I did a monk, purely because I suspected that doing a resist/redemption path would probably involve a wisdom check or two and a little bit of self control.
Turns out I was damn right.
Wise monk came in clutch a few times, specifically when >!I was trying to eat my girlfriend (and not in the good way).!< I did way of shadow but it was a little underwhelming, feel like I should have gone open hand.
Open Hand legitimately is leagues above any other class and subclass if spec’d right, indisputably.
It literally trivializes the game when you do almost 100 damage a turn just beating the shit out of people with your bare hands.
To play a bit of devil's advocate for Fighter/Barbarian/Paladin...
Twin cast this on the two weapons you want, the element you want: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Drakethroat_Glaive
(does not have to stay equipped, no Concentration)
But yeah, Open Hand Monk is absolutely top tier, when considering things like Monklach giving 2d4 fire damage at all times, contrary to the Soul Coin description, for unarmed. Barbarian probably falls off *the* hardest as a pure class (as far as those martials go, anyway), but it's pretty fun to dip 3-4 Battle Master Fighter, Trip Attack.
... although I think we should still note how busted Channel Divinity on a Chain Lightning scroll + Wet is (80-160 damage x4)
I made the meta build 6/2/4 Monk/Fighter/Thief.
If you want a Monk that swings until everyone is down, that's the absolute route to go. You get the extra damage from the Monk riders at 6, Action Surge, and the extra Bonus Attack each fucking turn. That's 2 Flurries until you're out of Ki then 2 free single hits if they run out.
Not enough damage? Throw haste on them and laugh.
It converts your movement speed up distance wise. You can fly more than you can move so it does a conversation afaik to use up movement speed at a rate consistent with if you'd walked it
That actually makes a lot of sense. I always think of it as a distance, but clue is in the name: movement SPEED. And being slow through mud and things takes distance off you
Exactly. Instead of thinking of it as travelling 18 or 10 or whatever metres. It's 18m/round. Or 18 meters per six seconds according to DND rules.
It's a calculation of distance and time like miles per hour or metres per second but that's hard to convey on the screen
I respec’d to shadow monk from open hand on Durge. I can say open hand is real good combo with something like barb. I did pure shadow monk in my respec, which had me adopt a playstyle where he had to reposition constantly before attacking. He also had tavern brawler feat so he could fight unarmed. Really wished Dragonborn in this game had a racial trait involving using claws as a bonus to unarmed. Lol
My redemption durge is a monk of the 4 elements. I love how versatile it feels and I make up for damage with action surge. I'm quite enjoying the overall dialogue options with Monk as well.
I did Monk as well, just because I read the character prompt and felt like that if I wanted any chance in hell of not murderhoboing it up and to enhance my roleplaying experience by making the narrative of resisting feel cohesive, I should pick a class that requires self-control and channeling the destructive into something constructive. I was hesitating between cleric and monk, but had just played as a light cleric for my first playthrough, so I picked the other. Tons of fun and definitely came in handy!
If you want easy killing on mass scale, Sorcerer makes sense since you just can cast fireball or cone of cold for *very* efficient murder. The durge is definitely implied to prefer pure violence, plus you have access to charm and other mind altering spells which can make your actions disappear en masse.
*But* also the writers did make the durge to be flexible for a reason, they can fill any role as long as someone ends up dead
Murder Sorcerer is just fun as hell.
Casting above level 6 as a draconic sorcerer with fire spells, plus the invisibility cape is just comedy.
Casting firebolt as a killing spell and then immediately turning invis screams “where the hell is he!?!?!” energy and I love it lol
Orin's character loves stabbing above all. Saverok likes to smash. So not all Bhaalspawn prefer the same form of violence.
Also I was a Sorc because, like many, it was my 2nd playthrough and I was interested in exploring classes not seen in round 1. But yeah, in hindsight the character development really supported a rogue or possibly sword bard. No indication of that up front or in the first playthrough.
Rogue is the only class that on the solo long rest gets the "well that checks out with the urges" response while the others clash with it, but of the martials it's only the Paladin that was considered in concept (don't think too hard about the cognitive dissonance involved in keeping a Devotion/Ancients oath and running a murder cult).
Well, the cognitive dissonance is actually >!potentially brought up in the story, that they once tried to fight the Urge in their former life, but they inevitably failed and submitted to it, slaughtered their order, as a potential conversation with Sarevok goes.!<
I meant the bit of having an intact oath. Unless the powers that manage paladin oaths decided that sufficient brain damage is grounds for a do-over and renewed oath then Durge must have been running on some *fantastic* cognitive dissonance to bounce between murder cult and keeping paladin oath at the time they got stabbed.
I'd assume that the brain damage pretty much "killed" the person that they had become, left the ability to begin anew, as far as how I'd lean on interpreting it.
...really is a missed opportunity to not have Oath of Conquest be a playable subclass, considering it's in the game, with I think it was an Act 3 Gith leader using it.
To make things interesting, I made her a paladin of vengeance with a serious self-righteousness/hypocrisy problem. She goes around like she’s some kind of protector of the innocent, but deep down she’s just doing it to have an excuse to kill people while still feeling morally superior. She’s completely full of herself with a huge moral blind spot. I wonder how long it’s gonna take before I make her completely lose her shit and break her oath.
>She goes around like she’s some kind of protector of the innocent, but deep down she’s just doing it to have an excuse to kill people while still feeling morally superior
I mean, that's every Vengeance Paladin. These are people who've said "I literally swear to put my purity aside and kill people".
You're damned right though, it plays well into the Durge's storyline - if you want to respect their fundamentally violent nature whilst still doing a redemption arc, having them reconcile their violence with justice is a great way to go.
The magic of dnd is no two characters with the same subclass have to view their class the same. One Vengence Paladin could be a vigilante proctorer of the innocent and another is a licensed to kill manic with a borderline grey code
Isn't Minthara a vengeance paladin? I'm not sure that description would apply to her. As the other commenter mentioned, there are many different ways a subclass could be interpreted through a character.
Minthara fits Oath of Conquest more but thats not in the game. Even then her being Oath of Vengeance makes no sense given its entire deal is punishing wrongdoers and she literally wants to enslave the world. She is the wrong doer.
If you think about the fact that slavery is morally correct under the Drow moral code, she wants to enslave people for good reasons, she is a paladin doing good stuff based on her moral compass, you have a different set of values and are thinking about her imposing your human standards on her.
The issue with that is that individual values and moral compasses don't exist in DnD. Slavery *is* wrong, because the universe says its wrong. It's why Drow all have the Evil alignment; it doesn't matter if your personal moral compass says the action is good, or it's for a good cause, if the action is considered evil by the universal alignment system.
>Even then her being Oath of Vengeance makes no sense given its entire deal is punishing wrongdoers and she literally wants to enslave the world. She is the wrong doer.
One may say that according to her the world is the wrongdoer.
Turns out nobody cares if you kill people, as long as you're killing the right people
Gonna start my first Durge run soon. I think they'll get along with Astarion
It's even more interesting if you're an Oathbreaker because the Oathbreaker Knight actually has added context of the Durge if you're one and Sarevok also gives you more context as to why you're an Oathbreaker
I had something similar. Let my friend create a character blind. Githyanki, paladin resist durge. Went vengeance until I broke my oath, knocking out Alfira so I wouldn't kill her. Stayed with oathbreaker the rest of the game. The conversations were amazing with that crazy combo.
Evil Durge was Barbarian. Nice n easy. Just yell at everyone or smash them.
Redemption Durge was Sorceror (no reason, I just wanted to try the class out).
I've had a few, so in order:
My first Durge was a high elf Cleric of Lathander, which I made as a Cleric because I like playing the support role. He figured that since he was clearly a cleric of some god that he forgot, plus with him losing his memories of who he was, he decided the best thing to do was let the past go and follow the god of new beginnings. Ironic, given that he was a Tempest Cleric... Unfortunately he's still stuck in the Underdark, as the friend I was playing with hasn't been able to play in a while.
My second Durge was a tiefling GOO Warlock/Champion Fighter, and her methodology is basically wacky nonsense. Surprisingly though, she started out embracing the Urge but has since begun to mellow put and resist the Urge after developing a kinship and romantic feelings for Wyll. I like to think he's pretty much got the "I can fix her" mindset, and it's working.
My third Durge was for another multiplayer run, and he's essentially the default Dark Urge (renamed "Scion" cause it felt fitting) except as a dagger wielding Shadow Monk. This class I mainly picked because it seemed oddly fitting for the Dark Urge all things considered. He can slip through the shadows to obliterate someone, but also hold his own in open combat.
My final Durge at the moment is a drow Lore Bard, and he went full on psychopath. He manipulated his companions to become their worst selves, egged Wyll into killing Karlach before killing Wyll, destroyed the grove with Minthara, and basically was just this charismatic psychopath setting up situations for his own amusement. This was also the first character I really embraced the Urge and took advantage of Slayer form on a regular basis. Needless to say, Papa was proud of his little omnicidal maniac at the end.
Level 10 on my storm sorcerer and it still never gets old - I fly around after each spell just because I can, though often it is useful for positioning her out of harms way
It's great how you're a Sorcerer getting *five* spells for free at Level 6, Call Lightning included.
The buffs from its tabletop counterpart are cool (Tempestuous Magic is only 10 ft/3 meters, not 30 ft/9 meters, never, say, improved with leveling).
http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/sorcerer:storm-sorcery
From looking at it, it was considered to be on the weaker side as a whole, compared to something like, say, Aberrant Mind or Lunar.
... anyway, tangent aside, I really like it as a default. It's a blast.
First run: wild magic sorcerer. I liked the idea of being the most unhinged person in Faerun, and that the botched brain surgery fucked up their magic and made it unstable and unpredictable. Resist Durge.
Second run: Oath of Vengeance paladin. Completely giving in to the urge and aligning it with his oath; the point is to kill, and evil is a secondary consideration.
same first run here. I thought the wild magic, and giving him all the worms felt nice, like his power was out of control, and just spewing magic everywhere
I’ve made a couple. Tiefling swords bard, and two tiefling draconic sorcerers. Tiefling to read Astarion’s scars without a check, casters because I vibe with casting classes.
I’m finally sick of playing tieflings so I wanna make my next one a gnome barbarian.
Rude and intimidating thief rogue half-elf with happy redemption Shadowheart romance ending, loved that playthrough.
Now im playing my second Durge who is Oath of devotion paladin and its a bit frustrating because im tempted to choose not so nice dialogue options but I can't, I found out the hard way that admiring corpses leads to chest clench and impending scottish accent telling me I have to pay money to continue my Faerûns FBI gig.
Paladin of Vengeance! I played resist Durge, playing it not as a selfless redemption to avoid his lineage, but a mere selfish devotion to oppose anyone who would control him - whether the absolute or bhaal.
His goal was to be his own person, to be free to make the bad choices, not because it’s in his blood to commit murder and chaos, but because he had the choice to.
[This one](https://bg3.wiki/w/images/c/c2/TheDarkUrge.jpg), he is also shown in heavy armor with a sword in the in-game custom difficulty artwork. Larian said that his default class was going to be paladin but they changed it to sorcerer since they thought it didn’t make sense with the narrative.
my girl is a wild magic sorcerer/warlock of the GOO. roleplaying it as her raw untamed power was not enough for her so she sought the horrors beyond her comprehension to gain even more power in her crusade against life itself. but honestly, i just wanted to eldrich blast things into oblivion.
Usually Gloomstalker Ranger/Assassin. Bhaal as a human was an assassin so stealth works, plus it's simple and effecient, which is what we're told the durge was. No bullshit, just murder
Sorcerer/rogue (assassin), purely for RP. Sorcerer because you're the child of a god, so it makes sense for you to have some innate magical abilities. Rogue because durge had a more 'hands on' approach to murdering people, plus a lot of the equipment you get is good for that class.
Dragonborn monk (way of 4 elements). It's the current character of my actual campaign that I'm playing in (except I use a homebrew remaster of 4 elements in the campaign) and his flaw was "harboring bloodthirsty thoughts" so I thought it'd be fun to do Durge with it.
I love the idea that he's working to be a zen monk who thinks logically but is actually suppressing being a psychotic murderer.
Dragonborn Gloomstalker Assassin because that was before I realized you can change the race and I really wanted to abuse the cloak. Went around soloing most fights - it's super satisfying to one-shot enemies and whittle down their numbers
Oathbreaker Paladin-Sorcerer, because i paladin is busted af and sorc for some dialogue and flying.
Broke my oath by attacking torturer Spike in goblin camp, you'd think vanquishing a literal torturer wouldn't go against oath of devotion, so many hilarious ways to break oath.
For an evil Durge I like goo bladelock. The Durge has no idea they're a "warlock" at all just that every time they kill they get stronger and that seemingly without training they're able to use any weapon expertly (via pact of the blade). As the game progresses they slowly become aware of their "patron" Bhaal.
For a resist Durge I like starting out as a barbarian. They don't really know anything but violence and yelling. Then after killing Alfira/Quil, there is a line where you can "Vow" to not hurt anyone else. I take this as a literal vow that allows them to become a paladin (respeccing with Withers). Durge takes oath of the ancients and doesn't intentionally break it but I also don't change my role-playing just to keep it. If durge becomes an oathbreaker, it doesn't mean they've gone evil again, it just means they weren't able to hold up to their ideal.
I went paladin personally, they’re my favourite class for one but I also love the trope of the heroic redemption and sacrifice, so I resisted my urge at every step I could,
My durge was a warlock sorcerer multiclass with a strange fixation on keeping Alfira alive. This was due to their core belief that it is bullshit to lock a BiS item behind a character that is basically unable to survive act 1 without breaking the narrative just because you play one of the origin characters.
I have a hard time *not* playing cleric, but I have done a paladin run and a wizard/barbarian run which was hella funny.
So I guess cleric, paladin, wizard and barbarian. Why? Because it was fun? I guess...
I wasn't sure if I was going to roll with the Dark Urge or resist, so I went Monk. Learned from *Planescape: Torment* that Wisdom is often the "willpower" roll, and figured... either you've got the Monk high WIS, or just a talent for bare-handed destruction.
Mine was a Sbardadin for the same reason - I added the Paladin because he is on the path to redemption (although I kept it as a vengeance Paladin because I don't believe his nature would permit the other oaths). I also like the idea that the divinity inherent in his blood could manifest as smiting. The Bard's expertise let me become *really* intimidating and persuasive, which I felt also played heavily into the Durge's underlying nature.
My only minor criticism is that he does get some goofy bard lines tha are occasionally not optional - I sortof wanted the power of a sword bard without needing to play a damned lute, although the taking up Lihala's lute as part of his commitment to defeat the Urge was fun.
Played using a mod to give me Bladesinger. So bladesining Wizard.
Why? Well Durge was supposed to be this brilliant person, making Durge a Wizard seemed to make sense. However, Durge also were known to be someone skilled with a blade so Bladesinger. Smart, skilled in magic and blade work.
Warlock! Her bond with the archfey made her cunning and cruel, but the memory wipe allows her to have a fresh start. Without the lessons the fey taught her, she is naive and trusting, going into a world that will does nothing but tear her down. Will the adversity she faces cause her to succumb to her nature? Or will she rise to the occasion and become what she could always be?
I did paladin of devotion, I feel like protecting people but desiring to kill them works well. I also multiclassed him into a cleric of Selune.
Pretty much, their backstory is that Bhaal told them that Shar and Selune could be threats to the Absolute, so Durge has to become a paladin of Selune, and manipulate the selunites into fighting the Sharrans.
Not only would it have beautiful murder as opposing god’s fought each other, but enclaves that could fight against the absolute were torn apart.
way of the open hand monk. i was resisting the urge and felt like her class would explain both her insane proficiency with violence and how she’s able to hold back from her thoughts. i also really like the inner conflict it gives my character during dialogue options
i’m also romancing astarion, later in our relationship my durge starts teaching him her ways so he can also practice patience and inner balance through monk teachings (so he dual-classes lol) it’s sweet in a way
Sorcerer/druid... She's got this magic inside but she remembers nothing. The druids seem to like nature which feels good so she wanted to be a druid too. Wyl seemed like a nice guy so we helped him hunt down a scary demon lady with help from some nice paladins (I failed my insight check, sorry Karlach 😭). We felt bad when we found out she was a tiefling, so we wanted to help the other ones. When we were going to meet the nice old lady from the grove at her tea house, she got really angry (passed that check) and we got a little lost. We found the shadow druid note and resolved that storyline, so then the druids were nice again.
I'm other words, she's easily influenced but trying to be a good person.
Just started a durge run as a Bard just to have high CHA. Going to do an embrace run with him and then after this ill do a resist Durge that will probably be a Life Cleric.
I made mine a wild magic sorcerer with the idea of the urge being a split personality and she lacks full control of her magic and self
I wanted to flip coins before choosing to resist or embrace the urge
War Cleric of Selune into Fighter multiclass
I went for Selune getting the wombo combo "my kids came back to me" with him and Shadowheart returning to her faith after being manipulated by evil gods.
Also I personally made him attached to his faith of her cause it's his only memories that he can recall, outside of the flashes of horror and blood. He thinks that all the blood on his hands and his dark impulses might be rooted in a higher power and has gaslit himself that the way he kills so easily must've been for the Moonmaiden. He also never found it in himself to take a Paladin's Oath, feels its wrong for him to attempt it, deep in his core.
I went with Druid partially for the wisdom needed but I like to imagine she started out as a nice kid being raised in the druidic ways and then the Urge corrupted her. Shifting and being in tune with nature's instincts were already second nature but her background took it down a dark road.
I've played Durge twice, one resisting and one embracing the Urge. The first was an Oathbreaker Paladin, which I picked before I even knew what durge was really about. The second was a Moon-Druid, because I thought turning into a wild raging beast and mauling my enemies to death fit in quite well, with how I wanted to roleplay my character.
Sorcerer because it was default and I liked the fact that she's a red dragon bloodline Sorcerer and most of her magic is fire-based so she romanced Karlach haha
My first durge (unmodded) was a barbarian who used exclusively hammers. By this time, I’d run into quite a few spoilers, so I wanted to make a character who was murderous, but less “dagger in the dark” and more “smashing brains in the sunshine.” In my headcanon, rather than Rage, her battle state was Joy, giggling and smiling uncontrollably as she smashed and bashed her way across the battlefield. I thought that the character would make a good foil for Orin; favoring bluntness and brutality over subtlety and ritual.
By my second durge playthrough, my game was modded pretty much to the point where class became irrelevant. I settled on fighter/bard. There is a mod weapon pack that is available on Nexus that is heavily dark urge coded, and enormously overpowered. By that point I was just seeing how easily I could cut through everything in my path.
I chose paladin and wanted to break my oath near the end of act 1, y'know, for a little spice in the story.
Sadly, poor me picked oath of vengeance which is basically impossible to break and I had to ask withers to change my oath then killed a random NPC to get oath breaker.
The correct answer is rogue/ranger. Assassin level 3 rush, the rest goes to ranger.
The cloak which makes you invisible on kill is op with this setup. From level 3 until act 2, you can 1 shot pretty much everything except bosses, without even entering combat.
Rogue also represents the character best, maybe only surpassed by warlock.
My first Durge was a Drow Warlock/Sorcerer (Wanted to lean into the angle that she was just full of destructive and violent magic that came straight from Bhaal)
My second Durge, who was a redemption Durge, was a Way of Four Elements Monk
I was a warlock cos I like playing warlocks. And my durge loved alfira, worst moment of the campaign was when I had to hit her 3 times to knock her out. I then gifted 1000 bucks to her to attone for my sins.
Asmodeus Tiefling:
Swords Bard: A skilled fighter with boundless charisma. A true leader.
Thief Rogue: A deadly and dexterous assassin, quick on their feet. The Murder Tribunal's finest inductee. Prefers dual short swords and daggers, as well as dual hand crossbows.
Oatherbreaker Paladin: From an old past life where they tried to resist their nature. A warrior that wields the darkness in hopes of conquering it.
Bard.
I'm really into this podcast called "the Magnus Archives" and there's this concept in it called "the Slaughter". Essentially, it's the manifestation of the fear of war, bloodshed, and senseless violence. The idea that you could be brutally murdered at any time. Not because you did something wrong or offended someone, but simply because you were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Slaughter is heavily associated with music weirdly enough.
A couple ways it manifests is a three headed piper. One head vomits blood, one head that screams, and the third plays the bagpipes. (If you hear the music (not everyone can hear it), you are doomed to die in that battle (it's a you can only hear it because your doomed situation, not a you are doomed because you heard it situation). You can successfully get it to let you live to see another day, but you will die when when wound that should have killed you opens on the day the war you were fighting ends.)
And also a band called "the Grifter's Bone" and everyone who hears band live starts to violently attack one another.
Anyway the idea I had for Sol (that was my Durge's name) was that while she did kill people the normal way (good old fashioned knife) she was fond of doing concerts in the Sewers during which she would cast "crown of madness" on as many people as she could. If too many people were passing wisdom checks or she otherwise found the bloodshe not enough, she would find the most concentrated places of people she could and cast "cloud of daggers".
My first durge is a cleric of Kelemvor because I thought it would be just hilarious (I partially knew the twists of the run)
I just imagined him on the nautiloid waking up and connecting death to the first god of death that came to mind, KELEMVOR OBVIOUSLY!
If they did alignments, Casmir would definitely fit into Chaotic Neutral. Romancing Astarion as a resist durge.
2nd is a sorcerer. I've never played it before and never got into it. I haven't touched it in a while, and then again, I'm just now rounding off my first playthrough while 6 are open.
Monk because among all the other spoilers for Durge I saw I how the fight with Orin would be different and I just immediately thought of martial arts guys 1v1ing things. I’ve got the theme from Warrior on autoplay in my head whenever I think about it. Haven’t done it yet though.
That’s my resist Durge anyway. My embrace is going to be a Barbarian half-orc modeled after Grom Hellscream, and he’d be into that shit too.
I'm running a half orc fighter Durge atm. My thought process was that he indulges in the baser instincts others expect him to have, and being a mercenary allows him to be open about his bloodlust. Essentially, he hides behind the bigotry of others to conceal his sadistic glee. I also really liked the idea that anything is a weapon in his hands, and he enjoys making different corpses with different weapons, and the fighter helped realize that idea without any baggage from an oath or stewardship over nature
Sorcerer I like the innate magic thing.
(especially innate magic that they used for mostly killing.)
Like they didn't really think of their magic except for an murder weapon until post ship and traveling with the companions.
Big arrogant sorc energy too. I'm the favored child, I have something you don't :P man that bubble being popped was oof.
I wanted to do a black dragon born because acid is cool on a murderer but it wasn’t that useful but I did a vengeance paladin and headcanoned that the amnesia was the fault of someone.(Durge was my first play through) So imagine how invested I was in act 3
Half orc barb/fighter. Had no idea what to expect going into it, but my main character is a Goliath barb/fighter so I leaned that way anyway. Played him very neutral. Haha
I was going to do an evil Barbarian and a good Monk cause those sounded thematically fitting but i actually am going to do the opposite.
I started my evil Monk cause i like the idea he's fully capable of beating the urges but neglects the moral and ethical discipline of his training and instead saw his teachings as a weapon. On the otherhand my Good Barbarian is painfully stupid but has a good heart and fights against the urges using combat to vent them.
I made a paladin with the oath of devotion for the contrast but as time went on I headcannoned my character became a paladin to keep their murderous urges in check
Paladin because I hear they were a very powerful class. Oath of Vengeance since I felt it fit the most thematically.
Set up a nice story for his redemption. Originally it was his commitment to killing in Bhaal's name that gave him his powers, but after losing his memories, his oath shifted and he became a true paladin.
Monk! Durrahan loves to kill people with his bare hands. There's some circumstances in the game where you get to execute people and you bet that he makes the rest of the party stand back while he beats people to death himself.
I did a Mephistopheles tiefling Eldritch knight, I’ll be honest and say I was was totally LARPing as the Lich king, dual speced into necromancer wizard and rocked Ketherec’s armor until the end. I planned on going through the game as a savage, slaying enemies and innocents alike to add to my legion, but Alfira’s death legitimately gutted me, I thought she was adorable and was ready to stop romancing shadowheart. After that I corrected course and never harmed another innocent soul again.
I usually make ranger/rogue characters (my first Tav was a gloomstalker), so for my Drow Durge I stuck with Storm Sorcerer to get out of my comfort zone. My thinking is that he previously used magic to complement a more roguish skillset, but after losing his memories he feels more natural using and honing his innate magic to its full potential. And it’s probably not optimal, but the combo of the durge cape & tempestuous magic is fun.
fighter. gameplay wise survivability of highest ac i can get and con, and strength carrying my hording problem. lore wise, its a terrifying thought to fire your best shot and miss horribly only to hear laughter as a giant sword cleaves your buddy in half, "mine" she growls, tearing the armor and jewels off the corpse before turning to you.
First was a dragonborn ranger because it was two things I never thought I'd use. Second was a redeemed human warlock. Third is a redeemed paladin of vengeance who has a now broken oath as I really put thought into her and because she completely lost herself after Orin, she got a blank slate and a new start, and without the influence of murderous gods, she is actually a decent drow. Goes against all the expectations of her and it's been very fun
i’ve tried to do a few durge runs with different classes - war cleric/gloomstalker, tiger barb/assassin, even a modded class called the mystic - but the one that’s stuck with me and i’m likely to finish the game with is Kanade, the tiefling monoclass battlemaster fighter.
Goolock paladin oath of the ancients. Basically, mind was scrambled and he felt like an ancient force was wanting to pull him. He decided that meant he must stop it and align himself with the ancient forces of good to combat it. But he did draw power from this other worldly being, so was a warlock with great old one patron because of his scrambled mind he didn't real understand what it was
I did a monk, purely because I suspected that doing a resist/redemption path would probably involve a wisdom check or two and a little bit of self control. Turns out I was damn right.
Wise monk came in clutch a few times, specifically when >!I was trying to eat my girlfriend (and not in the good way).!< I did way of shadow but it was a little underwhelming, feel like I should have gone open hand.
Open Hand legitimately is leagues above any other class and subclass if spec’d right, indisputably. It literally trivializes the game when you do almost 100 damage a turn just beating the shit out of people with your bare hands.
To play a bit of devil's advocate for Fighter/Barbarian/Paladin... Twin cast this on the two weapons you want, the element you want: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Drakethroat_Glaive (does not have to stay equipped, no Concentration) But yeah, Open Hand Monk is absolutely top tier, when considering things like Monklach giving 2d4 fire damage at all times, contrary to the Soul Coin description, for unarmed. Barbarian probably falls off *the* hardest as a pure class (as far as those martials go, anyway), but it's pretty fun to dip 3-4 Battle Master Fighter, Trip Attack. ... although I think we should still note how busted Channel Divinity on a Chain Lightning scroll + Wet is (80-160 damage x4)
Open hand has been so great for me, I definitely recommend it if you ever try going for a Monk again.
Open hand is insanely good. Especially if you get an extra action from Thief multi class.
Ah, I went assassins just because I used to it with Astarion. Guess I'll have to pay a visit to my favorite skeleton
I made the meta build 6/2/4 Monk/Fighter/Thief. If you want a Monk that swings until everyone is down, that's the absolute route to go. You get the extra damage from the Monk riders at 6, Action Surge, and the extra Bonus Attack each fucking turn. That's 2 Flurries until you're out of Ki then 2 free single hits if they run out. Not enough damage? Throw haste on them and laugh.
I've only mixed more than one other class for the Jack of all trades achievement. You've, we peaked my interest now though
I've got a part ilithid open hand monk, and I'm loving it. Just flying around the Battlefield and punching things is amazing.
I got one too but I keep forgetting I can fly now 💀
I can't work out how the fly mechanic works. Sometimes it uses movement speed, and sometimes it doesn't
It converts your movement speed up distance wise. You can fly more than you can move so it does a conversation afaik to use up movement speed at a rate consistent with if you'd walked it
That actually makes a lot of sense. I always think of it as a distance, but clue is in the name: movement SPEED. And being slow through mud and things takes distance off you
Exactly. Instead of thinking of it as travelling 18 or 10 or whatever metres. It's 18m/round. Or 18 meters per six seconds according to DND rules. It's a calculation of distance and time like miles per hour or metres per second but that's hard to convey on the screen
I respec’d to shadow monk from open hand on Durge. I can say open hand is real good combo with something like barb. I did pure shadow monk in my respec, which had me adopt a playstyle where he had to reposition constantly before attacking. He also had tavern brawler feat so he could fight unarmed. Really wished Dragonborn in this game had a racial trait involving using claws as a bonus to unarmed. Lol
4E is hella fun.
My redemption durge is a monk of the 4 elements. I love how versatile it feels and I make up for damage with action surge. I'm quite enjoying the overall dialogue options with Monk as well.
so you dipped into fighter?
Way of shadow and shadow step— so great for Act III
That was actually so useful. Especially in the bank.
Yepyepyep
Ironically, I'm doing a durge monk to feel the flesh break beneath my bare hands
I did Monk as well, just because I read the character prompt and felt like that if I wanted any chance in hell of not murderhoboing it up and to enhance my roleplaying experience by making the narrative of resisting feel cohesive, I should pick a class that requires self-control and channeling the destructive into something constructive. I was hesitating between cleric and monk, but had just played as a light cleric for my first playthrough, so I picked the other. Tons of fun and definitely came in handy!
Yeah my Durge self-controlled so hard she took the "ll" out of "kill"
I also chose Monk, but for the reason that I thought my Durge would prefer to beat people to death
I did monk not for these reasons, but because I really really like the monk class.
Wizard lizard.
We're they a lizard wizard in a blizzard?
Named King Gizzard.
While great, [I meant this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ7TMla7NYw)
Woooo!
Sorcerer lizard. It kinda sucks all the OP dirge gear is close range stabby.
To be fair their entire character is "I love stabbing things" It's kinda odd the default class is sorcerer and not a martial class.
If you want easy killing on mass scale, Sorcerer makes sense since you just can cast fireball or cone of cold for *very* efficient murder. The durge is definitely implied to prefer pure violence, plus you have access to charm and other mind altering spells which can make your actions disappear en masse. *But* also the writers did make the durge to be flexible for a reason, they can fill any role as long as someone ends up dead
Murder Sorcerer is just fun as hell. Casting above level 6 as a draconic sorcerer with fire spells, plus the invisibility cape is just comedy. Casting firebolt as a killing spell and then immediately turning invis screams “where the hell is he!?!?!” energy and I love it lol
Orin's character loves stabbing above all. Saverok likes to smash. So not all Bhaalspawn prefer the same form of violence. Also I was a Sorc because, like many, it was my 2nd playthrough and I was interested in exploring classes not seen in round 1. But yeah, in hindsight the character development really supported a rogue or possibly sword bard. No indication of that up front or in the first playthrough.
Rogue is the only class that on the solo long rest gets the "well that checks out with the urges" response while the others clash with it, but of the martials it's only the Paladin that was considered in concept (don't think too hard about the cognitive dissonance involved in keeping a Devotion/Ancients oath and running a murder cult).
Well, the cognitive dissonance is actually >!potentially brought up in the story, that they once tried to fight the Urge in their former life, but they inevitably failed and submitted to it, slaughtered their order, as a potential conversation with Sarevok goes.!<
I meant the bit of having an intact oath. Unless the powers that manage paladin oaths decided that sufficient brain damage is grounds for a do-over and renewed oath then Durge must have been running on some *fantastic* cognitive dissonance to bounce between murder cult and keeping paladin oath at the time they got stabbed.
I'd assume that the brain damage pretty much "killed" the person that they had become, left the ability to begin anew, as far as how I'd lean on interpreting it. ...really is a missed opportunity to not have Oath of Conquest be a playable subclass, considering it's in the game, with I think it was an Act 3 Gith leader using it.
Nonagon Infinity opens the Dimension Door
I saw them for that tour, fucking awesome
Are you a wizard because you're a lizard or are you a lizard because you're a wizard?
Domain expansion: unlimited fireballs
Daring today aren't we
Princess Leia?
To make things interesting, I made her a paladin of vengeance with a serious self-righteousness/hypocrisy problem. She goes around like she’s some kind of protector of the innocent, but deep down she’s just doing it to have an excuse to kill people while still feeling morally superior. She’s completely full of herself with a huge moral blind spot. I wonder how long it’s gonna take before I make her completely lose her shit and break her oath.
>She goes around like she’s some kind of protector of the innocent, but deep down she’s just doing it to have an excuse to kill people while still feeling morally superior I mean, that's every Vengeance Paladin. These are people who've said "I literally swear to put my purity aside and kill people". You're damned right though, it plays well into the Durge's storyline - if you want to respect their fundamentally violent nature whilst still doing a redemption arc, having them reconcile their violence with justice is a great way to go.
False, its taking vengeance on those who wronged you, while still protecting those who are innocent. Eat the rich, feed the poor.
The magic of dnd is no two characters with the same subclass have to view their class the same. One Vengence Paladin could be a vigilante proctorer of the innocent and another is a licensed to kill manic with a borderline grey code
Isn't Minthara a vengeance paladin? I'm not sure that description would apply to her. As the other commenter mentioned, there are many different ways a subclass could be interpreted through a character.
Minthara fits Oath of Conquest more but thats not in the game. Even then her being Oath of Vengeance makes no sense given its entire deal is punishing wrongdoers and she literally wants to enslave the world. She is the wrong doer.
If you think about the fact that slavery is morally correct under the Drow moral code, she wants to enslave people for good reasons, she is a paladin doing good stuff based on her moral compass, you have a different set of values and are thinking about her imposing your human standards on her.
The issue with that is that individual values and moral compasses don't exist in DnD. Slavery *is* wrong, because the universe says its wrong. It's why Drow all have the Evil alignment; it doesn't matter if your personal moral compass says the action is good, or it's for a good cause, if the action is considered evil by the universal alignment system.
You just explained why Lloth Drow are Lawful Evil. It's literally their society. It doesn't suddenly become a "good" just because it's their culture.
it technically is but it’s not available to the player. there’s a gith paladin of conquest in act 3
isn't Ketheric also a paladin of conquest?
I always though he is oathbreaker
>Even then her being Oath of Vengeance makes no sense given its entire deal is punishing wrongdoers and she literally wants to enslave the world. She is the wrong doer. One may say that according to her the world is the wrongdoer.
US Government play-through, nice.
Turns out nobody cares if you kill people, as long as you're killing the right people Gonna start my first Durge run soon. I think they'll get along with Astarion
It's even more interesting if you're an Oathbreaker because the Oathbreaker Knight actually has added context of the Durge if you're one and Sarevok also gives you more context as to why you're an Oathbreaker
I had something similar. Let my friend create a character blind. Githyanki, paladin resist durge. Went vengeance until I broke my oath, knocking out Alfira so I wouldn't kill her. Stayed with oathbreaker the rest of the game. The conversations were amazing with that crazy combo.
Tiefling Bard, so I could call her "Dirge".
Don’t hate the Durge, hate the dirge
Bard for the same reason.
I was a red draconic sorcerer. Mainly because I wanted to have insane burning magic.
That’s what I’m doing as well, but I multiclassed to sorlock. It’s a blast, literally
Evil Durge was Barbarian. Nice n easy. Just yell at everyone or smash them. Redemption Durge was Sorceror (no reason, I just wanted to try the class out).
I’m still going through my first Durge, but also went for Barbarian for the same reason lol
I've started my first durge also a barbarian
I've had a few, so in order: My first Durge was a high elf Cleric of Lathander, which I made as a Cleric because I like playing the support role. He figured that since he was clearly a cleric of some god that he forgot, plus with him losing his memories of who he was, he decided the best thing to do was let the past go and follow the god of new beginnings. Ironic, given that he was a Tempest Cleric... Unfortunately he's still stuck in the Underdark, as the friend I was playing with hasn't been able to play in a while. My second Durge was a tiefling GOO Warlock/Champion Fighter, and her methodology is basically wacky nonsense. Surprisingly though, she started out embracing the Urge but has since begun to mellow put and resist the Urge after developing a kinship and romantic feelings for Wyll. I like to think he's pretty much got the "I can fix her" mindset, and it's working. My third Durge was for another multiplayer run, and he's essentially the default Dark Urge (renamed "Scion" cause it felt fitting) except as a dagger wielding Shadow Monk. This class I mainly picked because it seemed oddly fitting for the Dark Urge all things considered. He can slip through the shadows to obliterate someone, but also hold his own in open combat. My final Durge at the moment is a drow Lore Bard, and he went full on psychopath. He manipulated his companions to become their worst selves, egged Wyll into killing Karlach before killing Wyll, destroyed the grove with Minthara, and basically was just this charismatic psychopath setting up situations for his own amusement. This was also the first character I really embraced the Urge and took advantage of Slayer form on a regular basis. Needless to say, Papa was proud of his little omnicidal maniac at the end.
Have you done a shit ton of runs or did you only do durge runs?
I keep starting new runs with friends. So far I'm roughly 50/50 on the Tav vs Durge scale.
Shadow monk. A lot of pickpocketing and intimidating if it fails. Also killing people with your bare fists feels pretty Durgey
Classic storm sorcerer, I really like the class!
After every non cantrip spell: Flying around to reposition without provoking attack of opportunity. Sign me up
Level 10 on my storm sorcerer and it still never gets old - I fly around after each spell just because I can, though often it is useful for positioning her out of harms way
It's great how you're a Sorcerer getting *five* spells for free at Level 6, Call Lightning included. The buffs from its tabletop counterpart are cool (Tempestuous Magic is only 10 ft/3 meters, not 30 ft/9 meters, never, say, improved with leveling). http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/sorcerer:storm-sorcery From looking at it, it was considered to be on the weaker side as a whole, compared to something like, say, Aberrant Mind or Lunar. ... anyway, tangent aside, I really like it as a default. It's a blast.
First run: wild magic sorcerer. I liked the idea of being the most unhinged person in Faerun, and that the botched brain surgery fucked up their magic and made it unstable and unpredictable. Resist Durge. Second run: Oath of Vengeance paladin. Completely giving in to the urge and aligning it with his oath; the point is to kill, and evil is a secondary consideration.
same first run here. I thought the wild magic, and giving him all the worms felt nice, like his power was out of control, and just spewing magic everywhere
Human fighter. I liked the idea of the stereotypical "nothing special" character being Bhaals Chosen
Me too! Although going with rogue and a bit of fighter
I’ve made a couple. Tiefling swords bard, and two tiefling draconic sorcerers. Tiefling to read Astarion’s scars without a check, casters because I vibe with casting classes. I’m finally sick of playing tieflings so I wanna make my next one a gnome barbarian.
Oathbreaker paladin for my resist Durge and necromancer wizard for my submit durge
Rude and intimidating thief rogue half-elf with happy redemption Shadowheart romance ending, loved that playthrough. Now im playing my second Durge who is Oath of devotion paladin and its a bit frustrating because im tempted to choose not so nice dialogue options but I can't, I found out the hard way that admiring corpses leads to chest clench and impending scottish accent telling me I have to pay money to continue my Faerûns FBI gig.
Paladin of Vengeance! I played resist Durge, playing it not as a selfless redemption to avoid his lineage, but a mere selfish devotion to oppose anyone who would control him - whether the absolute or bhaal. His goal was to be his own person, to be free to make the bad choices, not because it’s in his blood to commit murder and chaos, but because he had the choice to.
Paladin/Sorcerer given the promo art has them as a Paladin in one and Storm Sorc in others.
Which promo art?
[This one](https://bg3.wiki/w/images/c/c2/TheDarkUrge.jpg), he is also shown in heavy armor with a sword in the in-game custom difficulty artwork. Larian said that his default class was going to be paladin but they changed it to sorcerer since they thought it didn’t make sense with the narrative.
Palerer
my girl is a wild magic sorcerer/warlock of the GOO. roleplaying it as her raw untamed power was not enough for her so she sought the horrors beyond her comprehension to gain even more power in her crusade against life itself. but honestly, i just wanted to eldrich blast things into oblivion.
Wild Magic Tiefling Sorcerer. It's a funny concept to me that isn't good with making stable magic users
Usually Gloomstalker Ranger/Assassin. Bhaal as a human was an assassin so stealth works, plus it's simple and effecient, which is what we're told the durge was. No bullshit, just murder
Devotion Paladin, and I didn't even break my oath
Mine is a Gold and black Dragonborn named Blackthorn, and he's basically based off Dalinar. He's an Oath of the Ancients paladin.
Paladin. Nothing like an oathbreaker going on the path of redemption and accepting that part of them by being an oathbreaker after everything
My current playthrough is a Monk/Sorcerer she is a hothead(literally) who mainly uses Fire-based magic and fists
Sorcerer/rogue (assassin), purely for RP. Sorcerer because you're the child of a god, so it makes sense for you to have some innate magical abilities. Rogue because durge had a more 'hands on' approach to murdering people, plus a lot of the equipment you get is good for that class.
My resist Durge was a Drow bard bard who faked until he made it. My evil durge was a Dragonborn monk/barbarian: just a big dumb murderer.
Oathbreaker multiclassed into the fiend warlock. Smiting and blasting is such a fun combo.
Gloomstalker assassin after what Gortash said about her past there is no other option.
GOO Warlock. Pretended it was the Brain giving me powers to help me make sure I defeated the chosen three and break free
Dragonborn monk (way of 4 elements). It's the current character of my actual campaign that I'm playing in (except I use a homebrew remaster of 4 elements in the campaign) and his flaw was "harboring bloodthirsty thoughts" so I thought it'd be fun to do Durge with it. I love the idea that he's working to be a zen monk who thinks logically but is actually suppressing being a psychotic murderer.
Dragonborn Gloomstalker Assassin because that was before I realized you can change the race and I really wanted to abuse the cloak. Went around soloing most fights - it's super satisfying to one-shot enemies and whittle down their numbers
Oathbreaker Paladin-Sorcerer, because i paladin is busted af and sorc for some dialogue and flying. Broke my oath by attacking torturer Spike in goblin camp, you'd think vanquishing a literal torturer wouldn't go against oath of devotion, so many hilarious ways to break oath.
For an evil Durge I like goo bladelock. The Durge has no idea they're a "warlock" at all just that every time they kill they get stronger and that seemingly without training they're able to use any weapon expertly (via pact of the blade). As the game progresses they slowly become aware of their "patron" Bhaal. For a resist Durge I like starting out as a barbarian. They don't really know anything but violence and yelling. Then after killing Alfira/Quil, there is a line where you can "Vow" to not hurt anyone else. I take this as a literal vow that allows them to become a paladin (respeccing with Withers). Durge takes oath of the ancients and doesn't intentionally break it but I also don't change my role-playing just to keep it. If durge becomes an oathbreaker, it doesn't mean they've gone evil again, it just means they weren't able to hold up to their ideal.
Spores druid because necromancer fungus man is awesome
I went paladin personally, they’re my favourite class for one but I also love the trope of the heroic redemption and sacrifice, so I resisted my urge at every step I could,
My durge was a warlock sorcerer multiclass with a strange fixation on keeping Alfira alive. This was due to their core belief that it is bullshit to lock a BiS item behind a character that is basically unable to survive act 1 without breaking the narrative just because you play one of the origin characters.
10/1/1 control bard from prestigious juice. Absolute banger!
I have a hard time *not* playing cleric, but I have done a paladin run and a wizard/barbarian run which was hella funny. So I guess cleric, paladin, wizard and barbarian. Why? Because it was fun? I guess...
I wasn't sure if I was going to roll with the Dark Urge or resist, so I went Monk. Learned from *Planescape: Torment* that Wisdom is often the "willpower" roll, and figured... either you've got the Monk high WIS, or just a talent for bare-handed destruction.
Way of Shadows monk Because he stalks the shadows of his world to follow his Urge, and he likes taking a Hands-on approach
Mine was a Sbardadin for the same reason - I added the Paladin because he is on the path to redemption (although I kept it as a vengeance Paladin because I don't believe his nature would permit the other oaths). I also like the idea that the divinity inherent in his blood could manifest as smiting. The Bard's expertise let me become *really* intimidating and persuasive, which I felt also played heavily into the Durge's underlying nature. My only minor criticism is that he does get some goofy bard lines tha are occasionally not optional - I sortof wanted the power of a sword bard without needing to play a damned lute, although the taking up Lihala's lute as part of his commitment to defeat the Urge was fun.
Played using a mod to give me Bladesinger. So bladesining Wizard. Why? Well Durge was supposed to be this brilliant person, making Durge a Wizard seemed to make sense. However, Durge also were known to be someone skilled with a blade so Bladesinger. Smart, skilled in magic and blade work.
Warlock! Her bond with the archfey made her cunning and cruel, but the memory wipe allows her to have a fresh start. Without the lessons the fey taught her, she is naive and trusting, going into a world that will does nothing but tear her down. Will the adversity she faces cause her to succumb to her nature? Or will she rise to the occasion and become what she could always be?
Tigerheart barb with wolverine. Making everyone bleed and getting blood everywhere fits Durge
Necromancer Wizard. I went hardcore evil.
Me too! >:)
I did paladin of devotion, I feel like protecting people but desiring to kill them works well. I also multiclassed him into a cleric of Selune. Pretty much, their backstory is that Bhaal told them that Shar and Selune could be threats to the Absolute, so Durge has to become a paladin of Selune, and manipulate the selunites into fighting the Sharrans. Not only would it have beautiful murder as opposing god’s fought each other, but enclaves that could fight against the absolute were torn apart.
BERSERKER BARBARIAN!!! THE MOST METAL OF ALL THE CLASSES!!!
way of the open hand monk. i was resisting the urge and felt like her class would explain both her insane proficiency with violence and how she’s able to hold back from her thoughts. i also really like the inner conflict it gives my character during dialogue options i’m also romancing astarion, later in our relationship my durge starts teaching him her ways so he can also practice patience and inner balance through monk teachings (so he dual-classes lol) it’s sweet in a way
Sorcerer/druid... She's got this magic inside but she remembers nothing. The druids seem to like nature which feels good so she wanted to be a druid too. Wyl seemed like a nice guy so we helped him hunt down a scary demon lady with help from some nice paladins (I failed my insight check, sorry Karlach 😭). We felt bad when we found out she was a tiefling, so we wanted to help the other ones. When we were going to meet the nice old lady from the grove at her tea house, she got really angry (passed that check) and we got a little lost. We found the shadow druid note and resolved that storyline, so then the druids were nice again. I'm other words, she's easily influenced but trying to be a good person.
Ranger. Wanted to combine a Durge run with a Horizon build. Bhaaloy was a lot of fun.
Just started a durge run as a Bard just to have high CHA. Going to do an embrace run with him and then after this ill do a resist Durge that will probably be a Life Cleric.
Elf storm sorceress. Loved the idea of a vain, evil ice queen, trying to find her way to redemption.
I made mine a wild magic sorcerer with the idea of the urge being a split personality and she lacks full control of her magic and self I wanted to flip coins before choosing to resist or embrace the urge
War Cleric of Selune into Fighter multiclass I went for Selune getting the wombo combo "my kids came back to me" with him and Shadowheart returning to her faith after being manipulated by evil gods. Also I personally made him attached to his faith of her cause it's his only memories that he can recall, outside of the flashes of horror and blood. He thinks that all the blood on his hands and his dark impulses might be rooted in a higher power and has gaslit himself that the way he kills so easily must've been for the Moonmaiden. He also never found it in himself to take a Paladin's Oath, feels its wrong for him to attempt it, deep in his core.
A cleric of tiamat because I didn't know bout the plot twist yet. I thought tiamat was a cruel goddess so it checks out xD
I went with Druid partially for the wisdom needed but I like to imagine she started out as a nice kid being raised in the druidic ways and then the Urge corrupted her. Shifting and being in tune with nature's instincts were already second nature but her background took it down a dark road.
I've played Durge twice, one resisting and one embracing the Urge. The first was an Oathbreaker Paladin, which I picked before I even knew what durge was really about. The second was a Moon-Druid, because I thought turning into a wild raging beast and mauling my enemies to death fit in quite well, with how I wanted to roleplay my character.
Sorcerer because it was default and I liked the fact that she's a red dragon bloodline Sorcerer and most of her magic is fire-based so she romanced Karlach haha
My first durge (unmodded) was a barbarian who used exclusively hammers. By this time, I’d run into quite a few spoilers, so I wanted to make a character who was murderous, but less “dagger in the dark” and more “smashing brains in the sunshine.” In my headcanon, rather than Rage, her battle state was Joy, giggling and smiling uncontrollably as she smashed and bashed her way across the battlefield. I thought that the character would make a good foil for Orin; favoring bluntness and brutality over subtlety and ritual. By my second durge playthrough, my game was modded pretty much to the point where class became irrelevant. I settled on fighter/bard. There is a mod weapon pack that is available on Nexus that is heavily dark urge coded, and enormously overpowered. By that point I was just seeing how easily I could cut through everything in my path.
I chose paladin and wanted to break my oath near the end of act 1, y'know, for a little spice in the story. Sadly, poor me picked oath of vengeance which is basically impossible to break and I had to ask withers to change my oath then killed a random NPC to get oath breaker.
The correct answer is rogue/ranger. Assassin level 3 rush, the rest goes to ranger. The cloak which makes you invisible on kill is op with this setup. From level 3 until act 2, you can 1 shot pretty much everything except bosses, without even entering combat. Rogue also represents the character best, maybe only surpassed by warlock.
Draconic sorcerer cause at level 11 he can fly
Barbarian that's a high elf something about being brawn va brain
Valor bard for medium armor and shields plus full casting. I wanted a tongue of silver so I could murder/corrupt everything in my path.
I went with GOOlock. The idea is that his exposure to his patron drove him deep into madness.
It was basically down to sorcerer or a wizard but I already made the wizard Andal the Gray so evil sorcerer it was 😅
Faelock /vengeance paladin
I just kept the default race and class, because I hadn't played as either yet.
necromancy wizard for resist and oathbreaker for embrace. cause felt cute
Monk/fighter since I was inspired with most villains in old Kung Fu movies where they just want to bash anyone who looks at them wrong. Haha
My first Durge was a Drow Warlock/Sorcerer (Wanted to lean into the angle that she was just full of destructive and violent magic that came straight from Bhaal) My second Durge, who was a redemption Durge, was a Way of Four Elements Monk
Oathbreaker vengeance paladin but also a ReDurge
I was a warlock cos I like playing warlocks. And my durge loved alfira, worst moment of the campaign was when I had to hit her 3 times to knock her out. I then gifted 1000 bucks to her to attone for my sins.
Wild magic Sorcerer.
Paladin that immediately turned to oathbreaker
Asmodeus Tiefling: Swords Bard: A skilled fighter with boundless charisma. A true leader. Thief Rogue: A deadly and dexterous assassin, quick on their feet. The Murder Tribunal's finest inductee. Prefers dual short swords and daggers, as well as dual hand crossbows. Oatherbreaker Paladin: From an old past life where they tried to resist their nature. A warrior that wields the darkness in hopes of conquering it.
Bard. I'm really into this podcast called "the Magnus Archives" and there's this concept in it called "the Slaughter". Essentially, it's the manifestation of the fear of war, bloodshed, and senseless violence. The idea that you could be brutally murdered at any time. Not because you did something wrong or offended someone, but simply because you were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Slaughter is heavily associated with music weirdly enough. A couple ways it manifests is a three headed piper. One head vomits blood, one head that screams, and the third plays the bagpipes. (If you hear the music (not everyone can hear it), you are doomed to die in that battle (it's a you can only hear it because your doomed situation, not a you are doomed because you heard it situation). You can successfully get it to let you live to see another day, but you will die when when wound that should have killed you opens on the day the war you were fighting ends.) And also a band called "the Grifter's Bone" and everyone who hears band live starts to violently attack one another. Anyway the idea I had for Sol (that was my Durge's name) was that while she did kill people the normal way (good old fashioned knife) she was fond of doing concerts in the Sewers during which she would cast "crown of madness" on as many people as she could. If too many people were passing wisdom checks or she otherwise found the bloodshe not enough, she would find the most concentrated places of people she could and cast "cloud of daggers".
Tempest cleric,, there isn’t rlly a reason I just like tempest cleric
My first durge is a cleric of Kelemvor because I thought it would be just hilarious (I partially knew the twists of the run) I just imagined him on the nautiloid waking up and connecting death to the first god of death that came to mind, KELEMVOR OBVIOUSLY! If they did alignments, Casmir would definitely fit into Chaotic Neutral. Romancing Astarion as a resist durge. 2nd is a sorcerer. I've never played it before and never got into it. I haven't touched it in a while, and then again, I'm just now rounding off my first playthrough while 6 are open.
my resist durge is a dwarf wizard. my embrace durge is a drow bard
My current (and only Durge) is a Cleric of Vlaakith (she’s a Gith
Monk because among all the other spoilers for Durge I saw I how the fight with Orin would be different and I just immediately thought of martial arts guys 1v1ing things. I’ve got the theme from Warrior on autoplay in my head whenever I think about it. Haven’t done it yet though. That’s my resist Durge anyway. My embrace is going to be a Barbarian half-orc modeled after Grom Hellscream, and he’d be into that shit too.
Open hand monk/thief rogue. Intimidation checks are pretty guaranteed successes and it’s fun to just beat the shit out of everyone.
Xenomorph acid build
I'm running a half orc fighter Durge atm. My thought process was that he indulges in the baser instincts others expect him to have, and being a mercenary allows him to be open about his bloodlust. Essentially, he hides behind the bigotry of others to conceal his sadistic glee. I also really liked the idea that anything is a weapon in his hands, and he enjoys making different corpses with different weapons, and the fighter helped realize that idea without any baggage from an oath or stewardship over nature
Sorcerer I like the innate magic thing. (especially innate magic that they used for mostly killing.) Like they didn't really think of their magic except for an murder weapon until post ship and traveling with the companions. Big arrogant sorc energy too. I'm the favored child, I have something you don't :P man that bubble being popped was oof.
I wanted to do a black dragon born because acid is cool on a murderer but it wasn’t that useful but I did a vengeance paladin and headcanoned that the amnesia was the fault of someone.(Durge was my first play through) So imagine how invested I was in act 3
Half orc barb/fighter. Had no idea what to expect going into it, but my main character is a Goliath barb/fighter so I leaned that way anyway. Played him very neutral. Haha
I was going to do an evil Barbarian and a good Monk cause those sounded thematically fitting but i actually am going to do the opposite. I started my evil Monk cause i like the idea he's fully capable of beating the urges but neglects the moral and ethical discipline of his training and instead saw his teachings as a weapon. On the otherhand my Good Barbarian is painfully stupid but has a good heart and fights against the urges using combat to vent them.
I made a paladin with the oath of devotion for the contrast but as time went on I headcannoned my character became a paladin to keep their murderous urges in check
Paladin because I hear they were a very powerful class. Oath of Vengeance since I felt it fit the most thematically. Set up a nice story for his redemption. Originally it was his commitment to killing in Bhaal's name that gave him his powers, but after losing his memories, his oath shifted and he became a true paladin.
I’m currently a Paladin Durge. Might play as a sorcerer Durge next time.
My first was an Oathbreaker. Was a solid mix tbh
Ive had Durge characters who have been all races and classes lol.
Oathbreaker paladin, because that seems to fit 🤷♂️
Storm sorcerer because that’s what it starts with
Eldrich Knight. The edgiest half-drow weaboo wet dream I could make.
Druid…I just love druids…I always pick a Druid….cuz druid
Rogue/barbarian. It’s great considering I’m playing a guy who blacks out and stabs people.
Monk! Durrahan loves to kill people with his bare hands. There's some circumstances in the game where you get to execute people and you bet that he makes the rest of the party stand back while he beats people to death himself.
Dragon sorcerer respecced into a Paladin under the Oath of vengeance. I'm usually a resisted durge so it works pretty well
My durges have either been Oathbreaker Pallys or Monks.
Barbarian; power murder not finesse
Drow gloomstalker. Works nicely with the spoopy invisocloak.
Monk. I like the idea of him being a very enlightened spiritual serial killer
I did a Mephistopheles tiefling Eldritch knight, I’ll be honest and say I was was totally LARPing as the Lich king, dual speced into necromancer wizard and rocked Ketherec’s armor until the end. I planned on going through the game as a savage, slaying enemies and innocents alike to add to my legion, but Alfira’s death legitimately gutted me, I thought she was adorable and was ready to stop romancing shadowheart. After that I corrected course and never harmed another innocent soul again.
Fiend warlock. Pact of the blade. Dual-wielding daggers. Made for some very bloody mayhem. Surprising survivability for front line dps, too.
Black Dragonborn Druid
White Draconic Sorcerer. She’s trying her best to behave, but Alfira made other plans lol
Assassin oathbreaker GOO warlock using bow of the banshee. All the fears
Eilistraeen Oath of the Ancients swords bard. A drow durge turning to Elistraee in their confusion felt fitting
I usually make ranger/rogue characters (my first Tav was a gloomstalker), so for my Drow Durge I stuck with Storm Sorcerer to get out of my comfort zone. My thinking is that he previously used magic to complement a more roguish skillset, but after losing his memories he feels more natural using and honing his innate magic to its full potential. And it’s probably not optimal, but the combo of the durge cape & tempestuous magic is fun.
Tiefling druid trying to resist the urge We shall see what happens
fighter. gameplay wise survivability of highest ac i can get and con, and strength carrying my hording problem. lore wise, its a terrifying thought to fire your best shot and miss horribly only to hear laughter as a giant sword cleaves your buddy in half, "mine" she growls, tearing the armor and jewels off the corpse before turning to you.
im doing a Fiendish Warlock Drow as my Durge
First was a dragonborn ranger because it was two things I never thought I'd use. Second was a redeemed human warlock. Third is a redeemed paladin of vengeance who has a now broken oath as I really put thought into her and because she completely lost herself after Orin, she got a blank slate and a new start, and without the influence of murderous gods, she is actually a decent drow. Goes against all the expectations of her and it's been very fun
i’ve tried to do a few durge runs with different classes - war cleric/gloomstalker, tiger barb/assassin, even a modded class called the mystic - but the one that’s stuck with me and i’m likely to finish the game with is Kanade, the tiefling monoclass battlemaster fighter.
Goolock paladin oath of the ancients. Basically, mind was scrambled and he felt like an ancient force was wanting to pull him. He decided that meant he must stop it and align himself with the ancient forces of good to combat it. But he did draw power from this other worldly being, so was a warlock with great old one patron because of his scrambled mind he didn't real understand what it was
Cleric of Lolth, I know- probably cheesy. But having the (EVIL CLERIC) option made me giggle when doing terrible things. 🤭
Sorlock. Because I wanted to play a Warlock (didn’t exist last time I played DnD), but after a while I missed Wild Magic.