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)

As I understand it, though 5e multiclassing works differently then AdvancedD&D. I hope we will get to level up our characters from level1, and as such Jaheira I presume would be a druid, which could become druid/fighter depending on player choices or automatic lvlup.

Why? If she is met in Act 2 she could already have four or five levels built in and unchangeable. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't do it that way.

I see it the same way. The really exciting question will then be what subclasses she will have?

A lot of RPGs I have played give option to level up companions from the level1 they join. I generally see it as a welcome feature, especially as companions are fewer. More customisation is better for repeated playthroughs, if one wished to do so.

Well, a lot of RPGs I've played (some of which are sure to be in common with you) have a lot of things that BG3 does not have, sadly ....

Don't we get to level up npc's to our current level in the game right now. It's been a hot minute since I played, but I remember leveling Wyll from 1 to 3 when he joined. Am I misremembering? Based on this I would expect the same for future companions.

Another issue I'm having with trying to identify what party composition I could live with is that I'm not at all excited about having Minsc and Jaheira in my party. That's half my party composed of characters from the old games. Why would I want to play with Minsc and Jaheira in my party when I've already done that a million times playing the old BG games? Frankly, I'm tired of those old characters and want to interact with new characters, and telling me they are "new" because of the time-jump does not cut it. So personally, even though I want a good-aligned party to play with, I would be avoiding both Minsc and Jaheira. But where does that leave me with my good-aligned party? Very frustrating.

You are a difficult man to please.

He's not a TRUE fan of BG1/2 if he don't want to play with Minsc and Jaheira !

Hehe.
But common! You have to admit, it's soooooo boring to be playing with characters you already know so very well. Yes I know, 100 years, different rules edition, etc., etc. But a huge part of the joy I get from playing a cRPG is meeting new characters. And this is not specific to just this game. I hated it equally in PoE2 and the DA games where characters keep getting recycled.

I personally think it's nice to see a couple returning characters in a sequel, so long as there are still plenty of new ones, and it doesn't strain credulity that the character is back. Like in DA:I, I was happy to have Varric back and it made sense that he would return, but I'd definitely be bummed if he was a significant factor in DA:D. It can be nice to have some anchors of familiarity amidst all the newness, it can help with maintaining a sense of continuity within a series. A sprinkle of the old helps to emphasize the new. But only if it's a sprinkle, otherwise the old starts becoming a crutch.

Well said.

Additionally, devs have to be careful bringing back past characters. Any such characters must be able to both stand on their own AND stand in the eyes of people who played the prequel games, which is no small task.

I'm playing BG1/2 every 2 or 3 years now. I NEVER play without Minsc and Jaheira 😁

That's probably nostalgia over and over again but I cannot imagine playing without them. I just can't imagine myself fire them from the group^^

IF we can play with them as companions in BG3 I will definitely have them in my group. On top of that most companions are not appealing a lot to me (for various reasons) in BG3 so it's not going to be a hard choice.

I'm a big BG1&2 fan and while Jaheira is mostly in my parties , I really can't stand Minsc and I really didn't like, that he was in both games and now in a third.
Would have loved to see Mazzy or Alora again. Or Kivan.
Minsc will definitively not be in my BG3 party either. I'm used to ignoring him, can do it for one more game.

I have manaed to travel with most BG2 companions, but my BG1 runs tend to defaults to the canon party. In general, I tend to latch to some characters and not to others. Everyone has their preferences - while meeting new, cool characters is nice, I do like seeing familiar faces and how they evolve. Having a mix is always welcome in my book, but it can be double edged sword.

My worry wouldn't be if I would want to travel with classic BG companions (yay, give me more baby!) but if I will like their new versions. Stick to closely to who those characters were and fail to evolve them and they feel like imitations. Try to grow them too much, and they might not feel like the same characters. PoE2 is a good example for me as well. I was really looking forward to seeing Eder, Aloth and Pallegina, but necessary retconing of their PoE1 ending slides and simplification of choices made in first game really soured my experence. I would rather not see them and leave things to imagination, then see this middle-of-the-road future versions.

Honestly, the trailer gave me some hope - I had no issues accepting Jaheira and Minsc as characters I have known for so many years and while it is a very small glipse, I am interested to see more.

I'm totally in agreement with this.


Yeah in my many playthroughs of the old games I also typically took along Minsc and Jaheira (and found Jaheira surprisingly useful despite her 2e dual-classing limitations). But eventually I grew tired of Minsc and began to find him to be a bore and annoying, so @fylimar I can appreciate your sentiments about Minsc. But since I also can't stand Larian's companions (they all come across as edgy hipster primadonnas) I also will have no choice but to take Minsc along.

YES! I am very concerned about exactly this myself.

Hmmm, well you could definitely tell the VA for Jaheira is significantly older haha. I expect the same with Jim Cummings really. As for am I happy they included them? I hope they aren't just there to give BG3 credibility as a connection to OG series. I also reeeeeally hope they keep Bhaal out of this storyline. As I would rather have the Illithids be the driving force behind the tadpole menace, rather than <<insert random revived deity here>>. Riding the nostalgia train might seem lucrative, but original storytelling is also needed to make a story a success. I mean... if Larian also ditches BG3 without at least some expansion or giving us a dungeon maker kind of thing would seem like a colossal waste with a IP such a Dungeons and Dragons.

There are hints that the "dead three" may be involved, somehow.

I guess I'm slow, but I just put two and two together with our conversation with 'Withers'. He asks us how we measure the value of a life, and says something about if we'll follow through with our answer. I bet he's foreshadowing the choice we'll make regarding who lives and who dies later.

Sorry if that was more obvious to everyone, I guess I only thought of it recently with all the talk of the party being locked.

Not so obvious Sozz. I'll have to give his question a bit more thought before answering.