Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Issues with Henchmen (Spoilers)

Since I've been studying the Henchmen in search of one to fill my fourth party slot, I figured I'd go ahead and start a list of the "Problem" Henchies on the list. A lot of them have oddball skills or talents that they literally can't use, at least not in the state they're in (some can make up for this once they go up a level or two, while others cannot). Some of them just have insane numbers, in relation to their level (although that can be seen as the opposite of a "problem" in some cases).

Cain - Level 1 Fighter
Cain somehow has +5(!) in Man-at-Arms. He has no other skills and only starts with one Skill, but still - that's 15 skill points worth of Man-at-Arms at 1st Level. Just a shame that you'll be at least Level 3 by the time you can hire him.

Ragnar Bezerker - Level 1 Fighter
Ragnar has +1 to Charisma, which is a useless skill for Henchies.

Ferdinand - Level 1 Knight
Ferdinand has +1 to Charisma, which is a useless skill for Henchies. Likewise, he has the Politician talent, which is double-useless for Henchies (+2 Charisma, -1 Intelligence).

Claresta - Level 1 Cleric
Claresta has +1 to Charisma, which is a useless skill for Henchies. She, uh, also doesn't actually have any weapon or magic skills, making her pretty bad at the whole cleric thing. Might be why she's still only Level 1.

Lady Svanhild - Level 1 Witch
Lady Svanhild has the Elemental Affinity talent, but no Elemental spells (only Witchcraft). Does Witchcraft actually get any benefit from Elemental Affinity? I mean, you can still give her training in another Elemental school at a later level, but when hired she's stuck with a talent she can't immediately use.

Erinaja Sanguinar - Level 1 Ranger
Erinaja has the Far Out Man talent, but no actual spells or magical abilities. Again, you can mitigate this by training her in magic at a later level, but it's useless for her at 1st level.

Tal'sana - Level 3 Shadowblade
Tal'sana has the same issue as Lady Svanhild - she has the Elemental Affinity talent, but is only trained in Witchcraft. A minor issue, but worth mentioning.

Sanjuro - Level 5 Knight
Sanjuro is designed to be a two-handed weapon fighter (+2 Man-at-Arms, +3 Two-Handed) but she only starts with 7 Strength. This is only enough strength to wield a 1st-level Two-Handed weapon. Not a huge issue, but notable.

Balsam Summerfire - Level 5 Ranger
Balsam has +1 to Charisma.

Lady Elmogara - Level 8 Cleric
Lady Elmogara has +1 to Charisma and the Politician talent. She's also somewhat odd in that she has the Arrow Recovery talent, but no training in Bows or Crossbows (her skills make it clear she's a sword-and-board melee fighter).

Elandril - Level 11 Wizard
Elandril has +1 to Charisma.

Wanderwind - Level 12 Rogue
Wanderwind has +1 to Charisma and the Politician talent.

Vynn - Level 20 Shadowblade
Vynn has +2 to Charisma and the Politician talent.

Trethon - Level 20 Wizard
Trethon has +2 to Charisma.

Khalendra - Level 20 Cleric
Khalendra has +2 to Charisma.

Kislyk - Level 20 Knight
Kislyk has +5(!) to Charisma.


It's also worth noting that there are some definite oddities to the talent selection for certain classes. For example, there are NO rogues or shadowblades with stealth-related talents (Back-Stabber, Guerrilla, Speedcreeper). This can also be seen with Rangers and ranger-specific talents, as well as Mages and their Willpower-oriented talents, and Warriors with their Men-at-Arms oriented talents.

I suspect that this is due to the fact that several of these talents used to be bonuses provided by skills (Man-at-Arms, Way of the Ranger, Way of the Rogue, etc.) but its still worth mentioning. This leads to some very odd Level 12 and 20 builds for henchies, such as a Level 12 Rogue with Bully, Five-Star Diner, Light Stepper, Politician, and Scientist as her talents of choice.

Thanks for the nice list! Where to find Cain? Looks certainly like a nice companion, but I did not meet him so far in my adventures.

Aren't henchmen the ones that backers for the Kickstarter created? If that's the case, then I doubt anything about them will be changed because their creation (stat/skill/etc) were all chosen by their backers, IIRC.

They are indeed created by the backers, but they were created using a version of the character creation system that was then heavily revamped three times over. I assume that the developers made minor tweaks to try to keep them in line with the new character creation systems, but little more than that.

At the very least, I'd assume that the folks who backed high enough to create them might want to submit some alterations using the post-release character creation system.

Oh, and Tracek - Cain is available with all the other Henchies, in the Hall of Heroes at the End of Time.

I have to wonder if someone thought that Charisma affected certain spells or skills. Some systems do that. It's unfortunate that in DOS all magic is based on INT only.

I don't know why there are a bunch of skill-less henchies, i really wish their creators are able to revamp them and make them useable at some point

Well, I mean, they do have other Skills - I didn't bother listing the skills that there are no problems with (like weapon or magic skills). I only listed the characters with skills or talents that were literally useless to them.

Although, yeah, a lot of these characters were CLEARLY designed before they completely revamped the combat system. Rogues that can't backstab, for example, are obviously the result of characters who were originally designed to have the "Way of the Rogue" skill (which was removed in the last round of Beta patches, and replaced with a series of Talents).

I know I have been missing something! Thanks a bunch!

Oh I know you didn't list all the skills, but some of the low level henchies don't have any skills you can list. Those are the one I want revamped

So basically we have a bunch of henchmen that even the designers wouldn't use due to the patch changes. Wonderful. Any chance that they would let the designers Re-design their henchmen so that they are usable? Otherwise I'd like a 'delete' button to remove the henchmen I know I'll never use just so they are not taking up space.

Anecdotally, I ended up grabbing Tal'sana (Level 3 Shadowblade) to fill my fourth slot. She's simple and streamlined, which aren't traits you find with most of the other Henchies at the moment. +2 Single-Handed, +1 Scoundrel, +2 Witchcraft. Her Traits are Bully, Elemental Affinity, and Know-it-All, and her attributes are spread pretty evenly between Dex and Intelligence.

That's the kind of Henchie I like, because they start with a solid base, and I can quickly build them toward the sort of character I want them to be (in this case, a crowd controller who can hinder foes, then finish them off while they're prone/stunned/crippled). The only issue I have with her is the fact that she has Elemental Affinity, but no points in Elemental magic - but that's not much an issue for me in this particular case, since I plan on giving her a few points of Earth magic (for the summon and the oil spell).

I do miss the personality that comes along with having a proper Recruitable Companion, though. But for now, Madora is making up for that. Still, I'm eager to see what other companions Larian ends up adding to the game in the long run.

Madora and Jahan are certifiable nuts! It would be awesome to see other companions but I'd settle for useable henchies for now.

Tal'sana is definitely one of the better ones. I took Salastor because I needed an archer. But it's slim pickings....

Yes, when standing in blood.

The spreadsheet they distributed for building henchmen allowed people to increase the abilities linearly. 5 skill points would get them to level 5 in an ability. I wish they scrapped all henchmen and asked backers to build a new (balanced one).

Except for taking the Leech Talent, which will soak all the blood immediatelly