Help Crafting a PoE1 Game State for a Bleak Walker

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

Hey guys, 

 

I'm wanting to start a Bleak Walker character as sort of a Neutrall/Lawful Evil character (Engages in absolute savage brutality on the job, but has some scruples about behaving himself in public). The thing is, since there's so many different subtle (and not-so-subtle) effects that your decisions in PoE1 can have, I wanted to start a thread brainstorming some of the ones that'd best suit this kind of character. 

 

1. The Hollowborn Crisis: This sort of informs the rest of the game state in a lot of ways. I'm leaning towards either Galawain's or Skaen's/Woedica's options for the souls because all three of those gods embody aspects that I feel would suit a Bleak Walker well. Galawain is the god of the hunt, assassins, and pursuit - and he's also allied with Magran who represents power and trials. Meanwhile, Skaen and Woedica have a nice dichotomy between them with Woedica representing lawful rulership and Skaen representing resentment/vengeance. Others on this forum have spoken at length about their dynamic, and what their Engwithan creators originally intended them to embody. 

 

Note: In most of my previous playthroughs, I went with Berath as the "True Neutral" choice, but even though she essentially makes you her Herald (Whether you want her to or not) I don't feel like picking her choice really changes how she feels about you too much. Could someone inform me if you get anything out of being loyal to her beforehand if you're not a Death Godlike/Priest of Berath? 

 

I would probably destroy Thaos's soul, or imprison it, and I would absorb Maerwald's as well. Animancy would heavily depend on the god I opted to support - Woedica is against it, because the secrets of the gods have to remain secret, but if I went with Galawain I'd probably support it. Either way, I'd pick the Doemenels as my Defiance Bay faction. 

 

2. Companions: Here's where things get difficult. The Blood Pool opens itself up immediately as the go-to cruel option for characters allying themselves with Skaen/Woedica, and obviously puts you plainly on the Evil spectrum. It's honestly been hard to bring myself to press that button, but frankly if I did I'd most likely sacrifice Maneha. The only other companion who gives Might is Eder, and... I just can't kill Eder. He's a bro. Obviously if I went with the more neutral route (Supporting Galawain's idea of survival of the fittest) I wouldn't do that. Not because I think it goes against Galawain's tenants, but I want these two options to be kind of distinct. 

 

Other than that, there's some variance among companion choices. Eder would either have his faith in the gods strengthened if I went with Woedica/Skaen or become a skeptic if I went with Galawain. If I went with Woedica, Aloth would become Grandmaster of the Leaden Key (Which I've honestly never seen him do, so that's another reason to go with that one). If I went with Galawain, he'd dismantle it. Durance would similarly have two different options depending on who I went with. Pallegina would either obey orders (Woedica) or disobey them (Galawain) - either option turns out well for her, not so much for the Dyrwood in the first case. Kana would similarly either become pro-isolationist or progressive, but I can't really think of the best option either way for the other companions, or even if my Watcher would bother recruiting some of them. This is where my lack of memory of the choices in the last game come back to bite me - I can't recall the exact context behind a lot of these companion outcomes. 

 

3. White March: In either option, I'd probably keep the souls defending the Battery or bound to the Forge. In a Galawain centered playthrough, the Eyeless would begin restoring Abydon, but in a Woedica playthrough I'd probably destroy them. Though that's another point of contention - I'm not really sure where Woedica would stand on that. She probably hates Abydon as much as she hates the other gods, but could probably relate to the idea of being killed, essentially. Adaryc would get killed in either case - I'm a Bleak Walker, I'm not exactly about to sneak around into his command tent and try to negotiate with him. Similarly, Concelhaut and all of his apprentices will die, as will Llengrath and her dragons. 

 

4. Gilded Vale: Easy enough. Shake down Wirtan for money, or just kill him. Woedicans would support Raedric (Rightful rule), while my Galawain Bleak Walker would kill him twice (Either way I love that Kolsc dies no matter what you do). I'd give Aufra the potion and tell her it wouldn't help. 

 

5. Endless Paths: Reforged the blade, and then killed the Master. 

 

Does the Master show up in Deadfire if you let her take over the Dragonslayer? That might influence the decision if it's actually an important moment and not just her saying "Oh, hi." 

 

6. Defiance Bay: Too many options here, but they've all remained pretty consistent. 

 

7. Twin Elms: This is probably the second hardest section of choices to make next to Companions because they all seem pretty straightforward but also like they'd be really important. I've almost always gone with "Take the baby and kill Simoc" even though, in context, that decision makes very little sense (You wind up killing him AND the person who asked you to kill him in the first place). 

 

TL;DR: I'm trying to make a Bleak Walker character and I'm stuck between either a Lawful Evil Steel Garrote-esque character following Woedica and Skaen, or more of a free-spirited Neutral character who adheres to Galawain's ideals of the hunt and survival of the fittest. What choices in the PoE1 save editor would best reflect either of those options? Special consideration to Companion decisions. 

 

Furthermore, is there anything extra that Berath does throughout the game if you make her choice, aside from giving you the bell and commending you for it during your first convo? 

 

Also, is it possible to pledge the souls to Woedica without breaking a pledge to one of the other gods in the first game? (I'm assuming not, since it's Skaen telling you to do this and he's the god of betrayal). I hear that if you do break an oath, there's a detriment to you in game. Could someone tell me what those are and how to break them?

[Slotharingia]

My current char pledged to Hylea and then did what Wael said - the only detriment was getting my boat ruined with bird sht.

[Skazz]

My current char pledged to Hylea and then did what Wael said - the only detriment was getting my boat ruined with bird sht.

 

Just as planned.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

So, rampant bird defecation aside, any other thoughts on the particulars of the PoE1 gamestate as I've laid them out? I'm more heavily leaning towards a Galawain/"Survival of the Fittest" type playthrough, as I think that could honestly lead to some more interesting character interactions, especially because Galawain has shown through his ending that he isn't above helping people to become 'fit.' (Giving the soul energy to the Dyrwood). 

[Aridea]

I always considered Galawain's option as one of the better outcomes for Dyrwood. Its shown as survival of the fittest but there is so much negativity with others, even Hylea, that Galawain's seems like the best. Galawain is the only one that helps the region recover faster from a huge tragedy, which is sometimes more important than restoring that which is broken already.

Idk how it would fit with Bleak Walker, but my obnoxiously good character always picks Galawain when weighing all pros and cons.

[Cyrus_Blackfeather]

I always considered Galawain's option as one of the better outcomes for Dyrwood. Its shown as survival of the fittest but there is so much negativity with others, even Hylea, that Galawain's seems like the best. Galawain is the only one that helps the region recover faster from a huge tragedy, which is sometimes more important than restoring that which is broken already.

Idk how it would fit with Bleak Walker, but my obnoxiously good character always picks Galawain when weighing all pros and cons.

 

See, that's the reason why the Hollowborn Crisis and the Companion quests are so difficult for me to properly judge on paper, without seeing the associated dialogues, because they don't have a clear cut 'aggressive' option because most of them, at that point, aren't conflicts. By the time you decide what to do with the Hollowborn, Thaos has been dealt with. He's no longer a threat, so you can opt to use your best judgment to decide how to resolve things. That's why I'm torn between Galawain and Skaen/Woedica. Both of them would seem to fit depending on which way you interpret your character's core philosophy and, working back, each informs the way your character 'would have' interacted with most of their companions/resolved quests.