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

I agree. Even If they dislike the small races ( though I do think, Gale would have worked really great as a gnome), they could have sprinkled in the odd dragonborn or halforc, since they seem very fond of those races.

Yes, companions are the most dissappinting part if the game as announced to me. No dwarves is pure evil, hateful, and racist. It is also why I am avoiding the pre created joinable npcs as much as possible including Jaheria who is one of my favorite BG npcs. In fact, I might just kill every joinable npc in the game Ican out if spite even during 'good" playthroughs. If Laruan can be racist while claiming inclusivity, I'll be anti anything non dwarven. Lolz Only half serious about the last part, but still...

WHY NO DWARVES!?! HELL NO!!!

Even DOS2 had one and he was easily the best DOS2 companion.

It's not just that the companions in BG3 are the most disappointing part of the game, which they are, but also that your companions are the heart of any party-based RPG. If you don't have a robust cast of companions who make a wide range of players happy, you don't have a good game.

Romance wise, this is worse than BG2, despite huge efforts from Larian, which is ironic...

For I am a straight male. so Astarion, Gale, Wyll, Hilsin are out.
I also don't really fancy special stuff like old ladies, etc. Jaheira, Karlach, Laezal are out.
So only remaining options would be Shadowheart and Minthara?! But aren't they both evil bitches?

On the contrast, the original BG2 had Jaheira(not old then), Aerie, Viconia... they had diverse personalities too.

I bet that the vast majority of the players are like me.

Myself, I'm a bit put off that there are no shorties. It's hardly a fantasy adventure without Dwarves or Halflings. And a Gnome would've been nice.

Alas. I'll have to be the party's token dwarf.

What are you talking about? They showed Karlach is the most vanilla?

Also you really arnt including an evil drow under "special stuff"

Makes it hard to believe this post is in good faith...

I suspect they're talking about "special stuff" in terms of physical appearance. Minthara physically is just a pretty lady with an exotic skin color and pointy ears. Karlach is horribly scarred, has horns and fangs. Certainly my cup of tea, but not for everyone,

I would agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that she assaults you if you tell her you don't want to get involved in her dispute with the tieflings.

Responding to, "Sorry it's not my fight," with, "Fine, then I'll kill you all!" isn't what I would consider appropriate, regardless of how much better they think they are compared to the MC.

Are you for real? I am a 65 year old straight male. Asterion is out because I never do vampires (unlike some bears I could mention); Gale may or not be in depending on what I learn about his magic bomb thing and how much of my loot he will eat; Wyll will probably be out as warlocks don't really appeal and Halsin wont be in as I rarely bother with druids.
I will probably be playing as a male because I usually play as a male when it's female companions (or vice versa).

Karlach I may take but her southern accent grates on my northern ears and the broken horn will annoy me far more than it should; Jaheira I will need more info about her class etc; Minthara will be dead; Shadders and Lizzie the Giff undecided. Much will depend on the hireling situation.
I've no idea where you are getting Karlach and Lae'zel as old, especially Lae'zel. Jaheira was a married woman in BG1.

I think maybe the "fancy special stuff" refers to Karlach and Lae'zal with their exotic looks. But it's funny how he thinks Viconia's great compared to Shadowheart and Minthara who are "evil bitches"; Shadowheart is a priestess of Shar just like Viconia and as far as I've seen, a lot less evil. Mostly just acting in self-interest, which isn't really evil imo. And Minthara is a drow just like Viconia, so certainly about the same degree of evil. Viconia only mellows over time, and not necessarily.

What evil does Viconia do in gane, though? Yeah, she's a worshipper of Shar but she does no evil. You meet her running away from a racist cop and again by torch burning villagers. Lol Viconia's evil is all talk. Lmao

I think you've maybe got a wrong take on Laezel here, Gray Ghost. I really don't like her personality but I think she is actually really well written as a character, not likeable, but very much consistent and with a strong motivation.


Firstly she is just an ordinary gith, but being a gith at all is an oddity in this setting. She might as well be an alien, tons of the npcs don't even know what species she is. When you play as a gith, or initiate conversation as her, lots of npcs bring this up. If you check the wiki on githyanki not only are they rude and arrogant but they are also so dismissive of other species that they don't bother to learn their customs and languages. And she's an inexperienced gith. Her whole deal is she's a stranger in a strange land. She needs you. For the time being.


This is highlighted by the fact she is the only companion you meet in EA who actually needs rescuing before recruitment. Caught in a goblin trap of all things, by two tieflings she could carve through like butter. Even what the tieflings say about her, yellow as a toad and twice as ugly. Even if she could find it, they mightn't even let her in. She knows they've already met her people and it sounds like they didn't make a good impression.


You get a sense of what she thinks of you if you take the nice option with Zoru, she calls you a subordinate, because that what she thinks you are. But they specifically put in a line to answer your point about why she doesn't leave right there. They pretty much lampshade it. She mispronounces tieflings and if you comment on this, she demands you teach her about Faerun. She's got 13 int, and she knows she doesn't have a clue about the area and as such she needs you. But if you cast detect thoughts (or illithid power) either here or later you can tell that she already thinks of you as abominations. Most characters should maybe be considering that Laezel isn't so concerned about purifying us, as opposed to just her. You get the feeling Gale is harbouring doubts and Shadowheart doesn't trust her one bit.


At the mountain pass, she does something unique in the EA IIRC, she leaves the party, but not to go hostile. She just does her own thing and doesn't give a damn about us. I'm not sure, but at this point I really wouldn't be surprised if she got the okay for purification she would just abandon us and get them to kill us. Nothing suggests otherwise. Of course the nuances of a lot of this change depending on what choices you make and whether she dislikes or has a grudging respect for you.


I think you're right about the creche, but it would have been unfair to put in her leaving if that route wasn't available in EA. I hope for the sake of consistency if she does agree to go the other route it would be after a decently hard skill check.


Of course that's just her when she's used as a companion. She would probably have to be a bit more different as an MC. Again, that's one of the big cons of the origin system. Quite a few bits of this stuff would have to be changed at a character level. The goblin trap just wouldn't make sense, she couldn't be overruled with Zoru as a MC and you couldn't really lose control of her at the mountains and all those are fairly significant character moments when she's a companion.

Viconia doesn't do evil per se, i'd assume because of limitations of the game at that time, but she does treat you like dirt if you romance her, at least in the first part of the romance. Everyone seems to conveniently forget how after your first night she completely trashes your "performance". Her attitude is bitchy until you manage to defrost her.

Shadowheart is actually way nicer, and I seriously don't get complaints about her being evil. She doesn't do evil things either, she approves of good deeds, and in her romance scene she is incredibly vulnerable.

Mechanically, I can't agree with Wyll being the only proper cha class companion.

As of now, he and Lae'Zel I'm just... not very invested in?

Halsin helped. He, Jaheira and Minsc can form a chill party. SH, Karlach and Astarion are the anti-chill party lol. Nice even number, isn't it?

Gale, well... I'm not sure how I feel about him. You can get an int base mercenary, but he gives nice exposition. Gale is in a category of his own. I'd prefer if there had been another partial int character, because this is not a good thing. I don't want to abandon him, nor can I find a good reason to not accept him, yet I might prefer my first playthrough without him.

I could use some control over the order in which we get available camp scenes . I will attempt to manage this with a mod. It should perhaps not be in the base game.

So much this.

Viconia is outright hostile to you from the start, insults you at every turn, and gets the dreaded redemption through sex storyline.
So far Shadowheart is secretive at best, snarky at worst, but for a Shar worshipper is still pretty tame. I would say even not evil enough as she approves of us doing good things around.

And being a halfelf she is as plain as you can get in this game without being human.

She's a cleric of Shar. That makes her evil. Period.

The way Astarion is technically evil alignment wise, yes. I think people mean, though: "This is not the real Shadowheart. My proof is that she approves of too many good actions. Her true self is bleeding through the brainwashing and memory implant."

You're arguing for the state of her, some people are arguing for "the real Shadowheart". That's two different things. You're right, but their theory also has support in data mining and what not.

Well, that "real SH" you want to talk about is entirely dependant on what any individual player does in their game. You may make her "good" in your game whereas I may make her "super-evil" in mine. So exactly which of those is the "real SH"?

The only SH we all can talk about and make observations about is the default SH that Larian gives us, the SH as she is when we first meet her. And that SH, as a Sharran cleric, is evil.

This is typically not my style, but... I can't resist.


Really? With the exception of Jaheira, maybe, I didn't care for the romances in BG2 *at all*. Listen to their problems, solved. Now put the child in the bag of holding. Or drop it in a container somewhere in Yaga Shura's Lair, never to be talked about again. Uhuh. Yeah, great. But you liked them better because of how they looked on a 210*330 bitmap? Yeah, you're easy to please. Keep your eyes out, there will be naked ladies mods *real* soon.

Right.... But what's preventing you from playing as a female? It's not gay if you do; legions of straight dudes play as female characters, including me and mostly *because* I'm straight. I don;t like looking at male bums for hours at a time. Female bums are *nice* in 4K with proper anti-aliasing. Much better than a 210*330 bitmap, guaranteed.

Well. Jaheira has a special place in my heart and I don't want her dating you, anyway. She's too good for you.

Shadowheart appears much more reserved and thoughtful than Viconia - by a *mile*, but I suspect she can get proper good *or* evil if nudged in that way. Viconia could get Neutral at most. Minthara seems comparable to Viconia. But if Vicci knew I said that, She would tear her and my head off.



I doubt it. This is the sort of game that mostly appeals to adults.

As someone who put thousands of hours into the original games over decades, I have to say that the romance options are definitely better in this game than the previous one. The simple fact that we have a minimum of eight romance options all open to any player character is a massive step forward. Sure I would like Jaheira to be a romance option because I romanced her in BG2, but if she's not it won't kill me as there are other options.

The only thing the earlier games have over the current one is the sheer number of companions. BG2:EE has something like 23 possible companions if you include Throne of Bhaal. Naturally, that's going to provide more options than the current game's 10 companions. At the same time, the companions in BG3 are much deeper and richer than those of the earlier games so that more than balances out. Plus, I already find a party of four is too small to take along all the companions I want at one time, so adding more companions would just make it worse.

I definitely agree with you about playing female characters, and yes one of the reasons I do it is that if I'm going to be looking at my character's butt, I would rather look at a female one. Then again, I usually have them romance other female characters just because as a straight male I'm not particularly into romancing male characters.