This discussion has had me thinking about Eder and Beast from DOS2. I enjoyed both, but they polled at opposite ends of the popularity spectrum, with Eder being a fan favorite and Beast widely dismissed as "boring." Beast, a dwarf and former leader of an unsuccessful rebellion now being called back into the fray, struck me as probably chaotic good. Anyway, I've been pondering both why the two more "normal" characters were received so differently and what "lessons" Larian may have drawn from their experience with Beast about what fans want. When the lowest rated character from your last game was an amiable, relatively non-edgy shorty is would be easy to assume that fans want taller, more personally difficult companions with off-the-wall issues.
The BG3 fan base undoubtedly differs a bit from the DOS fan base, although with a lot of overlap. The number of origin characters/other followers is also significantly larger with BG3 which would to me seem to open the door to creating slightly more niche companions, perhaps even risking a shorty without mental health issues (other than those related to our shared crisis).
