I voted Astarion but, honestly :
(…) I actually don’t think I can pick between Gale, Astarion and Shadowheart, all of whom I rate equally, though in different ways and for different reasons. Lae’zel and Wyll are probably tied fourth for me, Wyll because he’s not quite working for me as discussed in the recent separate thread about him, whereas Lae’zel I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen of her but somehow rarely take her along and have never tried her “romance” so don’t feel I can judge.
Pretty much all of this…except, I'll rate Astarion slightly higher (but only slightly!).
This character is the spice of my every playthrough. He's a fun character, but also, I like his drive to live, his confidence, his mannerism and his fun theoretical questions. I'll always play non-evil characters (tried evil playthrough once, not for me), yet, I'll most likely (based on EA content) always have him in my party.
That being said, I'll have a hard time not having Gale and SH in my party as well 😅 Like I said, they are pretty much on the same level as Astarion.
I like what they bring to the table and how well they complete my character(s), in terms of things like decision-making and friendships.
Lae'zel is great, I love how blunt/straightforward she is. She is fun in her own way (including, funny comments and hilarious reactions/facial expressions). That being said, I don't trust that we won't get our head chopped-off at the Crèche so I mostly have her with me early on, until learning more about the Crèche.
When it comes to Wyll, it's pretty much the same as @The_Red_Queen. In some playthrough, I don't even recruit him. I can be sympathetic to his situation but he's all over the place. Also, I don't respond well to peer-pressure 😅 and he keeps on telling/yelling at me what to do (like "Do something!" or "Kill him!").
