Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Multiplayer Discussion 2 Players w/4 Custom Characters?

Bear in mind you can respec companion characters at withers, to make them mechanically whatever you want them to be.
There's no need to lose out on the story of companion characters just to have the party comp you want.

Then there's the hirelings, which are meant to be there so that you can still have your party of 4 if you don't have enough companion characters left, but you can always bring them in to get the team comp you want without the companion story, if really desired.

And of course you can always get 2 friends of yours to connect to your save just to make a custom character according to your design intentions, then leave so you can just have that custom there.
Or random internet people like me, if you've no friends with the game.