Something to do with the Netherese magic on the tadpoles, is my guess. Plus, Larian needed a way to take super powerful backstory characters and make them level 1.
Super powerful companions for a level 1 Tav nobody is my issue exactly.
Why do they need to be powerful? How does this make them better characters? What's the benefit in storytelling? Especially if they are potential PC's. Why can't we, as the actual player, play them and shape them to have a fuller experience? They should have some background and the rest should be up to us. I don't want to play a character where I'm being dictated exactly what they are and have been by an extensive history of events.
Gale and Wyll complaining how they used to be so powerful but not anymore is really off-putting as well. Especially since you have never SEEN them be that powerful. They could be easily exaggerating which would make them pathetic. Wyll already has another pathetic side to his story and making someone a complete loser doesn't make them a companion you want to travel with. On the opposite side, being weak but courageous is always awe-inspiring. A Captain America story that starts from somewhere small, goes somewhere epic, and has you rooting for them. Reflecting on that, it explains why I like Lae'zel much more than Gale or Wyll. She can still be seen as a young aspiring warrior of her kind, even naive about Vlaakith. She doesn't have a backstory where she was training dragons and slaying Elder Brains. She is more believable with much more room to grow. She could actually be level 1.
They could have made the companions a lot more believable and likable, even the evil ones, without the inane backstories about being super powerful once and them complaining about it.
This is the only explanation that can even begin to explain...
Well, all the companions could be clones of the original people, thus explaining why they aren't the same level they "remember" being.
Which would be interesting if they later ran into themselves.
That's next level.
But even that's better than having powerful companions de-leveled by a really weak plot device, just for mechanical reasons. Mechanics should always support the narrative, but in BG3 it feels like they are clashing. Writers wanted awesome level 12 companions but gameplay devs wanted 1-12 progression.
