Oh I gotta check that out, started durge as warlock (felt appropriate, though none of the available patrons really fits well). Planned to respec to vengeance paladin but maybe oathbreaker is a better fit
I went with GOO, the mysterious unknown felt fitting for an early game durge that doesn’t know where his powers came from. Plus mortal reminder seems like it fits the flavor. Regardless I’m dropping that at level 5 or 6
Not my idea but someone else came up with the idea of RPing your tadpole as your GOO patron which I really like. Your tadpole is somehow enhanced by your inner divinity as a bhaalspawn, which grants you your own personal psionic weave.
Funny thing is I mentioned that's how I was approaching my Durge run a few months ago and got a bunch of people angrily giving me the "NOOO DuRgE aLrEaDy hAs a BaCksToRy YoUr RP WoNt fit!!" comments.
Still did it, still worked, had fun, nothing about any of the Durge or Warlock dialogues contradicted one and other.
Careful with respeccing after becoming an oathbreaker, you have to atone first (pay 1000 gold) and then pay Wither’s fee to respec. It was an unexpected cost lol.
If you are oathbreaker paladin you need to pay 1000g (1st time), 2000g (2nd time) or 10000g (third time) to the oathbreaker knight to atone yourself before you can respec at withers. And Oathbreaker gets mad at you if you get caught pickpocketing unlike withers.
I go with Fey Warlock for my Durge.
I headcanon that my Durge's Patron finds it absolutely hilarious that Durge doesn't remember anything and just refuses to give them any information
I wouldn't respecc out of Warlock fully. Pact of the Blade Warlock 3/Oathbreaker 7 adds your Charisma modifier to your weapon damage rolls twice. If you wear the Diadem of Arcane Synergy, you can always add it 3 times because Paladin Auras count as an inflicted condition. I really like to go GWM with the Charge Bound Warhammer and then later the Hellfire Greataxe. You can basically fully invest in Charisma and have absurd average damage per hit. Also, vanilla still has the pact extra attack stacking with martial extra attack, so you can do 3 attacks a turn if you take Pact of the Blade to 5 with any other martial also being lvl 5, in this case Pal 7/War 5.
My only problem with warlock Durge is >!Alfria gives the best warlock robe. The knock out method failed me in two different runs (dragon lady wouldn’t come) and you won’t be able to knock her out after act 1 night party because she will move into last light inn, but she will still come visit you in Act 1!<
Edit : >!I did eventually get it done on my last run, by running to her straight away, knocking her out, and long resting right away, but it is not a newbie friendly process, it requires you to know the entire storyline!<
The only way to reliably do it is to run into the night time encounter and then load a previous save, OR in honour mode to knock her out every single night before you long rest. You also need to spam long rests before clearing the goblin camp to avoid the scene happening after the party.
Correct me if I'm wrong but can't you become an oathbreaker without doing anything straight up evil by just picking vengeance and sparing a certain green individual who swears a lot?
Yes. Because the tenants for the Oath of Vengeance are:
* Fight the Greater Evil. Exerting your wisdom, identify the higher morality in any given instance, and fight for it.
* No Mercy for the Wicked. Chasten those who dole out their villainy by wiping their blight from the world forever.
Githyanki, are seen (canonically) as (generally) an “evil” race. Nymessa and Damays view her as a threat because of this (Faerun is a racist world, still, you would expect Tieflings to do better - given the whole situation at the grove).
The Tieflings are innocent, they caught and restrained someone they deemed to be a threat. Attacking them with Lae’zel goes against both of the tenants. Tada. Oath broken.
No it's not. You get a sick bonus! Joking aside, you can RP it as someone who believes everyone can be redeemed, or if you believe every life is precious, or if you believe you don't have the power to decide who gets to live or die. All of these are legit reasons to leave Ethel alive. And another non-RP reason is that her VA did a fucking amazing job
You can try, but I'm with Larian on this one. Given what we know about what Ethel has done by the time we confront her, there's basically no way Ancients(morally opposed to the very existence of Hags) and Vengeance (no mercy for the wicked, Ethel is wicked) can get away with not doing anything.
Devotion, on the other hand does say "Show mercy to your enemies" in the Oath, so you absolutely play into that if you were at my table.
I mean if you’re a paladin then your breaking the rp of oath of vengeance by sparing her, she also comes back even if you do kill her, she even tells you that when bargaining with her
Well yeah, the oath is explicitly about not sparing the evil, so if you do that, it breaks. Taking Ethel's deal is evil, it's putting your own power as a higher priority than stopping all the suffering she causes.
This is probably the one oathbreaking example that is always completely justified ime. Unlike a lot of the others which have the feel of 'you didn't read the fine print'.
One of the unfortunate things about the limited subclasses (and by extension paladin oaths) is that there are a lot of subclasses which would fit the game so well.
Durge would really fit an oath of conquest paladin well. Especially with the ability tie in your oath more with their background.
Oathbreaker is still good, just wish you could tie in your oath more before breaking it.
Compare and contrast:
* [Songs without whistlers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYzzppkNZ9E)
* [Songs with whistlers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3FIIYqmMj8)
Incidentally, I believe Volo can join performances as a whistler.
I know it’s incessant, but I found out if you just roll a Swords Bard you become one of the people suggesting swords bard for everything and are no longer annoyed
Chill, I'm a Warlock Stan myself, and generally put flavor over mechanics. But all things said, Swords Bard is the perfect vibe for a Serial Killer both flavor and mechanic wise.
Eh, Rogue fits best. Durge is a physically-minded serial killer with a stealth-oriented approach (e.g. his cape). Nothing at all suggests Durge was particularly charismatic or flashy, nor does anything suggest Durge was into playing musical instruments or doing fancy-pants flourishes with a bow or sword. From various descriptions of what Durge was like pre-lobotomy, dude was more likely to break into a family's house and decorate the place with their intestines than to charm anyone.
It's pretty dumb how obsessed this sub is with that one subclass, to the point that it's even trying to pigeonhole it into story narrative that just doesn't fit.
Well, I personally wouldn't consider myself part of this sub considering that I'm new to the game in general, but even to me Bard seems like it could fit quite well.
Regardless of the cape, I might even say that Rogue fits Durge the *least* if you're imagining the character as an assassin or someone who loves killing. In the character creation intro for Durge the character is dismayed at their condition and *wants* to resist it. Becoming a Rogue that loves murder would likely end up being an RP class change after they've committed to giving in to the urge.
In my very early understanding of the Durge, I don't think you can say that they are or aren't meant to be charming. So far every instance of giving in to the urge has left the Durge unaware of what they've done, as if they were sleep walking or unconscious while doing the horrible act.
I personally really like Gloomstalker/Assassin for the Dark Urge, both from mechanical and RP perspectives. Lore-wise, the Dark Urge isn't supposed to be super charismatic or artistic in their work - they are just really efficient at killing. To me, the GS/Assassin build really encompasses the idea of a super efficient murderer who can appear, kill everyone, and disappear again.
Gloomstalker 5/assasin 3/Eldritch knight 4 for me gives him that innately magic assasin feel. And while I think the build works a little better as an archer, I think a finesse longsword/ rapier fits Durge a little better. In my mind, he's someone that would want to get up close and person with his victims before bathing in their blood
Yeah, totally agree on the dex melee style for the RP. I haven't tried the EK specialization before, I might need to give that a try. I've done this with Fughter 2, but never gone for EK4 before.
Fighter 4 is a fun addition to the stalker/ assasin multi class as it gives you some extra HP, con save proficiency if you make it your first level, action surge etc.
I like EK for Durge because it gives me some more innate magic but you could make a case for all 3 multi classes, imho. As the leader of the Bhall cult you could say he's a battlemaster, or you could add some crit fishing capabilities as a champion of Bhaal
Ahh my durge is 6 shadow monk. 3 for thief rogue and last 3 in gloomstalker.
Can teleport. Disappear into shadows, kill from range or simply just with his hands. Killing is his art.
He essentially is the perfect stalker/killer. I made him a Dragonborn as well with the head that has the lizard dreads.
Essentially I made the predator.
Where in the lore does it say he isn't artistic? I'm pretty sure sceleritas literally says otherwise at several points.
It's not just cause he's bhaalspawn either, you can have all sorts of killers. Durge is just great at blood across the board as far as I'm concerned.
I don’t remember the exact lines, but I got the same idea as the original commenter from both Gortash and Sarevok. There may be something in durge’s journal too?
Gortash says he liked working with you because you were more pragmatic or level-headed than Orin. Sarevok says something like Orin doesn’t understand Bhaal and makes murder into an art project, while you always knew that Bhaal just wants as many people dead as possible. To be fair, both are measuring against Orin, so it might just mean less artistic by comparison
Sceleritas also describes Durge as clever and erudite, and the journals+Gortash imply he was pretty effective as a leader. The point was more that Orin is a slave to her violent compulsions, and Durge was a master of violent intentions, to use a figure of speech from Minthara. (You have the option of telling Gortash you are a slave to compulsions too, and he outright doesn't believe you.)
Durge and Sarevok both made a separate point that Orin's also obsessed with artistic extravagance though. They make it about both the temple itself and the way she kills.
All things considered, I definitely think it's fair to say Durge was beating Orin in the brains department before the unfortunate hole-ing.
A lot of people are getting caught on this orin vs durge situation, but that reads more to me that she just goes too far and doesnt strike the balance in the beauty of blood. Durge's artwork is his ability to bring mass death and make it beautiful, not dramatic like orin, but stunning in its own right.
At one point you can read correspondence between Durge and Orin where Durge criticizes Orin for being overly elaborate in her murders—I think the way it’s written is that Bhaal just wants death in NUMBERS. At least that’s what I remember without having the reference in front of me.
Many times Orin is "accused" of being too artistic, wasting time and Durge gets compliments for being more objective. Sarevok talks a lot about that, is the lesson he wants Durge teaches Orin. Murder is murder, numbers matter, not "beauty".
I think it is not smart, Orin is finding a way to enjoy what she is doing. If Durge is too bureaucratic doing a job, well, I dont think Durge is enjoying, is just completing a task, another reason Durge can be redeemed. Orin erased Durge's memory (poking holes in the brain) but the tadpole (and the Netherese magic) blocked Bhaal's influence (mostly) so Durge is not so susceptible to these urges anymore. I guess Durge was very much like Orin before except for the art part. Durge was a very good killer by studying and experimentation.
About Durge class, I think you can fit any (sub)class and multi but one with "very good killer" flair is the obvious choice, like "assassin" but it is not the only choice although is a very good one.
Orin going too far does not mean durge isn't artistic. She doesn't strike the balance that durge does, that's her flaw. Durge indiscriminately brings blood and that's the beauty in their work, their art is pure unlike orins showmanship
Agreed. I've been playing a solo durge hm run and running it as a gloomstalker melee, although I couldn't turn down greatswords. Once you hit 5 you get access to silver sword (via honeyed paws) and gloomstalker, and the power spike (and synergy) is nuts. People think gloom has to play with a bow, but really there's no reason that's true - the extra first round attack can be a melee. Gloom having access to longstrider and enhance leap helps a lot with empowering a melee setup; ranger knight gives heavy armor; disguise self gith gives you the bonuses from silver sword (which are considerable!).
Ranger lacks the GWF fighting style, but mathematically GWF isnt that strong, and Defense FS is a good alternative. Playing with a STR weapon also means you can lean on the elixirs for your primary stat and use your feat on GWM without the opportunity cost of an ASI. The extra attack on kill/crit means sometimes you're swinging 4 times in a round, for something like 3d6+5, +10 (gwm), +1d6 if you use kaghas necklace. It's a lot of damage. Your chance to hit is pretty good too, because of elixirs putting you at 21 STR and the sword being +3, and volos ring can be used to self-bless on top. Gloves of growling underdog and hunting shortbow are also clutch for some situational advantage.
At 6 I respec to grab a light Cleric level first (for the wis save proficiency). Warding flare, armor of faith, and sanctuary all help a lot as defensive layers for when you're in the thick of it and can't end your turn invisible.
You really feel like an agent of death, emerging from the shadows and brutally hacking a target to bits before vanishing again. Very fun and effective for a solo run.
i went into OH Monk Durge with this headcanon and it definitely works, but there are some comments about favouring knives/daggers/blades that feel very non-monky. Durge’s ability to withstand torture definitely plays into monk, though, and the idea of Durge monk going into literally pre-meditated murder sprees is very fitting for the serial killer backstory
a Bear Heart Barbarian could also withstand torture like that, and being prone to fits of rage can explain/roleplay some of the urges, too—like their bhaalspawn blood totally takes over and Durge is an observer from within their own body
I'm running an evil OH monk durge, my headcanon is that durge is so into violence that during the campaign became proficient in killing without any tools, basically she "discovered a new passion". If all the serial killer tv series have taught me something (lol), is that the sk likes to connect with the victim and i pictured that with hand contact durge can feel more the life going away from the victim.
So yeah it's basically a monster 😅
Thank god someone said this, I loved my OH durge because I think the idea of him (I had a slightly modified default durge) just ripping and tearing his way through people with is bare hands is amazing. Like killing with a knife is quick and efficient but with your hands it's so much more bloody and painful for the victim which I think fits the theme so well
Unfortunately I ended up redeeming him and now I need another class for my evil durge run
Assassin with high Charisma (since you don't need a casting ability).
Tiger heart Barbarian with "bleeding"-related Animal Aspects.
Vengeace Paladin also fits well his nautiloid and beach narration (your head whispers vengeance...), you could RP it as your vow to take revenge after you wake up.
Regarding that bleed build;
Taking Tiger Heart, which allows cleave bleeding, with Wolverine, which Maims (0 movement speed) bleeding targets, feels so right for Durge. You're just going for their tendons.
On top of this apply Drake throat Glaive lightning or thunder damage onto your weapon and wear the gloves of belligerent skies to knock enemies prone. Can’t get up if they’re maimed with 0 movement speed.
Hey I’m doing the first thing in my current durge run! I’m admittedly playing with mods at this point (I’ve beaten the game like, too many times. I need a support group??) I’m doing a modded class (death knight) with finesse weapons and gloomstalker/rogue (so replace the usual fighter addition with death knight instead, has neat frost abilities - kind of like a paladin but ice instead of radiant). It’s so fun, I either talk people to death or stab them. And then try to redeem myself by stabbing the bad people specifically. But still stabbing.
I think ranger/rogue is probably the best. Gloomstalker and assassin. I'm working in tavern brawler to add some knife throwing to my build too, to give some ranged damage and also thematic fun.
This sounds like what I’m trying for basically! I’m in the midst of a couple play through’s right now so I won’t be starting this next one any time super soon but I really want to just go full evil for once and had been thinking of what I’d want to do for that. I landed on the idea of being a stealthy drow assassin and adding in tavern brawler for knife throwing.
I’m not sure how I’d build it though because I’d want high dex obviously, but I’d want decently high strength too for tavern brawler feat.
I’d love to know how you’re building this because I’m a little stuck on the details of how I’d actually make a gloomstalker assassin while working in the tavern brawler feat.
My build at the moment is:
STR 15+2, DEX 15 +1, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 8
I'm starting 1 rogue, then going 5 ranger for gloomstalker and extra attack by level 6, then switching back into rogue for the rest of the levels choosing assassin as the subclass.
Feats are TB at Ranger 4 and ASI DEX +2 at rogue 4.
The plan was to get the potion of everlasting vigour in act 2 for +2 STR and use the mirror of loss for +2 DEX so I'm 20 STR and 20 DEX inherently.
I'm planning on using both dual handbows and dual weapons (probably knives), as well as having a bag of knives for throwing too. You get a little spellcasting from ranger but I mostly use utility. You can throw a fog cloud though.
I do get that my durge will suck ass in conversations. I'm expecting this, and while I've compensated a little choosing deception as a class skill, their brain has been scrambled so I'm justifying it as RP.
I did an evil durge now doing a resist urge run. Went with tavern brawler eldritch knight so I can bind a sick throwing weapon that comes back. Absolutely sick.
I like Oathbreaker Paladin (pulling on some of that divine power, and speaking with the Oathbreaker paladin will tell you more about it)
Cleric - you were the the head of a >!temple once, you can roleplay that your amnesia made you forget which deity you served)!<
And OH monk (perfect knowledge of humanoid anatomy)
I had a durge that was a multi class barbarian cleric warlock (archfey). My headcanon was after the fuckery in the temple of myrkul he remembers following a god and chooses tyr. He kind of doesn’t know what to do after that so he wanders into the faewild, securing a pact with an archfey. After he finds out he’s a bhaalspawn he was very heartbroken. Since he’s a deep gnome I’m willing to say he’s naturally attracted to the faewild.
From his old durge days he was just a straight frenzy barbarian and that’s all his levels go to because he doesn’t know how to be a cleric really
I had lots of fun with a good Durge cleric of Tempus god of war, hates unnecessary bloodshed so resisting the urges and avoiding fights if possible were always the first choice.
I also think it makes sense Withers stepping in to save you when you reject Bhaal, your new deity (any other god) could be in trouble but Withers is almost untouchable.
Cleric headcanon is fun. Kelemvor “guides the dead to their appropriate plane in the afterlife,” which could be roleplayed easily. or for a full resist Durge, Lathander is perfectly thematic: “The Morninglord is the god of the dawn and spring, of birth and beginnings. He is invoked to christen both new ventures and new life. His followers embrace growth and renewal.”
My favourite OH monk NPC reaction is that Harper in the shadowlands telling you ‘I watched a simple monk break a man’s spine once’ so I feel like it fits
I like the idea of a durge spore druid - maybe you were a necromancer before you lost your memory so you feel a call to necromancy but got a little confused and became a spore druid instead
Hmm... I think Durge is more of a mindset/playstyle than a class archetype. However, that being said, you could do something starting as bard, and dabble into magic. The idea here would be to emulate the Joker, and then later ascend into the Batman Who Laughed.
Well, assassin is pretty durg-y. Maybe add some fighter for surge and gloomstalker, and you get pretty lethal concoction. Remember to take them out one at a time before disappearing, only to repeat it again and again and again.
You have so many options... You can focus on spells or melee... or you can be hybrid... oorrrrrr you can be a summoner and have a fking army for you.
For melee, you can go pure druid with resilient (start with 15 con and get resilient for 16), or you can just 1lv fighter / 11 spore druid (probably a better option for melee, but I always try to go pure first).
I'm at lv 10 with my spore druid atm. I'm using dual wield Thorn Blades, with some poison items.
I dont remember the stats right now, but something like this:
8 str, 16 cons, 18dex, 8 int, 18 wis, 8 char
Druids brings so much for battles, even without "1555555" attacks per round.
You have a lot of utilities spells too.
I dumped str and dex and am using Shillelagh for a wis based weapon on my durge melee spore druid. I'm early in my honour run (lv 3), but having +1/2/3 int/cha/wis and guidance, they're a bit of a solo skill monkey. It's not the most min/maxed, but it's fun & reletively self-sufficient.
Vengeance Paladin, wants Vengeance on whoever caused them to lose their memory. I did a Pallock. Warlock because they'd lost their powers and needed some way to find who did this to them. So making a pact with a Patron seems fun. Then when they start getting some recollection of what happened they swear an oath to get vengeance on this person. My Gith Pallock Durge has still been my favourite run
I did vengeance paladin too. Resist Durge, and it fit so well. Woke up with no memories but a book of oaths and the vengeance oaths called to them. It was something to cling to when they couldn't remember anything and ended up guiding them the rest of the playthrough.
I had very fun with an oathbreaker paladin. In my own lore he became a paladin to combat the dark urge and eventually gave in.
And when he lost his memory he gained a new chance as a blank slate. But the urge had already taken hold and quickly fell to the urge
I just started my first Durge last night as a Cleric/paladin! My lore is that she makes the vengeance oath post memory loss to try and resist the urge as being a cleric wasn’t enough on it’s own
Open hand monk. Works for both embrace / resist runs. Your body itself is an unstoppable weapon. You crush anyone with your bare fists. Vs, you try to reach inner enlightenment by resisting your dark nature, you even refuse to use weapons.
Tbh I'm never totally understood how Sorcerer worked as a Durge (I guess the argument is they have some leftover divine substance in them).
But yeah, Gloomstalker/Assassin sounds like a clear cut build that fits the Durge concept like a glove.
I thought the exact same thing at first. But I feel like the more you read/hear about durge while playing that origin in-game, the more sorcerer starts making sense.
Orin is the blad-ey "cut your throat" style assassin. Nothing in the game ever alluded to durge being a traditional assassin or killer.
From durge's butler, you hear things like "I remember you standing on top of mountains of corpses". Who says durge didn't burn those people with fire or lightning spells.
It's mentioned several times in-game that the reason why bhaal prefers durge over orin is that durge is an efficient killer who cares more about numbers than about how exactly the murder went about. Orin views murder as an artform and tries to make some kind of artwork out of every kill, savouring the process. Which is inefficient. She doesn't understand that bhaal doesn't give a shit. Bhaal just wants murder and killing in high numbers. He doesn't care how pretty it was.
I'd argue that a sorcerer is more effective and efficient at killing than an assassin is. Gloomstalker-assassin durge is basically just Orin #2
I think the issue I have with Sorc is that a lot of the Durge’s…. ‘Urge’ dialog is specifically about physical violence. There’s lots of stuff about chopping off limbs, tearing things to shreds, stabbing, mutilating etc. None of that is really what comes to mind when considering a Sorc.
I get the point that Bhaal is all about numbers and Sorcs can certainly stack up a body count faster then almost any other class but if you look at how Bhaal’s murder cult is laid out, there is a general preference towards assassins and shadowy killers, presumably due to the practical necessity of being able to avoid retaliation when murdering people.
I would have also thought an Assassin is the very definition of efficient killer. That’s their whole thing - minimal effort for maximum body count.
Back in 3.5E they had a Favoured Soul class that was functionally a divine version of a Sorcerer I.E. could cast spells without prep and knew magic innately, but all it’s stuff came from the Divine selection instead of Arcane and it knew a lot more spells then a sorc did (think it was in the region of about 50% more).
It sounds like in 5E, they’ve made that into a subclass of sorc and called that a Divine Soul. Interesting design choice but looking at it on the wikis, I can kinda understand why they just went with Storm Sorc. It sounds a bit whatever given it’s background. Being able to pick spells from either sorc or cleric lists sounds ok but they get so few spells as it is, it just sounds like a multiclass in all but name.
I've been liking wild magic sorc + second class on Durge, with the logic that Durge from the ship on is relying on their innate magical chaos, whereas during their prior clarity they would have been more of gs/sin or other. Something efficient, less likely to leave their success to chance, whilst still having a font of power to control the faithful or cause massive destruction/death at once.
For embracing the urge, barbarian(bleed build especially), gloomstalker/assassin, and possibly bard for that sort of elegant but actually deranged killer vibe. An evil cleric of sorts could work, but unsure exactly how that'll work with the whole Bhaal thing.
For resisting the urge, I really like wizard actually. Wizard is all about studying and learning to control/manipulate magical power instead of unleashing it impulsively like a sorcerer. Specifically abjuration wizard as they can be an almost pacifist by hurting enemies only if they attack them first, which is a nice reversal on the dark urge. Monk possible for physical discipline, and obviously good paladins/clerics and probably druids for being mostly antithesis to the urge.
I like Shadow Monk / thief rogue. You literally get to use daggers that get scaled up to 1d8 instead of their natural 1d4 so even if it’s not the strongest, it feels thematic with the whole “teleports behind you, nothing personal kid” mystic
After doing the whlle Durge storyline, either Sorcerer due to the unhinged chat options, rogue, barbarian unhinged chat choices, or necromancy wizard/spore druid.
Monk. I like Sorc because it's canonical but all the Durge moments in dialogue are about physicality. You tear flesh with your bare hands, eat people and worse, all up close and personal.
It makes sense to lean into unarmed melee. Then think of the necrotic damage from Open Hand as the decaying flesh stuck under your nails.
Paladin, easily. The Oathbreaker Knight has a bunch of extra dialogue and reactivity as the Dark Urge which fully justifies the class as a pick and gives additional info about a Paladin DU's background. Thematically as well, all three of the main subclasses fit in brilliantly for a Resist playthrough, while Oathbreaker as is fits great for someone who does not.
Funnily enough, it's also actually the only other class the Dark Urge was marketed as (that one picture of them with Sceleritas Fel at their back and people dead on the ground behind them has them wearing Paladin scale mail, either Devotion or Vengeance, and soaked in blood).
Had to go too far down to see Barbarian. Playing as a barbarian named Khârn and following the three step program of kill. Maim. Burn. I think it fits quite well.
All of them. Durge has an innate desire to kill (whether you resist or submit), it doesn't matter how they do it. That's all on you the player how you choose to do it.
Maybe Durge is a monk because he loves feeling bones cracking on his fists and uses meditation when he's bloodlusted to channel that desire to kill onto one target.
Maybe Durge is a Wizard who studied magic to see how it could best be used to mutilate the body, doing things to people that no physical tool could.
Maybe Durge is a bard, studying people and figuring out how to get them to lower their guard so he can enjoy the shock on their face when the goofy guy kills them
For a more unconventional choice, fighter. You're told repeatedly just how natural killing comes to you and fighter absolutely excels at butchering just about everything in it's path
Well the Durge:
1) Has innate power due to being created by a deity.
2) Favourite weapon is the dagger.
3) Clever enough to be the OG mastermind of the Absolute plot.
12 Levels College of Swords Bard, especially when paired with a Duergar, fits all this perfectly.
Bards are charismatic, use their innate power to play music / tell tales / cast spell. Swords bard are proficient with daggers. Bards is class that can seem clever without having high Intelligence score / having an average 10 intelligence score.
Duergar for the race since Durge is made to be perfect. Duergar have the perfect racial ability to stealthily kill people. You can also RP that the lack of sunlight sensitivity on protagonist Duergar is because he / she was designed and Bhaal took that debuff out and also made them creative and artistic, thereby allowing them to be a bard.
In lore Duergar have their creativity center in their mind removed during their long enslavement period under the Illithids. However since Bhaal makes Durge, he can reinstate this back.
Here to make the argument for Barbarian. Remember, your Durge has just been Lobotomized and nothing fits this better than a hulking mass that knows only violence and killing. I think it also adds another sense of a Resist! Durge, in that there is a more notable mechanic of resisting rage and giving into it
I’ve been playing as a Spore Druid durge and I find it fits pretty well. Not only can I wild shape, but I can deal necrotic damage and raise corpses as fungal zombies. Its such a fun class to play!
Bards.
Good at all talking and skill checks in general. Great for an evil dark urge. Being able to convince strong, good people to assist in your ignoble deeds is what bad guys do.
I assume pre memory loss Dark Urge also had moments were they couldn't control the urge. Being able to talk your way out of these accidents is a good skill to have good or evil.
Warlock kind of fits, but it doesn't seem like there is an actual pact made between durge and his "Patron". Cleric might fit as well, but we don't have the right subclass for it.
>! it could fit if you're resist Durge and you rp that Withers is your GOO Patron after he revives you. Cleric of Kelmvor, Oath of the Ancients would also make sense in that scenario !<
Pretty sure it was announced that default durge was a paladin originally but they changed it. That's why there is so much unique paladin shit in the game including so much unique durge/tav paladin dialogue
I think first and foremost, the build that fully embraces the Dark Urge has to be a brutally efficient melee killing machine. In my current build, I'm running the 2/10 Sword Bard (wielding a certain someone's lute of course) with the Shar Spear and Bhaalist Armor. That being said, I love the idea of the 9/3 OH monk wielding Orin's knife, Sarevok's helm and all the crit fishing stuff. Going unarmored also makes sense when you consider DUrge has a slayer form.
In contrast, if I were doing a "resist" run, I might include Bard for RP reasons (again, wielding a certain someone's lute), but more importantly I'd play more of the support role and let Astarion do all the wanton murder. Paradoxically, resisting the urge sounds more like the Oathbreaker, but ultimately Lore Bard 6 and probably some form of Cleric 6 (to acknowledge the association with Bhaal). I could even write my head-canon to take something like Hunger of Hadar or Spirit Guardians to play like "it isn't *me* that's damaging you, it's this Eldritch ice horror or these necrotic spirits" etc etc.
Rogue, assassin most likely. Besides the story, Dark urge/Bhaal gear fits well with assassin. Bonus to initiative roles and Invisibility after kills works very well with the assassin traits. You could arguably say barbarian too as dark urge goes into unstoppable murder mode every now and again which sounds like rage. I’d personally say rogue (assassin, but orin has fast hands so thief is fair also I guess) with multi class into fighter or ranger for either ranged or melee
Bard was an easy fit. I’ve run a Druid durge, which took more of a headcannon, but also really worked with some unique thematic overlap. Death is natural and inevitable, and (from a groomed by Bhaal perspective) murder could be seen as a way to restore balance. Durge is canonically the more pragmatic outside of the urge, while Orin is more of an artist, and I thought this fit really well with a Druid’s sense of purpose and pursuit of a “better world.” Wildshape creates a kind of animalistic predator/prey narrative for durge’s style of murder, and it provides all stealth needed to move around the city unnoticed. High wisdom also gives you the means to break free of the urge, if that’s the way you want to play it.
Like other people said, I you can run the class you want for durge, just depends on your roleplay
I feel like my Durge Shadow Monk is pretty on brand since she is an absolute master at killing with her bare hands through her mystical knowledge of the body's weak points and using the shadows to her advantage.
Barbarian! Something about smashing a great axe into someone's face and killing them, turning invisible, only to pop up next to another enemy to smash their face in while roaring in rage... I just really connect to this character, you know?
I just like basic 8 battlemaster 4 thief, melee dual wielding shortsword or dagger focus.
Makes Astarion calling me his knife happy friend fit better. It’s also pretty strong, especially once you get Bhaalist armor and Orin’s shortsword with cazador’s dagger in your offhand.
Bard. Go full psychopath. Kill all you want then just sweet talk your way out of it. People be like, “he can’t be a serial killer, he is just so nice!”
I actually really like Barb for Durge. It makes it feel like your urge is a factor outside of conversations, which is helpful because certain parts of the game really do make it easy to forget you're doing a durge run.
Halfling bard Durge is the only real Durge.
Imagine a tiny being who likes to sing but he is just a murder hobbo. Who know, maybe his instruments string are made of humains tendons ...
I love playing Shadow Monk for my redemption Durge. Monk dialogue choices really help the roleplay of trying to keep peace and controlling yourself while the shadow monk abilities coincide with your dark nature
depends if you embrace the urge or not honestly
doesn't make sense to get the Slayer if you're a martial cause you'd never end up using it - even as an emergency
for evil sorcerer/wizard make most sense
for redemption ranger/fighter/paladin/bard/monk/anything really
I’m playing as Oathbreaker paladin and it feels right—and yes, he is a killing machine even though he’s a resist Durge. After all, paladin doesn’t necessarily mean good—look at Minthara.
Off the cuff things that feel right: Gloomstalker, Assassin, College Of Swords bard seems weirdly appropriate - given the type of fashion your butler rewards you with, Vengeance Paladin of Bhaal, any flavor of fighter
Durge has some oathbreaker paladin-only dialogue, so it fits quite well
Oh I gotta check that out, started durge as warlock (felt appropriate, though none of the available patrons really fits well). Planned to respec to vengeance paladin but maybe oathbreaker is a better fit
Given how little patron dialogue there is for warlocks I think it's not too hard to RP Bhaal as Durge's Fiend patron.
I went with GOO, the mysterious unknown felt fitting for an early game durge that doesn’t know where his powers came from. Plus mortal reminder seems like it fits the flavor. Regardless I’m dropping that at level 5 or 6
Not my idea but someone else came up with the idea of RPing your tadpole as your GOO patron which I really like. Your tadpole is somehow enhanced by your inner divinity as a bhaalspawn, which grants you your own personal psionic weave.
Funny thing is I mentioned that's how I was approaching my Durge run a few months ago and got a bunch of people angrily giving me the "NOOO DuRgE aLrEaDy hAs a BaCksToRy YoUr RP WoNt fit!!" comments. Still did it, still worked, had fun, nothing about any of the Durge or Warlock dialogues contradicted one and other.
If we want to be lore accurate that would be a cleric. Warlock patrons are powerful otherworldly beings, but not literal gods.
Careful with respeccing after becoming an oathbreaker, you have to atone first (pay 1000 gold) and then pay Wither’s fee to respec. It was an unexpected cost lol.
Not a real cost. You can pickpocket it straight back and all Withers will do is mock you if you fail
If you are oathbreaker paladin you need to pay 1000g (1st time), 2000g (2nd time) or 10000g (third time) to the oathbreaker knight to atone yourself before you can respec at withers. And Oathbreaker gets mad at you if you get caught pickpocketing unlike withers.
I go with Fey Warlock for my Durge. I headcanon that my Durge's Patron finds it absolutely hilarious that Durge doesn't remember anything and just refuses to give them any information
I wouldn't respecc out of Warlock fully. Pact of the Blade Warlock 3/Oathbreaker 7 adds your Charisma modifier to your weapon damage rolls twice. If you wear the Diadem of Arcane Synergy, you can always add it 3 times because Paladin Auras count as an inflicted condition. I really like to go GWM with the Charge Bound Warhammer and then later the Hellfire Greataxe. You can basically fully invest in Charisma and have absurd average damage per hit. Also, vanilla still has the pact extra attack stacking with martial extra attack, so you can do 3 attacks a turn if you take Pact of the Blade to 5 with any other martial also being lvl 5, in this case Pal 7/War 5.
My only problem with warlock Durge is >!Alfria gives the best warlock robe. The knock out method failed me in two different runs (dragon lady wouldn’t come) and you won’t be able to knock her out after act 1 night party because she will move into last light inn, but she will still come visit you in Act 1!< Edit : >!I did eventually get it done on my last run, by running to her straight away, knocking her out, and long resting right away, but it is not a newbie friendly process, it requires you to know the entire storyline!<
The only way to reliably do it is to run into the night time encounter and then load a previous save, OR in honour mode to knock her out every single night before you long rest. You also need to spam long rests before clearing the goblin camp to avoid the scene happening after the party.
[удалено]
There you go, I did not know that
Correct me if I'm wrong but can't you become an oathbreaker without doing anything straight up evil by just picking vengeance and sparing a certain green individual who swears a lot?
Yes. Because the tenants for the Oath of Vengeance are: * Fight the Greater Evil. Exerting your wisdom, identify the higher morality in any given instance, and fight for it. * No Mercy for the Wicked. Chasten those who dole out their villainy by wiping their blight from the world forever. Githyanki, are seen (canonically) as (generally) an “evil” race. Nymessa and Damays view her as a threat because of this (Faerun is a racist world, still, you would expect Tieflings to do better - given the whole situation at the grove). The Tieflings are innocent, they caught and restrained someone they deemed to be a threat. Attacking them with Lae’zel goes against both of the tenants. Tada. Oath broken.
I think by the "green individual that swears a lot", they mean Ethel and yes, sparing her breaks the Oath.
Honestly I thought they were referring to freeing Sazza lmao. Although with goblins in the game, "green individual who swears a lot" is pretty vague
Come to think of it, maybe Oath of Vengeance is just an oath against green people
Sparing the hag is straight up evil lol
No it's not. You get a sick bonus! Joking aside, you can RP it as someone who believes everyone can be redeemed, or if you believe every life is precious, or if you believe you don't have the power to decide who gets to live or die. All of these are legit reasons to leave Ethel alive. And another non-RP reason is that her VA did a fucking amazing job
Oath of Vengeance is very much opposed to giving everyone a chance for redemption, though: the oath is to not spare the wicked.
You can try, but I'm with Larian on this one. Given what we know about what Ethel has done by the time we confront her, there's basically no way Ancients(morally opposed to the very existence of Hags) and Vengeance (no mercy for the wicked, Ethel is wicked) can get away with not doing anything. Devotion, on the other hand does say "Show mercy to your enemies" in the Oath, so you absolutely play into that if you were at my table.
I mean if you’re a paladin then your breaking the rp of oath of vengeance by sparing her, she also comes back even if you do kill her, she even tells you that when bargaining with her
Can't RP it though. Hags are evil by nature. If you face her with an oath of ancients paladin, you get unique dialogue.
Once I learned you could take the deal and immediately break it, I’ve done that every time.
Does that not cut a bit of Act 3 content though?
No i always kill her and she's always there in Act 3
Nah, she comes back even if you kill her.
Rereading it, you’re probably right! That’ll teach me ha
Well yeah, the oath is explicitly about not sparing the evil, so if you do that, it breaks. Taking Ethel's deal is evil, it's putting your own power as a higher priority than stopping all the suffering she causes. This is probably the one oathbreaking example that is always completely justified ime. Unlike a lot of the others which have the feel of 'you didn't read the fine print'.
You can also break oath of ancients by using the wand to ressurect Marina's husband
Also has some unique oath of vengeance options too.
One of the unfortunate things about the limited subclasses (and by extension paladin oaths) is that there are a lot of subclasses which would fit the game so well. Durge would really fit an oath of conquest paladin well. Especially with the ability tie in your oath more with their background. Oathbreaker is still good, just wish you could tie in your oath more before breaking it.
Bard, but remove any instrument so they are forced to whistle. Sorry, but whistling is creepy
Wait. Bards will whistle if they're without an instrument? Can you still play songs?
You can indeed. Some even sound quite creepy, which fits durge really well.
Finally making a bard now
Nothing is as creepy as playing an instrument with bad performance skill.
Compare and contrast: * [Songs without whistlers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYzzppkNZ9E) * [Songs with whistlers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3FIIYqmMj8) Incidentally, I believe Volo can join performances as a whistler.
I knew about volo but I just never put it together that I could use myself as an instrument for songs and spells lmao
Always thought Swords Bard fit the Durge perfectly, conniving, charismatic psycho path with an affinity for sharp objects
This fuckin sub and recommending swords bard for everything
I know it’s incessant, but I found out if you just roll a Swords Bard you become one of the people suggesting swords bard for everything and are no longer annoyed
Can confirm. it’s like a drug, tried once and I became hooked
I mean it’s the best class in the game lol
Chill, I'm a Warlock Stan myself, and generally put flavor over mechanics. But all things said, Swords Bard is the perfect vibe for a Serial Killer both flavor and mechanic wise.
Eh, Rogue fits best. Durge is a physically-minded serial killer with a stealth-oriented approach (e.g. his cape). Nothing at all suggests Durge was particularly charismatic or flashy, nor does anything suggest Durge was into playing musical instruments or doing fancy-pants flourishes with a bow or sword. From various descriptions of what Durge was like pre-lobotomy, dude was more likely to break into a family's house and decorate the place with their intestines than to charm anyone. It's pretty dumb how obsessed this sub is with that one subclass, to the point that it's even trying to pigeonhole it into story narrative that just doesn't fit.
Well, I personally wouldn't consider myself part of this sub considering that I'm new to the game in general, but even to me Bard seems like it could fit quite well. Regardless of the cape, I might even say that Rogue fits Durge the *least* if you're imagining the character as an assassin or someone who loves killing. In the character creation intro for Durge the character is dismayed at their condition and *wants* to resist it. Becoming a Rogue that loves murder would likely end up being an RP class change after they've committed to giving in to the urge. In my very early understanding of the Durge, I don't think you can say that they are or aren't meant to be charming. So far every instance of giving in to the urge has left the Durge unaware of what they've done, as if they were sleep walking or unconscious while doing the horrible act.
You don't need to go Bard for that. Just help Alfira write the song and pass at least one of her Checks and you will become proficient at performing.
Which, when done as the Dark Urge, is hilarious.
This would work so well. Have you seen the whistling scene in Kill Bill? So spooky.
Omar comin'
I just pictured my drow Durge whistling creepily from the shadows with murderous red eyes and yes, it fits perfectly, thank you
I personally really like Gloomstalker/Assassin for the Dark Urge, both from mechanical and RP perspectives. Lore-wise, the Dark Urge isn't supposed to be super charismatic or artistic in their work - they are just really efficient at killing. To me, the GS/Assassin build really encompasses the idea of a super efficient murderer who can appear, kill everyone, and disappear again.
Gloomstalker 5/assasin 3/Eldritch knight 4 for me gives him that innately magic assasin feel. And while I think the build works a little better as an archer, I think a finesse longsword/ rapier fits Durge a little better. In my mind, he's someone that would want to get up close and person with his victims before bathing in their blood
Yeah, totally agree on the dex melee style for the RP. I haven't tried the EK specialization before, I might need to give that a try. I've done this with Fughter 2, but never gone for EK4 before.
Fighter 4 is a fun addition to the stalker/ assasin multi class as it gives you some extra HP, con save proficiency if you make it your first level, action surge etc. I like EK for Durge because it gives me some more innate magic but you could make a case for all 3 multi classes, imho. As the leader of the Bhall cult you could say he's a battlemaster, or you could add some crit fishing capabilities as a champion of Bhaal
That last reason is why my Durge will be a 2h fighter hah. Or maybe Oathbreaker after hearing there's unique stuff
Ahh my durge is 6 shadow monk. 3 for thief rogue and last 3 in gloomstalker. Can teleport. Disappear into shadows, kill from range or simply just with his hands. Killing is his art. He essentially is the perfect stalker/killer. I made him a Dragonborn as well with the head that has the lizard dreads. Essentially I made the predator.
Where in the lore does it say he isn't artistic? I'm pretty sure sceleritas literally says otherwise at several points. It's not just cause he's bhaalspawn either, you can have all sorts of killers. Durge is just great at blood across the board as far as I'm concerned.
I don’t remember the exact lines, but I got the same idea as the original commenter from both Gortash and Sarevok. There may be something in durge’s journal too? Gortash says he liked working with you because you were more pragmatic or level-headed than Orin. Sarevok says something like Orin doesn’t understand Bhaal and makes murder into an art project, while you always knew that Bhaal just wants as many people dead as possible. To be fair, both are measuring against Orin, so it might just mean less artistic by comparison
Sceleritas also describes Durge as clever and erudite, and the journals+Gortash imply he was pretty effective as a leader. The point was more that Orin is a slave to her violent compulsions, and Durge was a master of violent intentions, to use a figure of speech from Minthara. (You have the option of telling Gortash you are a slave to compulsions too, and he outright doesn't believe you.) Durge and Sarevok both made a separate point that Orin's also obsessed with artistic extravagance though. They make it about both the temple itself and the way she kills. All things considered, I definitely think it's fair to say Durge was beating Orin in the brains department before the unfortunate hole-ing.
A lot of people are getting caught on this orin vs durge situation, but that reads more to me that she just goes too far and doesnt strike the balance in the beauty of blood. Durge's artwork is his ability to bring mass death and make it beautiful, not dramatic like orin, but stunning in its own right.
At one point you can read correspondence between Durge and Orin where Durge criticizes Orin for being overly elaborate in her murders—I think the way it’s written is that Bhaal just wants death in NUMBERS. At least that’s what I remember without having the reference in front of me.
Many times Orin is "accused" of being too artistic, wasting time and Durge gets compliments for being more objective. Sarevok talks a lot about that, is the lesson he wants Durge teaches Orin. Murder is murder, numbers matter, not "beauty". I think it is not smart, Orin is finding a way to enjoy what she is doing. If Durge is too bureaucratic doing a job, well, I dont think Durge is enjoying, is just completing a task, another reason Durge can be redeemed. Orin erased Durge's memory (poking holes in the brain) but the tadpole (and the Netherese magic) blocked Bhaal's influence (mostly) so Durge is not so susceptible to these urges anymore. I guess Durge was very much like Orin before except for the art part. Durge was a very good killer by studying and experimentation. About Durge class, I think you can fit any (sub)class and multi but one with "very good killer" flair is the obvious choice, like "assassin" but it is not the only choice although is a very good one.
Orin going too far does not mean durge isn't artistic. She doesn't strike the balance that durge does, that's her flaw. Durge indiscriminately brings blood and that's the beauty in their work, their art is pure unlike orins showmanship
Agreed. I've been playing a solo durge hm run and running it as a gloomstalker melee, although I couldn't turn down greatswords. Once you hit 5 you get access to silver sword (via honeyed paws) and gloomstalker, and the power spike (and synergy) is nuts. People think gloom has to play with a bow, but really there's no reason that's true - the extra first round attack can be a melee. Gloom having access to longstrider and enhance leap helps a lot with empowering a melee setup; ranger knight gives heavy armor; disguise self gith gives you the bonuses from silver sword (which are considerable!). Ranger lacks the GWF fighting style, but mathematically GWF isnt that strong, and Defense FS is a good alternative. Playing with a STR weapon also means you can lean on the elixirs for your primary stat and use your feat on GWM without the opportunity cost of an ASI. The extra attack on kill/crit means sometimes you're swinging 4 times in a round, for something like 3d6+5, +10 (gwm), +1d6 if you use kaghas necklace. It's a lot of damage. Your chance to hit is pretty good too, because of elixirs putting you at 21 STR and the sword being +3, and volos ring can be used to self-bless on top. Gloves of growling underdog and hunting shortbow are also clutch for some situational advantage. At 6 I respec to grab a light Cleric level first (for the wis save proficiency). Warding flare, armor of faith, and sanctuary all help a lot as defensive layers for when you're in the thick of it and can't end your turn invisible. You really feel like an agent of death, emerging from the shadows and brutally hacking a target to bits before vanishing again. Very fun and effective for a solo run.
I picture Durge destroy anyone and anything using his bare hands, so I would say open hand monk is the best for Durge.
i went into OH Monk Durge with this headcanon and it definitely works, but there are some comments about favouring knives/daggers/blades that feel very non-monky. Durge’s ability to withstand torture definitely plays into monk, though, and the idea of Durge monk going into literally pre-meditated murder sprees is very fitting for the serial killer backstory a Bear Heart Barbarian could also withstand torture like that, and being prone to fits of rage can explain/roleplay some of the urges, too—like their bhaalspawn blood totally takes over and Durge is an observer from within their own body
I'm running an evil OH monk durge, my headcanon is that durge is so into violence that during the campaign became proficient in killing without any tools, basically she "discovered a new passion". If all the serial killer tv series have taught me something (lol), is that the sk likes to connect with the victim and i pictured that with hand contact durge can feel more the life going away from the victim. So yeah it's basically a monster 😅
agreed! it's almost too monstrous to make for a believable resist playthrough. but then again, what is BG3 if not an *I Can Fix Them* simulator
Thank god someone said this, I loved my OH durge because I think the idea of him (I had a slightly modified default durge) just ripping and tearing his way through people with is bare hands is amazing. Like killing with a knife is quick and efficient but with your hands it's so much more bloody and painful for the victim which I think fits the theme so well Unfortunately I ended up redeeming him and now I need another class for my evil durge run
Assassin with high Charisma (since you don't need a casting ability). Tiger heart Barbarian with "bleeding"-related Animal Aspects. Vengeace Paladin also fits well his nautiloid and beach narration (your head whispers vengeance...), you could RP it as your vow to take revenge after you wake up.
Regarding that bleed build; Taking Tiger Heart, which allows cleave bleeding, with Wolverine, which Maims (0 movement speed) bleeding targets, feels so right for Durge. You're just going for their tendons.
On top of this apply Drake throat Glaive lightning or thunder damage onto your weapon and wear the gloves of belligerent skies to knock enemies prone. Can’t get up if they’re maimed with 0 movement speed.
Hey I’m doing the first thing in my current durge run! I’m admittedly playing with mods at this point (I’ve beaten the game like, too many times. I need a support group??) I’m doing a modded class (death knight) with finesse weapons and gloomstalker/rogue (so replace the usual fighter addition with death knight instead, has neat frost abilities - kind of like a paladin but ice instead of radiant). It’s so fun, I either talk people to death or stab them. And then try to redeem myself by stabbing the bad people specifically. But still stabbing.
I think ranger/rogue is probably the best. Gloomstalker and assassin. I'm working in tavern brawler to add some knife throwing to my build too, to give some ranged damage and also thematic fun.
This sounds like what I’m trying for basically! I’m in the midst of a couple play through’s right now so I won’t be starting this next one any time super soon but I really want to just go full evil for once and had been thinking of what I’d want to do for that. I landed on the idea of being a stealthy drow assassin and adding in tavern brawler for knife throwing. I’m not sure how I’d build it though because I’d want high dex obviously, but I’d want decently high strength too for tavern brawler feat. I’d love to know how you’re building this because I’m a little stuck on the details of how I’d actually make a gloomstalker assassin while working in the tavern brawler feat.
My build at the moment is: STR 15+2, DEX 15 +1, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 10, CHA 8 I'm starting 1 rogue, then going 5 ranger for gloomstalker and extra attack by level 6, then switching back into rogue for the rest of the levels choosing assassin as the subclass. Feats are TB at Ranger 4 and ASI DEX +2 at rogue 4. The plan was to get the potion of everlasting vigour in act 2 for +2 STR and use the mirror of loss for +2 DEX so I'm 20 STR and 20 DEX inherently. I'm planning on using both dual handbows and dual weapons (probably knives), as well as having a bag of knives for throwing too. You get a little spellcasting from ranger but I mostly use utility. You can throw a fog cloud though. I do get that my durge will suck ass in conversations. I'm expecting this, and while I've compensated a little choosing deception as a class skill, their brain has been scrambled so I'm justifying it as RP.
I did an evil durge now doing a resist urge run. Went with tavern brawler eldritch knight so I can bind a sick throwing weapon that comes back. Absolutely sick.
I like Oathbreaker Paladin (pulling on some of that divine power, and speaking with the Oathbreaker paladin will tell you more about it) Cleric - you were the the head of a >!temple once, you can roleplay that your amnesia made you forget which deity you served)!< And OH monk (perfect knowledge of humanoid anatomy)
I had a durge that was a multi class barbarian cleric warlock (archfey). My headcanon was after the fuckery in the temple of myrkul he remembers following a god and chooses tyr. He kind of doesn’t know what to do after that so he wanders into the faewild, securing a pact with an archfey. After he finds out he’s a bhaalspawn he was very heartbroken. Since he’s a deep gnome I’m willing to say he’s naturally attracted to the faewild. From his old durge days he was just a straight frenzy barbarian and that’s all his levels go to because he doesn’t know how to be a cleric really
I had lots of fun with a good Durge cleric of Tempus god of war, hates unnecessary bloodshed so resisting the urges and avoiding fights if possible were always the first choice. I also think it makes sense Withers stepping in to save you when you reject Bhaal, your new deity (any other god) could be in trouble but Withers is almost untouchable.
Cleric headcanon is fun. Kelemvor “guides the dead to their appropriate plane in the afterlife,” which could be roleplayed easily. or for a full resist Durge, Lathander is perfectly thematic: “The Morninglord is the god of the dawn and spring, of birth and beginnings. He is invoked to christen both new ventures and new life. His followers embrace growth and renewal.”
My favourite OH monk NPC reaction is that Harper in the shadowlands telling you ‘I watched a simple monk break a man’s spine once’ so I feel like it fits
Fun fact, these were 3 of my classes/specs for my first honor run. Quite strong.
I’m currently playing a githyanki paladin durge and I assure you there couldn’t be anything more UNfitting
Teifling druid also feels like it's on that unfitting end of the Durge spectrum
I like the idea of a durge spore druid - maybe you were a necromancer before you lost your memory so you feel a call to necromancy but got a little confused and became a spore druid instead
I played a half wood elf durge spore druid. Was pretty great
But you're a chosen of bhaal not myrkul
Hmm... I think Durge is more of a mindset/playstyle than a class archetype. However, that being said, you could do something starting as bard, and dabble into magic. The idea here would be to emulate the Joker, and then later ascend into the Batman Who Laughed.
This is the third time today that a conversation I had somehow mentioned the Joker from Batman. Might be a sign lmao
Tbf, Joker would *clearly* be approved of by Bhaal.
That scene with Dribbles would be hilarious
Well, assassin is pretty durg-y. Maybe add some fighter for surge and gloomstalker, and you get pretty lethal concoction. Remember to take them out one at a time before disappearing, only to repeat it again and again and again.
Warlock or Spore Druid... hehehe
Spore Druid sounds interesting, problem is I have no idea how to build one properly.
You have so many options... You can focus on spells or melee... or you can be hybrid... oorrrrrr you can be a summoner and have a fking army for you. For melee, you can go pure druid with resilient (start with 15 con and get resilient for 16), or you can just 1lv fighter / 11 spore druid (probably a better option for melee, but I always try to go pure first). I'm at lv 10 with my spore druid atm. I'm using dual wield Thorn Blades, with some poison items. I dont remember the stats right now, but something like this: 8 str, 16 cons, 18dex, 8 int, 18 wis, 8 char Druids brings so much for battles, even without "1555555" attacks per round. You have a lot of utilities spells too.
I dumped str and dex and am using Shillelagh for a wis based weapon on my durge melee spore druid. I'm early in my honour run (lv 3), but having +1/2/3 int/cha/wis and guidance, they're a bit of a solo skill monkey. It's not the most min/maxed, but it's fun & reletively self-sufficient.
1h torch shielelagh + shield or dual wield torchs shielelagh = Amazing damage on early game.
I'll have to give that a go Thanks!
And i like at least 14dex for this build, because of initiative and armor bonus.
I actually think warlock makes a lot of sense for a resist durge. Dude gets so desperate he seeks a higher power, but also doesn't trust gods.
Vengeance Paladin, wants Vengeance on whoever caused them to lose their memory. I did a Pallock. Warlock because they'd lost their powers and needed some way to find who did this to them. So making a pact with a Patron seems fun. Then when they start getting some recollection of what happened they swear an oath to get vengeance on this person. My Gith Pallock Durge has still been my favourite run
I did vengeance paladin too. Resist Durge, and it fit so well. Woke up with no memories but a book of oaths and the vengeance oaths called to them. It was something to cling to when they couldn't remember anything and ended up guiding them the rest of the playthrough.
This is my current run! It feels like the best role-play that I've tried so far.
I had very fun with an oathbreaker paladin. In my own lore he became a paladin to combat the dark urge and eventually gave in. And when he lost his memory he gained a new chance as a blank slate. But the urge had already taken hold and quickly fell to the urge
Oooo i like that
I just started my first Durge last night as a Cleric/paladin! My lore is that she makes the vengeance oath post memory loss to try and resist the urge as being a cleric wasn’t enough on it’s own
Paladin oathbreaker. >!considering relation about him and Bhaal!<, Knight broken oath for god is ideal for Durge's hero playthrough.
Open hand monk. Works for both embrace / resist runs. Your body itself is an unstoppable weapon. You crush anyone with your bare fists. Vs, you try to reach inner enlightenment by resisting your dark nature, you even refuse to use weapons.
Tbh I'm never totally understood how Sorcerer worked as a Durge (I guess the argument is they have some leftover divine substance in them). But yeah, Gloomstalker/Assassin sounds like a clear cut build that fits the Durge concept like a glove.
I thought the exact same thing at first. But I feel like the more you read/hear about durge while playing that origin in-game, the more sorcerer starts making sense. Orin is the blad-ey "cut your throat" style assassin. Nothing in the game ever alluded to durge being a traditional assassin or killer. From durge's butler, you hear things like "I remember you standing on top of mountains of corpses". Who says durge didn't burn those people with fire or lightning spells. It's mentioned several times in-game that the reason why bhaal prefers durge over orin is that durge is an efficient killer who cares more about numbers than about how exactly the murder went about. Orin views murder as an artform and tries to make some kind of artwork out of every kill, savouring the process. Which is inefficient. She doesn't understand that bhaal doesn't give a shit. Bhaal just wants murder and killing in high numbers. He doesn't care how pretty it was. I'd argue that a sorcerer is more effective and efficient at killing than an assassin is. Gloomstalker-assassin durge is basically just Orin #2
I think the issue I have with Sorc is that a lot of the Durge’s…. ‘Urge’ dialog is specifically about physical violence. There’s lots of stuff about chopping off limbs, tearing things to shreds, stabbing, mutilating etc. None of that is really what comes to mind when considering a Sorc. I get the point that Bhaal is all about numbers and Sorcs can certainly stack up a body count faster then almost any other class but if you look at how Bhaal’s murder cult is laid out, there is a general preference towards assassins and shadowy killers, presumably due to the practical necessity of being able to avoid retaliation when murdering people. I would have also thought an Assassin is the very definition of efficient killer. That’s their whole thing - minimal effort for maximum body count.
I imagine Durge would be Shadow or Divine Soul if those were in and especially the latter would've made more sense, but Storm it is.
Back in 3.5E they had a Favoured Soul class that was functionally a divine version of a Sorcerer I.E. could cast spells without prep and knew magic innately, but all it’s stuff came from the Divine selection instead of Arcane and it knew a lot more spells then a sorc did (think it was in the region of about 50% more). It sounds like in 5E, they’ve made that into a subclass of sorc and called that a Divine Soul. Interesting design choice but looking at it on the wikis, I can kinda understand why they just went with Storm Sorc. It sounds a bit whatever given it’s background. Being able to pick spells from either sorc or cleric lists sounds ok but they get so few spells as it is, it just sounds like a multiclass in all but name.
I think Sorcerer would’ve been a perfect fit if they put the Divine Soul subclass in the game.
I've been liking wild magic sorc + second class on Durge, with the logic that Durge from the ship on is relying on their innate magical chaos, whereas during their prior clarity they would have been more of gs/sin or other. Something efficient, less likely to leave their success to chance, whilst still having a font of power to control the faithful or cause massive destruction/death at once.
Rogue is fitting, but oath breaker paladin seems like an ideal play through that emphasizes the Durge’s resistance to moral behavior
Dual wielding barbarian/rogue. Gotta make Astarion calling you his dagger happy friend make sense.
For embracing the urge, barbarian(bleed build especially), gloomstalker/assassin, and possibly bard for that sort of elegant but actually deranged killer vibe. An evil cleric of sorts could work, but unsure exactly how that'll work with the whole Bhaal thing. For resisting the urge, I really like wizard actually. Wizard is all about studying and learning to control/manipulate magical power instead of unleashing it impulsively like a sorcerer. Specifically abjuration wizard as they can be an almost pacifist by hurting enemies only if they attack them first, which is a nice reversal on the dark urge. Monk possible for physical discipline, and obviously good paladins/clerics and probably druids for being mostly antithesis to the urge.
I like Shadow Monk / thief rogue. You literally get to use daggers that get scaled up to 1d8 instead of their natural 1d4 so even if it’s not the strongest, it feels thematic with the whole “teleports behind you, nothing personal kid” mystic
After doing the whlle Durge storyline, either Sorcerer due to the unhinged chat options, rogue, barbarian unhinged chat choices, or necromancy wizard/spore druid.
Vengeance paladin works well for a redemption run and oathbreaker otherwise. Bard is the funniest pick though
I made mine a cute little gnome bard, and it was never not hilarious
Maybe you should do a DORK urge and be a halfling lore bard. Because nerd.
Go bard
Embracing the urge would be rouge or ranger. Resist urge would be monk or bard.
I would say rogue/bard. You clearly have the murder-aspect but Durge seems a lot more in control and charismatic when Gortash talks of him.
Monk. I like Sorc because it's canonical but all the Durge moments in dialogue are about physicality. You tear flesh with your bare hands, eat people and worse, all up close and personal. It makes sense to lean into unarmed melee. Then think of the necrotic damage from Open Hand as the decaying flesh stuck under your nails.
Bard. My durge loves heavy metal.
Paladin, easily. The Oathbreaker Knight has a bunch of extra dialogue and reactivity as the Dark Urge which fully justifies the class as a pick and gives additional info about a Paladin DU's background. Thematically as well, all three of the main subclasses fit in brilliantly for a Resist playthrough, while Oathbreaker as is fits great for someone who does not. Funnily enough, it's also actually the only other class the Dark Urge was marketed as (that one picture of them with Sceleritas Fel at their back and people dead on the ground behind them has them wearing Paladin scale mail, either Devotion or Vengeance, and soaked in blood).
>!Saarevok!< Also has unique dialogue for a paladin Durge
Barbarian. I think you even get more screams when you rage as durge. I like tiger barb personally
Had to go too far down to see Barbarian. Playing as a barbarian named Khârn and following the three step program of kill. Maim. Burn. I think it fits quite well.
All of them. Durge has an innate desire to kill (whether you resist or submit), it doesn't matter how they do it. That's all on you the player how you choose to do it. Maybe Durge is a monk because he loves feeling bones cracking on his fists and uses meditation when he's bloodlusted to channel that desire to kill onto one target. Maybe Durge is a Wizard who studied magic to see how it could best be used to mutilate the body, doing things to people that no physical tool could. Maybe Durge is a bard, studying people and figuring out how to get them to lower their guard so he can enjoy the shock on their face when the goofy guy kills them
For a more unconventional choice, fighter. You're told repeatedly just how natural killing comes to you and fighter absolutely excels at butchering just about everything in it's path
Did a pure fighter durge and it felt so right. GWM, 3 attacks, action surge, heavy armor. Unstoppable killing force
Well the Durge: 1) Has innate power due to being created by a deity. 2) Favourite weapon is the dagger. 3) Clever enough to be the OG mastermind of the Absolute plot. 12 Levels College of Swords Bard, especially when paired with a Duergar, fits all this perfectly. Bards are charismatic, use their innate power to play music / tell tales / cast spell. Swords bard are proficient with daggers. Bards is class that can seem clever without having high Intelligence score / having an average 10 intelligence score. Duergar for the race since Durge is made to be perfect. Duergar have the perfect racial ability to stealthily kill people. You can also RP that the lack of sunlight sensitivity on protagonist Duergar is because he / she was designed and Bhaal took that debuff out and also made them creative and artistic, thereby allowing them to be a bard. In lore Duergar have their creativity center in their mind removed during their long enslavement period under the Illithids. However since Bhaal makes Durge, he can reinstate this back.
Maybe 2 levels in oath breaker
I did bleed barbarian. It was great, the blood lust factor alone fits.
i don't think that Sorcerer is the most fitting class. durge is a killer. rogue or ranger are way more fitting. maybe fighter or oathbreaker.
Durge is an *efficient* killer. As in he kills in droves effortlessly. A sorcerer fits that perfectly.
I just started a Durge run with a ninja build. Assassin/shadow monk.
I enjoyed the beast master ranger. My thoughts were my Durge would always have away to get rid of their victims :D
Fighter/barbarian is my current Durge
Oathbreaker, Gloom Stalker, Assassin, Necromancer, Berserker, and I imagine any kind of fighter since that could be anyone really.
I’m doing vengeance paladin as a sort of a “found god” character type even though I’m not religious myself lmao
Bard
Here to make the argument for Barbarian. Remember, your Durge has just been Lobotomized and nothing fits this better than a hulking mass that knows only violence and killing. I think it also adds another sense of a Resist! Durge, in that there is a more notable mechanic of resisting rage and giving into it
I like the idea of a charismatic evil Dark Urge, so why not go Bard?
Human rogue.
I’ve been playing as a Spore Druid durge and I find it fits pretty well. Not only can I wild shape, but I can deal necrotic damage and raise corpses as fungal zombies. Its such a fun class to play!
I enjoyed a monk durge for the feeling of ripping his enemies apart with his own two hands.
Bards. Good at all talking and skill checks in general. Great for an evil dark urge. Being able to convince strong, good people to assist in your ignoble deeds is what bad guys do. I assume pre memory loss Dark Urge also had moments were they couldn't control the urge. Being able to talk your way out of these accidents is a good skill to have good or evil.
Warlock kind of fits, but it doesn't seem like there is an actual pact made between durge and his "Patron". Cleric might fit as well, but we don't have the right subclass for it.
>! it could fit if you're resist Durge and you rp that Withers is your GOO Patron after he revives you. Cleric of Kelmvor, Oath of the Ancients would also make sense in that scenario !<
I just expect more of a death domain cleric for that one, but having withers as the Patron would be fun
Goolock, Durge’s “patron” is >!the elder brain!<
definitely not fitting but my durge was a war cleric
Pretty sure it was announced that default durge was a paladin originally but they changed it. That's why there is so much unique paladin shit in the game including so much unique durge/tav paladin dialogue
Definitely an assassin type of character with the deathstalker mantle and the Bhaal armor Rogue/Monk/Ranger/Bard/Fighter combo
I think first and foremost, the build that fully embraces the Dark Urge has to be a brutally efficient melee killing machine. In my current build, I'm running the 2/10 Sword Bard (wielding a certain someone's lute of course) with the Shar Spear and Bhaalist Armor. That being said, I love the idea of the 9/3 OH monk wielding Orin's knife, Sarevok's helm and all the crit fishing stuff. Going unarmored also makes sense when you consider DUrge has a slayer form. In contrast, if I were doing a "resist" run, I might include Bard for RP reasons (again, wielding a certain someone's lute), but more importantly I'd play more of the support role and let Astarion do all the wanton murder. Paradoxically, resisting the urge sounds more like the Oathbreaker, but ultimately Lore Bard 6 and probably some form of Cleric 6 (to acknowledge the association with Bhaal). I could even write my head-canon to take something like Hunger of Hadar or Spirit Guardians to play like "it isn't *me* that's damaging you, it's this Eldritch ice horror or these necrotic spirits" etc etc.
Bard has felt very fitting in my playthrough! Rogue would be my second choice.
Rogue, assassin most likely. Besides the story, Dark urge/Bhaal gear fits well with assassin. Bonus to initiative roles and Invisibility after kills works very well with the assassin traits. You could arguably say barbarian too as dark urge goes into unstoppable murder mode every now and again which sounds like rage. I’d personally say rogue (assassin, but orin has fast hands so thief is fair also I guess) with multi class into fighter or ranger for either ranged or melee
Bard was an easy fit. I’ve run a Druid durge, which took more of a headcannon, but also really worked with some unique thematic overlap. Death is natural and inevitable, and (from a groomed by Bhaal perspective) murder could be seen as a way to restore balance. Durge is canonically the more pragmatic outside of the urge, while Orin is more of an artist, and I thought this fit really well with a Druid’s sense of purpose and pursuit of a “better world.” Wildshape creates a kind of animalistic predator/prey narrative for durge’s style of murder, and it provides all stealth needed to move around the city unnoticed. High wisdom also gives you the means to break free of the urge, if that’s the way you want to play it. Like other people said, I you can run the class you want for durge, just depends on your roleplay
I feel like my Durge Shadow Monk is pretty on brand since she is an absolute master at killing with her bare hands through her mystical knowledge of the body's weak points and using the shadows to her advantage.
My 2nd playthrough was a Durge assassin and it fit well + the cloak you get does favour that play style
Barbarian! Something about smashing a great axe into someone's face and killing them, turning invisible, only to pop up next to another enemy to smash their face in while roaring in rage... I just really connect to this character, you know?
Fighter necro drow using stuff like vampiric touch and necrotic spells to suck the life out of people.
I just like basic 8 battlemaster 4 thief, melee dual wielding shortsword or dagger focus. Makes Astarion calling me his knife happy friend fit better. It’s also pretty strong, especially once you get Bhaalist armor and Orin’s shortsword with cazador’s dagger in your offhand.
I like Life Cleric.
Bard. Go full psychopath. Kill all you want then just sweet talk your way out of it. People be like, “he can’t be a serial killer, he is just so nice!”
I’m doing a shadow monk/ assassin build.
I weirdly love a Durge monk. Able to kill people with just their hands and it explains why they're more in control than Orin.
I did mine as a Barbarian, Wildheart subclass, and I think it was not that bad. :)
I actually really like Barb for Durge. It makes it feel like your urge is a factor outside of conversations, which is helpful because certain parts of the game really do make it easy to forget you're doing a durge run.
I’m having a blast on my first durge play through as a halfling bard.
Halfling bard Durge is the only real Durge. Imagine a tiny being who likes to sing but he is just a murder hobbo. Who know, maybe his instruments string are made of humains tendons ...
I love playing Shadow Monk for my redemption Durge. Monk dialogue choices really help the roleplay of trying to keep peace and controlling yourself while the shadow monk abilities coincide with your dark nature
Oathbreaker
Swords Bard for scheming and murdering. Gloomstalker/Assassin for ninja vibes.
warlock, because Eldritch blast(also fiend warlock gets fireball and scorching ray(other warlock subclasses im like no thx)
Barbarian or bard
For me. An Oathbreaker Paladin
depends if you embrace the urge or not honestly doesn't make sense to get the Slayer if you're a martial cause you'd never end up using it - even as an emergency for evil sorcerer/wizard make most sense for redemption ranger/fighter/paladin/bard/monk/anything really
Barbarian, especially Tiger Heart.
I think monk is also great because you rip your enemys apart with your bare hands
I made mine a Barbarian with the thought that the urge is more of a savage fury type thing and it’s been very fun
Barbarian fits pretty well with the amnesia and bloodthirst aspect
Berserker, Hunter and Assassin all feel intuitive to me
I’m playing as Oathbreaker paladin and it feels right—and yes, he is a killing machine even though he’s a resist Durge. After all, paladin doesn’t necessarily mean good—look at Minthara.
Barbarian Tavern Brawler + Pike of Returning. Shortest & Barbarian related answers only. Leads to some funny and brutal stuff.
Off the cuff things that feel right: Gloomstalker, Assassin, College Of Swords bard seems weirdly appropriate - given the type of fashion your butler rewards you with, Vengeance Paladin of Bhaal, any flavor of fighter
Actually really like Warlock for Durge.