u/sage_animus

In the Pokemon community, a Nuzlocke is a self-imposed challenge, involving permanent death and being locked into the first pokemon you encounter per area. There are different variations per player, but people tend to forget, the most important rule is to do what is fun for you.

This is my attempt at a Nuzlocke, in Baldur's Gate. So my rules for my Baldurlocke. Honor Mode. Play as Durge. Durge can only be mono-classed. Companions can only use their starting class (you can't change a pokemon's type after catching). Companions can only be mono-classed. If a companion fails all their death saves, they can not be revived. No hirelings. Dead stays dead. Romance whoever is still alive. After each attempt, Durge must change their race and class. Deaths will hurt.

Today was my first death. This one hurt. My previous playthrough I romanced Shadowheart. This playthrough, when Laezel came onto me, I went with it. It was surprising, experiencing this side of Laezel. Laezel the lover. I probably would not have initiated a githyanki romance myself, but I was surprised at how much I was enjoying her romance. Then she died atop the Arcane Tower. My lost lenore.

For roleplay reasons I decided to bring Gale along to the wizard's tower. So in my all martial team, I switched out Shadowheart. It did occur to me that switching out my healer during Honor Mode is a bad idea, but I figured the fights have been going easy enough, that I could afford this one bit of roleplay. I was wrong. Ironically, had Shadowheart been in the party with me, Laezel would not have died.

I decided to take on Bernard, as the fights have been mostly manageable so far. But he had a ton of resistances, being able to tank my all martial team and Gale's spells. I had Laezel with me to 2v1 Bernard. 2 Fighters vs 1 Bernard. Bernard takes Laezel. Durge takes Bernard.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Screw Bernard. I guess Shadowheart's happy. I wished there was some sort of reactivity, returning to camp with the dead body of your companion. I would like to imagine it was a somber night at camp in the Underdark. Laezel was maybe the physically strongest, yet she fell first.

AHHHHHHH.

Screw Bernard.

Durge. Eldritch Knight. Level 5. Underdark.

Attempt: 1 Deaths:1 (Laezel)

Attempting a Pokemon Nuzlocke, in Baldur's Gate. So my rules for my Baldurlocke. Honor Mode. Play as Durge. Durge can only be mono-classed. Companions can only use their starting class (you can't change a pokemon's type after catching). Companions can only be mono-classed. If a companion fails all their death saves, they can not be revived. No hirelings. Dead stays dead. Romance whoever is still alive. After each attempt, Durge must change their race and class.

I have also added a new rule. No Revivify. Heal downed companions, but after they fail their Death saves, dead stays dead.

After my last post, I headed towards the harpy fight as Level 3 Eldritch Knight. I kept Shadowheart in stealth, planning on her casting Calm Emotions after the cutscene. Did not work. Shadowheart fell for the song. Apparantly...using stealth does not keep you from hearing singing. My bad. Astarion nearly killed. Laezel nearly killed. Mirkon killed. Bahhh. That hurt. I can't even save a kid.

I then took on the Redcaps. Thought ambushing them in stealth would take them out. Good start to the fight, but then all their Hold Person attacks. Nearly died. But killed all the Redcaps. Yay. Getting better at stealth.

At Level 4, I took on the Matriarch Spider? I felt like I need to be level 5 if I have to take on the Goblin Camp. So I needed the exp. Using stealth I ambushed the spiders from afar. This was not enough. Matriarch kept spawning more and more baby spiders. I got overwhelmed. Nearly died. I also have arachnophobia. I won. Barely. That was a tough fight. Ugghh.

I then recruited Karlach, and went on to fight the paladins. With Karlach in the party, fights became a lot easier. I knew to target the main paladin, and he was killed quickly. With Karlach, fighting Aunty Ethel and the knolls were a lot more manageable.

After a lot of easy fights, I wondered if I overprepared for this Baldurlocke. My party was 4 martials. Eldritch Knight Durge. Life Domain Shadowheart. Battlemaster Laezel. Thrower Berserker Karlach. Shadowheart healing + potions, kept people from being down for too long. This is when I decided on no Revivify.

At Level 5 I took on the Goblin Camp. I read here on this sub, that leading Minthara to the grove, and then betraying Minthara and siding with the tieflings lead to an epic cinematic and fight. I loved it. The prep just before had all the tieflings preping for a possible siege with an ongoing sense of doom. We defend the walls, and Arka (the tiefling who wanted to shoot Sazza in the cage, and eager to shoot more goblins) was killed. My 4 martials slowly whittled down the besieging goblins, and somehow, Minthara was the last person standing. I then for the poetry, left the walls to fight Minthara one on one. Knocked her out after a tough fight.

Later on, using stealth mechanics from the rafters, I killed Dror Ragzlin and Priestess gut in the Selune Temple.

So...this was fun. Kinda disappointing. I may have put too much into my party build, which allowed me to avoid any early deaths, not counting NPC's. But the rest of Act 1 still has tough fights with the Githyanki Creche and the Underdark, not to mention Grymm. Perhaps in the next post I will have some funny deaths to talk about. Right now, martials are overpowered.

Tiefling Party.

Durge. Eldritch Knight. Level 5.

Attempt: 1 Deaths: 0 Civilians dead: Mirkon, Alfira, Arka

So I have 800+ hours in the game. I have finished Act 1 and Act 2 multiple times, but only finished Act 3 once. I have some failed honor mode attempts. I was mentally preparing myself for my next attempt. Then I had an idea. A stupid idea. It's madness. But it compels me so.

In the Pokemon community, there is a challenge called a Nuzlocke. Each Nuzlocke has it's variations depending on the player's preferences. Mainly though, the challenge is: you can only catch the first pokemon you encounter in each route (limiting your options, forcing your creativity), and if a pokemon is knocked out, it is considered dead and can't be used again (raising the stakes, forcing you to strategize). Dead stays dead. Each death is painful. Rules differ per person, but the point is to challenge yourself and have fun.

So my rules for my Baldurlocke. Play as Durge. Durge can only be mono-classed. Companions can only use their starting class (you can't change a pokemon's type after catching). Companions can only be mono-classed. If a companion fails all their death saves, they can not be revived. No hirelings. Dead stays dead. Romance whoever is still alive. After each attempt, Durge must change their race and class.

So this is me having fun, trying to challenge myself to win my first Honor Mode. Stakes are high. Every fight will be scary. Every death will be painful. Let's see how many attempts will be needed. I will use Reddit to track each run.

I started this run yesterday. Currently in the Grove with Durge, Shadowheart, Laezel, Gale, Astarion, and Wyll. Next fight is the harpies.

Baldurlocke. Attempts: 1 Deaths: 0

Durge. Human. Fighter. Eldritch Knight. Level 3

Edited for clarification.