There's an advantage to having a 5th, at least from a party comp standpoint. This doesn't perfectly describe the situation in BG3, but its helpful to think about in these terms...

We have 10 recruitable characters. Potential number of combinations in sets of 4 without repetition is 210. According to the combo calc looks like so:

"You have 10 objects: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J

All their combinations with a sample size of 4 objects:

ABCD ABCE ABCF ABCG ABCH ABCI ABCJ ABDE ABDF ABDG ABDH ABDI ABDJ ABEF ABEG ABEH ABEI ABEJ ABFG ABFH ABFI ABFJ ABGH ABGI ABGJ ABHI ABHJ ABIJ ACDE ACDF ACDG ACDH ACDI ACDJ ACEF ACEG ACEH ACEI ACEJ ACFG ACFH ACFI ACFJ ACGH ACGI ACGJ ACHI ACHJ ACIJ ADEF ADEG ADEH ADEI ADEJ ADFG ADFH ADFI ADFJ ADGH ADGI ADGJ ADHI ADHJ ADIJ AEFG AEFH AEFI AEFJ AEGH AEGI AEGJ AEHI AEHJ AEIJ AFGH AFGI AFGJ AFHI AFHJ AFIJ AGHI AGHJ AGIJ AHIJ BCDE BCDF BCDG BCDH BCDI BCDJ BCEF BCEG BCEH BCEI BCEJ BCFG BCFH BCFI BCFJ BCGH BCGI BCGJ BCHI BCHJ BCIJ BDEF BDEG BDEH BDEI BDEJ BDFG BDFH BDFI BDFJ BDGH BDGI BDGJ BDHI BDHJ BDIJ BEFG BEFH BEFI BEFJ BEGH BEGI BEGJ BEHI BEHJ BEIJ BFGH BFGI BFGJ BFHI BFHJ BFIJ BGHI BGHJ BGIJ BHIJ CDEF CDEG CDEH CDEI CDEJ CDFG CDFH CDFI CDFJ CDGH CDGI CDGJ CDHI CDHJ CDIJ CEFG CEFH CEFI CEFJ CEGH CEGI CEGJ CEHI CEHJ CEIJ CFGH CFGI CFGJ CFHI CFHJ CFIJ CGHI CGHJ CGIJ CHIJ DEFG DEFH DEFI DEFJ DEGH DEGI DEGJ DEHI DEHJ DEIJ DFGH DFGI DFGJ DFHI DFHJ DFIJ DGHI DGHJ DGIJ DHIJ EFGH EFGI EFGJ EFHI EFHJ EFIJ EGHI EGHJ EGIJ EHIJ FGHI FGHJ FGIJ FHIJ GHIJ"

And then something more like our current situation. Technically Party of 4 out of 10 is only going to be 3 objects in the set for the mix and match, cause we'd be excluding the player/origin from those comps:

"You have 10 objects: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J

All their combinations with a sample size of 3 objects:

ABC ABD ABE ABF ABG ABH ABI ABJ ACD ACE ACF ACG ACH ACI ACJ ADE ADF ADG ADH ADI ADJ AEF AEG AEH AEI AEJ AFG AFH AFI AFJ AGH AGI AGJ AHI AHJ AIJ BCD BCE BCF BCG BCH BCI BCJ BDE BDF BDG BDH BDI BDJ BEF BEG BEH BEI BEJ BFG BFH BFI BFJ BGH BGI BGJ BHI BHJ BIJ CDE CDF CDG CDH CDI CDJ CEF CEG CEH CEI CEJ CFG CFH CFI CFJ CGH CGI CGJ CHI CHJ CIJ DEF DEG DEH DEI DEJ DFG DFH DFI DFJ DGH DGI DGJ DHI DHJ DIJ EFG EFH EFI EFJ EGH EGI EGJ EHI EHJ EIJ FGH FGI FGJ FHI FHJ FIJ GHI GHJ GIJ HIJ"

Here's how it looks for the other sets:

10 sample size 1 = 1
10 sampe size 2 = 45 combos
10 sample size 3 = 120 combos
10 sample size 4 = 210 combos
10 sample size 5 = 252 combos
10 sample size 6 = 210
10 sample size 7 = 120
10 sample size 8 = 45
10 sample size 9 = 10
10 sample size 10 = 1

Keeping things rough and loose, going from a party of 4 (the player + 3 others) to a party of 5 (the player +4 others) nearly doubles the number of potential combinations, even without increasing the total number of recruitable companions available, but still keeping that at 10.

It's like the jump from 120 to 210 (with some give and take from cross incompatibilities, or the fact that companions have to be recruited in a particular sequence) not everyone is available at the same time throughout, but similar. Still I think it makes an alright case for 5 since that would come closer to hitting the sweet spot split. One of those party members is potentially a Tav/Durge though and this is likely the norm for most. Also not all of the 10 recruitable companions are playable as an Origin, only 6 are, so that complicates the situation a little for the totals, but I think it helps to frame stuff or just to give a sense.

A party of 6 (the player +5) would have allowed for something closer to the max possible without repetition, which is why I kept suggesting that, along with the BG1 legacy, just from the abstract standpoint that it gets us closer to the 252 out of 10 possible companions. You can see that the high end mirrors the low for total combos, so the ideal split for max combos without repetition is when you can ride the middle ground, in this case 5 out of 10 companions for the mix and match. I thought for sure that there would be 12 recruitable companions when BG3 launched, which would have recommended 6 out of 12 companions for the mix and match. In that case using the same sort of analogy to ballpark a party of 6 (player +5) would have allowed for 792 combos. As the pool of companions available goes up the numbers jump massively if holding to a normal sized party, say 3-6 peeps in the core group.

BG1 had 24 companions and a party of 6 (Charname +5), which would be pushing like 40 thousand potential combinations without repetition (though of course BG1 had many incompatible companions and so some party comps would not be possible.) Over the course of the game with dips/climbs in reputation some party comps just weren't viable, but still quite a spread there. If the number of companions was doubled to say 48, while still keeping the party of 6 (player +5) it's over a million potential combos. Clearly there are other factors to the replay beyond just the raw bean counting, and that bean counting here is only ballpark for the reasons mentioned, but it's actually a pretty significant increase in party comp variety if you go from 3 other companions in the active party up to 4 other companions in the active party.

Twice as many comps basically. The reason we don't really feel the scope of the combos is because of the way the camp is organized, since we can potentially have all the companions at camp at once, which tends to overshadow the active party.

I think party of 5 would be a nice touch for whatever final patch. I feel like they were sorta immovable on this issue during EA and we never got to explore it as an option really, although everyone does seem to enjoy all those instances where we pick up a follower temporarily.

I think they could have put more downward limits on the total number of summons and given us a 5th slot without it really unbalancing the campaign. In BG1 and BG2 the downside to the larger party comp was that you had to keep more people alive and distribute that loot and XP across the active party group. It's similar here though, even without split XP and a communal camp, in that managing more bodies can make it harder to game in and out of initiative. I think that's a good thing, though others may balk. I think there's a charm in BG to collecting companions and kitting them out for the long haul, compared to just selling whatever to focus on say the protagonist or only the core party group.

It's probably a bit late now to wow us with a party of 6, but whatever, I'd still go for 5 over 4 hehe

Last edited by Black_Elk; 25/08/24 11:28 AM.