The Friendly Necromancer and Baldur's Gate 3

Ok, it's done.

It didn't go to plan. It wasn't very pretty, but I beat my third playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3--this time playing as Thomas Lionblood, the Friendly Necromancer himself.

I have the whole two-hour-long final battle uploaded to YouTube if you really want to put yourself through that.

I don't know what happened to my mind here. I mean, this morning I went to work for a couple of hours, got a haircut, and then came home to play some BG3. Somewhere while logging out two nights ago right at the entrance to the fight and this morning, it feels like I just forgot how to be a necromancer.

I ran in with 7 undead and they all were instantly wiped out by the Dominated Red Dragon and his thrall buddies. After that, I just kind of hobbled along, getting counter-spelled and beat up.  At one point it started looking kind of bleak for me then I remembered . . . Oh . . . my . . . freaking . . . gosh . . . dang. I have allies to call forth to help me fight, what am I even doing?!

Calling the thrall

Anyway, eventually I got up to the brain's battle area. I laid down a cloud kill, cast a couple clouds of daggers, threw out a couple disintegrate scroll spells, and won the day in just a couple rounds. I'll take it. 

Everything's Fine . . .

Playing as a necromancer was not bad. I read the Necromancy of Thay book. I trained a lot of necromantic spells. I played as nicely as a necromancer could. If this was Wizard101, you could say the school of Ice was my secondary school. There's really nothing much of note here other than I wish I would have had a bit of a better performance in the finale, but hey, a win is a win!

My final team consisted of Halsin the Druid, Karlach the Barbarian, The Friendly Necromancer himself, and Brianna Brightsong the Bard.

A druid, a barbarian, a necromancer, and a bard walk on to a boat . . .

I know I know. I'm hearing you say it already in my mind, "Brianna Brightsong the Bard? I thought you were going to recruit Alfira?!" 

Somehow I misunderstood that I would have to download a mod to recruit her and even at that, she'd be a substandard companion. To those ends, I opted to see what my old buddy Withers had as far as hirelings and subbed in a cute little halfling bard in her stead.

Little in the middle!

She was a pretty cool character in the end, wearing plate armor and singing her way from the College of Swords, a subclass of bard I had never played before. Her biggest drawback was simply those stubby little legs. The best thing about her however was that D10 bardic inspiration. With that I was able to replace Asterion for most lockpicking needs. It felt like there was a lot of versatility with the character for sure though since she could cast, heal, tank, and inspire. She was not a bad character to run with at all.

... And without a question, Halsin was a fantastic addition to the group. He could heal, he could dps, and he had incredible survivability.  At the end of the day, druids are just super OP. 

Nothing better than turning into a dinosaur that gets 3 attack rolls.

. . . with that, I'm officially tired of playing BG3 for now. Hopefully I can get back to some other games and simply enjoy the fact that I put 267 hours on the game by playing a friendly necromancer, an everquest beastlord, and my old OC Avantador, the Dragonborn bard.

Happy Dueling!

Baldur's Gate Act 2 complete for Thomas Lionblood

Thomas Lionblood has now finished Act 2 of Baldur's Gate and destroyed the evil Kethric Thorn. 

The Friendly Necromancer says "Bai Felicia" to the Evil Necromancer

I've been playing gobs of BG3 lately (an unhealthy amount of gob to be honest). Playing a "friendly" non-lethal necromancer has proven challenging, but I always seem to find corpses lying around that I can harvest undead from. Now at level 8 (just turned 9) I'm able to summon some pretty amazing thralls of undead to follow me around.  I can't wait to see what it's like at level 12!

Me and THIS army, that's who!

Along the way I've managed to encounter a few things I've never run into before on my previous 2 play-throughs.  A friend at work told me there was a way I could become "The god of the fish people" in their words.  I was like, "Wait, are you talking about the Sahuagin? Because I ran into those at a temple in Baldur's Gate."  And she was like, "No, I'm talking about the Kuotoa."  And I was like, "WHAT?! There's Kuotoa in this game?" Badda bing badda boom . . . I'm now the god of the fish people.

My first commandment should have been to get rid of the fish smell.

Also while stumbling around in the Underdark looking for Kuotoa, I managed to run into a Spectator and have a horribly difficult fight.  Thank goodness for small damage magic missiles to wake up people from their paralyzation.

Not an easy fight at that level.

I've also swapped out Wyll for Halsin after successfully thwarting a gigantic gang of ne'er-do-wells that was hellbent on destroying his portal to another dimension. I had failed that once before on another playthrough, so I kind of knew what was coming and was able to prepare for it.

Halsin is the best!

Halsin is fun to play with his shapeshifting abilities. He has a wild plethora of wild shapes he can morph into; although, for some reason, those animal shapes really get in the way of the dialog camera sometimes. Just sayin'. 

Anyway, next up will be to try my hand at getting Alfira the bard to come and join up with me in Baldur's Gate since I've never done that before. It's going to be hard to swap out Asterion for Alfira, but a friendly necromancer gotta do what a friendly necromancer gotta do.  Sorry, Asterion.

I'll just have to make sure she's good at unlocking doors and chests I suppose.

With any luck, I'll be done with this play-through in another week and I can move on to Path of Exile 2.  (I'm through Act 1 in PoE2, but BG3 is totally all-consuming right now).

Happy Dueling!

Playing the BG3 Friendly Necromancer Character?

Ok, SORRY. I thought I was done with Baldur’s Gate 3. I really did, but then I remembered I also really would love to make a Friendly Necromancer in the game . . .  and . . . well . . . here we are: Thomas Lionblood from Wizard101 in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Medium Length Blue Hair -- check!  Elfish, Youthful good looks -- check!

Now, there’s really no way for me to actually simulate your standard Wizard101 necromancer in Baldur’s Gate 3. There just isn’t. There are no cards for spells, no power pips, no massive health drain spells, and certainly no traps, charms, and all that jazz – this isn’t a turn-based, family-friendly card game. That all said I CAN do non-lethal knock-out damage.

Non-lethal Necromancy for the win!

For now, I’ll just be going with your standard “Wizard” Necromancer.  I say that because there’s more than one way to skin a Necromancer in D&D. Death Domain clerics are actually going to be one of the latest and greatest things to hit Baldur’s Gate 3 with the release of Patch 8.  You could also do a Warlock with an Undead Patron (Although, I don't think that's a thing in BG3 . . . only D&D?), a Circle of Spores Druid, an Oathbreaker Paladin, or perhaps you could even do a kind of Bard Necro-dancer type build (I do love my bards).  Thomas Lionblood, however, is definitely a wizard from a wizard school type of Friendly Necromancer.

I'll mess around with a Necronomicon and be super friendly about it while I do.

Now I just need to figure out what his supporting cast will be. I’m currently leaning toward a fighter, cleric, and warlock combo to go with my necromancer. It definitely seems balanced, but I’m not sold on it yet. If my summons are good enough, perhaps I don’t really need the fighter and warlock . . . I don’t think I can replace the cleric though . . . I’m addicted to healing spells.

I tried running with a Monk hireling for a bit, but I don't know if I love it

Hmmm . . . if I could complete his major quest in Act 2, then maybe Halsin would be a good alternative or perhaps Alfira?  

Anyway, these are future me problems. For now, I’m just happy to be The Friendly Necromancer playing a friendly necromancer in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Happy Dueling!

February 2025 Zone of the Month -- Gumdrop Forest

Keeping the tradition alive!  Randomness has returned us once again to Karamelle. Truly the universe is telling me I need to move along.

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Name: Gumdrop Forest

Location: Karamelle -- Just run through the main tunnel in Karmelle City and hang a right. You'll see a sign guiding your way to the sweetest tourist spot in Karmelle -- welcome to Gumdrop Forest!

Sweet sights are ahead!

Description: Karamelle's famous gumdrop trees await you and, even more so, the beautiful sights drawing all the tourists to this wonderful land. This area is a smaller hub beyond the main hub of Karamelle City. From here you can head to Sweetzburg, Nibbleheim, and Gobblerton. 
 

A resident of Mooshu takes in the beautiful sights of the Gumdrop Forest and beyond

Cost: 2295 Crowns -- For this price you'll also get Sweetzburg.

Zeke Item: You gotta find those Lemonheads! This one hides in a far corner of the zone just beyond a soda lake.

Sticking out like a sore thumb in this darkened corner of the Gumdrop Forest

Chests: Yes there are, in fact, BOTH wooden chests and silver chests in the Gumdrop Forest! Chests seemed to drop just under 1000 gold each! Enjoy!

A silver chest peaking out from the side of a cave

Secrets:  There are no major secrets for you to find in the Gumdrop Forest, but one of the most charming scenes can be found here: tourists from Polaris and Mooshu enjoying the sights and skipping along. If you don't stop to smell the flowers in Gumdrop Forest, you may just miss it!

Happy Penguins visiting Karamelle.

Reagents: Unfortunately, for being a world so rich in flora, there are no reagents to be found in the Gumdrop Forest. You'll have to go a bit deeper into Sweetzburg if you're looking for Pretzel Sticks and Parchment.

Fishing: No fish can be found in Gumdrop Forest just yet. Maybe someday, though! Just imagine fishing up some Swedish Fish, Caram-eels, or a Tetra-misu. Lots to hope for the future!

A simply delicious world!

Teleporters: There are no teleporters in Gumdrop Forest, but none are really needed. Travel is fairly straightforward here with no major twists and turns.

What's the 4-1-1? When the Grand Nana finds out you are the Scion of Bartleby, she sends you on a quest into the Gumdrop Forest to find the cause of the Sour Gummies. She believes there you will be able to cure a witch's curse that's causing the gummies to sour. 

Once in the Gumdrop Forest, the Gnome Ranger will ask you to help fend off the hungry stomachs of the gobblers invading from Gobblerton and then send you on to Sweetzburg to talk with the factory workers there about the sour gummy situation.

Just look at those candy cane six-shooters!

Who's that Boss? While the Hangriest Gobbler is a great boss for farming spellements, this zone's most interesting boss has to go to the Tree Mugger. He's got a really interesting cheat that uses the Impede spell. For some tips and tricks on how to handle him, be sure to check out the guide at Wizard101 Central.

It's all about the mustache.

Don't Miss this Sidequest! After dealing with the hungry gobblers, don't miss the Gnome Ranger's follow on quest to hunt down an angry gnome who likes to punch trees. When you beat the Tree Mugger, you'll be rewarded with a legendary socket wrench, which unlocks sockets on items from levels 135 to 170.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you take a chance to visit an old favorite again this new year.

Happy Dueling!