It can come online pretty early actually. Around level 5.
Good to know, thanks — to me, that’s already the beginning of the early mid-game, though. The critical part is the slog from level 3 to 5.
Especially 4 to 5 is a bottleneck on Honour Mode, because all the Level 4-5 enemies (Anders, Ethel, Flind, the Minotaurs, the Bulette etc.) are potential run enders if you face them a bit too early: You don’t have extra attack yet, and even certain feats like Great Weapon Master don’t reach their full potential yet. I’ve dipped into War Cleric for Lae’zel at level 4 instead, to give her an extra attack before she gains Extra Attack, and will then respec into pure Fighter when she reaches character level 5.
There’s usually this gap in XP, after having already done the harpies, the ettercaps, the couple in the barn, the ogres, the windmill with the gnome, the hyenas and gnolls without Flind, Waukeen’s Rest, Priestess Gut etc., where you still need some more XP to get to Level 5, and therefore usually have to risk the encounter with one of the above-mentioned enemies.
