Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Are you dissapointed with companions variety?

To be fair, we have only seen Tav's story so far. Maybe the others will have the tadpole without the dreams. At this point its all speculation, but the other have all the tadpole in their heads and at least as companions can use its power from what I've seen.

You gotta remember level 5 is what's considered a full/regular adventurer.

Getting to level 12 pretty much require your characters to be "special".

Not to mention the whole story revolves around special tadpoles. You dont just put special tadpole in some random crofters son, you just enthrall them.

No one is saying that we should have companions that are "crofters sons".

"I am a very successful sell sword who has made a name around town and would like to join your party! I have experience in a variety of different things and am willing to help you for the right price. I am also incredibly well-written and provide some of the best dialogue in the game!"
"Have you made a deal with an insanely powerful demon lord?"
"Uhhh... no. I do have a great personality though and will provide witty commentary. I also have some connections in Baldur's Ga-"
"Do you have a nuclear bomb in your chest?"
"... What?"
"Have you been eternally tortured by a vampire lord?"
"Dude, I am a fucking adventurer - what don't you get about-"
"Are you on a mission from god?"
"NO! DUDE I AM GOOD WITH A SWORD AND...."
"Are you an alien mind flayer hunter whose leader will murder them if they don't do what they are told?"
"What the..."
"Well - you are useless. Call me when you have an extremely over the top backstory."

Also, again - Imoen is one of the first companions you can get in Baldur's Gate 3. She is not a hell demon, a nuclear bomb or anything else like that. She is just some random girl you know that is your friend.


Why not?

LOL. Dude, she is a literal Bhaalspawn! Her backstory is WAY more special snowflake than anything in this game. She is literally a god's daughter

...to be fair in that time and place it was pretty common to be a Bhaalspawn based on how many you encounter

I'm talking about the original game.

You know the one she wasn't even supposed to be included in until the last minute because they realized they needed a more grounded, not psychotic thief character? Where she was originally supposed to die and wasn't even planned as a Bhaalspawn?

Remember that one?

There should be room to expand a character, we are all starting at level 1 anyway, so yeah, I can have down to earth.
Where will you go, if your level 1 characters are already over the top ridiculous?

Half of faerun were a friggin bhaalspawn. Her and protagontist being bhalspawn is the same as us having a tadpole. That is not a backstory. That is just a plot contrivance. Without Bhaalspawn/Tadpoles we would have no game.

Don't forget the bear.

And isn't she the protagonist's half-sister too?

We literally see on the nautiloid that regular people are just made standard thraills the tadpoles are for special people.

Also no sane person is going to adventure with a bunch og special tadpole heads.

People that want to eradicate whatever evil caused this, would definitely tag along. So would someone nefarius that might think there is something to gain by following you.

Maybe it will be different strokes for different folks - some are gradually pulled in a particular direction while some experience some sort of crisis of conscience?

Good party - To get rid of the tadpole hacks and blasts its way to a solution.
Evil party - To get rid of the tadpole hacks and blasts its way to a solution.
Mixed party - To get rid of the tadpole hacks and blasts its way to a solution.

williams85 - I'm glad at least someone gets this, haha.

It is apparently impossible to want to fight against evil unless you are forced to be via tadpole. Or to be powerful unless you were reduced down from god-like powers with some insane backstory to level 1. Or to have alternative motives for following a group of powerful adventurers.

I am going to bow out of the conversation. At this point it feels like I am trying to explain things to thralls.

The "everyone is super special" story does get annoying when overused and does not create better characters anyway.
Compare Pathfinder 1 and 2.

Most characters in PF1 are pretty mundane while in PF2 most are special, similar to BG3. Yet I would say the PF1 characters are nearly always more interesting and memorable with a few exceptions.

There is the guy with the two siblings(?) who dies on the Risen Road near the owlbear cave and there are several goblins with tadpoles. Wasn't there a guy in the PFH - a Flaming Fist(?) when you meet Jaheira.

Yeah, i want characters to become special through our adventures together. I don't want someone to tell me how awesome and special everybody but you are.

I wouldn't agree with this. Sure we have characters like Arueshalae and Nenio, but Regill is an important hellknight but only in terms of rank. He's not really special in any significant way. Camellia is a noble who is a secret serial killer - special by some measures but still pretty low level. Nenio is a kitsune who can make herself forget anything and was actually once a cultist who forgot she was a cultist. Seelah is a run of the mill paladin. Sosiel is a run of the mill cleric, Lann and Wenduag are magical mutants who grew up underground. They're not significantly more special than the PF1 party.

I think for me, what confuses me is the idea that all of these people are super special, and Sven even made a point to say "they're not just following you because you're the player, but because they have their own goals and desires", but the fact is, the moment the player character, who is conceivably just some nobody from Baldur's Gate (unless there's a super secret origin they haven't told us yet), can do pretty much whatever they want, and the party doesn't just say "yea, eff this loser" and leave.

It was even more silly yesterday, seeing the Dark Urge take off Gale's hand, and SH, who conceivably JUST MET the Dark Urge 5 minutes ago, makes a hand pun and that's it? She doesn't immediately say "uh, yea, you're unstable and i'd be better off alone" and leave? It makes what Sven said completely nonsensical, because it's obvious that they're only with us because we're the player.

If the player character somehow has something special about them that we don't know yet, then it could make sense, but the problem is, the player character can't be essential, because then it would mean playing as an origin is pointless, you miss out on an important story point. So at best we have the Dark Urge..

I guess it goes back to me not feeling important at all, and Larian's characters being the story, not mine.

Gut and razlin are strategic, to lead the goblins. They arnt just handing tadpoles out to randos.

The flaming fist are essentially the military of Baldur's Gate. Strategic choice again
That's literally Jaheria's motivation