Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Companion Variety

Why the hell is basically every origin companion either a human or an elf? Feels like a massive downgrade compared to Divinity 2.

Yeah, I miss the small races, especially the cut Helia.
I like most of the companions, they are great ( I don't use Minthara and am not a fan of what they did with Halsin), but I would have liked a bit more variety.
And maybe instead of Halsin as a second druid Helia the halfling bard or maybe a monk companion.

Elves are the best, and Halsin is the best elf!

It's a pity Halsin and Minthara are mutually exclusive. Wish there was a way to make her fail and get jailed and then change her mind and recruit her in Moonrise.

We could have Alfira as a bard companion and maybe Barcus Wroot as an Arcane Trickster/Sorc character.

Minsc should be recruitable much earlier.

Would be lying if I said it never crossed my mind that there are 2 humans and 2 elves, but it is what it is. Would've been a lot cooler if each race with a unique class was represented just like they were in DOS2, as one of my favorite things about it was learning all of their unique cultures and norms.

Unfortunately it's not just Origin companions that lack variety, they also oversaturated the camp itself with two druids. Why does Halsin exist when Jaheira is a druid herself... and to make matters worse both are Elves, so we're now up to 4 elves. Instead of Halsin they could have used Nettie to fill up the Dwarf race and actually have her become someone of note since she's an apprentice only.

Meanwhile on Minthara's side... you lose 4 companions. Really awesome balance in story quality

With that I can agree. We should have his epicness from end of Act 1 or early in Act 2 at latest. Kicking evildoers in the butt and clawing out their eyes!

The lack of shorter race companions has been a frequent complaint here. In fact I think the last discussion wasn't all that long ago so if anyone has a link do share it. I can't find it right now (I so wish these forums had better search functionality!)

Just in case we can't find previous discussions, I'm firmly in the camp that would have preferred one or more of gnomes, dwarves or halflings (ideally at least two). I'd find it very hard to give up any of the origin characters now that I've got to know them, but personally I'd swap any of the four non-origin companions for a bit more variety in race. Not that I wouldn't want those companion NPCs in the game. I'd even like it if they were temporary companions, and Minsc and Jaheira have exceeded my expectations. It's just that, if I had to choose, I'd choose to have some shorter race companions instead. I know there are many Halsin and Minthara fans here, though, who would take a very different view!

I have the hope, if I mention Helia often enough ( and she also get a lot of love on Reddit) , then maybe she will make a comeback. It obviously worked with the Halsin and Minthara crowd.
I thought, Helia was a given, before Durge was revealed as last origin, so that is why I'm campaigning so late.
And Barcus of course.
And yes, Nettie, she would have been so cool too.

Well, at least im not alone thinking this. I know they were added late, but it honestly it kills me that there's no Dragonborn companion. All i can do now is inhale copium and hope for some kind of DLC.

Preach!

Not that I wouldn't love Barcus as a companion. He has pointy ears, he can have Honorary Elf status.

When you click new game the layout of the UI there with 7 origins feels incomplete just from the look of it, like in terms of visual balance.



There's clearly room for an eighth Origin and a red riding hood werewolf riff would have worked for me.

The layout to me there recommends 12 portraits, which if you included Halsin, Minthara, Minsc and Jaheira would still leave one slot open which should really be a shorty. Not having any shorty companions makes it feel something short of a proper D&D crpg, ya know what I mean hehe. For the Street Fighter II turbo edition they should all just be there looking cool, with cool portraits, even if it doesn't make sense for the whole origin thing lol

And about the camera angle for the smaller races, since, whenever we bring up wanting to have short race companions, someone barges into the thread and declare that it's absolutely not possible at all, because camera angle: my halfling bard is well into act 3 by now and so far, they did a great job with camera angles.

I get why they didn't implement any Dragonborn and half-orc companions since the races weren't developed until later but every time I see the badass appearance of 'canon' Dark Urge I really wish he was a full fledged companion and not just an Origin Character. He has such a great voice in his character introduction and would've been really interesting as a companion especially in an evil playthrough. And obviously a VERY dangerous one to keep around! Which again, could've made for some interesting story bits.