Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Memorable side characters

What are side characters, you like or love to hate?

With that I mean characters, that play a bit of a smaller role or are not tied to the story, but still leave an impression.

I want to have a shoutout for stonemason Kith, who is such a wholesome history nerd. I love, how he is totally chill, when you kill his doergar colleagues and when you talk to him, he says, that he doesn't have a taste for slavery and prefers stones over people.

I also love SIlfy, the tiefling girl, who tries to steal from you in the Emerald Grove and whom you can help later in BG.

And Abdirak in the goblin camp. For a priest of an evil goddess, he was pretty chill, no matter, if you do his penace or not, he will always warn you to leave, when the fighting starts (Sweety, it's me, I started the fighting ). I honestly thought, he would play a bigger role, considering the ties of Loviatar with Bane and the story between Ilmateri and Loviatans

I love Uma and Gandrel from the Gur tribe. It's heartbreaking, when you find out, that it is Gandrels children, Cazador turned. It's nice to see, that they manage later on, despite it not being easy.

Another shoutout to the cheery dragonborn lady in the weapon and armor shop in Rivington. She is so cute.

My two favourites have to be the Hearthflame sisters: While they are tied to the main story in some way, they sadly have not much screentime. I would have loved to explore their story a bit more.

And I love Florrick - she is badass, fighting her way alone through the Shadowlands, only to get imprisoned by the man, who she thought, was on her side. I love her looks and her voice too.

And the voiceacting in this game is beyond everything, I encountered before in a game (maybe apart from Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines): my gith mage just talked to the deep rothe, who tells you about Ketheric and Yurgir and even that very minor npc has such a memorable voice acting. There is not a single bad voice acting in teh whole game as far as I have encountered.

Don't know if he counts, but I love Balthazar. He's a show stealer. Great VA, has fun dialogue, an intriguing backstory, and he looks striking.

I also think that while Cazador's (he probably doesn't count, either) dialogue is goofy and so is his delivery (very on the nose) I've grown very intrigued by him because of his Detect Thoughts dialogue, I think it's great stuff.

Auntie Ethel's great. That's it.

Naaber is a gag NPC, sure, but I also really like that his spirit is so indomitable and set on talking it completely skips Speak with Dead rules if he's died. It's kind of undertaley.

I like any story with intelligent or misunderstood undead so I kind of like all of Mystic Carrion's rebel "lackeys".

Not striking, but the lady at Sorcerous Sundries who asks you to be quiet has a very pleasing voice. Might be my ASMR brain talking.

Araj is kind of fun honestly. She's insane. The epilogue has her IndianaJonesing her way to Oblodra's ruins or something. That crazy squidscrewer is getting herself killed.

I honestly kind of like Kagha, too, if only because she's edgier than Halsin. I've always disliked him, even back in EA. We could do with more druid elf Karens willing to kill children who think they're being righteous.

Us is really cute

That one Gith Doctor who tries to lobotomise us has a great voice, I loved her.

Valeria's a goofy drunk corrupt cop but she's also a small elephant with big wings for ears and a monocle and a pipe. What more could someone ask for?

Yurgir's such a bro. What a good lad. Hope he's doing well in the Avernus wars or whatever.

Lucretious is fun, and that one imp she has that's married to a stone golem.

That one Dragonborn pissed about the newspaper puzzles is certainly striking.

I'd have to think of more minor NPCs...

I'm not huge on Abdirak, but I think he might've originally had something else going on in act 3, considering he got his very own unique head mesh. Weird he'd get one while other more important characters did not.

Balthazar is a pretty dope villain, I agree.

And I love the zombie rebels. I don't do the Free the artist quest anymore, but I always help them.

I would say, Ethel is more of a major character, but she is awesome. I love the whole questline. It's creepy and in my first playthrough gave me quite the unease.

About Abdirak: someone said, they accidentally killed him ( in an AoE) and he had those supply containers for food, alchemy stuff and keys, so he might have been considered to become a companion at some point. I think, it could have been interesting with all that I mentioned in act 3 and also the whole situation in the Shadowcursed Lands. But maybe they didn't want another cleric with their faith tested.

I love, how many minor npcs there are, that left an impression.

I forgot Sovereign Spaw - I like that myconid. And especially him and the others dancing, when you bring them Neres head.
I want a myconid companion.

Ohhh, I don't care much for Spaw but you reminded me of Omeluum, he's a highlight of the Underdark!

Oh yes, Omeluum. I'm not sure, if he classifies as a minor character, but he does not have enough screentime. I wish, he could be your

Volo is great. He's a great stereotype of DnD Bards. Loud, boisterous... Not very good at things...

Kagha is cool. Definitely brings a different vibe to the Grove than the rest of the Druids. I really wish she'd been the companion instead of Halsin. Have her atone for her actions by aiding your party. Let her see the Shadow-Cursed Lands first hand to see why the Shadow Druids are not cool.

Lump is great. I wish he could continue with your party outside of Act 1. Would be very interesting interacting with him in the Underdark when messing with the Sussur plants, having them stifle his headband's magic temporarily.

The Bard from the cursed necklace in Grymforge. I wish he'd pop up more often to opine about things you encounter. Also, if he'd appear in camp and interact with your party. Imagine him trying to get Lae'zel to laugh!

BOOOAL is great. I wish there was more you could do with him and the Kuo-Toa. Things like as a Cleric unlocking the Domain of Blood if you choose to worship BOOOAL (BOOOAL giving more gifts throughout your journey if you keep offering him blood via the Cleric Domain or his Sickle - Such as more weapons that scale into the later stages of the game) or if you choose to kill BOOOAL and the Kuo-Toa start worshipping you instead, you get bonuses from their worship and they appear later in the game doing dumb things to "Please" you (Like more ritual sacrifices... Which you can either stop or embrace)

Alfira is cute. Also the song she sings is nice. Would be cool if she'd travel with you, writing more songs about your exploits like she mentions at the party.

The fun thing is, that Volo is canonically a wizard actually. He is a bit like Rincewind.

All the cats are magnificent.

Every animal, you can talk to, tbh. I like the squirrels in the grove, that don't like Alfiras music. And the bird, obsessed with having it's nest perfect.

And that pidgeon commander in act 3 (Lightfeather?) - he was voiced by the same guy as Cazador .

Thank goodness speak with animal potions are plentiful, and thank goodness we can find them at the epilogue party now.

Steelclaw from Moonrise towers is awesome. When I did my bad durge run , I was shocked more by what Durge unwillingly did to him than I was with what he did to Alfira. I stopped that PT not too long after that. I knew I couldn't do it.

I f you are resisting Durge, that was actually the last evil thong, you do without agenda. It is shocking, but also got me hooked and on the path to really get control again.

There are so many excellent bit players and minor characters it's almost impossible to choose. One thing I ended up kinda loving (which was a surprise) are the familiar faces. Like when Brynna comes back as Quartermaster Talli in Act 2, just so dirty in the face. Or seeing Arron crop up again from time to time. It's endearingly theatrical, like a stage play where the same performers are taking on several roles. A quick wardrobe change and presto. I don't mind that stuff, although I do wish more faces would have been reserved for the custom characters similar to how they were reserved for the companions and key story NPCs.

Sazza toughest in the tribe, Sister Lidwin, Lens the journalist, they're all fantastic, Every cat for sure. All the furry fuzzball and feathered characters that we can chat it up with using speak with animals.
That said, every single performance at Creche Y'llek was on point. Like the whole monastery path over the mountains, just killin' it the entire way.

That kobold who says "Too drunk... s'not possible..." before passing out on the floor lol.

Kith'rak Therezzyn (so noted ishtik) and Jeera keeping it pristine.

Ghustil Stornugoss at the Zaithisk "My life's work!!!"



Oh and Vlaakith! Vlaakith totally knocked it out the park! I mean I hesitate to call her minor in any way hehe. Just a command performance there. I loved it!

Stoney and Boney. Such a cute couple. I would gladly be their mecenas.

I just realised, that I really like Beks and Danis - I'm totally invested in the wellbeing of this adorable couple

It's hard to choose any to pick out, especially as it's now been a couple of months since I finished my first playthrough; but there just aren't really any bad characters in the game. The ones I dislike are purely because my character didn't get on with them - like, I stabbed Astarion in the gut when he tried to bite me after making snide comments every time I wasn't a dick to someone. But you can bet in my next, evil playthrough, he's going to be in the party.

But pretty much everyone in this game is an interesting, well-acted character in their own way, whether that's an origin character through the whole game to a bit player in a side room.

Yes, every character has personality, even if they only make one appearance.
I think characters are the strongest part of the game. I never saw even very minor side characters that much discussed and liked.

The last time I can remember minor characters getting such good treatment in a video game (and to be fair this depends on what I've actually played) was in a critically-acclaimed story-based fantasy RPG that was the third in the series, developed by a European studio based on licensed IP. I'm currently playing The Witcher 1, and a scene where I had to follow an elderly druid as he walked very slowly to the destination, made me remember The Witcher 3 where there's a famous scene where you walk with the Bloody Baron to the site of his child's grave, and he and Geralt talk in detail about his story, and the lore of the monster you're trying to defeat. I wanted to link a video I'd seen a while back talking about this scene, but I can't find it now.

The last time I can remember minor characters getting such good treatment in a video game (and to be fair this depends on what I've actually played) was in a critically-acclaimed story-based fantasy RPG that was the third in the series, developed by a European studio based on licensed IP. I'm currently playing The Witcher 1, and a scene where I had to follow an elderly druid as he walked very slowly to the destination, made me remember The Witcher 3 where there's a famous scene where you walk with the Bloody Baron to the site of his child's grave, and he and Geralt talk in detail about his story, and the lore of the monster you're trying to defeat. I wanted to link a video I'd seen a while back talking about this scene, but I can't find it now.