The problem and this fix isn’t for when you initiate dialogue but instead for when dialogue starts automatically, which happens quite a bit and sometimes has big story or companion choices and conversations. With the old system, if you play a caster (or other ranged character) you either had the choice of never getting the automatic dialogue with your character or standing as close as possible during combat to either the enemy or companion who has dialogue to hopefully get the scene at the end with your character (and hope the enemy doesn’t move last minute).
I wasn't careful with the word "initiate." By that I meant leading the party with my "face" character in cases where automatic dialogue seems like a possibility (e.g., walking towards people I haven't encountered before). However, it looks like a lot of other variables are in play, the Ethel problem not least.
I'm now leaning towards someone's idea of being able to select the "face" once the dialogue starts, but I'm guessing that would involve a whole other layer of coding. Or two. At the end of the day, I'd be content with tactical options or reasonable dialogue options that don't involve the tadpole chewing up the brains of my character or my companions every time I have to talk to a branded Absolutist. Shadowheart's self-disguise trick was great for that, in the first act anyway, but maybe that's evolved from "outside the box" to "obvious cheat" at this point...
