I was loving my grumpy, drunken dwarven monk/cleric of Ilmater Dreogan Strongale until he died horribly (in honour mode) due to my incompetence in the spider queen's lair. Trying again with a slightly reimagined look and a bit more success but still in Act 1:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

My halfling jack-of-all-trades / Oghma worshipper Sophy was great fun to play at least until nearer the end when it all got quite grim:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Those are the only two shorter race runs I've started in the full release, but I'm looking forward to playing out the full story for two of my favourite EA characters:

Fierce, goblin-hating Wildheart barbarian, Hedda Bloodaxe:
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

And sneaky, curious deep gnome arcane trickster, Gilly:
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

And yes, I also wish there were at least one or two shorter race companions (and potential romantic interests, either companions or NPCs). And agree that Barcus Wroot is a fantastic character who would have made a great companion, and it wouldn't even have needed much of a tweak to his story. The Ironhand gnomes as a whole are an interesting group (I'll admit to a soft spot for Philomeen, she's just so unapologetically ... mean!).

And yes Hope is wonderful too, and made a big impact on me despite her relatively late and small role.

Roah as a baddie with a different sort of motivation than the others really works for me, despite the role feeling a bit peripheral.

And I think BG's portrayal of the goblins is a triumph, especially Sazza and Priestess Gut. (I'd have liked to see one or two goblins wandering the streets in Baldur's Gate, too.)

"You may call it 'nonsense' if you like, but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!"