Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Kinda dissapointed with Halsin.

I know many people will get triggered for this threat name ...
And i sort of understand that he was probably never planned in the first place, but more like added a little later ...

But is there any ACTUAL reason why is he just sitting in the camp basicaly whole Act II. while we are runing around dealing with the exact thing he claim to follow us for? :-/

I mean ... Come on!
What is holding Halsin back to join us as a regular companion right after we free him? O_o

Yeah, I have to agree, he brings nothing new to the table and we already get a druid companion ( that I mostly prefer over him). He starts hitting on you as soon as he becomes a companion and that's it.
I think, they should have kept Helia as companion instead.
To me, Halsin has become a meme character ( and not in a good way) and it seems, most of his fans are unhappy with the romance anyway.
They have worked for Helia for a few years judging by when Chubblot first showed her datamined content, Halsin on the other hand is the one companion, that lacks debth ( can't say much about Minthara, since I don't go down that route).
I'm kind of sorry for the Halsin fans tbh. They were so hyped. Since Helia isn't an option anymore, I hope, they at least fix Halsin up for his fans. In my playthroughs he will be mostly staying in camp because, come on, Jaheira. I nearly fangirled about her as much as Karlach.

He should have never been made into a companion. No matter how much some horny teenager screamed.

So im not the only one who finds it weird.

Sometimes it feels like one day someone enters Swens office ... and the scene was something like this:
Developer: "Hey boss, Twitter shows that people really likes this NPC."
Swen: "Uh-huh ... make it fuckable."
Developer: "Uh-huh ... and?"
Swen: "What do you mean, and? Thats it."

I was genuinely shocked by how much I enjoyed Jaheira. She's a fantastic character and I loved having her around. Honestly I think the best way to have gone about this is to have Halsin as a temporary companion for act 2, since his story has always been connected to there. He should have stayed behind after the resolution of act 2 to help shepherd the area, and Jaheira should have been our only druid companion. As it stands now he doesn't really have much of a plot in act 3 if you're not romancing him. He has a bit of a thing where he talks about if he's cut out for leadership, but that could have been more focused on in act 2 and nothing would change.

Jaheira is pretty good in BG 3 from a writing perspective and it is weird that you get her and Halsin so close to each other, when they have the same class. And since Larian was incredible lazy about stats, they also have the same stats block. Let's not even talk about Minsc's strength score.

That actually sums it up perfectly in regards to Halsin.


And yes, while druid is a good class, we don't need two of them.

There are a lot of features of the writing and characters that feel tacked on as an afterthought. I can think of two possible reasons:

1. Late stage additions, rewrites, or cut content.
2. Limitations in producing cinematics and dialogue to adequately flesh out characters that are not the 6-7 Origins.

I have noticed that the 6 Origin Companions have more depth than all of the NPCs and later companions combined.

Okay, first, no personal comments or throwing shade on folk who did want Halsin as a companion (that's for Ixal, for avoidance of confusion).

Second, I agree Jaheira is cool as f**k and (while admittedly I'm still relatively early in Act 3) it looks Larian have done her proud. She's not a regular party member in my first playthrough, but I'm looking forward to having her around more in a future one.

Third, I'm reserving judgement on Halsin for now but can see where folk are coming from. I would have been happy for Halsin to return to the grove once the curse was lifted, and I'm not entirely convinced yet by him as a character. For one thing, he seems a lot needier and more insecure than I expected, though I guess it shouldn't be a surprise in some ways that he seems to be a big softie At least he hasn't actually hit on my character uninvited (though I am starting to feel in the minority there). I can definitely see why people might view the way he has been implemented in the game as fan service and the poorer for it, but I'll see how the rest of the story goes. And I'm definitely not going to put the responsibility on fans for what is entirely Larian's creative choice.

Fourth, I'd definitely echo the sentiment here that given Larian have made that choice, they need to make it work as well as possible, so if that involves further fleshing out and changes then I hope they'll invest in it. And I agree with Ragnarok that should include letting him join as a companion as soon as he comes to the camp, or at most after a couple of nights' rest to recover from his goblin ordeal.

I agree, the fans of Halsin - and Minthara by the looks of it- seem to have gotten the short stick here. They put so much effort in to get them as companions and then, they are broken, like Minthara obviously is, or doesn't bring anything interesting to the table and even is very much put of character as soon as he becomes a companion like Halsin.
I do hope, that both characters gets fixed and Halsin will maybe get a bit of a rewrite ( and will join sooner as companion). I know, Helia isn't an option anymore, so hopefully, they make the companions, that replaced her, better.
Still I see a problem with having two druids and other classes aren't represented.

I would love for Halsin to join as a companion after the party in Act 1 instead of waiting until Act 2!


It would be great for him to have more banter, too, as he doesn’t seem to have much so far.

I am only in Act 2, but so far the majority of his content doesn’t involve romance, so I am not sure about the criticism there. Maybe people are just talking about Act 3? It is also possible some are missing his Act 2 dialogue because there is no exclamation mark when he has new dialogue.

I don’t have Jaheira in my party yet, but she seems great! Disagree with people who don’t want two Druids, as I am looking forward to having both her and Halsin in my party when I do my single player playthrough. One will focus on wild shape and one on casting spells.


I like the story arcs of some of the origin companions, but I prefer having characters like Halsin and Jaheira in my party as I do quests, so I am really glad they are both companions. It gives more choices for people like me to pick companions based on their preferences!

I am underwhelmed by Halsin as a personality.

He's just a big dumb boy scout. Despite being hundreds of years old and having been in charge of the Grove for a number of them, he is content to sit around in your camp or trail after you like a puppy.

He is chill without being engaging like Karlach. He has a leadership history and age advantage without being a wise advisor like Jahiera. There's nothing of substance to him beyond being a f-boi.

He just joined my party as a companion and he already started making very direct remarks. I'm avoiding thing that could encourage him further like hell, even stuff like asking to get to know him better. And still got some innuendo remarks, really the second he became a companion.

Overall I agree. Unlike Jaheira, there isn't really a character reason for him not joining you immediately. And when he starts not so subtly hit on PC during act2 ending has been a really sudden turn of events.

Get in the line, bear man, entire camp wants a piece of my halfing.

Overall, I find romances in this game to be some of the most invasive I have seen in games - probably, only ME3 could compare. Deadfire was pretty bad at launch as well, but at least companions took no for an answer.

I actually loved this (what a surprise). I thought his doubts and insecurities were quite endearing, I looked forward to every conversation with him. I also love the new "mission" he eventually finds for himself in the city. I love everything about him EXCEPT SHARING that hunk is all mine

We have another thread discussing his romance and people voicing out their disappointments with his romance.

We just want him to be in a mono relationship with our Tav. Hopefully the devs are willing to listen to our feedback on this.

Halsin like Karlach feels incomplete too, after you arrive in ACT3 Halsin lose any purpose, he is just there? At least Karlach got some stuff to solve even if short.

I don't find that surprising at all. Not only was he added by popular demand and never intended to be permanent, but he actually does lose his purpose by act 3. His purpose was solving the shadow curse, and he does that. No other purpose left. He comes with you out of gratitude for helping him

He's still an archdruid upholding the balance of nature and like any druid wants to see the aberration of the absolute and mindflayer plots dealt with. He does not lose a purpose when he has many.

The problem is, they just didn't give him enough hooks to the story in terms of NPC interactions. The main interactions are right before he scolds Kagha and sets things in order for the grove. Those are the only characters besides Thaniel and Artur that interact with him directly. And Thaniel and Artur have a very downsized role. The Harpers on top are wiped out in Act 3, so both him and Jaheira get important NPC hooks removed, but at least Jaheira has Minsc to fall back on as well as being steeped in Baldurian personalities.

We just needed more of the Grove showing up in the later acts and Halsin would have had the interactivity he needed. The shadow druids and the hag covens are a huge missed opportunity to involve him in subplots.

Exactly ...

More like other way around ... there is several reasons for him to NOT stay in your camp, but rather demand to go out with you. :-/

I mean ...
He went with Aradin right?

He demand us to search trough Goblin camp, then trough Underdark, then trough Dark Justiciars stronghold (known as Grymforge) ... while he is sittin in our camp, waiting for us to report, just so he can throw us another meaningless tidbit about what he knew this whole time?

Then we arive to Shadow Cursed lands ... and instead of "hey we are finaly here, let me go with you and start my real work" he is still just like "keep searching, underling ... if you find anything, report back imediately ... i shall sit here and read a book meanwhile, bcs this whole shitshow is my responsibility". :-/

Im sory Halsin, but they made you quite shitty person. :-/

//Edit:
But that is not the only problem i have with Halsin ...
My curent character went kinda extreme way, and decided to just go assassinate Kagha, in order to protect her Kin ...
So, as the fight started, i quite litteraly massacred every single Druid in Groove ... there was not single survivor (except for Tieflings, ofc).

And yet, as i saved him ... he thanked me for helping the Groove ...
What help is he talking about? O_o

And why is he pissed off, when i join Minthara and massacre them all exactly same way?