexual male follower in the game.

M'khinn Grubdoubler - Cynical, world-weary and bitter "redeemed" female [[goblin]] [[shaman]] whom is being held as a captive by Baeloth Barrityl in Siege of Dragonspear.

Voghiln the Mighty - A flamboyantly [[viking]] [[bard]] whose life revolves around music, booze, women and seeking adventure from Siege of Dragonspear. He'd probably be more popular if A: he didnt't feel so much likie a slightly less crazy Minsc, and B: he didn't have an affair with Safana behind your back.

Hexxat - A black lesbian vampire from the Enhanced Edition of Shadows of Amn. That about sums up everything there is to know about (or care for) Hexxat.

===Bosses===
Sarevok Anchev - Main villain and final boss of the first game, a male human [[Bhaalspawn]] who is manipulating events to trigger a huge war that will sweep the Sword Coast, hoping to ascend to Bhaal's place by harvesting a great tally of souls in the battle and through the slaughter of any other Bhaalspawn he can find. Proclaims he's doing it all because he's a Bhaalspawn, ''duh'', but other sources imply he's the bad guy because his childhood was painful and he was influenced along the path to evil When it falls apart, you still have to fight him, and he's a motherfucker of a boss, with immunity to most magic and incredibly powerful weapons and armor that you can't even loot off him. In the third game, you have the option to resurrect his shade and allow him to fight at your side, potentially inspiring him to redeem himself and become a better person in the process. Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, leading to an impressively deep and intimidating voice.

Jon Irenicus - Mad male elven mage who, in his former life as Joneleth, was the lover of the elven queen Ellesime... before, in a fit of arrogance, he tried to steal the power to become a god from the elves' sacred trees. The elves stripped him of his soul, reducing him to a dying, emotionally crippled husk who nevertheless retained his archmage power, and then booted him out of the city, alongside his sister, Bodhi, who was party to the whole mess. The whole plot of BG2 is his attempt to steal the PC's soul and use it to restore himself so he can take another shot at it, with the added bonus of killing all the elves in the process. Has tons of dark charisma and icy sarcasm that make him the most popular antagonist in the series. He even mocks you if you try to squeeze him for "villain exposition." Voiced by David Warner, who gives a chilling and legendary performance for this dude.

Bodhi - She tried to cure her newfound mortality and soullessness by turning herself into a vampire. It sort of worked. While her brother's empty soul turned him into an icy, calculating monster, hers caused her to become a nearly feral predator. She was the subject of a "test run," in which Jon put Imoen's soul into her to see if it'd actually help.

The Five - A band of five extremely powerful Bhaalspawn who have banded together to exterminate their kin in hopes of then ascending to Bhaal's old throne themselves. The main bosses of Throne of Bhaal. The most interesting ones are the fire giant, Yaga-Shura, a brilliant general who's completely invulnerable until you find his removed heart and undo the magic that makes him impervious to all harm, and Balthazar, a ''lawful good'' monk who's only hanging out with these freaks so that he can ultimately destroy all remaining Bhaalspawn in a special ritual, including himself, to permanently sunder Bhaal's essence and ensure he'll never return. Unfortunately, the rushed nature of the expansion means that none of them are really the powerful, interesting, or memorable figures they should be, even with the famous and semi-official Ascension mod, though it does certainly help.

Amelyssan The Blackhearted - The true boss of ToB, the last foe you face in the series; Bhaal's former high priest who seeks to betray her master, steal the collected essence of Bhaal, and use it to become the new Goddess of Murder. Unfortunately, also the least popular final boss in the series, mostly due to the expansion being kind of rushed and her not really having the kind of grand plans or charisma of the previous two.

==Quotes==

As described above, ''Baldur's Gate'' is remembered for the large number of witty and amusing quotes of its NPCs. A selection are given here. [[Minsc]] quotes are found on his page, as he is sufficiently awesome as to need a page all to himself.

*JAHEIRA: "You are amusing, in a 'what the hell is wrong with you?' kind of way."
-----
*EDWIN: "Oh, fine, fine! Kick around Edwin, is it?! Were it not for the gobs of wealth and magic that seem to fall into your lap wherever you go, I would never tolerate such insolence! (As it is, just waiiit until you sleep...)"
-----
*VICONIA: "Tell me, Harper, who was who with your parentage? Father the darthir, mother the rivvil? Or father human, mother elven? It's always confusing with crossbred mongrels."
*JAHEIRA: "Two people in love, swine. A rain not likely to soak your parade of scabbed obscenity any time soon."
-----
*[After Edwin inadvertently turns himself into a woman while seeking magical power.]
*HAER'DALIS:
:"I once knew a Red Wizard of Thay,<br/>Who dreamed of lichdom someday,<br/>He said he knew how to do it,<br/>But he still managed to screw it<br/>Up, in the funniest way."
*EDWIN(A): "Thank the gods he is not a better poet. This is one tale I would rather not see immortalised in print."
-----
*YOSHIMO: "Tell me, Edwina, would you like me to let out the seams on your robe? I am quite handy with a needle. You do, after all, have more, ah, bulk, in the upper chest area."
*EDWIN(A): "Silence, you fool! Chauvinist pig! ...what am I saying? I mean to say idiot!"
-----
*EDWIN(A): "I feel your stares! Die! Die!"
-----
*KORGAN: "Be aware, Mazzy, I've something long, hard, and low to the ground you're free to touch and fondle. Child, no need to glare. 'Twas me axe I was referring to. It's a joke!"
*MAZZY: "That's delightful, Korgan. Not lengthy, but effective."
-----
*VICONIA: "Tree hugger, I have a question for you. If a tree falls in a forest, does anyone care?"
-----
*HAER'DALIS: "Ah, my hound, this city be the great world of commerce! Perhaps we can sell Jaheira?"
*JAHEIRA: "Cut your wit, bard. The day has been long already, without you adding hours to it."
*HAER'DALIS: "Cut my wit? Why, certainly, if only I could use your nose's razor edge to perform the task."
*JAHEIRA: "Aye, it seems I've sharpened it upon the grindstone of your heart."
*HAER'DALIS: "Well, my frumpy ptarmigan, I must protest-"
*JAHEIRA: " "Methinks thou dost protest too much." Aye, I can quote the poets too. If you must protest, I respond only to hunger strikes and, even then, too late."
*HAER'DALIS: "Oh [PC name], raven of sympathy! Yon woman is stifling my creativity and stealing thunder from my wit! I swear I cannot work midst the lashings of her tongue!"
-----
*JAHABOAM: "Ho there, I have worked long and lonely hours and it is good to see a friendly face! Care to see some of my trinkets and far flung wares? Something special, something plain, whatever you wish for in these uncertain times, I can make accommodation. Something... for the lady, perhaps? Oh yes, I see a glint in the eye. There is romance afoot, and it needs the dancing partner of the adornments of affection!"
*JAHEIRA: "N-no, that's quite alright. Do not make a fuss."
*JAHABOAM: "Nonsense! Oh, but perhaps I have overstepped my bounds with my observant eyes. I apologize most profusely. It changes nothing, though. You sir, your name?"
*PC: "[PC name]"
*JAHABOAM: "[PC name]? The name of a man that knows his heart, but perhaps has troubles warming the lady's heart. By no fault of your own, of course! Perhaps a gift?"
*JAHEIRA: "I said not to..."
*JAHABOAM: "I believe I was speaking to the gentleman. Now sir, she is a lady of the battlefield, so a commemorative blade possibly? No? I have the perfect thing! A locket to carry an endearing portrait! A minor magic will instantly implant a likeness of the lady. A mere 20 gold, that you might but glance at my other items."
*PC: "I believe the lady said she didn't want anything."
*JAHABOAM: "As you will. Farewell for now. Good luck to you and the lady. Ahh, to be young. Jahaboam bids you not squander what there is to grasp. Farewell!"
*JAHEIRA: "What a... charming fellow. Completely insane of course. Out of his mind. Blind as a bat. No idea what he was saying."
*PC: "Yes... yes, of course. Out of his mind. Yes."
*JAHEIRA: "Yes. Well. Let's... let's get going, shall we?"
-----
*MOOK: "Bloody fine to have some backup. I've heard a bit about you. Been makin' a name for yourself as an adventurer."
*PC: "Thanks. I do my best."
*MOOK: "Aren't you a bit too heroic to be guarding shipments for Aran?"
*PC: "Tis merely a path on the road to another heroic feat."
*MOOK: "I'm glad I could play a part in your little drama."
-----
*SIMYAZ: "You live! The illithids let you go? Astounding, unless you are in league with them. I warn you, if you serve them you will share their fate."
*PC: "No, actually, I DESTROYED THE WHOLE DAMN BUNCH WITHOUT YOU!!"
*SIMYAZ: "I sense hostility."
-----
*BEGGAR: "Excuse me... might you have a coin to spare my poor, venerable mother? She would ask for herself, but she lays in a cold, cold room nearly sick to her death, alas..."
*PC: "She's sick, is she? Perhaps you could bring me to her... I might be able to offer her some help."
*BEGGAR: "Hmph. You could just say 'no', you know... (Always has to be me that runs into them good samaritan types...)
-----
*CAPTAIN EGEISSAG: "So you are the one who has caused so much trouble... I must admit, I am not impressed."
*PC: "Does Sendai think she can stop me by constantly throwing these pathetic slaves in my way?"
*EGEISSAG: "Your slaughter-filled progress has greatly alarmed my mistress. If I defeat you my reward will be truly worthwhile."
*SPECTATOR BEHOLDER: "Oh, Captain, my Captain!"
*EGEISSAG: "Eh? Why do you address me as such, beholder? You have a most peculiar attitude... I shall have to report it to the mistress soon."
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, never mind that. I always wanted to say that, and there you go getting all upset. I just had a comment, here, before this Bhaalspawn squashes you into so much mush."
*EGEISSAG: "Hmph. That may not necessarily happen."
*SPECTATOR: "Uh... yes. Anyhow, on the off chance that you *do* manage to kill the Bhaalspawn, won't Sendai just go the matron mothers and take all the credit for her greedy *little self?"
*EGEISSAG: "You... speak the truth, my mono-ocular friend. I would rather claim the credit for such a deed myself. Have you a suggestion?"
*SPECTATOR: "I'm just thinking it would be *so* much better if you fought [PC name] in single combat. Then you could claim to have killed him all by yourself. Even the matrons couldn't refute that. Parades, gold, a new torture rack, it'd all be yours."
*[The Spectator casts a spell; when either warrior dies, all of their followers will too. Egeissag and the PC fight. Predictably, it is a one-sided slaughter. Egeissag dies and so do his followers.]
*SPECTATOR: "Ahhh... and so it ends. And so does my service with this particular drow dolt. I mean, what's with these drow? Have they nothing better to do than summon me for their stupid tasks?"
*PC: "Hey... aren't you the spectator beholder from the Sahuagin city?"
*SPECTATOR: "That's me. And can I say thank you again for releasing me from one of the most boring tasks in Creation? These drow will just never learn."
*PC: "How is it that you didn't die with the drow?"
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, what? Did you really think I would cast that Geas on myself, too? That would be stupid."
*PC: "So what are you going to do now"
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, you know. Find the nearest hive. Check out the ladies. The usual. You?"
*PC: "Fighting for my life. The usual."
-----
*SOLAR: "When you return to the waking world, you will continue to speed towards your purpose... stopping the prophecy from coming true. My question... why will you do this?"
*PC: "Errr... because if it wasn't for world-shaking prophecies, life would be boring?"
-----
*[The PC releases three novice adventurers from a stone spell.]
*BONDARI: "Die, cursed eyeball! Wha? Uh...? ...Do I, uh, know you?"
*PC: "I have freed you from your stone prison, young adventurer."
*BONDARI: "Uh, thanks. Guys, are you okay?"
*NANOC THE BARBARIAN: Yeah.
*TIM GOLDENHAND: Yes. (No thanks to you... can't even backstab an eyeball!)
*BONDARI: Shut up, Tim! Greetings, my, uh... Lord. I am Bondari Quickhand, a thief. These are my companions Nanoc the Barbarian and Tim Goldenhand. He's an elf. And a mage. Uh... I guess I should thank you for saving us. Is there some way we brave adventurers can repay your kindness? Something we can do for you to fulfill our debt of gratitude? Anything? Anything at all?"
*PC: "A terrible evil has swept across the land and the lives of millions hang in the balance. You have been chosen, Bondari, and you must not fail in your quest!"
*BONDARI: "A quest! Wow, this is great! What do we have to do?"
*PC: "A fiendish beholder and his kobold cohorts have infested a cave to the east of here. An evil dragon threatens the land! I must have the beholder's eyestalk to slay the dragon and save the country from certain doom!"
*BONDARI: "By Mask's mask! We can't let this happen!"
*PC: "Go, noble adventurer, and retrieve the eyestalk. The fate of Tethyr lies in your hands!"
*BONDARI: "What type of reward do we get?"
*PC: "The satisfaction of a job well done. Do not argue, even now the dragon raises his army to crush the world!"
*BONDARI: "Well, we will be saving the world... Alright, we'll do it! Let's go, boys!"
*TIM: "Wait! I have to rest and memorize magic missile!"
*NANOC: "Worry not, elf. Nanoc will protect you!"
*[The next day.]
*BONDARI: "(I'm telling you we can take [PC name]. Nanoc, you are unfettered by the weaknesses of the civilized world! Tim, you can cast magic missile! I will backstab. I bet he has all kinds of great treasure!)"
*NANOC: "{But Tim is terrible. Remember the kobold king? He cast one spell then hid behind a rock while we had to slay everyone!)"
*TIM: "(Hey! I have the healing potions! I heal you!)"
*NANOC: "(I can shrug off a blow that would fell a normal man! Unfettered by your civilized ways, I...)"
*BONDARI: "(Enough. Ready...) ATTACK!!!"
*[The three adventurers attack the party. They are massacred.]
*[Bondari reloads]
*BONDARI: "Uh, here's your eyestalk sir. We found something else, too. I hope you like it."
*PC: "You have saved us all, noble hero."
*BONDARI: "Thanks. It was a good quest. I found a dagger and Tim here got a scroll of identify. In a couple of days he'll be able to tell me about my dagger."
*NANOC: "I bid you a 'Farewell' suitably unfettered by civilization."
-----
And of course, we must not forget the most awesome quote ever:
*PC: "Ok, I've just about had my FILL of riddle asking, quest assigning, insult throwing, pun hurling, hostage taking, iron mongering, smart arsed fools, freaks, and felons that continually test my will, mettle, strength, intelligence, and most of all, patience! If you've got a straight answer ANYWHERE in that bent little head of yours, I want to hear it pretty damn quick or I'm going to take a large blunt object roughly the size of Elminster [[Hat|AND his hat]], and stuff it lengthwise into a crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the nine hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd! Have I MADE myself perfectly CLEAR?!"

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Forgotten Realms]][[Category:Video Games]]

Baldur's Gate (Games)

2019-10-31T14:06:28Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Introduced in BG2 */

{{/vg/}}
[[Image:Baldur's Gate.PNG|thumb|right]]'''Baldur's Gate''' is a fucking awesome series of [[Advanced_Dungeons_and_Dragons#AD.26D_2nd_Edition|2e]] [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[CRPG]]s based in the [[Forgotten Realms]] [[campaign setting]]. They were made by [[Bioware]] between 1998 and 2001, and comprise four games in total; ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'', and their respective expansions ''Tales of the Sword Coast'' and ''Throne of Bhaal''. The games follow the story of a Bhaalspawn (the player's character) as they discover their identity and have to deal with both the effects it has on themselves and the threat of outside agencies who wish to use the player's character for their own goals.

The series uses the isometric [[Infinity Engine]] common to many of Bioware's titles, also used in such games as [[Planescape: Torment]] and the [[Icewind Dale]] series. Alongside ''Planescape: Torment'', the series (especially ''BGII'') is regarded by many as one of the best CRPGs of all time. The games are notable for being remarkably freeform and presenting a wide variety of options for resolving the problems that are faced, as well as supporting virtually any sort of alignment the player character chooses. The choices available and sheer number of side-quests that can be undertaken provide a vast amount of replayability to the game.

The games are also known for the great amount of dialogue and conversation options available, especially in ''BGII'', where [[NPC]] party members frequently held conversations with the player and other NPCs in the world. These could range from hilarious (as in the case of [[Edwin]] or [[Minsc]]) to darkly serious.

If even the vast options available in the vanilla games were not enough, dedicated players have access to a wide variety of user-made mods that have been produced for the game, which vary in scope between fixing bugs in the game and improving AI to adding entirely new potential NPC party members complete with their own dialogue and quests. There are even conversions that allow for porting the ''Baldur's Gate'' content into the visually superior ''BGII'' interface - useful considering ''BGI''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s inability to support a higher resolution than 640x480.

Some crazy bastards in the early 2010s actually managed to get the rights to officially create an updated version to both games, and to Icewind Dale. Known as the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Editions, these can now be bought off of Steam and downloaded; they come with a lot of fixes, including a bunch of new characters. While there's some skubbery about how good a job they did (the lack of support for the popular, semi-official "Ascension" mod is a particular bone of contention), most agree they're well worth getting for the history alone. Both games include a bonus campaign, respectively titled ''The Black Pits'' and ''The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay'', in which you create your own party from scratch and fight enemies from throughout the series in gladiatorial arenas you've been abducted to fight in while seeking ways to escape your confinement.

They also released an expansion to the original ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Siege of Dragonspear'', even managing to get almost the entire old voice cast back for the job, more than two decades after the fact. While a few one-off characters led to bloody bare-knuckle brawling between the [[SJW|usual]] [[/pol/|suspects]], at the end of the day, it was a pretty decent one. Even featured a brand new character class, the Shaman, which is basically a druid-y sorcerer. Or possibly a sorcerer-y druid. It's a divine caster with spontaneous casting, is what I'm getting at.

All that being said, there's also a mod for Neverwinter Nights 2, called Baldur's Gate Reloaded. It’s an entire port of BG1 to NWN2, carrying over all the voice acting and plot of that game whilst putting it in a 3D engine with a 3rd edition ruleset. It only came out a few months before Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, but has never got much coverage.

In late May 2019 Larian Studios (''Divinity'' series) launched [http://larian.com/ a teaser with a mysterious III logo] on their home page. The metadata for the logo says "BaldursGate_logo_III_retouched.png". No further details are confirmed, though [https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/1047967566168174592 Brian Fargo indicates it was in the works since at least late 2018] so there will likely be something to actually show when the actual announcement happens.

'''UPDATE''' 6/6/2019: The [https://youtu.be/OcP0WdH7rTs/ Trailer] has dropped. We're going back to the Forgotten Realms boys. WARNING: Do not watch if you have eaten less than 3 hours ago, unless you enjoy violently vomiting up all your food. You have been warned.

'''UPDATE''' 6/10/2019: At the PC Gamer Show, [[Mike Mearls]] confirmed that there will be a [[5E|5th Edition]] prequel adventure to the game, due out September 17th. It takes place about 100 years after Baldur's Gate 2, allowing players to catch up on what has been going on and setting up for the PC game proper. This adventure, ''Descent into Avernus'', released in September 2019.

==Storyline==
===Baldur's Gate===
You begin the game as an orphan raised in Candlekeep, a massive "fortress of knowledge" created by the faithful of [[Ohgma]] to preserve and store texts, tomes, manuals, scrolls and other forms of literary knowledge from across the [[Forgotten Realms]]. You were brought here as an infant by the [[wizard]] Gorion, and have never left the security of Candlekeep... until today. Amidst strange rumors of a mysterious "plague" that is afflicting iron in this region of the Sword Coast and a budding war between Baldur's Gate and Amn, Gorion instructs you to gather your belongings and leave, promising explanations once you have united with two friends of his: Jaheira and Khalid.

Unfortunately, he is struck down defending you against a mysterious assailant who ambushes you in the night; a hulking armored warrior who demands your life. At Gorion's instructions, you flee for safety, which he buys at the expense of his own life. You are left without any guidance at all, and alone save for the arrival of Imoen; your foster sister from Candlekeep. With no other purpose, you set about becoming [[adventurer]]s, and slowly unravel the mysteries of the "iron plague".

It turns out that the "iron plague" is a result of a ploy by a Baldur's Gate merchant house called the Iron Throne; having discovered a lost and flooded iron mine in the Cloakwood, they have restored it to functioning condition under the leadership of someone named "Sarevok" through the use of slave labor. Following Sarevok, they used [[kobold]]s to begin sabotaging the iron ore at Nashkel, the region's premier iron mine, and encouraged bands of bandits to begin plaguing the Sword Coast. Likewise, they have fed the rumors of impending war, hoping to profit from their dark deeds.

However, Sarevok has other plans. He had discovered that he is a [[Bhaalspawn]] - a demigodling created by [[Bhaal]], the God of Murder, as an insurance against his destruction during the [[Time of Troubles]]. The Iron Throne believes Sarevok seeks money - instead, he fully intends to plunge the Sword Coast into a bloody war on a massive scale, hoping to ascend and take his father's place as the new God of Murder.

This is why Sarevok sought your death. For you too are a Bhaalspawn. Once you discover this, you must unmask Sarevok's true role in the troubles plaguing Baldur's Gate, and then confront him for a final showdown in an ancient temple to Bhaal in the Undercity. But even as he dies, you can feel it in your bones that this is only the beginning...

====Tales of the Sword Coast====
The second game released in the original Bioware lineup, this glorified expansion pack to the original ''Baldur's Gate'' introduces four new major plots centered around two new areas on the world map; '''Ulgoth's Beard''' and '''Durlag's Tower'''.

'''Durlag's Tower''' is a sprawling dungeon complex erected by an epic-level [[dwarf]] adventurer as a personal home for himself and all his kinsfolk... unfortunately, rumors of his massive stash of treasure lured invaders, in the form of an army of [[doppelganger]]s directed by [[illithid]]s. Only Durlag survived, and the experience of being hunted through his own home by creatures wearing the faces of his wife, children and family left him unhinged. He turned the fortress into a maze of lethal traps and filled it with monsters, and it still remains a death-trap even now. Whilst there are two quests you can receive in Ulgoth's Beard that send you here, you can also come here on your own for a good old fashioned dungeon delve - especially because a "demon knight" has set up shop and is hoping to use the place as a base to launch a fiendish invasion of Faerun. It lies in the extreme south-east of the Baldur's Gate world map, close to the Firewine Bridge and Gullykin.

'''Ulgoth's Beard''' is a small fishing community to the northeast of Baldur's Gate proper. This is where the majority of the new quests introduced in the expansion pack are to be found:
* The local mage Shandalar will ask the player to retrieve his cloak... which entails him teleporting the player's party to a small, inhospitable island and navigating a dungeon full of imprisoned mages driven mad by isolation and hunger, forcing you to kill them all or be killed before he brings you back. He is the kind of guy who would make [[Elminster]] go "dude, you're a dick".
* A dwarf in the local tavern will ask you to recover a special dagger from Durlag's Tower. Said dagger gets you jumped by a bunch of cultists when you return, which causes the dwarf to admit that there's a [[nabassu]] stuck in that dagger. You have to fight your way into the basement of a nearby house and kill the cultists, but not before they release the [[demon]], resulting in a stupidly tough boss fight (he keeps respawning when killed so long as there are "Cult Guards" alive).
* A woman wants you to rescue her son, who went off to become an adventurer by exploring Durlag's Tower.
* A mysterious nobleman in a house near the docks wants you to undertake an expedition to an island he claims is the place where the legendary hero Balduran, the founder of Baldur's Gate, ran aground on his final voyage. This requires "acquiring" some sea charts from a merchant house in Baldur's Gate, and then a sea voyage... to an island infested with [[werewolf|werewolves]] and [[wolfwere]]s.

===Siege of Dragonspear===
This is not part of the original quadrilogy of games released by Bioware, but is instead an "interquel" to Baldur's Gate & Shadows of Amn created by Beamdog.

After the events of Baldur's Gate, you have become the hero of the titular city. So of course you are chosen to aid Baldur's Gate's army when Caelar Argent, a mad [[aasimar]] [[paladin]] on a mission to invade the Nine Hells of [[Baator]] begins leading a crusade that ravages the Sword's Coast, especially since it's rumored that she may also be a [[Bhaalspawn]]. And all the while, a mysterious hooded mage is spying on you, observing your efforts.

You eventually succeed in stopping the crusade, possibly even saving Caelar from the machinations of her treacherous right hand and getting her to help you undo some of the damage, but when you return, a murder you've been clumsily framed for, and the political machinations of the city's leaders, see you sent off into exile, with the same party you start the next game with.

All in all, not a ''bad'' interquel per say, but it loses major points for the hamfisted ending, which relies on the entire Baldur's Gate courts being skeptical of the idea that Gorion's Ward could have been mind-controlled into murdering somebody by an evil wizard... despite living in a world where A: wizards being able to control people is very common, and B: people '''know this happens'''. It just speaks of obviously wanting to shove "Drama!" into the story and being willing to ignore canon for the sake of it.

Also, it actually creates a continuity snarl: if you talk to Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc in the original Shadows of Amn game, they make it clear that Gorion's Ward went missing ''first'' and then they all got together to try and locate their missing friend, rather than being grabbed whilst actively adventuring together.s

===Shadows of Amn===
You awaken to pain, your memories cloudy, a prisoner in a dungeon overseen by an insane mage who torments you with hideous magical experiments. And then a battle rips through the dungeon. A woman comes to you; Imoen is her name, she tells you, a [[thief]] turned [[wizard]], and your foster sister from Candlekeep. You were abducted some time ago by the mage who has been tormenting you, and she led a band of [[adventurer]]s to your rescue, only to be captured. With the aid of the other survivors, Jaheira and Minsc, you set about escaping from your captor, fighting your way to the surface and discovering you were imprisoned beneath the streets of Athkatla, the capital city of Amn.

Unfortunately, Imoen's attempt to defend herself from your captor with a Magic Missile spell occurs ''just'' as the Cowled Wizards arrive on the scene, spiriting the two of them away for "public use of magic". To pursue them, you must reach the isle of Spellhold, where the Cowled Wizards imprison criminal and crazed magic-users of all sorts... there's just the little matter of building up the extravagant fee to get there first.

Once you arrive, you find your captor - Irenicus - has slaughtered the Cowled Wizards and taken over. He imprisons you again and rips out a portion of your soul, having already done the same with Imoen for his sister, a [[vampire]] named Bodhi - as it turns out, Imoen is also a [[Bhaalspawn]]! Absandoning you to die, the wizard leaves, forcing you to give chase. It will take traveling through the depths of [[Underdark]] before you can finally confront him, and learn the truth behind this whole mess.

As it turns out, Irenicus was originally an [[elf]] wizard who sought to become divine by stealing power from a sacred elven relic called the Tree of Life in the elven city of Suldanasellar. So, in a display of stunning stupidity, the elves punished him by ripping out a portion of his soul, effectively reducing him to a [[human]], and exiled him... '''without taking away his epic levels in wizard'''. (He was the elf queen's main squeeze, and she hoped he'd find redemption instead of further damning himself, but still. Damn.) Fueled by rage, he sought to absorb your soul to restore himself to his full power, after putting Imoen's into his sister who'd infected herself with vampirism to stay immortal, and now he wants to complete his original goal and become a god.

This leads, of course, to a climatic battle... and then you being dragged into a fiendish [[demiplane]], the last remnant of the realm of [[Bhaal]], to slay Irenicus a second time and finish him off once and for all.

====Watcher's Keep====
This is a dungeon complex similar to Durlag's Tower in Tales of the Sword Coast. It was introduced as part of the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack, but can be accessed during both a Shadows of Amn game and a Throne of Bhaal game.

During your adventures in Amn, you discover an ancient fortress turned dungeon, whose resident guardians beg you for help. The Watcher's Keep is used to imprison a powerful [[fiend]] - no less than [[Demogorgon]] himself! - but the wardings are starting to fail. Only you are powerful enough to have a chance to fight your way through the monsters and traps to reach the lowest level and restore the wardings to their full power... or slay the beast and banish it back to the netherrealms from whence it came.

===Throne of Bhaal===
The inevitable has come. The Five, a band of powerful [[Bhaalspawn]] have united, plunging the Sword Coast into a bloody war as the children of [[Bhaal]] seek each other out and slaughter each other, determined to be the last ones standing. And you have no intention of just rolling over and dying.

An unfortunately rushed expansion. Not unfinished or anything; just kind of unsatisfying. A semi-official mod put out by the game's creators, called "Ascension," adds a great deal of extra content.

==Characters==
The Baldur's Gate series is home to an ''enormous'' cast of characters. In general, the sequel's were more fleshed-out and popular than the first game's, save for, you know, those who went on to appear in the sequel.

===Introduced in BG1===
[[Bhaalspawn]] - Your Player Character, child of [[Bhaal]]. Sometimes referred to in-universe as Gorion's Ward, nicknamed "Charname" by the fandom after the ''character name'' variable used in dialog scripts. Very variable depending on how you play them, with seven possible races, a large variety of classes and class kits to choose from and the option of being ''anywhere'' on the Alignment spectrum. We do NOT talk about the atrocity that is "Abdel Adrian".

Imoen - A spunky, cheerful, whimsical female human [[thief]] who was raised at Candlekeep alongside the [[Bhaalspawn]]. Spied on the PC and Gorion when the latter made plans to retreat from Candlekeep and followed them out of loyalty to her best friend, the PC. Reappears in BG2 as one of your initial party members, she was originally planned to be killed off in the game by the developers, but they rewrote the plot when they realized how popular she was. Having [[multiclassing|dual-classed]] to [[Mage]] in the interim between games, she has been traumatized by the experiments of the mad wizard Irenicus, who gets her kidnapped by the Cowled Wizards and taken to Spellhold with him so that he can continue experimenting on her. She's ultimately revealed to be another Bhaalspawn, but one of lesser power and will than the PC, which might explain why ''you'' can't be raised from the dead but she can.

Jaheira - A tough, no-nonsense female half-elven Fighter/Druid; originally married to Khalid, a meeker half-elven fighter, she was one of Gorion's old friends and planned to help him smuggle the PC away to safety when he fled Candlekeep. In BG2, she is one of your initial party members, her husband having been murdered by Irenicus. This opens her up as a romance option. She's a member of the [[Harpers]]. Has rock-solid-but-not-incredible stats for both fighting and casting, and while she won't outdo any specialists, she fits into every party.

Kagain - A male Fighter dwarf, head of a mercenary company. Joins you to look for a caravan of his, but says "fuck it" and decides to help you adventuring instead. Evil-aligned, but it's more because he's grumpy and greedy than outright malice. With 20 constitution, he is the best tank in the entire game. Did not return in the sequels.

Khalid - A half-elven Fighter and Jaheira's wimpy, loser husband. Long resented for being a necessary component of any party with Jaheira in it despite being completely overshadowed in damage output by every other fighter, ranger, and paladin in the game, having a very low morale score that often sees him running for the hills, and only having decent-but-not-incredible tanking stats to make up for it. He also had no real personality besides being spineless and prone to talking like Porky Pig. There is some question as to whether or not this was due to his originally being intended as a fighter/mage, but changed back at the last minute. Is gratuitously and irreversibly killed off in the sequel (though admittedly in such a way that is consistent with the rules governing resurrection in the setting) to free up Jaheira for male Charnames, and in such a way that a lot of people who hated him still felt bad for he and her.

[[Minsc]] - A male human Rashemi Berserker (though mechanically he's a ranger with a unique ability that mimics the berserker kit's) who came to Baldur's Gate looking for the chance to kick butt for goodness in the company of his [[witch]], Dynaheir. He's one of your initial party members in BG2, as he and Dynaheir joined Jaheira and Khalid in looking for the PC and Imoen after Irenicus abducted them. Dynaheir's death left him even loopier. Fortunately, his animal companion, a miniature giant space hamster (who may or may not [[Spelljammer|be just that]]) named Boo, is there to steer him properly. ''Easily'' the most popular character in the series, for his gloriously-hammy voice acting, wacky but endearing personality, and just being a very fun guy to have around, hence his getting his own spin-offs. Modern audiences have a slightly more complicated relationship with him, though, with some viewing him as an overrated one-trick pony who keeps getting whored out to sell Forgotten Realms crap to an audience too shallow to recognize his flaws. Which interpretation is valid depends on whether you like his personality gimmicks; if you do, you're pretty much set, but if you don't, he'll be little more than a pain in the arse. Also, his berserk ability makes him uncontrollable and prone to [[Kharn|attacking other party members]], so use with caution.

[[Edwin]] - An arrogant exiled male human Red Wizard of [[Thay]], beloved by the fans for his endless snark and delusions of grandeur, as well as being the best wizardly party member a player can get. Has a silly subplot in the second game about ''trying'' to gain ultimate arcane power as a [[lich]], only to end up becoming a woman.

[[Viconia de'Vir]] - A renegade female [[drow]] [[cleric]] whose path crosses the PCs in both the first and second game. Tends towards throwing mean-spirited insults at almost everyone else in your party, but to Charname she alternates between being kind of nice and a total bitch at times, like that "sun-dear" thing your weeaboo friends keep going on about. The origin of all sexy-but-morally dubious-and-dangerous Bioware women who are actually not so bad deep down, such as Morrigan and Isabela from Dragon Age or Jack and Miranda from Mass Effect. Another potential love interest character, but we probably didn't need to tell you that. Her only major weakness is her very low strength score; equip some kind of item that sets it nice and high for her (like a Belt of Giant Strength or Gauntlets of Ogre Power) so she can wear heavy armor, and her incredible magic resistance and dexterity scores will make her a fantastic tank. On top of that, her good wisdom and pure-caster status make her one of or ''the'' best clerics in any game she's in.

===Introduced in BG2===
Mazzy Fentan - A female [[halfling]] [[fighter]] who worships Arvoreen, the halfling warrior god, with such fervor that she is as close to being a [[paladin]] as AD&D 2e rules allow. (Namely, through getting a bunch of unique powers that mime those of a pally.) Doubles as walking proof that Halflings can get shit done too and a critique of the race/class restrictions of the edition she was born into, what with Paladins being a humans-only option and all. Well-liked for being something other than the stereotypical stupid/timid/goofy halfling thief in an edition that was rife with those, and for having a bunch of fun interactions with the rest of the cast. Was voiced by Jennifer Hale, who ironically later voiced both [[Samus]] and [[Bioware#Mass Effect|the female Commander Shepard.]]

Haer'dalis - Male [[tiefling]] bard and a [[Planescape|doomguard]]. Was considered as a romance option for females but it never went anywhere. Has a lot of good voice acting and witty lines. Likes to nickname the party by calling them animals. As he has a Bard kit designed for frontline combat (Blade), he is considered much more viable than the Garrick and Eldoth, the playable bards from the first game. Sheds some interesting light on another ''D&D'' setting.

Keldorn Firecam - Rugged, world-weary but still badass male human [[paladin]]. His class kit, Inquisitor, is designed to help with fighting mages, which makes him very, very useful because mid-to-high-level enemy mages are a complete pain in the ass. Popular among the player base the latter reason, for having solid stats and being able to use a really powerful two-handed sword called Carsomyr, which basically makes him a monster in close-combat, but comes with two major caveats: one, he'll refuse to be in a party with, if not actively try to kill, a number of useful but Evil-aligned potential party members, which may make you want to just make your ''own'' paladin if you want an Inquisitor that much; two, there are several moments in the game where he'll either leave the party or ''turn his blade on you'' if you take the evil path in a quest, and that's if he doesn't force you to take the good path. His personal quest is well-regarded for being more about roleplaying and moral dilemmas than meat-grinder combat, and for tackling his struggles to balance the demands of his lifestyle and calling with being a good husband and father.

Anomen Delryn - Arrogant, wanna-be "Knight" male human fighter/cleric. Only male love interest in the base game. Fans have a complex relationship with him. On one hand, while he starts out as a dickhead and glory hound, he's actually got a very fleshed out character and backstory that gives him a lot of depth and, potentially, the deepest character arc in the entire game, complete with two possible outcomes: one where he becomes a better person (and gets a hefty [[Wisdom]] boost), and one where he sinks into despair and bitterness over his failures; on the other hand, he's such a douchebag that his inauspicious beginnings incurably colour many players' opinions of him, since he'll spend a whole awful lot of time insulting other party members for petty reasons (like spitting on Mazzy for being a halfling or Cernd for being a druid) and even you if you dare to suggest he's not the invincible badass he claims to be, and on top of that he starts with a crummy Wisdom score, making him a sub-par caster. Consequently, he's been near or at the top of many "Characters who just aren't worth it" lists for years.

Korgan Bloodaxe - A [[dwarf]] berserker with a silver tongue, a long blue beard and a foul temper. Starts out optimally-trained in axemanship, is willing to kill allies who become dead weight to him, is only fond of those who can hold their own against his insult tirades should he choose to unleash them and has an irrepressible lust for bloodshed and battle. [[Khorne]] is infinitely pleased by his existence. His stats are built for kicking ass and taking lumps aplenty, but he can't use any wands or spells. A popular choice for equipping him is to train him for dual-wielding and improve his hammer-wielding skills, ultimately kitting him out with the Axe of the Unyielding (an awesome axe that can kill in a single swing on the right role) and Crom Faeyr (a warhammer that boosts the wielder's Strength to 25) for maximum carnage. He inspired a LOT of boisterous, fight-happy mercenaries fond of telling stories about past exploits in later BioWare game such as Dragon Age's Oghren and Iron Bull or Mass Effect's Urdnot Wrex and Zaeed Massani; he could arguably have influenced Bioware for AN ENTIRE race in Mass Effect - the super-tough war-like aliens the krogan (the aforementioned Urdnot Wrex is a member of this race).

Yoshimo - Smooth-talking not-Japanese [[thief]] who turns out to be reluctantly spying on you for Irenicus because his sister was Sarevok's lover and canonically either died at your hands or on your watch. His class kit, Bounty Hunter, makes him handy with traps. Has some funny lines about the way weeb settings like his seem to work out, and can potentially get a very small bit of closure.

Jan Jansen - Crazy male [[gnome]] [[illusionist]]/[[thief]]. Fights with his array of wacky inventions, is absolutely fucking hilarious, and enjoys telling silly stories just to get a rise out of people. Has a shockingly heartbreaking personal quest where the woman he loves is stuck in a bad marriage to an abusive asshole and the only way to save her daughter's sanity is to make her lose the memories that might cause her to leave him in the first place. Fortunately, in his ending, he manages to save the day and get the girl with [[awesome|an army of well-armed apes that he smuggled into the city, then trained into his private army]].

Aerie - Female [[avariel]] [[mage]]/[[cleric]]. She was kidnapped by slavers in her youth and her wings had to be amputated after the awful conditions she was kept in led to them becoming infected. She whinges about this a ''lot'', primarily because, well, her ''actual'' character arc/quest was left on the cutting room floor partway through development. Fortunately, the expansion pack gives her a bit more willingness to stand up for herself and fleshes out her relationship with the protagonist a bit better. The origin of all the "socially awkward sweet girl with a tough core" Bioware women like Leliana and Merrill from Dragon Age or Liara T'Soni and Tali'Zorah from Mass Effect. Also a potential love interest. She's even the only party member who gets pregnant and gives birth during the series, and spends the rest of the game adventuring with her child bundled up on her back.

===Introduced in the Enhanced Editions===
Dorn Il-Khan - A male half-orc blackguard (implemented as a paladin kit) who benefits from the best [[Strength]] score among recruitable NPCs. Unlike the half-orc stereotype of being dumb, ugly rudeboys with no impulse control, he's intelligent, handsome, charming, articulate and pragmatic, if, you know... evil. Is openly bisexual and can be romanced regardless of gender. Starts out hostile and suspicious to most people but by the sequel has mellowed somewhat and is willing to make friends with people who share his interests.

Neera - Female half-elven wild mage, with a running gag about being mistaken for a full-blooded elf. Angsts about her magic causing wild and crazy effects on and off the battlefield, but otherwise prefers to be cheerful and upbeat. Is a romance option for males.

Rasaad yn Bashir - A human male [[monk]] (specifically a Sun Soul monk) whose character arc involves him dealing with the death-except-not-really and corruption of his brother Gamaz and his attempts to get revenge on the perpetrator. Has a poor ability to recognise or tell jokes, which forms the bulk of his humour. Is a romance option for females.

Baeloth Barrityl - A flamboyant, motor-mouthed male [[drow]] [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|sorcerer]], he serves as the big bad of the first "The Black Pits" spin-off game, and can be recruited as a party member in both Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (where he was banished to a pocket plane prison on the surface after having his gladiators rebel) and in Siege of Dragonspear (where he's trying and failing to run a new "Black Pits" gladiatorial arena) if you let him live in the first game.

Captain Schael Corwin - A female archer serving with the Flaming Fist, she is the first companion that the player acquires after beginning the Siege of Dragonspear campaign proper. She's a great rear-rank warrior, but that does mean putting up with her personality, which is basically [[Lawful Stupid]]. Whilst she's technically romanceable (she's a bisexual woman), she is held back in fans' eyes by A: being used goods (she has a daughter, Romah, from a deadbeat boyfriend she had... and whom she's murdered 5 times), and most importantly B: being such a Lawful Stupid asshole that when your PC is accused of murder in the final chapter, she actually advocates that they make a guilty plea in order to "quell the civil unrest" that their situation is causing as swiftly as possible.

Glint Gardnersonson - Male [[gnome]] [[cleric]]/[[thief]] devoted to [[Baravar Cloakshadow]] found in Siege of Dragonspear, Glint's entire character can be summed up as "gay Jan Jansen with divine magic". He's a motor-mouthed brilliant yet absent-minded and socially awkward gnome who is also the only purely homosexual male follower in the game.

M'khinn Grubdoubler - Cynical, world-weary and bitter "redeemed" female [[goblin]] [[shaman]] whom is being held as a captive by Baeloth Barrityl in Siege of Dragonspear.

Voghiln the Mighty - A flamboyantly [[viking]] [[bard]] whose life revolves around music, booze, women and seeking adventure from Siege of Dragonspear. He'd probably be more popular if A: he didnt't feel so much likie a slightly less crazy Minsc, and B: he didn't have an affair with Safana behind your back.

Hexxat - A black lesbian vampire from the Enhanced Edition of Shadows of Amn. That about sums up everything there is to know about (or care for) Hexxat.

===Bosses===
Sarevok Anchev - Main villain and final boss of the first game, a male human [[Bhaalspawn]] who is manipulating events to trigger a huge war that will sweep the Sword Coast, hoping to ascend to Bhaal's place by harvesting a great tally of souls in the battle and through the slaughter of any other Bhaalspawn he can find. Proclaims he's doing it all because he's a Bhaalspawn, ''duh'', but other sources imply he's the bad guy because his childhood was painful and he was influenced along the path to evil When it falls apart, you still have to fight him, and he's a motherfucker of a boss, with immunity to most magic and incredibly powerful weapons and armor that you can't even loot off him. In the third game, you have the option to resurrect his shade and allow him to fight at your side, potentially inspiring him to redeem himself and become a better person in the process. Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, leading to an impressively deep and intimidating voice.

Jon Irenicus - Mad male elven mage who, in his former life as Joneleth, was the lover of the elven queen Ellesime... before, in a fit of arrogance, he tried to steal the power to become a god from the elves' sacred trees. The elves stripped him of his soul, reducing him to a dying, emotionally crippled husk who nevertheless retained his archmage power, and then booted him out of the city, alongside his sister, Bodhi, who was party to the whole mess. The whole plot of BG2 is his attempt to steal the PC's soul and use it to restore himself so he can take another shot at it, with the added bonus of killing all the elves in the process. Has tons of dark charisma and icy sarcasm that make him the most popular antagonist in the series. He even mocks you if you try to squeeze him for "villain exposition." Voiced by David Warner, who gives a chilling and legendary performance for this dude.

Bodhi - She tried to cure her newfound mortality and soullessness by turning herself into a vampire. It sort of worked. While her brother's empty soul turned him into an icy, calculating monster, hers caused her to become a nearly feral predator. She was the subject of a "test run," in which Jon put Imoen's soul into her to see if it'd actually help.

The Five - A band of five extremely powerful Bhaalspawn who have banded together to exterminate their kin in hopes of then ascending to Bhaal's old throne themselves. The main bosses of Throne of Bhaal. The most interesting ones are the fire giant, Yaga-Shura, a brilliant general who's completely invulnerable until you find his removed heart and undo the magic that makes him impervious to all harm, and Balthazar, a ''lawful good'' monk who's only hanging out with these freaks so that he can ultimately destroy all remaining Bhaalspawn in a special ritual, including himself, to permanently sunder Bhaal's essence and ensure he'll never return. Unfortunately, the rushed nature of the expansion means that none of them are really the powerful, interesting, or memorable figures they should be, even with the famous and semi-official Ascension mod, though it does certainly help.

Amelyssan The Blackhearted - The true boss of ToB, the last foe you face in the series; Bhaal's former high priest who seeks to betray her master, steal the collected essence of Bhaal, and use it to become the new Goddess of Murder. Unfortunately, also the least popular final boss in the series, mostly due to the expansion being kind of rushed and her not really having the kind of grand plans or charisma of the previous two.

==Quotes==

As described above, ''Baldur's Gate'' is remembered for the large number of witty and amusing quotes of its NPCs. A selection are given here. [[Minsc]] quotes are found on his page, as he is sufficiently awesome as to need a page all to himself.

*JAHEIRA: "You are amusing, in a 'what the hell is wrong with you?' kind of way."
-----
*EDWIN: "Oh, fine, fine! Kick around Edwin, is it?! Were it not for the gobs of wealth and magic that seem to fall into your lap wherever you go, I would never tolerate such insolence! (As it is, just waiiit until you sleep...)"
-----
*VICONIA: "Tell me, Harper, who was who with your parentage? Father the darthir, mother the rivvil? Or father human, mother elven? It's always confusing with crossbred mongrels."
*JAHEIRA: "Two people in love, swine. A rain not likely to soak your parade of scabbed obscenity any time soon."
-----
*[After Edwin inadvertently turns himself into a woman while seeking magical power.]
*HAER'DALIS:
:"I once knew a Red Wizard of Thay,<br/>Who dreamed of lichdom someday,<br/>He said he knew how to do it,<br/>But he still managed to screw it<br/>Up, in the funniest way."
*EDWIN(A): "Thank the gods he is not a better poet. This is one tale I would rather not see immortalised in print."
-----
*YOSHIMO: "Tell me, Edwina, would you like me to let out the seams on your robe? I am quite handy with a needle. You do, after all, have more, ah, bulk, in the upper chest area."
*EDWIN(A): "Silence, you fool! Chauvinist pig! ...what am I saying? I mean to say idiot!"
-----
*EDWIN(A): "I feel your stares! Die! Die!"
-----
*KORGAN: "Be aware, Mazzy, I've something long, hard, and low to the ground you're free to touch and fondle. Child, no need to glare. 'Twas me axe I was referring to. It's a joke!"
*MAZZY: "That's delightful, Korgan. Not lengthy, but effective."
-----
*VICONIA: "Tree hugger, I have a question for you. If a tree falls in a forest, does anyone care?"
-----
*HAER'DALIS: "Ah, my hound, this city be the great world of commerce! Perhaps we can sell Jaheira?"
*JAHEIRA: "Cut your wit, bard. The day has been long already, without you adding hours to it."
*HAER'DALIS: "Cut my wit? Why, certainly, if only I could use your nose's razor edge to perform the task."
*JAHEIRA: "Aye, it seems I've sharpened it upon the grindstone of your heart."
*HAER'DALIS: "Well, my frumpy ptarmigan, I must protest-"
*JAHEIRA: " "Methinks thou dost protest too much." Aye, I can quote the poets too. If you must protest, I respond only to hunger strikes and, even then, too late."
*HAER'DALIS: "Oh [PC name], raven of sympathy! Yon woman is stifling my creativity and stealing thunder from my wit! I swear I cannot work midst the lashings of her tongue!"
-----
*JAHABOAM: "Ho there, I have worked long and lonely hours and it is good to see a friendly face! Care to see some of my trinkets and far flung wares? Something special, something plain, whatever you wish for in these uncertain times, I can make accommodation. Something... for the lady, perhaps? Oh yes, I see a glint in the eye. There is romance afoot, and it needs the dancing partner of the adornments of affection!"
*JAHEIRA: "N-no, that's quite alright. Do not make a fuss."
*JAHABOAM: "Nonsense! Oh, but perhaps I have overstepped my bounds with my observant eyes. I apologize most profusely. It changes nothing, though. You sir, your name?"
*PC: "[PC name]"
*JAHABOAM: "[PC name]? The name of a man that knows his heart, but perhaps has troubles warming the lady's heart. By no fault of your own, of course! Perhaps a gift?"
*JAHEIRA: "I said not to..."
*JAHABOAM: "I believe I was speaking to the gentleman. Now sir, she is a lady of the battlefield, so a commemorative blade possibly? No? I have the perfect thing! A locket to carry an endearing portrait! A minor magic will instantly implant a likeness of the lady. A mere 20 gold, that you might but glance at my other items."
*PC: "I believe the lady said she didn't want anything."
*JAHABOAM: "As you will. Farewell for now. Good luck to you and the lady. Ahh, to be young. Jahaboam bids you not squander what there is to grasp. Farewell!"
*JAHEIRA: "What a... charming fellow. Completely insane of course. Out of his mind. Blind as a bat. No idea what he was saying."
*PC: "Yes... yes, of course. Out of his mind. Yes."
*JAHEIRA: "Yes. Well. Let's... let's get going, shall we?"
-----
*MOOK: "Bloody fine to have some backup. I've heard a bit about you. Been makin' a name for yourself as an adventurer."
*PC: "Thanks. I do my best."
*MOOK: "Aren't you a bit too heroic to be guarding shipments for Aran?"
*PC: "Tis merely a path on the road to another heroic feat."
*MOOK: "I'm glad I could play a part in your little drama."
-----
*SIMYAZ: "You live! The illithids let you go? Astounding, unless you are in league with them. I warn you, if you serve them you will share their fate."
*PC: "No, actually, I DESTROYED THE WHOLE DAMN BUNCH WITHOUT YOU!!"
*SIMYAZ: "I sense hostility."
-----
*BEGGAR: "Excuse me... might you have a coin to spare my poor, venerable mother? She would ask for herself, but she lays in a cold, cold room nearly sick to her death, alas..."
*PC: "She's sick, is she? Perhaps you could bring me to her... I might be able to offer her some help."
*BEGGAR: "Hmph. You could just say 'no', you know... (Always has to be me that runs into them good samaritan types...)
-----
*CAPTAIN EGEISSAG: "So you are the one who has caused so much trouble... I must admit, I am not impressed."
*PC: "Does Sendai think she can stop me by constantly throwing these pathetic slaves in my way?"
*EGEISSAG: "Your slaughter-filled progress has greatly alarmed my mistress. If I defeat you my reward will be truly worthwhile."
*SPECTATOR BEHOLDER: "Oh, Captain, my Captain!"
*EGEISSAG: "Eh? Why do you address me as such, beholder? You have a most peculiar attitude... I shall have to report it to the mistress soon."
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, never mind that. I always wanted to say that, and there you go getting all upset. I just had a comment, here, before this Bhaalspawn squashes you into so much mush."
*EGEISSAG: "Hmph. That may not necessarily happen."
*SPECTATOR: "Uh... yes. Anyhow, on the off chance that you *do* manage to kill the Bhaalspawn, won't Sendai just go the matron mothers and take all the credit for her greedy *little self?"
*EGEISSAG: "You... speak the truth, my mono-ocular friend. I would rather claim the credit for such a deed myself. Have you a suggestion?"
*SPECTATOR: "I'm just thinking it would be *so* much better if you fought [PC name] in single combat. Then you could claim to have killed him all by yourself. Even the matrons couldn't refute that. Parades, gold, a new torture rack, it'd all be yours."
*[The Spectator casts a spell; when either warrior dies, all of their followers will too. Egeissag and the PC fight. Predictably, it is a one-sided slaughter. Egeissag dies and so do his followers.]
*SPECTATOR: "Ahhh... and so it ends. And so does my service with this particular drow dolt. I mean, what's with these drow? Have they nothing better to do than summon me for their stupid tasks?"
*PC: "Hey... aren't you the spectator beholder from the Sahuagin city?"
*SPECTATOR: "That's me. And can I say thank you again for releasing me from one of the most boring tasks in Creation? These drow will just never learn."
*PC: "How is it that you didn't die with the drow?"
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, what? Did you really think I would cast that Geas on myself, too? That would be stupid."
*PC: "So what are you going to do now"
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, you know. Find the nearest hive. Check out the ladies. The usual. You?"
*PC: "Fighting for my life. The usual."
-----
*SOLAR: "When you return to the waking world, you will continue to speed towards your purpose... stopping the prophecy from coming true. My question... why will you do this?"
*PC: "Errr... because if it wasn't for world-shaking prophecies, life would be boring?"
-----
*[The PC releases three novice adventurers from a stone spell.]
*BONDARI: "Die, cursed eyeball! Wha? Uh...? ...Do I, uh, know you?"
*PC: "I have freed you from your stone prison, young adventurer."
*BONDARI: "Uh, thanks. Guys, are you okay?"
*NANOC THE BARBARIAN: Yeah.
*TIM GOLDENHAND: Yes. (No thanks to you... can't even backstab an eyeball!)
*BONDARI: Shut up, Tim! Greetings, my, uh... Lord. I am Bondari Quickhand, a thief. These are my companions Nanoc the Barbarian and Tim Goldenhand. He's an elf. And a mage. Uh... I guess I should thank you for saving us. Is there some way we brave adventurers can repay your kindness? Something we can do for you to fulfill our debt of gratitude? Anything? Anything at all?"
*PC: "A terrible evil has swept across the land and the lives of millions hang in the balance. You have been chosen, Bondari, and you must not fail in your quest!"
*BONDARI: "A quest! Wow, this is great! What do we have to do?"
*PC: "A fiendish beholder and his kobold cohorts have infested a cave to the east of here. An evil dragon threatens the land! I must have the beholder's eyestalk to slay the dragon and save the country from certain doom!"
*BONDARI: "By Mask's mask! We can't let this happen!"
*PC: "Go, noble adventurer, and retrieve the eyestalk. The fate of Tethyr lies in your hands!"
*BONDARI: "What type of reward do we get?"
*PC: "The satisfaction of a job well done. Do not argue, even now the dragon raises his army to crush the world!"
*BONDARI: "Well, we will be saving the world... Alright, we'll do it! Let's go, boys!"
*TIM: "Wait! I have to rest and memorize magic missile!"
*NANOC: "Worry not, elf. Nanoc will protect you!"
*[The next day.]
*BONDARI: "(I'm telling you we can take [PC name]. Nanoc, you are unfettered by the weaknesses of the civilized world! Tim, you can cast magic missile! I will backstab. I bet he has all kinds of great treasure!)"
*NANOC: "{But Tim is terrible. Remember the kobold king? He cast one spell then hid behind a rock while we had to slay everyone!)"
*TIM: "(Hey! I have the healing potions! I heal you!)"
*NANOC: "(I can shrug off a blow that would fell a normal man! Unfettered by your civilized ways, I...)"
*BONDARI: "(Enough. Ready...) ATTACK!!!"
*[The three adventurers attack the party. They are massacred.]
*[Bondari reloads]
*BONDARI: "Uh, here's your eyestalk sir. We found something else, too. I hope you like it."
*PC: "You have saved us all, noble hero."
*BONDARI: "Thanks. It was a good quest. I found a dagger and Tim here got a scroll of identify. In a couple of days he'll be able to tell me about my dagger."
*NANOC: "I bid you a 'Farewell' suitably unfettered by civilization."
-----
And of course, we must not forget the most awesome quote ever:
*PC: "Ok, I've just about had my FILL of riddle asking, quest assigning, insult throwing, pun hurling, hostage taking, iron mongering, smart arsed fools, freaks, and felons that continually test my will, mettle, strength, intelligence, and most of all, patience! If you've got a straight answer ANYWHERE in that bent little head of yours, I want to hear it pretty damn quick or I'm going to take a large blunt object roughly the size of Elminster [[Hat|AND his hat]], and stuff it lengthwise into a crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the nine hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd! Have I MADE myself perfectly CLEAR?!"

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Forgotten Realms]][[Category:Video Games]]

Baldur's Gate (Games)

2019-10-31T14:05:52Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8: /* Introduced in BG2 */

{{/vg/}}
[[Image:Baldur's Gate.PNG|thumb|right]]'''Baldur's Gate''' is a fucking awesome series of [[Advanced_Dungeons_and_Dragons#AD.26D_2nd_Edition|2e]] [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[CRPG]]s based in the [[Forgotten Realms]] [[campaign setting]]. They were made by [[Bioware]] between 1998 and 2001, and comprise four games in total; ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'', and their respective expansions ''Tales of the Sword Coast'' and ''Throne of Bhaal''. The games follow the story of a Bhaalspawn (the player's character) as they discover their identity and have to deal with both the effects it has on themselves and the threat of outside agencies who wish to use the player's character for their own goals.

The series uses the isometric [[Infinity Engine]] common to many of Bioware's titles, also used in such games as [[Planescape: Torment]] and the [[Icewind Dale]] series. Alongside ''Planescape: Torment'', the series (especially ''BGII'') is regarded by many as one of the best CRPGs of all time. The games are notable for being remarkably freeform and presenting a wide variety of options for resolving the problems that are faced, as well as supporting virtually any sort of alignment the player character chooses. The choices available and sheer number of side-quests that can be undertaken provide a vast amount of replayability to the game.

The games are also known for the great amount of dialogue and conversation options available, especially in ''BGII'', where [[NPC]] party members frequently held conversations with the player and other NPCs in the world. These could range from hilarious (as in the case of [[Edwin]] or [[Minsc]]) to darkly serious.

If even the vast options available in the vanilla games were not enough, dedicated players have access to a wide variety of user-made mods that have been produced for the game, which vary in scope between fixing bugs in the game and improving AI to adding entirely new potential NPC party members complete with their own dialogue and quests. There are even conversions that allow for porting the ''Baldur's Gate'' content into the visually superior ''BGII'' interface - useful considering ''BGI''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s inability to support a higher resolution than 640x480.

Some crazy bastards in the early 2010s actually managed to get the rights to officially create an updated version to both games, and to Icewind Dale. Known as the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Editions, these can now be bought off of Steam and downloaded; they come with a lot of fixes, including a bunch of new characters. While there's some skubbery about how good a job they did (the lack of support for the popular, semi-official "Ascension" mod is a particular bone of contention), most agree they're well worth getting for the history alone. Both games include a bonus campaign, respectively titled ''The Black Pits'' and ''The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay'', in which you create your own party from scratch and fight enemies from throughout the series in gladiatorial arenas you've been abducted to fight in while seeking ways to escape your confinement.

They also released an expansion to the original ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Siege of Dragonspear'', even managing to get almost the entire old voice cast back for the job, more than two decades after the fact. While a few one-off characters led to bloody bare-knuckle brawling between the [[SJW|usual]] [[/pol/|suspects]], at the end of the day, it was a pretty decent one. Even featured a brand new character class, the Shaman, which is basically a druid-y sorcerer. Or possibly a sorcerer-y druid. It's a divine caster with spontaneous casting, is what I'm getting at.

All that being said, there's also a mod for Neverwinter Nights 2, called Baldur's Gate Reloaded. It’s an entire port of BG1 to NWN2, carrying over all the voice acting and plot of that game whilst putting it in a 3D engine with a 3rd edition ruleset. It only came out a few months before Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, but has never got much coverage.

In late May 2019 Larian Studios (''Divinity'' series) launched [http://larian.com/ a teaser with a mysterious III logo] on their home page. The metadata for the logo says "BaldursGate_logo_III_retouched.png". No further details are confirmed, though [https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/1047967566168174592 Brian Fargo indicates it was in the works since at least late 2018] so there will likely be something to actually show when the actual announcement happens.

'''UPDATE''' 6/6/2019: The [https://youtu.be/OcP0WdH7rTs/ Trailer] has dropped. We're going back to the Forgotten Realms boys. WARNING: Do not watch if you have eaten less than 3 hours ago, unless you enjoy violently vomiting up all your food. You have been warned.

'''UPDATE''' 6/10/2019: At the PC Gamer Show, [[Mike Mearls]] confirmed that there will be a [[5E|5th Edition]] prequel adventure to the game, due out September 17th. It takes place about 100 years after Baldur's Gate 2, allowing players to catch up on what has been going on and setting up for the PC game proper. This adventure, ''Descent into Avernus'', released in September 2019.

==Storyline==
===Baldur's Gate===
You begin the game as an orphan raised in Candlekeep, a massive "fortress of knowledge" created by the faithful of [[Ohgma]] to preserve and store texts, tomes, manuals, scrolls and other forms of literary knowledge from across the [[Forgotten Realms]]. You were brought here as an infant by the [[wizard]] Gorion, and have never left the security of Candlekeep... until today. Amidst strange rumors of a mysterious "plague" that is afflicting iron in this region of the Sword Coast and a budding war between Baldur's Gate and Amn, Gorion instructs you to gather your belongings and leave, promising explanations once you have united with two friends of his: Jaheira and Khalid.

Unfortunately, he is struck down defending you against a mysterious assailant who ambushes you in the night; a hulking armored warrior who demands your life. At Gorion's instructions, you flee for safety, which he buys at the expense of his own life. You are left without any guidance at all, and alone save for the arrival of Imoen; your foster sister from Candlekeep. With no other purpose, you set about becoming [[adventurer]]s, and slowly unravel the mysteries of the "iron plague".

It turns out that the "iron plague" is a result of a ploy by a Baldur's Gate merchant house called the Iron Throne; having discovered a lost and flooded iron mine in the Cloakwood, they have restored it to functioning condition under the leadership of someone named "Sarevok" through the use of slave labor. Following Sarevok, they used [[kobold]]s to begin sabotaging the iron ore at Nashkel, the region's premier iron mine, and encouraged bands of bandits to begin plaguing the Sword Coast. Likewise, they have fed the rumors of impending war, hoping to profit from their dark deeds.

However, Sarevok has other plans. He had discovered that he is a [[Bhaalspawn]] - a demigodling created by [[Bhaal]], the God of Murder, as an insurance against his destruction during the [[Time of Troubles]]. The Iron Throne believes Sarevok seeks money - instead, he fully intends to plunge the Sword Coast into a bloody war on a massive scale, hoping to ascend and take his father's place as the new God of Murder.

This is why Sarevok sought your death. For you too are a Bhaalspawn. Once you discover this, you must unmask Sarevok's true role in the troubles plaguing Baldur's Gate, and then confront him for a final showdown in an ancient temple to Bhaal in the Undercity. But even as he dies, you can feel it in your bones that this is only the beginning...

====Tales of the Sword Coast====
The second game released in the original Bioware lineup, this glorified expansion pack to the original ''Baldur's Gate'' introduces four new major plots centered around two new areas on the world map; '''Ulgoth's Beard''' and '''Durlag's Tower'''.

'''Durlag's Tower''' is a sprawling dungeon complex erected by an epic-level [[dwarf]] adventurer as a personal home for himself and all his kinsfolk... unfortunately, rumors of his massive stash of treasure lured invaders, in the form of an army of [[doppelganger]]s directed by [[illithid]]s. Only Durlag survived, and the experience of being hunted through his own home by creatures wearing the faces of his wife, children and family left him unhinged. He turned the fortress into a maze of lethal traps and filled it with monsters, and it still remains a death-trap even now. Whilst there are two quests you can receive in Ulgoth's Beard that send you here, you can also come here on your own for a good old fashioned dungeon delve - especially because a "demon knight" has set up shop and is hoping to use the place as a base to launch a fiendish invasion of Faerun. It lies in the extreme south-east of the Baldur's Gate world map, close to the Firewine Bridge and Gullykin.

'''Ulgoth's Beard''' is a small fishing community to the northeast of Baldur's Gate proper. This is where the majority of the new quests introduced in the expansion pack are to be found:
* The local mage Shandalar will ask the player to retrieve his cloak... which entails him teleporting the player's party to a small, inhospitable island and navigating a dungeon full of imprisoned mages driven mad by isolation and hunger, forcing you to kill them all or be killed before he brings you back. He is the kind of guy who would make [[Elminster]] go "dude, you're a dick".
* A dwarf in the local tavern will ask you to recover a special dagger from Durlag's Tower. Said dagger gets you jumped by a bunch of cultists when you return, which causes the dwarf to admit that there's a [[nabassu]] stuck in that dagger. You have to fight your way into the basement of a nearby house and kill the cultists, but not before they release the [[demon]], resulting in a stupidly tough boss fight (he keeps respawning when killed so long as there are "Cult Guards" alive).
* A woman wants you to rescue her son, who went off to become an adventurer by exploring Durlag's Tower.
* A mysterious nobleman in a house near the docks wants you to undertake an expedition to an island he claims is the place where the legendary hero Balduran, the founder of Baldur's Gate, ran aground on his final voyage. This requires "acquiring" some sea charts from a merchant house in Baldur's Gate, and then a sea voyage... to an island infested with [[werewolf|werewolves]] and [[wolfwere]]s.

===Siege of Dragonspear===
This is not part of the original quadrilogy of games released by Bioware, but is instead an "interquel" to Baldur's Gate & Shadows of Amn created by Beamdog.

After the events of Baldur's Gate, you have become the hero of the titular city. So of course you are chosen to aid Baldur's Gate's army when Caelar Argent, a mad [[aasimar]] [[paladin]] on a mission to invade the Nine Hells of [[Baator]] begins leading a crusade that ravages the Sword's Coast, especially since it's rumored that she may also be a [[Bhaalspawn]]. And all the while, a mysterious hooded mage is spying on you, observing your efforts.

You eventually succeed in stopping the crusade, possibly even saving Caelar from the machinations of her treacherous right hand and getting her to help you undo some of the damage, but when you return, a murder you've been clumsily framed for, and the political machinations of the city's leaders, see you sent off into exile, with the same party you start the next game with.

All in all, not a ''bad'' interquel per say, but it loses major points for the hamfisted ending, which relies on the entire Baldur's Gate courts being skeptical of the idea that Gorion's Ward could have been mind-controlled into murdering somebody by an evil wizard... despite living in a world where A: wizards being able to control people is very common, and B: people '''know this happens'''. It just speaks of obviously wanting to shove "Drama!" into the story and being willing to ignore canon for the sake of it.

Also, it actually creates a continuity snarl: if you talk to Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc in the original Shadows of Amn game, they make it clear that Gorion's Ward went missing ''first'' and then they all got together to try and locate their missing friend, rather than being grabbed whilst actively adventuring together.s

===Shadows of Amn===
You awaken to pain, your memories cloudy, a prisoner in a dungeon overseen by an insane mage who torments you with hideous magical experiments. And then a battle rips through the dungeon. A woman comes to you; Imoen is her name, she tells you, a [[thief]] turned [[wizard]], and your foster sister from Candlekeep. You were abducted some time ago by the mage who has been tormenting you, and she led a band of [[adventurer]]s to your rescue, only to be captured. With the aid of the other survivors, Jaheira and Minsc, you set about escaping from your captor, fighting your way to the surface and discovering you were imprisoned beneath the streets of Athkatla, the capital city of Amn.

Unfortunately, Imoen's attempt to defend herself from your captor with a Magic Missile spell occurs ''just'' as the Cowled Wizards arrive on the scene, spiriting the two of them away for "public use of magic". To pursue them, you must reach the isle of Spellhold, where the Cowled Wizards imprison criminal and crazed magic-users of all sorts... there's just the little matter of building up the extravagant fee to get there first.

Once you arrive, you find your captor - Irenicus - has slaughtered the Cowled Wizards and taken over. He imprisons you again and rips out a portion of your soul, having already done the same with Imoen for his sister, a [[vampire]] named Bodhi - as it turns out, Imoen is also a [[Bhaalspawn]]! Absandoning you to die, the wizard leaves, forcing you to give chase. It will take traveling through the depths of [[Underdark]] before you can finally confront him, and learn the truth behind this whole mess.

As it turns out, Irenicus was originally an [[elf]] wizard who sought to become divine by stealing power from a sacred elven relic called the Tree of Life in the elven city of Suldanasellar. So, in a display of stunning stupidity, the elves punished him by ripping out a portion of his soul, effectively reducing him to a [[human]], and exiled him... '''without taking away his epic levels in wizard'''. (He was the elf queen's main squeeze, and she hoped he'd find redemption instead of further damning himself, but still. Damn.) Fueled by rage, he sought to absorb your soul to restore himself to his full power, after putting Imoen's into his sister who'd infected herself with vampirism to stay immortal, and now he wants to complete his original goal and become a god.

This leads, of course, to a climatic battle... and then you being dragged into a fiendish [[demiplane]], the last remnant of the realm of [[Bhaal]], to slay Irenicus a second time and finish him off once and for all.

====Watcher's Keep====
This is a dungeon complex similar to Durlag's Tower in Tales of the Sword Coast. It was introduced as part of the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack, but can be accessed during both a Shadows of Amn game and a Throne of Bhaal game.

During your adventures in Amn, you discover an ancient fortress turned dungeon, whose resident guardians beg you for help. The Watcher's Keep is used to imprison a powerful [[fiend]] - no less than [[Demogorgon]] himself! - but the wardings are starting to fail. Only you are powerful enough to have a chance to fight your way through the monsters and traps to reach the lowest level and restore the wardings to their full power... or slay the beast and banish it back to the netherrealms from whence it came.

===Throne of Bhaal===
The inevitable has come. The Five, a band of powerful [[Bhaalspawn]] have united, plunging the Sword Coast into a bloody war as the children of [[Bhaal]] seek each other out and slaughter each other, determined to be the last ones standing. And you have no intention of just rolling over and dying.

An unfortunately rushed expansion. Not unfinished or anything; just kind of unsatisfying. A semi-official mod put out by the game's creators, called "Ascension," adds a great deal of extra content.

==Characters==
The Baldur's Gate series is home to an ''enormous'' cast of characters. In general, the sequel's were more fleshed-out and popular than the first game's, save for, you know, those who went on to appear in the sequel.

===Introduced in BG1===
[[Bhaalspawn]] - Your Player Character, child of [[Bhaal]]. Sometimes referred to in-universe as Gorion's Ward, nicknamed "Charname" by the fandom after the ''character name'' variable used in dialog scripts. Very variable depending on how you play them, with seven possible races, a large variety of classes and class kits to choose from and the option of being ''anywhere'' on the Alignment spectrum. We do NOT talk about the atrocity that is "Abdel Adrian".

Imoen - A spunky, cheerful, whimsical female human [[thief]] who was raised at Candlekeep alongside the [[Bhaalspawn]]. Spied on the PC and Gorion when the latter made plans to retreat from Candlekeep and followed them out of loyalty to her best friend, the PC. Reappears in BG2 as one of your initial party members, she was originally planned to be killed off in the game by the developers, but they rewrote the plot when they realized how popular she was. Having [[multiclassing|dual-classed]] to [[Mage]] in the interim between games, she has been traumatized by the experiments of the mad wizard Irenicus, who gets her kidnapped by the Cowled Wizards and taken to Spellhold with him so that he can continue experimenting on her. She's ultimately revealed to be another Bhaalspawn, but one of lesser power and will than the PC, which might explain why ''you'' can't be raised from the dead but she can.

Jaheira - A tough, no-nonsense female half-elven Fighter/Druid; originally married to Khalid, a meeker half-elven fighter, she was one of Gorion's old friends and planned to help him smuggle the PC away to safety when he fled Candlekeep. In BG2, she is one of your initial party members, her husband having been murdered by Irenicus. This opens her up as a romance option. She's a member of the [[Harpers]]. Has rock-solid-but-not-incredible stats for both fighting and casting, and while she won't outdo any specialists, she fits into every party.

Kagain - A male Fighter dwarf, head of a mercenary company. Joins you to look for a caravan of his, but says "fuck it" and decides to help you adventuring instead. Evil-aligned, but it's more because he's grumpy and greedy than outright malice. With 20 constitution, he is the best tank in the entire game. Did not return in the sequels.

Khalid - A half-elven Fighter and Jaheira's wimpy, loser husband. Long resented for being a necessary component of any party with Jaheira in it despite being completely overshadowed in damage output by every other fighter, ranger, and paladin in the game, having a very low morale score that often sees him running for the hills, and only having decent-but-not-incredible tanking stats to make up for it. He also had no real personality besides being spineless and prone to talking like Porky Pig. There is some question as to whether or not this was due to his originally being intended as a fighter/mage, but changed back at the last minute. Is gratuitously and irreversibly killed off in the sequel (though admittedly in such a way that is consistent with the rules governing resurrection in the setting) to free up Jaheira for male Charnames, and in such a way that a lot of people who hated him still felt bad for he and her.

[[Minsc]] - A male human Rashemi Berserker (though mechanically he's a ranger with a unique ability that mimics the berserker kit's) who came to Baldur's Gate looking for the chance to kick butt for goodness in the company of his [[witch]], Dynaheir. He's one of your initial party members in BG2, as he and Dynaheir joined Jaheira and Khalid in looking for the PC and Imoen after Irenicus abducted them. Dynaheir's death left him even loopier. Fortunately, his animal companion, a miniature giant space hamster (who may or may not [[Spelljammer|be just that]]) named Boo, is there to steer him properly. ''Easily'' the most popular character in the series, for his gloriously-hammy voice acting, wacky but endearing personality, and just being a very fun guy to have around, hence his getting his own spin-offs. Modern audiences have a slightly more complicated relationship with him, though, with some viewing him as an overrated one-trick pony who keeps getting whored out to sell Forgotten Realms crap to an audience too shallow to recognize his flaws. Which interpretation is valid depends on whether you like his personality gimmicks; if you do, you're pretty much set, but if you don't, he'll be little more than a pain in the arse. Also, his berserk ability makes him uncontrollable and prone to [[Kharn|attacking other party members]], so use with caution.

[[Edwin]] - An arrogant exiled male human Red Wizard of [[Thay]], beloved by the fans for his endless snark and delusions of grandeur, as well as being the best wizardly party member a player can get. Has a silly subplot in the second game about ''trying'' to gain ultimate arcane power as a [[lich]], only to end up becoming a woman.

[[Viconia de'Vir]] - A renegade female [[drow]] [[cleric]] whose path crosses the PCs in both the first and second game. Tends towards throwing mean-spirited insults at almost everyone else in your party, but to Charname she alternates between being kind of nice and a total bitch at times, like that "sun-dear" thing your weeaboo friends keep going on about. The origin of all sexy-but-morally dubious-and-dangerous Bioware women who are actually not so bad deep down, such as Morrigan and Isabela from Dragon Age or Jack and Miranda from Mass Effect. Another potential love interest character, but we probably didn't need to tell you that. Her only major weakness is her very low strength score; equip some kind of item that sets it nice and high for her (like a Belt of Giant Strength or Gauntlets of Ogre Power) so she can wear heavy armor, and her incredible magic resistance and dexterity scores will make her a fantastic tank. On top of that, her good wisdom and pure-caster status make her one of or ''the'' best clerics in any game she's in.

===Introduced in BG2===
Mazzy Fentan - A female [[halfling]] [[fighter]] who worships Arvoreen, the halfling warrior god, with such fervor that she is as close to being a [[paladin]] as AD&D 2e rules allow. (Namely, through getting a bunch of unique powers that mime those of a pally.) Doubles as walking proof that Halflings can get shit done too and a critique of the race/class restrictions of the edition she was born into, what with Paladins being a humans-only option and all. Well-liked for being something other than the stereotypical stupid/timid/goofy halfling thief in an edition that was rife with those, and for having a bunch of fun interactions with the rest of the cast. Was voiced by Jennifer Hale, who ironically later voiced both [[Samus]] and [[Bioware#Mass Effect|the female Commander Shepard.]]

Haer'dalis - Male [[tiefling]] bard and a [[Planescape|doomguard]]. Was considered as a romance option for females but it never went anywhere. Has a lot of good voice acting and witty lines. Likes to nickname the party by calling them animals. As he has a Bard kit designed for frontline combat (Blade), he is considered much more viable than the Garrick and Eldoth, the playable bards from the first game. Sheds some interesting light on another ''D&D'' setting.

Keldorn Firecam - Rugged, world-weary but still badass male human [[paladin]]. His class kit, Inquisitor, is designed to help with fighting mages, which makes him very, very useful because mid-to-high-level enemy mages are a complete pain in the ass. Popular among the player base the latter reason, for having solid stats and being able to use a really powerful two-handed sword called Carsomyr, which basically makes him a monster in close-combat, but comes with two major caveats: one, he'll refuse to be in a party with, if not actively try to kill, a number of useful but Evil-aligned potential party members, which may make you want to just make your ''own'' paladin if you want an Inquisitor that much; two, there are several moments in the game where he'll either leave the party or ''turn his blade on you'' if you take the evil path in a quest, and that's if he doesn't force you to take the good path. His personal quest is well-regarded for being more about roleplaying and moral dilemmas than meat-grinder combat, and for tackling his struggles to balance the demands of his lifestyle and calling with being a good husband and father.

Anomen Delryn - Arrogant, wanna-be "Knight" male human fighter/cleric. Only male love interest in the base game. Fans have a complex relationship with him. On one hand, while he starts out as a dickhead and glory hound, he's actually got a very fleshed out character and backstory that gives him a lot of depth and, potentially, the deepest character arc in the entire game, complete with two possible outcomes: one where he becomes a better person (and gets a hefty [[Wisdom]] boost), and one where he sinks into despair and bitterness over his failures; on the other hand, he's such a douchebag that his inauspicious beginnings incurably colour many players' opinions of him, since he'll spend a whole awful lot of time insulting other party members for petty reasons (like spitting on Mazzy for being a halfling or Cernd for being a druid) and even you if you dare to suggest he's not the invincible badass he claims to be, and on top of that he starts with a crummy Wisdom score, making him a sub-par caster. Consequently, he's been near or at the top of many "Characters who just aren't worth it" lists for years.

Korgan Bloodaxe - A [[dwarf]] berserker with a silver tongue, a long blue beard and a foul temper. Starts out optimally-trained in axemanship, is willing to kill allies who become dead weight to him, is only fond of those who can hold their own against his insult tirades should he choose to unleash them and has an irrepressible lust for bloodshed and battle. [[Khorne]] is infinitely pleased by his existence. His stats are built for kicking ass and taking lumps aplenty, but he can't use any wands or spells. A popular choice for equipping him is to train him for dual-wielding and improve his hammer-wielding skills, ultimately kitting him out with the Axe of the Unyielding (an awesome axe that can kill in a single swing on the right role) and Crom Faeyr (a warhammer that boosts the wielder's Strength to 25) for maximum carnage. He inspired a LOT of boisterous, fight-happy mercenaries fond of telling stories about past exploits in later BioWare game such as Dragon Age's Oghren and Iron Bull or Mass Effect's Urdnot Wrex and Zaeed Massani; he could arguably have influenced Bioware for AN ENTIRE race in Mass Effect - the super-tough war-like aliens the krogan (the aforementioned Urdnot Wrex is a member of this race).

Oghren and Iron Bull from Dragon Age or Urdnot Wrex and Zaeed Massani from Mass Effect.

Yoshimo - Smooth-talking not-Japanese [[thief]] who turns out to be reluctantly spying on you for Irenicus because his sister was Sarevok's lover and canonically either died at your hands or on your watch. His class kit, Bounty Hunter, makes him handy with traps. Has some funny lines about the way weeb settings like his seem to work out, and can potentially get a very small bit of closure.

Jan Jansen - Crazy male [[gnome]] [[illusionist]]/[[thief]]. Fights with his array of wacky inventions, is absolutely fucking hilarious, and enjoys telling silly stories just to get a rise out of people. Has a shockingly heartbreaking personal quest where the woman he loves is stuck in a bad marriage to an abusive asshole and the only way to save her daughter's sanity is to make her lose the memories that might cause her to leave him in the first place. Fortunately, in his ending, he manages to save the day and get the girl with [[awesome|an army of well-armed apes that he smuggled into the city, then trained into his private army]].

Aerie - Female [[avariel]] [[mage]]/[[cleric]]. She was kidnapped by slavers in her youth and her wings had to be amputated after the awful conditions she was kept in led to them becoming infected. She whinges about this a ''lot'', primarily because, well, her ''actual'' character arc/quest was left on the cutting room floor partway through development. Fortunately, the expansion pack gives her a bit more willingness to stand up for herself and fleshes out her relationship with the protagonist a bit better. The origin of all the "socially awkward sweet girl with a tough core" Bioware women like Leliana and Merrill from Dragon Age or Liara T'Soni and Tali'Zorah from Mass Effect. Also a potential love interest. She's even the only party member who gets pregnant and gives birth during the series, and spends the rest of the game adventuring with her child bundled up on her back.

===Introduced in the Enhanced Editions===
Dorn Il-Khan - A male half-orc blackguard (implemented as a paladin kit) who benefits from the best [[Strength]] score among recruitable NPCs. Unlike the half-orc stereotype of being dumb, ugly rudeboys with no impulse control, he's intelligent, handsome, charming, articulate and pragmatic, if, you know... evil. Is openly bisexual and can be romanced regardless of gender. Starts out hostile and suspicious to most people but by the sequel has mellowed somewhat and is willing to make friends with people who share his interests.

Neera - Female half-elven wild mage, with a running gag about being mistaken for a full-blooded elf. Angsts about her magic causing wild and crazy effects on and off the battlefield, but otherwise prefers to be cheerful and upbeat. Is a romance option for males.

Rasaad yn Bashir - A human male [[monk]] (specifically a Sun Soul monk) whose character arc involves him dealing with the death-except-not-really and corruption of his brother Gamaz and his attempts to get revenge on the perpetrator. Has a poor ability to recognise or tell jokes, which forms the bulk of his humour. Is a romance option for females.

Baeloth Barrityl - A flamboyant, motor-mouthed male [[drow]] [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|sorcerer]], he serves as the big bad of the first "The Black Pits" spin-off game, and can be recruited as a party member in both Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (where he was banished to a pocket plane prison on the surface after having his gladiators rebel) and in Siege of Dragonspear (where he's trying and failing to run a new "Black Pits" gladiatorial arena) if you let him live in the first game.

Captain Schael Corwin - A female archer serving with the Flaming Fist, she is the first companion that the player acquires after beginning the Siege of Dragonspear campaign proper. She's a great rear-rank warrior, but that does mean putting up with her personality, which is basically [[Lawful Stupid]]. Whilst she's technically romanceable (she's a bisexual woman), she is held back in fans' eyes by A: being used goods (she has a daughter, Romah, from a deadbeat boyfriend she had... and whom she's murdered 5 times), and most importantly B: being such a Lawful Stupid asshole that when your PC is accused of murder in the final chapter, she actually advocates that they make a guilty plea in order to "quell the civil unrest" that their situation is causing as swiftly as possible.

Glint Gardnersonson - Male [[gnome]] [[cleric]]/[[thief]] devoted to [[Baravar Cloakshadow]] found in Siege of Dragonspear, Glint's entire character can be summed up as "gay Jan Jansen with divine magic". He's a motor-mouthed brilliant yet absent-minded and socially awkward gnome who is also the only purely homosexual male follower in the game.

M'khinn Grubdoubler - Cynical, world-weary and bitter "redeemed" female [[goblin]] [[shaman]] whom is being held as a captive by Baeloth Barrityl in Siege of Dragonspear.

Voghiln the Mighty - A flamboyantly [[viking]] [[bard]] whose life revolves around music, booze, women and seeking adventure from Siege of Dragonspear. He'd probably be more popular if A: he didnt't feel so much likie a slightly less crazy Minsc, and B: he didn't have an affair with Safana behind your back.

Hexxat - A black lesbian vampire from the Enhanced Edition of Shadows of Amn. That about sums up everything there is to know about (or care for) Hexxat.

===Bosses===
Sarevok Anchev - Main villain and final boss of the first game, a male human [[Bhaalspawn]] who is manipulating events to trigger a huge war that will sweep the Sword Coast, hoping to ascend to Bhaal's place by harvesting a great tally of souls in the battle and through the slaughter of any other Bhaalspawn he can find. Proclaims he's doing it all because he's a Bhaalspawn, ''duh'', but other sources imply he's the bad guy because his childhood was painful and he was influenced along the path to evil When it falls apart, you still have to fight him, and he's a motherfucker of a boss, with immunity to most magic and incredibly powerful weapons and armor that you can't even loot off him. In the third game, you have the option to resurrect his shade and allow him to fight at your side, potentially inspiring him to redeem himself and become a better person in the process. Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, leading to an impressively deep and intimidating voice.

Jon Irenicus - Mad male elven mage who, in his former life as Joneleth, was the lover of the elven queen Ellesime... before, in a fit of arrogance, he tried to steal the power to become a god from the elves' sacred trees. The elves stripped him of his soul, reducing him to a dying, emotionally crippled husk who nevertheless retained his archmage power, and then booted him out of the city, alongside his sister, Bodhi, who was party to the whole mess. The whole plot of BG2 is his attempt to steal the PC's soul and use it to restore himself so he can take another shot at it, with the added bonus of killing all the elves in the process. Has tons of dark charisma and icy sarcasm that make him the most popular antagonist in the series. He even mocks you if you try to squeeze him for "villain exposition." Voiced by David Warner, who gives a chilling and legendary performance for this dude.

Bodhi - She tried to cure her newfound mortality and soullessness by turning herself into a vampire. It sort of worked. While her brother's empty soul turned him into an icy, calculating monster, hers caused her to become a nearly feral predator. She was the subject of a "test run," in which Jon put Imoen's soul into her to see if it'd actually help.

The Five - A band of five extremely powerful Bhaalspawn who have banded together to exterminate their kin in hopes of then ascending to Bhaal's old throne themselves. The main bosses of Throne of Bhaal. The most interesting ones are the fire giant, Yaga-Shura, a brilliant general who's completely invulnerable until you find his removed heart and undo the magic that makes him impervious to all harm, and Balthazar, a ''lawful good'' monk who's only hanging out with these freaks so that he can ultimately destroy all remaining Bhaalspawn in a special ritual, including himself, to permanently sunder Bhaal's essence and ensure he'll never return. Unfortunately, the rushed nature of the expansion means that none of them are really the powerful, interesting, or memorable figures they should be, even with the famous and semi-official Ascension mod, though it does certainly help.

Amelyssan The Blackhearted - The true boss of ToB, the last foe you face in the series; Bhaal's former high priest who seeks to betray her master, steal the collected essence of Bhaal, and use it to become the new Goddess of Murder. Unfortunately, also the least popular final boss in the series, mostly due to the expansion being kind of rushed and her not really having the kind of grand plans or charisma of the previous two.

==Quotes==

As described above, ''Baldur's Gate'' is remembered for the large number of witty and amusing quotes of its NPCs. A selection are given here. [[Minsc]] quotes are found on his page, as he is sufficiently awesome as to need a page all to himself.

*JAHEIRA: "You are amusing, in a 'what the hell is wrong with you?' kind of way."
-----
*EDWIN: "Oh, fine, fine! Kick around Edwin, is it?! Were it not for the gobs of wealth and magic that seem to fall into your lap wherever you go, I would never tolerate such insolence! (As it is, just waiiit until you sleep...)"
-----
*VICONIA: "Tell me, Harper, who was who with your parentage? Father the darthir, mother the rivvil? Or father human, mother elven? It's always confusing with crossbred mongrels."
*JAHEIRA: "Two people in love, swine. A rain not likely to soak your parade of scabbed obscenity any time soon."
-----
*[After Edwin inadvertently turns himself into a woman while seeking magical power.]
*HAER'DALIS:
:"I once knew a Red Wizard of Thay,<br/>Who dreamed of lichdom someday,<br/>He said he knew how to do it,<br/>But he still managed to screw it<br/>Up, in the funniest way."
*EDWIN(A): "Thank the gods he is not a better poet. This is one tale I would rather not see immortalised in print."
-----
*YOSHIMO: "Tell me, Edwina, would you like me to let out the seams on your robe? I am quite handy with a needle. You do, after all, have more, ah, bulk, in the upper chest area."
*EDWIN(A): "Silence, you fool! Chauvinist pig! ...what am I saying? I mean to say idiot!"
-----
*EDWIN(A): "I feel your stares! Die! Die!"
-----
*KORGAN: "Be aware, Mazzy, I've something long, hard, and low to the ground you're free to touch and fondle. Child, no need to glare. 'Twas me axe I was referring to. It's a joke!"
*MAZZY: "That's delightful, Korgan. Not lengthy, but effective."
-----
*VICONIA: "Tree hugger, I have a question for you. If a tree falls in a forest, does anyone care?"
-----
*HAER'DALIS: "Ah, my hound, this city be the great world of commerce! Perhaps we can sell Jaheira?"
*JAHEIRA: "Cut your wit, bard. The day has been long already, without you adding hours to it."
*HAER'DALIS: "Cut my wit? Why, certainly, if only I could use your nose's razor edge to perform the task."
*JAHEIRA: "Aye, it seems I've sharpened it upon the grindstone of your heart."
*HAER'DALIS: "Well, my frumpy ptarmigan, I must protest-"
*JAHEIRA: " "Methinks thou dost protest too much." Aye, I can quote the poets too. If you must protest, I respond only to hunger strikes and, even then, too late."
*HAER'DALIS: "Oh [PC name], raven of sympathy! Yon woman is stifling my creativity and stealing thunder from my wit! I swear I cannot work midst the lashings of her tongue!"
-----
*JAHABOAM: "Ho there, I have worked long and lonely hours and it is good to see a friendly face! Care to see some of my trinkets and far flung wares? Something special, something plain, whatever you wish for in these uncertain times, I can make accommodation. Something... for the lady, perhaps? Oh yes, I see a glint in the eye. There is romance afoot, and it needs the dancing partner of the adornments of affection!"
*JAHEIRA: "N-no, that's quite alright. Do not make a fuss."
*JAHABOAM: "Nonsense! Oh, but perhaps I have overstepped my bounds with my observant eyes. I apologize most profusely. It changes nothing, though. You sir, your name?"
*PC: "[PC name]"
*JAHABOAM: "[PC name]? The name of a man that knows his heart, but perhaps has troubles warming the lady's heart. By no fault of your own, of course! Perhaps a gift?"
*JAHEIRA: "I said not to..."
*JAHABOAM: "I believe I was speaking to the gentleman. Now sir, she is a lady of the battlefield, so a commemorative blade possibly? No? I have the perfect thing! A locket to carry an endearing portrait! A minor magic will instantly implant a likeness of the lady. A mere 20 gold, that you might but glance at my other items."
*PC: "I believe the lady said she didn't want anything."
*JAHABOAM: "As you will. Farewell for now. Good luck to you and the lady. Ahh, to be young. Jahaboam bids you not squander what there is to grasp. Farewell!"
*JAHEIRA: "What a... charming fellow. Completely insane of course. Out of his mind. Blind as a bat. No idea what he was saying."
*PC: "Yes... yes, of course. Out of his mind. Yes."
*JAHEIRA: "Yes. Well. Let's... let's get going, shall we?"
-----
*MOOK: "Bloody fine to have some backup. I've heard a bit about you. Been makin' a name for yourself as an adventurer."
*PC: "Thanks. I do my best."
*MOOK: "Aren't you a bit too heroic to be guarding shipments for Aran?"
*PC: "Tis merely a path on the road to another heroic feat."
*MOOK: "I'm glad I could play a part in your little drama."
-----
*SIMYAZ: "You live! The illithids let you go? Astounding, unless you are in league with them. I warn you, if you serve them you will share their fate."
*PC: "No, actually, I DESTROYED THE WHOLE DAMN BUNCH WITHOUT YOU!!"
*SIMYAZ: "I sense hostility."
-----
*BEGGAR: "Excuse me... might you have a coin to spare my poor, venerable mother? She would ask for herself, but she lays in a cold, cold room nearly sick to her death, alas..."
*PC: "She's sick, is she? Perhaps you could bring me to her... I might be able to offer her some help."
*BEGGAR: "Hmph. You could just say 'no', you know... (Always has to be me that runs into them good samaritan types...)
-----
*CAPTAIN EGEISSAG: "So you are the one who has caused so much trouble... I must admit, I am not impressed."
*PC: "Does Sendai think she can stop me by constantly throwing these pathetic slaves in my way?"
*EGEISSAG: "Your slaughter-filled progress has greatly alarmed my mistress. If I defeat you my reward will be truly worthwhile."
*SPECTATOR BEHOLDER: "Oh, Captain, my Captain!"
*EGEISSAG: "Eh? Why do you address me as such, beholder? You have a most peculiar attitude... I shall have to report it to the mistress soon."
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, never mind that. I always wanted to say that, and there you go getting all upset. I just had a comment, here, before this Bhaalspawn squashes you into so much mush."
*EGEISSAG: "Hmph. That may not necessarily happen."
*SPECTATOR: "Uh... yes. Anyhow, on the off chance that you *do* manage to kill the Bhaalspawn, won't Sendai just go the matron mothers and take all the credit for her greedy *little self?"
*EGEISSAG: "You... speak the truth, my mono-ocular friend. I would rather claim the credit for such a deed myself. Have you a suggestion?"
*SPECTATOR: "I'm just thinking it would be *so* much better if you fought [PC name] in single combat. Then you could claim to have killed him all by yourself. Even the matrons couldn't refute that. Parades, gold, a new torture rack, it'd all be yours."
*[The Spectator casts a spell; when either warrior dies, all of their followers will too. Egeissag and the PC fight. Predictably, it is a one-sided slaughter. Egeissag dies and so do his followers.]
*SPECTATOR: "Ahhh... and so it ends. And so does my service with this particular drow dolt. I mean, what's with these drow? Have they nothing better to do than summon me for their stupid tasks?"
*PC: "Hey... aren't you the spectator beholder from the Sahuagin city?"
*SPECTATOR: "That's me. And can I say thank you again for releasing me from one of the most boring tasks in Creation? These drow will just never learn."
*PC: "How is it that you didn't die with the drow?"
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, what? Did you really think I would cast that Geas on myself, too? That would be stupid."
*PC: "So what are you going to do now"
*SPECTATOR: "Oh, you know. Find the nearest hive. Check out the ladies. The usual. You?"
*PC: "Fighting for my life. The usual."
-----
*SOLAR: "When you return to the waking world, you will continue to speed towards your purpose... stopping the prophecy from coming true. My question... why will you do this?"
*PC: "Errr... because if it wasn't for world-shaking prophecies, life would be boring?"
-----
*[The PC releases three novice adventurers from a stone spell.]
*BONDARI: "Die, cursed eyeball! Wha? Uh...? ...Do I, uh, know you?"
*PC: "I have freed you from your stone prison, young adventurer."
*BONDARI: "Uh, thanks. Guys, are you okay?"
*NANOC THE BARBARIAN: Yeah.
*TIM GOLDENHAND: Yes. (No thanks to you... can't even backstab an eyeball!)
*BONDARI: Shut up, Tim! Greetings, my, uh... Lord. I am Bondari Quickhand, a thief. These are my companions Nanoc the Barbarian and Tim Goldenhand. He's an elf. And a mage. Uh... I guess I should thank you for saving us. Is there some way we brave adventurers can repay your kindness? Something we can do for you to fulfill our debt of gratitude? Anything? Anything at all?"
*PC: "A terrible evil has swept across the land and the lives of millions hang in the balance. You have been chosen, Bondari, and you must not fail in your quest!"
*BONDARI: "A quest! Wow, this is great! What do we have to do?"
*PC: "A fiendish beholder and his kobold cohorts have infested a cave to the east of here. An evil dragon threatens the land! I must have the beholder's eyestalk to slay the dragon and save the country from certain doom!"
*BONDARI: "By Mask's mask! We can't let this happen!"
*PC: "Go, noble adventurer, and retrieve the eyestalk. The fate of Tethyr lies in your hands!"
*BONDARI: "What type of reward do we get?"
*PC: "The satisfaction of a job well done. Do not argue, even now the dragon raises his army to crush the world!"
*BONDARI: "Well, we will be saving the world... Alright, we'll do it! Let's go, boys!"
*TIM: "Wait! I have to rest and memorize magic missile!"
*NANOC: "Worry not, elf. Nanoc will protect you!"
*[The next day.]
*BONDARI: "(I'm telling you we can take [PC name]. Nanoc, you are unfettered by the weaknesses of the civilized world! Tim, you can cast magic missile! I will backstab. I bet he has all kinds of great treasure!)"
*NANOC: "{But Tim is terrible. Remember the kobold king? He cast one spell then hid behind a rock while we had to slay everyone!)"
*TIM: "(Hey! I have the healing potions! I heal you!)"
*NANOC: "(I can shrug off a blow that would fell a normal man! Unfettered by your civilized ways, I...)"
*BONDARI: "(Enough. Ready...) ATTACK!!!"
*[The three adventurers attack the party. They are massacred.]
*[Bondari reloads]
*BONDARI: "Uh, here's your eyestalk sir. We found something else, too. I hope you like it."
*PC: "You have saved us all, noble hero."
*BONDARI: "Thanks. It was a good quest. I found a dagger and Tim here got a scroll of identify. In a couple of days he'll be able to tell me about my dagger."
*NANOC: "I bid you a 'Farewell' suitably unfettered by civilization."
-----
And of course, we must not forget the most awesome quote ever:
*PC: "Ok, I've just about had my FILL of riddle asking, quest assigning, insult throwing, pun hurling, hostage taking, iron mongering, smart arsed fools, freaks, and felons that continually test my will, mettle, strength, intelligence, and most of all, patience! If you've got a straight answer ANYWHERE in that bent little head of yours, I want to hear it pretty damn quick or I'm going to take a large blunt object roughly the size of Elminster [[Hat|AND his hat]], and stuff it lengthwise into a crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the nine hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd! Have I MADE myself perfectly CLEAR?!"

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Forgotten Realms]][[Category:Video Games]]

Edgy

2019-10-31T13:40:05Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:8C8C:4CF3:6872:2DC8:

{{Topquote|As far as I can make out "edgy" occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy--not to mention the spending money--out of the "youth culture." So they come up with this fake concept of "seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan".|[[Daria 40k|Daria]], Episode [3.05] The Lost Girls.}}

{{Topquote|My name is Not Important; what is important is what I'm going to do. I just fucking hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred, and I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill and it's time for me to die; my genocide crusade begins... here!| The Crusader, aka Not Important}}

[[File:Marvel Edge.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Unabashed Edginess from the 1990s]]
'''Edginess''' refers to people trying too hard (and sometimes too aggressively) to make things more tragic, [[grimdark]], controversial or cool. This often takes the form of senselessly driving a vague argument, a plotline or a scenario to its darkest possible outcome, all the while openly expressing their disdain at rationalizing villains or finding a middle ground in discourses. Like most internet terminology, it has been beaten to death, resurrected hastily, and then beaten some more. Has no relation to ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]''.

Another far less negative use of the term is to describe something on the 'edge' of what's acceptable, pushing established boundaries of convention. For example, by this definition ''Batman: The Animated Series'' was edgy for making an animated series which defied expectations of how true to its base concept and generally well-written a show designed to sell toys could be. Some more examples of this would be Ren and Stimpy (which was crude and vulgar) or Invader Zim (which could get get dark in subject matter, and used a fair bit of black humor); in both cases, a decent bit of the comedy was of the "I can't believe that they'd did ''THAT'' on a kid's cartoon show!" variety. A milder version of this was Sonic the Hedgehog in contrast to Mario. In 1989 the Simpsons was the Edgy take on the classic family sitcom archetype and in 1999 Family Guy had slotted itself in as the Edgy version of The Simpsons. For the 1990s and early 2000s Edgy was a favored term of cynical marketing types which drew the attention of the world's sarcastic snarkers, many of which came to congregate on sites such as 4chan.

An "edgelord" is someone who essentially is guilty of serial attempts to be edgy, like [[that guy]] at your tabletop role playing group who always, without fail, makes brooding loners with a knack for violence who hate authority/"the establishment" (a sentiment common among real-life edgelords) and have a troubled past (shit, they might also wear sunglasses at night) but without the nuance or skill to pull it off, and thus just constantly makes themselves look silly. "Art" done by edgelords contain characters who are as dark, brooding and as painfully unhappy as possible, conflicts have zero compromise, and any conflict of interest will have the worst possible outcome. An edgelord in writing will go out of their way to make the story extra depressing, and subject multiple aspects of it to an increased shock factor when it's clearly '''illogical''' to do so. Needless to say, it can drive a perfect idea to make an entertaining story into the shitter, grating the nerves of even the most jaded audience. When commenting, the "edgelord" will simply push any predicament in the artwork to the darkest, deepest, worst outcome, while describing his fantasies. For example: In an adult and/or bondage predicament picture, edgelords can be found describing a paragraph of horrible fate the captive would suffer, *should* suffer because slaves are shit, and *deserve* abuse, even when the picture was a...predicament with nothing in context. Or he will simply fill the comment of a NSFW picture completely out of the blue, sick fantasies adding "women DESERVE it".

This is not to say that said dark elements like murder, slavery, rape and bodily harm are bad for literature, but rather that their sloppy execution with no regard to their depth is. As shown above, even the most "edgelord" of concepts can be salvaged and even made bearable with proper handling, especially going by the latter definition - but if you do it enough, the boundaries shift and what was edgy becomes the new norm, and there is always the risk of falling ''over'' the edge. This is why the old definition has fallen increasingly out of favor as time has gone on - people began seeing the dross sold under the title of "edgy", and the idea of what it meant thus moved away from the positive coronations marketing execs desired to the qualities described above. Plus, this is the internet, and people would rather a word just be an insult or a compliment to reduce confusion.

==The Anatomy of Edginess==
Edginess is in some ways like a cargo cult. During WWII in the Pacific, the US military set up bases on remote, but inhabited islands, bringing with them a lot of stuff like planes and cars and so forth that was quite amazing to the stone age natives, to whom the world had been a few dozen square kilometers of land surrounded by ocean, with hazy stories of other such islands. When the military left, some of the natives took to making coconut and wooden radios and flight towers based of some hazy recollection of the military variants, unaware that making the shape does not get you the actual thing.

In that vein, most of what comes to mind when people envision "edgy" artworks tends to be the result of people who wanted to make ''morally grey'' characters and subject matter, but lack the maturity/experience/focus combo necessary to NOT end up with anything other than a multiple-personality-disordered ruin. Someone of (at best) mediocre creative abilities sees some fiction that makes good use of melodrama, gritty settings, dark humor and such, made by people who know what the hell they're doing and figures "I can do that!", leading to said person haphazardly applying those elements incorrectly. The results of such efforts are either tiresome, unintentionally funny or just painful. The stereotypical teenager, especially one of a Gothic/emo persuasion, tends to embody this - all too eager for "adult" things (eg: violence, sex and so forth) in their limited perception of such, often born of denial. Individuals who pander to said demographic (or are otherwise just downright hacks) will favor this approach over any sense of complexity, subtlety, nuance and some actual understanding of the human condition.

===Edgy and [[Grimdark]]===
While edginess is frequently associated with invoking grimdark [[Derp|for the sake of it and nothing else]], it's important to remember that this alone does not edgy make. As an example, [[WH40K]]'s [[Imperium of Man]] has reasons to be fair and kind when capable: though it has plenty of genocide, xenocide (completely annihilating species even when they are gentle and kind) torture, forced labor (they draw the line at commercialized chattel slavery, but un-unionized indentured servitude is fair game), witch hunts and militarism that would give Hitler a chubby beyond the grave, said horrors have reasonable justifications. Aliens were buying and selling humans like pets and culling them by the billion, operating slaver outposts even in our solar system before the Emperor came into leading the humanity into a roaring rampage of revenge. And regarding souls and the universe after the Heresy, any deviation from faith in the Emperor will ''literally'' send a human to hell upon death, with their soul becoming daemon food (and/or sex toys).

Any mistreated machinery will attract foul entities and corruption that will fuck you up seven ways till Monday and chew you out; any ill-coaxed [[Machine Spirit]] will jam and blow up in your face; and any laxity will make [[Chaos]] cults pop up by the billion in a week. Then there's [[Necrons|the genocidal robots from another age]], [[Eldar|space elves that would murder a planet on the off chance that their]] [[Farseer]] would break a nail otherwise (and they're still the nice space elves despite that, as their [[Dark Eldar|webway dwelling cousins are even worse - murdering entire planets just because they like the sound of millions of people screaming]]), [[Orks|the ambulatory (AND belligerent) fungi that plague the entire galaxy in a series of wars]], and [[Tyranids|extragalactic horrors that intend to eat everyone's face.]] [[TL;DR]] The Imperium acts like an asshole Hitler/Hirohito bastard child because the alternative is much, MUCH worse.

At the level of narrative, the fact that things are very very bad is a core thematic element of this world. As pointed out there are reasons why things are so miserable in this world which flow logically and despite this there can be points of contrast. Imperials still have the same potential to love and be kind like modern real world humans do. The Tau are hopeful despite the evils of this world. Occasionally pragmatism can overcome the deep seeded prejudices to overcome greater evils, if only for a while. And even if it is preformed by Conscript Guardsmen, Commissars or Space Marines, each the product of horrendous military institutions, can fight to achieve acts of genuine heroism.

Now if you want a senselessly edgy story in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an example would be the now non-canon [[Khornate Knights]].

===In closing===
There are many paths to success for a storyteller, some of which include going over dark territory in various ways or by innovating and pushing boundaries. However, all of them require care and attention to detail to pull off well. Being dark is not a magic bullet for achieving profoundness without trying.

==Notable Edgelords==

*[[Elric]] of Melnibone, arguably the first one.
*The Punisher (pictured above), depending on the writer.
** The ultimate example of "pointless edge" with this character is writer Garth Ennis' (and Ennis himself is quite the edgelord) professionally published Hate Fic [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punisher_Kills_the_Marvel_Universe "Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe"].
*The Joker, depending on the writer.
*[[Drizzt]] clones with extreme Alignment leanings, either towards good or evil.
*Some [[World of Darkness]] characters, particularly Sabbat or Baali.
*Various [[Original character, do not steal|fan-made]] and canon Sonic characters, particularly Shadow.
** If you want the textbook definition of "pointless edge", go look up [[/v/|Shadow the Hedgehog]] for the PS2/XBox/Gamecube. For the unfamiliar: Edgy, rated for everyone 10 and up.
*Several in [[World of Warcraft]]. Character-wise the worst offenders - in ascending order - are Illidan Stormrage (in ''"Burning Crusade"'' and the second half of ''"Legion"''), Deathwing (in ''"Cataclysm"'') and Sylvanas Windrunner (the entirety of World of Warcraft). Others include several Death Knights and lots of the Demon Hunters and Forsaken (even their faction names are edgy).
*Several characters from [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], depending on the books or the TV adaptation. Examples from both include Euron Greyjoy, Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton.
*Half of the [[Animu]] protagonists in existence. Bonus points if the genre is isekai, triple points if there's a harm involved.
**Goblin Slayer. Goblins' characterization is based solely on the fact that they rape (in the sexual and the "defile the land" sense), to the point where most drama from the already bare-boned story comes from "x character was traumatized by goblin rape" in some way or another. The protag - the titular "Goblin Slayer" - is obsessed with killing Goblins so much that it's all he could think of because they destroyed his hometown and raped his sister to death in front of him when he was a kid.
*Reaper from Overwatch
*[[Blackguard]]s
* Warhammer 40k has so, so many there's entire edgelord ''factions'', such as the [[Chaos Space Marine|traitor marines]] and [[Dark Eldar]] (who get extra points for their love of selfishness, dark colors and torture). Character examples include Rogal Dorn, Konrad Cruze, Angron, Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra and Drazhar.
* Warhammer Fantasy, similar to above but to a lesser degree. Notable examples here include [[Valnir|Valnir the Reaper]] and most Dark Elves.
*[[Malal]]. As if the Chaos gods' emotion tantrum is not enough, there exist this guy who out-hate everyone including himself with servants who are tougher and stronger than theirs.
*Ceasar's Legion and Ceasar himself in [[Fallout|Fallout: New Vegas]] (along with some of their fans and the writer who created them).
*[[Star Wars|Kylo Ren]] AKA Krylo Ben AKA Ben Swolo. The writers were doing it on purpose, to play up the First Order's dogmatic North Korea in space schtick, and to that end made Kylo an incredibly unsubtle Darth Vader pastiche. While "Kylo" may be the worst Skywalker ever, there is no denying that the edge is strong in his family. His mom's side are a bunch of crybaby desert backworlders with an incestuous sex drive and his dad was a scruffy, nerf herding spice smuggler - and all were war criminals, some with body counts in the hundred thousands and some with children's blood on their hands... He probably fits the mold better than we'd like to admit.
* Lord Edgelord, later Lord Edgegod from Slackwyrm Keep. He's aware, and <s>he's loving it</s><span style='color:red;font-size:100%'>***CLANG!*** There's no love in edge, only chaos!</span>

[[Category:Gamer Slang]]