Imo, warlocks don't make great frontliners. They're better put up high, and using the hex(spell)/eldricht blast(cantrip)/agonizing blast(invocation) combo to nuke people from afar. What you're looking for as a frontliner would be a paladin which isn't available yet, maybe an eldricht knight fighter, or a melee ranger. As for Gale, idk how you managed his stats but make sure to max out his intelligence and (same goes for all ranged characters) make sure to give him high ground, the difference is huge. You could use misty step to put him in a better position.
As an aside, nothing beats clerics for support roles. They're not necessarily exclusive healers, since you can prepare new spells every day, and offensively oriented clerics can be really scary.
Guess I'll give the cleric lady another look at then! Thank you for your input. ^_^
About Gale - use magic missile. It's a spell that can't miss, and you can use it to hit multiple targets for small damage or one target for bigger damage.
About Wyll - I wouldn't use him anywhere near the front lines. Wyll needs to spam Eldrich Blast from some place high. In level 3 (I think) he gets teleportation spell. Use it to put him in a spot when he can rain hell.
Astarion - aside from being a little squishy he is very good. I found that it's best to equip him with two weapons.
About your ranger I don't know much, since I didn't really played ranged ranger yet (strangely the ranger right now has a lot of potential as melee fighter for some strange reason). I would say to take horde breaker either way, as it allows you to attack twice per turn if the enemies are close enough to each other.
Magic missile it is... I don't think I even have that ability on Gale if imma be honest, so I'll fix that either next replay or whenever I level so I can swap a spell. Thank you!
I'll probably bench either Wyll or Gale for the cleric lady as soon as I log in.
To your second reply: or I bench them both for the ladies. At this point I probably might as well, cause the only thing useful about them for me right now is sleep (from Gale) and the imp (from Wyll). . _ .
As a fellow ranger player, if you are missing a lot, you might just need to consider trying a build with higher dexterity. Since they don't have a lot of attack spells, most everything they do will rely on finesse melee weapons and with the bow. Without a good starting Dex, I could see them really struggling. Getting True strike as one of your starting bonuses may help. Buffs from companions as well.
For me, I have done a half wood elf hunter ranger and full wood elf beastmaster ranger, both with 16 dex at start and 18 at lvl 4. With that, I haven't had much issue with missing. Because of the good armor too I use my ranger to kind of go where needed and pull enemy attention since he can typically survive a bit better than the squishy rogues and wizards.
I have swapped between using Shadowheart, Laezel, and Astarion for front lines and at least with my ranger Shadowheart or Laezel have felt to work out better. And then I've been using Wyll and gale in the back for long range support.
So. As far as what's worked for me, I'd use someone different than Astarion to manage your frontline, tailor your ranger for movement (especially if you get the misty step amulet) and keep them on the middle ground to go where needed, with your choice of support in the back.
This game definitely has a higher rate if missing and attack chance than DOS2 and unfortunately that means you need to account for that. Unfortunately it's hard to have members good at multiple things.
(Side note: make sure you are not using the gloves of power unless going the related story route and not doing Long range attacks when enemies are close to you. Both will make your attack chance suffer)
Thanks for your input! I'll take an extra look at my dex stats. I just ran with the recommended stats when I started cause I didn't really know what I could build.
I have not been lucky enough to find much decent loot - I think all of my characters have like... 2-3 green items each (fortunately, all except vampire-dude has an upgraded weapon)? Other than that, it's full stock gear. :x Since you play beast master, which summon do you primarily use?
Warlocks aren't great front liners in this game. They're marginally effective as front liners in 5E base rules, with a specific subclass (Hexblade) being the best choice for melee warlocks (afaik, that won't be in the BG3 game as they are doing PHB classes/archetypes and hexblade is in a supplemental 5e book called "Xanathar's Guide to Everything").
You COULD get away with your warlock and gale in the party, though it's magical overkill. If you did that, I'd put Astarion and Shadowheart in the party. Astartion is one of the best damage dealers in EA (especially with the thief archetype and dual wielding light finesse weapons). Shadowheart can get enough AC to manage frontline aggro, while Astarion can be used to focus damage on whomever is attacking shadowheart or will be in position to do so next round. Shadowheart would generally want to either boost her AC or bane attackers if she's acting as a frontliner, and Astarion would either make a sneak attack plus two bonus attacks with the offhand OR sneak attack + dash/jump/hide every round. Your lock would target high priority enemies and gale would fill in the blanks witih crowd control or targetted attacks to keep shadowheart from getting overwhelmed.
Alternatively, your 'lock, Gale, Shadowheart and Lae'zel would work incredibly well.
So far, I've found that if you use the skills of your team to compliment each other, almost any class combo will be effective in combat. You just have to play to your team's strengths and weaknesses and use the other game systems to your advantage when needed (like sending every explosive barrel you come across to camp, sneaking into position and transferring them to the player in position from camp through other PC's to set up insta kill traps for encounters that are too hard with your chosen group)
Personally, so far I've found any combination of warlock + wizard to be magical overkill that leaves blank spots in party makeup. Picking one or the other seems the best way to get yourself a balanced party and cover all your bases. I think there was ONE time when I played a warlock build (with laezal, astarion and shadowheart) where I had to switch out a party member for gale so I could access a spell he had that I didn't have as a scroll on my 'lock. And that was when I discovered an alternate path in to the goblin camp that required feather fall.
I see your point! I'll adjust accordingly ^_^ (the first part of your comment does not make much sense to someone not familiar with the system though
*newbie* But I did get the message of double caster = overkill, try something else xd )
I found Wyll to be the least useful of my companions, however if you do use him (I tend to take him with me to goblin camp as it's kinda his mission), it's a good idea to pick up Misty step, which is also a must for Gale (and fun for Astarion actually).
As for Gale - take up magic missiles and depending of what you're fighting rotate between lvl I and II (you can also divide them which is amazing for goblins). You can also get a necklace in underdark which makes magic missiles truly amazing.
Astarion for me works best when dualwielding two shortswords and using backstabs, is also decent with bow, make sure to keep him "happy"
And then I'd probably take Lae'zal over Shadowheart (although characterwise I prefer SH by far) as she's quite amazing with that greatsword.
Also for goblin Camp - high ground and explosives FTW
Gotcha, I will probably bench both Wyll and Gale and try both Lae'zal and Shadowheart (I've saved proper gear and equipment, so that is not an issue) - currently I feel like Astarion is doing much more for me than they are, so he gets to stay... For now. I'll experiment further.
Thanks for your input, folks! Much appreicated! :]
