Orin the Red in BG3 is a mysterious and dangerous shapeshifter who enjoys trickery, suffering, and murder. She possesses an array of abilities that make her a formidable foe, though the details of her backstory and motivations remain unknown.
This guide provides everything you need to know about BG3 Orin the Red, including her abilities, spells, builds, how to play her, and more. Read on to learn all about this cunning shapeshifter.
Key Takeaways
- Orin the Red is a bard and shapeshifter in Baldur’s Gate 3. She enjoys causing suffering and is highly skilled in executing murders.
- Her abilities include shapeshifting, enhanced senses, combat prowess, and spellcasting focused on illusion, enchantment, and necromancy.
- Orin is not currently a playable character, but is instead an antagonist that may be encountered. Her exact location is unknown.
- Her backstory is a mystery, but she is believed to have been orphaned and raised by bandits, which led to her ruthless nature.
- Recommended builds focus on her spellcasting to control the battlefield, with her strengths being versatility and battlefield control.
- Playing Orin involves utilizing her abilities for deception and stealth, striking quickly, and adapting your approach based on the situation.
Who is Orin the Red?
Orin the Red is a villainous shapeshifter who resides in the world of Baldur’s Gate 3. She is described as a shapeshifting menace who takes pleasure in causing suffering to others and is highly skilled in executing murders.
Her name comes from her distinctive red hair and her cruel, bloody nature. Some key things to know about Orin the Red:
- Bard Abilities: Orin is a bard, granting her magical abilities focused on illusion, deception, and control.
- Shapechanger: She can transform her appearance at will to disguise herself or slip away unnoticed.
- Sensory Powers: Her senses of sight, sound, and smell are enhanced, helping her track prey.
- Combat Prowess: She is a master of stealth assassination and skilled with numerous weapons.
- Magic User: Orin wields powerful illusion, enchantment, and necromancy spells.
- Elusive Nature: Her shapeshifting makes her difficult to identify, track or pin down.
Orin the Red is an unpredictable force of chaos driven by her sadistic desires. Those who cross paths with her must be prepared for a formidable foe.
Orin the Red’s Abilities
Orin the Red wields an impressive array of abilities that make her a dangerous opponent. Here are her key capabilities:
Shapeshifting
Orin’s mastery over shapeshifting allows her to assume any humanoid appearance. This grants several advantages:
- Disguise: Orin can mimic others to infiltrate areas and get close to targets.
- Escape: By altering her form, Orin can slip away when outmatched.
- Anonymity: Shapeshifting makes it almost impossible to track Orin based on appearance.
Related: Lash of Bhaal BG3 Guide
Enhanced Senses
Orin possesses heightened senses of sight, smell and hearing. This grants her several benefits:
- Perception: Orin’s senses allow her to notice hidden enemies and dangers.
- Tracking: She can use smell and sound to follow prey, even in darkness.
- Awareness: Orin is difficult to catch off guard thanks to her sensory abilities.
Combat Abilities
In addition to magic, Orin the Red is a master of stealth and weapon combat:
- Stealth: Moving silently and attacking from the shadows.
- Melee Weapons: Skilled with daggers, shortswords, rapiers.
- Ranged Weapons: Deadly accurate with hand crossbows, darts, throwing daggers.
- Evasion: Orin excels at dodging incoming attacks with grace.
- ** Opportunity Attacks**: Orin can make reactions to strike those who provoke attacks.
Spellcasting
As a bard, Orin has strong illusion, enchantment, and necromancy abilities:
- Illusions: Spells likePhantasmal ForceandMajor Imageconfuse foes with false visions.
- Enchantments: Allows mind influencing withSuggestion,Charm Person, etc.
- Necromancy: Can raise undead viaAnimate Deadand injure/kill usingFinger of Death.
- Buffing Magic: Orin usesBlessandCure Woundsto empower allies.
Orin’s spells make her incredibly versatile on the battlefield. She can disable, distract or destroy enemies with her magic.
Recommended Builds
While not currently a playable character, optimized bard builds give insight into mastering Orin the Red:
Offensive Caster
This build focuses on controlling foes and ranged damage:
- Skills: Max out Persuasion, Deception, Stealth and Perception.
- Cantrips: Booming Blade, Minor Illusion, Vicious Mockery
- Spells: Heat Metal, Shatter, Hypnotic Pattern, Fear, Fireball
- Weapons: Hand Crossbow for ranged attacks.
- Stats: Prioritize Dexterity, Charisma and Constitution.
Support/Utility Caster
This build buffs allies and hinders foes:
- Skills: Perception, Stealth, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand.
- Cantrips: Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Friends.
- Spells: Healing Word, Faerie Fire, Calm Emotions, Suggestion, Polymorph
- Weapons: Rapier and hand crossbow.
- Stats: Focus on Dexterity, Constitution and Charisma.
Stealth Assassin
A deadly stealth killer relying on backstabs:
- Skills: Stealth, Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Investigation
- Cantrips: Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Message
- Spells: Invisibility, Blindness, Hold Person, Silence
- Weapons: Daggers, hand crossbows, shortswords.
- Stats: Prioritize Dexterity, Charisma and Constitution.
Regardless of build, remember to use Orin’s shapeshifting and stealth to get the drop on enemies and strike from the shadows when possible. Her magic arsenal is ideal for debilitating groups of enemies before moving in for the kill. Play smart, strike hard, and vanish into the darkness.
How to Play Orin the Red
While not currently playable, here is some guidance on mastering Orin the Red based on her abilities:
- Shapeshift Strategically: Use disguises to infiltrate enemy camps, then sneak attack.
- Hide and Seek: Use stealth, invisibility and disguises to conceal your position.
- Divination Spells: Locate enemies so you can ambush them.
- Control Spells: Immobilize groups usingHypnotic Pattern,Hold Person etc.
- Necromancy: Have a personal army of undead viaAnimate Dead.
- Kiting: Use ranged spells and attacks to whittle down melee enemies.
- Silent Spellcasting: Subtle Spell metamagic helps you avoid being heard while invisible.
- Escape Routes: Have backup exits from any situation if outmatched.
The key is using guile and preparation to ensure you control the engagement. Shapeshift into trusted faces, ambush with your party, control the battlefield with disabling spells, then ruthlessly execute your hapless foes.
Is Orin the Red Good?
While possessing an impressive array of abilities, Orin the Red is decidedly evil. Here is why she cannot be considered good:
- Sadism: Orin enjoys inflicting suffering on others simply for the pleasure of it.
- Murderous: She directly takes lives solely for personal gain or satisfaction.
- Manipulative: Orin uses her magic and abilities to control and deceive others.
- Vengeful: She pursues petty grudges and slights with cruel vengeance.
- Merciless: Orin shows no mercy to those she targets, killing indiscriminately.
- Selfish: Her actions ultimately serve her own ends above all else.
Though a cunning strategist and talented magician, Orin uses her gifts for solely selfish ends without regard for morality. Her penchant for cruelty and deception means she cannot be considered a good person. Tread carefully if your path crosses Orin the Red’s!
Where to Find Orin the Red
Since she is not a playable character, Orin the Red’s exact location is unknown in Baldur’s Gate 3. However, based on her abilities and nature, certain places are more likely:
- The Slums: Orin may hide among beggars and urchins, preying on the vulnerable.
- Sewers: A shapeshifter could easily move unnoticed through underground tunnels.
- Catacombs: If she experiments with undeath, catacomb crypts are ideal.
- Temple Ruins: Decaying temples provide isolation for her dark rituals.
- Back Alleys: Perfect for ambushing unsuspecting citizens in her murderous quests.
- The Underdark: This subterranean realm offers many places to strike from the darkness.
When exploring such locations, be vigilant for telltale signs of Orin’s presence. If you find red hairs, hear lyrical humming, notice fresh corpses with surgical precision kills, or feel unseen eyes upon you, Orin may be lurking nearby! Exercise extreme caution if you suspect she is near.
Orin’s Mysterious Backstory
Little is officially known of Orin’s origins and history. However, here are some leading theories based on clues:
- Orphan Origins: She may have lost parents at a young age, fueling her detachment from society.
- Bandit Upbringing: Potentially taken in by bandits who taught skills of stealth and murder.
- Rejected Bard: Could have been expelled from the College of Lore for sinister talents.
- Seeks Vengeance: Perhaps she pursues those who wronged her in early life.
- Dark Patron: May have made a warlock pact with an evil entity seeking chaos.
- Forever Alone: With no kin and inability to trust, she lives in isolation.
- Dislikes Authority: Resents laws and society’s rules which she then subverts.
Orin remains an enigma, her sordid past shrouded in mystery. But uncovering her origins could provide insight into defeating this shapechanging terror.
Evaluating Orin as a Character
Is Orin a good character? While powerful, cunning and complex, she cannot be considered morally good based on her murderous sadism and deception. However, she makes for an excellent villain that challenges players.
How to get Orin the Red? She is not currently available as a playable character or companion. She exists only as a dangerous NPC adversary. However, future updates to Baldur’s Gate 3 may allow recruiting her or provide more details on how she operates.
For now, Orin the Red lurks in the shadows as a deadly threat. Understanding her skills and motives is key to being prepared for any potential encounters with this formidable foe. Tread carefully in the dark corners of the world if you wish to avoid becoming the next victim of Orin!
Orin the Red’s Class Builds & Playstyle
While not playable, examining optimal bard class builds provides insights into Orin the Red’s capabilities and recommended playstyle:
Bard College – College of Whispers
This sinister bard college perfectly matches Orin’s abilities:
- Psychic Blades:Orin can imbue attacks with psychic damage.
- Words of Terror:Frightens foes with unsettling words.
- Mantle of Whispers:Orin can steal a creature’s shadow and gain useful knowledge.
Feats
- Actor:Enhance disguise ability and mimicry skill.
- Skulker:Improves stealth and ability to hide.
- Mobile:Extra speed and disengaging lets Orin weave through combats.
- Alert:Almost impossible to catch Orin off guard.
- Lucky:Useful for succeeding on critical spell saves or landing a vital blow.
Fighting Style
As a college of whispers bard, Orin would likely take the Two-Weapon Fighting style to dual wield weapons while Spellcasting, capitalizing on her ability to get close to enemies unnoticed before striking.
Spells Known
Charm Person and Disguise Self allow Orin to manipulate others and infiltrate.
Heat Metal and Phantasmal Force provide dangerous offensive control options.
Shadow Blade conjures a deadly melee weapon from darkness energy.
Greater Invisibility lets Orin turn invisible for long periods to set up assassination opportunities.
Dimension Door allows teleporting away if outmatched or to appear behind enemies unexpectedly.
Tactics
Orin prioritizes deception and guile over direct confrontation. She uses stealth, illusion magic and charm abilities to manipulate foes and remain undetected. This allows her to attack from surprise for massive damage when the time is right, then escape safely.
She can weave through melees using cunning movement and dimension door, precisely striking weakened targets before vanishing again. Her Psychic Blades and Shadow Blade make her as dangerous up close as at range.
A true master of exploitation, Orin is never without advantages or exits, bending every situation to her will!
Orin the Red’s Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Shapechanger: Her shapeshifting ability offers great utility.
- full caster: Her high level bard spells are extremely versatile.
- Skilled Deceiver: Expert in deception, stealth, manipulation.
- Thrives in Shadows: The darker the better for Orin.
- Intelligent: High mental stats make Orin clever and perceptive.
- Charm Person: This spell synergizes well with her trickery.
- Psychic Blades: Ignore armor and deal mental damage.
Weaknesses
- Low HP: Like most bards, Orin cannot take much punishment.
- No armor: Her AC without magic is lacking, so she prefers stealth.
- Self-Preservation: She will flee rather than die for her cause.
- Arrogance: Her pride can make her underestimate foes.
- Light: Illumination dispels darkness that Orin requires for stealth.
- Divination Magic: Spells like See Invisibility and Zone of Truth foil her tricks.
- Charmed Immunity: Creatures immune to charm shut down her manipulation.
Orin mitigates her weaknesses by avoiding direct confrontation. She exploits stealth, preparation and subterfuge to defeat enemies before they can exploit her vulnerabilities. Those who survive her initial onslaught quickly regret underestimating this master manipulator.
Orin the Red’s Best Spells – August 22, 2023
These bard spells perfectly complement Orin the Red’s abilities:
- Charm Personlets Orin trick and manipulate humanoids.
- Disguise Selffacilitates infiltration through shapeshifting.
- Silent Imagecreates distractions and confusion.
- Invisibilityallows sneaking and stealth assassination.
- Blurimpedes enemies seeing and targeting the real Orin.
- Mirror Imagefurther obfuscates the real Orin amid false duplicates.
- Suggestionallows Orin to covertly control enemies.
- Fearcan cause mass fleeing of enemies.
- Greater Invisibilityextends invisibility to 10 minutes, allowing prerequisites for her next sneak attack.
- Dimension Doorgives Orin an escape route if situations turn against her favor.
Spells like Heat Metal, Phantasmal Force and Vicious Mockery also let Orin wreak havoc on the battlefield while avoiding melee combat. Overall, spells that facilitate trickery, stealth and battlefield control are optimal choices for this master manipulator.
Uncovering Orin’s Backstory
As Orin the Red is not a playable character, the full details of her background are a mystery yet to be revealed in Baldur’s Gate 3. However, some potential sources for uncovering more of her sinister backstory include:
- Investigating murder scenesshe left behind for clues about her methods and motives. What do the killings say about her psychology?
- Capturing and interrogatingone of her minions or allies. What made them join her cause? How do they fear her?
- Consulting divinersto mystically glimpse key moments in Orin’s past that shaped her.
- Seeking out bardsfrom the College of Lore who may have trained Orin before she turned to evil. What tragedy led her down this path?
- Researching historical recordsin libraries for any mentions of similar shapeshifters who pursued dark purposes.
- Exploring ruinswhere she may have conducted rituals for artifacts containing memories or stories about her beginnings. The darkest places may reveal her darkest secrets.
Uncovering Orin’s history may provide the key to anticipating her next moves and exploiting any weaknesses. It may also reveal if any spark of redemption remains within Or
