The starting attribute distribution of all companions is horrible because of all the uneven numbers, they might also not be extremely efficient if you like to try harder difficulties and have problems to keep characters alive.
As someone who only plays with Origins I would also be very limited if the game skilled them for me and I had no or limited say in what to do with them. While all the examples above talk about skilling characters against their original concepts, trying out different builds can also help you find builds that suite the characters better. For example, I like two levels of Wild Magic on Origin Gale because it's fun but also because it gives me the chat options to threaten people with explosion now and again. It's a thing Companion Gale likes to do when annoyed but unfortunately his Origin doesn't have chat options for it. Or maybe you give him levels in fighter because he became good friends with Lae'zel and took her up on the offer to train him after all. Many of the Bard chat options also feel very on brand for Astarion, as does casually mocking enemies from the side lines. I red a yt comment of someone who started Shart as a war cleric (because trickery just is useless) then switched to light when she turned from Shar and then changed to Nature at the end when Shart makes up her mind about what she would like her life to be like. I thought that was nice reasoning.
And yep it's a strategy game, people like fun characters but also want to try out fun builds.
