My Problem Is That People Always Assume You Are Playing A "heroic", "kind" Or At Least "sweet" Character.

My problem is that people always assume you are playing a "heroic", "kind" or at least "sweet" character. It never occurs to them there might be a murderer next to Ascended Astarion, a manipulator like him who plays along with him, or someone even more frightening. It's like they are literally removing the existence of evil, cunning characters who can exploit their position. Being immortal, you have a lot of time to change and improve your position.

Not everyone who chooses Ascended Astarion has a "daddy complex" or "bdsm kink".

Evil Magnifico and Amaya. I'm very much into this, in the Asc Astarion romance.

(md with more true medievalism in the dynamic)

Astarion acts like a Diva all the time, and when Ascended. He seems like he should be singing his villain song. He's such a fanfare.

The difference in ritual perception can be very simple for players:

Rejection ritual (Spawn) "You are good the way you are, you don't need this power."

Ritual (Ascended) "I'll do anything for you, if that's what you want, I'll give it to you, because you deserve it."

None of these versions is bad and looks like a natural development for Astarion. In both cases, he gets self-affirmation with your help.

But some people shocked me because they really think in a role-play game you should be punished for evil actions and that evil actions lead to a BAD ending.

It's not, let me explain the difference.

Bad ending

This is something that overtakes you unexpectedly and not from your desire. Most often, bad endings are found in visual novels, where the options you chose could lead to unexpected consequences.

First of all, a bad ending means that you have lost. Your character has died or is in a terrible situation. Or, in general, all the characters died, and not from your desire (this is important!), but because you made a wrong choice somewhere.

By the way, even a visual novel does not teach you moral choice in a bad ending. This is just one of the scenarios, more dramatic and sad. Some people discover bad endings for the sake of achievements, but most often by accident.

Evil ending

This is what you choose yourself. In fact, this is a victory, but on the EVIL side. When you decide to betray the Tieflings, is that a bad ending? For the Tieflings, but not for you. It's a choice for you, and you know its consequences. In any case, being on evil side does not mean losing.

When developers add evil variants to their role-playing game, they WANT you to use them. If they punish you for this and teach you morality, then who will play for evil at all? A masochist? I don't think so either.

When at the end of the game our character sits on the throne and destroys the city, is it a loss for him? No, this is his personal victory. It's an evil ending.

But let's go back to Ascended Astarion.

Our character gets a powerful ally with whom they can:

Go travel (a good option for a neutral or good character)

Conquer the city

Dot the nearest settlements with a corpses

At the same time, our character is not forced, but asked what they want.

It's not a bad ending, it's an evil ending. YouTuber Nyloth noticed earlier, Larian even made special phrases for Durge to make evil ending look harmonious. You can't choose "I want to rest because the call of blood is gone" with an evil version Astarion. Because it's unnatural for this ending. In BG3 there are options for bad endings, but even they are chosen by you. For example, you can kill yourself and refuse to live as an illithid. But you can also leave with the Emperor. It's your choice! It's not like you suddenly lost. Rather, it is an opportunity to finish the narrative beautifully, depending on what kind of story you want to create. Some users felt that Astarion's post breakup dialogue is a punishment for an evil choice.

These are the consequences that you breakup and betrayed him. Judging by the way he's acting theatrically, it hurts him, but he hides it. He wants to hurt you the way you hurt him. Your character may even say, "I don't believe you're serious." I noticed a lot of fans like to learn body language in scenes. Learn body language in this scene as well.

But this is what you chose for yourself. It wasn't a surprise.

The exception is Karlach. For Karlach, this is a bad ending, because she cannot affect the situation in this case. Consider that Ascended and Karlach just don't mix well and they are not destined to be together. (this is also clear from their personalities)

Another option for a bad ending: bad throw dice on persuasion in a ritual. If you fail the dice check, which you do not control, then Astarion will leave the group. I assume after this you will restart save. As is usually done in the case of a bad ending. You don't control this process.

Since Ascension fans get what they want in their ending, that is, a cute pair of villains, then we can say with confidence this ending was not created to "punish" for your previous choice. This ending was created for players who play evil or neutral characters, and do not want to be a hero.

What would be a bad ending if there was one?

At the end of the game, we are enslaved by Astarion, sitting in some kind of torture chamber or cage, or he kills us because he no longer needs us after defeating the brain. When I say enslaved, I mean we are under his complete control, and no one asks us what we want next. Another option: he betrays us in brain fight and takes the crown for himself. There are many options that Larian could have added to show us this is a BAD ending. But this is not happening. ^-^ You can consider your ending bad if it's a personal failure for you, but don't say this is how it was conceived by the developers.

I am increasingly convinced there are few people in the BG3 fandom who have played role-playing games. Because many believe in the "static character", "the only right endings" and "punishment for evil choices."

I've never read anything stranger in role-playing game fandoms. upd: AA has a soul, I have already written a post on this topic, I'm not going to write twice. he doesn't lose his soul.

Another quick sketch ✍️ I'm trying to come up with a quick drawing technique to create scenes in sequences like in a... *cough cough... graphic novel 👀

Chicken nuggets

and be with you forever

“Ask me anything, and it will be yours.”

The fans mentally beating up "delulu fans" as they call "this type", ofc, other kinds of insults, who don't understand true Bg3 narrative, breaking cycle of violence and becoming a healthier person, with the help of a psychology book and speaking how nice it is to control toxicity for person.

There is something ancient about this.

The priest strangling a heretic-outcast with a cross only for interpreting the Bible from Matthew 22:37-39 as a delusional freak, reciting a prayer during this.