Wait, Volo is a merchant? I've never come across the dialogue option to trade with him. I'm going to have to look into that, might be a bug or I'm just wildly unobservant. I was wondering why he kept hanging around the camp other than wanting to stick that clothing needle in my eye

Yeah, it's nice to get that Action Surge feat and be able to launch an extra round of Eldritch Blast. Since they start out with such low Strength I spec Dexterity up a bit (along with Charisma) and concentrate on finesse weapons, bows and throwables. If you want more melee, Pact of the Blade for Warlock overcomes the strength deficit and combines nicely with a Warlock/Fighter, especially with the extra attack you get later on (level 5 I think). You can end up having an Infernal fighter that can spam something like 5 attacks if you do it right by incorporating the Battle Master subclass for Fighter. I'm still trying to find the right balance to include the Arcane knight sub-class to add more magic. I keep forgetting that I can respect at any time. Really need to play around with that more. I've noticed in the forums a lot of folks suggest 3 levels of Warlock, 2 Levels of Fighter and then go the Sorcerer route. Haven't tried that yet though.

I haven't checked online, but it seems like Rogue and Warlock might mesh well too.

Volo is a trader IF you start the conversation about the parasite with him, and then the option to trade should appear. It's NOT a dialogue option, but shows up as an action like trading would for random characters in the game, so on the bottom of the screen.

Ah, that's another option I always forget about. Thanks!

So, I'm now making my way through the Shawdowlands and am really starting to "see" the limitations of playing on the Steam Deck; some items are impossible to pick up because of the size of the screen. Everything is so small and crowded individual items are impossible to focus on. It took me half an hour to push a button last night!

I know there's a way to pick up everything in sight, though; I did it once but for the life of me can't work out how I did it.

I bought a Steam Deck too, and have also found it difficult to play some games. Games need to be designed specifically for small screens, like mobile games for phones, for them to guarantee to be playable on small screens. But games for PC and consoles are generally made for larger screens like PC monitors and TVs. TVs used to have small screens (20 inches or less), so the old console games from that era were designed accordingly. But nowadays, 30+ to 50+ inches are common for TVs.

I did finally work out how to pick up small items, and it's great! Holding down the A key on my Deck brings up every single interactable item in the immediate vicinity and allows you to pick up what you want, open crates, and get to that pesky button or lever that you can't quite reach. It's made the game so much easier.

I'm on my way to Moonrise towers, having wiped out the Gith and scammed their egg away from them. Lady Edith lies dead on the ground and looted, since her plans were despicable.

Regarding the Steam Deck, I find that simpler games like Fallout 76 and Metro 2033 were great on the deck because there's not so much small detail. BG2 and Veilguard play well but it's difficult to see what's what.

I sold her the Owlbear egg instead. It takes a Persuasion check, but I guess that's the middle of the road choice.

My party is in the same vicinity. Just left Last Light and hit the first shadow denizens. Doing a couple side quests to buff XP up a bit before moving on to Moonrise. Shadowheart still seems to be the enemy's "alpha strike" target about 50% of the time. I'm guessing because she's a cleric? My Warlock/Fighter-Eldritch knight is doing well at 3 levels each, Eldritch Blast is too fun especially with Action Surge from the Fighter levels. I went the extra fighter level to get Eldritch Knight thinking the spells would be useful, but now I think I get why folks who want spells multiclass in Sorcerer rather than going the extra fighter level. I might respec at 7 with that progression to see how it turns out.

Okay, then my next character will be evil Drow.

Giving Astarion levels of Fighter has turned him into a killing machine. I still don't play Karlach properly, I guess.