This is speculative. It was written just after finishing my 2025 playthrough, because I had ideas and wanted to capture them while the game was still fresh in my mind.
For my 2025 playthrough, I repurposed Ember Swift, a Roguish Bard that I'd invented for Neverwinter Nights. It was very effective and I remain happy with the choice. Ember, though, is a people pleaser. His driving personality trait is a search for validation and acceptance. He happens to also be a natural leader and hero, but that's almost secondary to his obessive need to make everyone like him. This extends even to enemies, until he's ready to kill them. Ember almost never meets a Persuade check he can't pass.
So I thought it'd be fun for my next playthrough to turn that on its head. I'm not yet ready for my main character to have low Charisma. I enjoy exploring the story by being the face of the party and digging deep into dialog trees. But Persuade isn't the only option.
For 2026 (or whenever I actually do this) I'm going to play Dross Swift, Ember's black-sheep cousin, the reject of the family who made all the wrong choices. Like, some really, really, really bad ones. She's confrontational, conniving, brash, and happier when people DON'T like her. Underneath, she hates herself for her bad decisions, which she externalizes by making other people hate her too. She doesn't feel like she deserves love or redemption, and therefore she treats people in a way that makes sure she doesn't get it. She may never even attempt a Persuade unless there's absolutely no other option, but she's going to be all over Initimidatopn and Deception.
Will that change? Will the events of the game, or one of the companions she meets along the way, alter her outlook? Will she form real friendships, maybe even have a real relationship? Or will she keep pushing everyone away? Will she save the world, or destroy it? I'm really not sure yet. It'll be fun to find out.
If it isn't obvious already, she'll have the Dark Urge (aka "Durge") background.
Primary class will be Sorcerer. Not only does this class have CHA-based spellcasting, none of the companions are Sorcerers (and I didn't respec any of them into it in my first playthrough), nor did I use any Sorcerer hirelings. I therefore didn't use the class at all, and I want to explore its mechanics. Not sure if she'll multiclass.
Some Sorcerer advice:
Not sure on race, but Drow Half Elf might fit this character pretty well.
Sorcerers get to choose 2 proficient skills, from this list:
- Arcana
- Deception
- Insight
- Intimidation
- Persuasion
- Religion
Durge gets the "Haunted One" background, which has proficiency in Medicine and Intimidation.
This seems like a good set skills:
- Deception
- Insight
- Intimidation
- Medicine
Medicine isn't super useful, but isn't awful, and it also isn't optional. The others fit the character pretty well. I'm expecting a companion to handle Sleight of Hand. Perception would be great, but just isn't happening for this character.
No build table yet. I still need to read up on the details and decide which way I want to take the build.
I might consider bumping up the difficulty a notch to Tactical. Balanced was great for my first playthrough, but now that I know the mechanics better it might be fun to see how Tactical feels.
In my first playthrough, I respec'd Shadowheart as a Life Cleric and kept her in the party virtually the entire time as a healer (and of course, doing various other things when nobody was hurt). This time, I might respec her into something very different.
In fact, I'm thinking about not having a dedicated healer at all (which D&D 5E doesn't really require anyway). Minthara in particular might be helpful for pinch-healing. And I killed Minthara in my first playthrough, so she'd be a good choice to have around a lot in this one.
I expect to have Astarion in the party almost all the time as a traditional thief - stealth, lockpicking, disarming traps, pickpocketing, etc.
We'll see how I do with the other companions. Some of them may not like me very much.