I've never gotten a grasp of Wyll as a character. Now I tried to force myself to give him another chance.
Ok so... He was apparently a bit of a failure at everything, and then entered a deal with Mizora to become powerful. Already, not a very likable foundation for a character. If he entered a pact with a devil to save his family or a similar force majeure, it would have been a sacrifice that would have instantly made him more tragic and likable as a character. Now it's just "ok you sucked, and then gave your soul to a devil suck a little bit less", which kind of just makes him suck. Am I missing something here? His motives are weak.
When we first meet him at the battle at the gate, he is casting Arms of Hadar and Eldritch Blasts at goblins. Dark necrotic forces blasting away, withering goblins. Then we enter the Tiefling camp, and he's now a master fencer, The Blade of Frontiers, teaching swordplay to children. Which is it? Dark spellcaster or sword swinging hero? No one seems to care about that particularly blatant mismatch and you can't ask him about the magic. You can ask him about "The Blade of Frontiers" part and he claims to be a hero and a living legend. Are they intentionally trying to make him as unlikable as possible? Actual heroes or living legends don't go around announcing themselves. If this is intentional - why? Why would I take someone unlikable as a companion?
Then there's some party banter / moaning how he used to tussle with Hill Giants and master fire and whatever and how he has now been unfairly weakened. My Tav, who is an actual honest level 1 aspiring adventurer trying to make their way in the Forgotten Realms, doesn't really care to hear such empty self-proclamations or baseless claims of worth. Even if that were true, such claims mean nothing to the player who has not known Wyll when he was "more powerful". Gale has the same problem, even though he might have been tweaked now? If we were a level 12 party before who got de-leveled by events, and I had actually experienced Wyll kicking Hill Giant ass, it would actually mean something and it could make me feel something for him. But all this moaning about lost power does, true or not, is make these characters unlikable. If I'm playing a level 1 PC, I want to go from there and I don't want "de-leveled" archwizards or "unfairly weakened" legendary heroes as my companions. It's like having a classmate in college who already knows everything about everything because they had one gig somewhere and then wonder why no one seems to like them.
Mechanically, I can't play along with the "Blade of Frontiers" charade because Wyll's AC is 12, and he sucks with the Rapier. So he's this ordinary kind of lad with dark powers that we just have to ignore, who is supposed to be a legendary sword fighting hero who gets immediately decimated in melee, who is not very likable because of all the moaning about lost power which we have never witnessed, which, if true, was gained by selling his soul in the first place.
Why... am I supposed to like this character and bring him along?
