Tancred

I might also be able to manage a voice like that. I'd certainly like to try, at any rate.

Yeah, as the game stands at the moment - but the key thing to remember about this is that is can be changed. Why was Imoen's soul taken? Easy.

Irenicus' promise to Bodhi was to give her a soul, and that'd be something he could easily do once his plans were complete and he attained divinity. But when he captured a Bhaalspawn, he also captured a number of that Bhaalspawn's companions, and took the opportunity to further refine his extraction process under controlled conditions - in this case, on Khalid and, later, Imoen. Although Khalid was a failure, Irenicus was so successful with Imoen - and Bodhi so insistent - that Irenicus decided taking Imoen's soul while he had so much spare time in Spellhold wasn't such a bad idea. It would both allow him to road-test his process and keep Bodhi's impatience in check.

There we go! Change a few dialogues to fit this new explanation, and bingo.

Immy is a Bhaalspawn. I dislike that bit. A lot.

That's probably the simplest thing to fix ever. All it would take is rewriting dialogs. Imoen being a Bhaalspawn is redundant as far as the plot goes. Nowhere is it said that Bodhi must have a divine soul; just a soul.

My own position on Alianna/Gorion - that there's a big untold story there - would make me want to reconcile BG1 and TOB on this. But I'm prepared to concede it's needlessly overdramatic; all it would take is a tweak of the revelatory sequence in which you meet your Mother's shade, making her into a Harper and a prisoner-sacrifice at the Temple, rather than a priestess and willing participant. Her story would be told alongside Gorion's rather than opposing it.

e.g.

GORION: I killed the priestess!
ALIANNA: He slew me! Your mother!

would become

GORION: I killed the priestess!
ALIANNA: But too late to save me...

etc, etc. The actual dialog text would have to be looked at, but I refuse to believe there's anything there that would prevent such a rewrite from being smooth enough to pass muster. Even if it's to the extent of having Alianna totally revoiced.

It's true that I wrote the character of Yeslick as a kind of lovable, crusty old coot, and I certainly didn't see any possibility of a romance during the time of BG1. However, there's a few things to consider.

Firstly, that a BG2 Yeslick would now have an easier, slightly lighter spirit; he no longer carries the burden nor the blame for his family's dishonour, having exterminated the guilty parties. He might become a little less stern towards those of a good heart.

Secondly, age aside, Yeslick is a dwarf of staunch values, great commitment to his god, great loyalty to his clan and theirs, and with skills as both a warrior and a smith. In short, if he were a century and a half or so younger, he'd be the kind of dwarf a a dwarf girl wouldn't be ashamed to take home to meet Mum and Dad.

And lastly that although Yeslick naturally considers himself older and wiser than any other NPC around, he might have a similar attitude towards the PC as, for example, Jahiera - a guardian/charge relationship would have subtly progressed into something more equal. Not VERY equal, but it's getting there.

EDIT: In fact, here's a thought; if you wanted to base a BG2 Yeslick on the BG1 Yeslick that I wrote, you could signify the change in his character by giving him a subquest of seeking out long-lost family in Amn. In BG1 he was looking to lay the past to rest; in BG2 he'd be looking to find a future.

*snip Black Knight sketch*

That's what happens when your adversary has a magical construct for a body, I guess!