u/SolarDifference

I don't care that you disagree with me, but your original response added nothing to the conversation. All you did was disparage my honest request for information.

I'm asking because:

1) I have outside online accounts to manage my calendar, mail, and drive (as do most others)
2) I have previously used pop and enjoy it
3) I would like to move away from windows

Why are you so offended by someone even asking? If you don't like the question, then move on with your life.

Thank you for the helpful response. Not sure why I'm getting down voted here.

Boris in my campaign is unable to initiate the final battle. Right clicking the battle location does nothing.

I played about an hour this afternoon and, while you're right, I have a slightly different take. The movement replenishment encourages hit-and-run tactics, but the brayherd mechanic encourages playing defensively at home. I have been using him to retake imperial cities and gifting them back to the original owners. I can very easily attack enemy armies, take a city, and retreat a reasonable distance back to my home. This also makes it more difficult for enemies to target me since they have to travel further and his home province is fairly good defensively due to other faction mechanics.

The biggest surprise for me was how good the tier 3 infantry and cavalry are; holy hell he + his legendary hero make them both absolute monsters.

I didn't ally with the Emperor and I freed Orpheus. My question was about how you can prevent yourself, Karlach, AND Orephus from transforming. From what I have read and discussed with others, this is an option, and it's what u/Garry-Love was referencing.

Ahhh ok thanks! I’ll have to try that next time.

How do you prevent anyone from turning illithid? I recently completed my first play through (Durge) and had Gale with me at that decision point. I’ve gone back to try to prevent anyone from turning, but never got that option. I was locked into picking an illithid sacrifice.

UPDATE: I got it to work!

Here are the details. I installed pop on two different usb drives - one is an older Samsung SD101 with USB2.0, the other is a newer PNY USB3.2 with both a USB-A and USB-C connector. After disabling secure boot, the Samsung showed up twice in the boot menu, once with "UEFI" before the USB name, and another without it. The PNY only showed up once. Selecting the UEFI Samsung option loaded pop and allowed me to install it.

Hopefully this is helpful for others who may experience the same issue.

I was upset about the red. I’m a US fan. But my real issue wasn’t the red, it’s the inconsistency of the refs. If you’re going to call that a red, then call all of the other similar reds that have happened in the tournament. This isn’t an issue specific to the US vs BIH match. It’s been an issue all tournament. The refs have not been calling fouls and cards consistently across matches. Even within a single match they have been insanely inconsistent.

Wasn’t the Turkish player offsides? Didn’t get a replay to see it.

McKenzie has to be one of the worst defenders I’ve ever seen on the USMNT

Are you open to using mods? There are a few that make this an easier pathway and makes dual-wielding more competitive with 2H builds.

Idle Hands: Adds a feat that gives you an extra bonus action (same as the level 3 Thief feature).

I personally prefer playing with mods that increase the number of feats available (one every 4 levels provides too little flexibility for me). There are a few that do this, and you can customize how frequently you get a feat.

I'd also recommend the rebalance mods by Syrchalis. The "nerfs" one adjusts the power of both GWM and sharpshooter. They remain viable and powerful options, but don't so clearly overshadow dual-wielding as a fighting style.

What this gives us are multiple pathways to dual-wielding. Here are a few I personally like:

1. Barbarian: I'd recommend running wildheart. In this build you would prioritize taking dual-wielding feats (including idle hands) and stack gear that gives you wrath (there are also mods that add gear that expand your options). Wrath stacks up to 7 times and each stack gives you +1 damage. This applies to both weapons.
2. Ranger or Warlock: With either class you can use a combination of hunter's mark/hex to give each weapon +1d6 damage. Later you can get items like the callus glow ring and/or strange conduit ring that give you an extra +1d4 damage while concentrating.

You could also pursue a shadowblade build. This version prefers warlock, bard, or bladesinger (wizard) to give you leveled access to shadow blade. Overcast the spell to give you a leveled weapon and stack damage modifiers.

However, I'm a simple man and really enjoy barbarian/ranger variations of dual-wielding. Barbarian can get quite strong, adding both rage damage (2-3) and wrath (1-7).

12 Beast Master ranger. I have been messing around with a lower level version of this and have been pleasantly surprised at how good it is. I'm going ranged with my build, but you could easily go melee as well. There are two main points in favor of this build:

1. It's still a ranged build, so it benefits from all of the ranged damage riders and can use consumable arrows. So your damage is going to be amazing.

2. All of the beast options have various forms of support or CC, which most rangers are missing. For example, at level 3 I've been using both the BM raven and the familiar raven. Both ravens have a blinding ability, which has come in very handy for a few early fights.

Other CC options include the spider's web ability and bear's honeyed paws. The wolf's pack tactics play well with something like a rogue by providing advantage within 10 ft. The build isn't as flashy as some, but it's a fantastic build for both damage and CC.

Jellyfish Swarmkeeper has surprised me. From the little I’ve played, it looks like the bonus damage functions as a damage rider. My swarmkeeper with the everburn blade at level 3 is doing 12-45 damage per hit to wet enemies BEFORE taking GWM. I have no idea how well the build will work at higher levels but it’s been quite fun so far.

Here’s an old analysis of these two feats (and ASI): https://www.reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/s/fBF2THYFrd

Early on I think ASI or SA is a better bet, and save GWM for later.

I’m saving this because there are some absolutely brilliant suggestions in here.

Glorious! But what about the strawberries? I’m over here paying $4.75/lb.

OP can you link your sources? I’d like to save them for future reference. Thanks!

Ranger. No matter what I do I somehow come back to it.

The game can definitely be difficult, especially on Core or higher. Low levels are especially hard because 1) damage tends to be higher proportional to HP, and 2) your bonuses are lower, so die results are more swingy.

Regarding the Camellia thing, are you having her cast heal in melee combat? Casters have to pass a concentration check in order to succeed in melee spell casting. I've also run into the issue where you have them cast the spell further away, but they don't have enough movement to get to the character you're trying to heal, so nothing happens.

If you're down to give it another shot, here's what I'd recommend:

1. Lower the difficulty. Maybe try casual first until you get the hang of it.
2. Enable a few custom options. Turn ON both "Dead companions rise after combat" and "Remove negative effects on rest." These two being off are rules as written in tabletop, but IMO, don't make much sense in a video game. I always play with them on.
3. Consider looking up a few simple build guides for the kind of character you'd like to play. There are a lot of good ones out there, and you can make a strong character without ridiculous multi-classing (the min/max builds).

That actually worked for me too.

I appreciate the help. On Macs there's a mods folder and there are a few external programs you can use to install and reorder mods just like Windows. I've checked the mods folder on my mac to ensure no other lingering mods are there. I've also verified the integrity of the files via Steam. Alas ... the issue persists :(.