Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Which party members will you bring along on your first playthrough? (Includes datamined companions)

Sadly I don't have a good party to play with right now. It's just my PC and Minsc.

Githyanki - automatic no
Vampire spawn - automatic no
Sharran - automatic no
Pact with a devil - automatic no
Werewolf - automatic no

This rule discussion was prompted by "How good is Wyll as a Warlock using Hex?" If Hex is much worse than people thought, then people might be less inclined to take Wyll, so it's on the edge of being relevant to the thread topic. Hex in BG3 is mainly useful for the additional d6 damage and it is mainly the Hex-er that benefits, not other characters. The exception is that Hexing enemy Str or Dex might make shoving enemies easier, depending on exactly how Larian coded "Shove" in BG3.

But yeah, I PM'd my longer, more detailed response about Hex to Kethlar. If anyone has further questions about Hex (or 5e rules), feel free to PM me.

On topic - I'm amused that SH is the most chosen companion, and also that Wyll is the least chosen - even less than Helia. I wonder what the reasons are for SH being most chosen: how much due to her mystery/plot relevance, how much due to her being the only Cleric (or even healer) currently present, and how much for...other reasons? (;

Well, for me, we have two female companions currently. Lae'zel is ugly and angry all the time and is simply a fighter. SH has been softened up personality-wise and she's attractive, and she heals and can be the group rogue.

I have no opinion on the other female companions because we don't know for sure yet what they'll be like, although I have my suspicions sarcastic and blunt will be defining personality traits, which will turn me off. Honestly, the only reason I can stand SH now is that her edginess was toned down a lot.

Well, just like in DOS2, it is clear that not all origin characters are equal in terms of storyline importance. There were some whose stories were definitely not up to par.

It's clear with Shadowheart holding the mystery toy and how much Sharran stuff is in Grymforge and her scenes throughout EA, that she is the most important to the story. I mean, she will deliver the most content throughout the game.

Now that may not necessarily be true. She could be frontloaded and someone else has bigger importance in later acts unseen, but that is likely the reasoning.

Haha yes, your first paragraph was what I meant by "...other reasons." xD

I take Shadowheart because I love casters, and Astarion and Lae'zel are too evil for my team.

I could imagine that every companion is in one way or another important- or in possession of something that is important - for the plot. Maybe our companions (and our Tav) were not randomly abducted by the mindflayers. This might also explain why almost everyone has a very epic backstory

Its true that Shadowheart gets very special treatment tho ...

If you refuse any other character, they all just dissapear never to be seen again (except Lae'zel) ... but from the start (meaning patch 1) Shadowheart keeps reappearing and reappearing, even openly offering you that she will join you again, and again ...
She got several character tweaks to make her nicer ... or at least more bareable ... wich all failed imho by the way.

I really dont understand why Larian is trying so hard to force us love her ...
I believe that every DM should recognize the point when all they can do is to throw the towel and say "have it your way, you all died bcs you ignored all hints i gave you ... lets start again and better this time".


Makes me even sadder when i see all the work and atention that Shadowheart gets ...
While all we get for Astarion was deleting option to kill him at our first meeting, and option to kill him when we find out what he is (*confused smilie*) ...
And for Gale, who is constant target of negative feedback for missing camp scenes ... nothing.

Says someone who has seen Act 1 of an Early Access version of the game.

Is there any other kind of people?

I think part of this goes back to Or maybe not, maybe every character is going to have a similar situation? So far, that is not the case, but who knows what the final Act I will look like.

Maybe the changes in Shadowhearts reactions were made as a test to see if players would like a "nicer" character

My bard Tav, who is a generally a kind, helpful person, gets along surprisingly well with her.

My current party consists of Shadowheart, Astarion and Lae'zel, and at least until now, Shadowheart and Lae'zel have not killed each other yet, and Tav kept Astarion from killing Gandrel. Let's count this as a success
(I am surprised that I like to play with this group constellation, I would not have expected this in my first playthrough. Though I can understand very well that not everybody likes frequent arguments in groups)

By the way, does anybody know what happens to Gandrel if Astarion is not in our camp? Would we find him dead? I have all companions in my camp, so I don't know what happens otherwise.

It is to say that it is hard to make a judgement at this time if any companions are favored or not given that we not only just have one act of the game - but that act in and of itself isn't complete.

It is one thing to criticize overall storytelling, mechanics, etc. But we have seen so little of the game the judgement of one companion getting more play or being favored more than others is rushed judgement, to say the least.

That isn't to say it couldn't be true. Maybe Shadowheart is the "main character" of the game for the most part. It's just that we have such an incomplete picture that it is hard to say.

For instance in Act 1 of Divinity: Original Sin 2 I would have thought the Red Prince was potentially one of character I could interact with least or would have the least importance because a lot of his custom interactions are underwhelming. But by the end of the game his story ends up being unbelievably huge.

Gandrel is still in the same spot near the hags house. If you didn't recruit Astarion, but have met him, you can rat him out to Gandrel. If you killed Astarion, you can tell Gandrel that and he will comment, that Astarion is hard to kill and probably not dead.

Nothing new said ...
I dont see how is that relevant tho. O_o

There was complaints about things and stuff Shadowheart do and say in EA ...
There was complaints about things and stuff Astarion do and say in EA ...
There was complaints about things and stuff Gale do and say in EA ...

Yet Shadowheart part was the only that was given atention so far. Wich in my opinion clearly shows where are Larian priorities.

How does unreleased content chamge any of this?

Thank you, fylimar! I wonder if Gandrels lines are a hint that seemingly dead characters might return later in the plot. Since someone seems to have an interest in the survival of our group (those with the special tadpoles), I have always been a bit surprised that killing any of these characters is possible.
But it would have been quite frustrating, from a roleplaying perspective, if you would not have the possibility to kill companions. There should be the possibility for killing or kissing or anything inbetween for each of them

If it does turn out that SH is the main character of the game, then in my game I can guarantee that I will kill her off as soon as I first meet her. In an RPG the PC is who should be the main character of the game. If that rule is ignored in BG3, I will remedy that defect in the game by killing her off as a matter of principle.

So in your version of The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn kills off Frodo in Bree?

Are you speaking of some LotR RPG? Because then idk as I've not played any LotR video game. If you are speaking of the books it is not relevant, because books are not roleplaying video games.

Don't let your narrow definition of what a game should be get in the way of a good time