In my opinion, a chronically good-aligned character would always take Shadowheart into the party regardless of opinions on her personality, because it makes sense for the bigger survival chances of the group and make everyone's chances of living greater to have another with the "get rid of the tadpole" main goal.
No! Unless she proves she's loyal it's way too risky. She could just cut everyone's throat in their sleep for Shaar, or whatever twisted reason pops into her messed-up head.
the shadow-cursed lands could make your character doubt bringing Shadowheart to Shar's temple and you'll just do that without her instead. Far more logical route in my opinion than taking her along for that part if you don't like her and don't trust her intentions at that point.
I'll tell you a story. When I was a kid, some classmates would come over pretending they wanted to play - just so they could steal my toys. I didn't know what to do. My friend told me to keep a close eye on everyone, so I tried my best, watching them like a hawk. But somehow, they kept stealing anyway. I asked my dad how I could stop them, and he said "just don't let those mthrfckrs into the house". I still remember how struck I was by the simplicity and efficiency of that solution.
She's not "created to be so repulsive", together with Astarion they are by far the most romanced companions. You unfortunately, for personal reasons relating to your view on servility, true friends and men-women relations, have such a view on certain female characters that has you see them in such a negative light and become repulsed by them.
The issue isn't that she's repulsive. It's that she's such a contemporary character, it's easy to associate her with someone you dislike in real life - that's what happened to me. This is exactly why I don't support adding modern personalities into fantasy games.
Out of curiosity, which other choice-based RPGs where companions sometimes have differing goals have you played? And what did you think of the portrayal of the female co-lead characters/companions in those games?
Leliana and Wynne (DaO), Serana (Skyrim), Neeshka and Elony (NwN2). I can say this - I trusted them completely. The way we talked, the way they acted - genuine sympathy. I tried to trust Lae'zel too until she regretted not killing me in the camp. A little later,I realized what really triggered me. It wasn't her regreat - what really got to me was that she stayed on the team and even showed up at the farewell party in camp. I thought we were about to fight when she said it but the game just carried on like nothing had happened - and that's when I realized how sickening it really was. Karlach is a great companion but she's not human and not physically attractive. And after her emotional outburst following Gortash's death, I realized that either I kill her in act 1 (which first requires turning her into a freak with mods), or every single playthrough will end with me going to Avernus with her - which isn't great for roleplay. So all three female companions ended up being disappointments. I'll try romancing Jaheira this time. Idk, is she romanceable?
