Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Hopes for further party members

We’ll see when they release more info! I think it is likely that Halsin and Minthara will be nonorigin companions and maybe some others as well!!!

I hope Minthara will somehow be an option even if we decide to go the "good" route.

I'd like to see some new companions also. A dragonborn, maybe. A half-orc. In general, I think it would be nice to have at least one companion for all the major class types. A fighter, a barbarian, a paladin, etc. What would that leave? A sorcerer, a monk, a bard, and a druid?

It would be nice if we could pick up other folks, as well. I'd enjoy bringing in Aradin and his crew for a bit. The same goes for the three tieflings debating whether or not to stay and help or head straight out to Baldur's Gate. I can't think of their names right now.

And the tiefling who needs help swinging his sword. It would be fun to build him up into an impressive sword master over time.

I would also like random pre-generated mercenaries. Sell swords that can be hired for set rates. Some good ones that are actually helpful and maybe even some secret bandits mixed in. Bad ones who will turn on you when you least expect it, hoping to steal all of your gold.

Then there are the animals and summoned creatures. I really wanting them to be able to join the party, more than just hanging out at camp. Scratch out scouting with the ranger. The owlbear cub running along behind, trying to keep up. Shovel staying with the party even after a long rest. Or the ability to write down the "Summon Quasit" spell so that Shovel can be summoned regularly.

Oh, and Sazza, the strongest of the tribe. The goblin prisoner. If we save her life, it would be nice if she could officially join the party at some point.

I feel like the whole point of mercenaries specifically in these sorts of games is that they exist to let you fill out a class you don't already have on hand. They're not meant to be characters in and of themeslves and I don't think BG3 is structured in a way that they would be beneficial. They're meant to be purely functional, and giving them personality to the degree you suggest and making them untrustworthy would defeat the purpose.

Also while more companions would be better, I don't think think Larian can support so many companions, and I feel like if they end up becoming only empty suits with a couple repeating lines they say over and over, then that would be detrimental to them as characters.

Yes I agree with Gray. That would only lead to complaints later on why these characters don't have dialogues, background stories, their own side quest line etc. pp. That is too much effort. Something like this could be introduced with later DLCs, when the core game is ready. Similar to what the modders did with the predecessor games, e.g. with Solaufein or Enhanced Editions with Neera and Co.

I'm talking about my "hopes for further party members." I'm not speculating, pessimistically or otherwise, about what Larian can accomplish.

Did I miss a second, unwritten part of this thread, lol? "Post your hopes and then someone will come in and crap on them!"

I don't agree that your definition of mercenaries is "the whole point." The suggestion may defeat your purpose, for instance, but not mine. To me, that would make mercenaries far more interesting and differentiate them from a "custom party."

Sorry, I guess my understanding of the thread was different from yours. I didn't mean to talk down to you. As for mercenaries though, I thought that they were what you use for custom parties. In the other crpgs I've played that feature them, mercenaries was just the in universe justification for creating random characters. A custom party does mean just a party of mercenaries. What do you think custom party means?

Yeah on this basis I would expect at least five additional companions in Act 2, so that we once again have a choice of three out of five, and especially will have the choice of an all-good party.

I understand that a lot of folks use "mercenaries" as a term to mean filling out a custom party. I prefer a different approach. As if you were at a gaming table and your character wants to hire help. So the DM creates some mercenaries that are selling their services. Some of them more useful than others. I think that would be a more interesting way to have mercenaries in the game.

And as far as a "custom party" goes... just let it be a custom party with whatever background the player wants to give it, mercenaries or otherwise.

I dont see any difference.

You just stated that glass is half full, instead of half empty.

If you don't see a difference, I'm confused. There is a difference, which must mean I didn't explain what I was saying properly.

Building a custom party is choosing a group of custom characters.

The version of mercenaries I'm talking about aren't custom. They are prebuilt NPCs in the game that can be hired at specific locations. They would be named NPCs with prebuilt stats and classes. There wouldn't be an endless number of them. I'm not talking about full blown personalities though. Just a couple of lines of dialogue each, and maybe a small backstory.

Whereas in a custom party, you could pull in endless choices in as diverse a manner as you desire.

Ok, my bad ...
I thought you are comparing that with complaint that was here earlier, that they dont get any deep personalities, or backstory.

It feels like the starting area contains at least two separate groups of mercenaries that you could tecnically hire if you don't want to bother with Origin Characters: Aradin (assuming most don't die) and the Tyr people (assuming you break their... "allegiance", maybe with those pesky soul coins that you keep finding everywhere.

If Halsin is in then we are good with elves but make no bones about it Astarion is no elf, he is a bloodsucker.

Yeah, in regards to Aterion, counting him as an elf...idk about that. He might be an elf, but being an elf isn't even tertiary in regards to his character. He doesn't come off as culturally elven or have any particular outlook on life you might connect to being elven. Even the elven longevity thing doesn't seem particularly relevant, since he's already an immortal vampire.

He pretty much could just be another human and nothing would change about him.

Shadowheart's half-elven-ness comes up like once.

If you compare that to BG II, for example, it's radically different. Species and cultural background were pretty defining. I hope with Minsc we can talk to him about his Rashemi culture. Aside from the Gith, everyone seems sorta 'default generic culture' Like an afterthought or something.

Good and true observation for what we have seen up to this point.

I would not mind having a very mean and very stupid companion. A goblin maybe, or a troll or an ogre. Someone without a troubled past that needs resolving. Someone who only cares about her/himself and who will spoil your plans and deceive you in the name of short-sighted self-interest. I think someone like that would make a very intersting companion.

A reminder that this is not the place for commentary on political figures. Let’s not go there.

Korgan and Kagain could plausibly still be around! Two evil dwarven mercenaries that would fit that bill well. (and BG III could use some short companions too IMO)

For me that would be a bad kind of mercenary feature. I like them most for offering the opportunity to make a party member visually as I prefer him/her. I'm absolutely sure for example that I would not at all like a Barbarian mercenary made by Larian or the average player. So give me the possibility to choose class, sub-class etc. AND the visual appearance of a mercenary.

It's less immersive than your way for sure because of course you cannot create other beings in reality, but I don't care for immersion in this case.

I think the mercenaries won't be blank slates. If you want a rogue you can pick from 3 different rogues etc.

Certainly being able to hire a mercenary and then design them from LVL one character creation, including multiclassing, appearance, skills etc would give the greatest flexibility. And then that mercenary is saved so if you kick them from the party, you can hire them again later.