I seldom use Lae or Astarion. You don't really need a rogue, when being able to open locks and disarm traps yourself, and I find all kind of soelkcasting too powerful, to use a simple fighter instead. SH heals my characters in fight and is responsible for crowd control, Gale and Wyll are my hard hitters together with my own warlock. Both my Tiefling and Wyll use their imp familiar too.
I try to sometimes swap Lae and Astarion in for story purpose (and in Laes case for the Githyanki patrol), but I feel better in fights with my spellcaster.
I'm contemplating doing a wizard lady next playthrough, so that I can leave Gale a bit more in camp and use one of the two underused companions a bit more.
