Wouldn't it be cool, you're doing your thing in BG and you go to have Lae'zel pass an item from her inventory, perhaps in a fight, but it's sticky. It won't move.
Because it's not real.
It's part of the shapeshift. And then Orin does her little cinematic entrance and a ho-hum fight becomes high stakes, and one party member is missing.
Or something like that.
Anyway, I think an actively hunting villain is a great change of pace. I hope there's enough variety in ambush set-up for multiple playthroughs.
