again, where was that the case in BG1 or 2?
Most of your possible companions looked like random adventurers
here you got two characters (astarion and lisel) that stand out already.
Id personally go with another normal looking character, just a little less... low T like gale.
On a general level, if you read articles on CRPGs, many games have their companions compared to BG1/2 even now. This was one of the high points for companions in these games. It's not just look, though. It's a combination of look, portrait, soundset, character introduction, and execution.
In one of the earlier posts I broke down 3 of the wizards from BG1, Dynaheir, Edwin, and Xan, which all had a strong combination of visual design, sound set, and theme to create very strong characters that were instantly memorable. Xzar is another that was obviously crazy and looked the part. While I didn't like the character, he was anything but ordinary.
Minsc was one who is nothing like a typical ranger. He had a very strong design/theme that has kept him around even into modern games.
If we look at Clerics from BG1, I think the list gets weaker. Viconia is our standout, mainly because she was a drow, which was unusual at the time. She worked for very similar reasons to why Lae'zel is working. They have a different look/culture/behavior to what we normally see in-game. Drow are far more common now, so Viconia may seem mundane, but at the time she was not. Branwen had a plain look, but she had a cool introduction as a petrified statue that you had to hunt down a scroll to save. This made for a memorable/interesting introduction to the character. Tiax was about as over the top as a character can get. Certainly he didn't feel ordinary. I'm not saying the origins characters should have personalities like Tiax or Minsc, but at least they weren't boring or generic.
Khalid is a great example. He's a fighter... but he has this heavy stutter, and he sometimes lacks confidence. The contrast made him complex and interesting. You also knew he was more than he seemed because Gorian sent you to find him if things went bad, which they did.
