I think it was a missed opportunity not to give us a druid companion from the grove. Not Halsi, who should clearly not join our party because he's an archdruid and thus should by all rights be far above our level, but someone from the grove that decided to travel with us for whatever reason. That would have been cool. Also yeah, not having Shadowheart as a dedicated healer is rough. Plus I've found that she is almost as good a rogue as Astarion, thanks to her domain choice.
There are a ton of good candidates in the grove for traveling companions/party members that aren't Halsin. Khaga comes to mind if you play your cards right, since she can end up repentant, busted down in rank, and possibly exiled. Nettie would also be a good one, IMO. Wish Larian wasn't quite so married to the notion of the Origin system, because there are a lot of NPCs that I could honestly see as potential party members tbh.
