Scipio

I haven't played ME3 and doubt if I ever will, but it appears the ending is globally disappointing.

I say well done, Suslik, your guide is a very good overview of how to play either a mage or a sorcerer. It took me quite a few play-throughs to understand the most efficient way to use either a mage or a sorcerer.

I haven't played solo with any class. The best I've done is to get through SoA with myself as a fighter-thief accompanied by my darling Aerie, who becomes a mighty priest-mage at higher levels.

We probably all develop our own sets of strategies. I use similar protection methods to yours, but for offense I do a lot of summoning. From the first skeleton warrior who knocks the stuffing out of mind-flayers, the summoned allies just keep getting better. They substitute very well for the tank NPC if necessary. They often die quite quickly, but by then I've usually knocked down the enemy defences.

I'm not entirely sure what the Big Picture does though. Does it actually add anything to the game?

Hey, Seager. Your heading for this thread starts: "Stupid question but...."
There are NO stupid questions about installing or using mods offered through SHS. If you're not sure about anything in this respect, asking is the obvious, sensible and acceptable thing to do.
Some people may urge you to look for information about a mod on this site before you post a question. That's not always easy. There is such a huge amount of helpful info on SHS that it can be a challenge to find exactly what you're looking for.

Amelyssan is much prettier than the other two.

I played both mods and both were good.

I decided the Imoen romance wasn't incest because she and <CHARNAME> had different mothers, their father is a god who wouldn't have human DNA, and therefore the two Bhaalspawn were as biologically unrelated as any two other random people. That was just a thought that came to me idly, by the way, because the relationship was never an issue for me in a game environment.

The Saerileth romance isn't kiddie porn. The Forgotten Realms echo an era of Western human civilisation when a girl who wasn't married by the age of 15 was a spinster, and marriages were routinely arranged between young teenage first cousins.

I've played as a half-orc and romanced humans, half-elves, elves and a tiefling. Should we stay away from inter-species relationships, which are technically as "creepy" as the Imoen and Saerileth mods?

Heck, I would romance a carrion crawler if it added something new, interesting and well-written to the games I played over and over. They are, after all, JUST GAMES. There was a much higher "porn" content when Janet Jackson's boob slipped out on TV at Superbowl.

** Scipio is a 62-year-old grandfather who considers Madonna to be a young babe. In real life he would no more want to "romance" any teen- or twenty-something than he would take up kick-boxing. Put him in a computer game, however, and he happy assumes the digital persona of a callow swords-and-boards adventurer, a racing driver or a laser-toting commando... because IT'S JUST A GAME, dammit.