Spoiler Warning: Siege of Dragonspear and minor spoilers for Icewind Dale 2.

[ Download Link ]

Version used for review: 3.0.

If you’ve played Siege of Dragonspear, then you’ll know Hephernaan as the terribly unsubtle major antagonist from Beamdog’s 2016 expansion to Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition. If you’ve experienced any of Lava Del’Vortel’s other Baldur’s Gate mods, then you know that you’re in for a well written, nuanced character with interesting gameplay design here. That precedent holds true for the Hephernaan for BG2 mod, to the point that it genuinely supplants the original portrayal of the character in Siege of Dragonspear.

I can say this in full confidence, because I spent several months becoming intimately familiar with this character while personally proofreading and making edits the mod. I definitely spent far too long doing so, but the passion behind the project was infectious. Despite this, I remain an impartial party for this review, and I’m here to give my honest thoughts on the writing, gameplay elements, and design of this mod.

At the end of Siege of Dragonspear, Gorion’s Ward kills Hephernaan in the final confrontation against Belhifet and Caelar Argent. Of course, Hephernaan is a slippery baatezu primarily concerned with his own survival, so he set up a contingency.

Hephernaan’s survival depends on being brought back to his physical form using powerful blood — and it just so happens that the player has that blood. Upon being brought back, Hephernaan has to find his new place in the world, having witnessed his former master killed before his eyes.

Hephernaan is a devil, so no great moralistic change can occur here. He is fundamentally incapable of such a change, so he finds himself in servitude under yet another powerful devil — Oxariusz, who orders Hephernaan to travel with the Bhaalspawn for reasons unclear.

In your company, Hephernaan will spend much of his time testing the player character’s beliefs and actions. In true devilish fashion, it will seem as if he’s perpetually collecting information about you. Whether it’s out of his own curiosity or if he’s simply following orders, you will have to find out for yourself.

Given that Hephernaan questions you so much, it offers some great roleplaying opportunities to solidify your character’s personality and beliefs. Of course, Hephernaan is evil, and will always attempt to twist your words to the darker meaning he may interpret, but you can also agree with him and his philosophies all the way. That may not be the best way to gain his respect, however.

This mod features a basic respect feature for Hephernaan. If you manage to thoroughly entertain him with your answers to his questions, he will see you as a worthy ally, though never a friend.

Hephernaan will give you a brief history of the face he wears at some point. If you’re familiar with Icewind Dale, then you’ll know that Belhifet once paraded as Revered Brother Poquelin of Imater, and Hephernaan wears the very same face that Belhifet once did. Interestingly enough, this is supported in gameplay by the fact that Siege of Dragonspear’s Hephernaan uses the exact same sprite that Poquelin did in Icewind Dale.

Also included in this history lesson is the tale of Isair and Madae, Belhifet’s children in Icewind Dale 2. Hephernaan compares their story to your own. It’s a sad tale, best experienced by witnessing it in its full glory in IWD2, and Hephernaan’s story only count as minor spoilers. It’s a very well done conversation, though, and I appreciated its inclusion immensely.

The mod also includes multiple references to Caelar Argent’s crusade. Hephernaan compares the two of you often, as Irenicus once did — a fact that you can gladly point out to him. He is right, in a way. The Bhaalspawn’s quest to recover Imoen from Irenicus draws parallels to Caelar’s own quest to save her uncle. The death that she wrought intentionally, however, is simply something that happens naturally in a Bhaalspawn’s wake. Regardless of your own intent, the player character will cause death and destruction everywhere they go, which really comes to the forefront in Throne of Bhaal. Hephernaan, having his own beliefs confirmed by Throne of Bhaal’s events, revels in it.

Hephernaan will banter will all NPCs at least three times in Shadows of Amn, and at least once in Throne of Bhaal. His conversations with Cernd, Korgan, and Edwin are a standout. An honourable mention for his banters with Wilson, too.

The style of the prose doesn’t negatively stand out in comparison to the base game, and the mod comes with optional player-initiated dialogue which adds some devilish flavour to his character, though it is not necessary to have the full experience.

The writing on display here is truly top notch, not only for a mod, but for the game in general. That quality extends to his gameplay.

Hephernaan has a custom kit: the False Priest of Asmodeus. He functions as a cleric/mage, but without any healing spells.

We’ll go over the class in a moment, but it’s safe to say that Hephernaan is an absolute monster, though not particularly overpowered. He won’t be the “most powerful” member of your party in comparison to Anomen, Jaheira, or any of the pure arcane spellcasters, but he’s still fantastic.

Hephernaan’s stats are the same as his internal ones in Siege of Dragonspear. His base Strength score is incredibly high, beating out everyone other than Sarevok, Dorn, and Wilson. His Dexterity is great, and the more AC you can stack the better he will be if you decide to put him on the front lines. Constitution being 15 is pretty much all you can ask for on a character like this and I can thank Beamdog for not making it any lower.

Intelligence and Wisdom are where Hephernaan really takes a hit, and while I may not consider it to be accurate considering how downright manipulative and conniving Hephernaan is in this mod, it also serves as a balancing force against Hephernaan’s already amazing abilities. His mage spells will never be his focus, and his cleric spells are mostly offensive. Everything about him is begging you to put him on the front lines, other than his limited weapon proficiency.

Dimension Door as an innate ability is pretty cool, and if you’re not adding it to your character via mods or EEKeeper, it will be the only way you can gain access to the spell.

An additional +4 to lore per level is pretty neat, and Hephernaan can easily fill the role of group identifier, especially with Diabolical Knowledge, received at level 8. A +4 level check when casting spells is also great, but since Hephernaan is a multiclass, it means that regular mages will still outclass him in terms of level checks. He will, however, be better than Aerie. They fill very different roles in a party, though.

Hephernaan will be able to take a hit if you stack physical resistance on top of the total 10% physical resistances he’ll obtain by level 20. This is further amplified by some of his unique HLAs.

Summon Hellcat is a neat ability. It never hurts to have a summon out, and its the best innate summon in the game. The bar isn’t very high though. The biggest downside to Hephernaan’s kit is his lack of healing spells, but realistically nothing about his character suggests that he should be in the backline healing his companions anyway. He fulfills a unique role in the party and you’ll need another cleric alongside him.

Hephernaan may also transform into his true form — that of an Abishai.

This form turns Hephernaan into a destructive force on the battlefield, though not quite on the level of the Slayer. Immunity to normal weapons, fire, and poison, as well as 3 APR and some flat stat buffs makes him a force to be reckoned with, especially combined with Improved Haste. Use it sparingly, though, because the reputation loss can be a bit finicky sometimes.

Now onto the HLAs.

Hephernaan gains four unique High Level Abilities that will permanently increase his stats and allow him more utility on the battlefield. All four of these abilities stack and there is no reason not to take them.

Minor Diabolical Trickery grants Hephernaan +2 Charisma and 3 additional casts of 1st level divine spells, and 2 additional 2nd level divine spells. The bonus casts are more of a novelty, because by the time you get HLAs you’ll have a cleric that can cast a million first and second level spells anyway. The charisma buff can help with shopping, though.

Diabolical Trickery grants a further +1 Charisma, +1 Intelligence, and +1 Wisdom. It reduces casting time by 1 and gives a +3 bonus against spell saves. The further Charisma buff will make your store prices even juicier but the Intelligence and Wisdom bonuses don’t do much at this point, considering how low these stats are in the first place. The casting time buff and spell saves are really great though.

Hellish Traveller gives a permanent movement speed buff, +1 Strength to a total of 19, and some more uses of Dimension Door. Movement speed is incredibly powerful as per usual, and if you don’t have several pairs of the Paws of the Cheetah by this stage then it can be quite handy in a pinch. The strength buff is great, meaning you won’t have to give Hephernaan a strength belt to be viable in late-game combat (though you can if you want). The Dimension Door use is whatever, but its nice for flavour.

Hellish Reaper is insane. Immunity to time-stop is one of the best abilities in the game that previously only a couple of powerful enemies had access to. Immunity to backstab is also great, but by the point that you get HLAs there won’t be many thieves out to get you anymore. +20% to hitpoints will allow Hephernaan some more survivability on the front lines and +1/2 attack per round is a welcome buff.

Now let’s look at the items. There are a lot.

These are the first batch of items we’ll be looking at. They’re completely new and they’re granted by trading with Oxariusz, Hephernaan’s new master.

Yxunomei’s Tail is a callback to one of the bosses of Icewind Dale. It allows you to summon a large snake once per day and grants 50% Acid Resistance, as well as poison immunity. Functionally, its a +5 weapon against humans, otherwise it’s +3. It’s not great, and it will cost you 2 hit points, which you will permanently lose. You can sell it if you don’t end up using it, too.

Firetamer’s Brother is a powerful belt that grants a stackable 50% Fire Resistance, one of the best resistance types in the game. Having 100% Fire Resistance is incredibly valuable in Baldur’s Gate 2 and that automatically makes this an amazing item. The bonus AC against good characters is nice if you’re evil, and the bonus spells are cast at a pretty high level. It will cost you 4 hit points.

Ring of the Dual Origin is a ring that changes its effect based on the wearer’s gender. Male wearers receive 10% elemental resistance, -1 casting time, and +2 bonus to AC. The natural pick to receive these benefits would be Haer’Dalis, who already has innate elemental resistances, or Edwin, who could certainly benefit from all of these bonuses.

Female wearers receive +10 physical resistance, +8 hitpoints, and +2 bonus to AC. These bonuses are useful to any frontliner, so the natural fit is Jaheira. She’s already incredibly tanky and physical resistance is the best thing to have in this game. Unfortunately Mazzy will refuse to stick around Hephernaan, so if you want her to have this to get it to stack with Defender of Easthaven, you’ll have to be content with swapping Hephernaan out once you’ve obtained the ring. The ring itself will cost you 25,000 experience from the player character.

Madae’s Doubts once again calls back to Icewind Dale 2 and is an incredible item. It’s ability to allow an ally a temporary 30% physical resistance at the cost of 15% of your own is extremely powerful, making it a good fit for a backline character who can make use of the +3 Wisdom, like Viconia, Cernd, or Aerie. It will cost you either 1 point of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.

The Impossible Skull is an interesting item. It is a throwable item, usable once per day, and after dealing 8d8+2 damage similar to a fireball spell, it gives all creatures hit a -3 debuff to Armour Class. This is really powerful, if a bit situational. Crowded rooms are a great opportunity to use this, and I averaged around 31 damage per use on creatures that failed the saving throw. The skull will cost you 2 hit points.

The Scimitar of the Soulless is an incredibly powerful weapon that you obtain damaged. The chipped version has 50% chance to dispel on hit while the restored version always dispels. The restored version also increases the chances of dealing extra damage and inflicting level drain on the target. The chipped version does 1d6+5 damage and the restored does 1d8+5 damage. Either of these are incredibly powerful, and the restored version is one of the most powerful items in the game. However, there is a reason not to restore it. It will cost you either 1 point of Strength, or 1 point of Constitution.

Oxariusz will grant you, along with the scimitar, an Evil Core. This item will allow you to restore the blade, or corrupt other artifacts. I would let your imagination run wild here, but I want to talk about the corrupted items as well. Some of them are simply amazing.

Corrupted Man’s Skin is the corrupted version of Human Flesh+5, and allows spellcasting while the caster is wearing it. This is a pretty major upgrade and gives more options in how you want to use it. It also grants an additional +2 bonus AC and THAC0 against good-aligned creatures.

Dark Carsomyr halves the original 50% Magic Resistance on the sword, and grants the wielder the same AC and THAC0 bonuses as the Human Flesh. It also has a 10% chance to do 1 acid damage upon hit, which is… basically useless. The ONLY reason you would corrupt this item over any other is because doing so allows any evil martial character to wield the weapon. Paladins are now unable to use it. You could now give this sword to Sarevok, or Korgan.

Ir’revrykal+5 is the enhanced version of the Unholy Avenger, the original of which was added in the Enhanced Edition. This makes the weapon actually good. A +1 Strength bonus has been added, 50% Acid Resistance, and an additional +5 damage to good creatures, for a total of 1d10+10 slashing damage. The sword still dispels on 50% of hits and it cannot be resisted, and the curing ability on hit is gone (which is good). This is a great option for Dorn to use now, since it’s only usable by Blackguards.

Soul Reaver+5 gives the Soul Reaver the added benefit of giving the wielder +2 to Intelligence, which could allow them to survive an illithid attack if they have low intelligence, or give a bonus to fighter/mages. The same AC and THAC0 bonus as before also applies here, and the amazing THAC0 reducing combat ability is unchanged. Still an extremely good weapon. There’s also the 1 acid damage potential.

Corrupted Chain of the Solar grants 25% Fire Resistance, which we’ve already established is a very good thing. The wearer will also be ignored by skeletons, zombies, and ghouls. This is crossmod content. Hephernaan interacts with the Foundling, Innershade, and Of Classes and Heirlooms mods.

Crown of the Extinguished Sun is functionally a helmet for mages, and its the best one in the game. The charge abilities of Know Alignment and Clairvoyance are very RP-ish, but the equipped abilities are nothing to sneeze at. +25% to lore is really nice as it’s a percentage bonus and will increase over time, and +1 to Intelligence is great. A +2 bonus to AC and immunity to critical hits is fantastic… but it’s only usable by evil characters. It’s a great item, and it’s a shame, but it makes sense. This is also crossmod content. Hephernaan interacts with the Foundling, Innershade, and Of Classes and Heirlooms mods.

Thankfully, we are done talking about gameplay. That was incredibly hefty. The mod doesn’t really have anything incredibly substantial in terms of quests, but it doesn’t really need to.

The initial meeting with Hephernaan only occurs once you have a random encounter several days into your journey, when traveling in Amn. Realistically you could do a couple of big quests out of the city before even running into it, which I quite like. It doesn’t feel like it’s thrust right into your face. Going about summoning Hephernaan after that is a rather simple, but enjoyable process.

After you’ve had several talks with Hephernaan in your party, he’ll receive a message from his master. The quest involves traveling to his personal chambers in Avernus and killing some demons one at a time (or all at once if you’re mad). It’s a simple little quest but it yields a 12,000GP reward.

The last quest included in the mod only occurs if you’ve garnered enough respect with Hephernaan, and if you didn’t, then you wouldn’t even know that such a quest exists. If Hephernaan respects you, he will request your help in freeing him from his contract with Oxariusz. It’s short, but gives you a powerful staff that I’ve decided not to discuss here, since it won’t be representative of every player’s experience. It’s also just a cool surprise that I didn’t want to spoil.

Before the final battle in Throne of Bhaal, Hephernaan will give you a choice that can yield around 200,000 EXP. It’s nice if you’re under-leveled, and doing so will give Hephernaan a different epilogue slide. A somewhat happier ending.

There’s not a massive amount here but it’s enough to appreciate. I’d say it’s just the right amount for a mod.

Hephernaan’s portrait is taken right out of Siege of Dragonspear and I must say, it’s my favourite art style out of all the Baldur’s Gate portraits, though I couldn’t find a solid source on who the artist is. I suspect it’s Kieran Yanner. There is also a unique portrait for Hephernaan’s Abishai form, and for Oxariusz. They look very devil-y.

The voice set is also great. It uses repurposed lines from Siege of Dragonspear, and it does so to great effect. Hephernaan feels right at home alongside the other Enhanced Edition companions, which is quite an achievement.

This mod also features some custom areas. The random encounter occurs in a graveyard district lookalike zone, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it. Hephernaan also has his personal quarters “on the tides of Avernus” which is excellently designed, I can’t really tell if it’s custom made or if it was reused from somewhere.

Needless to say, I really like this mod and I think you will too. It has something for everyone (uh, unless you were looking to get down and dirty with this lowly devil).

Hephernaan is a natural fit for Baldur’s Gate 2 and it’s nice to see his character redeemed by good quality writing. As with other great mods, you can kind of allow Hephernaan to fall into the background a bit, as you would any companion.

If you like evil characters and if anything at all in this review intrigued you, I urge you to download the mod and give it a go.

Thanks for reading.

---