Right now I'm giving the edge to the gloom stalker, I think. I haven't seen Karlach yet, but I did see some information on her online. So between her and Lae'zel, I guess that frontline aspect is taken care of with companions. I really do like my paladin, and I'd love to give him the everburn, but ranged fighting is so powerful in this game, or so it seems to me...

If I were to take the bard, do you think a lore bard plus Gale is overkill in the magic department? I know Bards are full casters, but sometimes they don't feel like full casters to me. I have progressed the most in AE with that lore bard and I have enjoyed the RP/conversations with him SO much, but again, I feel like you miss out on a bit of combat stuff that the Gloom Stalker should be able to do.

Also, I've heard that we can do custom companions in the full release. My assumption is that they could be in your "let's get stuff done" party, but then all the origin characters would still be at your camp. So while you miss out on incidental interactions between origin characters and the rest of the world, you can still follow their main plot points during camp scenes?

Part of me wants to do Devotion Paladin, Life Cleric, Gloom Stalker, and either Lore Bard or Abjuration Wizard as a complete custom party.