Instead of some random generated one, I would like to be able to “hire” some of the named NPCs in the game. They obviously will not have the depth of design as the origin charecters. I am fine with their stats not being perfect as long as they are applicable to their class.
For example, I would love to be able to hire the Helm Paladin oath breaker or that Tiefling you give combat pointers to in the grove (name?). Theses guys have somewhat of a background/story that adds to immersion. Use Detect Thoughts on the Tiefling and you will see why he is trying to get better at combat.
"Random generated" mercs is EXACTLY what I DON'T want. Absolutely not. That's what DOS 2 has. You basically tell the recruiter, "I want a fighter," and they give you some random fighter merc to join your party. Why? You must REALLY hate the origin characters to hire some randomly generated merc to be in your party, or you have no Resurrection scrolls or whatever to bring the origins back to life, so you're stuck hiring a merc.
No. If they're going to do mercs, PLEASE make it so I can create them just like I created the MC in the game. I want to be able to make Kaedyn the Cleric of Tyr as my MC and then also Vexir the drow Battlemaster and then also Ryth-Shan the githyanki ranger beastmaster all with stats and choices and appearances that I choose. I absolutely think it'll be a HUGE waste of time to have "random generated" mercs.
That said, I do like the idea of being able to hire on other NPCs that are in the game that you have a good relationship score with. Maybe it's the pink haired tiefling, Nadira, up on the hill with her telescope, or Rath, the druid who argues with Kagha. Or maybe it's one of the three adventurer tieflings; Rolan the wizard apprentice and company. Or maybe you could hire Sazza after letting her out. Or there's the tiefling you can make a bet with that they'll never make it to Baldur's Gate. That would be kinda fun; to be able to hire just about anyone you encounter.
But ultimately, I'm really more interested in being able to have a party of custom characters. Character creation is one of my favorite things to do, and I LOVE having parties of my own design. Again, I'd like enough room in the party to have at least 1 or 2 origin characters, or characters already created by Larian, and for that we'd need a party of 5 or 6 as opposed to party of 4 max.
So this thread is about both because it's really difficult to have a party of 4 custom characters knowing you can't ever do origin character side quests or anything. You really feel like you're missing out on a part of the game just because you like to have a few characters YOU created. That's a real bummer to me. I can't tell you enough how much fun it is in Pathfinder to have 4 or 5 custom characters and then 1 or 2 dev created characters for side quests and such.
