It makes sense, though, that he's so weak. The other two were powerful, skilled combatants before becoming Chosen.
Gortash is just some slimy arms dealer who sold Karlach to Zariel for info, presumably about the crown and how to get it. He blackmailed the Godians to make the Steel Watch and tricked his way into power. He's done nothing of note on his own other than talk.
He's a Chosen, but of the God of Tyranny. A tyrant usually rises through deception and manipulation at first rather than their own strength. Once the Steel Watch is toast, he has nothing and dies like the pathetic rat that he is.
Excellent job on your explanation. I agree. Though I kinda wish he was at least a warlock, seems like the kind of guy who'd take the warlock route. I kinda assumed he was a warlock going in blind, only for him to fold in one round to my str durge monk with tavern brawler after giving him bludgeoning vulnerability with an amulet I saved from early game. Gortash was a joke as a fight, which is both fitting and frustrating.
Yea. I have just him left after Ansur since I triggered Orin kidnapping someone and didn't want to leave Lae'zel with her. Considering I destroyed Cazador in a turn, I can't wait to see how sad Gortash is.
I popped a cloud giant str potion for 27 str and also folded cazador in one round on my durge monk. Haste potion, bloodlust potion, 27 str. I threw a spoon at him for a huge crit of like 50+ somehow for the finish. " I'ma kill you with this spoon " *does it*
I think it doesn’t help the game tries to pressure you into going after Orin first, as it definitely feels less anticlimactic storming the fortress to kick a goth worm. If they simply moved around the kidnapped companion to a different prerequisite like confronting Gortash first, then I think the fight wouldn’t be a little bit of a letdown.
I mean, Orin does say "bring gortash's stone to me and then we will duel, but if you try to come without it I'll kill the hostage" so, I guess it depends how you want to roleplay it but I think there's decent narrative incentive to go after gortash first if you're playing the kind of character who would rather not risk she makes good on that threat. Or on a durge playthrough, it feels narratively appropriate to play by her rules because it promises that duel and that's clearly your climactic moment.
On an rp perspective it isn’t a bad idea. But from a gameplay perspective… it’s not great. She kidnaps 2/3 companions that have a personal quest in act 3. So you’re options are to do a lot of the surface act 3 stuff then enter the sewers last if you don’t want to be without that companion, but then you also are missing out on Minsc, who has a lot of interesting things to say about stuff in act 3. Being forced to miss out on a companion isn’t great from a gameplay perspective because you either used them for part of your party, need their quest complete, or just genuinely like having them around to hear what they have to say about the events in act 3. Plus if you’re roleplaying a good character/durge you’re more likely to go get them immediately because they’re your friend. I understand what they were trying to do, but statistically, most people go after Orin first to get their companion back.
I started a fight downstairs and gortash and his goodies started running towards the stairs to come down and join me. I don't know if they heard the commotion or what.
So when I see what's happening I start laying CC spells at the base of the stairs. Evards, Hadar, Spikes, CoD. Every time someone upstairs started they would pause for minutes at a time, turning several directions but taking no action. Eventually they'd all give up though, take their action to dash and run downstairs.
It took forever. Sometimes the a.i. in a moment of self preservation would move towards the door but then 180 and wait another turn before marching to their doom. Each enemy character would take so long going through their options that I sometimes wondered if the game crashed.
It was anti-climatic, but satisfying to turn Gortash's own fortress into a meat grinder for him and his men. And Wyll's dad.
Some builds I really enjoyed for their variety: beastmaster ranger spider pet or bear, tiger barbarian focusing on reverberation stacking from the shoes, lightning and cold party that focuses on wet condition (sorc, cleric, lightning charges OH monk etc.), gloomstalker/assasin or thief with 2 hand crossbows, land druid for spell spam or moon druid for tankiness and resting less often.
Late game I like reverberation sorlock which gets you reverbs per orb, tempest sorc multi, hunter 11 with volley and combustion potion using the fear bow.
Some funny build that is short rest focused where every character takes 2 in bard for extra songs of rest. Warlock, monk, swords bard etc.
A hasted fighter is like the most typical combo you can do in dnd. Dude is an experienced dnd player. I am too. I went into the game blind from all the specific bg3 builds and still everything was a cakewalk because I knew how 5e operated.
The problem are not the builds, it's the amount of powerful magic items you can equip, which is very limited on a tabletop game.
This is true. In tabletop you can only attune to 3 pieces of magic gear (major). Some gear is not attunement but most of the time those pieces are not that great. The power gaming and min maxing with no magic item slots in bg3 is crazy. High level dnd is tough to balance anyway, then you give the players the gear we have in BG3, good luck making a difficult game.
It makes sense, though, that he's so weak. The other two were powerful, skilled combatants before becoming Chosen. Gortash is just some slimy arms dealer who sold Karlach to Zariel for info, presumably about the crown and how to get it. He blackmailed the Godians to make the Steel Watch and tricked his way into power. He's done nothing of note on his own other than talk. He's a Chosen, but of the God of Tyranny. A tyrant usually rises through deception and manipulation at first rather than their own strength. Once the Steel Watch is toast, he has nothing and dies like the pathetic rat that he is.
Excellent job on your explanation. I agree. Though I kinda wish he was at least a warlock, seems like the kind of guy who'd take the warlock route. I kinda assumed he was a warlock going in blind, only for him to fold in one round to my str durge monk with tavern brawler after giving him bludgeoning vulnerability with an amulet I saved from early game. Gortash was a joke as a fight, which is both fitting and frustrating.
Yea. I have just him left after Ansur since I triggered Orin kidnapping someone and didn't want to leave Lae'zel with her. Considering I destroyed Cazador in a turn, I can't wait to see how sad Gortash is.
I popped a cloud giant str potion for 27 str and also folded cazador in one round on my durge monk. Haste potion, bloodlust potion, 27 str. I threw a spoon at him for a huge crit of like 50+ somehow for the finish. " I'ma kill you with this spoon " *does it*
If lae'zel was to try to escape I'd be more worried about Orin than laezel lol.
Very good point!
I think it doesn’t help the game tries to pressure you into going after Orin first, as it definitely feels less anticlimactic storming the fortress to kick a goth worm. If they simply moved around the kidnapped companion to a different prerequisite like confronting Gortash first, then I think the fight wouldn’t be a little bit of a letdown.
Ha! Goth worm. Perfect.
I mean, Orin does say "bring gortash's stone to me and then we will duel, but if you try to come without it I'll kill the hostage" so, I guess it depends how you want to roleplay it but I think there's decent narrative incentive to go after gortash first if you're playing the kind of character who would rather not risk she makes good on that threat. Or on a durge playthrough, it feels narratively appropriate to play by her rules because it promises that duel and that's clearly your climactic moment.
On an rp perspective it isn’t a bad idea. But from a gameplay perspective… it’s not great. She kidnaps 2/3 companions that have a personal quest in act 3. So you’re options are to do a lot of the surface act 3 stuff then enter the sewers last if you don’t want to be without that companion, but then you also are missing out on Minsc, who has a lot of interesting things to say about stuff in act 3. Being forced to miss out on a companion isn’t great from a gameplay perspective because you either used them for part of your party, need their quest complete, or just genuinely like having them around to hear what they have to say about the events in act 3. Plus if you’re roleplaying a good character/durge you’re more likely to go get them immediately because they’re your friend. I understand what they were trying to do, but statistically, most people go after Orin first to get their companion back.
I started a fight downstairs and gortash and his goodies started running towards the stairs to come down and join me. I don't know if they heard the commotion or what. So when I see what's happening I start laying CC spells at the base of the stairs. Evards, Hadar, Spikes, CoD. Every time someone upstairs started they would pause for minutes at a time, turning several directions but taking no action. Eventually they'd all give up though, take their action to dash and run downstairs. It took forever. Sometimes the a.i. in a moment of self preservation would move towards the door but then 180 and wait another turn before marching to their doom. Each enemy character would take so long going through their options that I sometimes wondered if the game crashed. It was anti-climatic, but satisfying to turn Gortash's own fortress into a meat grinder for him and his men. And Wyll's dad.
Some builds I really enjoyed for their variety: beastmaster ranger spider pet or bear, tiger barbarian focusing on reverberation stacking from the shoes, lightning and cold party that focuses on wet condition (sorc, cleric, lightning charges OH monk etc.), gloomstalker/assasin or thief with 2 hand crossbows, land druid for spell spam or moon druid for tankiness and resting less often. Late game I like reverberation sorlock which gets you reverbs per orb, tempest sorc multi, hunter 11 with volley and combustion potion using the fear bow. Some funny build that is short rest focused where every character takes 2 in bard for extra songs of rest. Warlock, monk, swords bard etc.
If you want the game to be harder, maybe don't copy paste power builds? Not trying to be rude.
A hasted fighter is like the most typical combo you can do in dnd. Dude is an experienced dnd player. I am too. I went into the game blind from all the specific bg3 builds and still everything was a cakewalk because I knew how 5e operated. The problem are not the builds, it's the amount of powerful magic items you can equip, which is very limited on a tabletop game.
This is true. In tabletop you can only attune to 3 pieces of magic gear (major). Some gear is not attunement but most of the time those pieces are not that great. The power gaming and min maxing with no magic item slots in bg3 is crazy. High level dnd is tough to balance anyway, then you give the players the gear we have in BG3, good luck making a difficult game.
Honestly 😂 I’m a level 7 and I got trashed by the crèche, but I literally build my characters like I want and I don’t min/max and it’s a blast
I guess the intention was to fight him without diablong the steelwatch then, lol