Safiya

Safiya (female true neutral transmuter/red wizard) is a companion in the Mask of the Betrayer campaign.

"By almost any standard, Safiya would be considered beautiful - golden-skinned, her features delicate, with dark, almond-shaped eyes. Yet her bald head and graceful tattoos mark her as a Red Wizard of Thay, and for this, most outside her homeland would regard her with fear. Her smiles are shy, when they appear, as if she is unused to them - but you sense a resilience beneath, born of an unforgiving land..."

Gameplay[]

Safiya starts at level 17 with STR 9, DEX 15, CON 14, INT 19, WIS 11, CHA 14. Safiya is specialized in transmutation, much like Sand. As a transmuter, she is dedicated to building and shaping objects, and so she already has most of the crafting feats and already has considerable skill points invested in craft alchemy and craft weapon skills. She also comes with an enchanter's satchel and shaper's alembic, allowing portable crafting.

Safiya is the only companion with a prestige class, though as she already has 10 levels of Red Wizard, she can only continue to level as a wizard. Her extra specialization in Transmutation through both classes means she's restricted from both Conjuration or Illusion.

Tips

As is usually the case for dedicated arcane casters with a prestige spell-casting class, Safiya is well suited for the practiced spellcaster feat; it should be selected as soon as possible.
For survivability, premonition and all the different types of armor buff are available through spells and items, although the shield spell must be picked up while leveling. Note that as an early Red Wizard Transmuter, Safiya has no access to Illusion spells, albeit any Transmutation spells are increased in power.
She is almost always best off hanging back from the fray. Although she can make use of a crossbow or sling, a staff with good (wizard) bonuses is often a better choice.
Make sure your choice of crafted items complements her buffs, if you decide to bring her with you.
If Kaji is your only thief, you can buff him with Greater Heroism and use Greater Cat's Grace on him from the armor Shroud of the Leopard (found in Okku's Barrow) to help him open locks.
Consider taking 10 points of Tumble for +1 AC and immunity from attacks of opportunity; Safiya has no shortage of skillpoints.

Mask of the Betrayer[]

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Safiya is an instructor at the Academy of Shapers and Binders. Her mother, Nefris, is the headmistress of the academy. In contrast to most Red Wizards, Safiya has little interest in power-grabs like the other "despots" of Thay, instead focusing on her scholarly pursuit of the arcane arts. She enjoys building constructs and using transforming magics, and is very fond of Kaji, her homunculus familiar, one of her earliest creations.

Safiya was told by her mother to travel to the Bear God's Barrow in Rashemen, retrieve the PC from the lower barrow and protect him/her from harm and take the player to see Lienna in Mulsantir. She was not told the full extent of why the player was buried in a cave, only that he/she would be there under binding runes. She was astonished that this person was from the Sword Coast, with a open cut in the chest, and claimed a weapon shard was in there.

They climbed out the barrow, and were confronted by a wolf spirit named Nakata, who was disturbed by the spirit eater's revival. The dormant hunger flared and an incarnation suddenly devours the telthor, which seemingly healed the chest wound completely. Safiya did not know what to make of this....or anything else about the person's current state. Nearing the exit, Safiya began to experience sudden auditory hallucinations, but passed it off as the effects of the spirits. However, Okku had awakened and wasn't planning on allowing the PC or Safiya to leave the barrow. The bear god called in telthor minions and was seemingly banished by the two after a fight.

Arriving in Mulsantir, Safiya disguised herself as a peasant due to the fear the Rashemi have of Red Wizards. They arrived in the Veil Theater, only to find it under attack by a group of Red Wizards. There, the leader of the attack, Khai Khmun, spilled all the details, claiming he was ordered by Araman to kill Lienna and eventually Safiya, and gloated over the fact that Nefris was slain. Enraged, Safiya and the player finished them off. Lienna, now a charred skeleton apparently by her own hand in the shadow Veil, was a dead-end. Safiya was crushed by the possible death of her mother, and decided to fulfill her last request by protecting the PC.

They soon learned from the wychlaran Sheva Whitefeather that Okku arrived at the gates with the spirit army, and is now out for their blood. Safiya deduces that the witches are detaining the Veil Theater actors during this situation, and they will need to deal with the angry bear god - again - before they can hope to learn more about Lienna's activities.

After (potentially) recruiting Gannayev-of-Dreams and Kaelyn the Dove, they faced the spirit army. When Okku yielded in defeat, the hunger re-emerged, and the player must either give in or restrain it. Regardless of Okku's fate, he reveals the grim fact the PC is now a Spirit Eater, and is a threat to the land, spirits, and ultimately himself/herself.

In search of answers, the player eventually learned that both Lienna and Nefris visited the Slumbering Coven, and from the sleeping hags that the curse is from the (now dead) Myrkul, a long dead god, and the answers lie in the Academy of Shapers and Binders. Returning to Thaymount, the situation is dire as it is revealed Nefris was indeed dead and many bodies litter the halls, even as classes continue. With the help of Safiya's mentor Master Djalfi, they manage to unlock a mysterious door in the headmistress' tower and discovered a portal to the Astral Plane. Within the infinitesimal void was a god-isle of Myrkul, the only remnant of the dead god. Myrkul revealed that the curse was his punishment to Akachi for the Betrayer's Crusade against the Wall of the Faithless, and revealed Araman was Akachi's brother. He has had a geas on Araman for all these centuries, in order to stop the Acadamy's Founder from ending the curse.

(In the Steam version of MOTB, a variation on this plot is possible. Meeting with Araman before going through the portal to Myrkul's god-isle, with certain diplomatic conversation decisions, Araman admits that he no longer desires to pursue this vendetta. He leaves and the remainder of the Red Wizards attack. This results in the opponents blocking the way to the Founder being identified as Myrkul's followers, not Araman.)

A nearby portal led them to the Founder's sanctum, where Araman was closing in on her. After confronting and killing Araman, they encountered the Founder herself. Safiya initially thought the woman was her mother alive and well, but then realized the truth: she, Lienna, and Nefris were in fact aspects of the Founder. She had created these three daughter aspects out of her soul to help end Akachi's curse, who was now nothing more than faceless hunger. Out of singular love to Akachi, she had the player removed from Merdelain, removed the shard, and placed in the barrow. Safiya's auditory hallucinations were actually a psychic guidance from the Founder, Nefris, and Lienna. Safiya was "all that was best in her" and they kept her safe from Araman.

The Founder gave the player the fully reformed Silver Sword of Gith, stating it will open the Betrayer's Gate to the Fugue Plane, and the solution to the curse lies where it began: the Wall of the Faithless, where the player's soul was displaced by the curse.

The player is then presented the option of killing the Founder in revenge, or sparing her life. If the player chooses the kill the Founder, Safiya will beg the player to reconsider. If the player goes through it anyway, Safiya will be utterly disgusted, and unless the PC's influence was very high and didn't devour the Founder's soul, Safiya will try to kill the player in a rage. If the founder is spared, she will remain with the player until the end. If the player spares the Founder, Safiya starts a conversation before entering the Betrayer's Gate. If the player reciprocates her love, the Romance Feat, Safiya's Love, is gained (+35 spell resistance, +2 Wis).

NWN2 SS 123120 230811 — Safiya (in disguise) with Kaji

Safiya[]

If player has a romance with Safiya, is neutral or good aligned, the Curse is lifted, and Okku is recruited: Safiya spends the rest of her days traveling with the player and eventually returns with him to West Harbor where they are married.
Possibly a bug, but if the player has a romance with Safiya, is neutral or good aligned, the Curse is lifted, and Okku is recruited but isn't present in the party at endgame (because of you parting ways with him), her fate will be somewhat of a mixture of a non-romance and a romance fate: she will return to the academy, kill the students who found about the Founder's Sanctum, retake the Founder's mission and marry the PC in West Harbor, which is kind of contradictory.
If player has a romance with Safiya, is neutral or good aligned, the Curse is lifted, and One of Many is recruited: Safiya spends the rest of her days traveling with the player and eventually returns with him to West Harbor where they are married. But shortly after her soul is devoured by One of Many. The player hunts One of Many down and manages to corner it in the Shadow Plane where it pleads for it's life with Safiya's voice but to no avail. The player never again takes on another lover.
If player does not have a romance with Safiya (or is female), is neutral or good aligned, the Curse is lifted: Safiya continues to go on adventures with the player but eventually returns to the Academy and drives out her rivals. She takes over as headmistress and turns the academy into a place that discourages betrayal, deceit and slavery and has become an anomaly among Red Wizard Academies.
If player has a romance with Safiya, is neutral or good aligned, takes Akachi soul into his own: Safiya stays with the player in the City of the dead where both now act as guardians for Kelemvor.
If player does not have a romance with Safiya (or is female), is neutral or good aligned, takes Akachi soul into his own: with medium influence, she takes over as headmistress and quietly kills any students who found out about the founder. With high influence, she takes over as headmistress and turns the academy into a place that discourages betrayal, deceit and slavery and has become an anomaly among Red Wizard Academies. If the Founder is killed, she returns to the Academy and gathers powerful allies to her side to drive out all her rivals. She then rules the school as an evil headmistress who has now no longer believes in trusting others.
If player has a romance with Safiya, is evil aligned: Safiya and the player returns to the realms where the lovers unleash unspeakable horrors upon the realm. (One of Many recruited) But shortly after her soul is devoured by One of Many. The player hunts One of Many down and manages to corner it in the Shadow Plane where it pleads for its life with Safiya's voice but to no avail. The player never again takes on another lover.
If the curse is not lifted: Safiya returns to the Academy and continues the Founder's work in finding a cure for Akachi.
If the player is evil (or wasn't able to collect all mask fragments) and chose to master the hunger and claim the spirit-eater power as his own, Safiya attacks the player together with other NPC party members (after some conversations) when the two of them return to the City of the Dead. She is eventually killed by the player.
You can choose to devour Safiya's spirit. You will then receive her essence, which is one of the ingredients needed to craft a very powerful item.

Trivia[]

Safiya was voiced by Julianne Grossman.
In the mirror puzzle at the Thayan academy, if you have her stand in the dais, she will appear exactly the same as she is, but will mistake her own image for her mother.