Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Companions

Lae'zel is spot on...a meme precedent (If you will) for a rarely seen race.

Now Astarian...he is probably the real reason that Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2 has gone into stasis.

Seriously though, people like him and he is good in combat...but he's no Smiling Jack (or jeanette Voerman, or Damsel, or ...).

I would like a male front line melee companion with a high strength score (who is not feebleminded) and a human female spellcaster with a low strength score. I don't care what their alignments are so long as I can farm their approval.

I actually wouldn't mind more "evil" companions because as far as I know all the remaining companions will be "good."

Or at least give me some way to hire mercs that won't talk over companions and will just tag along as meat shields.

Dude is a vampire. I mean come on.

(Quoting an older interview:)

“There's been a group of people complaining about the fact that the companions are snarky and they have to have an opinion,” Vincke reveals. “But we’ve only put the ‘evil’ and the ‘neutral’ ones out there. We haven't put any of the ‘good’ characters in yet, so I think that will balance that.

“I didn't expect people to be that sensitive to how the companions thought of them, and the fact that we didn't put the ‘good’ characters in there,” he admits. “I didn't see that one coming. In hindsight, it's cool because it means [players] care.”

“I can imagine that we will never manage to find the balance that will please everyone,” says Vincke. But, there is a (sort of) solution: “The game will be moddable eventually, so people will be able to make their mods. I expect multiple flavors of Baldur’s Gate 3 to come out of that. Over time there will be probably a flavor that will appeal hopefully to everybody.”

(Datamining: SPOILERS:)

Good Ranger ()
Good/Neutral Bard ()
Good/Neutral Barbarian ()

(Personal opinion:)
Out of all the companions we got so far, Gale is the one who makes me the most uncomfortable. I can deal with Lae'zel's brutishness, Astarion's chaotic... everything, Shadowheart, and Wyll's lying but Gale is very manipulative. Having to be on guard every time I talk to him is tiring.

He will be kind, polite, and complimentary when you do what he wants and demeaning, threatening (or vile!) when you don't act 'as desired', while still trying to frame his attitude as caring, helpful, or selfless. That's a big warning flag for me. (Irl, I try to interact as little as possible with these sorts of people, even when our ideas align because they are the most damaging to group/team dynamics... I definitely don't need the stress in my free time).

I miss Xzar. :<

Very interesting.
I want to play as bard.
Now comes the question custom char or origin char?
Lets see if we can alter stats or skills if we select an origin char (race and gender will be fixed I guess, so maybe we get something like DOS2)
This was the first time when I considered it positive when I said "Its more like DOS2 and not DnD."

Regarding the ranger:

Pretty much that, correct. Though in theory they could have used the appropriate kit from the "Complete Fighter's Handbook" at least for BG2.

This actualy makes me feel a little worried. :-/

I had no party problems in my Good playthroughs ...

But when i sided with Goblins, i often ended up with only 2 companions left ...
Wich, i hardly need to tell you, kinda sucks especialy this early in game.

Since Wyll, and Gale both leave me ...
I obviously killed Astarion when he attacked me (come on, we are talking here about EVIL playthrough) ...
And all i had left was Shadowheart and Lae'zel wich ... to be completely honest ... i would not be surprised at all, if they would kill each other later in game.

I mean, from roleplay perspective it makes sense that Evil character ends up alone ...
From gameplay perspective it sucks. It sucks a lot!

There are three evil paths in the EA:

(debatably) Lawful Evil: Follow Lae'zel and do everything necessary to get to the Githyanki patrol as fast as possible. It includes: excessive physical violence, intimidation, bullying innocent NPCs, and refusing to help anyone who asks

(mostly) Neutral Evil: Using coercion, Deception, Stealth, and Pickpocketing, lie, cheat, and steal enough money or items to gear up your entire party. Make deals with evil organizations (Zhents) or individuals (Ogres) for profit. From a roleplaying (and in-character) point of view, these are still evil actions.

(full-out) Chaotic Evil: Side with the Goblins/Kill anyone who disagrees with you. It includes: backstabbing, murder, intimidation, massacres, and cannibalism (well, sentients eating other sentient)

An evil party wouldn't necessarily kill Astarion, they would use him, and that's if it even got to blows... his ambush often fails (perception/insight(?) check)) and he just looks pathetic. Lae'zel does basically the same thing on the ship: threatens you with a huge weapon and says "Abomination, this is your end!" (cue tadpole). Compared to that, Astarion's tiny knife is underwhelming.

An evil path can end with a full party, it just wasn't the way you chose to roleplay it.

Look lady (guessing from avatar), i totally want to respect your right to make an opinion ...

But there is little advice:
DONT ever tell anyone what their character is suppose to do, that is up to them ... allways.

And two more things:
Lucky you i gues ...
So far i have 858,2h played ... i dont count, but guess around 30 playthroughs at least ... and so far his ambush failed maybe twice, or thrice.

I believe its perception ... not many of my characters get high Wisdom.

She never get to any threatening ... between me and her blade was still several steppes of place, she was just cautious, while in the hells, shortly after we were tadpoled, shortly after dragon blow up tadpole pool just next to us, and just as i run into her ... i can understand her reaction.
Astarion attacked me ... litteraly, purposefully ... on sunny beach, between flowers and trees, with no enemy or hostile action threatening him anywhere nearby, and he lured me towards him to do exactly that.

Feel free to explain those situations however you want ofc.
But for me, there was huge difference.

Never said it cannot, did i? :P

I outlined three directions players *can* take in the current version of the game (because the developers worked hard to provide several options, even for evil characters), not what they *must* take. The alignments are my own interpretation and how I synthesized and organized the information&options we have in patch8. If you somehow took that as an instruction , an order, or a limitation , that's on you.

I've never met you and I have no interest in dictating anything to you. Less hostility and caps lock would be appreciated.

If this isnt instruction, then tell me what is is.

Less cursive would be appreciated. :P

Oh, dear... bless your pea-picking heart. Fine, I'll indulge you: notice the adverb 'necessarily'? I'll explain what it means: not necessarily — what has been said or suggested may not be true or unavoidable. In context: "wouldn't necessarily kill" - killing is not unavoidable. To put it in simpler words, which you can't possibly start another argument about: You have two options: to kill or not to kill him. If you don't kill him, you can use him. It is a choice which I highlighted.
Hand on heart, I honestly don't care about your ingame choices and I wouldn't waste time trying to control anyone's way of playing. There, is that clear enough?

All I am here for, is to discuss our current companions, possible future companions & any hints we might have about them. And since the OP was worried about the lack of 'good' companions, I provided info about datamined companions with quotes from Sven to support them.

Players like chubblot have done a wonderful job of scouring the game files for info, and since most of that hasn't changed since patch 1 (regarding the number of total companions) odds are good that the total number of full-fledged companions will be 8 (Astarion, Gale, Lae'Zel, Shadowheart, Wyll, ).
From what we know so far, any additional options will come from mercenaries (hired & customized by the player further along the story), mods or player-created 'companions' (as you can do by starting separate instances now).

If we ask nicely enough and often enough, maybe we can convince the devs to provide a single-player version of the multiplayer experience, so those who want to play with a fully custom group, can do so. The idea judoka(OP) mentioned has been brought up many times both here and on reddit so there is interest in this option.
The player might lose out on some quests and lore (where the companions' backgrounds tie in with the main quest) but could optimize their party without having to worry about approval ratings (and possible betrayal).

Yeah, sure, whatever ... i gues that was the reason why you quoted me and start listing things i could have done differently ... "bcs you dont care at all". -_-

That makes perfect sense ...
Glad we made that clear.