Character Creator and Polymorph Deblacker 2.0 — Baldur's Gate 3

[Luckmann]

Immediate improvement. I didn't care too much about the character creation, it was just a minor annoyance, but the fact that my characters would polymorph/disguise into black people to masquerade as different people anywhere near Baldur's Gate was incredibly immersion-breaking.

It's no different from the fact that if a game took place in Calimshan, I'd expect my characters to favor shifting into vaguely Arabic humans, as is the norm there.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Immediate improvement. I didn't care too much about the character creation, it was just a minor annoyance, but the fact that my characters would polymorph/disguise into black people to masquerade as different people anywhere near Baldur's Gate was incredibly immersion-breaking.

It's no different from the fact that if a game took place in Calimshan, I'd expect my characters to favor shifting into vaguely Arabic humans, as is the norm there.

Wasn’t Baldur Gate a multicultural city? I don’t know much D&D lore but BG3 highly suggest that’s the case.

[Luckmann]

Immediate improvement. I didn't care too much about the character creation, it was just a minor annoyance, but the fact that my characters would polymorph/disguise into black people to masquerade as different people anywhere near Baldur's Gate was incredibly immersion-breaking.

It's no different from the fact that if a game took place in Calimshan, I'd expect my characters to favor shifting into vaguely Arabic humans, as is the norm there.

Wasn’t Baldur Gate a multicultural city? I don’t know much D&D lore but BG3 highly suggest that’s the case.

Not in the modern sense of the word, no. It's certainly "multicultural" by the standards of, say, Beregost or any of the inland towns, but it should pale in comparison to places like Amn's Athkatla or modern-day California or London for that matter. It's like a medieval or renaissance Hamburg - yes, it's going to be multicultural in the way major port cities tend(ed) to be, but it should still to be largely mono-ethnic, and it's not like there would be sizeable permanent populations of Calishites, let alone Chultans; what few would arrive (and stay!) by ship would likely form minor enclaves (and likely suffer the fate of most minorities, whether deliberately or not) or be assimilated generationally.

Overall I am not a fan of Baldur's Gate's depiction in """Baldur's Gate""" """3""", as it looks very "mediterranean" for lack of a better word. More sandstone and marble than granite and basalt and bricks, more sand and dust than wind and sea. The whole reason for Baldur's Gate existence is that it's at the very base of the south of the north, and the Sword Coast is a shithole that's called the Sword Coast because the coast is horrific for making landfall; which is also why the Sword Coast is supposed to be this hodge-podge of minor noble fiefs and a borderland of minor import to the major players of both the north (starting with Waterdeep and the Lord's Alliance, Neverwinter, and the Frozen North) and the south (Amn, Tethyr, and Calminshan).

Baldur's Gate is pretty much a pirate's port and a stopping point, running supplies and illicit goods for the nobles in the region, and there's a lot of good stories that could be told with that, but before it got this hyperfixated upon by WotC/Hasbro it was always intended as a shithole that pales in comparison to the splendor of Athkatla, Waterdeep, and Calimport, which are the major, major port cities in this entire part of the world, and if you'll look at a map you'll see that Baldur's Gate is pretty much right at the midway point beween Athkatla and Waterdeep. The only reason to get off in this shithole permanently is if you're fleeing the authorities.

If it was ever meant to be a multicultural city, where's the Shrine to Ubtao? Where's "Calimtown"? Where's all the various cultural expressions you'd expect in a faux-medieval renaissance world where meaningful clumps of distinct peoples flock together, whether we're talking about friction between majorities/minorities or just homes with memorabilia from the "homeland" (especially pronounced with second- and third-generation migrants before fully ethnically assimilated by miscegenation).

I've said it before; I would have actually loved **** like that, where you have genuine expressions of foreign influences and persons. Things that are and are called out as "others" and that can be held up as a contrast or used to lampoon the familiar. That isn't just perfectly fine, it's genuinely good storytelling, allowing a writer to highlight or present things that should be obvious but may not be, without directly addressing the reader/viewer/player, in this case someone that's supposed to be a Baldurian (which makes no sense and causes many narrative issues for many reasons, but I digress).

This idea of modern multiculturalism (really multiethnicism) in the fantasy milieu, nevermind one that mirrors the sensibilities of modern-day California more than anything else, and especially one that one-for-one depicts every single fantasy species/race as having the exact same races/specieses as the real-life human species (sub-Saharan elves, southeast-Asian halflings, etc.) is so incredibly ******* trite, boring, and jarring, and they don't even do anything with it. I'm so ******* tired of it.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Immediate improvement. I didn't care too much about the character creation, it was just a minor annoyance, but the fact that my characters would polymorph/disguise into black people to masquerade as different people anywhere near Baldur's Gate was incredibly immersion-breaking.

It's no different from the fact that if a game took place in Calimshan, I'd expect my characters to favor shifting into vaguely Arabic humans, as is the norm there.

Wasn’t Baldur Gate a multicultural city? I don’t know much D&D lore but BG3 highly suggest that’s the case.

Not in the modern sense of the word, no. It's certainly "multicultural" by the standards of, say, Beregost or any of the inland towns, but it should pale in comparison to places like Amn's Athkatla or modern-day California or London for that matter. It's like a medieval or renaissance Hamburg - yes, it's going to be multicultural in the way major port cities tend(ed) to be, but it should still to be largely mono-ethnic, and it's not like there would be sizeable permanent populations of Calishites, let alone Chultans; what few would arrive (and stay!) by ship would likely form minor enclaves (and likely suffer the fate of most minorities, whether deliberately or not) or be assimilated generationally.

Overall I am not a fan of Baldur's Gate's depiction in """Baldur's Gate""" """3""", as it looks very "mediterranean" for lack of a better word. More sandstone and marble than granite and basalt and bricks, more sand and dust than wind and sea. The whole reason for Baldur's Gate existence is that it's at the very base of the south of the north, and the Sword Coast is a shithole that's called the Sword Coast because the coast is horrific for making landfall; which is also why the Sword Coast is supposed to be this hodge-podge of minor noble fiefs and a borderland of minor import to the major players of both the north (starting with Waterdeep and the Lord's Alliance, Neverwinter, and the Frozen North) and the south (Amn, Tethyr, and Calminshan).

Baldur's Gate is pretty much a pirate's port and a stopping point, running supplies and illicit goods for the nobles in the region, and there's a lot of good stories that could be told with that, but before it got this hyperfixated upon by WotC/Hasbro it was always intended as a shithole that pales in comparison to the splendor of Athkatla, Waterdeep, and Calimport, which are the major, major port cities in this entire part of the world, and if you'll look at a map you'll see that Baldur's Gate is pretty much right at the midway point beween Athkatla and Waterdeep. The only reason to get off in this shithole permanently is if you're fleeing the authorities.

If it was ever meant to be a multicultural city, where's the Shrine to Ubtao? Where's "Calimtown"? Where's all the various cultural expressions you'd expect in a faux-medieval renaissance world where meaningful clumps of distinct peoples flock together, whether we're talking about friction between majorities/minorities or just homes with memorabilia from the "homeland" (especially pronounced with second- and third-generation migrants before fully ethnically assimilated by miscegenation).

I've said it before; I would have actually loved **** like that, where you have genuine expressions of foreign influences and persons. Things that are and are called out as "others" and that can be held up as a contrast or used to lampoon the familiar. That isn't just perfectly fine, it's genuinely good storytelling, allowing a writer to highlight or present things that should be obvious but may not be, without directly addressing the reader/viewer/player, in this case someone that's supposed to be a Baldurian (which makes no sense and causes many narrative issues for many reasons, but I digress).

This idea of modern multiculturalism (really multiethnicism) in the fantasy milieu, nevermind one that mirrors the sensibilities of modern-day California more than anything else, and especially one that one-for-one depicts every single fantasy species/race as having the exact same races/specieses as the real-life human species (sub-Saharan elves, southeast-Asian halflings, etc.) is so incredibly ******* trite, boring, and jarring, and they don't even do anything with it. I'm so ******* tired of it.

Fair criticisms. I dislike how modern writers insert current political societal norms/views without doing the proper legwork in world building for it making sense in that given setting.

They just don’t care if immersion breaking, logical consistent or follow through with such conclusions having major consequences.If they would at least do the bare minimum of having those ideas being challenged in those setting even if being egregiousness, at least it would potentially interesting ( emphasize on potential)

[Saionji11]

Glad to see this, I was trying to find any mod that altered the default character look, particularly for polymorph/disguise self! If possible, can you explain the basics of how to make a replacer mod like this? I took a look at the code, but I admit I'm lost. I want to do something similar for the tiefling base, I'm just not sure where to start. Thank you!

[loregamer]

Glad to see this, I was trying to find any mod that altered the default character look, particularly for polymorph/disguise self! If possible, can you explain the basics of how to make a replacer mod like this? I took a look at the code, but I admit I'm lost. I want to do something similar for the tiefling base, I'm just not sure where to start. Thank you!

I would try it out with the modding toolkit. There's a tutorial up here:
【 BG3 Toolkit 】Tutorials & Resources Megathread

[Saionji11]

Glad to see this, I was trying to find any mod that altered the default character look, particularly for polymorph/disguise self! If possible, can you explain the basics of how to make a replacer mod like this? I took a look at the code, but I admit I'm lost. I want to do something similar for the tiefling base, I'm just not sure where to start. Thank you!

I would try it out with the modding toolkit. There's a tutorial up here:
【 BG3 Toolkit 】Tutorials & Resources Megathread

That's incredibly helpful, thank you!!

[daedalron]

I was able to follow Padme4000 tutorial and edit the CharacterVisual ressources to change the Disguise Self appearances.

But I'm stuck for the portraits. At the moment, the character has the new appearance I design once disguised, but the portrait shown ingame is still the old appearance. I tried to follow the Megathread procedure to create a photobooth, but I got multiple errors while doing so. And once I had done it (pushed through the errors), and tried to render new portraits, then no portraits are generated. So I am missing some steps, but I have no idea which...

Do I need to find the portraits files and override them in my mod before trying to render? Or add some other things before rendering? So far the only thing I overrode are the CharacterVisuals ressources.
Or is it an issue with the multiple errors I got while creating my photobooth?

[orinEsque]

I was able to follow Padme4000 tutorial and edit the CharacterVisual ressources to change the Disguise Self appearances.

But I'm stuck for the portraits. At the moment, the character has the new appearance I design once disguised, but the portrait shown ingame is still the old appearance. I tried to follow the Megathread procedure to create a photobooth, but I got multiple errors while doing so. And once I had done it (pushed through the errors), and tried to render new portraits, then no portraits are generated. So I am missing some steps, but I have no idea which...

Do I need to find the portraits files and override them in my mod before trying to render? Or add some other things before rendering? So far the only thing I overrode are the CharacterVisuals ressources.
Or is it an issue with the multiple errors I got while creating my photobooth?

Updated the instructions and added info on how to get the GameObjects: viewtopic.php?p=145758-bg3-toolkit-tuto ... ad#p145758

[citard]

does this work in patch 8

[cynicsclose]

loser behavior found

[Stack of Turtles]

loser behavior found

Thanks for warning us that you arrived

[cynicsclose]

awww youre welcome

[CheesusCrust]

Wasn’t Baldur Gate a multicultural city? I don’t know much D&D lore but BG3 highly suggest that’s the case.

key word "BG3". in BG1 and 2 tieflings were considered exotic, and "exotic" meaning you wouldn't see three gay colored dragonborn per square meter after taking two steps forward. it was mainly humans, elves, halflings (in much lesser quantities) and gnomes (same). tieflings were feared and viewed as mysterious to **** race, they also weren't "just humans with horns".

[indefiance]

Wasn’t Baldur Gate a multicultural city? I don’t know much D&D lore but BG3 highly suggest that’s the case.

key word "BG3". in BG1 and 2 tieflings were considered exotic, and "exotic" meaning you wouldn't see three gay colored dragonborn per square meter after taking two steps forward. it was mainly humans, elves, halflings (in much lesser quantities) and gnomes (same). tieflings were feared and viewed as mysterious to **** race, they also weren't "just humans with horns".

This is very true. I feel like a great mod would be to revert 90% of the Tieflings into humans, and leave a few for that exotic flavor. I don't think most of the dialogue would even be effected or needed to be changed much.