To divert the discussion somewhat and raise a question:
Is it a good or a bad thing that WotR restricts companions to different mythic paths? And not just one (like how in MotB you choose between the rainbow bear and the One-of-Many), but several? Given how dead-set on making the players be obsessive completionists they've been in the Kingmaker days, it's certainly a step in a different direction. And it's at least a bit of a fix for the problem that Kingmaker had, where you could just have everyone with you no matter what your and their alignment was, and your choice at the beginning (between Valerie/Harrim and Linzi/Jaethal) didn't account to jack, since you could just get them both back a little later like nothing happened. Someone like Tristian at least had a narrative explanation as to why he'd stay with an evil character, but why would someone like Valerie stick around a chaotic barony is a head-scratcher.
