I tried playing through the Blood Legacy quest as a priest of Skaen. I was somewhat disappointed. The only acknowledgment I got was a few lines of dialog. This is IMO a missed opportunity. It would have been cool if e.g. Skaenites have some secret way of recognizing each other, so I could have sided with them from the start after meeting Trygil.

 

As it is, it felt really... wrong to slaughter my way through the Skaenites. There was really no way to resolve Blood Legacy in a way that's true to that choice. If you offer it, IMO it should be acknowledged better. Obviously will only affect the very small fraction of players who will play as priests of Skaen, but still. Normally Obsidian is really good at this kind of thing, so it was a bit of a let-down.

Why would a Skaenite want to resolve that quest exactly? They should be approving and let them be.

Precisely.

 

However, "not accepting a quest" is pretty second-rate as choices go. There should have been some way to side with the Skaenites from the start. Like this, for example:

 

"I met Trygil the currier of Dyrford today, and recognized him as one marked by the Quiet Slave. He took me to the High Priest, an animancer with a plan to avenge the wrongs one Lord Harond had inflicted on his slaves. He had captured his niece, great with his child. His animancy had the souls of willing sacrifices to the Quiet Slave use her body to slay him and his entire family. Just then, Harond's lackeys entered the temple. I joined my fellows to defeat them. Then, being in Harond's eyes also one of his tools, I myself took Aelys back to his so-called father. I would not witness the Quiet Slave's revenge, but it was as certain as it is that night follows day."

Good thread. I was considering to make a Skaen priest, but I guess I don't have to now :D

Haven't tried this but... I think you can get tons of Skaen gear, enough to outfit well over the 6 characters you have... I'm curious... what would happen if you would outfit your entire party in the Skaen gear? I haven't tried it but, that seems to me to be one way as well, to infiltrate the temple.

The high priest could even react "Ah, yes yes, I take it you have the items I asked for..?" or "We shall not be disturbed! Be off with you!" and you get to participate in some dialogue (distract them or something). Though, that's more of an "infiltration" approach.

Hm, I thought about making a Priest of Skaen for this specific purpose but... I guess not needed anymore. It'd be cool if you could actually participate in the ritual as well.

Disappointing. Remember how having Edwin or Xzar in your party in BG allowed you to walk out of certain otherwise violent encounters with the Red Wizards or the Zhentarim respectively. A minor, but nice, touch.

Disappointing. Remember how having Edwin or Xzar in your party in BG allowed you to walk out of certain otherwise violent encounters with the Red Wizards or the Zhentarim respectively. A minor, but nice, touch.

 

When did you scuffle with the Zhentarim in BG? I have it somewhere at the far end at the back of my head, but I can't actually remember it very clearly. There's a lot of dust and cobwebs back there.

When did you scuffle with the Zhentarim in BG? I have it somewhere at the far end at the back of my head, but I can't actually remember it very clearly. There's a lot of dust and cobwebs back there.

There were four or five wizards on the top floor of Sorcerous Sundries in the middle of some ritual. They attacked you on sight unless Xzar (or Montaron) was with you. It wasn't a quest, just a little easter egg.

Edited January 6, 201511 yr by prodigydancer

edit, beaten.

Edited January 6, 201511 yr by Sensuki

This is a very important topic.

 

I believe that wearing Saken clothing should also allow you to bypass all of the skaenites and allow you to "peacefully" end this quest.

 

The pros are that you can finish this quest without killing any humanoids (beetles are still there) and it makes RP sense. It's weird that I could kill all of the Skaenites up to wymund and then suddenly wymund's not at all angry with me or anything.

 

Cons - the quest loses a lot of the "challenge" of having to fight your way through an army of skaenites. This can probably be solved by having some of Harond's guards show up in the catacombs and if they see that you are a priest of Skaen or wearing Skaenite clothing, that they would attack you. Or .... not killing anybody means that you don't get as much loot and money and that's ok.

I think part of the problem here is other than Wymund I don't think any of them are actually priests or anyone who could recognize a Skaenite without some blatant necklace or headdress or something.  Also no offense... but Skaen doesn't seem to be the kind of dude who would care if a lot of his rank and file pure fanatic loonies bit the bullet.  I suspect he would see them more as cannon fodder and as a result not value their lives.

I think part of the problem here is other than Wymund I don't think any of them are actually priests or anyone who could recognize a Skaenite without some blatant necklace or headdress or something.  Also no offense... but Skaen doesn't seem to be the kind of dude who would care if a lot of his rank and file pure fanatic loonies bit the bullet.  I suspect he would see them more as cannon fodder and as a result not value their lives.

 

that doesn't make sense. Then why do aynthing at all if they don't care about lives? Obviously they care about the lives of the oppressed or else they wouldn't be trying to help them at all. What we know is

 

that Aelys is oppressed by a person

and that this oppression is what Skaenites fight. Isn't murdering your own tribe/clan/group of people another sort of oppression?

 

So if I'm down in there murdering dudes, they shouldn't really like that. Especially murdering their own dudes.

Edited January 11, 201511 yr by Hormalakh

Being recognized as a skaenite is one thing - I can see how that's dodgy. But at the very least, you should be able to say - especially as a priest of Skaen - that you are a skaenite and ask them what in Skaen's name they are doing.

 

Then if they believe you or not is another thing entirely. But it should be acknowledged to some degree. I don't really mind that much if there's no peaceful resolution, but it should at least let you make the attempt, it's very reasonable.

Someone could always ask Carrie Patel on twitter about it.

So if I'm down in there murdering dudes, they shouldn't really like that. Especially murdering their own dudes.

They don't seem to think murdering dudes is all that big a deal to be honest.  They sure attack your party on site priest of skaen or otherwise.

 

So if I'm down in there murdering dudes, they shouldn't really like that. Especially murdering their own dudes.

They don't seem to think murdering dudes is all that big a deal to be honest.  They sure attack your party on site priest of skaen or otherwise.

 

 

Murdering their own dudes. Are the skaenites killing each other left and right? I doubt it.

Murdering their own dudes. Are the skaenites killing each other left and right? I doubt it.

All I am saying is every Skaenite I have met is more than happy to use violence as the first response.  People who go that way tend to not care about human losses on their own side when conflict is inevitable.

 

 

So if I'm down in there murdering dudes, they shouldn't really like that. Especially murdering their own dudes.

They don't seem to think murdering dudes is all that big a deal to be honest.  They sure attack your party on site priest of skaen or otherwise.

 

 

Murdering their own dudes. Are the skaenites killing each other left and right? I doubt it.

 

 

They are following the god of secret hatred, resentment and violent retribution...

Every secret underground cult worth its salt has a secret handshake. The Skaenites deserve one too. How else are they going to recognize one another?

Every secret underground cult worth its salt has a secret handshake. The Skaenites deserve one too. How else are they going to recognize one another?

I think their secret handshake is stabbing the guy they are saying hello to with a spear .

So much hate for Skaen... I actually agree with the dude, so....there's that.

Yeah. I thought Skaen was really refreshing. You have a blood-soaked cult doing unquestionably nasty stuff, but the reasons for the stuff make perfect sense. Plus, it's not like the people they want dead are any better.

The encounter design in that temple could stand to be improved IMO Maybe also some more traps too.

Yeah, I agree. It felt rather random. The only decent setpiece was the final one. 

 

They really need to do something to make magic more of a 'potent threat' as Josh likes to put it. As it is, most of these mage duels are easily resolved with a musket volley. Those archers with their Bleeding Wounds are a good deal more dangerous.

Yeah. I thought Skaen was really refreshing. You have a blood-soaked cult doing unquestionably nasty stuff, but the reasons for the stuff make perfect sense. Plus, it's not like the people they want dead are any better.

Makes me want to play a Skaenite Priest with the Slave background.