Companions - extensive backstories and woven into the plot. 5000000000 lines of spoken dialogue. Tav - Cloned in a mindflayer tank as "level 1 - insert class".
Well they did give Tav 2 lines in the polt.
"this looks like a good place to make (warp) camp" "Something something something absolute.....curious"
Hahahahaha!! The player character is basically an extra in a B movie.